I don't think I have many readers. That's ok. This is a good place for me to get my feelings and thoughts out anyway. We are 12 days away from the end of NaNo and the likelihood of me "winning" is pretty slim. I am at just under 18,000 words. I haven't written more than 800 words in the past week because my sister was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. She spent the past week at The James Cancer Hospital in Columbus, which is about a two hour drive from her home (about the same for me too). They think they caught it early. She's home for the next 12 days to take a clinical trial pill and then back to The James for four weeks (maybe three if everything goes well) for chemotherapy. Then home to rest and try to stay healthy. If she goes into remission after one round of chemo, she needs a bone marrow transplant in March or April. This is the only way to cure her cancer right now. She has an abnormality or a mutation on her 11th chromosome, which is why she qualifies for the clinical trial. They have seen great success with the trial in the past year, but since they don't have 5-7 year outlooks yet (it's too new of a drug) they have to do the chemo and transplant too.
She's being really tough. She's hanging in there. We are all trying to as well. She will be home for Thanksgiving but not Christmas, which will be unbelievably hard.
So I may have time to write just to take my mind off things, but right now my free time is spent decompressing, working on fundraising efforts, helping my parents with the dogs or whatever else they need as they care for her, support her or take her to the doctor...and of course, just spending time with my sister and the rest of the family. I will take another NaNo challenge some other time, but right now it just has to fall by the wayside.
You might belong in Hufflepuff, Where they are just and loyal, Those patient Hufflepuffs are true And unafraid of toil. Writers are also unafraid of toil, and I happen to be both a Hufflepuff and a writer. So I shall toil away!
Friday, November 18, 2016
Friday, November 11, 2016
World Building to World Crashing
I've been busy world-building this week. It's going ok, but I find myself struggling with my plot (and I had so many great ideas too). But the past week or so I have been a little distracted. My sister has been under the weather for a few weeks. Colds and general malaise. Then sores on her body that turned out to be a staph infection. Then her blood counts were all much too low.
We knew that it was probably something scary. We were just hoping it wasn't the big scary C word.
Unfortunately it is.
Today my mom called me at work to tell me that my sister had been given an initial diagnosis of leukemia. She's already down in Columbus at the James Cancer Hospital at Ohio State University. It's one of the best places to seek cancer treatment, so she's in good hands.
It's crazy how fast it all happened. Yesterday I was world building. At 12:30 p.m. my own world felt like it was crumbling. By 5:30 my sister was situated in completely different world in the cancer hospital. Her room has a great view of the campus and the horseshoe (go Bucks). I will go down and see her tomorrow, but it's all a little surreal still.
I want to continue NaNo as an outlet for my stress, fears and anxiety, but it may be hard to reach my 50,000 words now.
We knew that it was probably something scary. We were just hoping it wasn't the big scary C word.
Unfortunately it is.
Today my mom called me at work to tell me that my sister had been given an initial diagnosis of leukemia. She's already down in Columbus at the James Cancer Hospital at Ohio State University. It's one of the best places to seek cancer treatment, so she's in good hands.
It's crazy how fast it all happened. Yesterday I was world building. At 12:30 p.m. my own world felt like it was crumbling. By 5:30 my sister was situated in completely different world in the cancer hospital. Her room has a great view of the campus and the horseshoe (go Bucks). I will go down and see her tomorrow, but it's all a little surreal still.
I want to continue NaNo as an outlet for my stress, fears and anxiety, but it may be hard to reach my 50,000 words now.
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
A Strange October and the Start of NaNo
So I haven't updated you in a while. That's because on top of being a Harry Potter nerd and a NaNoWriMo nut, I'm also an avid Cleveland Indians fan. I've been pretty confident all season that they would make the playoffs. They did.
They've also won big.
So I spent all of October watching them win. First against Kansas City to clinch homefield in the divisional seasons. Then I watched them sweep Boston. Then I watched them take down Toronto in five games. Now the post season is bleeding into October. I wanted the Indians to win it on Sunday in Chicago. They've won everything else on the road, why not the World Series. Plus Sunday was October 30th, meaning it would give me one last day of prep for NaNo if I was done watching baseball. Nope. Then last night the Indians lost game 6. Which means I got behind on day one of NaNoWriMo. So today while my nephew kind of sort of napped (read: he didn't want to nap) I caught up on my writing. I managed to get 3,669 words down in Scrivener so I am on track to finish the 50,000 on time.
As you know I am also following the Master Plan over at Better Novel Project. That fine site also released some NaNo tips so I'm working on them as well. Today I tackled chapter one, which was supposed to include introducing and describing the hero and introducing the villain. I also introduced the wise one and the herald and I wasn't supposed to do either of those things until chapter 2. I also messed up some of the other elements and have about 300 words with strikethrough already. So rewrites will happen without even really getting started (next month of course).
Overall it was a strange start to a November.
And that's without mentioning the 77 degree weather!
The good news is, tonight is the last night of baseball (I said good news, I meant it's tragic, even if my Tribe wins the trophy). So that means the rest of November is mine to tackle!
They've also won big.
So I spent all of October watching them win. First against Kansas City to clinch homefield in the divisional seasons. Then I watched them sweep Boston. Then I watched them take down Toronto in five games. Now the post season is bleeding into October. I wanted the Indians to win it on Sunday in Chicago. They've won everything else on the road, why not the World Series. Plus Sunday was October 30th, meaning it would give me one last day of prep for NaNo if I was done watching baseball. Nope. Then last night the Indians lost game 6. Which means I got behind on day one of NaNoWriMo. So today while my nephew kind of sort of napped (read: he didn't want to nap) I caught up on my writing. I managed to get 3,669 words down in Scrivener so I am on track to finish the 50,000 on time.
As you know I am also following the Master Plan over at Better Novel Project. That fine site also released some NaNo tips so I'm working on them as well. Today I tackled chapter one, which was supposed to include introducing and describing the hero and introducing the villain. I also introduced the wise one and the herald and I wasn't supposed to do either of those things until chapter 2. I also messed up some of the other elements and have about 300 words with strikethrough already. So rewrites will happen without even really getting started (next month of course).
Overall it was a strange start to a November.
And that's without mentioning the 77 degree weather!
The good news is, tonight is the last night of baseball (I said good news, I meant it's tragic, even if my Tribe wins the trophy). So that means the rest of November is mine to tackle!
Thursday, September 22, 2016
Transforming the Back Bedroom
All right guys. I did it. Well, I almost did it.
What I mean is the back bedroom is almost ready to be my very own writing space. My sister came over yesterday to help me clean out and clean up our back bedroom. This is the rom we put things we don't want to deal with. This is the room that old Christmas boxes or wrapping paper go to collect dust. When I have packaging to a small appliance or similar object, the paperwork and container go to live here until the next time I clean out the room.
As such the room becomes a disaster area. I probably last cleaned out that room at Christmas? So we are 10 months into operation look like a hoarder.
My sister and I took a box of large trash bags and threw away junk we didn't need or that was broken. We also sorted many things into a garage sale pile. Goodwill or another thrift store will also be receiving a hefty donation.
Also, last summer my parents' basement flooded and some boxes of keepsakes were thrust upon me. I guess I can't store my stuff at my parents' house forever. Those items finally found homes and were stored properly.
Here is what the room looked like as a disaster zone. Please don't judge me.
Half of this was empty boxes. The other half were clothes that needed donating. Some of it was also three or four very large items surrounded by empty boxes and clothese that needed donating.
Several hours later we were left with a space that looked more like humans live there.
What I mean is the back bedroom is almost ready to be my very own writing space. My sister came over yesterday to help me clean out and clean up our back bedroom. This is the rom we put things we don't want to deal with. This is the room that old Christmas boxes or wrapping paper go to collect dust. When I have packaging to a small appliance or similar object, the paperwork and container go to live here until the next time I clean out the room.
As such the room becomes a disaster area. I probably last cleaned out that room at Christmas? So we are 10 months into operation look like a hoarder.
My sister and I took a box of large trash bags and threw away junk we didn't need or that was broken. We also sorted many things into a garage sale pile. Goodwill or another thrift store will also be receiving a hefty donation.
