NaNoWriMo - Day 14, 15 & 16

Day 14, 15 & 16 - 22nd November 2025

Just a short update today.

My new total word count is 13028, that's an increase of 4048 over three days. A good portion of that has come from squeezing in some additional writing sessions during my lunch breaks at work. Typing on my phone is hardly ideal, but at least it all saves directly to the cloud, so any changes I make to my document are all updated instantly, which saves a lot of time.

It's kind of easy to focus on writing when I'm work. I don't have to worry about getting distracted by an online video or music, because that kind of stuff isn't really allowed in the employee break room. 

Writing at the park or on the train has always been my preferred way of making progress, so it's a shame those options aren't really available right now. I don't have a working laptop, so my only options are the PC or the mobile phone right now.

Anyway, returning to a point I had discussed in one of my previous blog entries, I have included a a map of the narrative structure I will be following for this project. It does contain some spoilers, so if you are interested in reading this fantasy story organically maybe just skip over this diagram at the bottom.

I will say that I don't think mapping out the story on paper has really helped me much. It hasn't really increased my creativity or give me a better sense or where things are going. Perhaps I need something more detailed, like those cork-boards you see in crime shows, with the pictures, names, and locations all connected by red string. 

"What does this scene mean?"

"What does this character want?"

"Where can I squeeze this cool action sequence into the story?" 

It would probably be too complicated to set up, and it all feels like the sort of plan you make before writing a story, rather than halfway through it. A lesson for the next project, perhaps...