THE LAYERS BENEATH US: NaNoWriMo + snippets + next steps!
One week on, I am still super excited to announce that I WON NANOWRIMO 2020! To learn more about how November unfolded for me, read a few juicy snippets from my book, and find out where I’m going from here, come and check out this post! →
One week on, I am still over-the-moon excited to announce that I WON NANOWRIMO 2020!! Throughout this crazy year, I experienced many moments of doubt that I’d be able to pull this off, but somehow I managed to draft a brand new novel in amongst everything else I had going on. If you read my posts back in October, you’d know that my goal for NaNo was to write the first 50k words of a contemporary YA standalone titled The Layers Beneath Us. Here’s how I went:
Wrote 50k words. Throughout November, I chipped away at my word count slowly but steadily, taking a few pre-planned rest days here and there to keep myself focused. I reached the 50k target on 28 November, and my final NaNo word count for 2020 was 56,656 words!!
Finished the draft. In the back of my mind, I always planned to keep writing throughout December until the draft was complete. But as 30 November approached, I realised the end was in sight and kept pushing until the book was done. In the end, I wrote 30 chapters in 30 days!
~ THE DAY-BY-DAY PLAY ~
During NaNoWriMo, I provided daily updates on my word count and progress through social media. You may have seen my little doughnut charts, but here’s what my daily and cumulative numbers looked like throughout the month. While my word count varied considerably on a day-to-day basis, it resulted in a steady upwards climb to the top!!
~ A FEW STATISTICS ~
According to my NaNoWriMo profile, my key statistics while drafting this novel are as shown below. I wrote an average of 1,888 words per day at a speed of 10 words per minute. And it is of absolutely not surprise to me that I’ve been classified as a night owl—always have been, always will be!
Something else I shared on social media throughout NanoWriMo was a daily snippet of The Layers Beneath Us. They’re all still there if you’d like to go exploring, but today I thought I’d share the five excerpts most popular with my followers. I hope you like them, and I’d love to hear what you think!!
“Really, Alex?” Nate calls, laughter in his voice. “You’d rather ride a giraffe to school than a donkey?”
I go for a nonchalant shrug. “What can I say? I need to get the extra height from somewhere.”
They wave me over. The warmth of their welcome buffets me, but it doesn’t sink into my skin. It’s familiarity, not affection. Habit not connection.
I don’t feel like any of them truly know me at all.
Misery washes over his face. “I…I’m sorry.”
A part of me aches to take away that look, to tell him it’s okay, but it’s not. I can’t let this shit slide, even if it’s only me who ends up hurting in the end.
I sense the moment slipping away, and I’m struck by the sudden realisation that I don’t want it to go. I don’t want it to disappear, leaving me grasping at nothing but smoke and whispers.
The levity fades. We look at each other, lost in our own thoughts, not needing to utter a single word. No one dares break this near-sacred silence.
My heart aches a little at the knowledge that, this time tomorrow, it will all be over.
To be honest with you, I don’t really have a firm plan for The Layers Beneath Us from here. I know that the next stage will be editing and writing the second draft, likely followed by a beta reading phase, but the timeline is definitely up in the air. 2021 will be focused on progressing my other projects (Holding Up the Sky and Graceborn), so this one is likely to sit for a little while, or else be a fun project I’ll revisit when my motivation is low.
And you know what? That’s fine. I’ve invested an enormous amount of energy in The Layers Beneath Us this year, and I need to get some distance before I can review it objectively. I did a full read-through earlier this week; the story as it stands will definitely need some work, but I’m super proud of what I’ve achieved with it so far. I’ll keep you guys in the loop with this one, and this website will always be kept updated!
Two boys. Eight days. A disaster in the making.
Alex is a quick-witted brainiac with a burdensome secret. Ryan is a future Olympian who has fallen out of love with his sport.
When the pair are thrown together on a school hiking trip, they form an unlikely connection. A connection that forces them to confront both the truth of their dreams…and their innermost fears.
Read the full blurb of The Layers Beneath Us here.
Did you participate in NaNoWriMo this year? How did you go? What are your plans from here? Do you like the snippets from The Layers Beneath Us?
Rebecca Alasdair
I'm an Australian indie author who hoards books, loves dogs and coffee, and has a tendency of staying up all night!
10 Comments
Andrew McDowell
I didn’t participate, though I wish I could write that fast in that amount of time. I haven’t written anything major in a while. I sent what I have of the sequel to Mystical Greenwood so far to a beta reader, and am slowly making my way through her notes.
Rebecca Alasdair
Hey, that’s not nothing! We all write at different paces, and we just have to do what works best for us. Hope the beta reading goes well 😊
Andrew McDowell
Thank you, Rebecca. Happy Holidays!
Rebecca Alasdair
And to you!!
Tomas
Congratulations on such a huge feat, a full draft in a month. I guess you deserve a bit of rest, and huge chocolate, for December.
November was usually a writing slump for me, and I expected this one to be the same, but I managed to edit over 60k words for Eternity’s end – some parts rewritten from scratch. So that’s far from nothing, I guess.
I haven’t yet tried to participate in this, probably because November tends to be a slumpy month for me, but I’m open to it in the not-so-near future if I have a side-project ready – maybe one of the potential prequels to Eternal Defenders.
Furthermore, I see myself as a ‘burst writer’, which leads to some strange paradoxes: I see the idea of a full book (even short one, at 50k) as barely possible yet my best burst so far was 40k words in a week.
Rebecca Alasdair
Thanks Tomas! And it sounds like you’ve had a successful November too! 60k words edited is definitely not nothing. I happen to agree that November is not the best month for this particular challenge, but it is what it is. If you’re keen, you can make it work. In the past I’ve used it as an opportunity to edit or rewrite existing WIPs rather than start something new, so that’s an option. You can make up some of your own rules at the end of the day! And I can’t believe you once wrote 40k words in a week—that’s AMAZING!! 😯
Tomas
To be honest, I wouldn’t recommend a 40k/week writing burst to anyone. I doubted my sanity more than ever. 5-6 hours a day, crowned by writing until 23:40 on NYE. On the other hand, it was the most productive 31.12. I’ve ever had, with 10+hrs of writing total.
Rebecca Alasdair
Haha that’s pretty crazy!! 😂
K.M. Allan
Love the snippets, Rebecca!
Rebecca Alasdair
Thank you!! 😁