Okay, so I did that thing where I forget the blogging world exists. And, like last time, it lasted almost exactly one month. And like last time, I believe it happened because I've been participating in a NaNoWriMo-related event. Last time, it was NaNoWriMo. This time, Script Frenzy.
But considering my comic book script died on day... four? It really shouldn't have affected my blogging sched--
--So, anyway!
I'm back. I'm still busy with a whole slew of things related to graduating high school, but I am back. In the near future I'll have some book reviews going up (Storybound, Nightspell, and The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom) along with some actual posts related to writing! I promise.
And if these actual posts fail to happen, I hereby give all my followers permission to slap me with assorted unpleasant objects (for example, fish, shovels, walruses, etc.).
Lurkers who with to participate in any potential slap-fests are encouraged to follow. ;)
Now then. The bad news is, my script died. I quite quickly realized that I did not want to write a script in April, despite what I thought all through March. Instead, I wanted to work on my novel.
So I did, a bit. I've been exchanging chapters with my fabulous critique partner, I've had a few more of those world-shaking epiphanies that I tend to get every time I start thinking "No way this series' plot could possibly get any more intricate!" Also, I might be getting a crocheted doll of one of my characters from a lady in my writers' group. *is super excited at this possibility*
I've also made some goals for the coming months. Failure to meet these goals may also be acceptable grounds for smacking me.
I will finish my current WIP (a rewrite) by the end of May. This will mean writing NaNo style, but I'd really like to get it done so that I'll be all set up for...
Camp NaNoWriMo: June. I've got an outline of a Middle Grade novel just waiting to be explored. It involves living gargoyles, a boy who talks to pigeons, and a little girl with a bag of twenty tricks. And I'll be happy to get it on paper. Quickly. XD And when it's over, I should have just enough time to get ready for...
Camp NaNoWriMo: August. I've had another idea knocking about in my head for a while. Not sure if it's MG or YA yet, but I like this idea, and I think it's got potential.
Oh, yeah, and there will also be more exchanges with my critique partners, a writer's conference this summer, and uh-- oh yeah, COLLEGE. o.o Which starts in the fall. And I am terrified to find out how that's going to affect my posting schedule. *gulp*
Well. There you have it. Where I've been, what I'll be doing, and what penalties you'll be able to give me if I decide to fail at life some more...
Okay. So. Aside from my guest post about NaNowrimo on another blog, I completely failed to post regularly during November. But that’s okay, because I’m reviving the blog now that December is upon us.
It seemed fitting to write a post about revivals. Plus, it lets me tell you about all the things I’ve been doing that have not, unfortunately, been blogging.
I’ve been in Epiphany Mode, dear readers. I’m sure some of you know what I mean, even if you’ve never called it that.
You go about your business. Mow the lawn, take a shower, brush your hair, etc. etc. etc. Mundane things, that don’t take much brain power. This leaves your mind open to thinking about other things…
Like stories.
And suddenly, the ideas rush in. Plot points click together, character motivations finally make sense, and you suddenly realize The THING that will give your story the potential to be perfect.
This, dear readers, is why I am now steampunking ALL the things in one previously genre-confused series (Any experts on meteorites or electricity?Contact me, please). It’s also why I wrote down thirteen dialogue snatches the other night after my shower – and those were only the things I could half remember.
It’s why two extensively-plotted series are currently battling for attention in my mind, with others lurking in the background. I’m working on a comic book for one of them, for heaven’s sake. [And since starting to write this blog post, Series #3 has landed back on the table. *sigh*] [And since adding that line, Series #3 has completely crowded out the others and soared into awesomeness.]
To put it mildly, readers, I am not often the writer who has trouble finding ideas.
But if you are… Or even if you’re just wiped after National Novel Writing Month, but still want to keep writing every day (this is where I’m at, but I understand that some might need time to recover. ;) ) here are some things I’ve found helpful for reenergizing.
