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An audacious challenge & how to write a mystery!
🕑 Added 2024-08-26 00:36:41 +0000 UTCI had an idea that's so audacious (some could say ridiculous) that I needed to rush over here and work out the kinks with y'all.
Before that, though, let's get the housekeeping out of the way! Real quick, I promise.
For our Double Stream Day, we'll aim for Friday, August 30th at 3:30pm CDT and Saturday, August 31st at 10:30am CDT. I'll post back up here with the actual links before then!
And for our Crafts & Drafts book club, I've picked HOW TO WRITE A MYSTERY: A HANDBOOK FROM MYSTERY WRITERS OF AMERICA.
This was published in 2021 and has a whole bunch of different authors contributing. It's segmented out by "The Rules and Genres," "Other Mysteries," "The Writing," and "After the Writing." I skimmed a few of the essays and enjoyed them! This book also repeatedly came up in all my searches for "best craft books on writing mysteries" (and I think Zara also suggested it) bahaha.
Though this book is clearly more about how to write capital m Mystery, I think all writers can benefit from learning how to layer in clues and hints along the way, something that is so integral to this genre.
So hopefully it'll be a hit! I have my fingers crossed! We'll plan to have this one done by mid-October to discuss. :)
Okay, okay, onto the ridiculous/audacious goal!
Some of y'all will be aware of the unfortunate circumstances surrounding NaNoWriMo (here is a limited list of the issues, though it doesn't touch on the whole experience of the volunteer MLs). For me, the initial disappointment has only compounded by how terribly the organization has handled the aftermath.
All that to say: I won't be participating in NaNoWriMo this year.
I've been attempting 50,000 words in November since I was in middle school and ADORED the old forums. I've been an ML, I've raised money for the organization for so many years and in so many different ways, and I've been a longtime donor, too.
If I could extract the organization from my experience, I would. I'd keep participating because I so love the community. But unfortunately, that's just not something I can do with how involved I've been. It really makes me sad. Sad and disappointed.
(This isn't judgment if y'all still want to participate! I know a handful of writers in person who do NaNo each year but don't use any of the resources. They just heard about the 50K challenge and agreed to keep it up in November. That's it! That's all it is to a lot of people.)
Anyways, the idea of NOT participating has been weighing on me. For nearly TWO DECADES (omg), I've had something to look forward to at the tail end of the year. It gives me all the writerly vibes. A crazy goal, a big community, just so much fun.
I'm so incredibly lucky to have y'all that I feel like I get community year-round now, in a way that Younger Me could never have anticipated, so that part feels mostly covered.
Which left...what would I challenge myself to? If I'm not bound by the 50K in November...what would I do?
I'd do more. And I'd do it for longer.
100K words. 3 months.
I'm thinking October, November, and December to close out the year and ALSO because I should definitely have A Closet Full of Cauldrons off to beta readers before then. (I'm tentatively aiming for mid-September.)
So my real question is: Would anyone want to join me?
100K is a really big ask. But it's also less words per day (~1099). And has the wonderful benefit of being closer to a completed draft length for most fiction writers.
My husband pointed out that December is basically a wash of a month for a lot of us, though, so it might make the challenge harder. (Somehow I always delude myself into thinking I can get actual work done during the holidays. And then, of course, I don't, bahahah.)
The other difficult part is this doesn't give a whole lot of "prep" time unless we bring back Preptember (lolol). I'm between two ideas personally, and will definitely need that time to figure out which to choose.
Anyways, IF you're interested in joining me, besides an extra Discord channel, what would you like to see? Would you want some kind of scheduled check-ins? How often? Would you want a template to track your words? Let me know! :)
Excited to write with y'all this weekend. Until then, happy writing!! :)
Comments
Pen
I'm in. Finish one first draft...dive deep into another.
78kgsofshade
Very late to the party. but I love this idea. Could we do a rebel version, though, for people who have five 100+K word drafts to now edit?!
