NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo Day 2 & 3: How do you write plot again?

/ Ajmorse / Leave a comment

Word count: 2046

Any part of that actually worth keeping?  I have no idea.

What gets me, is that when most people set out to write a story, one might assume that they automatically know how to do it. That writing great characters, and planning a plot, and have that story actually go somewhere – all comes naturally.

It does not.

For some it might, sure. But not me. It’s taken me a while to realize (or maybe admit) that it is one of my weakest points in creating a story. Plot.

Plot. Plot. Plot.

If I have trouble visualizing it, I have trouble writing it and you can’t always visualize something that you aren’t sure is supposed to happen.

I’ve had some great advice from a writing friend in the last couple of days. She advises that I try to think of some things that I want to happen, and then piece together the main events, almost like following a trail of the story.

This is a nice bit of visual helpfulness, but I also learned from Sunday night’s writing that sometimes just writing it out, certainly lets me know what works and doesn’t work.

Everyone has their own path to follow when it comes to discovering what works for them, and no way is the wrong way. According to Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, he supposes that no writer truly knows what they are doing. He has some excellent advice to writers, which I probably will refer to in the next couple of days.

It might take a while to figure out what works best for you…I know it has for me.

Now, while my word count is not where I want it to be on this third night of NaNoWriMo, (I missed Monday night) I best get to work and try to get out what I can.

I’m not quite sure where my story is going to go in the next several pages, but maybe right now….that is the beauty in it for me. I might discover something fantastic.

Other writers do plots, they make outlines with fancy bullet holes. While I might do this to some extent, I think this method of just going for it (especially when this is my true attempt at NaNoWriMo) is what I should do from here on out. It’ll definitely teach me what to do, and what not do to. And what works best for me.

What about you guys? What method works best for you? Are you a visual writer, like me?

Happy Writing!

NaNoWriMo Day 1: My Story and More Planning

/ Ajmorse / Leave a comment

It is 8:35 p.m. on this Nov. the 1st.  My word count is: 703 , and I’ve managed to do some story planning and plotting in the last two hours and a half.

I’ve also managed to create a NaNoWriMo account, which I haven’t done in several years. Not since the early college days.

I don’t remember how to do anything on the website anymore, so setting up my account, my profile info, and my novel info, took a good thirty minutes and now I’m left here wondering: how do you add buddies again?

Speaking of which…if you guys are participating in NaNoWriMo this year, my username is amandagrey1 the same on here, so add me if you want!

It’s important that us writing people stick together. Especially me. Considering how long it took me just to get online to create an account. I am such a terrible procrastinator…

Give me a goal to make and a deadline, and suddenly I find all the excuses in the world to do everything else. It’s not like I don’t want to create my story, I guess when it comes down to it, it is always the fear of the expectations.

I don’t like creating things that are bad. I don’t like the idea of failing…on anything, really. So, once again…its that same old writer’s fear…

But the point is, I’m sitting down to do something now and that’s better than nothing.

Just a cute dragon pic I colored the other day. Thought it might give me some kind of inspiration for my story.

Just a cute dragon pic I colored the other day. Thought it might give me some kind of inspiration for my story.

My story is a young adult fantasy novel about a young prince, whose royal family has the ability to change into dragons. For years, the dragons and the witches and wizards of the country have been at odds with each other. Years ago, the witches and wizards were banished from the kingdom and magic was forbidden. But all that is about to change.

I left my description on my NaNo account deliberately vague, and I’m leaving it vague here as well, because, one, I’m still working out the kinks and, two, I’m very protective of my original ideas.

I guess I’m just slightly paranoid when it comes to that. Especially considering how many different ideas there are out there. Everyone hopes that their idea is original, and who knows…maybe mine is. I guess I’m just paranoid. Plus, its kind of hard to explain a novel that you’re still working out.

Anyway, back to the grindstone, and maybe I can churn out more words on the page in the next half an hour or so. I’m so proud of myself! Perhaps locking myself in my office was a good idea after-all…

Everyone having a great first day of NaNoWriMo?

