Welcome to the final 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?

The past week consisted of two days: Friday and Saturday.

On Friday, I completed the final chapter of the story. I tied off the final threads that had been left hanging in the dramatic climax of the penultimate chapter, providing closing and making sure that everyone knows where we leave our heroes. Some characters may still be AWOL, but that is done on purpose. I didn’t manage the full 5000 words, only 4200, but for the final chapter… I think that is okay.

On Saturday I completed the Epilogue and told myself that I did a good job. That was worth it.

After that… I took some time for myself. My friends came over for roleplaying. I spent an evening gaming, instead of writing. There was some last-minute shopping for the holiday season…

Because I’m done!

I did a little better. As you can see below, the final position is about three times as high as the picture above suggests.

It’s been a good month. A heavy, but good month.

What happened in the story?

Like I said above, the story is tied off. The only thing that I left behind was a hook. A point to pick up. There is room for more story, for I imagined this story to span at least two books.

Final thoughts?

There is nothing more to do. The story had been completed in the way I had described it.

That doesn’t mean it was perfect. I noticed as I was writing the final chapters that there were a couple of plot points that had been left by the wayside. I put down some references in the end, but savvy readers will notice that there were points that apparently disappeared and suddenly reappeared by the end. There is no doubt that I want to rewrite this.

There were also a couple of chapters where Cadence, the main character, got in uncomfortable situations. She got immobilized and questioned, or hurt. Upon review, I realized that they gave a decided impression that she was being raped. There is no need for rape in my story to give it a sense of pressure and drama, so I need to rewrite those parts, as well.

I have already made notes. My next blog will detail how, and when, I will plan to pick this up!

Besides that, I feel my energy had definite low and high points. I had trouble getting into the story, which made the first four or five chapters difficult to write. After that I got on a roll and the chapters came easy and quickly. I even had time left in the evening!

The last week was a chore, though. Fatigue had decidedly set in and I was losing time. I didn’t get to the tempo that I wanted to, writing in spurts that more or less kept my on pace, but nothing more. The last chapter was especially difficult, taking a full evening.

I don’t think that putting it off would have helped at all. It would have just meant I wouldn’t finish the book.

But I did it! The story is written. Now… time for the next steps. Come back next week for that!

Welcome to the fourth 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?

In my previous update, I said that the Thursday was a heavy day. I had only been able to write about 2000 words. On Friday, I returned with a vengeance and carried these words over, writing about 6000 words on that day. 2500 of these were for the next chapter, chapter 21.

These 2500 helped me on Saturday. I only planned to write one chapter due to scouting eating my morning and a significant part of the afternoon. With my head start, and by starting early in the morning with chores, I got to work. I finished the chapter I started, completed a second one, and started a third. Way more than I planned and making up for Thursday.

After that, on Sunday, I knuckled down again and wrote 3 chapters and most of a fourth. This included the work I did on Saturday, allowing me to end a little earlier. That was likely my last 3-chapter day and I have to admit that I’m glad for it. These days take a lot out of me, but I described that before. I ended the weekend with 25 chapters finished. The countdown has officially started.

Monday was the day that I noticed fatigue setting in. I had 3000 words already written for chapter 26 and after finishing that chapter, I was unmotivated to keep writing. I put on a stream and just decided to see how far I’d get and still wrote a cool 2000 words for chapter 27.

On Tuesday I finished chapter 27 and did the same thing as I did on Monday, writing 2500 words into chapter 28. I was still ahead of planning!

Wednesday was a repeat of Tuesday. Finished 28, started 29.

Because of that start, I could finish chapter 29 before my roleplaying session, this evening. A day I hadn’t even expected to complete a chapter!

Did I earn any badges?

One! I made a 21 day streak!

What happened in the story?

Darryl escapes his run-in with the law and learns things about a seemingly innocent friend. He isn’t able to give this enough thought when disaster strikes! His ex-girlfriend is gone! Who took her and where did they go? Will the guard believe her?

Cadence, meanwhile, learns the consequences of everything that has happened to her. Is she going insane? Or is she really being helped by an unknown force? Just as she wants to take vengeance for something that was done to Darryl, she is stopped… and the two are reunited.

Just in time to be accused of a whole lot of crimes. The endgame has finally started, where the problems accrued by Cadence come to a head and Darryl learns something new and unexpected about his powers.

How does the next week look?

We’re in the home stretch! I just finished chapter 29 today, which means I have one more chapters to go, plus the epilogue. This will be done tomorrow, on Friday, and the day after, on Saturday.

After that, the challenge is over for me. I’ve more than beat the set NaNoWriMo challenge and also completed my personal challenge. After 23 days of hard work, I think I can manage two more days.

What’ll be done with the manuscript after that? Well, I’ll discuss that later. I will be relaxing and gaming a bit, I think.

Are we still on schedule?

Yes! We are right where I want to be!

Welcome to the third 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?

I started the week with a head start. As I wrote last week, I had been paying the 2000 words I had written on a ‘half day’ forward. I kept that going, carrying the extra words over and writing about 6500 words on Friday, as opposed to the roughly 1500 that I still had to write after Thursday. I had some trouble that evening, but it was a Friday, so I had the time.

The 4000 words that carried over on Friday were finished on Saturday. With that, I wrote about 16500 words that day, bringing my total to 73.400 and completing the story up to chapter 14. That evening, I decided I was on a roll and wrote the first 2000 words for the next day. On Sunday I took it a little easier and just wrote my three chapters, taking advantage of my head start. Productive weekend, and I’m officially a chapter ahead. I did find that the amount of writing was too much on Saturday. I had trouble concentrating by the end of the afternoon. I had been writing for since 08:30 by then, though.

On Monday, I wrote a chapter as planned. On Tuesday I had a roleplaying session in the evening, but I managed to write 3000 words beforehand, despite the fact that I hadn’t planned on completing anything. That is how you manage to keep things going – taking these little extra’s here and there and using them as a bonus.

Because I was a chapter ahead, I decided to have dinner with my parents on Wednesday. That was a nice change of pace and because of the 3000 words I wrote on Tuesday, I managed to still complete a chapter. Another chapter ahead of schedule!

Unfortunately, Thursday was a killer day. I didn’t get a lot of writing done due to a heavy working day leaving me with a headache.

I did break through the 100.000 words barrier, though! I also got the 14 day’s streak award without really noticing it. Only one more award to go!

What happened in the story?

While Darryl is busy gathering enemies, Cadence is busy gathering clues from perhaps the most unreliable man in the world. They disappear, but she eventually manages to find them, after uncovering what could very well be the big antagonist of this story.

While he’s been gathering enemies, Darryl has also been talking with a little boy and his mother. They’re undeniably flirty, but will the situation allow them to continue? Especially if the enemies are… quite dangerous. They may become an issue later. Darryl also has a run-in with the law.

How does the next week look?

The next week will be a little busier. I have scouting on Saturday morning, which, if you include the need to drive back and do all the cat-related things afterwards, will mean I won’t be able to write three chapters like I did this past week. I anticipate to finish chapter 28 by this time next week!

Are we still on schedule?

I was ahead of schedule a little bit, until I decided to have dinner with my parents. I enjoyed it, so I don’t regret it. Thanks to my hard work of last week, I didn’t have to suffer in my planning.

I’m still aiming for the 25th! We’ve passed the halfway mark, so the end is already in sight and I will keep writing.