Well, NaNoWriMo is over. Whatever your "done" is, you're done. In a few moments it will be December in the vast majority of time zones, including the one I'm living in. (If you live somewhere that still gives you a little time, come back and read this later!)
That means it's finally okay to look ahead, and that's exactly what I'm doing. I have my writing life pretty much mapped out for the next several months, so here we go.
Starting tomorrow I'm going back to rewriting The Third Face. This time, though, I have a (working) plan for it, chapter by chapter. My goal is to write one every day, and since the plan has around 43 chapters (though I may deviate from it a tiny bit) it ought to be done in the middle of January.
After that, I'm going to start looking back into some marketing things. I'll also try and get some kind of art contest going for the new cover. This will also be some time to plan the other two books in the trilogy as fully as I've done for this one. That should keep me busy for a while, and then I'll be editing and promoting, leading up to the book's re-release on April 5th--the same day the original came out.
Even at that point I'll already be back to writing like crazy, though. That's because Script Frenzy is in April*, and though I've only tried it once, and failed (back in 2010), I'm going to do it this time without fail! The script I have planned is "adapt The Third Face into an anime," so we'll see how that goes! And as soon as I'm done with that, it'll be back to novels for the second book, The Demon's Guardian, which should hopefully be done, in draft form at least, in the following three months. Finally, in August 2013 it's off to Camp NaNoWriMo for the crazy crossover I mentioned a couple of posts ago!
The ideal scenario is that I get The Demon's Guardian published by this time next year. Optimistic? Maybe. I'll be a bit more sure of myself once I see if my schedule for The Third Face works out as well as I'd like!
What are your plans for December and beyond?
*EDIT: I just found out that the official Script Frenzy was shut down due to lack of funds. That's really sad! But I'm still going to do it anyway.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Winding Down
I know a lot of my readers here are NaNoWriMo participants, so this one's for you.
The last couple of days are where things get a little bit crazy. Many people are already finished, but the vast majority of people are still scrambling to get done. You don't hear as much from the latter, though, because they're too busy trying to write! So those of us who have finished early are the only ones here to give advice to the people who aren't done, even though we aren't experiencing the same thing.
Yesterday I considered making a blog entry about my plans for after November, plans which I've actually already gotten started on just a little. But I didn't do it, because if you're not done with NaNoWriMo yet then thinking about life after November is the last thing you need to do. (By done, it may mean getting to 50,000 or finishing your novel or just writing all the way up to the end. At this point you ought to be able to tell what done looks like for you, and it doesn't have to be the same as anyone else's!)
When you get close to the end it's easy to fall into. You think, "Finally! I'm almost done! Soon I'll be able to do all the things I've been putting off, reward myself, and everything!" This is the point where NaNoWriMo is actually harder for people who do a lot of writing, because we can't help but think about the next project. But I think everyone kind of has that thing that they want to do once they finish and open up a large block of free time.
But if you're not done, as I mentioned above, then that free time isn't open yet. And I guarantee once you get that time, you'll have plenty of chances to relax and have all of those thoughts. The key to finishing now is to live in the moment. The memes don't say "December is coming," because that's not what's happening. You are in one of the last days in November, and that's just how it is. Nothing can happen after that unless you do your best right now.
Good luck to everyone playing catch-up, especially my buddy Duth Olec, who's racing to get 10,000 words out of the last couple of days here!
The last couple of days are where things get a little bit crazy. Many people are already finished, but the vast majority of people are still scrambling to get done. You don't hear as much from the latter, though, because they're too busy trying to write! So those of us who have finished early are the only ones here to give advice to the people who aren't done, even though we aren't experiencing the same thing.
Yesterday I considered making a blog entry about my plans for after November, plans which I've actually already gotten started on just a little. But I didn't do it, because if you're not done with NaNoWriMo yet then thinking about life after November is the last thing you need to do. (By done, it may mean getting to 50,000 or finishing your novel or just writing all the way up to the end. At this point you ought to be able to tell what done looks like for you, and it doesn't have to be the same as anyone else's!)
