Camp NaNo Wrapup // What I have been up to with my WIP

Hello fellow bookworms 🖋 Camp Nano has officially finished a while ago, so it’s time for me to share what I have been up to writing-wise this past month! If you have missed the post, I shared my Camp NaNo Plans a while back and talked about how exactly I would go about Camp this month including using their minutes instead of words tracking!

Camp Nano Progress and Stats

Total Minute Count: 1.940 (32 hrs)

Words Written: 18.359 words

I have to say that I had a mostly good time during Camp NaNo. The thing is that tracking minutes might have made sense for my writing situation, but it wasn’t for me. I like tracking words way more, because I can push myself to write more in a short amount of time. (Throughout the 5 years I did Camp Nano I went from 2000 words in 2 hours to 2000 words in 1 hour) Tracking time doesn’t offer space to push myself though. If I work super much in 1 hour … I don’t get more than if I work a bit slower and that bothered me a bit. Especially as I had a hard time working more than 1 hour a day (which was my target count), because my concentration decreased drastically. For NaNoWriMo in November it will be back to tracking words, because I plan to write the sequel during that time.

That brings me to what I managed to achieve during Camp NaNo! I did exactly what I wanted to and that is finally finish the first draft of my WIP Intoxicated after not being able to during NaNo last year! I cannot believe I made it, as this is only the second draft that I fully completed. I also outlined the sequel to my WIP a lot, meaning research, working out more world-building and creating new characters while expanding old ones! I’M BEYOND EXCITED!

Q&A about my WIP: Intoxicated

How many words is your draft and how long did you work on it?

My draft is 106.683 words long, which is decent given that the draft for a previous WIP was 30K over that and therefore too much (I always write too much). I can definitely work with that word count and polish it a bit! It took me 40 days in total to write that draft, 30 days of NaNo in November 2017 and 10 days in April 2018, which does surprise me a bit, because I thought that it would take me way longer, but I did take a long break after November as I was so very busy.

How happy are you with your very first draft?

Pretty happy given that it was the second draft I fully finished! I would say I’m 65-70% happy with my draft which is high given that I’m always very critical with my writing. There are definitely some things that need to be improved during editing, but the first draft is never perfect, so that’s totally okay! I’m motivated to get my satisfaction level to 90%!

What aspect do you like best and what needs the most editing?

LIKE: I think that I got pretty good at writing dialogue, which is something I never anticipated, but I improved SO much given to anything I have written before. I’m generally best at character interactions of any kind and love writing them the most, especially if there is any drama involved!

DISLIKE: my action scenes are horrible, because I haven’t quite figured out how best to describe them without it being boring or unrealistic or too much. I also need to work a bit on my plotline, because there are some plot holes and things that need to be improved so they make sense!

What are your future plans for this draft?

I’m currently very busy with university (+ keeping up with reading and blogging) so I will let my draft simmer a bit and then return to it (and by that I mean … editing, oh hell) during my summer break when I’ll have time again! A part of me hopes to write something for novellas I planned, but that might not happen. What I do know is that I’ll outline the plotline for the sequel and write it during NaNo in November, but that is still a very long way to go.

Time for some random (unedited) Snippets!

(Don’t mind me lurking a bit terrified in the background)

3 Secrets about Intoxicated #2

1. I have come up with a title! My sequel is going to be called Contaminated, which for me makes sense, because I already know all the plot twists. I was actually really glad to find a title that rhymed with Intoxicated and had a relevance to my story, it’s like a miracle because usually coming up with titles is SO hard for me!

2. It will have *drumroll* two more POV’s! That might be a bit ambitious, but it fits the direction the story goes in and it gives me more time to explore all my three ships, as we did not get to see 2 of them much in book 1! The additional POV characters (besides my protagonist Astrid) are going to be Yasmin – her best friend – and Cole – her love interest’s brother – both characters I absolutely love!

3. We’re going to have New York as a setting! Why do they go to New York? And who? That remains my mystery for now, but I’m excited for a new setting, because I adore the city! I have only visited New York once and it was glorious so obviously I had to choose it as a setting. I’ve done a bit of research about it like I did with London, but I think it helps that I at least have gotten a bit of a feeling for it on my visit.

What have you been up to when it comes to writing? What is your WIP about? 🖋