We've got quite a group! I'm so pleased there are so many of us here.
Have any of you ever gone through the book The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron? If you have, you'll likely remember Reading Deprivation week. I did it the first time over a decade ago and I remember that week as horribly awful while also being the most productuive week of my life!
Anyway, I'm doing it again, with a group this time, and we're starting Reading Deprivation week tomorrow. Since all I do on the internet is read, I'm going internet-free for the whole week.
The good news is, I expect to finally get a good amount of work on my plotting for NaNo.
My plot outline, and background notes total 11,147 words, the vast majority from the last three day sof work. Now, if I could only write the novel body that fast, I would be done in 2 weeks.
Yeah, that's not going to happen, but it has made me realize how much writing every day, full-speed can produce a lot more than I've given myself credit for.
I'm doing a bit better with my back, taking more breaks and trying to be really mindful of body messages.
I do really think though that this might actually be doable. We'll see. If I can even get halfway there - 25,000 words worth of prose, I will be extremely happy.
I am vowing not to edit so much as a paragraph until my 50,000 words (of manuscript) are completed. That's going to be the toughest to break myself of as whenever I stop writing - when it's time to start again, I usually can't pick up where I left off, instead the tendency is to go back and edit what I've written - each time. No wonder I don't finish fiction - I'm sick of it by the time I get through Chapter 3. I have to learn not to go back and fuss and figit with what I've got written until I have a completed rough draft to work with.
I have checked out a few books from the library and have browsed some of my writing books in my library and I'm reading over and over again not to edit as you write. Also, an interesting tip I read in I believe it was First Draft in 30 Days - not to add subplots until AFTER you have the entire first draft. That's interesting, because I have about five subplot ideas (and figure I'll probably use maybe 3), and I was wondering how to weave them in - and now I have my answer - not until after I have my 50,000) words.
I've got a workable outline, and spent the last couple days working on Character names. I wanted to choose names that reflected the characters' personalities and/or physical traits, but needed them to be rather unfamiliar and not too obvious (because my characters are mostly werewolves - and "Bob the werewolf," just wasn't going to cut it).
I only have three main characters to name yet (and one is deceased before the story starts). The main character's biological father - the father who raised her, and her love interest. I've narrowed it down to about ten names for each of the men.
I'm really excited. I have a lot of ideas for subplots, but I'm planning on spending November writing the main story line, and then weaving the subplots in during editing after I finish the first draft.
wow you're so organized! i got down like a 1/4 of a notebook page of ideas and called it good! I'm really just going to fly by the seat of my pants here.
I'm moving on 11/1- but I have a whole 7 days off after that to unpack and get a good jump start on my writing.
I am also worried about the temptation to go back and edit edit edit. just gotta not do it! i'm going to try my best not to get distracted by the internet and devote time to it every day. even debating on whether or not to bring my laptop with me to work on it during my lunch breaks.
I think I'm going to meet up with some locals on Saturday and see what we do here in the Eug... i'm really excited!
The main reason I worked on outlining, plotting, and naming - is hubby. He thought it was "silly" that I was giong to wait until November 1 to start writing (he's been nudging me to write since before we got married and I showed him some of my writing).
So, in the spirit of the contest, I read what I COULD write (research, outlining, plotting, backstory, anything that wasn't the actual prose), and started working on that (mostly to see if I could make the 1700 words a day, I'd need to in order to complete my minimun word count).
At least for the backstory, I didn't have any trouble getting 2000 to 3000 words in. It's going to be harder for the actual story (especially since I will have to fight the urge to edit), so I started describing some of the scenes I want to include.
We'll see whether it helps or hinders me, when it comes to actually writing the book.
Eeeeep. I'm going for it. I haven't written anything since I was in school last (2007), and that amounted to essays for an English Class, and a few presentations, oh and a poem for the English Class as well.
This will be a real challenge for me. I have started writing something longer a few times in the past, but I have never stuck with it. I really want to accomplish this. Now for an idea that hasn't been done to death.
I got a couple of NaNoWriMo emails and I'm excited. My problem really is Internet time. Gotta cut it....so ironically, I'll need to cut back on my 3FC time in November. I'll try to send ya'll a little update each week and peek in to see how things are going!
Did ya'll hear about Schwarzzenegger's letter to the legislature? Well, if he can randomly say "FU" in a letter to the legislature, and a million monkeys can type out Shakespeare in a million years, then I guess I should be able to bang out 50K of something in English in November.
Hey, I'm back on the internet! Like midwife, I've realized that internet time will need to be limited for me in November (and maybe always). My Reading Deprivation week helped me realize that I don't really miss consuming media until 5 or 6 in the evening -- so I'm working on developing an "After 5" practice for reading forums and blogs.
Staying off the internet for a week gave me the time to a complete scene-by-scene outline. I think it's going to improve both my experience and my manuscript over last year.
Limiting online socializing is going to be the hardest for me. I may have to give myself permission to only check a couple threads (like this one, and maybe a couple other NaNoWriMo thread I'm in on other sites) - and that's it.
I'm participating and/or following a few threads on the NaNoWriMo site and also a NaNoWriMo thread on ravelry (a fiber arts - crochet, knit, weaving, etc. site).
Usually this time of year, I'm working madly on crafty projects to give as Christmas gifts, but with all the time and money that went into the big move, handmade gifts for everyone in the family isn't going to be feasible - and there's not much money to purchase ready-made gifts, so we settled upon individual gifts for the nephews (age 1, 5, and 7) and group gifts for each household (my homemade jerky).
