So my mother, Prisca Crawford, and I have just completed the 3-Day Novel Contest, wherein participants are challenged to write a novel, beginning to end, within the 72-hour period. It was a truly amazing experienced, I was excited going into it, unsure what to expect, and I can honestly say that I didn’t have a clue how great it was going to be – I totally underestimated how much fun I would have.
As you might imagine, I’m a little fried at the moment (it’s 2:36 am, I’ve only slept about 15 hours in the past three days), so here’s a completely unorganized list about the things I enjoyed/gained/learned during this experience:
- Writing a novel is entirely possible, and maybe even kind of…easy? I don’t know, I don’t want to discredit the entire thing, “easy” isn’t the word…it’s just…it can be done. Even by me. I can write a book. I can write another one, whenever I want to – it’s not some magical process, it’s just…writing.
- Twitter can be really helpful for keeping yourself on-track. I made a ton of new Twitter friends, which was awesome, especially because we formed this wonderful support system, which was so helpful in getting things done that I can’t even begin to describe it. #3DNC #2k1hr FOR LIFE.
- I definitely, definitely, absolutely want to be a writer. Not that this has ever been in question, but now it’s like I have concrete proof that I was made to do this. I love writing, I feel best when I am writing, and there is no feeling quite like completing your first novel (and I imagine, no matter how many you write, the feeling is always magnificent).
- Writing is my drug. Or maybe it’s just achievement. Either way, to me, this experience was more fun than most “fun” recreational activities, and I honestly can’t wait to do it all over again. It’s so bad that my mum and I started talking about doing a 3-Day Novel (or maybe a 5-Day Novel, for sanity/real life’s sake) every month. And apparently, we weren’t the only ones to get hooked. I’m looking forward to future endeavours.
I think I needed this experience – I think I needed reminding of how much I love to write, and how much I’m capable of when I really put my mind to something.
I had a LOT of fun – we both did. We had a complete break-down-laughing giggle fit earlier about some of the mistakes we made, though. For instance:
- I COMPLETELY forgot to explain the name, origin, location(s), purpose, and abilities of the magical items that were the driving force of the story. I even forgot to say how the villain got ahold of some of them. Seriously – these characters are obsessed with getting these ~Special Magical Objects~ but I barely mentioned them. The villain’s entire quest was to hunt them down, but I think I mentioned them once before the final battle (at the very beginning of the book), and it was basically to go, “There are special magical objects, but we’ll talk about that later!”
- At the end of the story, I brought in a character who, though he had always existed in my head, had not once been mentioned in the book. He pretty much showed up at the end for one scene, went “It’s okay! I have the solution to all our problems, right here in my pocket! But we can deal with that later!” and then disappeared again. I swear he existed for the whole story in my head, and I knew where he was during the entire course of the novel…I just…never had an opportunity to mention him. Until the end, when he suddenly existed for a few minutes before not existing again.
- There was supposed to be this love story happening, but it didn’t happen. At all. At the end, one character was displaying all these signs of having a serious crush on the other, but then I realized that they had interacted once, and that was when they met. I never showed them talking, working together, or even sitting in the same room – not once.
I want to clarify that I’m not upset, I think these mistakes are awesome. They’re just so hilarious. I love them, seriously – especially the second one. My mom and I were almost crying laughing because 1) It’s damn funny, and 2) we were kinda delirious.
I do promise you one thing, though: My mother and I are committed to cleaning up this story over the rest of September, and will have a polished, publish-worthy (or at least query-worthy) copy of our novel ready by September 30. And to top it off, we solemnly swear to send it out to agents, publishing companies, and anyone else who might be able to help us get published. We’re dead serious about this whole “becoming authors” thing, and we’ll stop at nothing, especially now that the hardest part is behind us 
Okay, it’s time for bed – I can no longer type a coherent sentence without correcting it fourteen times and my eyes are starting to burn. Time to collapse in bed. Goodnight, guys! It’s been an incredible weekend 
P.S. – The menu thingie is acting up. I just can’t right now. Maybe tomorrow…till then, just try not to notice it. Look at the pretty birdies instead~
