WrimoGirl - NaNoWriMo '11

Well I did it.

2011-11-30T22:21:00.001-08:00

This was one of the most difficult NaNoWriMo's ever. Even last year I had more direction and far less inner critic to block my path. And to make it worse, I was busy as all get out and easily distracted. Somehow in the final week, I managed to buckle down and write my butt off to make it to 50k.

My story is far from finished, but I'm honestly too tired to care. In a few weeks or maybe a month I'll look back at it all and figure out what I can salvage. But not now and certainly not tomorrow.

A few things I've learned from this year:
1. Write and don't worry about how good or bad it is.
2. Plan in advance, it's really really helpful.
3. It's never too late to finish (well...until Midnight November 30th).
4. This is just the first draft, the goal is simply to get it out of you head and onto the paper.

Alright...I'm done thinking about NaNo right now.

G'night.

Am I insane? Yes. Will I make it to 50K? Hell yes.

2011-11-29T01:47:00.000-08:00

This has probably been the craziest NaNo of all time for me. I started 7 days late with one story and then 20 days into it, decided to start another one. [Hey, those words count dammit, no matter what the end result is].

Yes, that's right, I'm no longer writing a story about the roaring 1890s. Now it's something more of a insane tale about a girl cursed to calamity if she leaves her home and a boy doomed to eventually blow up working together to find her brother who has been kidnapped by a robotic Pied Piper along with a slew of other children.

It's pretty crazy, but I'm loving it so far. I think I'll even try to finish it in NaNoFiMo and then polish it up during March.

Tonight I wrote 8k. And that's after a full day of work at the job (which is partly why I've gotten so damned far behind).

I earned some cheesecake and sleep.

Goodnight.

I was much further along this time last year...

2011-11-26T20:14:00.000-08:00

So while I may have gained a brief lead, I've been swiftly falling behind. At the moment I am 15k+ behind the requirement. Thanksgiving proved to be much busier than planned and many other things keep getting in the way.

But I've started writing again today and I intend to catch up before this long weekend is over. Come hell or high-water, I'm hitting 50k on or before the end of the 30th.

Back to writing.

Nothing...nada.

2011-11-18T00:19:00.001-08:00

So I wrote nothing today. It's not even worth doing the little write up because I've made no progress. Oh well.

Currently 8k behind. I have a lot of writing to do this weekend.

Monday...

2011-11-15T00:40:00.000-08:00

I was distracted again today, but managed a very nice 4k for the day. I could be writing so much more, but I've been dealing with some writer's block lately.

Word count:
20,226. Only a bit over 4k from catching up to Tuesday's 25k.

Inner Critic:
Appeased, but I haven't written enough for her to critique.

Actual Novel:
11,192, which is pretty good considering the whole situation. Woo.

Characters Dead: 1
None.

Where are they?
She's about to go to the circus. [I really need to rewrite this all in editing...it's so damn sluggish.]

Bed time.

Weekend of Falling Behind...

2011-11-14T00:38:00.001-08:00

Ugh...I was bad this weekend. Basically I didn't catch up. Instead I spent time watching movies, hanging out with friends and snuggling with the boy. I'll have to make it up tonight and Monday and really haul it next weekend. I need to do more plotting though, it's been setting me back.

Word count:
16,258. Far far far behind the required 23,333 for Sunday. Basically, I need to catch up now and the easiest way to do that is to do a little more plotting before I write.

Inner Critic:
Pretty quiet this weekend, but she was sated with movie watching, pie eating and various other weekend activities.

Actual Novel:
As I'm still very much behind, the novel itself is probably still under 10k.

Characters Dead: 1
None to add.

Where are they?
Barely moved. In the scene before she goes to meet her magician. Not good.

Alright...back to writing!

Almost caught up...

2011-11-11T13:25:00.000-08:00

Here's another update. To make things easier this Nano I'm going to use the following format from now on.

Word count:
As 2am this morning I'm at 14,869 words - a little over 3k away from the required 18333. Woo! Completely doable. The story itself is only 3 scenes in and clunky but slowly growing on me. Clearly another reason why it's good to plan/plot/character develop before NaNo, but I'll get the hang of it as I go along.

Inner Critic:
Still loud and very annoying. I've decided to appease her by letting those nasty comments become a part of the story - either through the snarky narrator or as notes that will inevitably be removed.

Actual Novel:
My goal this weekend is to try and get the novel itself caught up to the required 18k, but that means that I'm really at 7,811 a much more depressing 10,522. Blegh.

Characters Dead:
1 - The Great Vincenzo - Fell ill and died (in exposition)

Where are they?
The lovers are introduced, sort of and my MFC is about to sneak off to see a magic show.

Alright...back to writing!

Nowhere near 15k...

2011-11-09T00:51:00.001-08:00

Egads, how did I get so far behind?

I'm currently at 8,476 words - and if you remove all the rambling I did before I started the novel I have 1,418. Blegh.

Alright, it's time to pull up my bootstraps and get my butt typing tomorrow.
Let's try to at least hit 13k, that's only 5k - I think I can do that.

G'night.

Late to the game, but certainly not out.

2011-11-07T12:27:00.001-08:00

It's looking like this year's NaNo has taken me by surprise. In fact, I don't think I really thought about it until I saw someone post about NaNoWriMo sometime before Halloween. So when November 1st reared it's ugly head I really had no clue what I was going to write - plus I was passed out on the couch fighting a cold. Yuck!

It's now November 7th - one week into the whole affair and I think I'm finally ready to start writing (i.e. I have a plot and some idea what I'm going to write). I know I could have started writing on the fly, but if my first attempt in 2006 taught me anything, it's that I can't really write without a plan.*

So what's the story?
The working title is "The Importance of Being on This Side of Paradise" - a combination of one of the most popular novels of the 1890s and one of the most popular novels from the 1920s.

Why? Well I've decided to write my Steampunk/Comedy set in an version of the 1890s that is infused with elements of the soon to come 1920/30s - prohibition, jazz, the age of innocence, gender-confusion, etc. My favorite music to write Steampunk novels to is jazz/swing music, so it seemed perfect to actually let my characters have a bit more pizzazz than their Gilbert & Sullivan loving counterparts. I call it the "Roaring 1890s". Not the most drastic combination, but it will be a fun one.

Alright, alright...the plot:
In the alternate time of the Roaring 1890s, a young illusionist on the rise to fame falls in love with a fake princess whose hand already belongs to an American "Duke". With the assistance of a formidable traveling theatre troupe and their motto of "Love Above All Else", these star-crossed bohemian lovers will find a way to start a new life in paradise (wherever that might happen to be).

I'm not going to go into more details about the characters today, but I'll post a few profiles, excerpts and sketches over the duration of NaNo.

Wooo! Let's get this party started!

-------------------------
*Now to be perfectly honest, I did start writing on November 1st, but it was mere gibberish and plotting to keep me roughly in line with the numbers for NaNo. And I hated the idea of a blank Word document until I was ready. I was writing ideas on every surface/text editor I could find, so it should count for something.

August redemption?

2011-08-01T11:42:00.000-07:00

So there's this wonderful thing the elves at The Office of Letters and Light have created for the long summer months called "Camp NaNoWrimo".

It's compact version of the ever challenging-yet-wonderful NaNoWrimo with a camp style format. You have cabins and cabin mates (as of August) - there's even a camp store! I missed out last month when it first launched in July, but I'm excited for August and what it will bring.

So what am I planning to write? I'm not quite sure. I have a few ideas in mind - one being my previous failed NaNo novel as well as so newer ideas. I think I'll decide when I sit down in front of my computer and begin to type those first thousand. It's a crazy way to decide, but it's the summer and I can think of this as a trial run for the big show in November.

I'll post an update on my progress tonight.

And NaNo ends...

2010-12-01T01:05:00.000-08:00

Although I was strangely absent, I assure you I was writing - sort of. And when the clock hit midnight, I conceded to defeat with only 4, 555 words to go. That's right, I not only lost, but fell incredibly short of my 10k goal.

So what happened?
Life. And writer's block. And more life.

I know I can't entirely blame my shortcomings on life - although spending nearly two weeks on costumes for Steamcon put a really hard to repair dent on the affair - because nearly the whole 15 days I wasn't writing, I had a terrible case of writer's block.

I should have seen it coming. After all, I had already switched my novel plans once. And all these plot bunnies started cropping up - from old novels half written to new ideas I'd avoided. Steamcon's wonderful panels on Hoodou and Western Prostitution definitely added to it (don't ask, I'm not going to go into it). So I jumped from idea to idea, carefully avoiding the looming issue - I didn't believe or trust my plot.

When I returned, I had to face it. And spent nearly three days trying to figure out a solution without any luck. So I thought about new options - after all I had at least 10 days (3 of which were during my holiday) why not start fresh one last time? Too bad it took another 3 days for me to decide, plot and figure out the characters. So that when I finally began writing I was left with a meager 5 days to catch up from 14k to 50k.

And that's how I ended up writing for my life with 30 minutes to midnight - tired, desperate and with an incredibly sore set of hands. I'd pulled out every trick I could think of (some I'm not even proud of) and despite all that I lost. Actually, I stopped at 45,555 with 5 minutes to spare because it was a nice number and I simply couldn't write any more.

Anywho...I'm not done with my story (far from done in fact), but I hope to continue with NaNoFiMo. And although I didn't win, I can say with pride that I wrote 15k in one day.

A compromise...

2010-11-08T23:26:00.000-08:00

Word count: 10,578

I have about 2, 758 words left to go. Unfortunately, I don't think my sprained wrist is going to make it. I really want to avoid adding carpal tunnel to the list, so I may have to change my goal to a much simpler 800 words before midnight - putting me at 11,378.

No, it's not 13k, but it's less than 2k short. I think that's a reasonable goal.

Back to writing.

Update:
It's 12:03 am and I made it to 11,606 before my wrist really started acting up. So I'm calling it a night. Since I'm only 1,736 words short of my main goal and since I'm going to bed before 1:30, I think it's fair to say I would have made it.

I'll make the rest up tomorrow, but now I'm going to rest my hand.

Goodnight.

4K to go...

2010-11-08T22:19:00.000-08:00

Word count: 9,336

After some thinking, Reggie/Regina finally seems to stick. It's been sluggish writing - bad even, but at least something is getting written. Twice I've tried to rewrite scenes due to my inner editor taking hold, but if I keep that up my story will get nowhere.

And to make things worse I sprained my wrist. It hasn't quite hampered my writing, but it will dfinitely make the rest of my life difficult. And there is the cold that will not die.

Still I only have 4,000 words to go and 2.5 hours left.

I can do this!

Name Game

2010-11-08T17:10:00.000-08:00

Current word count: 8,295

I've hit a little snag - my character is having some sort of identity crisis and doesn't know what her name should be. I started with Maxine, which became Reggie on a random whim and now I'm torn between Zoe and Lena.

Considering I still have 5,000+ words to write I'm going to just run with whatever name is working for me right now...and that's Reggie.

But while I attempted to pull up new names, I found a few great sources:

Random Name Generator - Uses names from the US Census and let's you decide the degree of obscurity.

Most Common Surnames in the US - Pretty self explantory and incredibly helpful

Baby Names World - My favorite baby name site. Names are search-able by meaning, origin, popularity and even year (all the way back to the 1800s).

Alright, time to get back to writing.

A bit behind...

2010-11-08T13:32:00.000-08:00

So this weekend got away from me - it's Day 8 and I'm currently 5,956 words behind.
Terrible, I know...

In fact, the new NaNo Stats meter has been taunting me with threats that at my current rate I'll finish on December 25th. Bah! Catching up 6k is easy as pie and I will finish by the 30th (with an extra 20k at least).

In fact, let's sweeten the deal. If I don't catch up before 1:32am tonight (a full 12 hours), I won't be allowed to drink soda or eat candy (which I have plenty of) until December.

And....

my time...

starts....

NOW!

