dunzo

I finished the novel for this year, only learning in the last 4000 words what exactly this particular novel is about. Although it fits into the series of 6 books, it didn't have enough dramatic conflict to stand alone. So I'll likely have to go back and rewrite and write in details in the beginning to draw out the conflict, which is there, but rarely alluded to. I don't think as a writer you want to keep the dramatic conflict a secret from your reader. I don't know where I learned that.

I noticed in January 2008 I made a public declaration to finish a novel, which I then forgot about. Reading it made me remember that I made a similar declaration a couple months ago, but I had forgotten about that, too. I'm bad at this.

influences

I was talking to my Nano writing buddy who talked about how all these things in his life are appearing in his novel, and I concur. I finished reading The Lovely Bones, and although the plots are completely different, there are similar elements that appear unintentionally.

It also seems like any news story I hear is fodder for the novel, and that's intentional. A study is released showing some aspect of human psychology? I could write about that. What's This American Life about this week? I'll incorporate it into the novel.

I know where I'm going now, but how do I get there? I need filler, and these things fresh in my mind are providing that.

Also, reading another novel with effortless prose that contrasts nicely with my utilitarian words put in order to say something happened isn't exactly uplifting.

good idea

The first nanowrimo novel I did might be way better as a screenplay. I think I tend to write in a screenplay style anyway, meaning I have an emphasis on plot and visuals and do less with inner lives and psychological examinations. I just worry about fitting everything in. It sounded like a no-brainer when I first thought of it, but since then I've had second thoughts. Some of the novel is so stupid, but then I'm reminded of the redeeming qualities.

the struggle of revision

I've started the process of going back and reading the novels I've written. I'm working on two at the same time because I don't like the idea of not participating in Nanowrimo after having this streak going, and I really can do both. So...I'm working on the standalone novel and working on the first in the Harry Potter-inspired series so that I can write the next one in November. Which is almost here! Aigh! (As Cathy would probably say.)

I imagine that me talking about this sounds hypercritical, but I need an outlet for the inner critic.

When I go back and read these novels, I'm so frustrated by how bad they seem. In the awesome "Ira Glass on storytelling" videos that can be found on youtube, he talks about the point in practicing creative work where your sensibilities are way more advanced than your abilities. So for me, I know the kind of brilliant writing I want to be like, but I don't have the skills to create that. Yet.

Because in all the crap, there are little nuggets of brilliance. Little observations, pieces of dialogue, evidences of character. Things that I kind of remember writing even though it was 4 years since I last looked at it and can't remember what I talked about last week.

Things I particularly disliked today in my writing: stereotypical characters, a scene that seems sensationalistic right now and I don't remember what redeeming qualities it has to the rest of the story, the tempo and cadence of the story. Choppy.

I did like today one of the main characters in one novel, and think I should give him more focus. Then I wonder at what point you scrap the whole thing and start over with the good parts.

"Mr. Jeremiah Cartwright, are you serving time for skipping geography two days ago?"

"No, Mr. M. This is for the cancer stick falling into my mouth and starting on fire during lunch yesterday."

I liked that answer from Jeremiah.

I find it was easier to get into a zone while writing than re-reading. Neither is easy.

Change in strategy

My thinking right now is that I'll actually finish a novel instead of participating in nanowrimo this year. seems like a shame to break a streak considering that I could (in theory) do both: write a nano novel and polish a novel-in-draft, but in reality, I haven't been able to do that.

Regardless, I'm publicly committing to having a polished version (not a final version) of Monkey Chow ready for friends to read by the end of March.

I don't know what else to do. The clock is ticking.

Done.

I was thinking at the beginning of the month how easy the writing was going. I think I averaged about 1000 words an hour in past years, but I was writing way faster than that, like almost twice as fast at the beginning of the month. And then I hit the doldrums.

Also, I was thinking just about every day about how this novel I'm writing is complete shit. It lacks interesting characters and has no discernible plot. The entire thing is entirely derivative.

But it's done. At least that shit is out of my brain.

breakthrough

For the first time just now, I actually thought that this month's novel might be good. My main character is going off about the things he hates, and it's fun to write.

Ahead of pace. Writing every day. Got to hedge for future missed days.

The best piece of advice, I think, besides writing every single day, is to park on a downhill. I don't remember where I got this advice, so I can't credit it because I certainly didn't make it up myself, but the idea is that instead of writing everything you can possibly think of and then walk away for 24 hours, you stop when you know what you're going to write next. Then, when you come back, you can warm up with something easy and get momentum.

to be expected

I currently am 5000 words in. I hate the novel so far and wouldn't wish it on anyone.

back again

November. I'm writing what I know again. On pace, but struggling. Writing is hard. So far, I've introduced my main character, a teenage boy, and had him alienate the reader. Sounds like a bestseller Oprah pick to me.

certifiable public accountability

Of course, it's more than time that I actually write something. I will declare publicly, right here, that I'll finish my 2004 novel by the end of the school year. Mark it, dude.

Accomplished at writing shitty first drafts

I finished my 2007 Nanowrimo novel on the 29th, then celebrated over football. I'll have to update more later. A couple students told me I should write a book, so I told them about the ones I'd written, and they said they wanted to read them. Maybe that's the motivation I need to revise.

Nano update

Obviously, it is quite a bit of the way through National Novel Writing Month. Just so you know, I was concerned about being able to accomplish this task due to changes in my life priorities, etc. Also, I wasn't prepared for this month because I had intended to write the third book in a series, but it's been a while since I have been familiar with the universe of those books. I started writing the next book on November 1, but because I didn't really remember what had happened in the last book, I just wrote generic stuff. three thousand words of generic stuff. Then I went to N.C., and didn't write a thing. I was stressed about the way I didn't read the old novels to be prepared to write this one, and was worried about when I was going to do that, so I abandoned that novel and started a brand new one. I'll revisit the series later. This decision to start from scratch alleviated a lot of stress. What happened then was on the 6th, I started the new book but didn't get a lot of words on the first few days. I settled into a routine, and since the 10th, I've only had one sub-2200 word day. I think I'll be able to finish this month.

Screenplay update

I finished my screenplay and now I'm back at the coffee shop where I wrote it contemplating my next one. I had this really brilliant idea for a comedy, which would be different for me, because I always end up writing more serious than I intended. The brilliant idea lay fallow for more than a month, and now I look back at what I wrote down as an idea and wonder why I was so excited. It's as if I didn't write down the most hilarous aspect which I now can't remember. Frustrating. If I came up with it once, I am not confident that that means I can come up with it again. I is an idiot.

Script Frenzy

I haven't been posting on any blog this month much because I've been busy procrastinating writing a screenplay. I signed up for Script Frenzy because I had an idea for a screenplay one day while I was driving home. So rather than just going through the rest of my life with an idea, I'm turning it into a screenplay. Now I've completed Nanowrimo three years out of three years, and that's a goal of 50k words. Script Frenzy is only 20k, so I started the month complacent. In fact, I got to about June 16 with only 800 words written. During the course of this week, I got serious and now I'll pass 10,000 words today. Various forces conspired to make me really have to work for this, including being super busy on June 1 and going out of town that day. Then I was done with school and couldn't get into a routine. This week I'm teaching summer school, so I'm getting up and writing again. And it feels good. I looked for the first time at other area Script Frenzy participant profiles, and I only found a couple that are going to make the goal, which somehow made me want to finish even more. So. I guess it's different, it's during the summer, and people take it less seriously. It also harder to, you know, b.s. in your writing to pad your word count. That said, as long as I'm sitting down and writing, I'm usually able to write. Writer's block hasn't been much of a problem. The problem for me is taking rewriting as seriously as the first draft when there's no external deadline for rewriting. Anyway, I'm proud to have these first drafts, but not satisfied.

I went over 50k, so I have to start over

I'm above 50k, and when my project editor told me I was at 50,260, the text editor said 49,967 while the nano validator said 49,885. So I wrote some more to get validated. I still have a little more of the story to tell, but it's winding down, which is key to finishing, I think. During the editing process, I'll add detail.

My writing is heavily movie and tv influenced, I think, so maybe I should think about making this a screenplay, because it's closer to that than a novel perhaps.

I'm at Anodyne right now, but last night I was writing at Riverview Cafe, and earlier yesterday I was at MayDay, where I've spent a lot of time this month. I've also been to Blue Moon, and Friday night I was at the Midtown Market. I've probably been to Dunn Bros. at least once. I seem to get more done if I leave the house.

I'll finish up in the next couple, and then move on to drama for a month, although it's occurred to me to write the next one right now when everything is fresh in my mind. We'll see.

almost done

I have no idea why I haven't posted here in five days. Anyway, I know how it's going to end, so now I sit down and write and it just pours out. It's pretty fun to write as fast as my fingers will type, which is way, way faster than last year. Again, the novel goes from light and comic to dark and serious and heavy. Oh, well. It will lead to a great third book in the series. Actually, this is a pivotal book, which will change my main character forever. Nice. the book took a big turn last night when I thought I knew how it was going to go, then inspiration hit, and I seized an opportunity which meant that the course of the story would change. You can't let that go, though. It's got big problems, yeah, but it's workable. I like it.

A good think to talk about tomorrow is the number of different places i've written this weekend and this month. I had zero words on Thanksgiving. I felt guilty, but tried to give myself permission, and it will turn out fine.

My writing is tortured, and that's ok.

I wrote almost 700 excruciating words yesterday. It wasn't a productive weekend until last night, when I was able to get through whatever else was going on. There was some very important football to be watched on Saturday, so I had to cut my writing session short. I got a call in the middle of it confronting me and ridiculing me for being in a coffee shop, so I left because my peer rep is everything to me. And apparently, my peers are not writers.

It's later in the month, and time to bring the book on home. I think I know where it's going to go, even if I don't know how, so that's comforting. I achieved my daily quota just in my morning session today, which is nice, but I'd rather finish before the last day AND the book will likely be more than 50k, since I'm almost at 40k and I'm jsut now halfway through the school year.

verily i say to you

I've been plunking along here. What I need to do after I finish this is create a bible for the universe in which this series is taking place. When you're writing in bits and pieces like I'm doing this month, you tend to forget what you've written earlier that day, much more what I wrote last year. So I'm pretty sure I have some consistency and continuity problems. It's a draft. Also, the universe is relatively big, so there are large parts that go long periods of time without getting any attention because it's not like i've mapped out this process or story.

although I think I'm best at writing amusing things, during these writing months this year and last year, my tendency has been to go dramatic. Some heavy stuff has happened and is going to happen. If I try to be amusing, I sometimes overreach and hit silly, which is what my first nanowrimo novel is. I've tried to tone down the silly in rewrite, but some central plot points are silly.

I was thinking about watching a show and just being amazed when you realize what some character is doing. I'll have to think of an example, but I probably won't and will never mention this phenomenon again.

midweek replacement

After a big weekend, I've had very little evening writing this week. Last night, I guess I could have written more, but I'm not feeling a lot of pressure to do so. Not when I'm writing 1000 words a morning five mornings a week religiously.

What I need to do is write a Bible for my series, because I can't keep track of all this myself.

advice.

Yesterday I only got my morning writing in, thanks to the confluence of a number of forces. If you want to finish Nanowrimo while working full time, I highly recommend doing 1000 words every morning before work.

the last subject line was a little joke

Well, I'm throwing in the towel after 2500 words today. I could force myself to keep going, but since I'm going to the show tonight ("I am a writer/a writer of fictions") I am going to allow myself a little downtime here. Plus, I'm following the "park on a downhill" rule, because even though I'm not feeling like writing right now, it's not because I don't know what comes next. It will be easy to jump right in tomorrow morning.

The personalities of some of my adult characters are not consistent. I noticed this in a character today, and made him drunk to explain the discrepancy. I am a Master.

Utter failure.

I didn't get 4000 words yesterday, but I did really well and only came up 250 words short. I wasn't sad I didn't get my goal. I'm at 2000 today, with plans for another 2000 later on.

Yesterday a minor character did something surprising to me, and so now I have to deal with that. It's likely to change the entire course of the book, and possibly the entire series. maybe that sounds pretentious, that my characters are operating with minds of their own, but that's what happens, and mine operate with soap opera sensibilities, so although they haven't gotten into things like affairs and sleeping around yet, we have other hot button issues that could happen to a kid on Melrose Place. Which is now out on DVD.

The plan is coming together.

I made a plan today to make 4000 words.

1. Get up in the morning, go to coffee shop.
2. Drink coffee while writing 1000 words.
3. Take break on internets.
4. Write 1000 words.
5. Leave coffee shop, eat lunch, watch TV, rake leaves, clean up squalid hellhole house.
6. Go to different coffee shop.
7. Repeat steps 2-4.

I am in between steps 4 and 5, so well on my way. I will repeat this plan tomorrow, for an 8000 word weekend. Or die trying. The key so far was to cut off step 3, because that could have gone on too long. The internets will still be there when you're done with step 4.

Just like last year, my novel is shaping up to be way longer than 50k.

Big Thursday

Yesterday was my biggest word count day yet, although I'm still way behind last year's pace.

Yesterday's post seemed like the most interesting one I've written in this space, where there were some specifics instead of a general complaining about writing being hard or some such generality. The bar is low for this blog. It's mostly here for my venting and so that your blog can feel good by a downward social comparison.

names

After coming up with two important names that are supposed to be unique for the names of the two towns in my novels, I finally googled them today and found that one of the names is common in World of Warcraft for some reason, and the other is actually a town in Minnesota! So my fictional Minnesota town is a real Minnesota town. Oops. Plus, the real town is located in the same county where my grandparents live, so it seems likely that the name came from my subconscious. This same thing happened when I took creative writing in college. I named a character "Todd Huth," thinking that Todd would be a good name, and took the name Huth from neighbors I had growing up. Well, as two classmates pointed out to me (in a congratulatory way, not critical), Todd Huth is a recurring character in Primus songs. Primus was my favorite band for a long time. I did not make the connection until they pointed it out, and then you don't sound credible when you call the connection unintentional. What does this say about prominent plagiarism cases?

still waiting for my big break

Writing is hard. If it weren't for this deadline, I would have skipped writing so many times. I would have quit early way more often than I have. Once I get on a roll, then I find it easy to keep going and keep setting higher and higher goals for the session. Sometimes you never find the roll, though, which is one reason why I only wrote 1000 words on Saturday, when I had the day off. The other reason is that it's really hard to get started.