Also, last summer my parents' basement flooded and some boxes of keepsakes were thrust upon me. I guess I can't store my stuff at my parents' house forever. Those items finally found homes and were stored properly.
Here is what the room looked like as a disaster zone. Please don't judge me.
Half of this was empty boxes. The other half were clothes that needed donating. Some of it was also three or four very large items surrounded by empty boxes and clothese that needed donating.
Several hours later we were left with a space that looked more like humans live there.
As you can see the space is much, much better. I still need to oragnize my desk (the cream colored one in the corner) and our printer cart. My husband's desk is the wood one against the wall next to the closet. It's a hopeless mess of Transformers figurines and Mustang magazines. I am not even going to bother with it. But now I can access all of my pretty books (not pictured ona a huge floor to ceiling bookcase on the opposite wall) and soon I will have my writing space ready to go! Bring on NaNoWriMo 2016
What do you think of my progress? Please don't judge my pre-cleaning disaster area photos!
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
Gearing up for NaNoWriMo
The first day of autumn is this Thursday and all of the changing leaves, Halloween candy and clear blue skies make me think of NaNoWriMo. I am erally excited about this year's novel. It's probably the most prepared I have ever felt for a NaNo event. I haven't planned too much about the plot yet, but I have lots of ideas jotted down in journals and Google sheets and documents full of links, names and stray thoughts.
There is other prep work happening too. When NaNo comes around I tend to get too busy to eat correctly or do important things like laundry and dishes. I am slowly making the time and effort to clean out the fridge and cupboards to stock with easy to make foods, snacks and fresh new tupperware containers just waiting for my leftovers.
Don't ask me about the back room, however.
It still looks exactly like it did three weeks ago when I declared I would spend the next 60 days cleaning it out and organizing it.
That will hopefully happen in September.
Yours truly,
The Procrastinating Hufflepuff Writer
Friday, September 9, 2016
When Your Writing Doesn't Cut It
Hello fellow writers! If you have ever written creatively, or for a living in less creative outlets, then you know where there are some days when your writing just doesn't make the cut. When none of the words come easy and none of it is very good.
I have those days when I'm writing creatively. I usually just mark it up to writer's block. But sometimes it's just me fighting where the story is taking me. When it happens in my content writing, however, it's a whole other issue. Writer's block typically doesn't affect my content writer because the company I work for provides the topics. What does happen, however, is writing fatigue.
When I spend eight or nine hours in a day writing articles that all feel the same, it's can be difficult to keep my writing up to standard. My hands start to hurt. My eyes start to hurt. My back begins to ache and I'm usually hungry. None of this is conducive to quality writing. Sometimes what I write is boring and mundane, but that doesn't always bother me.
This week it bothered me. And my writing scores showed that it bothered me. It's frustrating, but it's understandable and it happens to everyone and anyone who writes for a living. If you lose focus and get bored, you make mistakes or miss important steps.
So here are some tips for avoiding fatigue that I need to do a better job of following too:
Take a break at least once every hour.
This is important because it's good to give your eyes, wrists and back a break when you're sitting at a computer. Even if it's just five minutes of standing and stretching or going to the kitchen for a glass of water.
Stay hydrated.
Writing might not be a sport, but you would do well to take a page out of an athlete's book. Staying hydrated while writing is important because it is a) good for you and b) helps you avoid cramps. It's easy to fall into a rhythm and forget to drink any water while you're writing for an hour, two hours or eight hours.
Change up what you're writing.
This can be a tough one when you write content like me. So write a couple similar articles then move on to one of a different length, with a different tone or on a different topic. This breaks up the monotony and helps you see mistakes later on when your eyes are more fresh.
I know I need to be better about following these tips myself when I'm writing for work. It can be easy to ignore my growling stomach or throbbing head when I have "just one more article to write."
What are some things you do to avoid writing fatigue when you're writing boring stuff for work?
I have those days when I'm writing creatively. I usually just mark it up to writer's block. But sometimes it's just me fighting where the story is taking me. When it happens in my content writing, however, it's a whole other issue. Writer's block typically doesn't affect my content writer because the company I work for provides the topics. What does happen, however, is writing fatigue.
When I spend eight or nine hours in a day writing articles that all feel the same, it's can be difficult to keep my writing up to standard. My hands start to hurt. My eyes start to hurt. My back begins to ache and I'm usually hungry. None of this is conducive to quality writing. Sometimes what I write is boring and mundane, but that doesn't always bother me.
This week it bothered me. And my writing scores showed that it bothered me. It's frustrating, but it's understandable and it happens to everyone and anyone who writes for a living. If you lose focus and get bored, you make mistakes or miss important steps.
So here are some tips for avoiding fatigue that I need to do a better job of following too:
Take a break at least once every hour.
This is important because it's good to give your eyes, wrists and back a break when you're sitting at a computer. Even if it's just five minutes of standing and stretching or going to the kitchen for a glass of water.
Stay hydrated.
Writing might not be a sport, but you would do well to take a page out of an athlete's book. Staying hydrated while writing is important because it is a) good for you and b) helps you avoid cramps. It's easy to fall into a rhythm and forget to drink any water while you're writing for an hour, two hours or eight hours.
Change up what you're writing.
This can be a tough one when you write content like me. So write a couple similar articles then move on to one of a different length, with a different tone or on a different topic. This breaks up the monotony and helps you see mistakes later on when your eyes are more fresh.
I know I need to be better about following these tips myself when I'm writing for work. It can be easy to ignore my growling stomach or throbbing head when I have "just one more article to write."
What are some things you do to avoid writing fatigue when you're writing boring stuff for work?
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
Content Until My Fingers Go Numb
So I do most of my writing on my laptop. It's a Toshiba with a wide screen and full keyboard with number pad. It's nice and I love it. But using a laptop also means I spend most of my time writing while sitting in my couch recliner seat. One thing a laptop keyboard is not is ergonomic. We type most words with our left hand...but my ring ring finger and pinky get very sore after many hours of typing at the computer.
Yet another reason to get the spare bedroom cleaned out and to reclaim my desk. It might not change my keyboard into a finger-friendly ergonomic delight, but it will elevate my hands, take pressure off my writsts and maybe keep my fingers from dying a slow painful death.
In fact, after 8-plus hours of writing today (content writing, not creative writing) I'm ready for a break. Let's keep this short and sweet. What do you do to keep your hands, fingers, writs and arms from aching after hours at a keyboard?
Yet another reason to get the spare bedroom cleaned out and to reclaim my desk. It might not change my keyboard into a finger-friendly ergonomic delight, but it will elevate my hands, take pressure off my writsts and maybe keep my fingers from dying a slow painful death.
In fact, after 8-plus hours of writing today (content writing, not creative writing) I'm ready for a break. Let's keep this short and sweet. What do you do to keep your hands, fingers, writs and arms from aching after hours at a keyboard?
Monday, September 5, 2016
And Then I Fell Down a Research Rabbit Hole
So remember last week when I was all like "hey I'm going to write a fantasy novel in 30 days and use this master outline as a template as an insane cool, fun experiment"?
Yeah. About that. As I've mentioned before, I've never written fantasy or sci-fi that wasn't a fan fic of some kind. I love reading the stuff, but I don't have much confidence in my world-building skills. Or my ability to weave an amazing plot. I am hopeful that using the master outline will help somewhat.
When I'm anxious about something or I want and need to build confidence, I research. I probably over-research in some cases. So I took to the interwebs. Pinterest came first. I pinned images that reminded me of my dragon-owning princess warrior. There were also resources on there about writing fantasy, dialogue prompts and how to make your magic realistic. Then I found the fantasy name generator.
Guys.
I loved my name generator I listed one as part of my writing and story resources top 10 list. That one is pretty basic. It gives you real, normal-sounding, non-generic names. This one has that too, if you want or need it. But it also has a data base to give you randomized names that 100 percent sound like they come out of a fantasy world. You can use it to generate dragon names, warrior names, names for your knight or royalty names. Have a cave you need named? Got it. Want a great sounding name for your kingdom or country? Yep that too.
