National Novel Writing Month 2024 – Writing Log
The Novel – The Writing Log
Sunday, January 19 – 0 words (+0) – Let’s do this
This is going to need a few explanations. Why am I writing a novel in January? Why start on January 20? Wasn’t National Novel Month back in November? What’s going on?
Yes, it’s a bit strange. But these are strange times. To recap what happened last November: No, I did not write a novel. I was, instead, obsessively catching up on my 1,093 movie reviews backlog, an effort that took me 86 days from September to November and produced over 210,000 words (twice a novel!). I worked on reviews rather than a Science Fiction novel because I was eager to get that albatross off my neck, and because my idea for the 2024 novel wasn’t completely panning out.
But then weirder things happened. On November 5, Americans made a spectacularly ill-advised electoral choice, and my imagination ran wild with what-ifs for the next four years. On December 4, a targeted assassination on the streets of New York City eerily duplicated the opening of my proposed novel. I shrugged — by that time, I had started transforming some what-ifs into an idea with far more potential — a comic thriller set in 2027 Washington.
Who said November was the only month fit for novel writing? Rather than throw things at the TV during the months leading to the presidential inauguration and right after, I would instead channel my frustrations and dark humour into a creative product. A novel, still written in thirty days from January 20 to February 20, essentially moving the 2024 NaNoWriMo to eighty days later. By sheer happenstance, January 20 also ended up being 2024’s most-depressing-day-of-the-year “Blue Monday,” which also plays into another reason for this NaNoWriMo — keeping myself busy through the worst of winter. By the time I will emerge from writing the entire thing, it will be time to plant seedlings.
So here we are. My thousand-word outline isn’t as detailed as I’d like it to be (they never are), but the basics are there and I’ve got enough of a three-act structure to follow until the end. Plus, I’ve got enough jokes to keep me interested over thirty days. Let’s go!
Monday, January 20 – 3,128 words (+3,128) – Rusty start
It took me longer to write those 3000 words, but at least we’re back into it, and my prologue isn’t nearly done yet. In other words: Pretty much what I expected from a first day. I couldn’t help but lecture a few co-workers about writing over lunch break today, and one of the things I said was that writing is problem-solving, and there’s no substitute (planning, outlining, structuring) for actually sitting down and doing it. My fuzzy idea for an opening action sequence (this is a Bond parody, so I’ve got to do what’s expected) gradually developed itself as I was writing it, which is as it should be — and writing in a comic tone opens up a lot of possibilities that would be forbidden to a more serious writer.
Anyway — the first three thousand words are done, and they’re up on the web. I’m still posting online this year — it’s not as if this novel will ever be publishable anyway (have you read the tagline?) and it’s more fun to post it as a serial for anyone interested.
There one more thing to do today — send an email to tell everyone I’m writing, just so that I feel accountable every single day until it’s done.
Tuesday, January 21 – 6,141 words (+3,013) – Slower than expected
Problem solving isn’t equally easy every day, and if yesterday went well, today was a bit harder. (I may end up lopping off five hundred words of dawdling in today’s words to make the prologue go a bit faster.) But the important part is that the three thousand words are done, I’m nearly done with the prologue, and tomorrow should see us comfortably in Chapter 1, with the main action of the novel finally getting underway.
As the introduction to this log suggests, Mayhem on the Potomac is very much what author Charles Stross (and others) calls “an attack novel” — the kind of unshakeable concept that demands to be written down, even if you’re supposed to be working on something else. I had a perfectly good Science Fiction novel idea that just didn’t have the motivating spark, and in the somber post-election days it was quickly pushed aside by another idea that sparkled with potential. This is one of the very specific joys of not writing for publication — I can abruptly run with an utterly unsalable concept and get it finished in roughly four months from having an idea to writing THE END. Maybe it’s self-therapy. Maybe it’s self-expression. I just know I’m happier writing than not writing.
Wednesday, January 22 – 9,139 words (+2,998) – Wrap-up and Exposition
Today wasn’t that hard… but I don’t think it’s particularly good. On the good news front, we’re now finally out of the prologue with two quick parting shots (and this PG-13 novel’s sole harsh expletive.) On the less-good front, much of Chapter 1 so far is paragraphs and paragraphs of exposition. Which I like writing (and it was fun imagining an alternate American political universe in which That Guy’s political party was inverted) but I fear isn’t as interesting to readers. But it had to come out, and now that we’ve firmly established that bit of necessary exposition, we can move on to something else. Tomorrow won’t necessarily be more action-packed, but should see the inclusion of the novel’s tag-line, so that’s something to look forward to.
