Sunday, November 15, 2009

Week three fixes everything

Last week I was stuck in my Nano novel. I felt like it wasn't going anywhere: I still had to wait through a few days (in my book) before my main character started actually doing stuff, I didn't know what do in the meantime, and in the long run I wasn't sure how the story was going to continue. I got my character stuck in an attic and had no clue what to do with that afterward. I resorted to writing complaints in my document to keep up the word count*.
But then...I got my character out of the attic (non-too-smoothly, but it's Nano so what do you expect?), went to a write-in, got through a few dream sequences, and finally revealed The Big Revelation (which is only a revelation to the readers, not the characters). I switched perspectives, and when I came back to Davis I was no longer annoyed with him. He has a lot to go through, poor guy. I like torturing him.
So now...it's going much better. I think it's going to turn out longer than 50,000 words, but that's okay...I'll work on it after November. It was supposed to be slightly post-apocalyptic, and I'm thinking of making it a post-apocalyptic-apocalypse. We'll see how that goes, but I just wanted to post this to say that I'm doing way better, and I'm more determined than ever to reach 50k! What's Nano without a little drama? It makes it more fun (I think 2009 is more fun than 2008 just because of the drama).
So...thanks for reading. Wish me luck!


*Although I would like to add that I was never actually behind in the word goal...I just like complaining.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

I'm a fortune teller (Nanowrimo from a week 2 perspective)

My novel this year is totally different from last year's in structure. Last year's novel ("Two"...yes, that's its name) was basically a series of events that were related to each other, that eventually formed a cohesive whole (sort of. I haven't actually finished it yet). It was fun because I liked my characters and if it was getting boring, hey, I could just add another event.
This year's novel ("Jigsaw Cloud") is completely different. One of my characters (Mira) goes on an adventure, but I'm actually writing about her younger brother (Davis), who stays behind but ends up going on an adventure of his own. It sounds kind of cheesy, and the Mira-going-on-adventure thing is supposed to be a little that way, but after she leaves for her adventure Davis is supposed to realize something important and the adventure is supposed to really begin.
I say "supposed" because I'm totally stuck leading up to that.
See, Davis is going to have several strange dreams, the last of which will bring on the "realization". I can't find a way to fill in the rest of the time. I got him arrested (sort of), and then trapped in an attic (which is related to the former), which was fun at the time, but now it's gotten me even more stuck.
Basically, I really need to rethink my options.
Instead of working on the story, I have one "letters between the main character and the author" segment, and one essay that basically explains what I've talked about here. It's pretty funny, actually.
But I want to work on the story. And the structure I've invented is not a Nano-speed structure, it's a work-on-it-for-half-a-year structure.
So, basically: waaahhh, Nano is too hard this year.
Aren't I just the amazing fortune-teller?

P.S. I might post my "letters" segment later on my blog, because it's kind of funny and sad at the same time.