MUSIC
Put your music on shuffle. All of it. Think about your stories and character as you listen, and when your mind snags on a lyric, see if the rest of the song relates to your book as well. Add it to a playlist for your novel, and go back to listen to it whenever you need to find the story again. Lots of authors do this, and it’s interesting to see what inspired them. Even if you’re the kind of person who needs quiet to write, that doesn’t need to stop you from listening to your story playlist at other times.
Also, movie soundtracks and instrumentals are lovely.
READING
Certain books exist in this world, that catch our minds on fire.
You read them, and get the warm fuzzies inside at the thought that you are a writer. You could write things like that someday. Scott Westerfeld’s books do this to me all the time. I finally read Divergent by Veronica Roth this weekend (and passed it on to friends; the infiltration of my school has begun. >:) ) and l finally understand why I’ve heard so much about it. I also read Bloodhound, by Tamora Pierce, during NaNoWriMo. The feel of the book, the language, the ‘dog’ terminology, and even the journal-style format all kept me thinking about my NaNo novel, which was sort of my plan to begin with.
There are also books that make you think “I could do better than this.”
When those books come along? Do better.
ART
I don’t claim to be a serious artist. It’s a hobby, it’s fun, and it can really help me finalize ideas about a story – about scenes I’m picturing, the world my characters inhabit, the look of the characters themselves… I’m good enough to impress some classmates who watch me doodle over my shoulder, but I’m not as good as I’d like to be.
(click pics to embiggen)
This was my ‘cover’ for this year’s NaNo Novel:
And this page will be part of the aforementioned comic book: a short little thing depicting some events that take place before Book 1 in the series.
I would post the actual cover, but it’s taking forever to color/shade etc. Obviously, things like this take up time I could’ve spent writing. But like I said, doodling things from my stories helps me finalize ideas. What do I think about the whole time I’m working on something like this? The characters. The story.
And if you feel like even stick figures can be a stretch for you, why not look around on some photo-sharing websites, or magazines? Start gathering pictures that scream the title of your story, whether that means artistic shots of people who resemble your main characters, or a random pic of spider webs that find their way into your setting.
Sometimes having something to look at is all the nudge you need to get excited about a project all over again.
How do you revive your writing? What music or books have inspired you? And do any experts want to help me research some things? ;)
You see, I'd had my doubts about what my frequency of blog posts was going to be during NaNoWriMo this year... But I hadn't expected to stop posting entirely.
And yet, that's exactly what happened. Before I knew it, we were halfway through the month, and I hadn't written blog posts, or read blog posts, or any of the things that had become daily before. I inadvertantly have gone on hiatus for the duration of the month, and I apologize for that.
But rest assured, posts will resume in December. :)
Until then, you can go look at this guest post I wrote about my experiences with NaNoWriMo, on the blog of PJ Schnyder. :)
Also, for anyone interested in how NaNo’s been going for me this month…
*munches chocolate bar as Mother stares sullenly*
I won. Early this morning (1 AM early). The rough draft of my novel is complete at 50,628 words. A little slower than in the past, but I’ve been busy.
My MC came, she cried, and she went as crazy as I ever could’ve hoped for. In my opinion, this month has been a grand success!
How’s it been going for all of you?
*skitters off to work on Book 1* See you in December!
The library. For a reader or writer, it’s close to paradise. Imagine you’re in a new library for the first or second time, exploring the shelves that make up your favorite section or genre. You sidle past, one step at a time, eyes lingering on the covers and titles as your fingers trail along behind you. Every once in a while, when a title catches your eye, you pull the book from the shelf and read the summary, then place the tome either back on the shelf or on the stack you clutch to your chest.
You near the end of the shelves, eyes still skimming across the beloved books. There are still so many books on the shelves. The load in your arms seems puny, by comparison. But the rejections keep coming. That one doesn’t look interesting to me. That one I’ve already read. I don’t like that author, usually. I’ve heard that book isn’t very good.
Finally you reach the very end, and have a certain melancholic confidence that the books you’ve selected are the best ones on the shelves. They are the elite. The treasures. The rest are simply there to fill the shelves, or to supplement a less discerning reader, or one with different tastes.
