NaNoWriMo

A NaNoWriMo Confession

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

I’m not participating in NaNo this year. Well, not writing a story for NaNo. I like looking through the forums and putting in my two-cents. But I’m not writing a novel.

My muse is on vacation, and I am soaking in all that Edinburgh has to offer. Coursework, swing dancing, hwal moo hapkido, just sightseeing in general. I’m enjoying my experiences, tucking them away, to be explored at a later date.

I’m being absorbed by my world. With hope, the City of Literature will rub off on me. But I don’t foresee it rubbing off in time for NaNo. And where writing fiction and I are spending some time apart, I don’t think it would be wise to attempt NaNo. It just wouldn’t be fun. There is no point in forcing something creative–it just will not work.

When a writer isn’t writing, what is she?

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

I’ve been in Scotland for just over a month now. I’m writing every day, but not fiction. It’s a strange thing, to not be grappling over characters, writing to record what is going on in my life, more out of habit than anything else. There’s little delight in twisting words across the page, coming up with delicate phrasing and subtle descriptions.

But I’m not writing fiction. I feel as though something is missing. I return from my day, and I can’t do anything more than work and sleep. It isn’t writer’s block, as I don’t believe in it, but…I’m not sure how to respond. Something’s missing, and yet, I’m whole.

Life as a NaNo Rebel

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters, Thesis Updates

So, November is upon us. And with the falling leaves, brisk wind and blue skies here in Boston comes the season of flying papers, dead highlighters and balding college students. Why balding? We rip our hair out trying to stay sane.

Two years ago I participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time and won. I wrote a rather disappointing novel, but I wrote one. The experience showed me that I can write a novel, that it is possible to finish one if I have the proper motivation.

Last year, I knew I wouldn’t have the time to truly participate, so I wrote a short story and called it a day.

This year, it happened to fall that I have three major papers to work on over the month of November. They aren’t due until December, but I figured, why not use NaNo to rebel?

I’m doubling rebelling, as I started writing these early.

And will I reach a total of 50,000 words? I don’t know. Probably not. All I care is that these essays get completed well. And if I’m writing them, might as well take advantage of the little word count chart, eh?

Best of luck to all NaNo-ers, Traditional or Rebels!

May, the start of the novella (?)…a different one

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

Mondays. I hate Mondays. It’s Wednesday, but I still hate Mondays.

This Monday, while slightly more blech than usual, had a bit of a productive start. Waking up at 4.30 does wonders. I turned on my light and plotted out a short story (possibly novella). Now I just need to write it!

The main character, unlike the one in April’s failed temporarily scrapped novella, is one that I’ve been writing about for a few months. The universe, created by a few fellow NaNo-ers, is a fun one to write in. It’s a dystopian world (hence all of the dystopian books I want to read this summer), one that I really enjoy. I adore writing about this character. He’s snarky, over confident–but this story brings him down to a different, inquisitive level. It lets me explore the characters who interact with him in more depth, so not only do I get to make him more three-dimensional, but the secondary characters get their time to shine as well. It’s fun to write.

I have the first part written, but as the entire thing is plotted, it will only take some time for me to actually write out the entire thing. I’m hoping that May becomes a two-story month. I’ll have plenty of time on trains and airplanes, so this should actually happen!

NaNo nearly upon us…

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

National Novel Writing Month is nearly upon us!

Continuing with my renewed love for short stories, I’m “rebelling” this year and producing a collection. No, its not PAaA. This collection will follow a character I’ve been developing since this August, a fellow named Pryce. The stories will be adventure fantasy tales set around the world and through this guy’s life. Woohoo!

My goal for NaNo is to write at least ten shorts. I haven’t completed short stories in a while, and I’m hoping to come up with a few salvageable pieces to submit to magazines and boost up visibility. Plus, it’d be pretty swell to have my work in print!

Pryce is a fun character to write about. He could be a villain if twisted in the right direction, or if he went through certain situations. It could be fun, writing about the progression of a person to villainy. Hmm…perhaps I have my overarching theme.

Characters Without a Plot may Apply (the same is true for plots without characters)

The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

I’ve decided that I’m going to participate in NaNoWriMo this year; however, I’m not going to be working on Per Ardua ad Astra for it. This will leave me free to not feel guilty about writing parts of it now.

Lately, I’ve had a hankering to work on short stories. So? I’m going to write an anthology of shorts. At the moment, I don’t have a particular theme connecting everything. It may be a collection of spec fic shorts. Or maybe a bunch of stories about my pilots. Who knows?

As I haven’t written short stories in a long time, one may end up being a novella. The stories might be flash fiction. They might be traditional shorts. I’m getting rather excited about this. I’ve developed a character sans plot; now, perhaps he’ll get one. Or two. Maybe I’ll be uber-geeky and write a fanfic.