First of all, Happy Belated Thanksgiving. Somehow, going to see my family, not really sleeping, spending too much time on trains, I forgot to wish you all a happy holiday. I hope my American readers -- and any non-American readers who celebrated the holiday anyway -- had a great time. I did.
Okay, this post might feel a little random. It's because I'm totally cracked. I'm blaming NaNo. Not that it's really NaNo's fault, but it's just so convenient.
Speaking of NaNo, it's actually going pretty well. I made 48.8k on Sunday. It's looking good for winning this year! (That's not a jinx, I think, because at this point, I'm ready to give up all sleep to make it happen.) True, I won't be done with the story the same time I'm done NaNo (I'm envisioning at least 5k more words here), but just because you've hit a goal word count is no reason to stop writing. You can always cut and trim and shave later. The original word count goal is more of a guideline than an actual rule. (See that POTC reference? I make those because they make me smile.)
I'm a little amped as I write this, because I'm listening to the soundtrack of Next to Normal, which is awesome. I saw it this weekend with my family. The Other One and I loved it. Captain Film Major said it was okay. My parents split between us. But, since I'm the one writing this post, my view's the one that gets reiterated (notice my blatant abuse of my power? I thought you might): Next to Normal rocked. Definitely worth seeing.
I will note one thing about the show. Captain Film Major and my father expressed the view that it's hard to pinpoint the exact main character of the piece. This is true. I think of it as more of an ensemble piece that a story with an MC -- though their is one character whose actions drive the plot.
This makes me wonder, can books be ensemble pieces? I've seen and worked on ensemble plays. However, I'm not sure I've read a book that I would call an ensemble book. Usually, in my experience, books have a single MC whose actions pull the story forward. However, I'm ready to believe I'm wrong about this or have just read books differently than others might have.
How's your NaNo going? Almost there? How's that feel?
How do you feel about ensemble stories? Single MC stories? Which to you write? Which do you read? To ensemble books exist?
Monday, November 29, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Moving Forward
This weekend, I discovered one of the more interesting effects of NaNoWriMo.
One thing NaNo does is force you to move forward. You can't hit the delete button. You've got hit the word count. 50k in 30 days. Go. This means that things happen fast, maybe even things you hadn't thought about or anticipated. Sometimes, this will take you to places you didn't anticipate going, or it'll make you think of all the things you didn't think of.
Somewhere in my mind, I had thoughts about what was going to happen next in my book. MC and friends were going to NYC, and pretty darn soon if I had anything t say about it. Then it occurred to me, because of how I'd been moving my characters along, not giving them much time to cool their heels, I'd ended up with a lot of down time. If I wanted them in NYC when I original plan kicked in, they'd have to chill for the better part of a week. Who chills for almost a week when they've got Intra-Galactic Intrigue to get involved in?
Thinking about this, I started coming up with new plans. I cycled through a couple ideas (a lot of which involved postponing this issue until revisions -- I know, I'm a bum. I like to procrastinate fixing things). After some thought, it occurred to me that if I bump up their time frame, it makes them upset. It massively inconveniences them and means they have to revamp their plan ASAP. Tension! Barriers! Fun (for me at least)!
This is what's great about NaNo. It forces you to think on your face. You'll come up with new ideas, great ideas sometimes. When you write, there will always come a time when your original plan needs to be tweaked, no matter how perfect the plan is. In real life, a lot of people let this stop them. They freeze when they need to adjust. But NaNo gives you the boost to push past that 'Oh, my original plan isn't working, and now the world will end' freak-out so that you can get on with your story.
I'm enjoying this new direction. I think it'll really amp up the conflict in both my plots. NaNo for the win!
How's your NaNo going? Have your stories ever pushed you in a new direction because of how the story was turning out? How did that work out for you?
One thing NaNo does is force you to move forward. You can't hit the delete button. You've got hit the word count. 50k in 30 days. Go. This means that things happen fast, maybe even things you hadn't thought about or anticipated. Sometimes, this will take you to places you didn't anticipate going, or it'll make you think of all the things you didn't think of.
Somewhere in my mind, I had thoughts about what was going to happen next in my book. MC and friends were going to NYC, and pretty darn soon if I had anything t say about it. Then it occurred to me, because of how I'd been moving my characters along, not giving them much time to cool their heels, I'd ended up with a lot of down time. If I wanted them in NYC when I original plan kicked in, they'd have to chill for the better part of a week. Who chills for almost a week when they've got Intra-Galactic Intrigue to get involved in?