Kate Cavanaugh Writes
Of course, as I say that, I finally see the "Group Challenge" tab bahaha.
Kate Cavanaugh Writes
OMG CANDACE!!! This is so cool. I'll definitely play around with this the next couple days and see if it will work for us! I'm curious if it will log an entire group participating, too.
Gerinda Kappert
So sad to hear those stories about NaNo... I only used their website to track my wordcount and made yt video's about my writing process. Also to buy some writers suplies offcourse. I will definitely join those 3 writing months. 100k seems doable to me. But can we call those months of writing KaWriMo or KCWriMo or KaCaWriMo?! lol! ;) Discord page, twitch stream, google sheet, weekly checkin, all sounds great!
Misslucyjane
I'm in! I love the idea of a Google spreadsheet or other way to have some accountability, and a weekly check-in kind of thing.
Matthias Grosser
Wow, that's really disappointing that NaNo has been like this -- I had no idea (was literally just thinking about what idea to try and do for it this year, safe to say I can't participate in good conscience anymore). But 100k in 3 months IS a lot closer to a full draft -- maybe even more than a full draft. Maybe I'll try my hand with everyone, but aim for 70k LOL. Thinking about it, it could be fun and create that community-based vibe to have a spreadsheet or something like that where everyone can input their stats every day like what was done in the planner vs pantser writing battle thingy a few months back. One of the biggest things I loved about NaNo was the website that tracked word counts/how much you had left/what you needed every day to catch up, so now I'm trying to think about how I could do that on my own
Candace Floyd
https://www.pacemaker.press/ lets you do shared challenges and it gives you a little graph just like NaNo
Sarah Cahill
sigh. Guess I'll have to bring my outlining plans forward. I can never say no to an epic challenge, especially not a 100k one...
Candace Floyd
Yes, yes, yes! As an underwriter I doubt Iβll hit 100k in a first draft but I think a quarter-long challenge is the perfect NaNo replacement. Just a whole writerly season
Leighton Williams
Count me in! I have a romantasy series I've been wanting to write for a long time now! Will definitely need a prep month, though!
themysteriouscloud
I'm in! I don't know how well I'll get the words, but, like, I'm always down for a fun writing commitment.
Silvia Letizia
I'm in! I have a new novel to write for a contest, and that would be so motivating!
Jimmie Hammel
I'm entirely in on a 100k challenge for Q4! Plus I feel like 1100 words is a more consistently achievable daily goal for me. I've always managed NaNo by having a lot of 1k days with 4-6, 5k days sprinkled in on the weekends.
Joanna Ortiz
I'm absolutely in. As someone who once tried to do 100k DURING nano (I got 75k), I think that's a much more reasonable, healthy goal lol. I love the ideas of a dedicated discord channel and a google sheet. Maybe also regular or semi regular check-ins, like a weekly "progress report" on discord?
Kate Cavanaugh Writes
HOORAY!!! :) It's so funny how so many of us were feeling this way, like knowing what we WOULDN'T do but at a loss for what we would.
Kate Cavanaugh Writes
Yayayay!
Kate Cavanaugh Writes
YESSSSS ANJA!!
Kate Cavanaugh Writes
Ahh, you know what, I think you've summed up my feelings even better. Part of it was all my health stuff, but I had been slowly pulling away as well. It was just a much harsher cut than I'd wanted/hoped and makes me sad for how it's all turned out. Using this 100K for essays and flash fiction is GENIUS. (I've always wanted to do a November version where I did an essay a day, but alas! Never got around to it.) Maybe you'll inspire me to give it a go in February! ahaha
Kate Cavanaugh Writes
Yayayay!
Kate Cavanaugh Writes
Ooooh YES!!! It feels like a perfect kickstart! :)
Kate Cavanaugh Writes
That's what I'm thinking!! It's also very close to the word count goal that 1000 Words of Summer encourages too, so it'd be fun to have a continuation of that.