Day 4: Back on track - finally!

2010-11-05T00:34:00.000-07:00

Phew. It's the end of Day 4.

After a lot of false starts, self-sabotaging, etc, I am finally writing. However, it is not Memento Mori or Resurrection Man as I originally planned. They simply had too many plot holes that I had to put them on the back burner for another time.

Instead, I'm working on what I've called "The Girl in Red". It's a story very very loosely based on the fairytale of Little Red Riding Hood and set in a Steampunk setting. Our leading lady is a military courier who works for the R.E.D. (Regional Emissary Division)known for their red uniform jackets. It's one of the entry level ranks in the armed forces for women and she hopes to earn her way up the ranks to airship pilot.

As for the wolf he's more on the "good" or "neutral" side. He's an old friend of the MC from her days on a "transport" (although they were occasionally involved in smuggling) ship when she was rejected by the military for being a woman. He's got a bit of a wild side and is a thief, but comes from one of the wealthier families in town - although he'd never tell her that.

I won't go into more detail about what happens yet, except to say this: it all begins with a delivery going terribly wrong.

Word count as of midnight - 6,022 words

Correction: Off to a REALLY rough start.

2010-11-02T10:19:00.000-07:00

Last night - first night of NaNo I hit a wall.
Although I'm not sure you could say you hit a wall if you didn't have any momentum to begin with. What few words I did manage to write was a rambling of ideas and plans rather than an actual story and probably doesn't even count.

This is probably the first year I've self-sabotaged to the point of stand-still before I wrote anything. I blame the sickness for addling my brain and allowing myself to focus on a plot that I knew had massive holes in it, but 20/20 in hindsight and all that.

And to make things worse I'm still ill along with a few other issues I choose not to disclose.

Simply put I'm not in a good mood. On the bright side, I was in this very position in 2008. I began with a plot that was failing with little to nothing written on Day 3 and guess what - I wrote 75k.

So I'm not going to give up. I'm definitely going to ignore my inner critic and come up with something I'm willing to write over the course of 30 (now 28 days).

I can do this.

Off to a rough start...

2010-11-01T21:43:00.001-07:00

It's that time of the year again folks - NaNoWriMo - and while my fellow NaNoers have started typing away I've been held back with the dreaded cold. Still that has never stopped me before and I'm going for my usual goal of 100k.

As for my story, I've decided to give Icarus a well deserved rest - and play around with something entirely different. Two stories (one short related story and a longer one) tentatively called Memento Mori and Resurrection Man, respectively. I'm still working out the kinks of the main plot (another delay), but I'll share some of my inspiration.

First is a short story by H.G. Wells - "The Story of the Late Mr. Elvesham", which is about Body Snatching.

The second is this photo, which I found on this site:

It's a Victorian Death Portrait of twins (one living, the other dead). I was so struck by this image that it got me thinking of a short story about a twin seeking to be reunited with his twin - at any cost. We'll see where it goes.

So that's my theme this year: death, body snatching and the supernatural - with a hint of Steampunk of course!

Best of luck to everyone and let the games begin!

2010 - NaNo #5

2010-10-04T15:15:00.001-07:00

Alright, I've signed up for NaNoWrimo 2010 and I officially don't know where the bulk of this year has gone. But wherever it went, it simply flew by.

As for what I'm writing this year, I don't know yet. I may do a rewrite or something completely new. Not that I haven't forgotten "Icarus", which has been haunting me like a ghost - waiting for me to return to writing its story, but I'm not sure I'm ready to do a rewrite yet. Especially not during NaNo.

I'll have to think about this one.

No rest for the wicked...

2009-12-15T23:15:00.000-08:00

...and no writing either.

This month so far has been devoid of any real writing progress due to life still rearing it's ugly head. The end of the year has brought home more realistic matters like finding a career job (my temp one will end soon) and other various life crises.

Now, let me assure you that I have not abandoned my endeavor. I intend to finish Nanfimo, it will just take a lot of finesse and pushing back my goal date of Dec. 20th.

Friday I challenge myself to get back on the writing wagon...we'll see how that goes.

G'night.

Out with WriMo, in with FiMo

2009-11-30T22:02:00.000-08:00

So today's the last day of NaNo.
Although I intended to write a lot more today, I was once again busy with other tasks. And now that I'm finally free I'm tired.

Either way I have two hours left to make a dent. Still I'm not too distressed because this is not the end. I plan to write until finished, hopefully before December 25th.

If you're like me at all and have an unfinished manuscript from NaNoWriMo, feel free to join me on NaNoFiMo here. The site isn't as fancy, but the support is there.

And now...a countdown and record of my word count:

10:08 pm - 51,964

11:46 pm - 52,054 (way too tired...little got written during a nap)

11:57pm - 52,283

Alright...that's it. It's midnight. Well it was a little disappointing to end just over 50k this year. But I'm not surprised...this NaNo has been pretty pathetic.

So with the start of December, I want to make up for it. Let's finish this novel before the year ends and work with impressive speed. End goal: 80k-100k or whatever it takes to finish Icarus. Bonus points if I finish Man Upstairs as well.

50k! Whoopie...(not so enthused)

2009-11-29T01:56:00.001-08:00

I finally reached 50,012 this afternoon and should be excited, but this year it feels like a very hollow win.

As I've said before, this was not my best NaNoWriMo. I was unprepared and far too busy (life, work and being sick just got in the way). Still I pulled it through eventually, but due to my sluggish progress all month I have left myself with a lot of work.

Rewriting Icarus has definitely been a test in what works and what doesn't. I made a lot of little changes from the first version to see how they would affect the story. Some have been surprising and successful, while others not so much. The negative of all this is that when it doesn't click, I get reminiscent and bitter. And I slow down.

Thankfully December is NaNoFiMo (but I'd be writing anyway even if it wasn't) and like last year, I'll write until the novel is finished. This time I hope it will be done before Christmas. Some of my tasks should lighten up in the coming month and even work should be manageable so that I can really dedicate myself to my writing.

So I will not look at the end of NaNo as the end (even though it sometimes feels that way)...it's just the beginning.

Thanksgiving...and 4 days to scramble

2009-11-27T18:48:00.000-08:00

So things are going a bit better. I've been on quota for the last couple of days and hopefully will get much further beyond the winning goal of 50k (perhaps 80k?).

My partner in crime has not fared so well as she's been ill and far too busy with theatrical commitments. I truly want her to finish, but know that neither of us will be alone in December when we finish our novels. Huzzah!

Writing overall is going decently. Some of it is terrible but I've force myself to move on rather than dwell and let my inner editor win. After all, I'll have all year to edit now that my story is actually where I want it to be plotwise.

Looking back, this NaNo definitely did not go as planned and feels different somehow to the others. Perhaps I was overly ambitious and neglected the projects and work that would inevitably get in my way. And with re-writing this new version of Icarus, allowed my fears of inadequacy to make me stall far too long.

Still I plan to finish and as I'm only 3k+ away I think that is a given. As for the rest of the writing (because the novel itself will hardly be done) I will try to bang out what I can in the next three days...we'll see how legible it is once Nov 30th has finished rearing its ugly head.

G'night.

Word count: 48,638

Sick sick sick...

2009-11-24T01:19:00.000-08:00

So my quota slowed down this weekend due to being smacked by the Flu bug on Friday. I personally blame it on my new seasonal workplace, where sharing equipment means way too many germs in the room.

I'm still writing though. Tonight I caught up slightly but fell short of the full 38k required for today. I'm tired and congested, so I'm going to call it a night with the hope of starting strong tomorrow morning.

This NaNo really has flown by for me. And it's really weird because I've been working on two stories it feels like I'm doing NaNo twice. I've got a lot of work to do in order to finish by the end and make the 100k goal. I really want to push hard and hit 50k tomorrow, but I'm not going to expect it in my slightly sicker state.

So let's push it tomorrow morning and really write like the wind. Wish me luck!

Wordcount: 36,232

On quota so far

2009-11-18T23:48:00.000-08:00

I'm exhausted so I'll keep it short.

A late night sprint with other NaNo folks on Twitter kept me right on track. I'm currently at 30,022. Yes I'm a little behind for my 100k goal, but there is plenty of time to make up for it.

Icarus is going, but if I only had more time I could write more. Perhaps I'll make up for it this weekend.

G'night.

Lack of Sleep = Writer's Block?

2009-11-17T23:40:00.000-08:00

I haven't a clue, but after being excited and thrilled and full of ideas. I came home to a headache, chores and finally writing. But by the time I sat down to write, I only managed to get out 342 words before the Sandman started to tug at my eyelids.

So I won't meet the quota tonight, but I will make up for it tomorrow full force. I must, there is a painting of a corndog on a plane at stake seen here.

Yes. Penny and I are racing for this beauty or at least a replica. I'm not sure what our goal is (finished stories, both stories finished, 100k or 50km who knows?), but it's got us motivated.

G'night!

Word count: 27,595

So far so good.

2009-11-17T00:02:00.001-08:00

I'm still on track at 27,253. I wish I had written more, but I'm tired and need to sleep. Icarus' opening went far better than The Man Upstairs did, which I attribute to my familiarity to the characters and all that practice narration in my head.

In fact, the opening scene was decent enough that I'll post it here (do mind my grammar and such, I don't feel like editing at all right now):

That morning in the sleepy town of Northport, a young woman crouched in a alley and wondered how she had gotten where she was. She was not wondering how she had gotten to that particular spot, of course, as she was quite aware that she that the reason she was in that spot was to wait for a friend, who by the clock in the town square, was running incredibly late. No, that girl, who when asked would tell you her name was Olivia and nothing more, was pondering how she had come to the incredibly dull port town which was currently her home. Her mind often went back to this question when she had spare time on her hands, as she did now, although her actual hands were quite full with a bunch of wrapped parcels containing laundry.

“Where is she?” The girl muttered bitterly as she shifted the packages and leaned out of the alley to search for her friend. Her incredibly late friend, who was generally never this late as far back as she could remember. Which was not very far at all.

You see, Olivia could only remember the last year of her life. And that life began waking up battered and bruised in the Northport hospital Sacred Heart to a bunch of strangers. The strangers had frightened her a great deal until she had realized they were doctors--that early period of her life had been quite confusing. Until she recovered. And then she was full of questions, which much to her chagrin they had no answer to give. It seemed that they knew as little about her past life and identity as she did, except that her name was Olivia because it was inscribed on the locket she wore around her neck. The only remnant of her past besides a horrible scar on her back. With no one to claim her and little more than vague dreams to guide her search, the poor girl was shipped off to a nearby orphanage, where she spent exactly three days before being sent back off into the town to earn her keep. And that, is what thrust her into the wonderful life of a delivery girl for the only wash house in town.
This had become her life, a life of obedience, repetition and errands.

At the moment she was not doing the errand she was expected to do. Instead, the girl who deemed her life boring (although if she was capable of remembering her past she would think it was quite the interesting life for one so young) was trying to make the dreary days more worthwhile by breaking the rules. But she would be unable to break them until her friend arrived and covered for her disobedience. Olivia was about to give up waiting and merely hide the package she was supposed to be delivering under a nearby barrel when a hand suddenly grabbed her shoulder,

“Boo!”

Olivia jumped and turned around, brandishing the package like some sort of floppy weapon. The person on the other end of what could only be called a “sword” in jest was the very girl she had been waiting for. The girl was more red in the face than usual and breathing heavily.

“You’re late.” Olivia said dryly as she thrust her packaged at the other girl so she had no other choice but to take it. Then she began to walk in the other direction, determined to make use of what little time she had left.

“Of course I’m late!” The girl exclaimed, quickly shoving the bundle under her arm and charging after Olivia. Her face still flustered and pink. “I ran the whole way here!”
Olivia laughed but immediately regretted it when she was smacked over the head with what she had the suspicion was the laundry she had just handed off.

“Ouch!”

“I owe you that and much more.” The panting girl said between breaths.

“Calm down, Virginia.” The girl said as she rubbed her head, but did not stop walking.

“I’ll make it up to you I promise. Just deliver that package and meet me at the shop when you’re done.”

Then before her friend could say anything else, Olivia took off in a run towards the town square.

That's all for now. G'night folks.

It's time to fly, Icarus.

2009-11-16T17:41:00.000-08:00

So tonight I finally begin writing Icarus, my other and main story for NaNo. I'm a little upset with myself for starting so late in the game on the one I care most about, but life reared it's ugly head and kept me from finishing my planning. So I focused on the one that had no planning at all instead of this one.

But now the time has come and I'm terrified.

I'm terrified because it will be the second time I'll be writing this story...sort of...because the story is different this time around, but some of the characters and plot elements are the same. And this time around my inner critic expects more from me than the jumbled writings of most hurried NaNo novels.

In fact, I've begun the story in my head a least three different times in the past week. Everything sounds better in my head of course, so I can only hope it will translate to the page.

Given the limited amount of time I have to write this, I have no other choice but to write and write fast. So I'm going to tell my inner critic to shut up. I'm going to avoid rewriting scenes and simply press forward. I will go beyond the quota and if I get stuck it will be okay to skip scenes. Likewise, it will also be okay to jump back over to the other story.

However, I will appease my inner critic in one way. I will outline my scenes in advance. I did enough planning that I can do that and have some path to follow.

Well enough stalling. Let's begin...

(Word count: 25,032)

It's just terrible (pronounced: turrabull--it's that bad)!

2009-11-10T21:35:00.000-08:00

It's been 10 days since NaNo started and we're on the second week.

I've made it to 19k and almost to 20k--I better get there by tonight. And it has all been for The Man Upstairs as I still haven't started Icarus yet. Even though TMU is the "fly by the seat of your pants story" it's definitely been interesting and the more I write the weirder that story gets.

I wish I could post some of it for people to read, but it is terrible. I know people generally complain about the state of their stories during this month (partly due to the rush), but I'm convinced mine is worse. I've even seen some of this supposed "awful" writing from people who have posted chunks of their novel out of bravery. And when I do check it out, I secretly hope that it will resemble the mad ramblings I've churned out so far, but no! They have paragraphs, indentations and proper sentence structure.

Egads!

If that is bad, my current work would make eyes bleed--literally. I know I'm not the most skilled writer (was never an English major), but the ideas are good. And with some editing (someone Strunk and White me) the writing can be coaxed and polished into something that will not melt my reader's face off.

But in my defense I have been writing fast and hard. Not so much at the moment (hit a lull), but in general. And when one is typing so quickly that your wrists begin to hurt, you stop worrying about making grammatically corrected or even properly spaced passages.

Perhaps it will be better with Icarus. At least with that story I have a detailed outline and know where I'm going (for the most part). But only time will tell.

And now...I need to go write my quota for the day!

....pfffft

2009-11-05T00:12:00.000-08:00

^That is the sound of me giving the NaNo counter a raspberry.

Why?
Because when my lazy butt finally got around to submitting my word count and clicked enter, it was practically at midnight so it put it on the NEXT DAY!

Oh well...I know I wrote 9981 tonight, so there.

Today was a day of procrastination and plotting. "Icarus" needs to start catching up to her little brother "The Man Upstairs" as in actually have something written.

Soon though...soon.

That is all.

It begins with a bang

2009-11-03T22:42:00.000-08:00

So I started NaNo with a bang. In fact I managed to knock out 4300 words the first day and hit 8037 the second day. And all of this writing has been on the backup novel, which has frankly both charmed me and become incredibly weird. And with any words quickly written, they sound as if a small child wrote them.

But they are written and that is better than nothing at all.

Now as for today...I wrote nothing. Yep. Nothing.

Illness and lack of sleep have caught up with me. I want to write but as midnight looms in under an hour, three thousand words looks daunting. That and I have a headache.

So I shall let Jean have her lead for another day and resume my writing fury tomorrow. The rest will truly make the difference for my sanity and my health.

G'night.

Less than 12 hours....oh noes!

2009-10-31T17:12:00.001-07:00

So NaNo fast approaches and I mean fast. Like under 12 hours. Eesh!

I've been trying to plan, but Halloween costume making has sort of waylaid my plans and sleep habits. However, that is what my back up story is for. It does not need definite names, places, etc. I'm allowed to just write without consequences and then see what happens.

So tomorrow or at least at midnight I start writing my random NaNo and then a few days later I shall start "Icarus".

G'luck everyone and prep yourself for the typing!

3 days and counting...

2009-10-28T11:45:00.000-07:00

So three days til NaNo and I'm in a similar state to last year [no specific outline to speak of], but I'm more sure footed than ever.

For one, I will be re-writing Icarus. I had a few doubts at first, but after the responses to my post in the Nano forums, I feel that I should do it. Also, to prevent any possible boredom or failure if re-writing does not work out, I will be working on two novels (Icarus and a backup, just in case) simultaneously.

So it should be interesting this year. One rewrite. Two novels. And a goal of 100k+.

Plus I want to get a large chunk of writing done Nov. 1st (especially since it's a Sunday and I don't have anything to get in my way). Now usually, I would doubt any of that happening, but Penny has upped the ante by putting forth a word count challenge for the first day.

I shall be ready for her!

Nanowrimo draws nigh

2009-10-13T17:58:00.001-07:00

So it's October, which means NaNoWriMo is less than a month away. I'm both excited and nervous, but that's usual I think.

I'm not quite sure what I'll be doing yet, which is partly why I'm nervous. I'm also nervous because my laptop's keyboard is still messed up and if I don't take it into service soon, writing during Nano will be a chore indeed [currently using an USB keyboard, balanced on my knees, just type this and it's rather silly].

So this pre-NaNo season starts with a dilemma: rewrite my old NaNo "Icarus" or start something new. I think this is definitely the first time I've ever considered doing a rewrite for NaNo. In the past I would think of it as cheating, but after all the adjustments and changes the plot has seen during the past year it's almost like a new novel.

However, I spent nearly a year thinking about that story and sometimes we need a little break. So that is where the other story comes in. It's me trying to runaway from "Icarus" a bit--adult, lighthearted [near verging on silly] and unscripted. It is a story that will most definitely fly by the seat of its pants.

So it should be a "no brainer" right? Well it isn't. In fact I'm torn. Part of me wants to use NaNo to finish "Icarus" and make it reader ready. Another part of me wants a break from the serious--some fluff to keep my writing skills strong.

And that brings me to the third option of writing both at the same time. It's quite an endeavor for sure. But I've seen people max out 200k during NaNo [one person did 50k in a day], and I managed to knock out 80k last year. So I think with a good solid start I could probably aim for 100k as a goal [so about 50k+ each story].

Is it possible? Have others written more than one novel during Nano?
Hrm...I've got some thinking to do.

Til next time.

Possible breakthrough

2009-09-13T23:21:00.000-07:00

Gave myself some time away from "Icarus" to think clearly. It was to the point that I was nearly obsessing on how to make a part of the plot work (my MC has a set plot, but there is a much larger plot that she'll be involved with that needs to be figured out).
And sure enough, a possible plot came to me. I'm still getting out all the kinks, but I may just have my solution.

As for my upcoming Nano story, it should be a lot of fun. Let's just say it all revolves around a steampunk pick up line that goes terribly wrong (random example courtesy of the forums of Brassgoggles: "I've got an enormous zeppelin, want to see it?" Or "I've got a zeppelin, you have nothing to lose, wanna see the world?"). And the hilarity ensues. It'll definitely be more silly and mature in the adult humor category. And Nano dares will only make it more ridiculous.

Now true to what I said before, there will be minimal planning. Character elements and a few antagonists with goals, but no plots. Aside from the set up, it's all up in the air.

I can't wait!

The state of things

2009-09-01T23:46:00.000-07:00

So you'd think I'd have more done, but somehow when I'm less busy I find myself getting less done. Not to say that I haven't been thinking about the novel--actually I think I've been thinking about it a little too much.

I've dissected, come up with alternate options, gone down bizarre paths, which has basically taken me further away from a finished outline/layout and back into the realm of theories and ideas.

But as November draws closer, I hope that will change. I have been buckling down quite a bit and should have an idea of where the story is heading before NaNoWrimo rears it's ugly head.

As for Nano itself, I will definitely be taking a hiatus or at least putting this novel on the backburner so I can work on something else. Something less serious, a bit more adult (as far as the MCs are concerned) and far more by the seat of my pants. In short, I plan to come up with characters, motivations, the main conflict and a basic idea of the world they live in--nothing more. No set plots or outlines. I will use dares to hopefully lead the way.

All in all, it should be a very eventful November.

In over my head.

2009-07-27T21:10:00.000-07:00

I'm making progress. Managed to outline the plot for the first novel, but the complexities of the whole damn thing has made me feel at a loss. Of course that's what rough drafts, editors and such are for.

Still...I can't help feeling as though I'm lost in my crazy world of planning with so many things to think about. All of the characters, the country, outside the country and the story's whole world.

It's all so damn epic that I can say without a doubt, I will probably write something flippant and/or short for next Nano to give my poor brain a rest.

Perhaps I need help or a fresh pair of eyes. Or to just write the whole story of this world and events down so that I can sort through it objectively--instead of letting in mill around abstractly in my head. July is ending soon, so I better get cracking.

A shift in villainy

2009-07-05T01:11:00.000-07:00

After a lot of thought, I've figured out the grand scheme of my main "villains" in the series. Since the story will probably span three stories, these characters will make it into the limelight and then step back for the next one to take their place.

Tier 1: The Orvilles
The main antagonists of the original draft of the story, but with the story expanding their roles will change later on. So while they might be antagonists for the first book, they will also be the protagonist's link to her past and surrogate father figures in the future. In fact, it will turn out that their villainy is a misconception that comes from lies and secrets they must keep. With them appearances are definitely not what they seem.

Tier 2: "Magnus Edison"
Technically a new character, but I believe him to be an essential one. He steps into the role that the Orvilles once had of mentor and leader of a company/organization. He is responsible for a lot of the issues, but not the main cause. He is generally good intentioned and despite his best attempts they have backfired. He has become what he is out of desperation and a desire to preserve what he wants most in life: control.

Tier 3: "Cromwell"
As far as the overall story and world goes, she's the main antagonist, the top villain, the lady to beat. It is because of her actions and choices that everyone is in this mess. And so she will affect and alter the lives of everyone involved, even if she does not directly interact with them. This is similar to the original story, but the history, character traits (he is now a she) and role overall have changed drastically.

I have figured out a great deal about this intriguing lady and plan to make a much longer post later. But here are the key facts:
a. She is a woman with a plan and will see that plan to the bitter end.
b. She is the living representation of Minotaur, a person who has unleashed a lot of death and suffering--whether she intended it that way or not. And she is something both Magnus (based on Minos) and Vincent (based on Daedalus) feel responsible for and wish to deal with.
c. While she has dealt with similar issues to my protagonist, she has made the wrong choices and not learned from them--because of that, her end is inevitable.
d. She believes that her actions are in the best interest of her people.

So far...a good start.

Next time, a bit more about "Cromwell".

JulNoWriMo

2009-07-03T01:18:00.000-07:00

So this month begins another NaNoWriMo spin-off, for July of course.
I know a few folks who will be participating, including Penny. As for me, I'm not sure if I will be able to participate at all.

Technically I could start writing the first couple of chapters of the novel, as the current planning doesn't directly affect it. However, I really want to figure out the key plot elements before starting.

So if anything, I will use JulNoWriMo to create a chronicle of the historical facts, characters backgrounds, maps, etc. It technically counts as writing after all.

Either way, I don't think I'll start writing until next Monday. Sure I'll fall behind, but it's still possible to catch up and surpass if you try hard enough [something I've done quite a few Nanos.

We'll see how it goes.

Update!

