Writing Fervor

I’ve said I will write one thousand words per day. I’ve said this is my goal and I will stick to it no matter what because I don’t want this WIP to take a year like the last one did. I’ve said I will do this before I read, before dinner, before anything else, like it’s homework and I can’t wait to get through it so I can enjoy the rest of my evening.

But this WIP is not homework. It’s not even work. Most days, 1K seems like a ridiculous goal because I fly right past it and keep going. I wrote a little over 1.5K tonight—I was in the middle of a scene I just had to finish—and that’s a little on the low side for this WIP.

It’s like I can’t write enough, not ever. It’s like I’ve been stuck in a desert with no water for days and now every word, every sentence, is a drop of rain. I want it to pour. I’ve said before that I’ve a full outline for this WIP in my head and now for every plot point I write, I’m desperate to get to the next one. I’m gathering all the rain like the drought will come again and steal, evaporate whatever words I’ve left unwritten.

If I had time, I’d write more than 1.5K every day. If I had time, I write until I was exhausted, until I had no more words but all the rain. I love rain. Every day, this rain of words helps me learn something new about this story that I thought I’d worked out before I began.

My full outline has turned out to not so full, but it hasn’t slowed me down. Whenever I’m not writing, I’m thinking about writing. I’m working out the wrinkles in the plot and finding that this story is much more complicated than I thought it’d be. I’ve even begun to think that though this story will stand alone, it may have series potential.

I blame this, in part, on Laini Taylor’s DREAMS OF GODS & MONSTERS. It was released on April 8 and I’ve been reading it these last few days. If you don’t know, DREAMS OF GODS & MONSTERS is the third book in Laini Taylor’s trilogy. The first book is…quiet compared to the other two, at least at first. It’s about a boy, a girl, and lost love. But as the book and the series progress, the scope of the story expands, taking in worlds layered on worlds. It’s about more than just a boy and a girl—it’s about a war between races, between worlds. It’s about magic and destiny. Laini Taylor writes it like it’s a series of paintings, beautiful and vivid and true.

The more I read Laini Taylor’s books (among others), the more I realize that my story has a greater scope. It’s been happening all along as I’ve been writing. It’s snuck up on me, but it’s not hiding anymore. I’m now revising my mental outline, adding more plot points and plot twists, delving into things I once thought were beyond my ability to write. It’s intimidating, but I’m not backing down. I’m writing my 1K+ words per day. I’m getting this story on paper before it evanesces –a word I’ve borrowed from Laini Taylor, a word that seems so appropriate for this desperation I sometimes feel about getting this story out of my head. I have this writing fervor that I just can’t escape, not until I’m finished, not until I written every last word, when it won’t matter if the rain no longer pours.