Thinking about this, I started coming up with new plans. I cycled through a couple ideas (a lot of which involved postponing this issue until revisions -- I know, I'm a bum. I like to procrastinate fixing things). After some thought, it occurred to me that if I bump up their time frame, it makes them upset. It massively inconveniences them and means they have to revamp their plan ASAP. Tension! Barriers! Fun (for me at least)!
This is what's great about NaNo. It forces you to think on your face. You'll come up with new ideas, great ideas sometimes. When you write, there will always come a time when your original plan needs to be tweaked, no matter how perfect the plan is. In real life, a lot of people let this stop them. They freeze when they need to adjust. But NaNo gives you the boost to push past that 'Oh, my original plan isn't working, and now the world will end' freak-out so that you can get on with your story.
I'm enjoying this new direction. I think it'll really amp up the conflict in both my plots. NaNo for the win!
How's your NaNo going? Have your stories ever pushed you in a new direction because of how the story was turning out? How did that work out for you?
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Back to Reality
Hi all.
I have successfully reclaimed my brain. Sorry, I'd hoped to do it by Monday, but my brain was farther gone than I thought. How do we know this? Not only did I forget to blog on Monday, I also forgot entirely about the concept of NaNoWriMo until about 1am Tuesday morning. How did that happen? I have no idea. I knew until 3pm, when I was away from my computer, and then, until 1am, that thought went off goodness knows where. Yes, my mind, was woohoo.
But, as I say, I'm back! It's good to be. How have you all been? How was your weekend? In the general vein, how's your NaNo been going? (Shameless Self-Promotion: In case you've forgotten, my NaNo name is Dominique_En_Violet, and you should come see me.)
Aside from my mind-gap moment of brain-missing-ness (and thank you Scott Westerfeld for bringing that word into my life) my NaNo's been going pretty well. I'm almost 28k into the story, and tomorrow my MC's life's about to get much worse. Not harder, because I've already plopped her into her difficult situation, but I'm about to deprive her of something she really wants. Why? Because I'm a sick, twisted person. 8D
And you, my lovelies? Playing the sick, twisted, cruel god of a universe? I certainly hope so.
I have successfully reclaimed my brain. Sorry, I'd hoped to do it by Monday, but my brain was farther gone than I thought. How do we know this? Not only did I forget to blog on Monday, I also forgot entirely about the concept of NaNoWriMo until about 1am Tuesday morning. How did that happen? I have no idea. I knew until 3pm, when I was away from my computer, and then, until 1am, that thought went off goodness knows where. Yes, my mind, was woohoo.
But, as I say, I'm back! It's good to be. How have you all been? How was your weekend? In the general vein, how's your NaNo been going? (Shameless Self-Promotion: In case you've forgotten, my NaNo name is Dominique_En_Violet, and you should come see me.)
Aside from my mind-gap moment of brain-missing-ness (and thank you Scott Westerfeld for bringing that word into my life) my NaNo's been going pretty well. I'm almost 28k into the story, and tomorrow my MC's life's about to get much worse. Not harder, because I've already plopped her into her difficult situation, but I'm about to deprive her of something she really wants. Why? Because I'm a sick, twisted person. 8D
And you, my lovelies? Playing the sick, twisted, cruel god of a universe? I certainly hope so.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Continued Uselessness
Desperate apologies. Sometime, maybe next Wednesday, if sleeps been able to occur on Tuesday, my life will not be meeting at an intersection of Work That Needs Doing, NaNo, and Theater. It'll just be Work That Needs Doing and NaNo. Much more reasonable. And then -- after some much needed sleep -- I will have my brain back. And when I get my brain back, there will be more interesting blog postings going on.
Terribly sorry, my lovelies.
In the interval, I'd like to introduce you to Truth or Fail, youtube's only game show, and the hands down best time vampire known to man. It's quite simple, Hank Green reads off a list of facts and factoids. You pick the right one, or you fail. Lots of fun.
In fact, I endorses it so much, I'm embedding one of my favorite ones right below. Enjoy!
Hope you have a great weekend!
How've you been?
Terribly sorry, my lovelies.
In the interval, I'd like to introduce you to Truth or Fail, youtube's only game show, and the hands down best time vampire known to man. It's quite simple, Hank Green reads off a list of facts and factoids. You pick the right one, or you fail. Lots of fun.
In fact, I endorses it so much, I'm embedding one of my favorite ones right below. Enjoy!
Hope you have a great weekend!
How've you been?
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
My Bad
Hi guys. I'm terribly sorry, but I'm about to be an utterly useless blogger. NaNo's been kicking me while I'm down lately, because it's overlapping with a bunch of other stuff in my life. I'm keeping up with the NaNo-ing, but it's absorbing most of my non-real-world time, and it's totally zapped my creative powers for the moment. So, sadly, I have little to offer you today.