2009-07-01T11:45:00.000-07:00

So my rough [very rough] timeline is drafted.
I've mostly figured out the overall conflict--although it still needs some tweaking.
Most of the world/country history and technology is falling into place.

Now I just need to breakdown the plot across the three stories and do a bit of character work before I can start writing.

So much still to do!

Dates, dates and more dates...

2009-06-23T01:38:00.000-07:00

So although I've hashed out a lot of my historical timeline, it's more of a flow of ideas than a set timeline--ie no dates.

Part of the problem is that I'm not sure when to place my story.

Aesthetically it will be similar to the Victorian era at mid-point of Industrialization. But it is set in a fictional world [at least that's the current plan] with the main country having similarities to America [melting pot of cultures, land of prosperity, etc], but with Victorian/English manners and politics. There will be other influences as well, but that's the basics.

The issue is that 1895 in this world might not be anything like 1895 is in our own or at least the dates no longer have the same relevance assuming this world is more than just a slight alteration to the time-line.

For now I think I might use placeholder dates and then either omit the dates in the story [I've seen it done before with a very simple "5 years ago"..or "It was a new decade"] or pick dates I'll be happy with.

In fact, the only time I've seen dates used in some steampunk novels is to reference something that really happened in our own history or a variation of that event. Or to state factual dates for the reader to understand the world.

After all, if the date has no real significance to the reader, do they really need a number?

Historical business and easter eggs.

2009-06-10T14:12:00.001-07:00

This week I plan to start laying out a historical timeline.
I'm not sure how indepth I will go, but I want to make sure I have a clear idea of the events in the past and the events in the future.

It's weird, but I think it's safer for me to layout the history and facts of the entire series before focusing on the novel. Or at least make it familiar enough that it's in the back of my mind as I write. That way you end up with nice little easter eggs that make more sense once you read the other books.

OOO...so excited.

I'll post an abridged version of the timeline at the end of the week.

Absent, but not out of the game

2009-06-01T21:26:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a little while because I've been so darn busy. But things are churning and I'm trying my hardest to get it all written down before it alludes me.

I have a lot of planning to do, or at least enough planning that I can rewrite the first book. I think it will all become clearer when I am forced to mark it all down on paper instead of floating in the endless "what if" of my mind.

Hopefully I can get a start on writing this month--if not, I hope to at least have it together enough to get some sort of encyclopedia together.

Ooo...so excited!

Weaving plots is complicated...

2009-05-23T00:18:00.000-07:00

The background/historical elements of the plot have been churning around in my head for the past couple of days. Slowly and surely things are starting to fit into place, but it's still a lot of work and questions. And even more questions.

Like what would convince people that an accident was an terrorist attack enough that they would willingly fight back and start a war?

Or how does one make a city hard to find/enter if people once knew where it was? Is it possible to make a stationary city able to travel or even fly?

So many questions...and hopefully I'll soon have some answers.

Otherwise, things are going quite well considering I have been busy with other things. Maybe, just maybe I'll have enough of the story together that I can start rewriting a chapter or two from the beginning of the novel.

We'll see.

"Write what you know" causes a breakthrough!

2009-05-14T01:09:00.001-07:00

So today I found myself having difficulty with the conflicts of the world. Somehow I just couldn't get it figured out. Then I thought about the phrase "write what you know" and it hit me. I want to have a war as a backdrop that will later become more important and what better war to write about than the one I know. The one I've protested, watched new reports about, seen young men die for. So of course, I had my inspiration.

I don't want to give out too much information, but two characters were involved in orchestrating an attack so that it looked like it was from another country in order to justify a war.

The plot thickens...

New month...new plans

2009-05-06T21:40:00.000-07:00

So with the month of May already underway, I intend to make as much headway as possible with my novel planning. In fact, I want June to be my NaNoWriMo-esque writing month. Like my friend Penny I intend to finish my second draft by June 30th [or at least have most of it written].

So a breakdown of what I need to do:
1. World facts/history/elements
2. Character profiles and motivations
3. Plot summary/detailed plan
4. Sketches/photos
[Goal is to see at lot of this done by 20th]

And I'd like to get it nicely laid out into a grimoire or chronicle of some sort with character illustrations, world maps and other sketches. Then bind it up into a simple book that I can carry with me for reference purposes.

I've done a lot of thinking about plot on my main character's side, so it's really important to focus now on a more detailed idea of what my villain wants. And if he's really the "lesser of two evils" I intend him to be, who would the "greater evil be"?

Well I didn't even try...

2009-04-30T11:11:00.000-07:00

Due to unforeseen business with my real life, Script Frenzy didn't happen at all. I'm not surprised of course, but I did want to give it a try at least.

Anywho...

I've been thinking about my novel again...world building mostly. I've learned a great deal from some of the steampunk and regular novels I've recently been reading and figure it's about time I tackle that task myself.

So, let the world building begin!

And now folks, I ask for your help--
All you have to do is ask a question about my world(i.e. what is the main country's traditional food, what do they call holidays, do they have a death penalty, etc)--any question and I'll try my best to answer it in the next post. Perhaps you'll ask something I have thought of yet.

Until then.

Busy busy busy...

2009-04-24T10:52:00.001-07:00

So I've not been doing Script Frenzy as posted below, because I've been busy with job hunting and post-grad stuffs.

But that doesn't mean I haven't been planning for Icarus and working on a few other things. For one, the story of Miss Aetherly, my steampunk persona. As I have little time on my hands at the moment, I've found Twitter incredibly useful for telling her story in short burst.

Check it out here and feel free to follow it. Hopefully that will entertain folks until I post here again.

Cheers!

Script frenzy, ahoy?

2009-03-29T21:56:00.000-07:00

Yes! Script Frenzy, ahoy!

After a bit of coaxing by Penny, I have decided to dabble in scripting for this year's Script Frenzy at the start of April.

What pray tell shall I be writing?

A steampunk radioplay called "Mystery in the Aether".
It's about three women who created an agency called Remarkable Investigations where they are "well versed in the exceptional, strange and unexpectable" and take on cases of a similar nature. While it will borrow influences from film noir, horror and classic mystery it will have comedic elements.

The three main characters:
The Reporter - Katherine "Kittie" Holmes
The Scientist - Amelia Wright
The Explorer - Effie Cook

I'm planning to write four episodes to meet the required number of pages, and they are titled as followed:
1. They Call at Midnight - a case of civilian snatching
2. The Dead Hear Clockwork - rumors of a murderous automaton
3. An Odd Case of Wanderlust - sleepwalking amnesiacs and magicians- oh fie!
4. An Untimely Displacement - time traveling gone awry

That's the plan.

Since scriptwriting requires quite a bit less descriptive writing than fiction, this should be a bit easier to do. Plus 100 pages is far less work than the 500 or so I cranked out for Nano. [And of course I will cover my progress with Script Frenzy here.]

As for my novel, I shall continue planning and plotting until it's ready. I have sensibly moved my writing date back until May 1st or whenever all my prep material is ready (should that be earlier).

Well off to bed I go.

Cheers!

Quick check-in

2009-03-25T23:38:00.000-07:00

Things are going fairly well so far.
I've been plotting out the novel's beginning and despite the changes, I might be able to salvage some of the originally written novel. Huzzah! Unfortunately I shall not be posting any plot outlines here for obvious reasons I'm sure other writers would understand.

Also, I've been doing some research by reading this simple little book called "Daily Life in Victorian England" by Sally Mitchell. It's my second choice to the first book I was trying to read "A writer's guide to Everyday Life in Regency and Victorian England" by Katherine Hughes. Unfortunately my leaving San Francisco required that I return the book. So it's next on my list as soon as PDX public libraries secure it for me.

Well that's all for now. Hopefully I'll start working on some character profiles in the next week or so. Those I plan to post.

Cheers.

Unemployment means more time...

2009-03-21T23:33:00.001-07:00

...for writing.

So I've graduated from school and the insanity that was putting my final project/portfolio together is done. So in my down time I plan to work on my novel.

Hopefully I'll be posting actual things soon instead of these dull updates. I have a bit of world planning, character histories to write before I can start writing again, but the should prove to make more interesting posts than ones like this.

Let the planning beginning!

Does this count for NanoEdMo?

2009-03-07T10:47:00.000-08:00

So months ago, I planned to be editing my first novel for NaNoEdMo this month, but unfortunately, the novel requires a bit of a rewrite.

So does that count?

According to NaNoEdMo.net, the site sponsoring EdMo, it does not.
So unfortunately I will not be participating, at least not until I have something to edit. I plan to use the last half of March for writing as I will be out of school and unemployed. Hopefully by April I will have re-written my novel so that I can edit it.

So penny...you may have to wait until May to read something from me, but we'll see.

Derailment...

2009-02-25T21:36:00.000-08:00

So RL derailed my plans to be "prepped" to write by the end of this month. Which meant not reading my novel, writing character descriptions or planning the story.

Basically I've been so busy with my life that I haven't had too much time to do anything physical for my book. So it's all been in my head.

Despite the setback I have figured out a great deal of the plot and timeline for my story, as well as some political and world elements.

But those shall be locked away in the ol brain vault until I can write things down.

Til next time.

What King Minos Wants; or Figuring Out Your Antagonist

2009-02-16T21:08:00.000-08:00

As mentioned a few times before, antagonists have never been my strong point. I can come up with interesting characters and villain [the one dimensional big bad kind], but creating a multi-dimensional oppositional character is tough.

In fact, the first draft of my story relied entirely on the sub-villain so I could avoid thinking about/developing the main villain. Truly a mistake.

So this time, I'm doing it right. On to some notes about my antagonist.

A Study in Antagonism:
Important note: pretty much all of the plot and historical elements pertain to my alternative plot and not the original novel.

Basis
King Minos, as that seems like the most logical thing to do. Although he is not a king, he does act as a leader. He is responsible for the "minotaur" object hidden in the labyrinth except, unlike the character he is based on, he wants to retrieve it instead of hide it. He is the reason Vincent (based on Daedalus) fled and is still currently looking for him [despite rumors of his death].

Personality
A mentor and a father figure. He is outgoing, charming but in a platonic way instead of a sexual way. A very convincing man. Known for finding and fostering talent. He has a lot of social and political connections but is not directly involved in politics. He is a techophile and has a strong appreciation for science/technology and progress.

A logical and rational man--an intellectual. Not quite a control freak, but he likes to have things go his way. He enjoys perfection and skill. For him, everything is in the details. And he has been searching for a perfect world--or at least creating it. While his intentions are good and genuine, the negative comes in forcing others to conform to his desires.

History
Beginnings
As a young man, he was fascinated by the few bits of new of technological advancements (far more crude and less frequent than the present). In fact, he aspired to be a scientist himself. His parents, being fairly devout, tried their best to convince him otherwise. It was looked down upon by high society to be an inventor or scientist at the time. When he finally did choose science (medicine) as a study in university, he was disowned. But as luck would have it, he still managed to inherit everything due to a mistake or last minute change of heart by his father. So he immediately invested that large fortune in the further development of science.

His Kingdom
During his years after university he began meeting and fostering frienships and mentorships (Vincent, the Orvilles, etc) with other similar minds. In fact, many of those connections led to projects that greatly aided his country and served to make science slightly more acceptable. Despite this progress, it was still not enough and he decided that the world around him would not progress with the way it was: rigorous laws, anti-tech folk, etc. So he decided to create his own little haven where he could work without conflict. He opened an invitation to the world for those interested to come and create a technological commune. With his fortune be bought an island or large plot of land. It was with the help of Vincent Wells and a few others that he created the elaborate city that would become famous thereafter.

The city functioned as a giant factory/think tank. Everyone had a job and the city was fairly self-sufficient (from agriculture to metalwork to ideas). Some considered it a real life utopia...until things began to change.

Why He Is An Antagonist
What makes this character an antagonist is his desire to create a wide-spread utopia/progressive city based on his current design. Not a horribly evil desire, except that to achieve this he has to control the actions of others. He has to force this upon them. So his utopia becomes totalitarian.