I started generating lists of names. And then I could not stop. For three hours. Three. And then again for four more.
So now I have between three and seven names in about a dozen different categories. I have my kingdom and related countries. Neighboring kingdoms. My king. My princess. My dragon. A few yet-unamed creatures. A few castles and a forest or six.
It's gotten a tad out of hand. That's what happens when you fall down a research rabbit hole. Or into research worm hole? Whatever you call them...you find yourself on the other side of them tired, yet excited. I myself looked at the clock, saw it was 3 a.m., realized I never ate dinner. Oops.
All in the name of art, I guess!
Yeah. About that. As I've mentioned before, I've never written fantasy or sci-fi that wasn't a fan fic of some kind. I love reading the stuff, but I don't have much confidence in my world-building skills. Or my ability to weave an amazing plot. I am hopeful that using the master outline will help somewhat.
When I'm anxious about something or I want and need to build confidence, I research. I probably over-research in some cases. So I took to the interwebs. Pinterest came first. I pinned images that reminded me of my dragon-owning princess warrior. There were also resources on there about writing fantasy, dialogue prompts and how to make your magic realistic. Then I found the fantasy name generator.
Guys.
I loved my name generator I listed one as part of my writing and story resources top 10 list. That one is pretty basic. It gives you real, normal-sounding, non-generic names. This one has that too, if you want or need it. But it also has a data base to give you randomized names that 100 percent sound like they come out of a fantasy world. You can use it to generate dragon names, warrior names, names for your knight or royalty names. Have a cave you need named? Got it. Want a great sounding name for your kingdom or country? Yep that too.
I started generating lists of names. And then I could not stop. For three hours. Three. And then again for four more.
So now I have between three and seven names in about a dozen different categories. I have my kingdom and related countries. Neighboring kingdoms. My king. My princess. My dragon. A few yet-unamed creatures. A few castles and a forest or six.
It's gotten a tad out of hand. That's what happens when you fall down a research rabbit hole. Or into research worm hole? Whatever you call them...you find yourself on the other side of them tired, yet excited. I myself looked at the clock, saw it was 3 a.m., realized I never ate dinner. Oops.
All in the name of art, I guess!
Sunday, September 4, 2016
That Time I Read Harry Potter to My Newphew
My blog domain should give you some indication about how much I love Harry Potter. I couldn't tell you the number of times I've read the series. I listen to several Harry Potter/wizarding world based podcasts. I write fan fiction. If my husband and I got married all over again I would want to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter on our honeymoon.
I don't have any children (yet) with whom to share my love of Harry Potter. But I have the next best thing. Other people's children. More specifically I have my husband's nephew Ethan. He is six months old...so he just doesn't know yet how much he loves Harry Potter. But he does guys. I know he does.
Case in point. When he was about two weeks old and was finally home from his extended stay at the hospital, I went over to my sister-in-law's house to give her a bit of a break one night. I stayed up throughout the night feeding, changing and cuddling little Ethan. We listened to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on audible and he calmed down and went to sleep. He also enjoys watching Harry Potter and Doctor Who on TV with me, so the evidence is there.
One thing I have most been looking forward to with little ones of my own is reading the stories out loud to them w hen they are young. Ethan recently became very interested in books with pictures. The new illustrated edition of Harry Potter is the perfect thing for this. While he sat next to me on the couch I read him the first three pages of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. He loved the beautiful images and found my voices quite silly. It took about 10 minutes and then he was done with it, but guys...I got to read Hary Potter to a baby.
And I loved it!
I don't have any children (yet) with whom to share my love of Harry Potter. But I have the next best thing. Other people's children. More specifically I have my husband's nephew Ethan. He is six months old...so he just doesn't know yet how much he loves Harry Potter. But he does guys. I know he does.
Case in point. When he was about two weeks old and was finally home from his extended stay at the hospital, I went over to my sister-in-law's house to give her a bit of a break one night. I stayed up throughout the night feeding, changing and cuddling little Ethan. We listened to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on audible and he calmed down and went to sleep. He also enjoys watching Harry Potter and Doctor Who on TV with me, so the evidence is there.
One thing I have most been looking forward to with little ones of my own is reading the stories out loud to them w hen they are young. Ethan recently became very interested in books with pictures. The new illustrated edition of Harry Potter is the perfect thing for this. While he sat next to me on the couch I read him the first three pages of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. He loved the beautiful images and found my voices quite silly. It took about 10 minutes and then he was done with it, but guys...I got to read Hary Potter to a baby.
And I loved it!
Saturday, September 3, 2016
Scared to Write? Try Fan Fiction First
If you're not a writer this might sound strange: sometimes I'm scared to write. If you are a writer, then you have probably experienced this at one point or another. For me it's usually a fear the plot isn't good enough, the characters aren't fun or the world I'm building is boring or doesn't make sense. This is especially true when I'm writing longer pieces of fiction. I can usually hold a story-line together for a short story, but plots get muddled the longer a story gets.
One way I have battled my fear of writing is to go play in someone else's world. It's almost like playing Role Playing Games online. When I'm having trouble thinking of plots and characters of my own, I hop on over to the Wizarding World and jot down some Harry Potter fan fiction. J.K. Rowling has an intricate world already set up for me and her characters are already fully formed. I can come up with new scenarios and settings for them, use old stand-by's and have them interact with characters both old and new. There's also no pressure when writing fan fiction, or at least there shouldn't be. You can't pubhslih Harry Potter fan fiction anyway, so it doesn't need to be perfect. You can write it just for fun while honing your craft.
I have found writing, and writing well, becomes easier the more you do it. The more times you sit down in front of your computer or with a pen and paper the easier it becomes to write something. It's almost like working out, but it doesn't make me sweaty and short of breath or give me a stich in my side.
There are also a multitude of websites out there that welcome fan fiction. People even get friends or other online writers to beta-read and edit their works of fan fiction. It's really kind of cool. I only have experience writing Harry Potter fan fiction, so I don't have a lot of examples of other fan fiction websites for other book series, movies and TV shows. Figment, however, is a good writing resource for youth and young adults and there are entire sections of the forums and tags for fan fiction specific pieces of writing.
My favorite Harry Potter exclusive fan fiction website is www.harrypotterfanfiction.com. It gives you a place to post your writing, get feedback and read really, really good Harry Potter-themed stuff. Founder's Era, Marauder's Era, Post-Hogwarts, Next Generation...everything!
So the next time you find yourself scared to write or if you are new to writing novel-length stories, try some fan fiction first. It works for me!
One way I have battled my fear of writing is to go play in someone else's world. It's almost like playing Role Playing Games online. When I'm having trouble thinking of plots and characters of my own, I hop on over to the Wizarding World and jot down some Harry Potter fan fiction. J.K. Rowling has an intricate world already set up for me and her characters are already fully formed. I can come up with new scenarios and settings for them, use old stand-by's and have them interact with characters both old and new. There's also no pressure when writing fan fiction, or at least there shouldn't be. You can't pubhslih Harry Potter fan fiction anyway, so it doesn't need to be perfect. You can write it just for fun while honing your craft.
I have found writing, and writing well, becomes easier the more you do it. The more times you sit down in front of your computer or with a pen and paper the easier it becomes to write something. It's almost like working out, but it doesn't make me sweaty and short of breath or give me a stich in my side.
There are also a multitude of websites out there that welcome fan fiction. People even get friends or other online writers to beta-read and edit their works of fan fiction. It's really kind of cool. I only have experience writing Harry Potter fan fiction, so I don't have a lot of examples of other fan fiction websites for other book series, movies and TV shows. Figment, however, is a good writing resource for youth and young adults and there are entire sections of the forums and tags for fan fiction specific pieces of writing.
My favorite Harry Potter exclusive fan fiction website is www.harrypotterfanfiction.com. It gives you a place to post your writing, get feedback and read really, really good Harry Potter-themed stuff. Founder's Era, Marauder's Era, Post-Hogwarts, Next Generation...everything!
So the next time you find yourself scared to write or if you are new to writing novel-length stories, try some fan fiction first. It works for me!
