Monday 26 November 2012

Decisions, Decisions

So; hurrah! I have validated my story on NaNoWriMo and have found it to be a full 63 thousand words long (and in splicing all the chapters together for said validation, found out that I have 104 pages of material - a personal record!). I have officially become a NaNoWriMo Winner (see below)!

Tadaaaah!

I was at work today, and idly passing the time planning my next chapter, and it got me thinking about how the rest of the story will play out. Jotting a few ideas down onto a scrap piece of paper I soon realised that there is probably way too much information that needed to be dropped onto the reader before I could properly say "The End". As soon as I accepted that, I came to the conclusion that I could end the book relatively soon (a chapter to away, as it happens).

Once THAT realisation hit me, I found that I could very easily split the whole story that I had in mind into two books, three if random things keep dropping in like they have been in this first part. If I continued with the way I was going, and included everything that I wished to (and it all quite informs the final conclusion - there's not alot I believe could be cut without seriously altering the story) then I wouldn't be finished until gone New Year.

So, in conclusion, I will be finishing my story in a chapter or two's time, and polishing what I've got as the first of a pair/trilogy. Whether I continue the story in my own time (after editing this first one), or if it'll be next year's NaNo project - I guess it depends on how much I get finished editing its predecessor. In light of this; woohoo! Less work straight after NaNo finishes for me! With that announcement/revelation, I shall leave you be!

Wednesday 21 November 2012

Winner!!

I did it! I 'won' NaNoWriMo! I have broken the fifty-thousand word barrier! This is me right now!

See - total likeness

I feel great, I topped the 50k word count, and guess what? Found that the story is nowhere near finished yet.

I know how you feel, Captain

BUT it's ok; you know why? Because I've written those 50,000 words in just twenty days. That's right, 20. Count 'em. So, in my estimation, there's probably a good 30-40k more to go until I have gotten through the majority of the story and can safely write "The End". That's ok - I have another ten days to go! I can also console myself that, I KNOW that I can keep writing a minimum of 2,000 words a day; hell just today I've written 2.5k, and I know I have another few hundred, possibly thousand, in me for later this evening. So, you know what, unfinished story?

Yeah! Leonidus-ed

So, whilst I may have "finished" NaNoWriMo, I'm not going to kick-back and end my story early, making it (even more) sub-par (than it already is). No, I'm going to keep on hacking away at this granite block until I find myself looking at a (extremely roughly hewn) copy of Michalangelo's David. In book format. Obviously. So, I'll leave you until the end of November, this'll be me-

http://gifguppy.com/movies/brucealmighty/typing.html
 

Wednesday 14 November 2012

NaNoWriMo! V 2.0

So, this time it's been even longer!! I do apologise to all of you who read this regularly (so, Katie and Mum - I'm sorry). NaNoWriMo has, well and truly taken over all of my writing life this past 13 days. But that's not a bad thing (except for my blog, but hey, you knew this would happen - I warned you back in my post 'NaNoWriMo', hereafter referred to as V 1.0), in fact, its an extremely good thing. Not only am I cruising along with the story at a very nice pace, but I am also breaking both the NaNoWriMo recommended target AND my own target (There's was 1667 per day, mine was and still is 2000 per day, which I'm easily reaching each day so far!).

Currently, having just reached todays target, my novel stands at 33, 766 words. That's fully three times as much as I've ever managed to write on a story, and it feels like I'm going to easily reach the 50,000 NaNoWriMo target to become a NaNo 'Winner'. I actually feel like my story is going to be alot longer than 50,000 words, and I am definitely going to keep on trucking once I've reached it in an attempt to finish it and write "The End" on the 30th of November.

I'm finding the process of writing without editing very liberating, and in general the story is seeming extremely fun to write. I'm enjoying how the characters are evolving, and love how random things keep popping up in my writing that I didn't see coming - early on in the novel I had giant ice wasps suddenly appear on my page without warning! I know some loose places that I want the story to go to, and a couple of things that I want to happen, but I'm leaving the processes by which the characters go there/do them completely up to them - hopefully it'll let the story flow more naturally to those points, or to completely new ones that are better than that (as I found with a certain four-tier waterfall that magically arrived in my character's way more recently in my writing).