Now the unique thing about this is that the result would be peaceful instead of violent. Still, having your free will--your humanity can be just as horrible or even worse than death. What is peace worth when you can't be who you are?

Reasons
He was fed up with war, illness and religious intolerance. He was fed up with how progress could have improved many of those things. He wants to show the world that technology really can make man better than he really is.

So that's him in a nutshell. Now all he needs is a name.

Long time no post...

2009-02-02T01:11:00.001-08:00

Not as long as most times, just forgot to write in the last week or so [my mind's been preoccupied].

Anywho...January is over. It was slightly productive, but not as productive as hoped. Still here's what I've done:
1. Read 3 books
2. Writing prompts [not as frequently as hoped]
3. Collected inspirational images
4. Wrote an incredibly long list of "what ifs" (for alternate plot ideas)
5. Came up with a few alternate plots

And I've learned a few things about my story...

Based on the original myth...the beginning of the myth (long before they flee the labyrinth)...Icarus' death is due to Daedalus' choices.
He was responsible for the Minotaur's existence, the labyrinth being built, the reason they were trapped inside and the method of escape. While my story is a more modern version, these facts hold true as well. The past plays a huge role and my MC will quickly learn how her father's actions deeply affected her life (at least by the end of the series).

The labyrinth and the Minotaur are as essential to this story as Icarus' fall
The more I think about it, I just don't think it will be a story based on the myths anymore if I dump those two factors. Not that I was going to, but for a little while I wondered if the first story needed to involve a labyrinth at all. But without it, the story seemed pretty paltry. So yeah...those motifs/elements not going anywhere.

I really need to define my villain, even if he/she is not in the first book.
Yeah...that good ol' villain wall again. I hit it. The first draft of my novel truly avoids the finer details of my antagonist and their motivations and I think it's pretty obvious (although I haven't read my novel in a month...so maybe not). So I need to figure out my villains, subvillains, bosses, etc. Otherwise, I'll end up BSing during the re-write, which is not good.

I need to define my world.
I was supposed to do this during January, but it was hard when I wasn't sure where the story was going. World building can sometimes be a "chicken or the egg" scenario as your world can define your characters, but your characters can also define your world. So I put it off until now and I finally think I'm ready.

So yeah...that's all for now. Back to planning.

How to end a novel

2009-01-21T21:28:00.000-08:00

I found this article on novel endings and it was incredible helpful.

I decided to extrapolate the key facts and place them here as a lovely reminder. Because I really need to start thinking about my ending before I start editing.

The commandments of great endings:
1. Tie up all lose ends
At the end of the book, make sure to tie up all the loose ends except for one so that you leave the readers wanting more (particularly if you're writing a sequel).

2. Make the ending inevitable
Readers should feel like there is no other possible ending based on the character's choices and scenes leading up to it.

3. Characters choices lead to the ending
The ending should come as the result of choices made by the characters. It should be foreshadowed in the scenes that come before it.

4. Something must end
Even if you are working on a series, something must be resolved by the end of the book. Whether subplot or a plot thread. The circumstances must also end, so if there is a sequel, those circumstances will be different.

5. Something must change
Avoid endings where nothing changes. Whether it is character personalities, emotions, viewpoints or political systems--change something. Otherwise, your reader just wasted a lot of time.

6. The main character must change
Which means the character guiding the story (narrator or focal character) must change in one way or another.

7. Avoid Deux ex Machina
Do not let a natural phenomenon or coincidence solve the dilemmas of your story. The Greeks may have gotten away with it, but you cannot.

As my current ending is pretty darn awful, these rules will be very helpful. In fact, I plan to focus on how my story will end first and then work backwards.

We'll see how that goes.

Making it serial...part 2

2009-01-17T14:43:00.001-08:00

So right now I'm thinking about my book in two ways [just thinking...no set plans yet].

1. Cram it all into two or three books.
2. Adjust the story to make it fit a serial format.

It really could go one way or the other, as both options have their positives and negatives.

If I go with option one, I have to streamline the story and really trim it down so that it's not overwhelming, but it means only splitting it between two novels instead of multiples. So I'm still going to be limited.

If I go with option two, I can take my time and really explore my world and characters--the question is would people want to read the series beyond the first book? If that's not the case, then I don't really get to tell my story.

Sigh...

On another side note, I finally finished 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which I began before Nano--it's one of my required books before I can read my novel. I will be posting my reviews/comments about these books in the Excerptlopedia as I finish them.

That's all for now.

Making it serial...part 1

2009-01-14T18:37:00.000-08:00

YA novels generally run 40,000-75,000 words, but you’ll find books on either side of that. Write the story in the length it takes to tell it, and then check publishers’ guidelines.

Yowza...and my current story is about 139k.

So I've begun thinking about this serial story thing as a possibility. I just think that there can be a lot of adventure to be had and I'm probably going to need a few novels to tell it--especially if the cap is at 80k.

But that means a lot of restructuring...and that brings up a lot of questions.

1. Where do I end the story?
2. If I end it before she leaves the Orvilles, what is the focus of the first story?
3. How do I keep each serial from getting too cliche?
4. Where does it all end--when she finds her father?
5. Am I losing too much of the original Greek myth after the first book?
6. What happens when she finds her father?
7. What is the formula for the novels? Is there one?
8. What are the other novels based around?

I've got a lot of thinking to do.

That is a long story...

2009-01-12T23:49:00.000-08:00

So I printed my novel today--all 181 pages [double sided because I wanted to save a few trees] of size ten, single spaced text. And boy is it a whopper. It's thicker than my manuscript from Nano '07 [which was single sided and doubled spaced], which is really saying something.

As tempting as it is, I will not get to read it until February 6th as I have planned. However, I must admit to sneaking a little peak when I got home--only a couple of pages--before I put it away.

I also had a little talk with Penny about what to do with the length of my story and she suggested breaking the novel up into shorter serial books. I will definitely consider it.

Well that's all for now.

Time to feed my mind...

2009-01-11T17:42:00.000-08:00

So after feeling a bit lost, I decided to do some reading. Part of me has been nervous about reading again because I kept comparing my novel to other ones--mine always ending up as the stupid one. I began with Tales with Beedle and the Bard, which was really nice.

And now that my appetite for literature has awoken, I decided to take a little trip to the San Francisco Public Library. Anyway, I came out with a couple books (all under my required reading for my hiatus from novel writing):

Research
1. The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in Regency and Victorian England by Kristine Hughes
2. Food and Cooking in Victorian England (A History) by Andrea Broomfield
3. Inside the Victorian Home (A Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England) by Judith Flanders

Steampunk
1. Larklight (A Rousing Tale of Dauntless Pluck in the Farthest Reaches of Space) by Philip Reeve
2. Homunculus by James P Blaylock

Add to this (what I already have)
20,000 Leagues under the Sea [which I'm in the process of finishing]
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Plot & Structure
Characters & Viewpoint
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E Butler
Narcissus in Chains by Laurell K Hamilton

January and February should be pretty busy. All in all I'm excited for my adventures of the literary kind.

I feel a little lost...

2009-01-07T17:33:00.000-08:00

I have no idea why, but all day I didn't know what to do with myself. It was like something was missing. Whatever it is, I need to get out of this funk, because school starts today.

Maybe I need to read a book or do some drawings. Or I could distract myself with gaming or see a movie in the theatres [Twilight?]. I do have some sewing projects I could start working on...

Or maybe--just maybe--I need to spend a little time thinking about my characters but outside the book. Perhaps complete withdrawal is a bit too much.

Sigh...

The End.

2009-01-06T23:07:00.000-08:00

I did it. I finished a novel for the first time in my life.

It took two months, six days and eleven hours, but the first rough draft of my novel is done. I say first rough draft because although I've written "the end" there are plenty of missing parts in the story itself. The biggest one being Olivia's memory of her Icarus like fall.

And the novel, if one read it now, could easily cause your eyes to bleed. Not all of it is that bad--in fact I really like some of the scenes. But there are a lot of sections that suffer from lack of description, crappy dialogue and scenes so cut/mashed together that they are the literary versions of Frankenstein's monster.

My final stats
Word count: 146,270
Pages: 448(at 11pt Tahoma, double spaced)
Characters dead: 0 [crazy, huh?]

So what's next?

1. A Break
I promised myself a long time ago that I would take a month off before reading my novel again. So I'm going to back up the files, print it out and then put it away until February 6th.

2. Reading
The deal is that I need to read at least three books before I can edit my story. I haven't read anything while I was writing--mostly to keep my inner editor in check--and now I don't remember what a good novel looks like. I plan to read from three categories:

a. Comedic novels/Novels with good narration (especially if it's of the omniscient, third person, all knowing type with a personality ala The Hitchhiker's Guide or A Series of Unfortunate Events).

b. Period/Victorian/Steampunk novels (as I really need a strong idea of the genre I'm trying to invoke and I haven't read any Steampunk novels yet).

c. Novel-writing/Reference/Historical novels (for research reasons as it will only make my world and characters more believeable and interesting).

3. Brainstorming/What ifs
Even before I finished my novel, I started thinking about alternate plot lines and options--even new characters. I figure that it will make it easier when I rework the plot for the second draft.

4. World/Character building
This is everything from character profiles and memories, world histories and maps to sketches and photographic references. My first draft is severely lacking in visual descriptions and I really want to fix that. Likewise, the more I delved into character histories the more real and three dimensional they became.

5. Editing
This won't happen until March, although I might start a little in February after I've done the first read though.

I have a lot of work ahead of me.

Rocks fall. Everyone dies. The end

2009-01-06T04:12:00.000-08:00

I was fighting the urge to write that all night and then:

“But you heard what Cromwell said. Others will come.”
“And he was right, you know.” Thomas said softly as he put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “They won’t let you go without a fight, Vincent. Sooner or later the agency will send someone else for you. And in the end, you’ll never be at peace.”
“I know.” Vincent said bitterly. “But what can we do?”

The solution to the problem was this. Rocks fall. Everyone dies.

The End.

Yeah...not really the ending of my story. I actually have one last scene to write, which is the actual ending. And I have two options for my ending:
A. Olivia, Artemus and her father leave the city, hoping to hide from the others for as long as they can. Perhaps taking them to interesting new locations.
B. Olivia and her father decide to stay and enjoy what tiny bit of a normal life they can have until the others come.

In both cases, being found is inevitable. I had always planned it to be option A and then I was like..."Why not stay? That's pretty ballsy."

But when it all comes down to it--it doesn't matter because my story will probably not even end with that option. Who knows.

Disregard the options. Hell disregard the excerpt--cuz it's horrible. But that's what you get when you are writing at 4am in the morning instead of sleeping. Blah why can't I stop writing this blog entry.

I know!

ROCKS FALL. EVERYONE DIES. THE END!

As I lay my novel down to sleep...

2009-01-05T18:33:00.000-08:00

...I pray to the writing lords my sanity to keep.

Tonight's the night I am supposed to finish my novel. I will be keeping a running tally of my progress throughout the evening. And for my sake the night is not over until I go to sleep--hopefully after typing the words "The End".

8:40pm: 138,644 [Artemus and Olivia are speaking with Vincent Wells]

9:24pm: 139,339 [Olivia lets daddy in on the mistake she made...the one that started this whole adventure]

10:29pm: 140,008 [Olivia begs her father to destroy his last invention]

12:18am: 141,556 [Olivia and Cromwell meet again]
Gah! I am typing so slowly!

1:18am: 142,159 [Cromwell meets Vincent again]
Why can't I type faster?!!

2:11am: 142,610 [Olivia gets the upper hand]
500 words, epic fail

4:11am:144,860 [Cromwell is arrested and friends are reunited]
Still slow as hell, but as I've basically reached the end, I shall call it a night.

What ifs rearing their ugly head as I near the end

2009-01-05T02:08:00.000-08:00

So I'm making progress, in fact the final scene is just around the corner. Olivia has reunited with her father and all seems well [for now].

