The First Day of Writing! (Crashcourse, Day 5)

Welcome to Day 5 of Crashcourse!

Hey look, I'm finally smiling!
Here I am, relaxing after the first day of writing.

Today, I started the actual writing of Crashcourse by trailblazing my way into the dark recesses of my imagination. So, how’d I do, you ask? Read on to find out!

First Day of Writing is DONE

Today was a tough day. I started out with a lot of nervous energy, as is common for me with new stories. I hoped it would be enough to carry me through a four-hour session with ease. Instead, I labored slowly before finally quitting around the three-hour mark with just 585 words. Ouch, right? Right. But let’s look on the bright side. Namely, I’m trailblazing! This is a brand new book, never told before in all of history. Oh, it might share similar elements to other stories, although certainly not on purpose. But since it’s told by me, by my voice, it can’t help but be original.

Let’s put that 585 words in perspective. Remember how I told you that I’d be editing along the way? Well, this impulse kicks into overdrive whenever I start a new book. I think it’s because my brain is trying to find the right feel for the story. Randy Wolf, as you recall, is a kid. I’ve never written a book from the perspective of someone so young. It’ll take time to get into his head and see how he thinks. On top of that, I’ve never written in this genre before. So, I’m doing a lot of experimenting.

While in the midst of a book, I usually average about 500 words an hour. I’ve written faster than that, but not very often. I’d love to tone down the editing and maintain a better flow.

Story Progress

I like to start with a good hook, something to pique the reader’s interest. I didn’t have any good ideas so I just put Randy Wolf in the field, performing his Orienter duties. He’s about to meet a prospective student for his school, which I named the Roderick J. Madkey School of Magical Administration. Quite a mouthful, huh? There’s a story behind that name. Some time ago, I graduated with an MBA from the William E. Simon School of Business Administration. Of course, nobody called it that. We just called it the Simon School. But we were instructed to use the full name for all correspondence, includes resumes. And that name is, of course, a mouthful. I understand they’ve changed it to the Simon Business School. Much better, don’t you think? Anyway I always thought the original name sounded unnecessarily pretentious, which is kind of how I view Madkey right now.

After I finished writing for the day, I couldn’t shake the feeling that my beginning was way too slow. I walked to my gym and an idea hit me out of the blue. What if Randy was racing other Orienters from other schools, all for the same prospective student? Kind of like a recruitment race? Ahh, much better. Lots of tension and it gives readers a chance to see the uniqueness of this world. Best of all, it’ll hint at Randy’s true underlying greatness. So, that’s what I’ll be working on tomorrow!

Totals:

Today’s Writing: 585 words in 3:04. 191 words/hour.

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