Kate Cavanaugh Writes
Oooh yes, the accountability! I think a shared Google sheet would be so fun!
Ellen
Would love a template of some kind that lets us track our progress publicly (a shared Google sheet? Idk) bc for me what nano offered was the accountability piece and the motivation of seeing that I was really in it with other people
Sarah Bazeley
I was feeling similarly and struggling to decide on writing goals for the rest of the years so 100k in 3 months sounds great!
giseledute
I totally want to participate in this challenge!
Vic
100k in three months sounds perfect! A discord (channel) and template would be brilliant - and if you were already putting a template up maybe there could also be an editable version that people could track on publically? if it wouldn't be extra effort! weekly or biweekly check ins sound good to me ^.^
GiGi Huntley
(I've done NaNo for years, too, but... Yeah.)
GiGi Huntley
I'm in!
Anja Kuemski
And there I was thinking I should write shorter fiction for a while. :D But 10 short stories with 10k each β¦ why not? Not that I have finished anything in the last couple of months. At least it would help me to write an hour every day.
Porscha Writes
I love this idea, and I'm up for the challenge. I will likely be working on essays but I also want to challenge myself to finish some flash fiction just for fun. Either way 100k in 90 days here we come!! I also stepped away from Nano because **gestures at everything** but honestly I had been drifting away for the last few years. Nanowrimo had been part of my life for a long, long time but it just started to feel different than back in "the good ole days"
Author JC Carpenter
I would love this challenge! I'm trying to think if it's even feasible but a part me just wants to throw caution to the wind and say what the hell, go for it! I don't have Discord though so I could maybe check in with you through email or just on streams or something but this is a cool idea. To me NaNo was always about the challenge I put on myself to write the 50K and also a place to keep track of my word count. I never used the forums anyway because I was always too much of a loner lol (until AuthorTube showed me just how much I was missing out on with the community) but I get community here and in YouTube so that works for me. I am going to have to add this book to my list to see if the library has it. Great idea Kate!
Maybe Lavender
I'm totally in! That lines up with something I was thinking of doing anyway.
Chen Yan Chang
Ooh, that 100k in 3 months could be something to motivate my writing again! I had to take a break from writing some months ago
Jen Swan
This could be an interesting challenge. Not sure it I could do 100k but you know even if you donβt get 100k it is still writing
Clara Rose Elliott
I won't be joining in under those parameters (December is already spoken for) BUT I'll be cheerleading while I chase my own goals π₯³ I think it sounds like a fun challenge, it'll be neat to see how you and anyone who joins in does.
alessandra
I love the idea and I also am disappointed in NaNo. I have learned this year that word count goals are not the best to get me to actually write. I could adapt this since I am taking a creative writing class with weekly prompts this fall, but I have found a nice rhythm with writing lately. I do not want to change it up too much.
Elizabeth Delafield
That sounds perfect for what I want to accomplish in the remainder of this year. A template to track words would be amazing, but I wouldn't want to create a burden for you or anyone. Check ins would also be awesome.
angela
It'll be so fun this kinda of challenge. And it seems more realistic for my adhd brain lol you could do weekly lives for check-ins and maybe a spreadsheet? I haven't been able to write it feels like ages. So excited for next month (aka preptember lol)
Tracie Eastman
We were discussing this within our writing group and talked about just doing a 30 in 30 another time of the year. Only because it's hard for us to use November for this. Lots going on especially those of us with school age kids & large families. Then we joked about February being short story month. π I think based on the chaos around NaNo proper we aren't going to be participating & most of us have quit being MLs. (My friend even gained a stalker from NaNo.)
Kerri B
100k in three months sounds really fun! I've been editing two of a client's books back to back and then I may have another book to edit right after because the client (a referral from the client I'm editing for rn) is in a tight spot. Now I have a good excuse to take October easy and focus on writing again!
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