10 posts tagged “nano wrimo”
I didn't finish. Whatever page count my last post says is where I ended. As I went along I realized the story didn't have any omph. The basic problem is that the characters didn't have any real flavor (errr, not that I'm tasting or anything), no spark to inspire more story. It was all plot. I like to let things sit and stew for a while before I go back and reread. Maybe I'll like things better later. For now I'd say that NaNo WriMo was a great experience. I also think that my next attempt will be a short story instead.
I'd intended to write my heart up up through the end of NaNoWriMo, but there is a huge flaw in that plan in my opinion - the event takes place in NOVEMBER. Holidays, prep for holidays, tradeshows, personal / family prep for holidays. This is not the month for me. I haven't been able to write anything substantial since mid month. OK, there was procrastination, research, a book that I found myself reading (partially for research), a corset that had to be started and bridesmaid dresses to design then start.
My ideas are still stewing and I've learned that a faster pace is good for cranking out things you didn't know were in a particular story. I fell that the event has been at least partially successful for me - I'm always in favor of learning things with practical applications. I'm not done yet...
It got in the way, did real life.
Work on my story or visit with family I see infrequently? Work on my story or attend (and help prep for) my closest friends’ annual thanksgiving before thanksgiving? Gee, I wonder.
I gave myself permission to not think about my story for a couple of days last week. Breaks are good. I spent time on the internet one evening looking up ingredients in modern soap vs. “true” soap. Funny thing is that was actually a bit of research. I need to know more about natural ingredients and plants for my MC. I’m also now using castile soap and my skin seems to like it.
The research got away with me. I made my own hand lotion. It’s research folks!
Eek, is this the 20th? 33,340 would be the goal for today, but I am content to end the day at 20,222, what with hunting the internet for Levi’s 513 that don’t look all pre-worn (looks like it’s e-bay for me). And oh look, it’s past dinner time and I haven’t made anything…
At the last moment this evening I split off some backstory into a separate, but intertwining tale. Oops. Not sure how that is going to effect the whole thing and BOY do I need to do some plotting out now! It's probably better for me to tell backstory from someone's POV anyway and hey, most everything that happens to all the characters is this guy's fault - I shoudl give him a chance to either defend his actions or become a nasty bad guy.
I do feel like things are getting away from me a bit, but I won't complain - this is certainly keeping me entertained!
I'm at 17,720 as of this moment. Behind, but not a bad place to be.
I've gotten to the point where I'm about as far as I can go with my set of characters as they are now, knowing who they are and what they know thus far. There is much revision work to do, but I need to explore the why's behind my shapeshifter, who is at this point a means to an end, the alchemist who is hardly a thought and how they fit together, because they do. The map is all part of it and the witch is fitting herself in only where she needs to. I feel like I have too many characters, but I don't want to explore them too deeply; I don't want there to be neat little answers to all questions. I admit that I have one stupidly flat character and don't know how to fix her - especially since she is the reason behind some of the mundane events that lead to extraordinary things happening to the MC.
Tomorrow I need to start on the part of the journey that happens before all the characters get together and what happens after the MC has her big life altering event. She still has a journey to make to find her child, discover the reason her home is slipping out of time, oh and figure out either why she has been turned into an old woman or how to turn herself back. In there somewhere I have to decide what the shapeshifter's ultimate role is and what the MC has to come home to. See, I'm still figuring things out.
Using this blog to write out these little summeries and what ifs is feeling very helpful. It's almost decompressing after sitting to write. Now if only I could figure out how to get my brain to utilize the space for thinking ahead...
Words written Tuesday = 0. Corset patterns contemplated = 2.
Wednesday I remembered a fragment of an idea I had written down somewhere and my brain insisted that I find it before writing a single word in my story. I ended up reading several short pieces I had written before. They are pretty good. They made me remember that I can indeed write well. What I am doing now is crap. The only problem is that I don’t think I can write to the quality of the short pieces at the volume I’ve been writing my story. I need to remember that things take effort to turn out well.
I need to think about maps: old maps, treasure maps, maps of hidden things. Who makes these maps? What are they made out of? Why do people hide things in the first place? Why make a map to something that you don’t want anyone to find? I’m at a point where a couple things need to tie in together and I’m going to have to actually WORK it out; it’s not something that is just going to come.
Today (Thurs) I thought up a way to connect a bunch of things (and in doing so discovered somethingelse I need to research - Alchemy - and will probably mean a new, fairly important character). I also discovered a second new character who just walked onto my page and made himself at home. He happens to provide part of the reason my MC will choose a certain path later, and I didn’t even know it until I met him.
