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Date: 10 Sep 2003 08:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 10 Sep 2003 08:21 pm (UTC)What was the surprise gift? (Or am I being dense?)
You're not dense, I'm cryptic
Date: 10 Sep 2003 08:31 pm (UTC)How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card
Characters and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card
So I guess reading my present will take me longer than solving your present.
You're not dense, I'm cryptic
Date: 10 Sep 2003 08:31 pm (UTC)How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card
Characters and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card
So I guess reading my present will take me longer than solving your present.
Re: You're not dense, I'm cryptic
Date: 10 Sep 2003 08:35 pm (UTC)So..
What are you writing? *bounce*
Re: You're not dense, I'm cryptic
Date: 10 Sep 2003 08:43 pm (UTC)This past winter, I did all the exercises in Ursula K. LeGuin's writing book, Steering the Craft, and then I tried to set up a schedule for regular fiction writing. It worked for a while, but the schedule kept getting knocked off track, and it's still off track right now. But what I've worked on most recently is something character based and more or less in the fantasy genre.
So the books should prod me into getting back on track.
NaNoWriMo isn't out of the question this year.
Re: You're not dense, I'm cryptic
Date: 10 Sep 2003 08:45 pm (UTC)Re: You're not dense, I'm cryptic
Date: 10 Sep 2003 08:59 pm (UTC)Advice or pointers would be welcome...
Re: You're not dense, I'm cryptic
Date: 10 Sep 2003 09:06 pm (UTC)Well, other than meeting a fellow writer and falling madly in love. That part turned out pretty cool.
But really, it's not as hard as it seems, as long as you actually pay attention to the principles and tenets that they remind you to pay attention to repeatedly. They are:
1. Have fun.
2. It's about quantity, not quality.
3. ??
4. Profit!
Only one or possibly two of those are actually endorsed by the NaNoWriMo people.
I'm very tired. ;)
What I did was to divide up the number of total words that I had to write (50,000) by the number of available days (30ish), to arrive at the magic number of 1,667 words a day. Then I rounded up. Way up. To 2500 words a day. I figured that if I wrote 2500 words a day, then I could suffer to just completely mental block a few days.
After a few days of doing that, I did blank for about two days. Then I figured that I actually preferred to write a chapter a day, and my chapters were usually slightly longer than that. So I stuck to that. I actually ended up hitting about 4,000 words a day for a good bit of it. It ended up taking me fifteen days to complete, if you discount the two days of slack time in the middle.
The key thing to absorb was that it's mostly supposed to be an exercise in overcoming the things that stop you from writing normally, not an exercise in having something publishable at the end. Self-editing and the "someday" concept are huge stumbling blocks for many people, myself included. The whole point is to get yourself to write, and make a mental note, "Well, maybe that could have been better," but then to just leave it be. "I'll get that in editing," and move on. Don't let it stop you from finishing the project. Don't let, "Man, this is terrible. I better stop now and cut my losses," thinking take over.
As long as you bear that in mind and forge ahead, you'll be fine.
I don't know what your local area is like, but the other thing I would say for Toronto people for sure and probably other places is to make full use of the forums and go to all the social gatherings. I didn't get any writing done, but they were fantastic!
Oh, and I disallowed myself from using the internet until I had my word count for the day. That probably helped a little too. ;)
Re: You're not dense, I'm cryptic
Date: 10 Sep 2003 09:12 pm (UTC)Are people supposed to write at the social gatherings?
Re: You're not dense, I'm cryptic
Date: 10 Sep 2003 09:15 pm (UTC)In actuality, we just sat around and talked. A lot.
We almost always finally left when they kicked us out to close the venue. And some of those days we arrived at like 2pm.
Re: You're not dense, I'm cryptic
Date: 10 Sep 2003 09:08 pm (UTC)Re: You're not dense, I'm cryptic
Date: 10 Sep 2003 09:13 pm (UTC)Have you kept on writing fiction since last November?
Re: You're not dense, I'm cryptic
Date: 10 Sep 2003 09:20 pm (UTC)One of the big things is that I don't tend to be rife with story concepts, as most of the other people doing the contest seemed to be. My story last year was based on a dream that I had two days before the start. I had no idea what I was going to write until that point. In the dream, I saw the a split-second frame from about the middle of the first chapter of the story and the last about six seconds of the story and that's it. Every day I had no idea what I was going to write the next day. It was actually pretty stressful, and I lost a lot of sleep over it. That's the part that I recommend not doing.
This year I wasn't even sure that I was going to participate, but I'm running a NaNo brainstorming group, and I figured that it would be easier if I at least played along. Then the blackout hit, and while the power was down I got an idea that I think I will use for this year. It's similarly unfleshed-out so far, but I plan to have something a little more to go on by the time November hits.
Re: You're not dense, I'm cryptic
Date: 10 Sep 2003 09:57 pm (UTC)Writing fiction is very draining for me. I'd like to change that.
Re: You're not dense, I'm cryptic
Date: 10 Sep 2003 10:22 pm (UTC)What's NaNo WriMo? Something North Writers' Something?
Re: You're not dense, I'm cryptic
Date: 10 Sep 2003 10:32 pm (UTC)(Never mind which nation.) :-)
Re: You're not dense, I'm cryptic
Date: 10 Sep 2003 11:01 pm (UTC)Wow. As my mom would say, "Bat shit, holy man."
I like their sense of humor. "...our connections to the publishing world end at Kinkos." "When is the cut-off date for sign-ups? November 30, 2003 (hope springs eternal)."
Wow. I LOVE this idea. 8-)
Re: You're not dense, I'm cryptic
Date: 11 Sep 2003 12:38 am (UTC)Re: You're not dense, I'm cryptic
Date: 11 Sep 2003 08:27 am (UTC)Still, I haven't been this captivated by an idea in ages. That alone should be prodding me to go for it. Outlines and notes and research here I come! :-O