My History with NaNoWriMo

Yeah, I so jinxed myself. I managed to catch my first cold of the year, and this one came with epic levels of fatigue. Yaaay, fatigue! But it seems to be going away finally, even if I am still keeping a bag of Ricola lozenges nearby.

October promises to be a busy month, though... For one thing, I will be preparing for - drum roll please - NaNoWriMo 2010! I haven't decided what I'm going to write yet, which isn't exactly unusual for me. Well, as usual or unusual for something that's only been done three times.

In 2006, I went the whole "PLOT AND PREPARE!" route, complete with snowflaking an entire story throughout the month of October so I could just plunge right in and write on autopilot. It worked, more or less, and I made my 50K with days to spare. That particular story is still waiting for me to swing back into high fantasy mode so I can finally finish it.

All October of 2007, I focused on one story, hammering out the characters and the world setting and all that fun stuff. On October 31st, there I was, ready and waiting for midnight to strike so I could plunge into my story. Midnight came... and I discovered that was not the story I'd be writing that year. Completely refused to be written. Wasn't happening, no way, no how. So, on November 1st, I pulled out my notes on an older story idea I never got around to writing and dove in head-first... and loved what came out. Another winner, too. It has since had its first draft finished and is waiting for me to get off my tail and put it through some hard editing.

2008... didn't happen. It was a rough year, and I opted out of NaNo.

In 2009, I was itching to get going on NaNo, and October was spent planning the sequel to 2007's story. No snowflaking this time, but I knew the basics of what I wanted to happen. Think major stops on a road trip, but leaving the in-between as a surprise. Smoothest NaNo yet. The story itself hasn't been finished yet, but it's getting there! It's somewhere around 85K. With any luck, I'll be able to finish it before November.

This year? I have no idea what I'm going to do. XD I haven't decided on what I'm going to write yet, but I've got some time. Should be interesting!

The Return of Productivity!

Today was what I consider to be a productive day. I finally got over the slump in my story (still working on that NaNo story - it's now just shy of 77K!) and hit a part I'm really enjoying writing again. Occasionally, I hit a part in a story where it's just about torture to keep putting words on the page, either because I need to recharge or just because I'm not really interested in that part of the story right then. That would be what the last twenty pages before today's spree were.

A few of the NaNo emails have addressed this issue in the past, so I know it's not just me: somewhere in the middle of the first draft, the author wants to do anything besides keep writing. If the story could just magically finish itself, that would be great. I figure there are a few reasons behind it: boredom or a short attention span on the part of the author, it's a part the author just doesn't want to write, or that part just honestly is not that interesting.

In the case of the last one, that's a problem, because chances are good that your readers will feel the same way. At best, they'll skim along until things start getting good again. At worst, they'll put your book down and find a better one.

Approaches to fixing this vary. Some writers take a step back, do a little reworking, and fix the problem. Sometimes that works for me, but I have heard revision horror stories where a writer just keeps trying to fix the problem right then and there and ends up never moving forward. Personally, I'm a big believer in finishing the entire first draft before starting in on the revision cycle. This also means I keep a notebook or stack of Post-It Notes nearby so I can write down the big revision ideas to implement later. After all, chances are that I'll be doing multiple revisions anyway, no matter what I do to the story, but I can't actually revise until there's something to revise!

In other news, my hand has decided it's capable of drawing again, so I've gotten started on this week's Strawberry Syrup page. You have no idea how ecstatic this makes me.

Roadmapping

While I'm letting the stories and whatnot I've been working on for the past month stew and get a little distance on them, I've been going back over 2009's NaNo. I'm pleasantly surprised by it (this being the first time I've read the whole thing through from the beginning). Sure, there's plenty of work to be done, but it's not headdeskingly bad. There is hope!

Of course, before I can do anything serious editing-wise, I need to finish the sucker. Unfortunately, as I got to the end, I realized why I lost steam in the first place: I had no idea what the next scene should be. Not a good start.

