Hi guys, I hope you all are having a great week-start. As promised I’m here to share about my progress with JuNoWriMo. If you are my friend on Facebook or Twitter, then you might already know about what I’ve been upto, but if not then read along.
I participated in JuNo hoping that atleast I’ll get a couple of hundred words written, but amazingly and unbelievably, I’ve outdone my own expectations already (and it’s only been 16 days!) I’ve already written 32,000 words (almost 20 chapters and a few scenes.) The story just seemed to flow as soon as I started writing. I had only 2-3 bad days where I wrote less than 500 words. But other than that, everything’s going great I’m a bit stuck with the end of the book, but I guess I’ll figure it out by the end of this month. There’s still a bit of research left to do but I’m sure I’ll be done with the first draft by the end of this month. I’m planning to write a total of 1,00,000 words so that after the edits and all I’ll still be left with a 400 page novel.
I’m planning to spend the next month making the changes and creating at the second and then the third draft of the book. Then it’ll be ready for the beta readers. After that I’ll be hiring an editor myself to get it edited. After that I’ll try and find an agent to represent me. Then I’ll be sending out the query mails to publishers (big and medium sized) and simultaneously with the agent. I’m hoping to be accepted by a big publisher (Harper Collins or Penguin)-fingers crossed.
So far my JuNoWriMo progress graph looks like this:
I’ll be sharing more about the book once I plan the final ending and tweak the sub-plots. For now I really need to know a few things from you all (if you guys will be kind enough to take some time out for me and answer these questions:
- What do you expect when you hear “psychological thriller?”
- Would you like to be able to get into the head of a psychopath or the victim?
- Would you like the chapters to be long or short?
- Do you like a book with strong emotional connect with the MC (Main Character) when you know something terrible is going to happen to them?
- Will you be sympathetic towards a killer if you knew something really, really terrible happened to him/her? (Here I’m not asking sympathy to let him go freely, but just as a simple emotion.)
- Would you prefer a stand-alone thriller novel or a series? (Mine is stand-alone, but I’m asking simply because I’m curious!)
Thanks a lot for reading this post. Please feel free to answer to any or all of the above questions. I’m looking forward to know everyone’s answers. Also, if you have any advice for me for writing a thriller book, please go ahead and share it. I love talking to you guys 🙂
BTW, this is how my draft is looking (actually I took this pic last week, so presently it’s a bit more thick):
Have a great day!
Ciao!
VERBATIK MEDIA by Heena R. Pardeshi 
20 responses to “My Writing Progress”
Hi Heena, in answer to some of your questions; A psychological thriller to me would involve a twisty-turny and very dark plot, very much like a noire horror story. I think I would prefer a standalone story overall as well. I think a strong emotional connection with the main character is very important, from the comic-book side of things, it’s always important to be empathetic to the Superheroe’s struggles, so the same would apply to novels for me I believe. 🙂
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Hey Bruce, Thanks you so much for responding! I really appreciate it!
Even I love twisty and turn plots, they keep the readers engaged. And I can understand the value of empathy in regard to the MC… it serves as the best way establish the connection with the reader…
Thanks for sharing your views Bruce, I will keep all these points in mind while planning the sub-plots of my book. 🙂
I hope you’re having a great day! 😀
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Impressive progress, Heena. 400 pages sounds ambitious for a first novel.
Psychological thrillers aren’t something I read too often, but I think I’d rather be in the head of the victim than the psychopath. Although that said, the psychopath’s thoughts would probably be the more interesting. I don’t think I’d want an emotional connection with either – too dreadful with the psychopath and too sad with the victim.
I love reading series and following characters, but I’m not sure it would work as well with psychological thrillers. I wouldn’t want to follow a psychopath for multiple books! For a series to work, it would probably need to be an investigator of some sort. That would also be the only way an emotional connection could work for me personally. That poor character, lol.
I ‘might’ be sympathetic. For me, it would depend a lot on who the victim was and why. Not sympathetic at all if the victim was just random on or no way connected with whatever bad things happened to the killer.
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Thanks a lot Dagny 🙂
Yea, it’s a bit too ambitious I guess. I’ve been doing a bit of research and now I’m thinking of keeping the length not more than 300 pages, now that of course will depend a lot on the ending of the book, but still I’m gonna keep the backstories a bit in check.