I have a host of notes and sketches building up; where I started with just six post-it notes (one for each character), now I have a notepad with ideas and random snippets of prose I want to include (or could include), and roughly- sketched maps and diagrams to help my mind organise and describe various things (see below). Back in V 1.0, I never dreamed of how well this would be going...obviously I hoped it would go well, but I didn't want to get my hopes up too much just in case my interest fizzled as per normal after almost 10k of writing it. I didn't, and it hasn't and it doesn't feel like it's going to anytime soon. I honestly think the 2k target is very freeing, not to mention the no- editing rule.

A few people have read what I've written so far, and I'm getting some good responses (they're not allowed to point of mistakes or errors of any kind, for fear of reigniting my drive for self-editing)., and at least one super-enthusiastic response, which is lovely for fuelling my writing drive. So, anyway, can't write too much here, I have a NaNo to complete! Until next time!

Friday 2 November 2012

NaNo No Blog!

So, it's been over a week since I last posted - slacker that I am! To be fair to me or, at least, to give some reasons as to why I haven't blogged sooner, I have been busy. I last posted on Thursday week; Friday I worked, Saturday I worked. Sunday, I was in town all day at training for a volunteer post I'm taking on. Monday I was working, and I spent the evening out on the front of Blackpool town with my fellow Lancashire NaNoWriMo-ers. It was lovely to meet them, and a great boost for the challenge to come - it really helps to know my fellows (at least a few of them) from the website and be able to connect with others that are in the same boat this month.

Tuesday was my only real no-commitment day, which I spent cleaning the entire flat from top to bottom; doing loads of washing, did a huge load of washing up, tidied up all three bedrooms, changed bed clothes in the two other rooms (i.e. not my room) and took all the rubbish and recycling down (quite a big feat when you consider we're on the second floor and the bins are all around the back of the large building)! Then I waited for two of my best friends to arrive from Peterborough before we had dinner.

Wednesday was a dreary day weather-wise, but we stuck two fingers up at that and went into Blackpool town anyway (though we hid in the crazy golf course whilst the worst of the downpour took place), playing on amusements and ambling around showing them the area (sea, buildings, tower...that's it really to be honest!). James and I had a go on this cool laser maze where you have to get through it without breaking the beams entrapment-style (I broke two, James three), which was really fun!

We then had the evening drinking and watching Ghost Hunters and Most Haunted (and laughing at both to be honest) in celebration of Halloween. Oh, and I should mention we were dressed up. James was the Joker, which was an amusing set-up to do I tell you! Sara was a bloody red riding hood, which didn't serve her well when we went for a walk along the lights (she got a bit cold bless her). And I dressed up as a zombie doctor. The looks on some of the driver's faces that passed us - it was worth the money for the costume and make-up just for those!

See - we were awesome!


Thursday was a day spent in limbo really, not really doing anything bar going to slimming world in the evening. Both Katie and I reached our half stone loss mark, and gained certificates and stickers to prove. Aside from that the only thing I really did was my first day of NaNoWriMo! I managed a solid 2706 words; a full 706 over my personal target of 2k, and way over the NaNo guided target of 1667.; needless to say I was really pleased. Today I have managed just over another solid two thousand words, and really got into the groove of writing it.

Keep on trucking!


In other news I have recently read the latest Black Library Limited Edition Horus Heresy novella, by the esteemed Chris Wraight, and loved every moment of it. I intend to write a full review soon, but suffice to say I can't wait for his first full Horus Heresy novel, and sincerely hope it is based on the White Scars (as this was). I'll try to keep the blog updated better than the past week, but obviously for the moment NaNoWriMo takes priority.

This weekend marks the first ever Black Library Weekender, an awesome event where over twenty authors and artists congregate at the Belfry hotel in Nottingham. I'm sad to miss the show, but I sincerely wish everyone of my friends who is attending a great time, and I can't wait to attend one myself (hopefully next year). I also specifically want to wish Ben Cawkwell a speedy recovery - he recently came off his bike and broke his leg (now he's Bionic Ben thanks to the surgery), and also hope Nik Vincent-Abnett get's over her fever/weakness soon! In the spirit of these well wishes, I leave you with this.