Friday, September 2, 2016
Finding My Narrative Voice: Part Two
My first time writing for National Novel Writing Month was in 2009. My aunt discovered this annual novel-writing marathon of sorts and knew I loved to write, so she sent the information my way and I jumped in a few days late. Fun fact: my aunt's first book in a three book series came out earlier this month. She wrote the first draft for that very book during NaNoWriMo.
As my first attempt at a full length novel, I couldn't decide how to tackle third person. I also didn't have a story. Then my mom called and told me about my brother's recent Halloween escapades. He was in high school, there was a big party and chaotic fun ensued. She gave me the very long run down of the night and said "it would make a fun story."
I didn't have my own plot, so why not borrow one from my brother's real life? It wouldn't take too much research and it would be fun to write. The only problem is I didn't know how I would fill 50,000 words with the events from his 4-5 hours of fun. I was still grappling with the best way to tell this story when an idea occured to me: write the story in first person but tell it from multiple perspectives.
I lovingly dubbed this idea a "round robin first person" but it's called many things including rotating first person narrative and other similar phrases. I chose the perspective of four characters. Each chapter covered approximately one hour of the evening. Each hour was told from four separate points of view. So the reader (and me as the writer) relives each hour four times over. It was fun to write it this way because I could show what happened in four places at once without one character's needed presence at each location. So Nate, Julia, Louie and Officer Sloane got to tell the story from their perspectives. Then at the end I added one chapter with a fifth, first person narrative: Nate's mom.
The story is fun and cute and unpublishable. The round robin helped boost word counts but there were still times I struggled to meet the 1,667 daily word count (even higher for me since I started a few days late). So I did things like have a character sing kareoke and wrote out all the lyrics. I chose Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody because that's a very, very long song and it's a popular kareoke choice.
Since 2009 most of my NaNoWriMo projects have been told in third person, but I struggle with the perspective. During my recent re-read of the yet-unfinished "The Librarian's Assistant" I found I jump from one character's point of view to another's...all while staying in the third person. That's easily fixed in most cases. One cool thing I did in this story is I write from a first person poitn of view when the MC's granddaughter is questioning her grandmother on her past and the family history. When the grandmother tells the story and jumps back in time, the narrative is from her perspective but in the third person (or should be - I still have to fix the perspective mistakes).
Last year's proejct is told completely in third person and all from my MC's ponit of view the story is relatively simple and there's not a lot of subplot so it was easier to stick with one perspective.
Now if I could just choose a tense and stay in it...
Make sure you read Part One of "Finding My Narrative Voice."
As my first attempt at a full length novel, I couldn't decide how to tackle third person. I also didn't have a story. Then my mom called and told me about my brother's recent Halloween escapades. He was in high school, there was a big party and chaotic fun ensued. She gave me the very long run down of the night and said "it would make a fun story."
I didn't have my own plot, so why not borrow one from my brother's real life? It wouldn't take too much research and it would be fun to write. The only problem is I didn't know how I would fill 50,000 words with the events from his 4-5 hours of fun. I was still grappling with the best way to tell this story when an idea occured to me: write the story in first person but tell it from multiple perspectives.
I lovingly dubbed this idea a "round robin first person" but it's called many things including rotating first person narrative and other similar phrases. I chose the perspective of four characters. Each chapter covered approximately one hour of the evening. Each hour was told from four separate points of view. So the reader (and me as the writer) relives each hour four times over. It was fun to write it this way because I could show what happened in four places at once without one character's needed presence at each location. So Nate, Julia, Louie and Officer Sloane got to tell the story from their perspectives. Then at the end I added one chapter with a fifth, first person narrative: Nate's mom.
The story is fun and cute and unpublishable. The round robin helped boost word counts but there were still times I struggled to meet the 1,667 daily word count (even higher for me since I started a few days late). So I did things like have a character sing kareoke and wrote out all the lyrics. I chose Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody because that's a very, very long song and it's a popular kareoke choice.
Since 2009 most of my NaNoWriMo projects have been told in third person, but I struggle with the perspective. During my recent re-read of the yet-unfinished "The Librarian's Assistant" I found I jump from one character's point of view to another's...all while staying in the third person. That's easily fixed in most cases. One cool thing I did in this story is I write from a first person poitn of view when the MC's granddaughter is questioning her grandmother on her past and the family history. When the grandmother tells the story and jumps back in time, the narrative is from her perspective but in the third person (or should be - I still have to fix the perspective mistakes).
Last year's proejct is told completely in third person and all from my MC's ponit of view the story is relatively simple and there's not a lot of subplot so it was easier to stick with one perspective.
Now if I could just choose a tense and stay in it...
Make sure you read Part One of "Finding My Narrative Voice."
Thursday, September 1, 2016
Finding My Narrative Voice: Part One
One thing I've struggled with while writing is finding the right voice for whatever piece I'm working on at the time. Do I use first person? Third person? Then there's the question third person with an omniscient viewpoint vs. third person with a limited viewpoint. One of my favorite book series is Harry Potter. In most chapters, with a few notable exceptions, J.K. Rowling chose to make the narrative in the third person but from Harry's view only. He didn't know what was happening in the rest of the school when he wasn't there. There are a handful of scenes scattered throughout the last half of the book that Harry isn't present for. JKR makes this break from her normal narrative voice to make show that the war is bigger than Harry himself and to remind us that while he is fighting Voldemort from on the ground and in his head, others are fighting too.
One of my favorite examples of a change in narrative voice while not cutting away from the main character's point of view is Patricia Briggs use of this story telling mechanism in her book Frost Burned. This story is the 7th in her Mercy Thompson series. The story is told in the first person from Mercy's point of view. Partway through Frost Burned Mercy encounters a magical artifact that is intended to steal her will. She doesn't notice it happening. The reader doesn't either until a secondary character picks up on her odd behavior. During the time that Mercy isn't herself and does whatever anyone tells her to do, Briggs changes over to the third person point of view. Mercy is still there but we aren't really inside her head. Mercy's encountered will-power stealing magic before and during those times we were still right inside her head with her thoughts in the first person. But she realized it was happening last time. This time it was more subtle, so we weren't aware of it either until someone tells us. This works especially well since Briggs makes the change in voice from one chapter to the next. The reader doesn't see the new third person narrative bump up against the normal first person narrative. I should have noticed because the chapter with the narrative break is titled "Adam" (the name of Mercy's husband) and none of the other chapters have titles. But the typface is simple and understated. It doesn't draw attention to itself until it's pointed out to the reader more blatantly. Then we go back and re-read the passage and go "wow she even changed the point of view without us knowing."
It was pretty cool and really effective, especially when Mercy breaks the magic with the help of her friends and we see it go back to first person.
First person isn't my favorite tense to write in and it's not always my favorite to read, unless it actually works for the story. It works in the Mercy Thompson series because she is literally our guide in her supernatural world. She's a shapeshifter herself so it makes sense for her to tell us about the world in her own words. In Harry Potter we learn about the world along side Harry. He isn't the one guiding us. Ron, Hagrid, Dumbledore and Hermione guide us with their knowledge.
So when I attempted my first novel-length piece of writing I had to make a tough decision: first person or third? Limited perspective or an all-knowing narrator? I'll explain what I chose and why in part two of this blog post.
One of my favorite examples of a change in narrative voice while not cutting away from the main character's point of view is Patricia Briggs use of this story telling mechanism in her book Frost Burned. This story is the 7th in her Mercy Thompson series. The story is told in the first person from Mercy's point of view. Partway through Frost Burned Mercy encounters a magical artifact that is intended to steal her will. She doesn't notice it happening. The reader doesn't either until a secondary character picks up on her odd behavior. During the time that Mercy isn't herself and does whatever anyone tells her to do, Briggs changes over to the third person point of view. Mercy is still there but we aren't really inside her head. Mercy's encountered will-power stealing magic before and during those times we were still right inside her head with her thoughts in the first person. But she realized it was happening last time. This time it was more subtle, so we weren't aware of it either until someone tells us. This works especially well since Briggs makes the change in voice from one chapter to the next. The reader doesn't see the new third person narrative bump up against the normal first person narrative. I should have noticed because the chapter with the narrative break is titled "Adam" (the name of Mercy's husband) and none of the other chapters have titles. But the typface is simple and understated. It doesn't draw attention to itself until it's pointed out to the reader more blatantly. Then we go back and re-read the passage and go "wow she even changed the point of view without us knowing."
