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National Novel Writing Month
Oct. 29th, 2005 09:35 pmSo I signed up for the National Novel Writing Month thing. Yay! (http://www.nanowrimo.org). I figure that even if it makes me busier, feeling like I'm actually writing will be very cheerful. The writing/school thing isn't going well. On the other hand, I actually write a lot more now, and more consistently, than I did as a kid. On the third hand, at my current rate of progression I won't be writing consistently enough to be a real writer till sometime in my 30s. *sigh* And I so did want to be a child prodigy. Once you hit 21 that's pretty much out the window though. I did finish my first novel when I was 21 but *brr* the less said about that stinker the better. I mean, each individual paragraph was quite beautiful, but the whole was so... so... ... dull. aimless? pretentious? I think I make my point.
Well, my nanowrimo moniker is the same as my livejournal one (vcmw, obviously) so that will be easy to find. I will now indulge myself in a one minute fantasy where an editor reads the portions of my novel posted on the site this month, falls in love, and writes to offer me a contract.
Ok, that minute was up. I've been reading all the nice essays by professional writers. Here's what I've learned.
1. nothing is published without first being a submission
2. your characters must suffer. three out of four of my favorite writers note that their method of plotting is to "think up the worst thing that could happen to my character" and then write about that, and then think up an even worse thing, and so forth, until the climax which is badness piled upon badness of suffering, and then about 3 pages at the end of the novel where things look up for a bit and the curtain falls on temporary resolution (until the next and even worse event starts book 2).
One writer even explicitly noted (oh, it was a hit, a very palpable hit on my poor bruised ego) - that the trouble with beginning writers was that they liked and empathized with their characters too much, so they didn't make enough bad things happen to them.
Sigh. School. Work. Friends&Family. Writing. Going to the gym. Professional non-school non-work learning for resume growth. Relationship maintenance. There just aren't enough hours in the day for the loafing I miss.
I'd say that I would have appreciated it more as a kid, but I appreciated the heck out of it as a kid. I'd go to the library, come home with ten or twenty books, take 'em out to my favorite thyme-scented dell in the yard, with a 24 ounce jar of lemonade or iced tea, and read and tan and nap on my belly on a cotton blanket in the scent of purple-flowered thyme. And then I'd repeat, only the next day I'd roll over onto my back. Every now and then I'd walk into town and buy some popsicles or swim at the pool. Whole months passed this way.
of course, I didn't have money to buy books or clothes, I didn't know lots of people in many towns, etc. growing up has its serious advantages. but back in those (pardon me) halcyon days, if I had twenty bucks I was *rich*. Now I go through twenty bucks in a stingy weekend. *sigh*
Ok, enough sighing. Love to all the nice folks out there. Maybe NaNoWriMo procrastination means I'll be checking back in here more than once a month for a while. hrmph. - vcmw
Well, my nanowrimo moniker is the same as my livejournal one (vcmw, obviously) so that will be easy to find. I will now indulge myself in a one minute fantasy where an editor reads the portions of my novel posted on the site this month, falls in love, and writes to offer me a contract.
Ok, that minute was up. I've been reading all the nice essays by professional writers. Here's what I've learned.
1. nothing is published without first being a submission
2. your characters must suffer. three out of four of my favorite writers note that their method of plotting is to "think up the worst thing that could happen to my character" and then write about that, and then think up an even worse thing, and so forth, until the climax which is badness piled upon badness of suffering, and then about 3 pages at the end of the novel where things look up for a bit and the curtain falls on temporary resolution (until the next and even worse event starts book 2).
One writer even explicitly noted (oh, it was a hit, a very palpable hit on my poor bruised ego) - that the trouble with beginning writers was that they liked and empathized with their characters too much, so they didn't make enough bad things happen to them.
Sigh. School. Work. Friends&Family. Writing. Going to the gym. Professional non-school non-work learning for resume growth. Relationship maintenance. There just aren't enough hours in the day for the loafing I miss.
I'd say that I would have appreciated it more as a kid, but I appreciated the heck out of it as a kid. I'd go to the library, come home with ten or twenty books, take 'em out to my favorite thyme-scented dell in the yard, with a 24 ounce jar of lemonade or iced tea, and read and tan and nap on my belly on a cotton blanket in the scent of purple-flowered thyme. And then I'd repeat, only the next day I'd roll over onto my back. Every now and then I'd walk into town and buy some popsicles or swim at the pool. Whole months passed this way.
of course, I didn't have money to buy books or clothes, I didn't know lots of people in many towns, etc. growing up has its serious advantages. but back in those (pardon me) halcyon days, if I had twenty bucks I was *rich*. Now I go through twenty bucks in a stingy weekend. *sigh*
Ok, enough sighing. Love to all the nice folks out there. Maybe NaNoWriMo procrastination means I'll be checking back in here more than once a month for a while. hrmph. - vcmw