You curl up in one of the chairs provided, selecting one of your finds to begin reading. You glance over at the shelves…
And spot a cover that catches your interest. And another, and another, and another. What is this? How did you miss them the first time? And why could you only notice them after taking a few steps back?
The same thing happens in our writing. We’re caught up in a scene, or a character, or a train of thought that moves faster than your fingers can type. We’re excited! This is the best story we’ve ever written! Everything is so perfect!
As any participant of NaNoWriMo can tell you, this feeling has the potential to carry you all the way to a ‘The End’. But after the ‘The End’, when you want to start the revision process and turn it into a work that other people can read without burning their eyes out of their skulls, this feeling can be very, very bad.
Take a step back. Look at it the way you’d look at one of the books you pulled off a library shelf. Forget for a few seconds that you wrote this monster of awesomeness, and look at it from a calm, unbiased point of view. If you can’t get yourself into that mindset at the drop of a hat, then put the story away for a while, or work on something else. Then come back to it, but be careful to leave that step between yourself and the work.
It’s okay. We can fix them. We just have to take a step back, see where we have problems, and then ask ourselves some questions.
What’s motivating our character? How is the setting affecting them, and what makes the setting interesting to the reader? How does a certain chain of events fit together? Which scenes were so fun to write that you dragged them out way longer than they deserved, and what are some ways we can close up that gaping plot hole that seems big enough to be a portal into Narnia?
Who knows? Maybe you’ll finally figure out how to tie things together perfectly in a place where you struggled the first time around.
Take the step back and look at your story from a wider perspective. You’ll be surprised what you might realize in the process.
So, readers. Have you ever finished a story only to notice a real ‘Duh’ moment? Do you find it hard to take that step back, or simple? Are you still having trouble realizing when a scene you write is less than perfect? Or maybe your problem is taking the step forward while writing, and you find it hard to forget about all your story’s problems. I’d love to know your thoughts.
((Btw, for those who are interested, I won Camp NaNoWriMo on the 15th with 50,086 words. Since then, I’m… Taking a break? XD))
Passive Voice versus Active Voice. It’s often talked about, but sometimes hard to understand. Even if you understand it, it can be hard to keep in mind while writing. So, what ispassive voice? How about an example?
The path through the forest was being traveled on by Little Red Riding Hood the day after she had received a letter that was written by her sick grandmother, asking her for some special cookies that were made by Little Red’s mother. Little Red had packed up the treats quickly and had started down the path toward the house that was owned by Little Red’s Grandmother, but halfway there she was stopped by a wolf that had been waiting by the path for hours!
I wrote that in approximately thirty seconds. There are multiple problems with it, but hopefully one of the things you picked out was the little thing most often referred to as ‘Passive Voice.’ It’s kind of boring, not very gripping, and maybe even a little hard to follow in places.
Let’s try rewriting those sentences in a more active voice, and see if we can make it more exciting. See if you can pinpoint the difference.
Little Red Riding Hood skipped along the path through the forest, a day after her sick grandmother sent a letter asking for some of her daughter’s special cookies. The basket of treats swung against Little Red’s hip as she made her way toward her grandmother’s house. Just as she spotted her grandmother’s front gate, a snarling wolf loped onto the path in front of her, looking hungry. But his gleaming eyes weren’t focused on the basket of cookies.
Still not perfect, but I think we could all agree that it’s better than the first example. Not only does it have a little more action and a little more connection with the events taking place, but it also gives us more detail about what’s going on, even though it’s actually shorter than the first example.
And all I did was replace some of the passive voice with more descriptive words.
Many examples of passive voice follow this basic formula:
form of ‘to be’ + past participle = passive voice
In other words, something like:
To put off working on my NaNoWriMo novel, I was forced to write a few blog posts.
Was is the form of ‘to be’ (others include is, are, am, were, has been, have been, had been, will be, will have been, and being).
And forced is my past participle (a form of a verb that usually ends in –ed).
Now, passive voice isn’t technically wrong. Sometimes, you have no choice but to use it. In certain kinds of writing, it can even be preferred (science writing, reporting crimes, more ‘official’ things like that, or places where the person who’s carrying out an action isn’t all that important). Even in my example, there was one sentence that I left in a passive voice – “But his gleaming eyes weren’t focused on the basket of cookies.”