When you get close to the end it's easy to fall into. You think, "Finally! I'm almost done! Soon I'll be able to do all the things I've been putting off, reward myself, and everything!" This is the point where NaNoWriMo is actually harder for people who do a lot of writing, because we can't help but think about the next project. But I think everyone kind of has that thing that they want to do once they finish and open up a large block of free time.
But if you're not done, as I mentioned above, then that free time isn't open yet. And I guarantee once you get that time, you'll have plenty of chances to relax and have all of those thoughts. The key to finishing now is to live in the moment. The memes don't say "December is coming," because that's not what's happening. You are in one of the last days in November, and that's just how it is. Nothing can happen after that unless you do your best right now.
Good luck to everyone playing catch-up, especially my buddy Duth Olec, who's racing to get 10,000 words out of the last couple of days here!
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Reverse Cliffhanger Ending
This time, it's the author that's worried about what will happen next!
Well, the good news is that I finished NaNoWriMo 2012, claiming it as my fifth completion. The climactic clash went down without a hitch and my characters found themselves at a happy ending.
The problem? In doing so I accidentally left some very clear hooks for two sequels. Completely separate, distinct ones going in totally different directions. The ending pretty much calls for them in such a way that if people read this novel and I then said there weren't going to be those sequels, they'd be disappointed and possibly mad at me.
One is pretty simple. In the course of the novel, a baby is born. This baby, Oliver, is apparently the center of all of the conflict in the Bridge of Time, because removing him from time will supposedly have a large effect on the future of his world. I haven't ever mentioned how exactly, so this leaves his entire life open with a promise that it will be interesting.
Meanwhile, and much more alarmingly, a couple residents of the other timeline end up falling below the Bridge, and end up in an area I invented a while back for another novel. It's called the Paradox Slip, and it's home to everything that's ever been erased from a universe, whether that's because of time traveling matters or because I, the author, got rid of it. In fact, the place they land in is a setting that I scrapped from a story back when I was like 12 because then I already knew it was stupid.
It follows, then, that every character and story that I've ever chosen not to use or bring back, and everything that fell victim to the time travel trap (which is a surprisingly large amount of stuff in my writing!) is going to be there. This includes a villain in another novel who the heroes were only able to defeat by preventing him from ever being born, and so he's naturally taken control of this world. What I've got on my hands, in effect, is a crossover between everything I have ever written. Ever.
You can see that I'm just a little bit afraid here.
Well, the good news is that I finished NaNoWriMo 2012, claiming it as my fifth completion. The climactic clash went down without a hitch and my characters found themselves at a happy ending.
The problem? In doing so I accidentally left some very clear hooks for two sequels. Completely separate, distinct ones going in totally different directions. The ending pretty much calls for them in such a way that if people read this novel and I then said there weren't going to be those sequels, they'd be disappointed and possibly mad at me.
One is pretty simple. In the course of the novel, a baby is born. This baby, Oliver, is apparently the center of all of the conflict in the Bridge of Time, because removing him from time will supposedly have a large effect on the future of his world. I haven't ever mentioned how exactly, so this leaves his entire life open with a promise that it will be interesting.
Meanwhile, and much more alarmingly, a couple residents of the other timeline end up falling below the Bridge, and end up in an area I invented a while back for another novel. It's called the Paradox Slip, and it's home to everything that's ever been erased from a universe, whether that's because of time traveling matters or because I, the author, got rid of it. In fact, the place they land in is a setting that I scrapped from a story back when I was like 12 because then I already knew it was stupid.
It follows, then, that every character and story that I've ever chosen not to use or bring back, and everything that fell victim to the time travel trap (which is a surprisingly large amount of stuff in my writing!) is going to be there. This includes a villain in another novel who the heroes were only able to defeat by preventing him from ever being born, and so he's naturally taken control of this world. What I've got on my hands, in effect, is a crossover between everything I have ever written. Ever.
