Steven Radecki's Blog, page 8

NaNoWriMo 2017 Report: Week Four

Current word count: 8.911
Words this week: 1,843
Average words per day: 263

It was not exactly a stellar week in terms of word count. I really had expected to hit 10,000 words by this point, but it looks like I will probably have to settle for 10,000 words as my end goal for this year.

The story has stayed chiefly focused on the playing out a specific scene and sequence, which is interesting because it's a scene and place I probably would never have imagined the story would go when I first started writing it. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

Only two more days to go, so write on!

Firing Off My Canon

While I have many, many thoughts about the new Star Trek: Discovery , I'm only going to hit a few of the points right now (it still being NaNoWriMo and all).

(I figure by now that those of you who are going to see it, have. If not, I'll try to keep the spoilers to a minimum.)
When the Starfleet delta symbol became visible in the sand near the beginning of "The Vulcan Hello", I was grinning like a fool just as I did during the last few minutes of Star Trek (2009).I adore(d) Captain Philippa Georgiou. I hope they find a way to bring her back. If not, they'd better keep the books coming. The moment I came to love Lorca:
(from "Context is for Kings")

LORCA (to SARU): Number One, you served with Burnham aboard the Shenzhou. What is your assessment of her abilities?
SARU: Her mutiny aside she is the smartest Starfleet officer I have ever known.
LORCA: Huh. (to STAMETS) And he knows you.

Ouch.
I'm not wild about the uniforms, but I do think they are an interesting evolution from the ones used on Star Trek: Enterprise. But it does seem odd that they are not closer to the ones used in Star Trek (The Original Series). It will be interesting to see whether that's a piece of canon they try to resolve during the series run.I find it absolutely fascinating that there seemed to be more uproar about the use of profanity (the f-bomb) in "Choose Your Pain" than, for example, from the graphic depiction of the bodies in "Context is for Kings". Star Trek: Discovery does have a TV-MA rating, after all. (That is a topic for discussion at a later date.) That said, I completely understand and appreciate the "but ... but Star Trek never used profanity before" argument. Personally, I found the moment perfect and it added a brief injection of badly-needed humor at just the right time. I actually felt it was much appropriate and necessary that Data's exclamation regarding excrement in Star Trek: Generations.

NaNoWriMo 2017 Report: Week Three

Current word count: 7,068
Words this week: 3,200
Average words per day: 457

It was not a bad week, overall. While my word count was a bit lower than I would have liked, it was still forward movement.

The story ... well, the story continues to take an interesting turn. This week, my writing on it stayed chiefly on track with the current scene -- I just wish I knew where it was going to go.

In a way, I want November to be over so that I can go back and make notes about where I want this story to go and further set up the time, place, and the narrator's situation going into it. I think that will help immensely in tying it all together.

For a change, I don't yet know how this story is going to end. I suspect that it is more of a result of my not going for the usual 50,000-word mark, as the ending usually occurs to me somewhere around the middle of Week Two.

Until next week ... write on!

NaNoWriMo 2017 Report: Week Two

Current word count: 3,898
Words this week: 1,688
Average words per day: 241

My progress was slightly less than I had to expected it to be last week, but not by much. With everything else going on, I predicted a low word count.

For what I did write, the story took some very unexpected turns. One twist in particular caught me totally by surprise. I have no idea what the muse has in mind, but it makes for one heck of a chapter-ending cliffhanger. (I suspect, as with the first story, it is going lead down to some very interesting philosophical paths . . .)

We shall see what the next week shall bring . . .

Until then . . . Write on!

NaNoWriMo 2017 Report: Week One

Current word count: 2,210
Words this week: 2,210
Average words per day: 315

Not quite the progress I would have liked, but it is forward motion and that's what this year is all about.

Even given that, the word count is a bit less than I would have liked, but not wholly unexpected given the other things going on.

The story itself has taken some both planned and unexpected directions. As with the first story, it will be interesting to see what themes and issues my muse stirs up from my subconscious to further surprise me.

Until next week . . . Write on!

NaNoWriMo 2016 Report: Week One

Current word count: 2,210
Words this week: 2,210
Average words per day: 315

Not quite the progress I would have liked, but it is forward motion and that's what this year is all about.

Even given that, the word count is a bit less than I would have liked, but not wholly unexpected given the other things going on.

The story itself has taken some both planned and unexpected directions. As with the first story, it will be interesting to see what themes and issues my muse stirs up from my subconscious to further surprise me.

Until next week . . . Write on!

NaNoWriMo 2017 Report: Stories are Like Children . . .

. . . or is that the other way around?

This year's writing effort is planned to be a sequel to my novella, "Building Baby Brother". I finally have an idea what needs to happen next and, unusual for me, some its content is likely to be slightly more topical. (What can I say? We all deal with stress and uncertainty in our own way.)

Let's put this right up front: With everything else going on in my personal and professional life right now, I suffer from no illusions of "winning" by reaching the preferred 50,000-word goal. If I can achieve half of that, I will be very, very pleased. (The original draft of "Building Baby Brother" came in at slightly more than 24,000 words, so it seems a reasonable goal to set.)

As always, I will keep you posted on my progress here.

To all of my fellow NaNo-ers out there: Write on!

NaNoWriMo 2016 Report: Down for the Count

Final word count: 5,315
Average words per day: 177

I won't lie and say that this wasn't a disappointing finish for what would have been my 10th anniversary of doing NaNoWriMo.

On the upside: I have 5,315 words that I didn't have when November started.

I also learned that sometimes only having a concept of an idea for a story isn't nearly enough to try to hang the entire structure of a novel upon. Sometimes it works . . . and sometimes it doesn't.

Still, I did learn a lot about trying to stray outside of my usual genre of science fiction. I might actually finish this someday . . .

So, until next year . . . Keep writing!

NaNoWriMo 2016 Report: Week Four

Current word count: 5,315
Words this week: 1,739
Average words per day: 248

All things being relative, it has been a better (writing) week than most.

My word count is still way, way behind where it needs to be. Is 10,000 words possible before midnight on the 30th?

We'll see . . .

NaNoWriMo 2016 Report: Week Three

Current word count: 3,576
Words this week: 361
Average words per day: 52

Okay, so not only is 50,000 words not happening, but even my revised goal of 24,000 words is very unlikely to happen. (Why 24,000 words instead of 25,000? Because 24,000 was my lowest word count over for NaNoWriMo.)

I'm going to try to keep plugging along and see how many words I can finally get down. How ever many it turns out to be, it will still be more than I had as of 12:01am on November 1st.