But in fiction writing, you generally want to use a more active voice. Passive voice can be hard to understand, unclear, and even wordy. It’s harder for a reader to get into the action of your story.
Personally, I noticed the other day that I use passive voice more than I should, which contributes a lot to my tendency of making everything I write long. Really long. T-T It’s a problem.
Do you struggle with Passive Voice? Is there something I left out that you feel should be addressed? What other problems do you sometimes struggle with when writing?
Links to more information on Passive Voice, and sites that explain it better than I do:
Is there anything more satisfying than writing unfathomable quantities of words in a very short period of time? Perhaps. I certainly wouldn’t complain if those unfathomable quantities actually translated into good writing. But that’s what revision is for!
That’s right, boys and girls. It’s that time of year again. Kind of. While NaNoWriMo usually takes place in November, this year they’ve begun another venture: Camp NaNoWriMo. Two sessions, in July and August, for those who can’t find the time to write a novel in November, or for those of us who just can’t get enough of the event.
Perhaps you’ve heard of National Novel Writing Month in the past. Perhaps it’s something you only vaguely understand, or perhaps it’s something that you’d like to do someday but haven’t yet. Perhaps you’re a veteran Wrimo, like myself. But for those of you who aren’t familiar with this grand tradition, one simple sentence sums up the lovely insanity of it all.
Write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.
Yup. Pretty cool. I’ve actually blogged about NaNoWriMo and Script Frenzy in the past, back in the posts where I had no idea what I was doing with a blog, but this is a new era of Pro(b)logue, and a new branch of NaNoWriMo, so I figured I’d post about it once more.
A lot of people have trouble getting started with their novel. Well, that’s not entirely accurate. Getting started isn’t the problem. The problem is the middle doldrums that strip you of your imagination and send you running for work, chores, TV… Anything to keep you from writing, because you just know that whatever you write will be awful and dumb and not worth seeing the light of day.
That’s where NaNoWriMo and programs like it come into play. For one month out of the year (or two, or three, depending on how many events you choose to participate in) you have permission to write horribly.
You sit down, open a new word document, and start writing. Very, very quickly. Your first paragraph sucks? Don’t worry. There’s sure to be worse. Your main character is flat? You can fix it later. Or spend three pages info-dumping his backstory, to be more smoothly incorporated at a later date. You have no plot? No problem! Insert ninjas and watch the fun ensue as the pages stack up.
NaNoWriMo is for people who can’t bring themselves to keep going with a project. People who get bogged down with getting everything perfect. People whose inner editors hold them captive and stop an idea long before it gets anywhere exciting.
With NaNoWriMo, you can write without worrying, and get something down on paper. Your rough draft will be awful anyway, so you may as well get it out of the way now.
Take my Camp NaNo novel, for example. It’s the second book in a series I wrote the first book of almost a year ago. I have a rough (rough) plan for it, but not enough of a plan that I was looking forward to writing it. I was sure I was going to screw it up and lose my motivation for the rest of the series. I didn’t even have the first book revised to perfection, so how was I going to write a decent sequel? But a few days before Camp NaNoWriMo began, I thought about the two main characters and realized that they were so adorable, I had to get their story down on paper, soon.
So, on July 1, I started writing Vermin #2: The Hidden War.
Now, on July 2, my current word count is 5,206.
Is it good? NO. Not even close. I have hardly any idea where I’m going with it, my description leaves a lot to be desired, and my narrative sucks. But I’m writing. And I’m writing a novel, which I haven’t actually done in quite a while – I’ve been so busy trying to revise old rough drafts and write short stories that I feel like I’ve gotten a little rusty with my novels. Another reason why I’m glad to be doing Camp NaNoWriMo this year. My hope is that, once I get further into it, I’ll be able to get back into the swing of things.