The nice thing about the jerky is that everyone loves it (judging by how fast it disappears and how everyone asks if I'm bringing any when we visit). Since we're not going to be able to visit my family this year (at least not without a miracle) until well after the holidays, we'll send care packages.
And the really great thing about my jerky recipe, is that I can mix up the marinade in about 5 minutes, and hubby can do the rest.
The hardest part is going to be not eating too much of the jerky myself. I use super lean meat, so the jerky itself is fairly reasonable calorie-wise; but the sodium content is high enough to guarantee several pounds of water retention if I'm not very careful.
Low-sodium jerky is possible, but only safe if refrigerated and eaten quickly. Since I don't want to send any of the relatives to the emergency room, I'll be making the normal recipe (luckily, almost everyone on the gift list has neither weight or blood pressure issues). Keeping hubby and I from eating more than is good for us, is another issue.
I tried asking this in general chatter the other day (I thought I'd open the question to readers AND writers), and it didn't exactly go as I'd hoped - it became twisted into a discussion of prejudices and why selecting a character's name would be important (because people shouldn't judge a person by their name).
I have to admit, I wasn't very good at explaining why it was important (maybe I should have just alluded to the information in The Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook by Sherrilyn Kenyon; The Writer's Guide to Character Traits by Dr. Linda Edelstein; and The Writer’s Digest Sourcebook for Building Believable Characters by Marc McCutcheon. The authors definitely explained it better than I did).
At any rate this is the discussion if your interested (but then on to my question).
Ok, so I have two characters (both male, and brothers) that I'm having trouble naming (there's a bit more information about the brothers in the other thread, but I was hoping for a "first impression" before you know much more about their relationship and the meanings of their names (if you don't already know).
At any rate, here goes -
If anyone is interested, I could use a little help. So if you've got a few minutes and it sounds fun, please read the following name pairs and tell me which of the two would you expect to be the stronger (mentally or physically) character.
1. Ennis or Cowan
2. Fergus or Cowan
3. Angus or Cowan
4. Ennis or Tavish
5. Fergus or Tavish
6. Angus or Tavish
Did you have a favorite pair?
Also (if you're still interested) - what would your impression be of the physical or personality traits of a character named:
Ennis-
Fergus-
Angus-
Tavish-
Cowan-
Thanks so much.
_______________________________
P.S. Everyone excited? Are you starting at midnight or fresh tomorrow morning.
I tried asking this in general chatter the other day (I thought I'd open the question to readers AND writers), and it didn't exactly go as I'd hoped - it became twisted into a discussion of prejudices and why selecting a character's name would be important (because people shouldn't judge a person by their name).
I have to admit, I wasn't very good at explaining why it was important (maybe I should have just alluded to the information in The Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook by Sherrilyn Kenyon; The Writer's Guide to Character Traits by Dr. Linda Edelstein; and The Writer’s Digest Sourcebook for Building Believable Characters by Marc McCutcheon. The authors definitely explained it better than I did).
At any rate this is the discussion if your interested (but then on to my question).
Ok, so I have two characters (both male, and brothers) that I'm having trouble naming (there's a bit more information about the brothers in the other thread, but I was hoping for a "first impression" before you know much more about their relationship and the meanings of their names (if you don't already know).
At any rate, here goes -
If anyone is interested, I could use a little help. So if you've got a few minutes and it sounds fun, please read the following name pairs and tell me which of the two would you expect to be the stronger (mentally or physically) character.
1. Ennis or Cowan
2. Fergus or Cowan
3. Angus or Cowan
4. Ennis or Tavish
5. Fergus or Tavish
6. Angus or Tavish
Did you have a favorite pair?
Also (if you're still interested) - what would your impression be of the physical or personality traits of a character named:
Ennis-
Fergus-
Angus-
Tavish-
Cowan-
Thanks so much.
_______________________________
P.S. Everyone excited? Are you starting at midnight or fresh tomorrow morning.
Kaplods - I'm starting bright and early tomorrow morning. Tonight, I'm working on homework so that I don't screw my class grade up *too* badly by doing this
As far as your name question - I tend to either go by name meanings (if I know it) or by word association. (I'll go with word assocaition since most people aren't dorks like me and don't have a knowledge base filled with name meanings . ) So like Cowan to mean is visually similar to coward... so I would think of a not so noble character. Tavish reads lavish - so someone very superficial and flasy. Ennis is another form of Angus - so that would be intersting if your characters were twins (or very similar) because normally twin are seen as a reflection of one another. But the combination of Ennis and Angus was not one of your choices... so I'd have to go with Ennis and Fergus. I'm pretty apathetic towards Fergus - it just seems very Irish, there's really no other association I hold with it.
So here we are the night before... Is everyone ready ?
I'm so happy and relieved, I've settled on a story line.
Here's a little preview...
In 1978 New England and most of the east coast experienced a major snowstorm. People were stranded on highways. Neighborhoods snapped together to help each other, it was like the world stood still for a few days... In my story, a family will be touched by a special gift.
I tend to get a bit over descriptive, but I think that will work in my favor for this story...
Good luck everyone... get a good start tomorrow !
Last edited by Sweetcaroline; 10-31-2009 at 08:10 PM.
That is of course what I need to do during this time too.....