You can see that I'm just a little bit afraid here.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Climactic Clash: An Excerpt
The main reason it's been most of a week since I posted here is because I've been hard at work trying to juggle homework with this novel! I'm so close to being done that I can taste it, but that only slows me down, I think.
Anyway, since I'm too busy writing it to say much else, have an excerpt from the final battle. This should be just enough to leave you completely confused! (But then again, what else do you expect from a NaNo novel?)
Anyway, since I'm too busy writing it to say much else, have an excerpt from the final battle. This should be just enough to leave you completely confused! (But then again, what else do you expect from a NaNo novel?)
The corpse of Anise Black rushed forward across the Bridge of Time and slammed into Ed, knocking him to the ground and causing him to drop Das Ende.
He shot her several more times, point blank, until he was out of ammunition. Then, as Eibmoz had, she disintegrated.
Ed looked up to see the blade of a sword pointed at him.
“You killed Anise,” said Aaron.
“Yes. Why do you care? Run along back to your world. She's still alive there.”
“You really are stupid, aren't you, Doctor? Here, let me make it clear for you!”
With that, Aaron yelled and came down with his blade, chopping off Ed's left hand. The pistol fell down into the abyss.
Ed rolled the other way and got up. “How did you get such strength so quickly?”
“It's me, stupid! I came up with this plan! I wanted to get close to you instead of him, so I could finish you personally! And I wanted to see Anise up close one last time before it all fell apart!”
“Oh. Doomy. Didn't expect it to be you. Right then. Just one question before we fight.”
“What?”
“What did you do with Oliver?”
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
The Bridge of Time
The thing about NaNo novels is that they change.
Like, one year my novel about a prince who dreamed up the entire real world turned into a dark adventure featuring a memory-eating tower and a collection of souls in jars. Another year, it started out with a homeless guy fighting to retain ownership of his hat, and ended up as a vast, deadly game between two gods on a bet.
This one has already changed before. Let's recap: originally this was supposed to be about a depressed guy doing crazy and stupid things due to a Homestuck obsession. Then the depressed guy started getting therapy and help, and the novel was supposed to be about him becoming a better man.
It turns out that I am just naturally required to take it up a notch. And thus, what I have today.
Shortly after making Aaron attempt suicide, and seeing the consequences, I decided I wasn't too happy with them. I began an alternate scenario where he decides not to jump. Instead he murders Anise, who is oddly forgiving to him about that fate. I named this section "Timeline B" for convenience.
Then I dabbled in "Timeline A" again. Yes, apparently, I can't let go of either of them. That only leads me to one conclusion: I have to form a connection between them. Thus, I recently wrote a scene previewing the construction of this mysterious Bridge of Time, which will be used for just that purpose. The interesting thing, which I have not yet revealed, is exactly who is building said bridge...
The end is near. I'm hoping to hit 40,000 words tonight, and once I do, it'll be indisputably time to accelerate into the ending zone. I like the ending zone.
Like, one year my novel about a prince who dreamed up the entire real world turned into a dark adventure featuring a memory-eating tower and a collection of souls in jars. Another year, it started out with a homeless guy fighting to retain ownership of his hat, and ended up as a vast, deadly game between two gods on a bet.
This one has already changed before. Let's recap: originally this was supposed to be about a depressed guy doing crazy and stupid things due to a Homestuck obsession. Then the depressed guy started getting therapy and help, and the novel was supposed to be about him becoming a better man.
It turns out that I am just naturally required to take it up a notch. And thus, what I have today.
Shortly after making Aaron attempt suicide, and seeing the consequences, I decided I wasn't too happy with them. I began an alternate scenario where he decides not to jump. Instead he murders Anise, who is oddly forgiving to him about that fate. I named this section "Timeline B" for convenience.