Thursday, January 23 – 12,058 words (+2,919) – More exposition?!
Another hum-drum day — took longer than I wanted, but I did get those three thousand words in (re-watching Bond movies doesn’t help, I suppose). More exposition, but at least our hero now had his mission and the novel has its main hook. Hopefully that’s enough of a foundation for the rest, although the next action sequence is not planned until at least Saturday or Sunday. Time to get the plot gerbils back to work in the downtime…
Friday, January 24 – 15,051 words (+2,993 words) – Are we ever going to be done with the exposition?
Another day of mostly-blah writing. We’re now in Chapter Two, but still moving the pieces where they should go, still setting up the next fun sequence, still in the strictly procedural phase of the novel before the fun begins. At least I got things done — the action is now in Washington, our protagonist is finally working on the ground, and an alternate viewpoint character is coming into his own. One more supporting character set up for later use (not entirely sure what fore, although I have new ideas) and I threw in an added wrinkle because it was getting a bit boring. Tomorrow, the shape of the novel should become clearer and funnier.
Saturday, January 25 – 18,010 words (+2,959 words) – Now it begins
Most of today’s writing is once again “protagonist prepares for something big, in plenty of details to make it credible and not a lot of dialogue” procedural stuff which is getting old, but today’s writing segment started and finished with physical confrontations, which is always fun. Tomorrow is the first big twist of the plot — I stopped on a cliffhanger of sorts, but now I have to figure out how to best introduce and manage the insanity of what’s next.
I probably won’t attempt a double-sized writing day tomorrow — for one thing, this novel is not going to get above 100,000 words and my goal to finish sometime around February 20 is a lot fuzzier than the usual November 30 big deadline. For another, I’m trying to keep up a more normal life during the writing of this specific novel. I’m still playing video games (albeit ones selected to be picked up and playing in small bursts of time rather than an all-encompassing RPG), still going out (I spent much of the day greeting an old friend and visiting a museum, for instance) and I may even skip a few days once in a while. This novel is supposed to be a goof, an outlet and a way to keep myself entertained during the winter — not a punitive measure. I’ve got the experience required to get to the end of it, but the way to get there is mine to manage.
Sunday, January 26 – 21,056 words (+3,046 words) – Now we’re having fun!
Much of the novel has been building up to this — one big comedy sequence featuring a who’s who of film spy fiction, assembled together in all of their quirks and clashing personalities. Today was the beginning of that big scene and I’m not doing too badly so far — there’s more than a few balls to juggled, but I reckon that today’s writing had at least one or two chuckles for the readers. It’s interesting to see how some archetypes don’t really survive the requirements of moment-to-moment writing: what began as a Bond parody is slowly accumulating layers and depth of its own because of the actions taken by the characters from one moment to another. I’ll see later how many of those deviations from the archetype I’ll keep, but for now I’m writing slightly more than a Bond copy. Another thing: If you, dear reader, have now many more names to keep track of, imagine the author — I have to have my own cheat-sheet to keep them straight.
Monday, January 27 – 23,013 words (+1,957 words) – Ugh, not a good day
Poor showing today, for no real reason — I simply got stuck trying to move forward, having to pick between several paths forward. In the end, I settled for a classic Bond sequence with a few twists (including a bit that’s probably too over-the-top, but still made me laugh out loud), and copy-and-pasting pieces of a presidential transcript held today rather than try to invent something as inane as what that guy said. I’ll try to make up for the shortfall tomorrow, although my evening is scheduled to be busy.
Tuesday, January 28 – 25,841 words (+2,828 words) – Better, but not funnier
While yesterday was not a good day words-wise, I kept cackling at one of the jokes all day long. Today, despite a few time constraints, was better — I had focus, I wrote a cute little Bond-like scene of high-stakes poker (even leaning into my not knowing about poker by spouting obvious nonsense at spots) and solidly put some necessary pieces of plot scaffolding in place. A short action beat to wrap up the night and there we are at the end of a decent day. The only problem is that I focused far more on the plot than the humour, so there’s not much in comic matters other than some debonair wisecracks from the viewpoint character. I stopped when I did so that I could think about what’s next — is it time to rush to the end of the first act, or can I squeeze in a little bit more fun and games yet? I have about twenty hours to figure it out.
Wednesday, January 29 – 26,348 word (+507 words) – Not much, but still
Despite the underwhelming word-count, I wasn’t idle today — I went over a few chapters, corrected some of the writing, added one short scene, threw in a few more jokes and thought about what’s next. (I was also out for most of the evening, so there are extenuating circumstances.)
Thursday, January 30 – 30,085 words (+3,737 words) – End of the first act
Pretty good day — more words than usual, and they all flowed more easily than usual. But this was to be expected — after what I recognize to be a few days of hesitation before one of the big showcase turns of the novel, I finally committed to the bit today and ushered in the moment that readers have been waiting for since the first chapter. A slower writing pace during the last few days helped, because it let me insert an ominous scene that came up to me over the past few days, and deftly stickhandle a tricky mini-climax of sorts. Don’t expect the same number of words tomorrow: Now that I have straightened out the end of the first act, I now have to start over again with a brand-new second act. But that’s a problem for tomorrow.
Friday, January 31 – 31,956 words (+1,871 words) – Beginning of Act Two
Fewer words than I’d like today, but a major shift in the novel’s narrative: We’re done with the initial situation, and we’re moving on to a radically different one for the second act. I used a long lunchtime walk to convince myself that it was time to hurry up something that was planned for later in the novel, and used the evening to start executing some of that (and also to nap, which partially explains the fewer words). Also, the day’s cliffhanger was simply too good to keep going forward. Since an entire thicket of possibilities has just opened up, we’ll see where this takes us. There’s a fair chance that I can put myself and a laptop into a high-boredom environment tomorrow, which may be helpful for the word-count.
Saturday, February 1st – 36,589 words (+4,633 words) – Biggest day so far.
Pretty good day today! I had some free time, so I got to write at length and so moved the action forward quite a bit, and threw in a wild action sequence to keep things lively. As we near the mid-point of this rather short novel, a few plot points got clearer today. I may have a challenge tomorrow in piecing together how I’ll make my way to the next important plot beat (time for another gratuitous action sequence?) but at least I’ll have some time to think about it.
Sunday, February 2 – 38,124 words (+1,535 words) – Mostly thinking, some writing
There’s something freeing about not having to write the novel according to the strict confines of the November calendar month. Since this will not reach 100,000 words and since I’m not necessarily tying myself to a completion date of February 20, I don’t have to stick to a daily quote — as long as I advance the thing every day, I’m reasonably happy. So, anyway: 1,500 words today isn’t anything worth crowing about (especially since it’s all exposition), but since the process of writing it clarified what I’m going to do in the next few days, it was worth it. I was forced to put down a few markers on the way to the next big action sequence, and that’s going to be the focus of the next two days. Until then — early bedtime.
Monday, February 3 – 38,420 words (+296 words) – Mostly thinking, little writing
I wrote mostly pseudo-prose today — spent two hours, one of them on the treadmill, reading a book about spycraft (specifically about the Moscow CIA station in the 1970s-1980s), then another hour with Google Maps to plan the next action sequence set around Washington DC monuments, then wrote and refined a synopsis of the main beats I want to hit in the next action scene. Also listened to a lot of Bond-related music, but that’s not really showing up in the writing. Readers will be disappointed at the lack of an update, but there’s still a lot of work brewing behind the scenes.
Tuesday, February 4 – 43,457 words (+5,037 words) – Finding the obvious
As you may have guessed from the last few days’ inconsistent word counts, I had a few problems getting through this patch of plotting. I knew where I was going, but finding the best, most dramatic, most action-packed way to get there was a bit of a process. But as I stated yesterday, everything came together today — the pseudo-prose synopsis was gradually expanded into prose, and the thinking work of the past few days was transformed into the biggest daily word count so far. In other words, I had to think about it long enough that the way through this section of the novel was not only clear, but obvious — it could not have have been anything else.
I may face a similar knot of possibilities on the way to the next big set-piece, but that’s tomorrow’s problem. In the meantime, I’ll have nice words about how modern technology and helpful website makers have enabled me to virtually walk down the streets of Washington, visualize the action beats of today’s sequence in real locations, and even correct some factual errors on-the-fly. There’s a bit of explosive mopping-up to do tomorrow, then we’re headed straight for the conclusion of the second act. I can already anticipate that the third act is going to be a beast to wrangle.
