NaNoWriMo 2012

[TerryE]

Day 12. The halfway point is approaching quickly. Lucien & RJK, you guys are doing good. I've been doing decently, but I still let myself get too distracted when I'm trying to write. The habits are getting better, and that part is going well. This is the first time in many years that I've been writing on a consistent basis.

As for the story, it's moving along even though I'm still not sure where it's going. I started with a title (which came from an icon - a downward arrow, hence "Goin' Down"). Then a sentence came to me about a fork in the road outside a town in the fictional county I've developed over the years. This sentence had nothing to do with the title. But the fork in the road got me to thinking about penny walks, so my main character was on one. If you've never heard of a penny walk, it's taking a walk, and whenever you come to an intersection you flip a coin to decide which way to go next. And considering they way I started with no plot, it is one of the most apt metaphors one could ever devise for this journey for me.

You don't have to chase themes, the subconscious does it for you. And now that I think about it, that elusive girl must be the story itself.

On a related note: I don't know about your areas, but here in Maryland we have 2 dares going. Both involve words to find a way to build into the novel. Well one is a number, and the other is a set of words. The number and one of the words was easy. (Turned it into an address). But there is another word which may just become the cornerstone of my whole plot. Very interesting.

[Lucian Poll]

Thanks, Terry. It sounds like you are enjoying your writing, which is excellent news. I love the idea of the penny walk too.

I'm also finding it tricky keeping the distractions under control. I don't have music playing in the background, for example, which sucks as I love music. If it has lyrics, though, I start singing along instead of writing, and if it doesn't have lyrics then I start conducting like a pretentious fool. The TV remains off lest I switch on a games console and destroy all creativity for a week. My TBR pile constantly calls to me, but I'll relent only when my fingers can type no more and my eyes have shrunk in their sockets. Gotta keep writing!!!

There are no dares going on in our region, nor can I see any in the horror genre forum on the NaNo site, which surprises me. I recall lurking the forum left over from last year and found some very bizarre dares, one involving a man-eating lettuce. I'd be doing well to weave that into my story!

I don't know about my fellow WriMos here but the recent CD announcement re: eBook submissions has given me a renewed energy to knuckle down with my novel. Time for another couple-thousand words, I reckon.

Keep it going everyone.

[TerryE]

I love that the ebooks are open for submissions also, but I'm nowhere near ready to submit a novel. I hope some of the regular visitors in the writer's forum have something ready, though.

I am hoping my new habits help get a story or 2 ready for magazine submission.

[Randy D. Rubin]

I just put one of my novelettes in. I'm so excited. I hope they like it. Its called, "The Beast with the Black Hood". I have three more novelettes ready. I'm not sure if they take multiple subs though.

[TerryE]

Good luck, Randy!!! You were one of the people I was thinking about.

[Randy D. Rubin]

Thanks Terry! I have my fingers an toes crossed. This would be a dream come true for me, I'll tell you!

[RJK1981]

Sounds pretty interesting Terry. We havea very active region, with daily threads for people to post their progress and little story notes, as well as milestone threads for every 5,000 words that get named by the first person to that number. We already have at least 2 people over 50,000 words already here!

My story will take over 50,000 words for sure.I'm at 20,000 words and I haven't quite come to a very important piece that will propel the plot in a way that will potentially make the main character think he has definitely gone crazy. One question I still need to answer for myself is if the main character is the good guy or both the good guy and the bad guy (this this is where I am leaning right now). To make things even more complicated, I am wondering if my main character will see or meet himself or not.

I don't know yet how many settings will be described. Most of the story will occur in the main character's house. The overall setting of this story is his home, though there will be some places away from home.

[TerryE]

I'm at 8000 words, and not much has actually happened yet. I've got a couple good characters going. I've already worked in my ghost (or at least laid the foundation). I've had the main character's second interaction with the mystery girl. (I was conflicted about that scene. I wanted them to meet again, but didn't want all of his questions answered, and I made that work. Yeah, Ter!) I think this is headed to novel length, but will settle for what it needs to be. Since it's not plotted, it could come in shorter. If I don't meet my word count and still have time at the end of the month (doubtful at the rate I'm going, but I'm still hopeful), a related story will be started to keep things going.