Then I dabbled in "Timeline A" again. Yes, apparently, I can't let go of either of them. That only leads me to one conclusion: I have to form a connection between them. Thus, I recently wrote a scene previewing the construction of this mysterious Bridge of Time, which will be used for just that purpose. The interesting thing, which I have not yet revealed, is exactly who is building said bridge...
The end is near. I'm hoping to hit 40,000 words tonight, and once I do, it'll be indisputably time to accelerate into the ending zone. I like the ending zone.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Blog-splosion
Wow, it's already been a week since my last blog entry. At the pace I've been trying to keep, that's too long. There's a reason for that, but it's personal, and I don't really want to get into it too much here, since this blog is all about writing, and I don't want to derail things.
But that doesn't mean I should hide my personal life from the world. If you want to know a bit more about me as a person, you should have that option. I'm real, living and breathing! Things happen to me, and I react in certain ways. My writing wouldn't be where it is if it wasn't for the events in my life.
So to give you that option, without forcing that information on you, I'm creating a second blog called Becoming the Catalyst (a reference to an All That Remains song that I love) and it will handle all of that stuff. At time of this writing, I haven't actually made any entries to it, but the bare bones of it are there, to be worked on over the next few days when I get the chance.
Meanwhile, I've got a couple of things going on over at Wordpress. I'll soon be doing a test run to review some video games over at Operation Rainfall, and that should give me some more experience blogging and using that particular setup. After that, it'll be time to try my hand at my own website there.
Basically, I want it to be my new writing hub, with all the information and news I share available in one place through their more advanced systems. I like Blogger a lot, but it's a bit too limited in some aspects.
That doesn't mean this blog is going to shut down, though. My plan is to set up a system so that when I post on the new Wordpress blog, a copy is automatically published here on Blogger. There's no guarantee it'll work, but it's my best shot right now.
Wish me luck keeping track of all these!
Monday, November 12, 2012
The Value of Foil
Here's one for the writers. Now I know what you must be thinking. I'm not talking about aluminum foil. I'm not talking about the old math technique. I'm not even talking about foiling an evil villain's plans. I'm talking about a character.
A foil is someone who's the exact opposite of your main character, personality-wise. It sounds simple enough. But most people roll that in with their antagonist, and it doesn't work that way. The main thing about the foil is that they have no idea that the things they're doing might actually be bothering the main character. The way this person acts just happens to highlight the main character's weaknesses and insecurities (at least within the story--you, the author, should be very intentional about it!)
If you're doing NaNoWriMo, you probably already have a foil in your story and don't even know it. In fact, this is probably one of the biggest things writers tend to do without even thinking about it. And that's great! But if you realize why you have that there, you can make it that much stronger. Not only that, but some people don't have it at all.
My novel didn't have a foil for about 20,000 words.
That's probably why the vast majority of those words were just internal monologue! My character was literally just sitting around, doing nothing except feeling sorry for himself and occasionally talking to a few girls and let them walk all over him. Sure. Great. There's his life. Could happen to anybody. Who wants to read that?
It doesn't become interesting at all until you see Ed Morse, picking up women nonchalantly and practically incapable of frowning. The only thing that he has in common with Aaron is an inner madness that occasionally creeps up in both of them, but it sends them both in very different directions.
I've hardly had time to play with this dynamic here, but it's what put the spark in a dying novel. Think about your novel for a minute. Do you have a foil in place? Please comment--I'd love to see what you have to say.
A foil is someone who's the exact opposite of your main character, personality-wise. It sounds simple enough. But most people roll that in with their antagonist, and it doesn't work that way. The main thing about the foil is that they have no idea that the things they're doing might actually be bothering the main character. The way this person acts just happens to highlight the main character's weaknesses and insecurities (at least within the story--you, the author, should be very intentional about it!)