But despite my currently planned ending, part of me is coming up with different ending options [some which may be better than what I'm currently writing].
I know that part of this is my mind trying to stop me from finishing, but it's also rather useful suggestions that might be great to try out once I'm editing.

Nevertheless, I've been good. I just write the ideas down and keep focused on the ending I have. If I deviate now, I'll never finish before the end of Monday.

And I will.

Word count: 137,702
Scenes left: 6
Days left: 1

Getting there.

2009-01-03T12:40:00.000-08:00

So the ugly scene is finally over! And it was a really long one. I am heading back to SF today, which means a day on the train. Hopefully I will spend that day writing the rest of the novel. But we'll see.

Days left: 2
Scenes left: 9
Words written: 133,292

I'll post once I get back into San Francisco, hopefully I'll have made a lot of progress.

Until then.

EDIT:
Back in San Francisco and finally able to type up my notes.
Word count: 136,546

A new year and more writing

2009-01-02T01:24:00.001-08:00

So I've been diligently keeping to my plan to get this thing written by Jan 5th.

Current word count: 132,237

Still tackling that one behemoth of a scene, but for once it's moving along. Gonna be a really long scene when it's done. Anyway, I should be done with it soon enough and moving on to the next ones.

I'm doing it.

Tomorrow/today is gonna be crunch day.

The year may be over, but I'm not done yet.

2009-01-01T00:35:00.000-08:00

So yeah...technically won NaNoFiMo at the required 30k, but my story isn't done yet. I'm so close that it's frustrating but time was not exactly on my side.

So I revise my goal as we enter this new year and make two new year resolutions:
1. I will finish my first draft by January 5th come hell or high water.
2. I will have a readable draft by April [as Penny and I have already agreed to trade].

Word count at the year end: 130,574
Chapters/scenes to go: 11

I can do this.

Happy New Years everyone!

WTF! I should have been done before January reared it's evil head!

2008-12-31T02:46:00.000-08:00

So I'm frustrated with myself because I am still 10 scenes away from finishing this novel. I promised myself that I would finish this book before the year ended and that isn't seeming so likely at the moment.

Why?
Procrastination and worry.
Worry that the scene isn't good enough or that I won't do it justice after it being in my head for months. Somehow I know how it should go, but when I sit down it comes out wrong. And all that worry leads to procrastination in the form of projects and just staring stupidly at the screen.

DAMMIT INNER EDITOR! I don't want you around right now.

I need to get a great deal written in very little time.

Let's do this!

Edit:
I stayed up late and wrote some more.
My last and final goal is to finish the novel before January 5th when school resumes.

What my novel is all about...

2008-12-28T22:35:00.001-08:00

My plot one word: Reunion.

I figured this out thanks to a NaNoWriMo forum and it's true. My story is all about reunions--with people from MC's past and with her father.

Memories actually turn out to play a much larger role in this book than I thought, so I need to write quite a few of them out after I finish the story [and figure out how to incorporate them later].

Didn't do much writing today--the boy kept me busy. Plus the next scene really does need my undivided attention, so I plan to start on that tomorrow.

One question though...if you were going to have a meeting to trade something [think of the typical hostage for money or villainous trading of object for object sort of deal] where would you meet?

a. a public place with lots of witnesses
b. a seedy place where the law won't intervene
c. someplace private but neutral
d. somewhere outdoors
e. somewhere on the outskirts and fairly empty [ex. trainyard]

It could be a combo of many of these...but the first thing that came to mind was the cliche outdoors public place [yet seedy enough that people won't call the cops should the bullets start a flying *and trust me they will*].

Now I'm not so sure. Perhaps indoors would be more appropriate--somewhere neutral. We'll see.

Slow and steady

2008-12-28T00:33:00.000-08:00

So I have about twelve more scenes to write, which means I'm getting closer to my ending.

Woo!

Current word count: 128,632

Things are coming along. Tomorrow is the big showdown scene, which will be difficult as it will involve quite a few people. It will probably suck writing wise, but hey that's what editing is for!

Wish me luck.

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-25T10:03:00.000-08:00

So of course it's the holidays and what not, which means a morning of celebrations before I need to get back to my writing. Because dammit I'd like to be nearly at the end of my novel before this week ends.

Progress [to be edited throughout the day]:

12/25

10:12am - 124,716

6:49pm - 125,189 [really sad...could have written more but I took a nap.]

12/26

2:12pm - 126,194

Progress

2008-12-23T01:42:00.001-08:00

I'm writing again...and as of tonight, I have technically won NaNoFiMo.

Before you celebrate, however, the reason I say technically is because I have yet to finish my novel, but I did write the expected 30k.

Still can't really win until the story is done. Until I type "the end" and slowly I'm getting closer.

Woot.

Now back to writing.

Word count: 120,905

Write with a vengeance!

2008-12-20T23:39:00.000-08:00

I've figured out the ending to my story--thanks to my darling boyfriend and his lovely dose of reality. So all that is left to do is finish my novel. All the characters have been waiting--suspended in time until I write another word or another scene. And I owe it to them to finish their story.

Unfortunately I have been procrastinating--partly due to fear [fie on you inner editor] and distractions. And have made little progress over the past two days. This is unacceptable. But now that I am currently snowed in--I think I should take advantage of the situation and buckle down.

This also means that I'm revising my NaNoFiMo goal as follows:

Finish my novel on or before December 25th [which may or may not be more than 150k.

So the belt is being tightened and I plan to impose these rules:
1. Write first thing in the morning. [And the night as well...but I do better in the morning.]
2. No editing. No revising. No thinking about editing or revising.
3. Focus on getting the story out. If don't know things, just leave a blank or a note and then fix it in editing.
4. Use Write Or Die like I've never used it before.

As a minor consolation to my inner critic, I will allow myself to get the first sentence of each chapter to my liking before I start. Hopefully that shall appease Miss Edit-it-all's constant nagging.

Tomorrow I start fresh. That's all for tonight.

WTF! Get back on track dammit!

2008-12-17T11:01:00.000-08:00

So I've fallen off the writing bandwagon lately.

Reasons why?
1. Xmas gift making [still got more to do tonight]
2. Costume making [spats and such]
3. Trying to figure out the ending before I get there.

Of all the reasons, number three has my writing practically at a stand still. Like I've said before, it's because the end result is due to a series of events...and I want to plan them so that they make sense. But there are some that for the life of me I can't figure out.

So I'm stuck.

But I really need to get back in the game. I want to finish the damn thing before Jan 1st--hell--I want to finish it. Period.
Part of me says just write whatever ending comes to you and then fix it in post. While another part, the perfectionist, wants to know every last detail before I can write.

This is problematic. I need to solve this ASAP if I want to have this stuff written before I get home on Friday.

Help!

Word count: 114,481

"How to end it?"....keeping me up at nght.

2008-12-16T04:17:00.000-08:00

Well...technically I'm up late because I was making a pair of spats, but that's another story altogether.

Nevertheless, I have spent the past two days pondering how my story will end. It's not as simple as the conclusion--the final bit at the end, because I know that. What I'm still trying to figure out is how all of the events lead up to that conclusion. Until I know, I can't really write much more, because I'm basically at that point in the story where all the dominoes are about to fall into place. And I've got a lot of dominoes.

Sigh.

I'm getting there...slowly...I just need an epiphany to help guide me to my story's ending. Which isn't exactly the ending of Olivia's story altogether...because *gasp* there will at least be a sequel.

That's all for now. Sleep calls.

The Day Nothing was Written...

2008-12-11T01:13:00.000-08:00

I have not written anything today, because I was too busy with my internship and school. On top of that I'm incredibly exhausted and need some sleep.

So where do I stand?
Last time I wrote [Tuesday] I had 111,176.

Olivia has me with Oliver the impostor again. He wasn't very nice and gave her an ultimatum: leave or he'll turn her in.

So yeah...nice dilemma.

G'night.

Distracted...Childhood Memories

2008-12-09T14:21:00.000-08:00

So I've found myself incredibly distracted today.

It all started when I woke up this morning and spent those waking hours imagining what Artemus and Olivia were like when they first met at children [she was four years old, he was six]. All I know is that she slaps him--long story.
From then on I've been vaguely recreating their brief history together, despite the fact that this means I'm thinking about that, instead of where the story is actually going.

But I'm letting myself do it, because it is important to how the story works, so in the end it will help. I'll probably work on it a bit more when I'm in the post-writing/pre-editing stages.

So without much adieu...

The Childhood Events of Olivia and Artemus (at least until I revise it):
While Vincent was out on some business he came across Artemus (not sure what his original last name was), who he quickly learned was quite talented and had a mind for inventing. So he made the young man a deal, he would work with him after school--sort of a mentorship. And this is what brought Artemus to the Wells/Orville home.

The day Artemus came to their home, Olivia was in the middle of a piano lesson with her mother. As she had seen but not had any playmates that were "her size" she was immediately excited by his arrival. So she rushed out to meet this strange new young man that her father was talking to. Vincent introduced the two, using Olivia's nickname which brought about this following exchange between the two children:
"Ollie is a strange name for a girl." Artemus said making a face.
"It's just a nick name. It stands for Olivia Madeleine Wells." The girl replied, irritated at his comment.
"Still odd." Artemus said with a shrug.
"Is he a playmate?" This last line Olivia directed at her father. Her father informed her that the young man is here for lessons, but he might be willing to play with Olivia afterwards. Excited by the prospect, she asked the young man:
"Will you play with me afterwards?"
"No." Artemus said this with no hesitation.
"Why not?" She inquired.
"Because I don't want to play with you." He replied.
And Olivia responded by slapping him on the face, much to the surprise of both her parents. When asked why she did it, she said he was being rude--which was hardly a good excuse. So Madeleine took Olivia to be punished for her actions, while Vincent apologizes to a very stunned Artemus. And the boy's lessons begin.

On his second visit, Olivia quickly apologized to him before his lesson and then runs off afterwards. Feeling partly to blame, Artemus decides to stay and keep the girl company--far better than returning to the orphanage. So begins a series of play dates between the two of them [I'm not sure what sort of games a four year old girl would play with a six year old boy, but it's not too important]. It was during this time that Olivia realized that Artemus was very serious for his age. She asks him one day why he won't smile, but he will not say. The little girl then resolves that she will make him smile, if she ever figures out how.

She found her inspiration on how to do that when she witnessed her mother receive flowers from her father. So she decided it would also work for Artemus. One day instead of piano lessons with her mother, Olivia suggested that they go for a walk. As Olivia gathered flowers, her mother asked what they were for and the girl revealed her secret plan: the flowers were for Artemus. Her mother laughed and asked why she would give the boy flowers. Olivia responds that it made her mother happy, so it might make him happy too. That late afternoon after lessons were over, Olivia presented her bouquet of flowers to Artemus. At first the boy was rather confused by the gift, but it did make him smile [a small half-smile]. Pleased with the results, Olivia continues the action--although with less flowers--hoping that it will keep him happy. And slowly the two children become a bit closer.

[There is a photograph of the two children that was taken a bit after this by Thomas. Artemus is looking ahead at the camera, trying his best to be serious without much success--he is half smiling. His failure to look serious is due to the fact that Olivia has her arms wrapped around him and resting her head on his shoulder--he expected her to merely stand next to him. Yes...she was a bit clingy back then, but it got him to smile.]

About a year into their friendship, tragedy strikes. Madeleine Wells has an accident in the lab. Of course the children do not know this yet--they are together in the parlor when Vincent and the Orvilles rush upstairs carrying Maddy. Vincent tells Bertrand to call for a doctor. Although neither of the children know what is wrong, they can both sense it. Olivia tries to go to her mother, but Vincent stops her and asks Artemus to hold her back. And he does. He holds Olivia in his arms, as she fights him, screaming her mother's name until finally she gives gives in and starts to cry.

