52,000

I'm starting to actually believe that the ending is in sight. Just 18k to go, and I'm writing every day. I may actually make my August 1st deadline.

I've been working in a slightly new way for this novel than for anything else I've written for a while, but now I come to post about it, I'm noticing some similarities to a system I used a few years ago for the first lengthy story I wrote (novella, rather than novel, though).

When I started writing Making the News (and, Oh God, please somebody send me a better title) I'd just had a bad experience with full plotting before writing the novel. So I thought I'd try something different.

For the first few thousand words, I knew the basic set up, had a vague idea of some scenes I wanted to include, and, as it was a romance, knew that the hero and heroine would end up together. I decided to figure out the rest as I went along.

The only problem with that plan was that I get nervous when I don't know where I'm going, and that tends to block me up a bit.

So, about 10000 words in, I compromised.

I created a spreadsheet where I could put in the main turning points I knew, with blank spaces for the other scenes, which I filled in as and when they came to me. It meant I spent a lot of time jiggling things around, but it seems to be working okay. Completed scenes are in black, with wordcount, scenes still to write are in green. It got a bit more complicated as time progressed, and includes chapter breakdowns and wordcounts and all sorts. And it means I can see exactly where I am and where I need to go next, and how long it should take me to get there.

Now, there are just 10 more scenes to go, and I can see exactly how much I've already achieved. It's really very motivating.

But I'm still trying something new for the next one!