If you're doing NaNoWriMo, you probably already have a foil in your story and don't even know it. In fact, this is probably one of the biggest things writers tend to do without even thinking about it. And that's great! But if you realize why you have that there, you can make it that much stronger. Not only that, but some people don't have it at all.
My novel didn't have a foil for about 20,000 words.
That's probably why the vast majority of those words were just internal monologue! My character was literally just sitting around, doing nothing except feeling sorry for himself and occasionally talking to a few girls and let them walk all over him. Sure. Great. There's his life. Could happen to anybody. Who wants to read that?
It doesn't become interesting at all until you see Ed Morse, picking up women nonchalantly and practically incapable of frowning. The only thing that he has in common with Aaron is an inner madness that occasionally creeps up in both of them, but it sends them both in very different directions.
I've hardly had time to play with this dynamic here, but it's what put the spark in a dying novel. Think about your novel for a minute. Do you have a foil in place? Please comment--I'd love to see what you have to say.
Friday, November 9, 2012
Complete Direction Change
You know all that stuff about Homestuck and all that I said about what this novel is about, and where it's meant to go?
Well, that's all gone out the window. My original concept is gone. I realized a while ago that the "hilarity ensues" part was not happening, and it just took me until now to see that everything I was talking about actually wasn't going to be a big part of my novel. Sure, I talked about Homestuck at length, but Aaron's obsession with it only led to the way things are right now.
Naturally, once the breakup happened, Aaron was crushed. He took solace in the online adventures, but his desire to find a "moirail" (someone who calms you down when you're doing something crazy) led him to the idea of attempting suicide. Now he's jumped off a building and just about everything in his body is broken. Lovely!
So now he has a therapist, a really kooky guy named Ed Morse who embraces insanity and embodies confidence. (If you get the connection in that character, hats off to you.) This is where he becomes a role model for Aaron, and suddenly the older man is giving him tons of dating advice. Coincidentally, and unbeknownst to Aaron, Anise is also going to Ed for dating coaching!
The result of this, and the way Aaron grows up and becomes someone worth respecting, is the new future of this novel. Almost halfway in and I just now figured that out! He could still do something crazy and self-damaging again, but I doubt it. Looks like after 20,000 words I'm finally making this depressing book into something positive. And that's just a good thing for everyone, now, isn't it?
Well, that's all gone out the window. My original concept is gone. I realized a while ago that the "hilarity ensues" part was not happening, and it just took me until now to see that everything I was talking about actually wasn't going to be a big part of my novel. Sure, I talked about Homestuck at length, but Aaron's obsession with it only led to the way things are right now.
Naturally, once the breakup happened, Aaron was crushed. He took solace in the online adventures, but his desire to find a "moirail" (someone who calms you down when you're doing something crazy) led him to the idea of attempting suicide. Now he's jumped off a building and just about everything in his body is broken. Lovely!
So now he has a therapist, a really kooky guy named Ed Morse who embraces insanity and embodies confidence. (If you get the connection in that character, hats off to you.) This is where he becomes a role model for Aaron, and suddenly the older man is giving him tons of dating advice. Coincidentally, and unbeknownst to Aaron, Anise is also going to Ed for dating coaching!
The result of this, and the way Aaron grows up and becomes someone worth respecting, is the new future of this novel. Almost halfway in and I just now figured that out! He could still do something crazy and self-damaging again, but I doubt it. Looks like after 20,000 words I'm finally making this depressing book into something positive. And that's just a good thing for everyone, now, isn't it?
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Time Shenanigans
I went to another write-in tonight. At first it was quiet, and I typed silently along with everyone else. Then, a couple more people arrived, and suddenly we were all talking. Amazingly, I still got a day's work in, even though I felt like I spent more time there talking to everyone than anything else!
It's even more amazing because, for the first time, I hit a roadblock. Aaron is currently in a coma and neither his dreams nor the actions of anyone else are really that interesting--they're just filler right now. Of course that filler has gotten me up to 20,000 words already, so when I complained about my problems people looked at me funny. Oops! It sounds kind of arrogant that way, doesn't it?
