16682 / 50000 words. 33% done!

I caught up with NaNoWriMo’s par!

How I did it when I was 3000 words down:

1. Re-outlined what I had so far to nail down more characterization, plot, and theme.

2. Wrote in more scenes previous in the timeline or extended older scenes to nail more of the new outline. Didn’t spend too much time on it, and some places I simply left “[rewrite scene entirely]” after making some “{{notes}}”.

3. Created a beat sheet for the next scene in the timeline.

   • Start with the main core of what needs to happen next.

   • Add a beginning and ending of the scene.

   • Fill out some more beats, though not too many unless you’re very much a plotter—if you’re more of a pantser, like me, you might benefit from a short beat sheet, then going in to develop more beats in an organic manner.

   • After a while (say the next day when reviewing the previous day’s work), re-do the beat sheet for this scene. You may discover new synergies or broken things that need fixing (either through leaving notes or, if the damage is bad enough, actual fixing).

4. Used the Bird by Bird approach to writing to keep from going back and re-editing too much of my work. I focused on 10 words at a time by hitting compose mode in Scrivener and inflating text to 800%. Worked like a charm.

I am definitely a reviser. I need (at least for now) an abbreviated plan, then go in with keyboard a-blazing, then re-outline what happened along with improvements, then rewrite again. This has led to a lot more readable stuff in my draft. Not perfect by a long shot, nor even publishable, but better.