word count quandry

Today I wrote just over 900 words on my "B" story, which is based on a scene I found in one of my Yami notebooks. The scene in question falls somewhere near the end of the story, since it involves Tsuzuki and Hisoka gettin' busy with each other, I've been working backwards from that point, trying to figure out how they got there.

This, I'm finding, is not such a simple thing to do! In fact, it's quite a challenge. Over the past couple of weeks I've written several versions of what I keep hoping will be the beginning of this story. I like several of them, but none of them "feels" quite right.

I'm wondering if I should still record those scenes as part of my weekly word count? I'm 99% sure that they won't end up in the story, but they are still part of my daily writing practice in the sense that I showed up at my keyboard and wrote them. So I'm leaning towards counting them in the sense of "words that I wrote this week," and then maybe having a separate counter for my actual projects.

Either way, I find that keeping track of my words per day is really motivating. Even if what I wrote today doesn't end up in the story, I can still say I accomplished something.

Random Generator Recs

I love random generators. When I'm stuck for ideas, I often hit my favorite random generator sites for just that perfect bit of random serendipity that will get my brain bouncing off in fresh new directions. Here are a few of my faves:

Seventh Sanctum - there are (seemingly) a billion different generators here, on all kinds of topics from the bizarre to the hilarious to the downright... useful. My favorite area to visit on this website is the section called "writing," which has several random plot-generators, in various flavors.

Nine Frenchboys - has a comprehensive selection of generators on all kinds of things, from settings to costume ideas to character profiles. For those who, like me, write in anime-based fandoms, I particularly recommend the Japanese Male and Japanese Female name generators, which will happily spew out as many names as you need for all those pesky incidental characters.

Cool Bits - this is my favorite plot generator of all time. As the name suggests, it generates the "cool bits" for your story and leaves the rest to your imagination. There's something so evocative about the way the prompts are worded that my imagination starts running wild. (Even when it doesn't exactly make sense.) Here's a random example:

Your story begins with a woman who dresses sensibly for battle in the ocean. The antagonist is a priestess who is motivated because they've always wanted to be a hero. Plot elements include overcoming an age difference in a romantic relationship and premature greying.

Next time you're feeling stuck for a story idea, give it a whirl. It's guaranteed to get you thinking in avenues you wouldn't have come up with on your own, and you never know--it might be the inspiration for your next novel.