Camp NaNoWriMo July 2020 Update 3

And just like that, I have created a new challenge for myself. I only have a few more scenes to write to wrap up my draft, but as I was skimming over my words, I realized I wasn’t happy with my character development. This story is supposed to offer representation for transracial adoptees struggling with their identities. While it touches on that, I got sucked up into the Young Adult romance aspect of the plot instead.

What’s happening now? I am maybe finishing off those few scenes just so I can have a complete draft, but more importantly, I am re-outlining my work. I am trying the Save The Cat method to ensure that my main plot points make it into the story and flow nicely. I realize that there will definitely be at least 5 scenes already written that won’t make it into this next draft.

I’m okay with that.

My goal is to create a solid piece of fiction that makes younger adoptees say, “That’s how I feel” when they read it.

I am still tracking my words written for NaNoWriMo, but because Camp is a bit more relaxed, I am not concerned that the words won’t be added to that initial zero draft. By the way, I surpassed both 20k words written for Camp and 50k total words in my draft. Perhaps it was reaching the 52,000 words mark, but I am feeling very okay with beginning my re-drafting and revisions process.

That’s why I call myself a combination of a plotter and a pantser. I always start with a general outline in my head, but just start writing and see where it takes me. Once I have about 20-30k words written, I begin to really outline. And then I reach this stage. The 50k mark. I have a much clearer picture of what I want my story to be and I know my characters on a much deeper level. Thus, begins the trashing and re-drafting to finally create one draft.

Of course, I could just avoid all of that and start with a thorough outline from the start, but who knows if I will ever do that. This seems more fun 🙂