Fortunately, I have a few things to try. Option one: outline. Yeah, I know, that's usually something you hear people doing before they start writing. Well, if that's what works for them, that's great. I've tried it before. Snowflaked my first NaNo novel back in 2006. Still need to finish that novel, actually, whenever I swing back to high fantasy mode and feel like trudging through one giant mess of prose. While I never had to think about what came next, I also wrote on autopilot... which meant I didn't realize things were getting horribly horribly tangled until the very last major plotpoint. There is going to be a lot of major restructuring in that one.

No, this time, I'm using the outline to track where I've been and hopefully see what needs to be the next scene. I'm mapping out POVs and the three main plotlines while I'm at it, and I won't be outlining any further than I've already written. I'm using it as a chance to keep all those little threads from getting hopelessly snarled and back into a nice, neat braid again. Really, all I'm looking for is a next step.

I'll let you know how it works out.

EPIC FAIL

Yeah, starting off the New Year was an epic fail in regards to Strawberry Syrup. This would be the first time I've missed an update due to something other than illness, uncooperative muse, or hiatus. Those of you who read Monday's post probably saw this coming: I missed this update because my hands and wrists protested the Soul Caliber IV marathon. Painfully.

Yeah, I'll be resisting the urge to draw anything until this weekend at the earliest.

So, since drawing is out of the question for the moment, I've been sifting through the internet's selection of children/YA magazines, looking for something I might be interested in submitting to. Most of the stories I write fall into the middle reader or young adult range. I'm not much of a short story writer and the only one I've found so far that accepts novellas is currently backlogged with accepted material, but we'll see if I can't come up with something.

Continuing with the whole writing idea, I'm going to set my NaNo 2009 aside for a bit. It's just dragging, and working on something shorter might actually help. Give the ideas a chance to percolate, return with a fresh eye, all that fun stuff so I don't feel like I'm slogging in circles through knee-high snow. Sometimes, taking a break is actually a good thing!

Story Soundtracks, Anyone?

Last week, as I was idly browsing the thank-you gifts for each level at the NaNo Donation Station (because someday, I'll be able to afford to donate more than ten bucks), where the gifts range from everything from a nice shiny halo on the site to writing software to a taco voucher with the head of NaNo itself. The aforementioned software actually looked really cool. I mean, really cool. And if I had a Mac, I'd probably order it in a second (Scrivener, for those who are curious), but I am, indeed, a PC.

Then, I noticed that the folks who donate $2500 get a spot in Lani Diane Rich's "awesome online novel revision workshop." Well, I thought, if that's their big addition to the major donors, it's worth checking out!

You can look over her rather impressive credentials and the workshops for yourself. Me, I went straight to her blog... and it is there that I came across her idea of making novel soundtracks.

Now, the idea of using music with writing isn't a new one. I've used it for years to get me in the mood for a particular story. For this year's NaNo, I've been listening to Daughtry's Leave This Town over and over again. However, I'd never thought about making a soundtrack for my novels.

How cool is that? Gather together songs that make you think of certain characters or events in your novel and stick them all on a playlist, ready and waiting to inspire you and get you thinking about your novel even when you're not working on it. Maybe I'm just not used to making my own playlists, or maybe I'm just not that tech-minded, but the idea never occurred to me.

I can tell you now, though - next novel, I am definitely going to give this a try!

NaNo 2009: Success!

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present...



Thank you, thank you... Yep, this is officially the earliest I have been able to verify my NaNo novel! As a matter of fact, I hit 50K back on Friday or Saturday, which is a new record for me. Let the trumpets blare and the confetti fly!

This is also the first year I've donated or bought anything from the Office of Letters and Light store, the place for all official NaNo merchandise. Times are hard this year, and even NaNoWriMo isn't immune to the economy. They run entirely on donations and whatever they make from their merch, and they were behind enough to try and do a donation drive yesterday.

Now, I don't usually donate money or buy things online, but you know what? I actually LIKE doing NaNo. I've loved doing it all three years I've been able to do it. It's an incredible rush, and I would sorely miss it if it weren't around. I can afford $10.

