National Novel Writing Month -- Update 6

So, this is my last update for National Novel Writing Month in 2016. It was a good ride as I wrote and discovered Searching for Rachel Edelstein.

The good news is that I found her and, more importantly, so did Rachel.

It is the story of a black Jewish woman from New York City who has been estranged from her black relatives in Virginia for her entire life. And as she seeks to understand her dual racial and religious heritage, she visits her black family outside of Charlottesville for the first time over a Thanksgiving weekend.

Also, the other good news is I reached the 50,000-word challenge of NaNoWriMo, as I have four other times since 2009. And two of those novels, once totally re-written, have made the rounds in my agent search. And while I haven't landed an agent or a publisher for either, they are quite good enough for publication, whether independently or traditionally published.

The bad news this year is that I am still very unsatisfied with Searching for Rachel Edelstein. Even as a first draft, it is choppy, inconsistent and full of holes. I originally had Rachel's Jewish grandfather traveling with her down to Virginia, only to change my mind midway through the novel. I also changed the parents of one minor but key character midway through the novel.

And there were other problems. Then again, that is what a first draft is for -- to get the story down and to later re-write, re-write and re-write again until the story is nearly perfect. I shouldn't be too hard on myself with this effort. But that re-writing, however, will have to wait until some time next year. I have work on my plate to perfect first.

Anyway, thanks for joining me this month. It's been a blast. Let's do it again next November.

Thanks for reading.

Which Hogwarts House would I be in?

Yes, yes, yes -- I know I should have spent the time writing. It is, after all, the closing days of National Novel Writing Month and I haven't reached 50,000 words yet. But I'm close so I decided not to sweat it. Didn't write yesterday because it was Thanksgiving, nor today because we went shopping.

But I am close and still have time. Plus, deadline pressure is good.

So, what did I do this evening? Went to see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. It was good and fun. I enjoyed it.

When I returned home and did some research relating to the world of Harry Potter, I finally decided to test which house I would be sorted into at Hogwarts. (Personally, I have always preferred Gryffindor.)

I took three separate online tests and two of the three revealed I'd be in . . .

GRYFFINDOR.

Although just barely. According to the scoring in both instances, I'd just barely be a Gryffindor and just outside of Ravenclaw. In fact, in the one test in which I wasn't a Gryffindor, I was a Ravenclaw.

So, in the end, I would probably end up in Gryffindor because the Sorting Hat would also take my choice into account. Chivalry, bravery and daring. That sound like me? I'm probably more like Neville Longbottom than Harry.

Now, for all you people who haven't read Harry Potter nor have seen any of the films, you don't know what I'm talking about and probably don't care. (Muggles!) And so for you, I will get back to my last blog of the month when I again talk about NaNoWriMo.

But for everyone else, I know you understand.

And for everybody, thanks for reading.

National Novel Writing Month -- Update 5

Not done yet, with just a week to go in National Novel Writing Month, but I'm closing it. The challenge is to reach 50,000 words in the 30 days of November. I'm more than 85 percent of the way there. Therefore, Searching for Rachel Edelstein is coming to an end. And believe me, I will close it out somewhere just north of 50,000 words.

I'm tired of, on the fly, coming up with what's next to write.

As I look back at this month, I wish I had thought and planned more in advance. It would have made the writing easier. I have long since written past the notes I outlined for the story and so every day I face the challenge of what's next.

By temperament as a writer, I am a pantster -- someone who writes by the seat of the pants -- as  opposed to being a plotter, who does a lot of planning or outlining before writing. I like it because as a pantster, I discover the novel in much the same way a reader would. I like to be surprised by details as I go along.

But with that approach it would take me at least three or four months to write a first draft, and probably longer than that. My first novel -- Fighting Chaos, which gave its name to this blog, took me more than a decade to write. And it's still dreadful.

The second one took four and a half months. Better but not nearly as good as it can, and should, be.

So, I like NaNoWriMo because I can get the first draft done and on paper quickly. But I can't do that much writing so quickly without some planning ahead. I write out pages of notes and use them as a guide day by day.

I wrote notes this year, have hardly looked at them, and now have written well past them. I have to do better next year.

But that is for 2017. I just need to get Rachel done this year. So I must get back on it.

Thanks for reading.







  

National Novel Writing Month -- Update: A partial of Searching for Rachel Edelstein

Since so many people have been so kind in the last two weeks as I have struggled to bring a little of this novel to life -- and there have been times when I've seriously doubted it -- I have a small treat for you. Very small.

Here is a little of the beginning of Searching for Rachel Edelstein.

This is only a little more than a page and doesn't really tell you what the story is about. But I thought I'd do this anyway.

Remember: This is part of a first draft. It has no polish. Much is likely to be re-written one day.

Enjoy. Thanks for the support and thanks for reading.

Searching for Rachel Edelstein

By

MB Dabney

00,000 words

 

BEFORE

 

The blade of the shovel sliced across his face, gouging a deep cut, from his hairline down across the cheek to his chin. Dazed, Muller dropped the gun and staggered backwards. Rachel raised the shovel again and brought it down.

Hard.

The rounded part of the shovel caught him squarely in the face, flattening his sharp, pointy facial features. The blow dropped him to the ground and Rachel continued savagely beating him. Fear and anger overwhelmed all her sensibilities. She kept hitting the man lying helplessly on the ground.