[Lucian Poll]

Nice stuff, guys. It sounds like you've both got good support in your local area. I'll be heading to my first write-in tomorrow to check in with my fellow local WriMos.

My story, if anyone is curious, involves two office workers who are accidentally chased into an impossible maze of splintered time and space by a crazed former colleague. You know, an everyday occurrence. The maze bears a little resemblance to that in Cube (I've been told it has more in common with the sequel, but I haven't seen it), only you don't need to be an idiot savant to avoid traps. (There's no need for deadly traps in the maze when there is no food around. I think things can get suitably deadly when people are driven half-mad with hunger.) At this stage of the story I'm still throwing in elements that build a picture of the maze and the way it operates, while at the same time intriguing the reader to continue reading and also chipping away at my characters' hope that they can escape. I've just reintroduced my bad guy (who, of course, is also trapped in the maze) with a spectacularly vile passage that will probably see me ostracised from all family, friends and loved ones who read it. Go me!

I'm hoping the maze itself, once I unveil it, will be the hook with which I can reel in eager readers, and perhaps agents and publishers too. Fingers, toes and eyes crossed!

Any road, before I get too many miles ahead of myself, I've reached 23K so I'll put the novel to bed for tonight and recharge my batteries. (I've got the final book of the Concrete Grove Trilogy to devour.) I'm confident I'll get to 50K but it feels like my story could end up being 70-90K, so I am unlikely to type 'The End' on my first draft until mid-December. That's fine by me so long as I get it done and dusted by Christmas. I can then pick it up again for the second draft early in the New Year.

As ever, keep it going guys.

Oh, and good luck with the submission, Randy!

[RJK1981]

Giving a description for my story is not easy for me yet. I don't want to reveal too much, don't want people to just read the back of the book or the DJ flaps and think they know what happens. This is what I have listed as the description on mt novel page on NaNo:

Jason has recently been having nightmares. He can't remember what has happened in them, but he thinks they have all been similar. In order to try and stop them from happening he decides to try and figure out what they have been about. If he is able to remember, will that be enough to stop them or answer why he has been having them in the first place?

Definitely doesn't give very much away about the story, that's for sure. I haven't even put in an except on the novel's page yet

[TerryE]

I had a good session tonight. My word count is picking up slightly every day (a good sign, but still only half of what I need to finish on time). But tonight the words came easy. A single sentence led to a tale to be told another time (a short story or an episode in another novel) and a little sidebar that I really, really like. In fact, I put that whole section up as my excerpt. Check it out. Let me know what you think.

And, I already know exactly where I start tomorrow, so that helps, too.

[RJK1981]

Awesome Terry. Just remember, it's all about the words, so write what comes to mind and worry about everything else later. I already know I will have sections that need to be changed (added on to or have things removed), and at least a couple sections I will likely cut since they don't propel the plot properly and don't really help get to know the characters. But, that's okay, I went in realizing this was a first draft that will need a lot of help down the road, lol

[TerryE]

That's the stuff I have to fight against. I've always preferred planning everything in advance and editing as I go. It's a tough habit to break this month, but I've been doing pretty good in that respect.

[Lucian Poll]

Just had my laptop up and die on me, which almost set me back a couple of days had it not have been for Safe Mode. It's certainly eaten a large chunk of today anyway*. That's got to be a good omen, right? Aren't laptops forever upping and dying on writers?

Congrats on reaching 10K Terry!

*That and finally watching Skyfall. Wow! What can I say? I'm honestly struggling to think of a better Bond movie.

[RJK1981]

That reminds me, make sure you back up your stories every Monday, if not more often. Create a backup and then either e-mail it to yourself or upload it somewhere