More than that, though, is their Young Writers Program, where they send materials and project packs to classrooms across the country to encourage young writers and foster a love of the craft. Having been a creative writing major, this is a cause I heartily endorse. Writing was one of those things I really loved in high school, and I wish the YWP would have been around back then.

So, I bought my first NaNo t-shirt and donated $10. Someday, I'll be able to donate more, but for now, I'm just going to bask in the glow of my donor halo and the warm fuzzy feeling of 50K reached and verified.

Two Out of Three Ain't Bad, Right?

Right now, I've got three things I'm working on simultaneously: my comic, my shop, and my NaNo. That's three different schedules to keep, and so far, I think I'm doing pretty good.

Schedule #1: NaNo. This one's pretty clear - write at least 1,667 words a day. For me, it's easier to keep track of pages, so I figure if I hit around six pages a day, I'll be good. More, and I'm doing great. This is definitely my most driving schedule - no days off, if I can help it. I've got 10,000 more words to go until I hit the goal for NaNo, but I'm hoping to keep it going until the book is actually finished.

Schedule #2: Strawberry Syrup. Doing a weekly webcomic takes a helluva lot of commitment. I really have no idea how people who do 2-3 updates a week manage it. For me, the ideal schedule goes something like thumbnail on Sunday, sketch and ink on Monday, finish it up on Tuesday, and post it promptly at midnight.

Okay, so this week, I was fifteen minutes late, but still, it's up, and I'm actually pretty pleased with this week's page. Yay, dark closet scenes!

Schedule #3: The shop. This schedule is a little more fluid. Since I'm still in the process of moving from CafePress, I'm trying to get one or two designs moved each week. After that, I'm hoping to add at least one new design a month. And then, there's the seasonal and holiday designs to keep in mind...

And that would be the one I'm a little behind on. Yep, still haven't got those holiday designs up. If everything goes well, I'll have the first of them up by this weekend, so I'm not too far off schedule there. All things considered, if one of my three has to be off, I'd rather it be the shop. Yes, yes, I know, they say the more you have up, the more you sell, but since I'm not exactly living off the income (and a good thing, too, since otherwise we'd have one dead Kit), it won't hurt to take my time.

Might as well enjoy it, right?

Well, Hello There, Melanthe!

Has this ever happened to you: A character shows up out of the blue one day, plunks down across from your laptop, orders a French Vanilla Latte, then looks you square in the eye and says, "Hi. I'll be showing up in your story soon, and no, my name is not negotiable."



It's one of those fun little surprises that tend to spring out at you during the course of a story (along with the "wow, did I seriously just write that? I might have a knack for this after all!" and "hm, things are going kind of slow- oh, hey, so-and-so just set the house on fire! That'll move things along!" moments). They're particularly fond of showing up during NaNo, when you're plowing through your novel at breakneck speeds, with no time to sit around and ponder the writerly way of things. More importantly, you don't have time to argue with those stubborn characters who refuse to budge until you let them have their way.

Well, Melanthe is one of those.

I knew she was coming. I start out with a Big List of What Must Happen - bullet points, if you will, with the hows of getting from point to point left to the passion of the muse and the joy of the moment and whatnot - so I knew her character was coming. I even had a vague feeling of dread about it, that inkling that she was going to pick a name I wasn't going to like, but I figured, "Hey, I've got a good week or two! I can talk her into a new name!"

Nope. Melanthe.

Sometimes, naming a character can be hard. It can involve hours pouring through baby name books or, if you've joined the 21st century, sites like Behind the Name, looking for that perfect name that just slips onto your waiting character like a favorite t-shirt. But there's something enjoyable about it, about finding the perfect name with the right sound that fits your character in personality and sound, not to mention the world the story takes place in. Which, I suppose, is where I have a problem with "Melanthe." It's just not a name you'd run into where the story takes place.

Never mind the pronunciation problems. "Mel-AN-thee. Like Melanie, with a TH."

She's actually the second character in the story to have creative differences with me over their name. In the other one's case, he's gradually getting used to the one I picked for him. Melanthe? Won't even consider changing.

Ah, well. Sometimes, you just can't fight it. And sometimes, you just have to get through the story and use the find and replace function later. :D

Full Steam Ahead!