It was pretty cool and really effective, especially when Mercy breaks the magic with the help of her friends and we see it go back to first person.
First person isn't my favorite tense to write in and it's not always my favorite to read, unless it actually works for the story. It works in the Mercy Thompson series because she is literally our guide in her supernatural world. She's a shapeshifter herself so it makes sense for her to tell us about the world in her own words. In Harry Potter we learn about the world along side Harry. He isn't the one guiding us. Ron, Hagrid, Dumbledore and Hermione guide us with their knowledge.
So when I attempted my first novel-length piece of writing I had to make a tough decision: first person or third? Limited perspective or an all-knowing narrator? I'll explain what I chose and why in part two of this blog post.
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Writing and Story Resources
Most of my attempts at writing a novel have come during National Novel Writing Month. I have a few projects scattered over the past 8 years or so that I've started in a month other than November, but typically I start my projects during NaNoWriMo. I bookmark resources during November and beyond that are designed to help writers in need of ideas, plot bunnies, character traits and more.
Some of the resources I have collected are just about writing in general and how to improve your craft. Others are great places to find plot ideas and random extra characters. And some are just places for creative inspiration.
Here is my Top 10 list for writing resources (in no particular order):
1. Better Novel Project
I found Better Novel Project while listening to a Harry Potter podcast. If you're a fan of Harry Potter and literary analysis, you should head on over to MuggleNet Academia for a listen. It's really good. It also helps me feel smarter than I am. Better Novel Project is the research and analysis of Christine Frazier. Christine breaks down the first book of three popular science fiction/fantasy series: Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and Twilight. She has a master outline that discusses chapter by chapter, point by point, the story elements these three books use to tell the stories of their heroes and heroines.
I found Better Novel Project while listening to a Harry Potter podcast. If you're a fan of Harry Potter and literary analysis, you should head on over to MuggleNet Academia for a listen. It's really good. It also helps me feel smarter than I am. Better Novel Project is the research and analysis of Christine Frazier. Christine breaks down the first book of three popular science fiction/fantasy series: Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and Twilight. She has a master outline that discusses chapter by chapter, point by point, the story elements these three books use to tell the stories of their heroes and heroines.
2. Write Like Rowling - The Friendly Editor
If you're a fan of Harry Potter and you are a writer/aspire to be a writer, then you should also check out Write Like Rowling. C.S. Plocher has blog posts, guest features and handy tips on being a more successful writer. There's a ton of stuff on there about J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter. I also found this website while listening to MuggleNet Academia.
If you're a fan of Harry Potter and you are a writer/aspire to be a writer, then you should also check out Write Like Rowling. C.S. Plocher has blog posts, guest features and handy tips on being a more successful writer. There's a ton of stuff on there about J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter. I also found this website while listening to MuggleNet Academia.
3. TV Tropes
I don't even know where I found this one. Probably in a forum on NaNoWriMo's website. The TV Trope site has...so much stuff it's overwhelming. What makes this website cool is that everything on it is a story element of some kind. A trope is an element of story telling that may seem cliche but it's used often for a reason: because it works. A trope might be "heartwarming orphan" or "parental abandonment" or...just anything that seems like a common story element. The website is just waiting for you to fall through the rabbit hole and find yourself staring at the computer screen at 3 in the morning and wondering how and why you missed dinner.
4. Pinterest
This one might seem weird but I think Pinterest is weirdly obvious. The best way to storyboard your idea is to literally create a storyboard. I save images that remind me of characters or links to research pertaining to my plot. Last year one of my characters owned and managed an alpaca farm and also grew organic vegetables for her own recipes for restaurants she owned. So I saved pins pertaining to raising alpacas and statting your own mega gardens. There are also links to writing resources on Pinterest. It's a cool way to bookmark your interests and save it in a beautiful format. Plus you can access it from anywhere with the internet if you have a smartphone, tablet or computer.
4. NaNoWriMo Word Sprints
This one is actually a Twitter feed. It's a great resource because it gives you plot bunnies, story prompts and challenges to write so many words in so many minutes during National Novel Writing Month or Camp NaNoWriMo. I even head over there when I'm not working on a NaNo-specific project. It's a great way to meet fellow writers online as well.
5. Figment
I don't remember how I found Figment originally. I think I was looking for online writing contests. I had lost my full time job and was only working part time so I needed something to fill my time. I found Figment and I have been pretty active on the website every since. There are forums to chat in and get story ideas from and contests for short stories with some really cool prizes. It's a site meant for youth and young adults, but all are welcome to participate. I'm 30 now so I am not really their core demographic but it really is a great website to post any style of writing in a welcoming environment.
6. NaNoWriMo
I pretty much talk about National Novel Writing Month in almost every blog post, but it really is such a terrific event and an awesome website. There are writing resources and the sponsors each year always have such cool tools for established authors and newbies alike. There are forums upon forums upon forums. You can find a local writing group or meet up online with other people from across the world. Even if you don't participate in November or write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days, I highly recommend you join the website and check out everything on it.
7. Family Echo
Another weird one but one I found vital during last year's NaNoWriMo project. Family Echo is a free family tree maker. It's perfect for fake genealogy and keeping track of who is half siblings or step siblings and what everyone's birthdays are. And it's free.
8. Inflation Calculator
If you write historical fiction...or any fiction that jumps even a few years back in time, then you need this inflation calculator. It's perfect for any story that takes place in the United States or with the U.S. dollar. It was invaluable over the course of my last few years of NaNoWriMmo.
9. Random Plot Generator
I love this random plot generator because it gives you two characters, a setting, a theme, a situation and a character action randomly. You can change each point individually or all of them. The website also has other "random generators" related to writing and story telling.
10. Surname Generator
If you're like me you can think of first names but last names are hard. This surname generator helps you make sure your last names aren't all Smith, Jones and Miller. You can save your favorites and compare. It really is fun.
This one is actually a Twitter feed. It's a great resource because it gives you plot bunnies, story prompts and challenges to write so many words in so many minutes during National Novel Writing Month or Camp NaNoWriMo. I even head over there when I'm not working on a NaNo-specific project. It's a great way to meet fellow writers online as well.
5. Figment
I don't remember how I found Figment originally. I think I was looking for online writing contests. I had lost my full time job and was only working part time so I needed something to fill my time. I found Figment and I have been pretty active on the website every since. There are forums to chat in and get story ideas from and contests for short stories with some really cool prizes. It's a site meant for youth and young adults, but all are welcome to participate. I'm 30 now so I am not really their core demographic but it really is a great website to post any style of writing in a welcoming environment.
6. NaNoWriMo
I pretty much talk about National Novel Writing Month in almost every blog post, but it really is such a terrific event and an awesome website. There are writing resources and the sponsors each year always have such cool tools for established authors and newbies alike. There are forums upon forums upon forums. You can find a local writing group or meet up online with other people from across the world. Even if you don't participate in November or write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days, I highly recommend you join the website and check out everything on it.
7. Family Echo
Another weird one but one I found vital during last year's NaNoWriMo project. Family Echo is a free family tree maker. It's perfect for fake genealogy and keeping track of who is half siblings or step siblings and what everyone's birthdays are. And it's free.
8. Inflation Calculator
If you write historical fiction...or any fiction that jumps even a few years back in time, then you need this inflation calculator. It's perfect for any story that takes place in the United States or with the U.S. dollar. It was invaluable over the course of my last few years of NaNoWriMmo.
9. Random Plot Generator
I love this random plot generator because it gives you two characters, a setting, a theme, a situation and a character action randomly. You can change each point individually or all of them. The website also has other "random generators" related to writing and story telling.
