Friday, November 29, 2013

NaNo Nostalgia part 3!

Liluye 2009
This is another novel taking place in the Drowning Sky world. Like Drowning Sky, I’ve had the plot banging around since I was a child. It’s gone through so many revisions and overhauls that it’s plot is somewhat shady. This NaNo I spent most of the time just trying to figure out the story, the characters, and how they relate. I also spent a lot of time trying to figure out what perceptive to write the story from. I started off with the main character, but then it turned into anyone besides the main character. This may be another story that will get attention next year as I turn to novels. It is hard for me to go back to it since I’m not totally sure where I want the story to go. It doesn’t have much of an ending.


Fantasy romance (a little erotic, almost double) 2011
In 2010, I studied abroad in college. So I didn’t want to plan and do a NaNo if I was super busy. So I took a year off in 2010. So in 2011, I was rearing to get back to the fun. I decided to try for a double NaNo, 100,000 words. This was mostly because I was tired of having half complete novels by the end of NaNo. So I chose a typical fantasy romance, with a bit of erotic touch. I made it to about 70,000 words, and the novel was basically complete. Not perfect, but complete. So I stopped before 100,000 words.
Now, the interesting notion about this novel is that soon after, my files were corrupted. I have no hard copy of this story or any copy for that matter. I have my extensive notes, but that’s it. Now, when I loose files or even just scenes of writing. I tend to really freak out. It’s like spending months on a pottery project, just to drop it accidentally. But for this novel, I’m okay with just having my notes. There was some major re-hauling that I would like to make. For instance, taking out the erotic and making it a pure young adult fantasy, with some elements of romance. I would have had to change the tone of every scene anyway, so losing it wasn’t actually that bad.


Monday, November 25, 2013

NaNoWriMo Nostalgia, part 2!

Drowning Sky 1 2007
Now, by this NaNo, I was in the middle of a writing frenzy. Nothing had come near to 50k, but I consistently writing over 20k, usually 30k. I was actually halfway through a 30k project when November came around, so it went on pause for NaNo. I had decided that this year, I was going to do something special, something that would kill me to abandon. I think every writer, maybe every person, has their novel baby.
It’s the idea that had been swirling in your head for years. Maybe so long that you’ve forgotten where it came from or even when it started taking up residence in your daydreams. It’s the story you want so badly to write, but you are so afraid to write it because you want it to be perfect. I hesitated on writing Drowning Sky for probably six years. I needed practice, I figured. I needed to know that I was good enough for it.
Now a lot about this particular NaNo is written in my exhaustive intro found in the tabs above, so I won’t go into detail. But I will say that I finished 50k that month and I realized that I wasn’t even half done with this story.

Drowning Sky 2 2008
By this year I had written a m/m romance novel called His Eyes, which capped off at 70k. And that one officially takes my novel virginity. So I wasn’t too worried for this NaNo, figured I was a pro. I also came to conclusion that if I finished the plot of Drowning Sky and hadn’t reached 50k, I would ramble or continue on into other books that would inhabit the same world. This strategy (though I ended up not employing it) is one the best for those who think they don’t have enough plot in one novel for 50k. You think your story is going to end at 40k? First, finish it, then just go on to some other story or ramble or write porn whatever. It gives me more drive to finish, even when I think there isn’t enough for 50k.
And I’ve never actually finished a novel during NaNo, so this idea is purely psychological to me.

Now, where is Drowning Sky? Completed at 120k, or so, I let it sit for a year. Then I went back and realized that it wasn’t near as complete as it deserved. I have in my Scrivener a binder of Drowning Sky, now a trilogy. It is incomplete in my head, though I’ve previously posted it as a full novel. This is one of the projects that I will probably attempt to finish next year.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

NaNo Nostalgia

To me, every NaNoWriMo to me is distinct. Yet, it surprised me when, this year, NaNoWriMo said I’ve participated seven times since 2006, and I’ve only failed twice.

So, since I’m going this blog, I’m going to get a little nostalgic and talk about what it was like for each story and each year.

Artemis (2006)
I was in high school. I had been a part of a writing club called Writer’s Block, led by a very hyper pair of girls. We would discuss writing techniques, story building, even a little work-shopping. And they brought up NaNoWriMo to me for the first time. Now the very long journey of me aspiring to write a novel cannot be said here. Look to my rather long-winded introduction in the above tabs for that story. But I wanted to give it a try. So I wrote Artemis. A re-imagining of Greek/Roman mythology.
Now I didn’t have a laptop or a computer to myself, so Artemis is spread across at least two computers, one at home and one in the library at school, and two handwritten journals. And, because of the times, I might have actually kept a copy of it on a floppy disk. I wrote before school, during lunch, during class (if I could manage), and when I was home. And it was sheer pain to get the words out. I had written maybe a 10k novel attempt before then. But not even my short stories broke much beyond 5k. To say the least, I fell behind fast. And it seemed no matter how much I wrote, there were no words. I started second guessing my plot, I fretted that everything was moving too fast, that I would run out things to say before 50k.
I stopped at around 26k. Now, I think that it was probably a huge accomplishment, to get halfway through a novel, but at the time I was pretty devastated. I was terrified that I would never write anything of real length. A novel to me seemed like an impossibly long project that only the truly gifted could write. As if, no matter how hard I tried, I would never get to 50k or 70k or 100k.
Now, that idea is silly to me. I’ve reached all those word counts, I’ve seen so many other people reach those word counts. And, really, anyone can do it, no matter their skill. It’s just dedication, like sewing a quilt, learning to ride a bike, or playing a video game. Of course it seemed impossible at first. You’ve never done it before, so how could you know the feeling of success?
But every time I write, without fail, I’ll get those same thoughts of ‘its not going to be long enough’’ my characters are moving along enough’ ‘it’s just not enough’. And you know what I say? As long as you finish, it is enough. It doesn’t matter if its 20k or 200k. Whatever you write it is enough and it was worth every second, every tear, every word.

I’ve never gone back to Artemis, though I’ve certainly thought about it. I’ve even come up with plans for a sequel. But I think if I ever go back to it, I would undoubtedly pull up at the old document where I compiled it and start building from there.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Day 1 and 2

So in the last week before NaNo I had to crunch in about 20,000 words to finish a short story to submit it for an anthology (fyi, its gladiators!) So, on the 30th I stayed up until 2am finishing it. Then the 31st I had to edit and format it for submission. Was I tapped out on November 1st? hell yes.
But I’ve been slowly catching up today. I’ve finished the minimum word count, but I would like to finish 50,000 words by the 20th, just in case it goes over. So I have a couple 1,000 more words to go. So why am I writing this? Because I’m trying to get off tumblr.
AND because me and my friends have made up an awesome metaphor for NaNo. It stems from the fact one of my friends pronounces it like NaNoRaMo, which to me sounds like a carnival fun house.

NaNoRaMo! See the fun of the novel-ty! Bright colors! Big Font! Free this month! Explore floors that move under you, the balancing act! Crazy mirrors so you can get a terrible look at yourself! Be frustrated by trying to navigate the maze! Get angry when something turns out a little disappointing! Be surprised by unexpected joys of hamster wheeling! Unexpected relief upon finding the exit!
FREE NOVEL INCLUDED


In other news, I’ve had eight espressos today