Hit 20K on my NaNo today! Which means I am about four days ahead of schedule, which is awesome. I'm sure I'll hit a slow-down sooner or later (here's hoping for later!), but for now, I'm maintaining a nice steady pace.

Don't get me wrong - this thing is going to need a hell of a lot of editing and rewriting. Not just revising - full-out "What the hell was I thinking when I wrote this, how many cliches can I fit in one sentence, I think I wrote better as a fifth grader!" rewrites. But at least I'll have something to rewrite, and that's the important part.

There are a few things helping me stay focused this year. I seem to have settled into a nice schedule of writing from 3am - 6am, which probably wouldn't work too well if half of my late night chat partners hadn't disappeared for the past week or so. Dangle something like a pretty shiny flashing IM box in front of me and just watch that concentration dissolve. Sure, I could turn off AIM for awhile, but I happen to like feeling moderately connected to the world.

Besides, I'd also end up cutting off contact with this year's NaNo Buddy. There's something inspiring about watching Rishi's word count fly by. No direct competition there, but having someone else writing and posting word counts at the same time as you works wonders in the enthusiasm department, never mind having someone to babble to about your story as you try to work out the little snafus that show up when writing on the fly.

See? Instant messaging can be a good thing!

And this week, I will definitely try to get the comic page started today instead of saving it all for Tuesday. Because yeah, that? Didn't work so well.

Anyways, back to work I go!

Music and Writing

Confession time: I have concentration issues. For the most part these days, they crop up when I'm trying to write. If the TV's on, my focus is shot, and I'll be lucky to finish a full paragraph in half an hour. However, silence bothers me, too. So, my remedy?

Music.

Some people can't write with anything at all in the background, but I like to pop on my headphones, set an album or playlist on repeat, and let it drift into lyrical white noise. And whenever I'm writing something, I always end up gravitating towards one particular set of music over all others.

For my 2006 NaNo, Seashells and Horseshoes, the music of choice was Doug Cameron's Dublin Groove CD. Celtic music goes great with high fantasy in my mind, so that one was kind of a no-brainer. My 2007 NaNo, The Missing Sprites of Main Street, was low fantasy. Celtic music and small town suburbia? Not the best match in my brain. So I ended up listening to the .hack/SIGN soundtrack over and over. Nice bit of grit, but still whimsical.

This year, I'm writing the next book in the 2007 series, and for once, I seem to be listening to something with actual lyrics: Daughtry's second album. In a nice little twist of coincidence, turns out I'm writing a story featuring a pied piper to an album named "Leave This Town," something I just realized yesterday. Let's hear it for the subconscious!

So far, it's working out pretty well. The music's mostly upbeat and provides a nice background. Or, if I need a break, something to sing along and/or dance to. Granted, I may decide I'm sick of it halfway through November and switch to something else, but for now, it's Daughtry all the way!

NaNo Launch Is Go!

For the first time in three tries, I had a successful midnight NaNo launch. Maybe it was having a friend over to help kick things off, or maybe it was the knowledge that a great cosmic alignment and a certain former commander-in-chief's bright idea to move Daylight Savings Time had combined to grant all good little NaNoers a magical extra hour to work if they didn't wait til they woke up on November 1st to write. Either way, my story has successfully gotten its start, and as of 3:30am on November 2nd, a grand total of 3,415 words already grace my screen.

For those of you keeping track, that puts me a day ahead. That... is awesome. With some serious willpower and some luck, I'll be able to keep up the pace, particularly since I still have this week's Strawberry Syrup page to do.

Yep, that's right - I'm going to actually try and keep the comic going through NaNo. That will probably be a challenge. Writing a 50K story in 30 days tends to lead to that story completely consuming your brain. If you're not writing it, you're working on background details, or getting to know your characters better, or trying to figure out what in the world happens next. It doesn't stop, and that's part of the thrill of NaNo. You fling yourself wholeheartedly into the creative process and leave yourself at the mercy of the muses for a full month. It can be brutal, but it can also be exhilarating.

