Moon Phase Writing Experiment Week 2

This is quite a bit late, but here is an update for the second week of my Moon Phase Writing Experiment.

The second week of October came and went, and I still loved writing based on the moon phases.  From the 8^th to the 14^th, we had 3 different moon phases.

The first was the Disseminating Moon, also known as the Waning Gibbous Moon, which ran from the 3^rd to the 9^th. 

The second was the 3^rd or Last Quarter Moon, which occurred on the 10^th.

The third phase was the Balsamic Moon, which is also known as the Dark Moon and the Waning Crescent Moon. This phase occurs between the 11^th and 15^th.

Each moon phase has its own writing tasks, which you can read about in the previous post which explained the full Moon Phase Writing Experiment.   Or you can watch the video on The Dawdling Writer YouTube channel HERE!

There is also a blog post for how Week 1 went, which you can read HERE.  And a video update, which you can watch HERE.

October 8th, Disseminating Moon

I wrote 2,153 words on this day, and I focused mainly on creating a larger cast of characters.  Who were the elders in the community; who were the wise ones or the characters who are healers (of body or mind)? I attempted to figure out who the gossips in the community were, as well as how the spies in the community would funnel information to the antagonist. 

In addition to those characters, I outlined some possible plot points where twists and sudden shifts would happen, as well as conflict that would make at least one character derail from their original plans.

October 9th, Disseminating Moon / 3^rd Quarter Moon Window

I wrote 2,210 words. I tried to finish up the last of the Disseminating Moon tasks and get a head start on the 3^rd or Last Quarter Moon tasks.  I ended up creating (and eliminating) some possible red herrings for the story.

I also decided a character who was originally intended to be an antagonist actually needed to be on the “good guy” side.  But that brought up a whole new list of questions and eliminated some of the plot options I’d had in place for this character.

This was also the beginning of the World Wide Writeathon weekend on YouTube. It was a relay of sprinting and chatting streams over 36 hours (24 full hours of writing sprints). 

October 10th, 3^rd Quarter Moon

I wrote 2,466 words this day, and I focused mainly on discovering the characters’ motives, which is one of the tasks for this particular Moon Phase.

What were their wants and needs? What lesson did the characters’ need to learn over the course of the story? What drove the antagonistic characters to take certain actions?  What environmental factors were at play to influence the characters’ actions? What about emotional and psychological factors?

October 11th, 3^rd Quarter Moon Window/ Balsamic Moon

I wrote 3,367 words on the 11^th, although not all of it was for this particular story. 

I focused on creating some of the tension and conflict that should occur in the midpoint of the story.  I also focused on plotting out ideas for the emotional and environmental factors that would lead to the main characters briefly separating before the climax of the story.

I also received the news of a family member’s death.  While not unexpected, I can definitely tell it had an impact on my focus for the rest of this week and into the next.

October 12th, Balsamic Moon

I wrote 1,269 words on the 12^th, and one of the tasks for this Moon Phase was to develop the end (of relationships, subplots, etc.).  Rather than plotting the actual end of the story, I focused on when, where, and how the relationship between two antagonistic characters ends.  The end of this relationship sets off a chain reaction of information and events in which the main characters will be embroiled.

Another of the tasks for this Moon phase was the creation of a specific type of character: the quiet, yet resilient, characters.  I started creating a character for this role, and I love him.  However, his existence and the role plays in the backstory, as well as the current story, posed some issues.

October 13th, Balsamic Moon

I wrote very little this day (a whole 38 words).  I was still questioning the extent of the resilient character’s role, and how involved I wanted him to be in the plot for this first story.

Yes, I said first story.  The more brainstorming and ideas are jotted down, the more this world unfolds, and my “outline” has become a “story bible.”

I also had to call my local board of elections to deal with a missing absentee ballot that had yet to be mailed to my house. That was fun.

October 14th, Balsamic Moon

I wrote 1,810 words on the 14^th. Using the Save the Cat Writes a Novel beat sheets, I went back through the notes I’d already created and attempted to create an actual outline for this story.  It’s not quite what I would like to start NaNoWriMo off with, but I still have time to refine my list of plot points.

Week 2 Summary

For the second week of this Moon Phase Project, I wrote a total of 13,313 words. This means that by the end of this week, I’d already written 31, 526 words for the whole month. 

That is 63% of the way to a NaNoWriMo goal!  It is also 75% of the way to the half-Milwordy monthly goal. 

Don’t know what the Milwordy challenge is?  Read about the mad dash to one million words in a year HERE in an earlier blog post.

Interested in last week’s breakdown? It has a lot more details about how I got my initial inspirations for this story.  Read about it HERE.

I hope you enjoyed this breakdown of the progress for each moon phase and day.  This experiment is very fun, and I am enjoying changing my focus just a little bit every few days.

If you want to hear more about the project’s details, feel free to hop on over to The Dawdling Writer YouTube channel for some live writing sprints and chatting about our stories. I stream regularly Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 1-3 PM Eastern, and Sundays 2-5 PM Eastern.