When they go to the funeral, Artemus is the one who holds Olivia's hand. Although her father and the Orvilles try their best to comfort her, it is the boy's words [about how he lost his own parents] that help her understand. The two children find themselves bonded by loss. However, unlike Artemus, Olivia remains more positive--even claiming that somehow Maddy is still with her. [There is a slight chance that the girl spent her time alone talking to an "invisible" Maddy or herself to cope.]

After the death of her mother, Olivia begins to spend more time with the men in her life [Vincent, Thomas, Theodore and Artemus]. Unable to leave Olivia alone, her father starts bringing her into the lab, which is the start of the masculine clothes that caused all the Ollie=boy confusion. [The famous photo isn't taken until after Artemus is sent away.] So she spends most of her days after school in the factory and lab with her father. And when she isn't following her father around, she is with Artemus. The young man is now living with them [a foster home type situation]. Her father felt it was best that the boy not have to be at the orphanage after all he'd been through--and due to the comfort his presence brought Olivia. Together, this strange family began to cope.

It was like this for the next three years [Olivia is now eight and Artemus is ten]. Olivia and Artemus have become rather close friends. All was going well, until the two were suddenly separated, for reasons the two were not told. [As it turned out, Mr. Cromwell had returned with hopes of finishing the invention that killed Maddy. He also showed some interest in Artemus, when he learned of his talents. Vincent did not want to see Cromwell get his hands on Artemus, for fear of what he would make the young man do.] Artemus was taken away to live with Felix and the theatre troupe. In the rush to save Artemus from a horrible fate, Vincent failed to tell the young man what was happening. So Artemus assumed he was being abandoned again--sold off to Felix Armstrong. Angry to be treated like an object, he became bitter and disobedient [which in part contributed to his debt]. Olivia was also misled and told her friend had finally been adopted. She tried her best to be happy for Artemus and hoped that perhaps she would see him again one day. That day would not come for another nine years...

So yeah...that's it in a nutshell. The past that Olivia and Artemus shared.
It explains why Artemus cares about her so much and why he's so protective. Why he knows more about her than anyone else and why he would recognize her slightly [you do change a lot in nine years]. It also explains why they have such strong feelings for each other--not fond of that R&J love at first sight BS.

Sorry this was such a long post.

Gonna stop beating myself up.

2008-12-09T00:30:00.000-08:00

So tired...because this weekend was hell.
I'm 5k behind at the moment and tomorrow I'll technically be 8k behind. I say technically because I am going to be lenient with myself because I have been far too busy to get much written anyway.

Things are still moving--just really really slowly.

Sigh. I won't stop writing though, because I really don't want to take the chance that I'll abandon this project like I've done with others before.

Tonight's word count: 110,139

G'night.

JACKPOT!

2008-12-07T20:10:00.000-08:00

As many of you know my story is Steampunk, which is basically Victoriana with a futuristic/tech focused element. And in order to give my world that lovely 19th century flair, I need to learn as much as I can about that time period.

I've used Wikipedia, TV/movie references, my costuming knowledge etc, but then I found this:

Victoriana.com

Let me just say--what a wealth of knowledge. Everything from ballroom dancing and corsetry to Christmas gifts for gentlemen and etiquette. Oh I'm going to be visiting this site a lot when I start editing!

Just had to share!

He's her doppleganger...sort of.

2008-12-07T00:39:00.000-08:00

So things are looking up a bit. I managed to get a bit of writing done today because I was stranded at work with nothing else to do [yes I had to work this Saturday--what of it?].

Didn't quite meet my goal of 109k, but I'm not about to shirk at 107,036 [only 2k behind]. Plus I'm incredibly sleep deprived and need my rest.

Update:
These past couple of words has brought Olivia to her doppelganger, a young man claiming to be Oliver Wells. Technically he's not her doppelganger as they're different genders, but the world thinks that Ollie was a boy, so when you consider that--he is.

I've been looking forward to Oliver's appearance quite a bit as he's got a villainous streak to him. When I first planned their encounter it was a really small moment, but now it's turned into something far more interesting. He's a con-man with some very valuable information, but he's also not someone to mess with. He will really give Olivia a run for her money for a little while. Which makes her big "I told you so" moment even more awesome. Squee!

Epic Fail and a Shamless Plug

2008-12-05T08:31:00.001-08:00

So this week has been quite the bust. A migraine took me out for two days [putting me 7k behind] and last night I had a hard time staying awake.

So I'm pretty mad at myself right now. I'm also worried that I'm self sabotaging because I fear that I can't finish my story without it sounding like crap. Then I remind myself this is a rough rough draft and somehow I will make it up. That is what the weekend is for after all. So I will catch up again. It's not like I have much else that I need to do.

Word count: 98,151

AND NOW A SHAMELESS PLUG:
There are two books I purchased before NaNo. They were mentioned a couple of times on NaNo message boards so I decided to check them out. They were actually incredibly helpful and will probably be even more helpful once I start editing.

After mentioning them briefly to Penny and she asked me to post them, so here they are--

Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell
If you ever needed help structuring a plot, crafting a scene or even just starting your novel, this book has so many good tidbits. If it weren't for this book I probably would have still been working on my first plot, which was pretty lame.

Character & Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card
Haven't read as much of this book, but I really like how they talk about narrative and character development. I'll be doing a lot of this after I finish, so I know that book will come in handy later.

Now unlike some folks *cough* Penny *cough* I still have a bit more writing to do before I can be finished. So I'm gonna get back on that and hopefully have a healthy word count by the end of the night.

Impostors

2008-12-02T15:29:00.000-08:00

More research as I write...this time it's impostors and stolen identities.

Olivia is about to meet a man who claims to be her--well the male version of her: Oliver Wells.
I didn't put much thought into it when it first came up as a plot element, but as I'm about to write that scene it's sort of important to address. Which means learning more about why someone would pretend to be someone else. So off to Wikipedia where I found some very handy info.

There are quite a few reasons to impersonate someone: money, social standing, fresh start, hiding from the law or gain privileges specific to that person.

Option 1:
He does it for fraudulent reasons, so perhaps it's all a con sort of like Cassie Chadwick: who pretended to be a Andrew Carnegie's illegitimate child and gained access to a lot of big loans [that she never paid back].
Mind you, the Wells family is known for inventing...so unless he can invent--he's gonna have to run someday because people will figure it out. Perhaps he's a mechanic.

Option 2:
He does it for opportunities that would otherwise be unavailable to him [like funding].
No good examples of this that I've found so far, except for a similar situation in the anime Full Metal Alchemist. In the episode, the lead characters, who are brothers, meet another pair of brothers that are impersonating them so that they could be apart of an experiment. The intentions are selfish, but not meant to be slander or as part of a con job.
If he goes this route, he's going to be less of a threat--and less conflict overall. Olivia will also be more reluctant to reveal who he really is.

Verdict:
I think Option 1 is more exciting and allows for more conflict. He might actually be able to fix things and managed to pull it off for a while going the Frank Abagnale way of having other people do it for you. It will also not be as bad if Olivia reveals him, because he was tricking them anyway.

We'll see.

December brings NaNoFiMo

2008-12-02T03:37:00.000-08:00

So it's now December and I'm determined to finish my novel.

I joined NaNoFiMo with the goal of 150k by December 19th, which means about 3k+ a day.
So far I'm doing pretty well and have kept up with my writing.

Been learning a lot while I go along...like the fact that parachutes were around as early as the 1500s. The first modern style ones were in use around 1885. Of course back then you had to hold the chute in your arms when you jumped and release it into the air yourself--but hey it worked. And it makes for a great scene.

So yeah. Olivia and Artemus just jumped off a moving airship, FYI. This adventure of hers just keeps getting crazier. Don't believe me? Two words:'rocket' and 'bicyle'.

And now I go to bed.

Current word count: 94,179

Last day to make it or break it

2008-11-30T19:35:00.001-08:00

It's 7:35pm and I am posing the following to myself: can I get nearly to the end of my story before midnight?

We'll see.

Wish me luck.

-----

Edit:

So NaNoWriMo just finished for me here in San Francisco [and the rest of the west coast] and I finished with 90,120 words [because I forced myself to write about 10k in 8 hours].

Last year I finished with 60,957 words, so huge progress. But once again, I didn't finish and I still have a lot of work to do. My story will probably take another 40k, which I plan to complete before December 19th.

So onto NaNoFiMo!

P.S. I plan to post a few choice excerpts in the next week if anyone is interested--after a bit of editing. I'll let you know when that happens.

And she's off.

2008-11-29T10:59:00.000-08:00

Dear Jeebus I finally made it!

At 78,257 Olivia has finally made her decision to run off with her father's last invention [okay so technically I didn't write the memory part yet, so it'll be a few more words into the story once that's added]. The "decision scene" turned out far more touching that I could have imagined--oh my little characters how I've become so fond of you. I sincerely hope that I will not have to kill any of the good ones--perhaps some injury instead.

So that means we've gotten past character building and mysteries into full blown adventure and such. And that means that I have stepped into the territory of the completely unknown. Which sucks because I only have two days left of NaNo to figure most of that out.

Oh I know I won't finish my story on Sunday [at least another 40k to write], but I'm gonna try to get as far into that half as I can.

Wish me luck.

Mini-update

2008-11-28T09:21:00.000-08:00

So despite the arrival of the boyfriend for holiday festivities, I have kept steady with my writing. In fact I've been waking up early just so I can get some writing done while he sleeps. Makes me feel less guilty that way.

As of this very moment I am at 70,822. But my story is still very far from being finished. I think I failed to realize how long this story has to be to tell all of it--phew!

Let's just say that my protagonist needs to be running away from her guardians with a valuable object for the latter half of the novel and she's still there. On the bright side I'm only a few scene away from her officially running off. So perhaps I will hit "action" territory before NaNo ends.

Still nervous though, because once she leaves for "action" land...I haven't a clue what it's really gonna be like.

Well back to work!

Don't call it a comeback...I've been here for years!

2008-11-25T13:31:00.000-08:00

So things are moving along in my little noveldom. I've finally broken 60k and intend to reach 75k before Billy's arrival on Wednesday night. There are so many things left to write it isn't even funny. Olivia is on the brink of running off and starting the major climax of the story. So as the days of NaNo draw to a close, I wonder to myself why oh why did it take so long to get to this point?

For one, my inner critic is really hard to shut up. Sometimes she's helpful and creates some great paragraphs and narrative. Then I have to remind myself that this is Nano. My critical friend can shine after this is all over when I'm editing. But sometimes, I just can't force myself forward.

Secondly, self-doubt is always looking over my shoulder. And I begin to worry. Is my story interesting? Would someone want to read it? Are the characters flat? Are they realistic? I haven't a clue because I spend nearly all my waking [and sometimes sleeping] moments with them. My dear boyfriend has been unfortunately subjected to temporary beta as I've been writing--just so my ego can get enough boost to continue writing.

Of the two, doubt is far more dangerous than my critic. Because doubt may be silent, but it acts like a poison and it slows you down. So I need to say goodbye to my poisonous friend and realize that half of what is being written by myself and others will be complete drivel until it gets the editing it deserves. The point is to get it out. And I will.

Green bar goodness

2008-11-23T01:45:00.000-08:00

Me: Hooray I won the NaNo! I rock... :: does a little dance ::

Inner Critic: Yeah yeah...big celebration. But is your novel anywhere near done?

Me: No...but I got 50k

Inner Critic: And you still probably have to write 50k more

Me: Right...so I better get to it I suppose.

----------

So yeah as of midnight, I wrote 50,808. Woot!

I'm still writing at the moment, hoping to break 52k before I go to bed. It's been sluggish because I don't know the scene as well as I had hoped. But on the bright side I am so close to my halfway point I can taste it.

Sunday--let's kick some ass and break 60k.

Sometimes your NaNo characters hijack your brain...

