The 5 A.M. Fail: But the Finish of the Structure!

It was Sunday morning at 1:00-something A.M. I couldn’t fall asleep for a horrible headache, but after some prayer I finally dozed off… and kept my alarm for 5 A.M. set. >:)

Surprisingly, I woke up even before 5 A.M., due to the same terrible headache. I was feeling quite nauseous but determined to finish the structuring of my novel already.

So when that 5 A.M. sucker went off, I jumped out of my loft bed to stop it, grabbed my current structuring notepad, new pen (I dried out my previous one again. Shocker. 😉 ), phone & headphones, and jumped right back in despite nausea and that evil headache.

Feeling terrible, I tried a few epic instrumental drama tracks to kickstart my adrenaline. But they seemed to make my headache worse, so I settled for something softer: When You’re With Me by The Afters, the theme love song for the second main couple of the Warfare series, Hora and Itsu.

I’d upload it so you can get a listen, but I’m too lazy.

I couldn’t take much more of the headache and nausea after one and a half pages of structuring, so I quit and tried to go back to sleep. I really hate quitting, but throwing up all over my beautiful notepad full of dramatic structuring didn’t really seem like a good idea.

Lying in bed, fighting nausea and trying to get back to sleep didn’t work. Eventually, I had to jump out of my loft bed, run to the bathroom, and throw up, and that was that.

The sad fail of my heroic 5 A.M. structuring attempt.

Sniff.

I skipped church that day; throwing up on the back of the pastor who usually sits in front of me didn’t seem like a very good idea, either. I felt much better and got a ton of structuring done later on Sunday, and then Monday rolled around.

Glorious Monday.

I finished structuring my novel! I completed structuring the Climax, Resolution, and Closing Line and I was DONE.

You wouldn’t believe my relief.

(And that I’m actually re-considering Warfare as the name of my series after all. I’m a very indecisive person.)

Well… kinda relief. I then realized I had to answer sixty questions per scene for my scene outline. I’m planning fifty scenes for my novel, so that’s 3,000 questions I have to answer before my scene outline is completed.

I’m gonna die, guys.

Technically, I could actually do NaNoWriMo tomorrow if I completed my scene outline today. Then my novel would be ready, the hard work completed.

But my other two reasons for not participating still stand, and I don’t think I can get 3k questions answered and still have fun, so… *sniff* I still won’t be doing NaNo this year.

I’m still really excited, even though I’m not participating. I’m actually reeeally sad I’m not doing it, despite a lot of recent hate and confusion on my Why I’m Not Doing NaNoWriMo post?? Pssst: I actually do like NaNo. XD

Right now I’m working on typing up all six notepads of outline and structuring notes so I have them on my computer for easy access while creating my scene outline and for quick answers to general questions while I’m writing.

Like… How old was Ari when Kira took her in? How old was Hinoki when he watched his parents die? Is it the right or left elbow of Ari’s that Hinoki gives a chronic injury to?

As always, I’m tracking my progress on MyWriteClub if you want to stay updated frequently. I’m currently…

171 / 300 pages in. *pants* Today alone, I typed up 2.8k words. (Let’s not get into yesterday’s.) And all of that today is only some of Hinoki’s character arc planning. *pants harder*

(The 300 pages are all my own notepad pages, completely separate from the outlining and structuring workbook pages.)

*pants more*

The thought of working on my beloved scene outline was what drove me on through the loathed torture of character arcs and frustration of structuring. And now I have to answer sixty questions per scene, so it’s not so beloved anymore.

I don’t know what else I’m going to do but DIE. Did I mention that already? Probably not. I’M GONNA DIE.

I want to get started on the scene outline by Thursday, November 9th.

(The only reason my gorgeous face is not bringing this photo up a notch included above is because I don’t know how to work a timer on my camera so I had to manually take this photo. That resulted in a blurry close-up after multiple tries and stretching my arm out as far as I could.)

I hope I haven’t given outlining and structuring a bad rap. I just like taking things all the way and going to the extreme, and then being very dramatic about it.

(Well. There’s some of my gorgeous face.)

Outlining and structuring have been a lot of fun, and the best possible thing I could ever decide to do for my novel. What goes in is what comes out; with all the blood, sweat and tears I’ve poured into this thing, I can’t wait to see publishers trip over themselves to get their hands on it first and then watch the book fly off the shelves the moment it’s in stock.

Conceited daydreaming. Yep. That’s how I’m consoling and motivating myself through all this work.

Above all, I can’t wait to see the Name of Jesus Christ glorified through this series and set a standard for excellent, moral fiction.

Christian books shouldn’t be lame and corny. If we’ve got the Son of God living inside our hearts, why would we dare settle for less than making the best? God-honoring entertainment should be the best around, since it honors God. And that’s what’s driving me on.

But why am I getting all sentimental? I haven’t even written the book yet!

Here’s my tentative schedule for Warfare Book I:

2017

August-December: √Outline, √structure, write scene outline

2018

January-March: Write first draft

April (Camp NaNo): Edit first draft

May-June: Beta readers (YOU!)

July (Camp NaNo): Edit second draft

August-September: Beta readers (YOU!) (while outlining Book II)

October-November: Finish all editing (while continuing to outline, structure and scene-outline Book II)

December: Begin pursuit of publishing! (while finishing scene outline of Book II)

NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow. I wanted to be writing Book III but… not settling for less than my best. *sniffs* It’ll be worth it.

I’m still really excited, though. For you!

While I’m no author (yet >:)) or anything, I just wanted to say that I’m here for you and support you!

You’re always welcome to email me if anyone else is too busy to read that awesome snippet you just wrote and are dying for someone else to read. Or if you have a question about outlining or structuring, I’m no expert but I can definitely give you some advice as I’ve been studying those subjects a lot lately! (… as you can see. XD)

If there’s no one else to answer a question like that or fangirl over your recent snippet with you… I’m here! ♥

Are you ready for NaNo tomorrow? Have you done an outline or are you pantsing? Are you scared to death of outlining after reading my posts?

Rest assured, I really like being dramatic. Take everything I say with a pinch of salt.

Love you and am praying for you! And get ready for some big surprises here at Madi Grace. >:)

P.S. While you brave NaNoers are tackling that word count, I’ll be continuing my usual: