Welcome to the first weekly update on the NaNoWriMo project for 2023! A Cage for Horrors was locked away in my mind for years and years, only expressed in my drawings. Now, it is time to see what the world actually looks like!

How did the past week go?

Day one was yesterday. I took off with a sprinting start: 6008 words spread across the prologue and first chapter. Unfortunately, I started to rethink my prologue the day before I started. The new prologue required some tooling to make it work, but I think I succeeded. What I had originally planned for the prologue was folded into chapter one!

I also started out in a way I usually don’t: with an action scene. Usually, I like to build towards those, but with this story it felt good to start with a little fight.

Chapter two was more difficult to write. I came to the realization that I hadn’t given myself a lot in the first couple of chapters to seed my creativity. It was a bit of a slog to get to my wordcount, but by the end of my writing today I finished at 11.013 words.

In the past week, I earned the following NaNoWriMo badges:

  • Update my Writing Progress. This one was for recording my first progress, which I did after completing the prologue.
  • First-Day Update. As the title suggests, I updated my progress on the first day of the challenge.
  • Update More than Once in One Day. I tend to update several times over the course of my writing, whenever I need to switch screens real quick to give myself a moment to think and reflect. A good way to show your progress!
  • Start a Streak. By updating two days in a row, I started my first writing streak.
  • Write 1.667 Words/Write 5.000 Words/Write 10.000 Words. These are pretty self explanatory, I think. Keeping track of major milestones is important, even if I blast by them at this pace!
The status of my overview for the First Weekly Update!

What happened in the story?

We are introduced to Cadence, Darryl, Herb, and East Light City as Cadence and Darryl fight off a mysterious creature that almost kills Herb. We learn a little bit of the powers that the two command and the way they do command them. Additionally, the chaos of East Light City and the Southern Stacks that dominate it are briefly explained, though we will explore those further in future chapters!

Chapter two was mostly focused on Cadence and her past. She’s the main character of this book for a reason!

How does the next week look?

I expect that the coming week won’t live up to its full potential. I go to The Rock Circus on Saturday, which will last until early morning on Sunday. After that, I will still need to drive home. Three chapters will be a challenge after that, though I’ll give it a shot!

For the rest of the week, I have kept my evenings free. I do expect having to have a meeting for Scouting on Wednesday, which will cost an evening. Thankfully, I took this into account and I think it won’t impact the schedule too much.

Are we still on schedule?

I would be very disappointed if I wasn’t on day two! Though I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to complete chapter two with the wordcount I was aiming for, I succeeded. Now that the story is picking up steam, I will have less trouble with reaching my words. The beginning is always the hardest!

Practically speaking, with everything I wrote above in mind, I currently anticipate finishing on the 25th of November. That’s what I’ll be aiming for!