I had plans for Camp NaNo in April. Big plans. I had a 11k romance novel that I was going to rewrite into a cozy mystery. I was reading a cozy mystery series to get a sense of style … and hit a snag.
(Yes, of course I decided to rewrite it before I’d read any books in that genre, I have ADHD and I’m learning where all my impulsivity comes from!)
Some other person rudely decided to borrow the same series from the library as me. I know! How dare public resources be shared. It put a bit of a stopper in my April Camp NaNo plans because after only a few books I felt I only had a light understanding of what I needed to do.
My rewriting pretty much ceased. I didn’t have a hold of where the plot should be, what types of things I needed to rewrite to make it a cozy mystery. I feel like people would call it slacking off, but it was an intentional temporary giving up. There was no point in stressing myself and pushing myself to rewrite when I had literally no clue WHAT I was trying to write.
Towards the end of the month I managed to borrow a few of the books from the library again. It put me back on a path of converting the romance to the cozy mystery. I felt like I was getting a feeling for the genre, what to include, what to leave out.
Was the month a success or a failure?
Both!
I did not rewrite 11,000 words. It was a failure on word count. It was a complete success in terms of me getting a feeling for the genre. I did complete a kind of structural edit of the 11,000 words. I reread what I had written so far and started putting notes to myself about what needed removing* and what needed expanding. What pacing changes I needed. Where I needed “more murdery stuff by now”. I feel good with where I am at. Now the book just needs a lot of time to add all the things in that I identified.
*So much needs removing. But I’m not upset by that. I think a lot of it could end up making a great prequel novella.