Haha! I understand and I guess the main motive of my book is really to make the reader feel an awful amount of dread… hehe!
I’m planning to keep the story simple with snippets of Psycho’s journal entries thrown in every 40-50 pages… how does it sound?
Hmmm… actually the victim (Allison- a pampered darling daughter) will be an innocent victim, as she’ll be paying the ultimate price of the the sins of her father… kind of thing… (these are spoilers, but I still want to discuss this as ‘mystery’ is not what I’m gonna play on… pure thrill.)
I guess the connection will make it seem more personal rather than the random killings of the psycho.
Please tell me what you think about what I’ve just disclosed about the book (hehe! Don’t know what, but the plot seems much clearer to me when I tell someone about it!!!)
THANKS A LOT for all your precious advice dear! You are the BEST ❤
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Ambitious isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Just think of Jean Auel’s Clan of the Cave Bear, a great first novel and rather long.
Since you want the reader to feel ‘an awful amount of dread,’ it sounds like you’ll succeed and in that case going into the victim’s thoughts and head would probably work the best. Great idea with Psycho’s journal entries. That’s the way of getting into his head without limiting yourself to that point of view.
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Yea… I guess! Thanks so much Dagny for for your views as well as for looking after RMFAO 🙂 You’re a saviour ❤
I'm almost done with the first draft… I'll be doing the second draft this month only. Hopefully the book will be ready for Beta reading by second week of July.
Do you know any Beta Reader? Please let me know if you do… 🙂
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I don’t know any Beta Readers. If you need me, I would be willing to help you. Psychological thrillers aren’t really my cup of tea; those moments of dread terrify me, lol. But I’m good at proofreading and pretty good at continuity.
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That’ll be great Dagny! I was planning on asking you to read my draft and help me construct the plot… I’m really glad that you’re willing. It should be done by the 2nd week of July or maybe first. I’ll let you know whenever it’ll be done 🙂
Thanks a lot ❤
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I’ll send you my email address.
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Got it. Thanks!
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Oh my Heena – 1 million words – you are making very good progress and should be done in a few months at the rate you are going now. I personally would prefer stand alone so that I could get the entire story all at once with the ending. I think I would like to get into the head of both the psychopath and the victim.
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Thanks a lot for being so encouraging Tony 🙂
I’ll probably tone down the word count a bit but still I’ll have atleast a 300 pages book.
I’m kind of thinking to keep the victim my MC and then I’ll throw in half a dozen diary entries of the psychopath. That way the readers will get to know the victim inside and out and a very sketchy image of the psycho (which will keep them curious about the psycho.)
What do you think about it?
Thanks a lot Tony for your answers… I’ll definitely try to incorporate these suggestions in my writing 🙂
Have a great day!
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Yes – a sketchy – mysterious image for the psycho would probably keep the readers engaged.. Keep up the good work..!!
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Thanks a lot Tony! You are the best my friend 🙂
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Yes to all ye/no questions. Chapter length doesn’t really affect me. I so thinkbI would have more sympathy for someone with a traumatic history but then psychopaths lack empathy so if they are really psychopathic, I would not feel very sympathetic towards them. Doesn’t mean to say that wouldn’t make a great story
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Thanks a lot for you precious answers dear! I really appreciate it 🙂
I’ll keep these points in my mind while working on my book’s sub-plots… Thanks!
Have a great day!
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1. I don’t read much of thrillers, but if I read, I love that it has turns and twists, I love to read the thoughts of the characters and more of their own inner struggles.
2. I love to know more about the psychopath and to read his thoughts and see how he works 😀
3. I always loved long chapters and books, but now after I’ve read lots of short chapter books, I find it very nice and I like it even more now. I can take a break from reading faster and get back into the story better.
4. I really do. Even if the main character will die, lol, I still love to know that I got to know it and even though the lost will be hard, if the story needs the MC to die, I think it could make the story better.
5. Not much, no!
6. In thrillers I will go for a standalone novels 🙂
Just a note… Love the new theme of your blog hun ❤
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Thanks a lot sweetie for taking out time to answer these questions! I really appreciate it!
I’ll keep all these points in my mind as I’ll be writing the sub-plots of my book… 🙂
And thanks… even I like this one better 😀
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Awww, happy writing hun and may the creative god smile upon you 😀
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Thanks a ton dear! 🙂
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