I’m at 13,742 (so only one day behind now) and have at least another 1000 words or so in my notes doc that will probably get pasted in the story once I figure out where they go.
Ha! Excellent progress, but considering that I didn't go to work today... (Jack-in-the-box is NOT food and I WILL NEVER CONSUME IT AGAIN).
Story is progressing, fleshing out a bit. One or two answers, leading to more questions. Accidentally started another story that has nothing to do with this one, oops. Still no LIFE in the thing. There are a couple real moments. I think you can tell what is based on something real and where I am faking. Need to work on that. I've got a few things in mind, but somehow blasting down all the words and basic scenes I can first seems to be working pretty well. Nothing wrong with seeing the flaws right off the bat.
I'm at 7361, so I'm about a thousand words behind. I never thought that for someone who always has something to say about almost everything, I'd have a hard time getting it out. I'm not pleased with the story yet. I like the idea of it and the direction, but I don't know the characters anywhere near well enough. I know there aren't any "wow" moments (yet).
So far I'm pretty much writing down the bare bones. First I wrote out a rough outline; I can see that in the end it will be about a third or so of the true outline. Then I started the story pretty much in line. Now I've started jumping around a little, then adding important bits to the outline. I can already feel where I'll go back and flesh out certain areas. I'm pretty sure that there's about a third of the story that I still need to discover. I know there is one character that I have no idea how to write. The direction and end are going to depend largely on how much of her I put directly into the tale. I haven't backed myself into anything yet.
Instead of doing a lot of actual writing today (though I did get about 2000 words in) I did a bunch of research. I've highlighted several places in the text where I need to include some more accurate details and I know basically what I'm looking for. Now that I have a more firm idea of place in my mind I really need to get the names worked out.
Onward!
Today is day 5 of NaNoWriMo and I have 5,603 words up until this moment (of course it is only 10:30 am and I've just sat down to the computer...). I should have more like 8,500 by the end of the day today to keep on target. But do I have enough coherent story?
So far I have one good main character, one good supporting character and another that I didn't even realize would actually be a person, but whom I think better be a character, but maybe not until a certain, life altering event happens to the main character. All my characters need new names. I need to settle on whose POV I'm writing from. I think there will be two in the end.
Place is pretty important in this story. The setting is just a forrest until you look deeper, then the forrest is almost a character too. Or at least that is my intent, now. I think there is going to be a character who personifies the forest, the ages and everything around it, but I don't know if that individual will have good or ill intent. Likely, she will simply have her own agenda.
The people in my story don't live in the forest of course, this is no Robin Hood. They live in a small village, based on such deserted medieval villages as Wharram Percy, though I have rethought and repositioned it. On one level this story could be about the "real" reasons that medieval villages disappeared. On another level it is about a young woman who sees beyond the ordinary and has a life changing adventure... I'm not entirely sure what the story is about yet.
What I can tell you is that there is a changling, a shapeshifter, a witch, a deadly fever, a wedding, a child, an old woman and a pervasive mist - but some of those things have very little to do with each other (like the wedding and the child). Several someones are going to end up dead, the village may disappear, and the poor shapeshifter may never figure out what happened to him... I have no idea how it all ends.
I'm off now to figure out why in the world the shape shifter IS a shapeshifter, why that is important to the story and what the heck his backstory is.
Hopefully this works:
This is not my first blog, nor will it be my last, I'm sure.
I love the idea of sharing ideas and thoughts, but so many blogs are just about what kind of Starbuck's drink Joe had for breakfast today and how he spilled some on his crotch just before getting into work. He'll tell you he's getting fat (Starbuck's much?) and how that hot girl in accounting was staring at his crotch...
Am I just missing something in the whole "connecting to people on the internet" thing? Do people really have meaningful conversations via these things or have zombies eaten my brain? I'll have tea with that, thanks. I think blogs are "all about me."
So here it is that I've created this blog, with no friends on it and no relation to the other two blogs, flickr account, but my neglected website. So what IS the point. Aside from random ramblings and rantings (good god, didn't we used to keep these things safe under lock and key?) I've happened upon http://www.nanowrimo.org/ and with no prep, aside from all the random story ideas I've had in the past billion years and the fact that any art that I have ever made has come slowly and painfully, but I'm going to give it a shot.
Stand back zombies.