Bonus! If nothing else, the past few days have given me a definitive list of my favourite Bond songs: Shirley Bassey’s “Goldfinger”, Tom Jones’ “Thunderball”, Paul McCartney’s “Live and Let Die”, Duran Duran’s “A View to a Kill”, Chris Cornell’s “You Know My Name” (a surprise) and Jack White & Alicia Key’s “Another Way to Die”. (Sure, go ahead and pretend that Adele’s “Skyfall” is my seventh choice if that makes you happy). The Bond theme itself remains timeless, although the Moby and the Paul Oakenfold remixes are pretty good. Any Bond playlist is not complete without Propellerheads’ Decksanddrumsandrockandroll (an album conceived as a homage), in particular their wonderful remix of “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”, as well as the iconic “Spybreak!” and “Take California” (Plus “History Repeating” if only for Bassey). Since my novel is very much in the tradition of techno-action Bond, add songs like Paul Oakenfold’s “Ready Steady Go” (for the Jason Bourne link), The Future Sound of London’s “We Have Explosive” and Fluke’s “Atom Bomb” (also featured in The Saint!) to round off the playlist. The longer this novel takes to write, the longer its recommended playlist will be.
Wednesday, February 5 – 45,521 words (+2,064 words) – Wrapping up a big sequence
Two thousand rather easy words today — although this “wrap-up” to yesterday’s big action scene took longer than I thought, and had more action than I expected. But at least there’s now some actual mayhem on the Potomac in this eponymous novel rather than it being merely metonymic. I’m stopping because it’s a natural chapter break, I’d like to go to sleep not too late, and I could use a few hours to figure out the sequencing of the next few steps. The entirety of the novel’s last act is planned to take place over eight hours, so everything has to be at the right place before the last stretch begins, because there isn’t as much tolerance for errors and shuffling plot pieces when it gets more chronologically intricate.
Thursday, February 6 – 48,131 words (+2,610 words) – The day it all came together
Not as many words as I’d like, but there’s a limit to how much exposition I can cram without boring the readers. Plus, it wasn’t just exposition — I ended the day on such a high note that it didn’t seem right to keep going just for another measly four hundred words. The highlight of the day was to neatly wrap-up the underlying plot behind the plot of the novel — and the most hilarious thing is that everything was pieced together after the fact, with no going back into the narrative to fix or add things. I had left myself so many dangling plot elements that adding another level of plotting was just a matter of making links between what I had already put in the story. Writing magic! (Or maybe I was semi-consciously putting the pieces I would need later on. This is my thirteenth novel, after all. Writing’s mysterious that way.)
Sadly, don’t expect as many words tomorrow: I will most likely be spending the evening planning the last act of the novel, which means a fair bit of research, a lot of time spent on Wikipedia and Google Maps, more pseudo-prose than prose, and hammering out the big story beats I want to hit on my way to the conclusion. Calling it right now: I would be surprised if the entire novel ran more than 75,000 words — which would be higher than average for a Bond novel. At my current words per day, that would mean ending around February 16, more or less on schedule. Of course, I have a regrettable tendency to cut things short in my conclusions, so it may be a few days and thousand words earlier than that.
Friday, February 7 – “49,097” words (+ “966” words) – More pseudo-prose
I did not update the novel online tonight — but I still “added” nearly a thousand words of pseudo-prose in my Word document in figuring out the shape of the third act. As mentioned before, the rest of the novel takes place in the span of roughly ten hours in downtown Washington, DC — so I have to make sure that I’ve got the choreography of the action tightly wound up… otherwise I’m not going to have a lot of space for fixing things on the go. (And they may break along the way.) I’m generally satisfied with how things are shaping up so far with the high-level movement of the remaining six chapters provisionally mapped out. But I won’t be really happy until I figure out how to make it funnier, because right now it’s a heavy-duty political thriller with action sequences thrown in. Which is not necessarily a bad thing — this novel has oscillated between almost-slapstick jokes and dead-serious thrills a few times, and I’ll argue that the best way to handle a comic thriller is to have a solid plot framework, and then add the jokes. But I’ll rest more easily once I get a few funnier moments in there. Part of the day was spent how to have an action sequence set in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and I think I’ve got the beginning of an answer. I just have to figure out how to get there, and that stands for a few of the smaller details as well. I’m expecting more pseudo-prose tomorrow, but also to start chipping at the next scene in sequence.