Oh, and did I mention that I’m getting a lot of ideas that I want into the story? And I’m already discovering new things about this setting and plot and the aftermath of the first book? So, even if this novel is awful when I finish it (and trust me, it will be) I still think it’ll be salvageable. I’ll have a starting point to work off of, and for I think the first time (maybe second) I’ll have actually written the second book in a series I’ve planned.
Which’ll be really cool, indeed.
*sigh* I apologize for this rough blog post. I’m still in NaNo mode, so my thought process is a little jumpy right now, and I want to get back to my novel. Trust me, the whole thing is a lot cooler than I’m making it sound. Hopefully my next blog post will be a little more organized.
Are you doing Camp NaNoWriMo? Have you done the event in November? What about Script Frenzy, or any other events like this one?
[obligatory‘It’sbeentolongsinceIlastposted’section] I suck. [/obligatory‘It’sbeentolongsinceIlastposted’section]
Moving on.
Revision on my novel has…slowed. Not stopped, mind you, but it has slowed. I blame manga and anime. Somehow I convinced myself that the crisis in Japan meant I should honor them by reading/watching their lovely (addictive) comics. And… Yeah.
Time I’ve spent revising has dwindled.
I start Script Frenzy (www.scriptfrenzy.org) in April. Brought to us by the lovely people who put on National Novel Writing Month every year, the goal is to write a 100-page script in thirty days. Taking formatting and everything into account, that doesn’t seem like a whole lot. Supposedly a page is equal to a minute of screen time. It doesn’t seem like a whole lot. I think I can do it. I’ve always been able to visualize my stories really well, so… writing a movie? No prob! I’ve got my idea, I’ve downloaded CeltX scriptwriting software…
I’d like to say I’ll be able to write my script and continue to revise my novel at the same time. But this is something new for me, so I really don’t know.
Plus, April looks like it’s going to be extremely busy. I take the ACTs in a little over two weeks, and prom is the weekend after that. Yes, I’m going to prom. By myself. Possibly with my sister and friends. And I’ve got all of this stuff going on that might interfere with my care-fully laid out half-baked plans.
Even when I’m actively revising, it’s a little depressing. Those ‘big changes’ I had in mind for the rewrite? So far, not so big. I feel like it’s no better this time around. I’m not changing things so drastically, which could mean that either A) the first part of my rough draft is better than I’d thought while reading through it, or B) I’m as bad at revision as I am at posting blog updates regularly.
It’s a little discouraging. I have so much I want to write. Old ideas, new ideas… But I want to get something ready to try and publish, ASAP. A girl in my class is self-publishing a book of poems and had one poem published in a legit magazine. My mom’s started looking around briefly for potential agents to send query letters to regarding a childrens’ book she wrote a few years ago.
She’s discouraged because it’s hard to know where to start.
I’m discouraged because I’m not even ready to start.
The thing about novels is that they take time. I can write something in a month, but there’s no guarantee it’ll be decent. In fact, it’s pretty much guaranteed to suck. And then you have to read through hundreds of pages, over and over again, before rewriting them and rereading those hundreds of pages, dozens of times.
After I get one book ready to go, there’s still no guarantee that it will be the book that gets published.
Should I be working on this book, or is it a waste of time?
Should I be working on a different novel instead?
Or should I seriously be studying for the ACTs?
*sigh* For now, all I can do is keep writing (and rewriting, and revising).
But while I’m doing that, I’d also love to be entering writing contests, winning cash and books for doing what I love, maybe getting published in a magazine or something if I’m lucky.
I haven’t been lucky, looking online for places to enter. If anyone knows of some legit, free-to-enter contests open to US teenagers, could you shoot me a link?
For now, I think I might try my hand at writing some Keys for Kids devotional things. I mean, twenty-five bucks to write things I’ve been hearing once a day for my entire life?! Win!
Anybody else doing Script Frenzy? Anyone know of some good writing contests/opportunities?
Note: This is a very random, thought-jumpy post. XD Because I needed a post and wanted to update people on how NaNo went.