Anyway, I wanted to stay longer, but I didn't have internet, and I really wanted to make sure my word count was updated before midnight. So I left at 11:00... and immediately got lost. Soon I was driving by a school I'd never heard of and through a residential area with no sign of where I was. I thought I'd never get home!
Then I had a sudden epiphany: I had my phone! I parked somewhere for a minute, pulled it out, and found to my relief that I had 3G. Quickly I rushed onto the NaNoWriMo site and updated my word count from there. Success! Oh and then I also looked up directions to get home.
Yup. I clearly have all my priorities straight.
It's even more amazing because, for the first time, I hit a roadblock. Aaron is currently in a coma and neither his dreams nor the actions of anyone else are really that interesting--they're just filler right now. Of course that filler has gotten me up to 20,000 words already, so when I complained about my problems people looked at me funny. Oops! It sounds kind of arrogant that way, doesn't it?
Anyway, I wanted to stay longer, but I didn't have internet, and I really wanted to make sure my word count was updated before midnight. So I left at 11:00... and immediately got lost. Soon I was driving by a school I'd never heard of and through a residential area with no sign of where I was. I thought I'd never get home!
Then I had a sudden epiphany: I had my phone! I parked somewhere for a minute, pulled it out, and found to my relief that I had 3G. Quickly I rushed onto the NaNoWriMo site and updated my word count from there. Success! Oh and then I also looked up directions to get home.
Yup. I clearly have all my priorities straight.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Sudden Fiction
The crazy thing about this November is juggling NaNoWriMo with work, school, and my other responsibilities. For one of my classes, I've been asked to write a short piece of "sudden fiction" based on the prompt: "Your character reveals his or her secret." I then got a second part to that prompt, the secret itself. Hopefully that will come through when you read the story below (which has no title at the moment).
The writing revolves around the concept of body language as a big part of communication. I wanted to see if I was capable of using that effectively. If I was successful, then you should be able to piece together a couple of things that the characters aren't actually saying.
The writing revolves around the concept of body language as a big part of communication. I wanted to see if I was capable of using that effectively. If I was successful, then you should be able to piece together a couple of things that the characters aren't actually saying.
“Why are you telling me this?” he said.
She stared at his eyes, which were fixed on the window. His mouth was covered by his clasped hands, muffling his words.
“Because I thought…” She choked on her words.
She looked down and drew back, hugging herself. She let out a breath, and brought one back in. One more time she looked up at him. Eye contact.
“I thought you would give me a chance,” she said. Her tight fists trembled.
He held her gaze for a long time. “Why would I?”
“Maybe I could be better for you. I know she’s making you happy, but maybe I could...”
When she said she’s making you happy, he finally looked away, down to the side.
There was a long silence, and her gaze fell too.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.
“Huh?” She leaned close towards him.
He didn’t respond for a minute, lost in thought, it seemed. Then he stood up, looking down at her, frowning. “Don’t throw the word love around. It’s a mistake.”
With that, he turned away and walked out the door.
Once he had left, she let go and cried.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
First Milestone
In my last full-length post, I talked about how my experience and techniques helped me to increase my word count dramatically. In fact, I've consistently gone into half-hour chunks of time and come out with close to 1000 words--and now, on Day 3, I've already hit the 10,000 mark.
This is where I have to start to think about something. You see, according to the structure workshop I mentioned in an earlier post, my "first plot point" should be somewhere around the 20%-25% mark of the novel. Assuming I finish the novel in 50,000 words, that means it's roughly somewhere between now and about 12,500 words.
The "first plot point" is where you transition from illustrating the character's normal life to getting into the actual conflict and subject matter of the book. In fact, I spent this entire 10,000 words illustrating just how bad Aaron's life is, and why he's so depressed. Actually, I have to wrap that up pretty soon, because I want it to culminate in a low point. That's when he'll discover Homestuck, as I mentioned in my summary.