So, we'll see how it goes. I'm going to still try for my daily quota when I wake up later today, then get the layout, sketch and ink of page 12 done. Lather, rinse, and repeat with the shading on Tuesday, and I should be all set to go! Should be interesting...

Almost Time for NaNo!

It's that time of year again, when thousands of aspiring novelists gather together their hoard of snack foods and energy drinks, find a quiet place, crack their knuckles, and hunker down to hammer out 50,000 words in 30 days.

It's time... for NaNo!

National Novel Writing Month (better known as NaNo or NaNoWriMo) starts promptly at midnight on Halloween night and lasts until midnight on November 30th. At the website, you can sign up to be part of a community of other NaNoers where you can share your trials and tribulations, your successes and breakthroughs, your surprises and wrong turns, and find inspiration and encouragement from hundreds of other writers just like you. It gives people an excuse to write every day, and for those of us who need the extra motivation, a deadline and a daily goal (1667 words a say, if you want to hit 50K on November 30th itself).

I've done NaNo twice before, in 2006 and 2007, and I'm proud to say I won both years. Here are a few things I learned that new NaNoers (and even some veterans) might want to keep in mind:

• Pick a schedule and keep to it. In past years, the schedule that worked out best for me was doing my NaNo-related stuff when I got up. I'd read through the day before's work as I ate breakfast and woke up a little more, then dive in for the next 1667 words. TV stayed off, no checking of email, deviantArt, blogs or forums, and certainly no IMing until I reached my daily goal. After the first week, my family learned to leave me alone during that time, which was a major help right there.


• Keep track of your progress. I made myself a spreadsheet to keep track of mine, including day, how many words I should have, and how many I actually had. If I was ahead of schedule, my actual count was done in green. Red, if I was behind. Kind of the whole "do your homework and get a sticker" idea. It seemed to work for me.


• If the spirit moves you, run with it! If you hit your daily goal and the story's flowing and you don't have anywhere else to be, go with it! Keep writing! Whenever possible, you want to get ahead of schedule. After all, you never know when something's going to come up that'll cut into your writing time. (Thanksgiving and weekends tend to be the big ones for me)


• If it makes your feel better, plot it out. For my first NaNo, I dutifully plotted out my story, convinced that I'd get stuck somewhere along the way and be completely lost and suddenly I'd be 30,000 words behind. I have to say, having it plotted was kind of nice (I used about half the steps of the Snowflake Method for the outline), and it definitely made the whole experience go smoothly. Ideally, this should be done in October, before you start, but you can always take a little time once you get a better idea of where your story's going and do some planning then.


• Winging it's fine, too. Some people like to be surprised, to stick a group of characters together and let them work their own way out. If that's the way you work best, go for it! For my second NaNo, I spent October planning on one story and ended up doing a completely different one on November 1st. Fortunately, it was one I'd been thinking about for awhile, so I had some idea of the characters and major plot points (my preferred way of working - I like to know where I'm going, but have a little room to play along the line).


• This is a first draft. No one, I repeat, no one ever has a perfect first draft. It's okay if your prose is rusty, your analogies cliche, and your dialogue stiff - the whole point is to get something done so you can work with it later!


• Save the editing for December. Or, better yet, give yourself a month off after you finish your manuscript and look at it then. The last thing you want to do in NaNo is get bogged down in endless rewrites. I only ever look back as far as the day before. As I read through, I might do some minor editing and what not, but other than that, it's plowing ahead. I also keep a list of changes I'll want to make after November's done, but that all gets saved until after I've got my 50K nice and secure. Besides, a little distance is a good thing when polishing a piece - it helps you see that what you thought were sparkling gems of wit and beauty are actually worn out and kinda cheesy.


• Visit the forums. Half the fun of NaNo is the community. If you get stuck, need a break, or want some people to commiserate with, the forums are the place to do it! Just remember to get your writing done, too.

Ultimately, this is supposed to be a fun, enjoyable experience. Of course, writers as a group tend to enjoy suffering through the process, so ideas of "fun" may vary. ;)

Here's to a good NaNo, everyone!