Four days after NaNoWriMo, 2010 has ended… People thought it couldn’t – shouldn’t – be done. They were half right. I did it… But it probably wasn’t a smart thing to do.\
Novel number 1 is50,283 words right now, and I just need to do some wrapping up… Okay, that’s an understatement. They’re just meeting the people from the Nation to the North. They still need to join up, help the people of the Tip to defeat the pirates, and then go home. But bottom line is, I’m definitely more than… eh… two-thirds of the way done with it?
Novel number 2 ended the month just a little more than 50,000 words long. It’s, in a word, awful. But it’s a NaNoWriMo novel. So that’s okay. Honestly, it’s so bad that I’m not sure I’ll ever dare to go back and salvage it… But who knows?
Altogether, I ended at 100,304 words. ^^ I don’t think I’ll ever write two NaNo novels at once again, though. XD It’s possible, but not really advisable.
Number 1 actually isn’t so bad. It’s definitely rough, but no worse than the novel that I’ll be attempting to revise just as soon as I finish Number 1’s ending. My “REVISE IT NAO! >8O” urges have dwindled a bit into a more manageable “Let’s get this done. >:)” kind of feeling. I’ve been making notes like crazy, and I feel like this time around I’m going to have a much better sense of what I’m doing and what my characters are thinking…
You know what amuses me? I was at the library today, and I saw a book where the premise was that two kids living in England find out they’re related to Sherlock Holmes and then they… I guess they solve mysteries or something?
But that’s impossible. Because Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character. XD It’s probably a perfectly lovely book, but after I saw that I just kind of smiled and put it back on the shelf.
Which was good because I already had three other books I was checking out. Among them, Mockingjay!Finally going to read it. ^^
I was looking at the cover of Mockingjay and noticed something… While the other birds on the covers had been in circles, this one had little fragments around it, like it was breaking free. I took a closer look, and realized for the first time what epic covers they are (I wanted to find a pic of all three covers lined up next to each other, but my computer apparently doesn’t want to let me do that. T-T).
The cover of the first book shows the mockingjay pin. The second shows a bird kind of in shadow, with a sort of glow around it as things begin to heat up. For the first time I noticed that the circle it was in wasn’t just a cool design thing… It was like a scope of a gun. And then, in the third book, the bird’s come to life, and it’s breaking free…
Maybe I’m just the last person to notice these things, but I think it’s really cool. :)
I love sequential covers like that… It’s my hope that the cover art for my books is as good. ^^
And yeah. That’s about it for this entry. I really do want another screen name. Comments, please! Do y’all think ‘Silent Pages’ would be fine – at least for now? *glares at that awful title – the writer.* It’s a good title, but not a good username. Advice, por favor!
Well, I feel ashamed. I thought about doing weekly updates during November, to keep all three of my followers (Love ya, guys!) up to date on my word count in my quest to reach 100,000 words in a month.
As you may have figured out, this did not happen.
Instead, I waited until Day 20, two-thirds of the way through to even begin writing a blog post.
I’m sure you’ve been waiting on the edge of your seats all this time (Unless you’re on some other site that I’m on and have seen me posting hourly excited updates) so here it is: 69,0479.
That’s right. I didn’t even post on this blog after I reached the magical 50,000 words on Day 14. *sigh* I fail.
Actually, I don’t, because I’m right on track for getting to my goal. After today, I’m even a few thousand words ahead in one novel. Which rocks.
But somehow, some way, I’ve been Week Two’d in Week Three. Maybe it has something to do with the sheer volume of words I’m writing – I don’t know – but basically I’m conscious that what I’m writing is pretty much complete and total crap. And I’m okay with that, to a certain extent, but only because I don’t plan on revising either NaNo novel anytime soon (if/when I do try to edit them, I will probably die a horrid, painful, typo-filled death).
Why don’t I plan on revising them any time soon? Because right in the middle (*cough* Two-thirds of the way through *cough*) of NaNo, I came up with the mother of all wonderfully complicated, convoluted ideas for a sci-fi novel.
It involves amnesia. On a global scale. Every. Single. Night.
Yeah.
And I really like this idea, and I think it’s worth trying to write sometime when NaNo isn’t ruling my life.