So what's the situation so far? Starting from a massive breakup (which draws heavily on my own experience), Aaron already feels pretty worthless. Worse, another girl that he thinks is interested in him turns out to already have a boyfriend, and when he asks her on a date they go as "just friends." This is awkward and reinforces the idea that nobody likes him that way.
That's when things get complicated. Aaron finds himself with Anise Black, a girl that's much too young for him, to the tune of 13 years old to his 17. Ouch. She's about as depressed as he is, and the two of them become close by reassuring each other and helping build one another's self esteem. This may seem like a good thing, but Anise is very interested in getting sexual, and Aaron is not.
Meanwhile, because of their age difference, their relationship is secret. In order to help cover it up, Aaron starts a "fake" relationship with Shelly, an old friend of his, who's in a similar situation. As you might suspect, he becomes closer to her than he planned, and Anise is extremely jealous. She gets angry, and in turn Aaron shares that problem with Shelly, since she's the only one who knows about Anise. Things are spiraling out of control, and in my next scene it's all going to come crashing down.
This is where I have to start to think about something. You see, according to the structure workshop I mentioned in an earlier post, my "first plot point" should be somewhere around the 20%-25% mark of the novel. Assuming I finish the novel in 50,000 words, that means it's roughly somewhere between now and about 12,500 words.
The "first plot point" is where you transition from illustrating the character's normal life to getting into the actual conflict and subject matter of the book. In fact, I spent this entire 10,000 words illustrating just how bad Aaron's life is, and why he's so depressed. Actually, I have to wrap that up pretty soon, because I want it to culminate in a low point. That's when he'll discover Homestuck, as I mentioned in my summary.
So what's the situation so far? Starting from a massive breakup (which draws heavily on my own experience), Aaron already feels pretty worthless. Worse, another girl that he thinks is interested in him turns out to already have a boyfriend, and when he asks her on a date they go as "just friends." This is awkward and reinforces the idea that nobody likes him that way.
That's when things get complicated. Aaron finds himself with Anise Black, a girl that's much too young for him, to the tune of 13 years old to his 17. Ouch. She's about as depressed as he is, and the two of them become close by reassuring each other and helping build one another's self esteem. This may seem like a good thing, but Anise is very interested in getting sexual, and Aaron is not.
Meanwhile, because of their age difference, their relationship is secret. In order to help cover it up, Aaron starts a "fake" relationship with Shelly, an old friend of his, who's in a similar situation. As you might suspect, he becomes closer to her than he planned, and Anise is extremely jealous. She gets angry, and in turn Aaron shares that problem with Shelly, since she's the only one who knows about Anise. Things are spiraling out of control, and in my next scene it's all going to come crashing down.
Friday, November 2, 2012
Quick Announcement
Just wanted to note--my word count, as updated on the NaNoWriMo site, is now featured on the right side here. There are a couple of other minor changes I made to make the blog more accessible to people who want to keep up with it, too.
Since I'm here--things haven't slowed down. It's going great!
Since I'm here--things haven't slowed down. It's going great!
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Expertise
The kickoff party last night was amazing! There was a lot of talking and sorting things out as midnight crept up, and we exchanged a lot of advice. The energy was high, probably due to the presence of LOTS of Halloween candy.
There was one thing that happened that felt strange to me, though. A new novelist came in and asked how many people were doing NaNoWriMo for the very first time. Of course, a couple of hands went up. Then people started sharing how many years they'd done it, and how many wins they had accumulated.
Confidently, I said that this year would be my fifth. Everyone stared. I might have been the youngest person there, but suddenly I commanded a strange respect, the quiet guy that hardly anyone had noticed before. People started asking me questions, like whether it got easier the more times you did it. I said no, it's always difficult. Which, in my experience, has always been true. You can't get through this without a fight. It was the most honest answer I could give. Or so I thought.