The book is plodding along. There are way too many threads for me to keep track of. You can only really write about one at a time, and therefore, I think a lot are being neglected. I also have an adolescent female protagonist who I'm writing about in the first person with adolescent female friends, and so not only am I not writing what i know, I'm really trying to avoid sounding like a freak. consequently, teh boring.

Overall, I still like the project, and I had another layer to the big puzzle come to me last night. So that's a plus.

a slight improvement

A 1100+ morning. In 45 minutes. That's some productivity. I woke up a little more hopeful today. Even though it's been boring so far, I have control. I can make it fun. It's just that this sequel is more ambitious than just making up a new novel, and I feel like I suck as I try to create this story. It might seem easier at first because you have established characters, but now we have continuity problems when I don't remember the details of last year's novel. I reread it before this year, but not enough. Uff.

what did I say?

I said that I'd meet quota yesterday. I did not. A social opportunity arose, and I took it. I more than made up for my missed words today, though, although there's never really making up of lost days. I could have done what I did today and done well yesterday.

A bigger problem than word count is that what I'm writing is excruciatingly boring. I don't know what's the difference, but man, this had better take off, or else I'll be in a world of hurt as a try to plunk out a clunker. Also, I'm trying to keep writing, so some of the grammar has been completely tortured. The editing process will be formidable.

I've gotten into the main part of the story, but just barely. Nothing has happened yet, and I don't know what's going to happen. This could be a problem. I imagine in the editing phase, much of what I've written so far will be completely axed.

I am at 10k, though.

oh, yeah.

crap.

all that bluster I made about how easy this is kind of missed the point. No, it doesn't take 8 hours of writing a day, but you've got to do this on top of everything else you're doing, and you can't just do it for one day. So I'm properly abashed.

Today didn't go well. I could still salvage it, and I won't finish below quota, but what a waste.

Productivity!

I got a lot done this morning and left Caribou in high spirits. I was accused by students of being "really hyper." It was a 1000 word morning, so that's good. Yesterday was not. I'm starting this novel with a side story, I now that I've started it, it's not going anywhere and i really want to get into the main story. But I'm getting my main character a dog.

Day One

I made a respectable word count today, big enough to take advantage of a day when I have a lot of time to work on it. Tomorrow I won't be able to take 90 minutes in the evening, plus dinking around and procrastinating time.

It's different working on a sequel. I don't really know what I'm supposed to be doing, so I'm recapping a little bit from the last novel including recapping parts I haven't written into the first one yet. So the action of the second novel hasn't gotten underway. I suppose I shouldn't wait too long if I want to finish this month.

I was imagining a month of zero free time, which means I must have forgotten last year. People talk about what a daunting task 50K in 30 days is, but a lot of those people probably have, like, kids. I don't think it will be that difficult if I stay healthy and don't fill up my schedule.

on pace.

I made over 1000 words in this morning's coffee shop session, which is what I did last year which really, really helped. If I can write 1000 words in the morning, it takes so much pressure off in the evening, when I'm fatigued anyway. I'll shoot for 1000-some in the evenings, too, and then this will be a painless process.

Ready, go! No more set.

I applied my nanowrimo tattoo last night. So now it's official. I have only the merest semblance of an idea of how this year's novel will shape up. But I think that's in the spirit of both nanowrimo and Stephen King's philosophy, where the characters drive the story. It's time to get going. Woot!

Again with the wrimo

I have been preparing for this year's event, and I have decided to participate. I wasn't sure, because I saw myself accumulating shitty first drafts and never doing any refining and editing. Well, I decided that because I started a series last year, a la Harry Potter, I will use the synergy of nanowrimo to plunk another one out. let's face it: i wouldn't put in the same amount of hours on editing as I will on writing a shitty first draft. So, at some point, I'll figure out how to motivate myself to get some editing done in a timely fashion. I think I'm moving toward that point.

Anyway, I've reread the novel from last year, which follows the protagonist through her 7th grade year. So this year is 8th grade. I think there are several major changes I'd like to make in the first one, which I won't have time to do, so what will have to happen is that I'll write the second book as if I had written the first one differently than I did. Nice.

I just have to say that rereading what I wrote last year, I thought it was good. I think it's a good book that other people could read. Not everything is good, but as a whole, I really like it. I'll have to take out the cringe-inducing parts before I let anyone else read it, but eventually, it will come to light.