But…
I’ve also been whacked upside the head (AKA taken by surprise) by two rough drafts of novels that I wrote last year/last summer. Completely unrelated stories, both the first books in four-plus book series(es)…
One of them I wrote in two and a half months, essentially writing as if it were NaNoWriMo and winning two and a half times consecutively. As such, it is basically NaNo-worthy crap, which needs to be majorly re-written. But the characters in that story (one epic character in particular. She’s half spider-person! >.<) insist that this isn’t a big deal, and promise to behave if I start to make them better.
The other one I actually really like, thought it does need quite a bit of editing, and I actually have a pretty good idea of what needs to be cut, elaborated on, tightened up, etc. And the equally epic characters in that story are tempting me with their awesome-sauce-ness.
I am not often in a revising mood, people. And I feel as if I should take advantage of this feeling while its here.
But it’s NaNo. So right now I’m hoping that the desire to revise (Desise? Revire?) lasts until after November, at which time I will plunge into the depths of one or the other of the stories and work like a mad woman in the hopes that somehow I’ll come out with something that actually has the potential to be good enough to start querying around.
Because I like the idea of getting a book published. I like it a lot.
Also, I need a new name to be known by on this blog. The Writer not only seems unoriginal and blah, but also vaguely conceited. I am not the only writer on the internet, and I feel like a narcissist or something.
And I have too low self-esteem to be a narcissist.
So… Suggestions? Right now I’m thinking maybe just the username I have on Young Writers Society, which is silentpages. But that doesn’t really fit me either, because… I’m not silent.
As I type these words, according to the NaNoWriMo countdown timer at nanowrimo.org, National Novel Writing Month will begin in one day, one hour, and thirty-seven minutes. That means that one hour and thirty-seven minutes after I post this, er, post... There will only be one day left until NaNoWriMo begins. This both excites and terrifies me (with the reason for my terror being elaborated on more fully in my last post).
I am prepared and unprepared in equal measure. A year or two ago I probably would've called myself a pantser, if I had learned the meaning of the term at that time. Now, I'd almost say that I lean more towards being a planner... I'm somewhere in the middle. Often I start with no idea what I'm writing, and then five pages later have the next three books in the series all figured out - at least in general idea form.
For this year's NaNo-Novel(s) I have my basic plan worked out. One moreso than the other. Ice Ambassadors is pretty much planned, and I'm rather excited about it, while Inherited Destiny is sort of... Half-planned. With LOTS of empty space in the middle. But hopefully I can work with that. In any case, I'm calling Inherited Destiny my SECOND novel (as opposed to my first) which means that - while I'd be extremely psyched if I COULD make the full 50,000 words on it - it won't be the end of the world if it dies mid-month. I have a significant number of pages of world info. I have Word documents with my essential plot points (as well as pictures stolen, I mean, borrowed from DA, Google, and Getty images. I've made an image on GIMP for Ice Ambassadors, and have a half-done one for Inherited Destiny (which suck, but I'm still proud of them). I have a flash drive prepared for novel-holding (so I can work on it from any computer in my home) and I have blatantly bragged about what I'm going to be attempting to everyone around me, whether they care or not. I have also intimidated my mother (who I'll be competing against) with talk of my obvious superiority, reminding her that I've won the 1/2 pound candy bar wager every year we've done it.
However, there are still things I SHOULD be doing, which I MIGHT do tomorrow, if I have time/motivation. I should be preparing a spreadsheet to keep track of word counts, goals, and green/red surplus/missing word calculations. I should be organizing playlists so that I don't have to stop writing to switch forward to a good song. I should be reminding a classmate of mine who supposedly writes but hasn't managed to finish a single chapter that this is his opportunity to get motivated! He's less than excited.
So how did I spend the day? I finished a Nancy Drew computer game (Trail of the Twister! Can't wait to do Shadow at Water's Edge - JAPANESE STUFF FTW - but sadly, I shall have to. Just until after NaNo). I watched some of the shows that our DVR taped for me on Friday while I was at a Relient K concert (Generator Rex - Love it. Ben Ten, Ultimate Alien - Have a few problems with the plot/dialogue sometimes, but it's a'ight. Symbionic Titan - Love the story - and Lance - though it can be awkward in some places and the art's alternately amazing and... Different. Quirky). I finished a book. I'm trying to excuse this by telling myself that I'm savoring my last few bits of time wasting before two NaNo novels eat me during November.