One other thing I did, which I feel is relevant: I confessed that this year would probably produce my worst novel yet. And I was okay with that.
As midnight approached, someone began to count the minutes. With thirty to go, I had my first sentence in my head and my fingers above the keyboard. I channeled my inner insanity: tilted my head, widened my eyes, and made a giant grin. My brain got the message.
The instant I heard zero I was on the rampage that I had anticipated, my keyboard the machine gun, with no worries of running out of ammunition. Oh, and there's no doubt that I did indeed massacre that kickoff: after half an hour we stopped and compared word counts. I heard 250, 300, 500, 800. I didn't want to tell them mine, but I did. It was something like 1100 words.
I had spent that entire time recounting events from my own life, skimming them and deliberately leaving out the happy parts to leave a picture of a very depressed young man to begin with. I was sure it was the wild anticipation that had done it, but once again I channeled my crazy, and by 1AM my total word count was 2276. I managed yet another half hour just this evening, with similar results.
Who knows? Maybe I am really good at this now after all. Obviously part of it was my statement, my worst novel ever, which killed all quality control outright--something we're told to do time and time again. But I think just as important were the madness that drove me, and the method of listing things very specific and personal to me. I think everyone can do those things, at least. We're all a little crazy. Otherwise we wouldn't be doing this. And putting in a bit of yourself comes with the trade--it might be tough if your novel is really "out there," but you can always find a way.
Whew! Too bad this blog post isn't part of my novel--I spent another half-hour working on it. Ah, well, I'm off to do more of my absolutely insane writing--and you should, too!
BwaHAHAAHAHAHAAHAHAhahahahahahhahaaHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAA
There was one thing that happened that felt strange to me, though. A new novelist came in and asked how many people were doing NaNoWriMo for the very first time. Of course, a couple of hands went up. Then people started sharing how many years they'd done it, and how many wins they had accumulated.
Confidently, I said that this year would be my fifth. Everyone stared. I might have been the youngest person there, but suddenly I commanded a strange respect, the quiet guy that hardly anyone had noticed before. People started asking me questions, like whether it got easier the more times you did it. I said no, it's always difficult. Which, in my experience, has always been true. You can't get through this without a fight. It was the most honest answer I could give. Or so I thought.
One other thing I did, which I feel is relevant: I confessed that this year would probably produce my worst novel yet. And I was okay with that.
As midnight approached, someone began to count the minutes. With thirty to go, I had my first sentence in my head and my fingers above the keyboard. I channeled my inner insanity: tilted my head, widened my eyes, and made a giant grin. My brain got the message.
The instant I heard zero I was on the rampage that I had anticipated, my keyboard the machine gun, with no worries of running out of ammunition. Oh, and there's no doubt that I did indeed massacre that kickoff: after half an hour we stopped and compared word counts. I heard 250, 300, 500, 800. I didn't want to tell them mine, but I did. It was something like 1100 words.
I had spent that entire time recounting events from my own life, skimming them and deliberately leaving out the happy parts to leave a picture of a very depressed young man to begin with. I was sure it was the wild anticipation that had done it, but once again I channeled my crazy, and by 1AM my total word count was 2276. I managed yet another half hour just this evening, with similar results.
Who knows? Maybe I am really good at this now after all. Obviously part of it was my statement, my worst novel ever, which killed all quality control outright--something we're told to do time and time again. But I think just as important were the madness that drove me, and the method of listing things very specific and personal to me. I think everyone can do those things, at least. We're all a little crazy. Otherwise we wouldn't be doing this. And putting in a bit of yourself comes with the trade--it might be tough if your novel is really "out there," but you can always find a way.
Whew! Too bad this blog post isn't part of my novel--I spent another half-hour working on it. Ah, well, I'm off to do more of my absolutely insane writing--and you should, too!
BwaHAHAAHAHAHAAHAHAhahahahahahhahaaHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAA
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