10. Surname Generator
If you're like me you can think of first names but last names are hard. This surname generator helps you make sure your last names aren't all Smith, Jones and Miller. You can save your favorites and compare. It really is fun.
Writing for Fun, Writing for Work, Writing for Money
As I'm sure you already know, there are many different types of writing out there. I'm not just talking about fiction vs. non-fiction, poetry vs. prose and so on and so forth. I'm talking bout about writing for fun or work or money. Sometimes all three.
I juggle this world of all three quite a bit. I work as a freelance content writer when I'm not at my part-time day job. Even when I find full time work again (and I pray each day that I do) I plan to continue my content writing. I get to choose what articles I want to write each day and each week. It can be a lot of fun. It can also be a little monotonous and boring depending on what articles I pick. But it gives me a chance to write for work and money. Sometimes it also gives me a chance to write for fun.
Then there is when I write purely for fun. I write for fun in a lot of ways. Sometimes it's just because a fun idea pops into my head. Sometimes it's because I see a writing prompt in my inbox. Sometimes it's because I'm participating in NaNoWriMo in November. But writing projects for NaNo can also become a lot of work. Work without money.
Someday I hope to write for fun, work and money all at once, and not just with 300 word blog posts as a content writer. I want to write a book. And then actually make a second and third draft of said book. And have beta-readers and editors and publish it. Whether I get to publish it myself or with a traditional publisher, I want to have a book that people can purchase and own and read and love.
But for now I write for fun.
And sometimes for work.
And sometimes for money.
I juggle this world of all three quite a bit. I work as a freelance content writer when I'm not at my part-time day job. Even when I find full time work again (and I pray each day that I do) I plan to continue my content writing. I get to choose what articles I want to write each day and each week. It can be a lot of fun. It can also be a little monotonous and boring depending on what articles I pick. But it gives me a chance to write for work and money. Sometimes it also gives me a chance to write for fun.
Then there is when I write purely for fun. I write for fun in a lot of ways. Sometimes it's just because a fun idea pops into my head. Sometimes it's because I see a writing prompt in my inbox. Sometimes it's because I'm participating in NaNoWriMo in November. But writing projects for NaNo can also become a lot of work. Work without money.
Someday I hope to write for fun, work and money all at once, and not just with 300 word blog posts as a content writer. I want to write a book. And then actually make a second and third draft of said book. And have beta-readers and editors and publish it. Whether I get to publish it myself or with a traditional publisher, I want to have a book that people can purchase and own and read and love.
But for now I write for fun.
And sometimes for work.
And sometimes for money.
When Your Plot Hits You
Hi reader! It's a couple months to NaNoWriMo 2016, but my prep work has begun. Usually I don't have a plot until right before I start writing. It's just how I roll. This year, though, I decided to take on a little experiment. Yes I'm going to write 50,000 words in 30 days and attempt to do so using this nifty little master plan over at the Better Novel Project.
Now when I decided take on this incredibly crazy and absolutely ridiculous awesome and thought-provoking experiment, I had no plot. I wasn't even sure what genre I was going to explore. The master plan is made for books in science fiction or fantasy, but I felt confident I could adapt it to almost any genre and story type. Still do feel confident I could do that.
But then a Twitter conversation turned an accidental dragon emoji into NaNoWriMo 2016's official mascot. Then I suddenly loved the idea of an adolescent girl with a pet dragon. That girl then became a princess who in turn became a warrior. This warrior princess has a quest with required challenges and...well you get the point.
So my main character became this living, breathing, very real person to me in a little less than 15 minutes and my Pinterest board is full of ideas and photos of swords and mythological creatures.
I guess I'm diving head first into fantasy. Fantasy that's not Harry Potter fan fiction.
We're not in Kansas anymore Toto.
Clearing a Space for Writing
Sometimes writing takes very little preparation. When a writing prompt for a piece of flash fiction pops up in my inbox from Figment, I open Word or Google Docs, type the first thing that pops into my head, save and submit or post. When I'm working my freelance content writing pieces I have to do a little research, check the style guides and make sure I'm meeting my deadlines. For things like National Novel Writing Month, sometimes even more prep work is needed.
This year for NaNoWriMo I am attempting to follow the Better Novel Project's master outline. I discussed in an earlier blog about some of the prep work to make sure my Scrivener document is ready for November but there is some other prep work I have yet to do.
Clearing actual space for writing. And no, I'm not talking about in my hard drive. I live in a small, 2 bedroom apartment. Most of the time I write while sitting on my recliner couch seat, my laptop on my lap and music or the TV on in the background. Typically my TV is tuned in to the Cleveland Indians or Netflix. The second bedroom in my home is full of stuff we don't actually have room for. I have zero storage in my home and the one car garage isn't attached so boxes of decorations or season things tend to wind up in this second room. Kind of like limbo. This year for NaNoWriMo I want to be able to sit at my actual desk with my actual books in an actual computer chair.
So I have 61 days to clear the extra junk out of that room and make the space for great, creative writing. Heck, maybe I will use the vintage typewriter hanging out back there to type a chapter or two just because.
Maybe if I'm brave enough I will post photos of my progress in the back bedroom, but only if you promise to NOT judge me for my horribly cluttered and messy spare room.
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Word Count Boosting, Writer's Block Blasting
If you're a writer then you surely know what writer's block feels like. It's suffocating, debilitating and frustrating as hell. It can stop even the best story in its tracks. When I participate in NaNoWriMo I typically experience this around the 20,000 word mark. This takes place partway through the second week and 1,667 words a day suddenly feels insurmountable.
Here are a few ways I break down the walls of writer's block:
1. Follow NaNoWriMo's word sprints on Twitter. There are challenges and, when you only have to commit to 10, 15 or 30 minutes at a time, it is much easier to pound out some words and report back to the team member who's tweeting. They typically provide sprints all day and night during NaNo since writers participate from all over the world.
2.Select writing prompts. NaNo provides tons of prompts as do members of local and regional NaNo writing communities. I also seek writing prompts from places like Figment. I can usually use the prompt or part of the prompt to eek out a scene or chapter that fits with the plot of my story. Even prompts for poems and short stories can help develop bits and pieces of your novel.
3. Use Sex Scenes. This works especially well when I have to find a lot of words for my daily writing during NaNoWriMo. It may sound unconventional, and it's not for everyone...but it works surprisingly well to get out of a writing funk. They are easier to write than you think...even though I find them awkward to read later. I generally go back and remove a lot of these scenes after the fact but they get my story moving again when nothing else works. This is an especially good method when writing in November, but if you're working on a novel you intend to sellC make sure the scene is appropriate for the genre and general plot of your book. These scenes are great because you're forced to use description and create potential conflict between two characters in your story. They can also just be really fun to write, especially if a romance scene is completely ridiculous at that moment in your story.
What are your tested and true ways to bust out of a writer's funk or increase your word counts for daily writing goals?
What are your tested and true ways to bust out of a writer's funk or increase your word counts for daily writing goals?
Monday, August 29, 2016
My NaNo Failures and Successes
With most writing projects I start them full-steam. Short stories, flash fiction and the like are very easy for me to complete. Give me a prompt and a word count of up to 5,000 and I can get the ideas out of my head very quickly. I want to write a novel, however.
And I acutally have. The first time I participated in National Novel Writing Month I started late and still managed to write 50,000 words in the month of November. Not only that, but I completed the novel. I've even gone back and done a couple passes at editing. This novel (quickly titled "Night of Epic Proportions) is not-so-loosely based on my brother's teenage escapades at a Halloween party in rural Ohio. The events mostly happened. I exagerated some and changed all of the names. I added a couple view points that I made up. It's a fun little novel, but it's not publishable. It was mostly as a family joke that year and it was a great way to jump into the novel-writing world with little to no pressure.
In year two I wrote a Post-Hogwarts/Next Generation Harry Potter fan fic novel. I did not get to 50,000 words in 30 days. I wrote 8,700 words that first week and then stopped. In my defense, I married my husband and lost my job in the two weeks that preceded the start of NaNoWriMo in 2010. I did, however, eventually complete this story on my own time. Again, it's not publishable since it's a piece of fan fiction. I still loved visiting this story and writing it almost every day.