The book I finished was The Girl Who Could Fly, by Victoria Forester. I bought it a while back, but haven't had time to read it since I've been distracted by library books. This happens a lot with things I own. Anyway, I made the decision to read books I own during November so I won't have to worry about finishing them and getting them back to the library on time. But, wouldn't ya' know it, I finished this one in two days.
Mostly attracted by the cover art, I expected it to be cute, but a little lame, and written for a much lower age group. And it was cute. And it was written for younger people. But it was SO not lame, and I think people of all ages could enjoy it. It's about a girl named Piper McCloud, who lives on a farm in the middle of nowhere, where her neighbors and family don't seem to appreciate the fact that she can fly. She's taken to a facility filled with exceptional kids like her - kids with telekinesis, and X-ray vision, and superspeed - but soon finds out that the facility isn't as wonderful as it first appears.
The writing was actually really great, filled with the kind of humor I love. The plot was amazing, and it kept me wondering even though there were a few things I did successfully predict. There are still some questions left unanswered at the end, so I'm assuming there will be a sequel sometime(?). Hope so. I'd definitely reccomend this book...
Even if Stephanie Meyer was the one quoted on the cover. XP
Let's see... NaNo, books... What else was there... Ah, yes. Nerdfighters.
The other day a friend of mine posted a link to the NaNoWriMo song.
Clicking NaNo-related videos once that AWESOME video was over (the song's been stuck in my head ever since I watched it. I've been singing it in public), I discovered the Vlog Brothers. John and Hank Green, two brothers (obviously) who send each other videos back and forth in lieu of texting each other. To quote one of them very roughly, pulling from my faulty memory, "A lot of people seem to find it funny." With good reason. These guys are so awesome.
Nerdy. Funny. Very little swearing (though some awkwardness is occasionally present. If this scares you, DO NOT watch the giraffe love video). Contains some deep content, some eco-geeking, and a whole lot of awesome. I'm currently watching their videos in reverse order.
ALSO, don't tell anyone, but on nanowrimo.org my username is horse_chic11. Keep an eye on my wordcount. ;)
P.S. Counting The Girl Who Could Fly, I just realized that I own five books related to flying children. XD I should find a way to organize my bookshelf accordingly.
I enjoy every minute of it.
Except for about right now, when NaNoWriMo is (*goes to check timer on nanowrimo.org*) as I write this, four days, seven hours, three minutes away and I’m just starting to comprehend how utterly impossible it’s going to be for me to meet my goal.
Because a few months ago, I decided I wasn’t going to be satisfied with the usual 50,000 words in thirty days.
“I wrote 76,817 words last year!” I thought. “I got to 50,000 words in fifteen days… Why not try for 100,000 words?!”
Poor, poor, silly little girl.
To make matters worse, I’m not just writing a 100,000 word novel. That would be too easy. Oh, no… I’m writing TWO novels, 50,000 words each.
And I’m not just writing one 50,000 word novel and then the other one. That would be boring… I – being the egotistical young fool that I am – am going to write them simultaneously. 1,667 words in a novel one day, and then switching over to the other document and writing another 1,667 words.
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
But now I’ve barely had time to breathe lately, balancing homework, play practice, family outings, etc. etc. etc. I don’t know how I’m going to survive in November. November 5 is my play, so that will be over soon, but mid-month Speech starts, and since I’m trying out for that this year… T-T
And even with all this going on… I’ve started working a little on a comic I may possibly upload online if I can find time to work on it. Yeah. That’ll probably die once NaNo starts.
I’m hoping that once National Novel Writing Month actually starts, I’ll be pleasantly surprised by the accumulation of scraps of free time I can scrounge up. But at this point, that’s just a hope. What about you? Are you doing NaNo? Have you done it before? What are your goals for this year’s NaNoWriMo? Are you suffering from anxiety/insanity?