Happy Writing!

Are you Going to NaNoWriMo?

/ Ajmorse / 11 Comments

Hey, guys. October is almost over…God, where did the days go? I am sick with some kind of head-cold-flu-achiness thing, and I just realized today that there are only two more days, (not counting tonight) till November!

Okay, well, I guess November isn’t that exciting…ladies: are we ready for no-shave November? Do any women really want to see their men that hairy? I mean, honestly…but back to NaNoWriMo.

indexI have a friend who has been diligently planning and brainstorming her plot for NaNoWriMo. She has her characters, she has key scenes, she has everything figured out to start writing on Sunday. And I couldn’t be more proud of her.

And I’ve got…nothing.

But that doesn’t mean I won’t give NaNoWriMo another shot this year. At any rate, it might be a nice chance for me to get a rough draft out for one of the many stories that I have yet to finish. But then I look at my story, at the characters, and the back story, and the history and I find there is still so much to do.

How did J.K. Rowling do it? I look to her as an example. All of that planning, all of the information that she knew about her characters and only about twenty percent of that got down on the page. You need to know your characters one-hundred percent. I used to laugh when I heard authors say their characters become like their children, but I guess it’s because I never really understood.

I get overwhelmed, the fear creeps in, and suddenly ten pages a day seems useless when it’s all going to be garbage anyway. I sometimes wonder, did J.K. Rowling ever struggle with writer’s doubt like I do?

I guess I have to keep reminding myself that no one is perfect from the get go, and you have to allow yourself to write crappy, to make mistakes, to take that leap. No fear.

No fear.

I had a manager who insisted that was her motto. To be honest, she drove me nuts, (she was such a control freak), but I think of her words now. I was in debt collecting, and you often dealt with customers that were less than pleasant. She would tell us to go into a call with no fear, to take control.

I think that same motto can apply for me here. I need to approach everyday in NaNoWriMo with no fear and remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day. It did take time for J.K. Rowling to develop her Harry Potter world. It wasn’t done in a month, and anything that I come out with at the end of November won’t be my next bestseller.

But it will be something.

And that’s definitely more than I have now.

Oh, and it’s supposed to be fun. Remember fun?

So self, don’t look at it as a chore. Look it as a way to kick some story-telling ass, and maybe just tackle that fear and self-doubt that’s been stalking me.

Who has time for self-doubt, anyway, when there are only thirty days in November?

Anyone out there doing NaNoWriMo this year? Have you done anything to prepare for it?

Happy Writing!

Short Story Page Update: “Endtown”

/ Ajmorse / Leave a comment

Today is a lazy day. I meant to run errands, but it’s dismally cold out there, and there is hot coco in the cabinet and cold pizza in a fridge, and what with that waiting for me, what more can a girl want? 😉

How about some writing and a short story update? I have added my story “Endtown” to my short story’s page, which you can view up there ^ at the top of this website or here.

endtownEndtown

The short story focuses on Genevieve, a teenager who died way too early. Both her and the friends she makes there are in Limbo, or “the in-between,” in neither Heaven or Hell. They are the Watchers; the eyes that no one sees on earth, silently helping the Angels fight a war between the demons.

The thing they never tell you when you are saying your goodbyes: how quiet death is. For a long time she felt like she existed, except there are no formal introductions to the places you wake up in. In Sunday school she learned it this way: You go to Heaven if you are good; Hell is for the sinners and the unclean. But what she didn’t know, was that there were places that existed for the In-Between. Limbo wasn’t just for those who slept and never woke up.

It was the story I did as a continuation story on here. I was very proud with the characters and story that came out of it. I can certainly see the potential for more stories to come from this. 🙂

Happy Writing!

Oh, and for those doing NaNoWriMo, are you doing so much better than me? Is someone actually getting some writing done? (siigh). Best of luck to us all!