But a pattern started to emerge. I particiapted in NaNo but couldn't win. In 2011 I attempted a slasher/thriller/mystery novel. I managed 7,383 words before I quit working on it. It hasn't pushed much further than this either. The plot points are still in my head and I jot down notes all the time for different elements of the story. This one will take a lot of research. I lost most of my research when my computer crashed a couple years back (all of my writing is backed up, thankfully). The potential is still there for this one, but it's not a passion project for me at this point.
In 2012 I finally got back in the win column with "The Tale of Anna Markov (Working Title)." I need a better name of this one. I love this story. I reached approximately 52,00 words with this one but the story isn't complete. I've re-read my writing and made some edits and changes. I defintely want to revisit this one and finish it.
Much like many of my favorite sports teams, I couldn't keep my winning streak going. In 2013 I had an epic failure. "Hidden Moments of America's Greatest Comedy: The Office" was not my idea. I love The Office. It's my favorite TV comedy of all time. I found a fellow Office-lover and she wanted to partner up on a NaNo project. Essentially writing fan-fiction. But I found that fan-fiction for TV shows was very different than fan-fiction for books. And I couldn't make it work. I wrote 789 words and said "nope not this year."
"The Librarian's Assistant" found its way into my head in 2014. Leonora falls into the pages of her favorite book Jane Eyre with her new-found love interest. Very new-found. As in...they are on their first date kind of new. I managed just over 34,000 words with this one and recently re-read the entire thing. I made changes, added some scenes and continued writing where I left off. I don't know if it's publishable but it's a fun story that I want to finish.
Last year I managed another "W" with "Code Name: Alpaca Farm." I don't have a real name for it and one of the characters has an alpaca farm. The alpaca became a mascot of sorts for 2015's NaNoWriMo writing project. I hit 50,000 words halfway through the month and added another 10,000. I did a fair amount of planning and story-boarding for this novel, but I lost my plot along the way. When we last see the heroine, Marigold, she's making out with someone she really shouldn't be having feelings for. At least not at this point in the story. Maybe not ever.
My hopes for this year are to map out a story and not only win NaNoWriMo by writing 50,000 words in November, but to also finish the story itself. A complete first draft.
Now to find a plot...
And I acutally have. The first time I participated in National Novel Writing Month I started late and still managed to write 50,000 words in the month of November. Not only that, but I completed the novel. I've even gone back and done a couple passes at editing. This novel (quickly titled "Night of Epic Proportions) is not-so-loosely based on my brother's teenage escapades at a Halloween party in rural Ohio. The events mostly happened. I exagerated some and changed all of the names. I added a couple view points that I made up. It's a fun little novel, but it's not publishable. It was mostly as a family joke that year and it was a great way to jump into the novel-writing world with little to no pressure.
In year two I wrote a Post-Hogwarts/Next Generation Harry Potter fan fic novel. I did not get to 50,000 words in 30 days. I wrote 8,700 words that first week and then stopped. In my defense, I married my husband and lost my job in the two weeks that preceded the start of NaNoWriMo in 2010. I did, however, eventually complete this story on my own time. Again, it's not publishable since it's a piece of fan fiction. I still loved visiting this story and writing it almost every day.
But a pattern started to emerge. I particiapted in NaNo but couldn't win. In 2011 I attempted a slasher/thriller/mystery novel. I managed 7,383 words before I quit working on it. It hasn't pushed much further than this either. The plot points are still in my head and I jot down notes all the time for different elements of the story. This one will take a lot of research. I lost most of my research when my computer crashed a couple years back (all of my writing is backed up, thankfully). The potential is still there for this one, but it's not a passion project for me at this point.
In 2012 I finally got back in the win column with "The Tale of Anna Markov (Working Title)." I need a better name of this one. I love this story. I reached approximately 52,00 words with this one but the story isn't complete. I've re-read my writing and made some edits and changes. I defintely want to revisit this one and finish it.
Much like many of my favorite sports teams, I couldn't keep my winning streak going. In 2013 I had an epic failure. "Hidden Moments of America's Greatest Comedy: The Office" was not my idea. I love The Office. It's my favorite TV comedy of all time. I found a fellow Office-lover and she wanted to partner up on a NaNo project. Essentially writing fan-fiction. But I found that fan-fiction for TV shows was very different than fan-fiction for books. And I couldn't make it work. I wrote 789 words and said "nope not this year."
"The Librarian's Assistant" found its way into my head in 2014. Leonora falls into the pages of her favorite book Jane Eyre with her new-found love interest. Very new-found. As in...they are on their first date kind of new. I managed just over 34,000 words with this one and recently re-read the entire thing. I made changes, added some scenes and continued writing where I left off. I don't know if it's publishable but it's a fun story that I want to finish.
Last year I managed another "W" with "Code Name: Alpaca Farm." I don't have a real name for it and one of the characters has an alpaca farm. The alpaca became a mascot of sorts for 2015's NaNoWriMo writing project. I hit 50,000 words halfway through the month and added another 10,000. I did a fair amount of planning and story-boarding for this novel, but I lost my plot along the way. When we last see the heroine, Marigold, she's making out with someone she really shouldn't be having feelings for. At least not at this point in the story. Maybe not ever.
My hopes for this year are to map out a story and not only win NaNoWriMo by writing 50,000 words in November, but to also finish the story itself. A complete first draft.
Now to find a plot...
Ghosts of Plots Past
This past week I recveived a writing prompt in my inbox from Figment (a great writing website and resource for youth and young adults...or well anyone actually). The prompt was to write a story about your characters when they find out you've abandoned their story. The thing is...I've abandoned a lot of characters. Sometimes that makes me shrug my shoulders. Sometimes that makes me feel like a failure. Instead I tried to look at it as one of those funny things that happens to writers and their characters.
So I sat down and hastily typed out 1,300 words about my three most recent characters. All three are women I abandoned midway through their stories. It's worth noting that all three of them are characters from my most recent NaNoWriMo stories. Two of these three stories were part of "winning years." You can read more about NaNo and my "wins" over here.
I wrote about Leonora being trapped innside Jane Eyre. And trapped inside my story about her being trapped inside Jane Eyre. I wrote about Arianna finding her village street abandoned and her husband's sudden unwavering silence. I wrote about Marigold's confusion when Mitchell suddenly stopped kissing her. Poor girl. He just sat there staring blankly despite her best efforts.
And I wrote about how each of these three young women walked and walked and walked until the settings around them disappeared. They found trees and grass and fields of wild flowers. Then the trees and flowers disappeared. Then the grass. The ground became barren. The sky's color desaturated. They were still...someplace. They each found the edge of their stories. The edge of my plots. They found the points beyond my plans for them. They also found each other.
Leonora figured it out first. She is, of course, well-versed in finding herself within a story. When she and her love interest fell into the pages of a book, she figured it out quickly. So when she noticed the story had stopped progressing, she walked until she found the edge of her own story.
I'm not sure what this discovery means for my three heroines. All three of the plots were interesting and challenging in their own ways. All three of these women are fully developed characters in my mind. I know why they do the things that they do. Even when they do things I don't orignally intend. Maybe in this little meta-story where my characters are self-aware they'll be able to convince me to finish their stories and give them places to make out with potential boyfriends, husbands and love interests in peace.
So I sat down and hastily typed out 1,300 words about my three most recent characters. All three are women I abandoned midway through their stories. It's worth noting that all three of them are characters from my most recent NaNoWriMo stories. Two of these three stories were part of "winning years." You can read more about NaNo and my "wins" over here.
I wrote about Leonora being trapped innside Jane Eyre. And trapped inside my story about her being trapped inside Jane Eyre. I wrote about Arianna finding her village street abandoned and her husband's sudden unwavering silence. I wrote about Marigold's confusion when Mitchell suddenly stopped kissing her. Poor girl. He just sat there staring blankly despite her best efforts.
And I wrote about how each of these three young women walked and walked and walked until the settings around them disappeared. They found trees and grass and fields of wild flowers. Then the trees and flowers disappeared. Then the grass. The ground became barren. The sky's color desaturated. They were still...someplace. They each found the edge of their stories. The edge of my plots. They found the points beyond my plans for them. They also found each other.