2008-11-21T02:35:00.001-08:00

Often while in the midst of NaNo or working on any story, I have moments when I allow my characters to get too close and occasionally take over. My walk to work turns from thinking about my life to thinking about the characters, things they might say or bits of narration.

Then the hijacking begins.

I have a sudden urge to speak as Olivia and respond as Artemus or one of the Orvilles. I devise witty bits of narration for scenes I have yet to write. When they win, I have no choice but to say their words out loud or mouth them. And even when I fight, the facial expressions they might express in the scene playing out in my head, will appear on my own face.

This can be rather problematic, because people might think you're crazy. But this is also the sign that something is finally clicking. And nothing clicked more than when I stopped on my walk home, pulled out my notebook and proceeded to write over 1,000 words for a scene that just popped up in my mind. And it didn't stop there. Twice more, I stopped on the street, found a piece of paper and had to write down that bit of dialogue or prose before I could continue on my way.

But in the end it paid off because I have reached 42K. So hooray!

Unfortunately, my story is far from ending, so I know I need to work really hard these next 10 days to reach 100k or at least 80k before NaNoWriMo ends.

Oh my...things are steaming up.

2008-11-17T01:21:00.001-08:00

So a couple of things.

1. I reached 30k!
Not as nice as the desired 35k, but it still puts me in the lead, which is good because I have a feeling that this story will run about 80-100K and I'd like to pretty much finish by end of NaNo.

2. Olivia and Artemus are fogging up my goggles.
Yes indeed, it seems love is blossoming between the pair. I had not intended to get so romantic, but you know how characters like to do what they want. It's very clear to me that Olivia has a crush on Artemus, but I don't know if he feels the same way yet. You know how oblivious boys can be. :)

3. Excerpt of steamy goodness!
After all that writing, I figure I should share some of it. Not much editing was done, so be gentle. Anyway, here it is:

Olivia did not feel fine as she found herself alone and clinging to a bit of railing numerous miles above the ground below. In fact, all she could think about how and when she might fall out of the airship and tumble to her death.
You won't fall out. She thought to herself as she stared at her hands instead of the view below. People don't fall out of airships.
This thought would have been comforting if she did not remember that she had, in fact, fallen out of one herself. And that her falling out of an airship was the very reason she was standing on that balcony this very moment. The girl suddenly felt a knot tighten in her chest, making it incredibly hard to breathe. So she closed her eyes.
"I promise you won't fall." A voice said in her ear and she opened her eyes. Another set of hands rested upon her own, which had relaxed their death grip on the railing a bit. Her heart beat began kicking up again, but not because she was afraid to fall. Her heart was responding, as it often did, to the presence of Artemus Doyle who was standing behind her.
"Artemus." She said softly, but did not turn to look at him.
“Just look down,” he said and reluctantly the girl did as she was told. She allowed her eyes to look away from the railing to the ground below. Below the airship was something that looked like an intricate design etched into the land. The circular form rippled outward and branched out with intricate twists and turns. At the edge of the pattern was a field of green and yellow.
“Is that the city?” She asked, turning to look at Artemus.
“Yes.” He smiled, his eyes unreadable behind his goggles. “That is your father’s design. He and the Orvilles built this city as a mecca for innovation. And the city itself is its own masterpiece.”
“It’s amazing.” She said, still looking at it in awe. Her fear of falling a distant memory.
“You see that structure over there?” He asked, pointing towards something in the distance. Olivia shook her head. “One second.” The boy took one of his hands off of hers and leaned forward, moving her body with him. Surprised, Olivia straightened her arms and stopped him from leaning forward any further.
Artemus laughed and he wrapped one of his arms around her waist.
“Still scared?” He whispered in her ear. Olivia’s heart fluttered. “I promised you that nothing will happen. Just trust me, for once.”
“Okay.” Olivia swallowed hard and relaxed her arms. Artemus leaned both of them forward slightly over the railing and pointed down to something that was much closer to their view.
“See that structure?” He asked again.
“Yes.” The girl could clearly see the large domed structure. Now that they were closer, she noticed that the roof was made of a prism of glass. Everything in the intricate pattern that mad up the city seemed to spill out from there.
“That is the heart of the city. The factory your father and the Orvilles started. It was once one of the most important places in this country.”
“And now?”
“Now it’s not doing so well.” George said as he approached the pair. He glanced down where they were looking and then back at the two of them. Olivia suddenly felt very conscious of how close she and Artemus were that moment.
“Oh, really?” She said, taking a step towards George and out of Artemus’ arms. She didn’t look behind her to see how her actions had affected her companion, if at all.
“Yes...” George said with a brief glance over in Artemus’ direction. “Was I interrupting anything?”
“No.” Artemus said, his voice blank.
“Artemus was showing me the city,” Olivia said, turning back to look at Artemus, who was still looking down at the city below. She gently touched his shoulder, but didn’t get a response. So she placed her hands on the railing next to him and then turned back to address George.
“So what happened to the factory?”

Challenges, a duel if you will...

2008-11-13T08:01:00.000-08:00

So this week started out badly. No writing on Monday and then a paltry 1K on Tuesday and Wednesday, so what is the solution to that?

A WORD WAR!!!!

Penny has pulled off the gloves, slapped my face and declared a war, which I have chosen to accept. The terms: 35k by Sunday.

This shall be a mighty war indeed.
For my army of characters have finally found lives of their own and they are willing to fight for me--to the death! Okay...maybe not the death...but perhaps to the pain [just less gruesome than what Wesley described...okay...we're talking paper cuts and finger pokings.]

It begins!!!

Of Steampunk gadgets and the literary dillemma

2008-11-11T01:45:00.000-08:00

Monday I did not write anything because I was incredibly busy on le good ship internship and have a presentation to work on. So big zero on the daily word count. No worries, because I'll catch up tomorrow.

So as most of you know, I am writing a Steampunk NaNoWriMo.

That means gadgets and gizmos a plenty. Unfortunately, that can be quite the problem.
Films, videos and comic books make these things so easy to accept. We see them and well seeing is believing so we accept them. However, when it comes to the ever complicated novel, we are rendered blind.

The only way to end this horrid blindness is with descriptions. However, it can be very hard to describe something if you don't have a clue what it is [or even what it does]. This was something I intended to fix with pre-NaNo planning, but that didn't really go as planned. So I'm thrust into the world and making up thingamajigs on the fly. I know I have a vivid imagination, but I'm generally more of a engineer of "magic" than of anything remotely like engineering.

So this is definitely going to be a struggle. I'll probably resort to just making up random names and just vaguely mentioning the power source or if any levers need to be pulled. I can always go back and fix it.

And to flex my steamy inventing muscles, I will probably begin a "random inventions" list in the Excerptlopedia. Maybe I'll use some of them or it'll just be for fun.

If you can think of anything...and I mean anything, please feel free to share.

Finally caught up!

2008-11-06T23:54:00.000-08:00

Huzzah! After silencing my inner critic and some early morning, lunch and evening writing, I am finally back on track.

Writing is going well. The dialogue is still a little shaky, but characters are beginning to develop. The tech side is a little iffy too but that's something I can always go back and edit properly.

Another excerpt. Hopefully this will not disappoint:
A little side note. In this scene, Olivia is disguised as Edwin Jones.

Millicent Doyle's tour was nothing if not thorough and she made sure to usher "Edwin" to every room, nook and cranny. Whether it was to meet yet another crew member or to see some facet of the massive airship's inner workings, Millie made sure that the boy was introduced to everyone who crossed their path. At the moment, the woman had cornered an unfortunate engineer and the elaborate routine of introductions was about to happen for the fifteenth time today.
"Edwin Jones, this is Marshall Patterson. Marshall Patterson, this is Edwin Jones." Millicent said as she quickly pointed between the two men and watched eagerly until the two being introduced finally shook hands. Olivia tried her best to keep up the "firm handshake" that had impressed Mrs. Doyle, but her hand was getting tired by the time she had reached Mr. Patterson.
"Marshall is one of our crewman..." Millicent continued, completely ignoring the nervous look on the crewman's face. She had cornered him on their way to the engine room as he was probably rushing off to somewhere important. But as she had mentioned to "Edwin", the first time he suggested that it was not necessary be introduced to everyone, that manners were what made their country such a dignified place.
"Nice to meet you." Olivia said as she gave the other young man an apathetic look. The sooner the introductions were over, the sooner he would be released from his civic duty of cordiality.

That's all for now. I've earned some early rest.

Back on track, but still have some catching up to do...

2008-11-06T01:10:00.001-08:00

So as of tonight I have 5,037 words [although most of those words are from the older plots--but hey I still wrote it for NaNo].

Nevertheless, I am back on track and trying my best to catch up and then get ahead. It didn't help that I've been sick today and so I decided to take it easy instead of making myself worse with stress.

Anyway, at least half of my plot is in my head. As for writing it, we shall see how it goes. I've started to put words on paper, but it's been a little slow and clunky [reminds herself that it's just a draft...die inner critic, die].

So as a little taste, here are the new opening lines:

As Olivia watched the play come to its conclusion, she could not avoid the sneaking suspicion that somehow this story was based on her life, albeit less comical. It is not strange to associate oneself with the characters in a play, but most would have picked the dashing hero or the scheming villains over the hapless victim that was now clinging on for dear life.

Reworking

2008-11-04T22:51:00.000-08:00

I'm still here.

I am currently reworking my plot as we speak and I'm very excited about how it is going.

As for actual writing, I am still incredibly behind. Unfortunately, due to stressing myself out over my predicament and spending a chunk of today focused on elections--I probably won't write any more tonight.

Besides, I need to have a clearer plot line/character ideas before I try to ramble off 4,000+ words or so. I mean, I can write it, but will it be worth it?

So I'm off to plan before bed.

Plots fall apart...[or why character goals are important]

2008-11-04T01:49:00.000-08:00

On the third day of NaNo, I wrote absolutely nothing.

Yep, nothing.

Fear not, I am not quitting NaNo, I just ran into a major issue that needed to be tackled before I could write anything else. That major problem being that my MC/Protagonist did not have her own goal. Sure she took on the goals of others as they came, but nothing was driving her. And as any good writer/writing book will tell you, the MC needs a goal or what's the point?

So I spent most of today trying to figure it all out and I have decided this:
My MC/Protagonist's father has gone missing and she has to find him/save him.

This opens a can of worms, so I still have a bit of replotting to do. Some characters can be salvaged, but a lot of them will probably be recast or dumped.

I've got a catching up to do.
Hope I don't have anything to do at work tomorrow.

Sunday, Bloody Sunday.

2008-11-02T23:33:00.001-08:00

So Steamboy was very useful for inspiration. If you are interested in Steampunk or just an enjoyable movie in general, I would definitely look into it.

Most of today was spent planning...but it was super helpful. I figured out about a quarter of my plot and smoothed out my villain. Also, I created a helpful little playlist for myself to aid me as I write.

I started writing at 8pm and it's going, wouldn't say it was great, but it is coming along.

So I plan to start a few new posts in the Excerptlopedia.

1. Excerpts [anything from chapters to great paragraphs]
2. Favorites [lines, mottos, character quotes, etc]

Check em out when you can.

Today's challenge between myself and Penny was that we were to reach 4,000 by day end. I do not think I will win this one Penny, but we'll see.

Planning Saturday

2008-11-01T15:36:00.000-07:00

So planning is going okay...sort of. I think I need to talk to someone or just take a little break.

Lots of revelations and discoveries, but some may be complicating my plot.
I'm gonna watch Steamboy for inspiration and to keep from any possible self-sabotage.

I need support people...call or drop me an IM.

Late start this NaNo...

2008-10-31T22:25:00.000-07:00

Despite all of my attempts to prepare early for NaNoWriMo, I once again will probably start a bit later than planned.

I have been laying out my story and characters. I collected images, but I can't fight sleep and I've been exhausted all day. Even as I write this, I keep falling asleep.

So I'm going to call it a night and finish my planning in the morning. I can start writing tomorrow afternoon or night.