The W.I.P. Diaries: A Fake, Big World
Days Written: 9
Words Written: 38,846
Days Since Last Menty B: 9
Welcome back to The W.I.P. Diaries!
If you’re thinking, “what the hell is a W.I.P. diary?” Then you might want to visit my introductory post for a little more context. Go ahead. I’ll wait.
All caught up? Wonderful. Let’s dive into the update.
As of writing this post, I am nine official days into the first draft of my W.I.P. I say “official” because I did crack out a chapter or two prior to my recent vacation. But I’ve only kept track of my writing progress since September 5.
Since my first checkin, a lot of progress has been made behind the scenes. The entire worldbuilding has been completed, aside from some extraneous details that will inevitably consume me as I progress with my draft. This is my very first time taking a crack at a fantasy novel, after all.
I have gone on the record (aka professed to my husband for years) to say that I will never write a fantasy novel. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy the genre. One look at my book reviews would tell you otherwise. But I have truly believed that writing a fantasy is way out of my abilities as a writer. I have so much respect for fantasy authors and it was far too daunting to consider.
And then, a tiny little idea planted itself in my mind. And the thought grew and grew until I looked at my husband one day, after weeks of telling him all about my little idea, and I said, “I’m writing a fantasy novel, aren’t I?” And he replied, “I’m afraid you are.”
This is actually great news for my bookworm husband whose favourite genre is fantasy. This is also great news for me, as it means I have a built-in beta reader. I believe his vows actually said, “I take Felicia to be my wedded wife, … in sickness and in health, and in drafting a fantasy novel.”
I have been making great use of the tools and resources at my disposal, in that I have used just about every single tool and resource, regardless of if I need it or not. This includes using Canva to collect every character inspiration, setting map, or fashion inspo, Trello to plot every single chapter and track progress, Pacemaker to plan and record word counts, and Google Drive for EVERYTHING.
I have also spent a sufficient amount of time consumed by the very productive task of creating a moodboard on Pinterest and a playlist on Spotify. There is no place I have put more effort than these two things, a reality that is enormously bleak to me.
Currently, I am 13 chapters deep into my novel. And while this is an incredible feat, it has to be noted that I had already written a lot of this before. The writings of these chapters entered a purgatory for some time, before I knew what to do with them. I can’t decide if rewriting them to fit the novel is a breeze or the most frustrating thing of my life.
That being said, the writing will slow down once I run out of content to repurpose. Or maybe it won’t. Don’t hold me to any of this — I’m simply the writer.
For now, that’s all. I’ll make sure to update again soon when there’s more to share!
