Marie Alice Writes & Reads

Diary of a new writing project. Day 7: how to write a 1000 words in 5 hours

It took me 5 hours to hit 1000 words. 5 fridgin’ hours !!!

It is very easy.

Clear all the work/chores plan for Monday in order to be able to devote your time to a new writing project for which, technically, you are already falling behind.

Then, sit down with a nice mug of tea and write.

Just write.

Words.

On the blank page, right there.

Well, go on m’ dear!

Where is my new project syndrome?

Everybody heard of that one. The first 10K words are flowing out of your brain and onto the page.
It feels like you will be done with the first draft in the next three weeks, and it will be the best novel ever, and this one will be published for sure…

Desillusion soon kicks in, of course, no worries there. And as long as you are prepared for it, there’s nothing wrong with taking advantage of the new project syndrome vibe while it last.

Thing is, I am not having it. At all. Rien de rien.

The outline is clear. In chapter 1, main character does this, she meet X, faces a surprising situation and boom, we fall into chapter 2, take action and move on to more good stuff.

When I outlined it, I was super excited about it.

When it was time to write that first scene, words were very hard. And it felt boring, because I already knew exactly what needed to happen, and how.

It took me 5 hours to hit 1000 words. 5 fridgin’ hours !!! I have to step on it if I want to be done by the end of March 2020.

I will get over it. I have too. I’m getting behind on my goals already. But I am already toying with the idea of throwing away the outline I spent hours developing.
I am wasting even more time following it…

Anyway, I have to girl up and work harder and conquer this week 7 500 words goal.

Thanks for tagging along in this crazy writing adventure!

Diary of a new writing project. Day 6: Writing Goals

Writing goals really helps me to stay motivated, it pushes me forward.

Writing goals are super important, in my humble opinion.

Especially for me, since I’m an aspiring author with a day job, a kid, a need-to-read habit. Plus, more often then I care to say, I play video games as soon as I wake up.

Keeping a word count and stick to word count goals: those writing tips changed my writing game.
Before embracing the writing goals, it would take me 3, 4, even 5 years to finish a book.
Granted, I considered writing as a hobby (and one I would never tell my family about, simply because they all thought writing is a useless waste of time that doesn’t even pay well; they still do), but even then… come on girl!

Writing goals really helps me to stay motivated, it pushes me forward.

2019 YA-WIP goals

I started the new writing project early in September.

By now, I did some research, wrote backstories for the main characters, wrote an outlined. So I feel semi-confident I will be able to finish 2019 YA-WIP in 3 months.

Before I set my writing goals, I look at the family calendar. For us, autumn is birthday season, plus Holidays. How on earth will she find time to write, some may ask?
I work from home. The time I spent in the commute, I now can sometimes spend on writing.

I couldn’t even dream of finishing a book in 3 months when I was working in retail stores. Even less when I got to work in official offices, alongside official adults (often younger than me) doing adults stuff, like talking about their pools and their next vacations in a resort near the ocean.

I am in total WOW, like bowing deeply, at all those aspiring authors out there who make it happened while having to get out of the house 5 or 6 times a week and work for 8 to 10 hours, often surrounded by people. W.O.W.

On with the writing goals, ambitious (for me) but do-able:

85 000 words
7000 words a week
1400 words a day

Deadline : December 31st

I will not, however, drive myself crazy with this deadline, nor with the writing goals. I will do everything I can to reach them, but I also don’t want to get mad if I don’t make it to 1 400 words one day, or feel like a darn looser if the first draft is not finished by December 31st.

Writing is my happy place, and I want it to remain that way.

Until next time !

Writing a novel: Romance vs Chick-Lit

I was toying with the idea of writing a love story, but I wasn’t sure what genre to write in: romance? chick-lit? romance subgenres?
If you are facing the same writing problem I faced, this might help.

Disclaimer: No affiliate links down there!

I was toying with the idea of writing a love story, but I wasn’t sure what genre to write in: romance? chick-lit? romance subgenres?

The project was promptly shelved (I can’t write for full-on grown-ups yet), but I thought I could share the little bit of research I did on both genre.

If you are facing the same writing problem I faced, this might help.

Romance of the past

Back when I was working in a bookstore, the romance novels and the chick-lit novels never shared a bookshelf.

In fact, those two genres never even shared the same bookshelves space.
Chick-lit novels (patriarchal much, I hate the term) were mingling with literary fiction while Romance novels were all by themselves, hiding between the Historical fiction section and the Fantasy section.

As time went by, Chick-Lit remained pretty stagnant while Romance novels got their own sub-categories such as paranormal romance, dark fantasy romance, historical, so on and so forth.

Although they seem to share some similarities, they are two very distinctive literary genres.

Chick-Lit novels

The term has been used since the mid ’90s, according to my research (links below).

To earn the Chick-Lit label, a novel has to be written by a woman for women focus readership. Also, the story needs to be light-hearted, fun, heavy on the self-mockery. A love story of some kind is also present, although not always necessarily the main thing happening.
A Chick-Lit novel is centered around a witty, funny, often a fashion aficionado woman having to deal with social expectations.

A Chick-Lit novel is funny, light and leads the main character to a happy end… until the sequel.

Romance novels

At its chore, a Romance novel is a love story with a happy, optimistic end. Masterclass does have a more precise definition for it, but you get the general idea.

Romance novels were once considered as poorly written novels, then as poorly written soft-erotic novels. They were mainly destined to be consumed by bored house-wives and curious unmarried women.

Now, and even more since the event of ebooks, Romance novels are taking on the world in a wide variety of subgenres.

Still aiming towards female readers, Romance novels are expending constantly to a variety of readers. Hooray!

Thanks for reading this post. Feel free to show your support by buying a ko-fi to this crazy full-time Writer on a Quest, it is always very much appreciated.

Until next time!