In trade, I offer you this image. It's not super funny, and I was originally hoping to let you off with a laugh, but the second I saw it, it struck me.
First of all, it's visually clever, and I like that. Second, it's so charmingly succinct. Third, it totally calls to mind the situation of my MC and Male Lead from my NaNo project. If there were stars math equations going on in the background, it would be perfect, actually.
Ever happen to you? You're moseying through life, see something, and think, "MC would love that," or "that totally describes MC's situation"? Doesn't always happen to be, but when it does, I think it's really cool.
Now, since I've been talking about me for a while, tell me, how have you been doing? How are your projects coming along, NaNo or otherwise? Anyone up to anything interesting?
Also, since I feel bad for robbing you of the funny, here's another comic. And this one has math. :) (Only time I've ever said that with joy.)Enjoy ...
In trade, I offer you this image. It's not super funny, and I was originally hoping to let you off with a laugh, but the second I saw it, it struck me.
First of all, it's visually clever, and I like that. Second, it's so charmingly succinct. Third, it totally calls to mind the situation of my MC and Male Lead from my NaNo project. If there were stars math equations going on in the background, it would be perfect, actually.
Ever happen to you? You're moseying through life, see something, and think, "MC would love that," or "that totally describes MC's situation"? Doesn't always happen to be, but when it does, I think it's really cool.
Now, since I've been talking about me for a while, tell me, how have you been doing? How are your projects coming along, NaNo or otherwise? Anyone up to anything interesting?
Also, since I feel bad for robbing you of the funny, here's another comic. And this one has math. :) (Only time I've ever said that with joy.)Enjoy ...
Monday, November 8, 2010
Writing in Public
This weekend, I did something I've never done before and, to a certain extent, thought I'd never do -- I went to a write-in.
Now, I never had anything against the idea of write-ins. Actually, I thought they sounded quite fun. I loved the idea of meeting other writers and feeding inspiration off each other.
My issue: I can't write in public.
Well, it's not that I can't so much as it makes me really uncomfortable, twitchy uncomfortable. I've found trains to be a really productive place to write. Enclosed space with nowhere to go and not much to do but work. Definitely a Butt In Chair situation. But when other people sit next to me, I get uncomfortable. I always get this strange feeling that they're going to look over my shoulder, see what I'm doing, and think I'm crazy. I guess it's an unfortunate side effect of growing up with siblings, you're always preparing for someone to look over your shoulder.
But I really enjoyed the write-in. I met a bunch of writers really close to where I live. Good fun, good jokes. Besides, despite my twitchy feeling that someone might see what I was doing, I got a hecka lot of words written for NaNoWriMo. So, write-ins are definitely successful. Plus, meeting a goal is a lot of more fun when there are other people around to join in the happy-dancing.
So, if you can, I recommend attending any write-ins in your area. Maybe you can even start one if there aren't any nearby. Ours wasn't an official NaNo event, just a bunch of NaNoers in proximity to each other who wanted to do a write-in. Write-ins rock. Writers rock. We are awesomeness.
Rock on!
Have you ever participated in a write-in? Why/why not? Are there any places you don't feel comfortable writing?
Now, I never had anything against the idea of write-ins. Actually, I thought they sounded quite fun. I loved the idea of meeting other writers and feeding inspiration off each other.
My issue: I can't write in public.
Well, it's not that I can't so much as it makes me really uncomfortable, twitchy uncomfortable. I've found trains to be a really productive place to write. Enclosed space with nowhere to go and not much to do but work. Definitely a Butt In Chair situation. But when other people sit next to me, I get uncomfortable. I always get this strange feeling that they're going to look over my shoulder, see what I'm doing, and think I'm crazy. I guess it's an unfortunate side effect of growing up with siblings, you're always preparing for someone to look over your shoulder.
But I really enjoyed the write-in. I met a bunch of writers really close to where I live. Good fun, good jokes. Besides, despite my twitchy feeling that someone might see what I was doing, I got a hecka lot of words written for NaNoWriMo. So, write-ins are definitely successful. Plus, meeting a goal is a lot of more fun when there are other people around to join in the happy-dancing.
So, if you can, I recommend attending any write-ins in your area. Maybe you can even start one if there aren't any nearby. Ours wasn't an official NaNo event, just a bunch of NaNoers in proximity to each other who wanted to do a write-in. Write-ins rock. Writers rock. We are awesomeness.
Rock on!
Have you ever participated in a write-in? Why/why not? Are there any places you don't feel comfortable writing?
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