Leonora figured it out first. She is, of course, well-versed in finding herself within a story. When she and her love interest fell into the pages of a book, she figured it out quickly. So when she noticed the story had stopped progressing, she walked until she found the edge of her own story.
I'm not sure what this discovery means for my three heroines. All three of the plots were interesting and challenging in their own ways. All three of these women are fully developed characters in my mind. I know why they do the things that they do. Even when they do things I don't orignally intend. Maybe in this little meta-story where my characters are self-aware they'll be able to convince me to finish their stories and give them places to make out with potential boyfriends, husbands and love interests in peace.
Scrivener Setup
November might seem like a long time away. But I thought August seemed like an eternity away when I finally got used to writing 2016 instead of 2015. I figured if I used some free time now to set up my Scrivener document, it would make everything a lot easier when I begin planning my characters, settings and plot points.
Tonight I began setting up each part of the book. I broke mine down into Beginning, Pre-Middle, Middle and Ending. Then I used Scrivener's notecards to make each story point Christine metnions over at Better Novel Project. I made my own icon and color coding system for easier identification in the folders on the left. You can also do this with other writing software and applications, but I found Scrivener very helpful for last year's NaNoWriMo and for other writing projects this year. It took me about an hour and a half to get everything added and I am not finished changing everything to "to do" and updating the icons and color coding for each card. The most time consuming part of the outline is done now, however.
Scrivener costs $40, but you can download a 30-day free trial. Last year Scrivener was a NaNoWriMo sponsor and there was a special trial that lasted longer than the typical 30 days. NaNoWriMo winners also received a coupon for 50 percent off the purchase price. It is totally worth full price though. I used the free trial through NaNo, won NaNo and then purchased it for half price in the month of December. As a writer it's the best money I have ever spent with the exception of my laptop.
Below is a screen capture of how the master plan looks when plugged into Scrivener. I am excited about using Scrivener for another National Novel Writing Project and am interested in how it will work with my new master plan experiment.
Tonight I began setting up each part of the book. I broke mine down into Beginning, Pre-Middle, Middle and Ending. Then I used Scrivener's notecards to make each story point Christine metnions over at Better Novel Project. I made my own icon and color coding system for easier identification in the folders on the left. You can also do this with other writing software and applications, but I found Scrivener very helpful for last year's NaNoWriMo and for other writing projects this year. It took me about an hour and a half to get everything added and I am not finished changing everything to "to do" and updating the icons and color coding for each card. The most time consuming part of the outline is done now, however.
Scrivener costs $40, but you can download a 30-day free trial. Last year Scrivener was a NaNoWriMo sponsor and there was a special trial that lasted longer than the typical 30 days. NaNoWriMo winners also received a coupon for 50 percent off the purchase price. It is totally worth full price though. I used the free trial through NaNo, won NaNo and then purchased it for half price in the month of December. As a writer it's the best money I have ever spent with the exception of my laptop.
Below is a screen capture of how the master plan looks when plugged into Scrivener. I am excited about using Scrivener for another National Novel Writing Project and am interested in how it will work with my new master plan experiment.
NaNoWriMo 2016
As I said in my last blog post, I love participating in NaNoWriMo. I almost always mark myself as a "panster" instead of a "planner." I don't really map out my story ahead of time. I might make a couple character notes, decide on names for my characters or save pictures that inspire me and remind me of my story. But I do not map out the plot. I do not make story webs. I do not have a grid with each chapter and subplots.
Recently I found the Better Novel Project through a Harry Potter podcast. The website's creator, Christine, analyzes the first book in the best-selling series Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and Twilight. She breaks them down using a master outline that includes hero traits, character cards, themes, symbolism and scenes. When I say breaks them down, I mean really breaks them down. Each break down has its own blog post about how each book does it and why it works.
Now, I'm not sure if I'm going to be writing sci-fi or fantasy for my NaNoWriMo 2016 project, but I thought it would be interesting to intentionally follow her master outline for this year's story. I have Scrivener and it really is the perfect resource and application for this type of planned writing. I used it for last year's NaNo for the first time ever and even without a ton of planning ahead of time, it helped me write more than I ever have before for the month of November.
It's only August, so we are a ways away from the actual start of National Novel Writing Month. I don't have a story idea yet. I don't even know what genre I want to explore. But I think it will be really fun to use this researched method of writing that have worked for some of the 21st century's most respected and successful authors.
Recently I found the Better Novel Project through a Harry Potter podcast. The website's creator, Christine, analyzes the first book in the best-selling series Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and Twilight. She breaks them down using a master outline that includes hero traits, character cards, themes, symbolism and scenes. When I say breaks them down, I mean really breaks them down. Each break down has its own blog post about how each book does it and why it works.
Now, I'm not sure if I'm going to be writing sci-fi or fantasy for my NaNoWriMo 2016 project, but I thought it would be interesting to intentionally follow her master outline for this year's story. I have Scrivener and it really is the perfect resource and application for this type of planned writing. I used it for last year's NaNo for the first time ever and even without a ton of planning ahead of time, it helped me write more than I ever have before for the month of November.
It's only August, so we are a ways away from the actual start of National Novel Writing Month. I don't have a story idea yet. I don't even know what genre I want to explore. But I think it will be really fun to use this researched method of writing that have worked for some of the 21st century's most respected and successful authors.
National Novel Writing Month
I have particiapted in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) since November of 2009. Each year I write (or attempt to write) a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. Yes that 30-day month that has Thanksgiving and Black Friday in it. I know. It sounds crazy. It is crazy. But it's also a lot of fun and a great way to get in the habit of writing every day. It's a challenge, it's challenging and it is seriously some of the most fun I have ever had writing. If you are a writer (read: aspring novelist or you write just for fun), it really is a great way to just get words on the page. It helps you blast through writer's block because for those 30 days it's just about writing. When you stop worrying about your writing being perfect and instead focus on just getting the words out of your head and onto the screen (or page if you're old school), it is really easy to break down the barriers and obstacles writing can present. There are prizes, challenges, word prompts and all-night write-a-thons. There are write-ins at local libraries and online communities filled with writers just like me. And just like you.
Winning NaNoWriMo is easy. You just have to complete your 50,000 words by midnight in your timezone on November 30. OK, maybe easy isn't the right word. What I mean is winning isn't contingent on how good your story is, if it gets published, if the story itself is finished or if it needs major cuts, edits and re-writes. Write 50,000 words (not the same word over and over) from November 1-November 30 and you get a nifty winner badge and all the winner goodies. I personally have won NaNoWriMo three times. This includes my 2015 win. I hit the 50,000 word mark halfway through the month and added an additonal 10,000 words on top of that. I'm not to the end of the story and I am pretty sure it's way too long.
Some of my stories were terrible.
Some of them were good, but not publishable for one reason or another.
Some were fanfiction and really fun.
Some are good ideas but I just didn't have the steam to get to 50,000 words.
The important part is I wrote them. I participated. I sat down at my computer or with my notebook or with napkins at restaurants and I put my thoughts into words.
You should too!
Winning NaNoWriMo is easy. You just have to complete your 50,000 words by midnight in your timezone on November 30. OK, maybe easy isn't the right word. What I mean is winning isn't contingent on how good your story is, if it gets published, if the story itself is finished or if it needs major cuts, edits and re-writes. Write 50,000 words (not the same word over and over) from November 1-November 30 and you get a nifty winner badge and all the winner goodies. I personally have won NaNoWriMo three times. This includes my 2015 win. I hit the 50,000 word mark halfway through the month and added an additonal 10,000 words on top of that. I'm not to the end of the story and I am pretty sure it's way too long.
Some of my stories were terrible.
Some of them were good, but not publishable for one reason or another.
Some were fanfiction and really fun.
Some are good ideas but I just didn't have the steam to get to 50,000 words.
The important part is I wrote them. I participated. I sat down at my computer or with my notebook or with napkins at restaurants and I put my thoughts into words.
You should too!
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