Project Hazel: Chapter One finished

Last night I managed to finish Chapter One in my new middle-grade fiction chapter book. It is a real milestone because although I have only written almost 3,000 words – just a tenth of the word count for my abandoned novel – it feels like real progress as I am following a solid plan. As well as a sixteen-point plan, I have plotted out fifty scenes and grouped them roughly into chapters so I know exactly what to write next. Where my previous novel had multiple points of view, with two different time periods, this is much more straightforward single point of view with only a few flashbacks dotted through. I am also writing this story chronologically whereas before, I had not decided how I was going to structure the novel which ultimately meant I hit a brick wall with it.

I owe a big part of this progress to my writing buddy, Elizabeth, who I meet with online weekly. I met her through a Writers’ HQ course while we were both working on a course to get us back into writing. She is a an English teacher (!) and we have fun catching up on life stuff before doing 20 minute sprints where we either write or work on our plotting. While our chosen genres are very different, it is so helpful to be able to talk over any stumbling blocks or questions with someone who is also writing. As we have both done the same plotting course, we can give advice and ideas. It is strangely motivating to write in silence with someone online. She sets a timer and we both go on mute and then write or plot without stopping for 20 minutes. Some evenings, we will manage three or four sprints and other nights, we only have time for one or two.

I met her Sunday night and last night and after my meeting with her yesterday, I was able to get my first chapter finished. This draft is definitely a wild, zero draft. It is not pretty and there are some placeholder names but I have the words down and I am ready to move on to Chapter Two now.

My working title for the book is Project Hazel – after the main character – but I don’t have a name for my book yet. I am hoping one presents itself to me during the process!