Rachel didn’t know Ellington was behind her until he reached around and grabbed the shovel in mid-swing, stopping her from again striking her helpful victim.

“That’s enough, Rachel. It’s over.”

When the autopsy was done on Johann Muller the next day, his face was nearly undistinguishable.

 

 

 

CHAPTER I

“Rachel, you haven’t answered.”

 

The subway car rhythmically rocked Rachel side to side as she blankly stared ahead, almost like a zombie, oblivious to her immediate surroundings. The clang of the metal wheels on the track below didn’t phase her, nor did the sight of the fashionably dressed young Korean woman across from her. She was uncomprehending of the aroma of the man in the tattered clothes seated to her right, although those unfortunate enough not to have a seat turned away from him and his assault on their nasal passages.

It was perhaps muscle memory that guided Rachel from the subway stop to her shop, Guilford and Sons Antiques, in the Union Square section of lower Manhattan. Once inside, the shop greeted clients with the smell of mahogany and old money. The items on display reflected it, because it wasn’t a shop for a spend-thrift.

Guilford and Sons specialized in furniture for any room – cabinets, seating, tables, wardrobes and armoires, decorative objects and occasionally rugs. There also was a small area dedicated to classic photography and prints.

To accommodate its customers, the shop could arrange shipping to anywhere in the U.S. – for a hefty price. Global shipping was also available, for an even heftier price. But New York’s wealthy rarely blinked twice at the expense.

Rachel had not changed the name of the shop when she purchased it years before from the sons of the late owner, reasoning that keeping the former male owner’s name on the front windows would probably help her business in the city’s male-dominated antiques industry. It certainly would be better than having the name Rachel Edelstein front and center.

Or so she told herself.

In an emotional sense, that pissed Rachel off, as it might with any black or Jewish woman. And since she was both, she was doubly pissed off. But from a business sense, she was willing to let it slide. After all, she had herself to feed and her employees to support, though that hadn’t been a problem recently.

 

 

 

 

National Novel Writing Month -- Update 4

Well, I've reached 30,000 words, which I wanted to do last night but ran out of steam and out of time. But I'm there, more than 60 percent done.

I've figured out the end but haven't figured out yet how to get there so I just keep plugging away. I am totally beyond what little of the story I outlined last month. But the good thing is I'm discovering little pieces of interesting information about my characters as I go along.

For exchange, Rachel, the main character in Searching for Rachel Edelstein (isn't that amazing?), loves mac and cheese. She uses her mother's long-held recipe, since her maternal grandmother was a horrible cook.

The plot of the story involves Rachel, who is from New York, going to Virginia to meet her estranged family on her father's side. And while she is there over Thanksgiving, she'll learn that the mac and cheese recipe her mother used was actually from her father's mother, who Rachel just met for the first time.

The recipe is a small thing -- and hasn't been revealed yet in the novel. It comes later -- but I only discovered it while writing. I never would have thought of that while I was writing an outline.

Anyway, that's it for now. Not sure who reads these updates but here it is.

Thanks for reading.

  

National Novel Writing Month -- Update 3

Oh my goodness, I just made myself cry. Damn, I hope this stuff is good. I'm too close to it to know for sure.

I just wrote the scene where my main character, Rachel, a black Jewish woman from New York, meets her paternal grandmother in Virginia for the first time. It was more emotional than I thought.

But then again, I am playing the theme from Love Actually in the background, so that -- and not my writing ability -- could be the reason I shed a tear or two.
  
It's been a slow week and while I'm still on pace to reach 50,000 words by the end of the month, I am far behind my personal goal. I know the important thing about NaNoWriMo is writing but word count is always important to me. I know this first draft will be crappy. I accept that. But it will have -- or should have -- all the elements I will need whenever I get around to re-writing it. And I hope this new scene survives in the re-writes. It feels good.

You can't improve your writing until you write it. And so, I will plunge forward, hoping to up my pace so that I can finish close to my personal due date.

Thanks for reading.

 

National Novel Writing Month -- Update 2

Took a day off from working on the novel yesterday because it was Election Day. But in the end, I wasted a day.

Oh well . . .

Maybe now I should just write fiction non-stop, 24/7, for the next four years.

Thanks for reading.



 

National Novel Writing Month -- update

It's Day 4 of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and the average target for today would be to reach 6,668 words. But I have been ahead of schedule since Day 1, which is the only way I can do NaNoWriMo, and I just passed 10,000 words this afternoon.

Ahead of schedule, of course, but lagging slightly behind my personal goal. No matter. It is an achievement so far and the day isn't over. There's more writing to do.

I am discovering some interesting things about my characters, which is good. Just not sure all of it should be in the novel. But that's a judgment for the second and subsequent drafts. This is just the first draft and I need to get it down.

Tally-ho.

Thanks for reading.

Love Actually

I'm listening to the soundtrack of Love Actually (2003) as I write a particularly melancholy section of my novel, Searching for Rachel Edelstein.

I wonder what music I will have to find for the more uplifting portions of the book. Can't be this, although I do like it a lot. Plus, as I think about it, the ending is very uplifting. So maybe I can stick with this.

We will see.

I'm ahead of schedule and at this pace will reach 50,000 words well before Nov. 30. That's the main goal. But I haven't matched my secret writing goals, the ones I try not to mention aloud. If I grunt it out today, perhaps I will get close. Like I said, we will see.

Writing is work and I am lazy. But I have to get back to it. The novel won't write itself.

Thanks for reading.