2011 Goals

Merry late Christmas everyone!

I was sick this Christmas. It got me the day before Christmas eve and was pretty bad that night and Christmas eve night, I still had to go see family though both on Christmas eve and Christmas day. Luckily it kinda went away during the day before returning during the evening and night. Anyway, I'm pretty much over it now and that's pretty much why I didn't write a blog for a few days.

Christmas also went pretty well this year. The highlights of it was some awesome Bose speakers for my computer, an actual, fully functional (and very very sharp), finger claw thing that is so awesome and looks like this: 

Awesome, yes? I thought so!

And the last particularly awesome gift was a Swarovski ring that was all white sparkly diamond wonder and was really large! Unfortunately it doesn't fit, too small. But I can take it back and exchange it for something else that will be equally awesome! Actually, maybe not. That ring is really pretty. . . Oh well.


So, it's nearly 2011! It's so odd, 2011, it's weird to think that it's here already. This year has gone by so fast I couldn't believe it and it's made me realize just how little time there is and how much of it I waste. Which brings me to my goals for 2011.

This next year, I want to accomplish something. Something big for me. I want to learn a bunch of new things and explore the world. But there just doesn't seem to be enough time for everything I want to do, however I think the first of my goals will give me that needed time.

1. Quite procrastinating. It's really ridiculous how much I do this and I'm sick of it. I'm basically wasting my life away with it and it's going to get kicked.

2. Rewrite, revise and edit The Chronicles. The whole series. With the way it's going though it might end up as a completely different story.

3. Build a very convincing fantasy world for The Chronicles to take place in. This is already in progress but I think this will take a while to accomplish.

4. Revise my '09 NaNo Angels. I think it has a lot of potential, there's a bunch of stuff that can be added and cut to make it awesome!

5. Continue working on The Journalist. That story could be particularly awesome.

6. Take a vacation to another country. One over seas. And I'd like to go to Alaska as well.

7. Learn another language. Japanese is first on the list.

8. Develop a language for my fantasy world.

9. Actually write the 300k for WriYe that I didn't quite make this year.

10. Actually finish reading the twenty some-odd books I'm in the middle of reading, and have been for the last six months.

11. Learn to really play the piano, violin or guitar, all three instruments I own, and only one I can actually play. Kinda.

There are probably some more things that should be added to that list that have slipped my mind at the moment. I may make up a a writing schedule for all those stories I'll be working on next year, but for now, there's the goals for 2011!

What are some of the goals you guys are working towards next year? And how was your Christmas?

Christmas is almost here!

This is the reason I haven't posted in so long. I had to get gifts for my parents and help my mom figure out what to get everyone. I got my dad a tomahawk. Still don't know what he'll think of it but it's really cool looking. I got my mom a silver necklace shaped like an angel wing, reminiscent of my '09 NaNo about angels and how my love of angel wings came to be. She'll love it, I know. We got my dad one of those electric cigarettes and we're going to slowly get him to quite by lowering the tobacco content over an extended period of time, haha :) But that was a wild goose chase, we originally bought it at the mall, one of those little booth stores in the middle, and went home, got online to see if we could get it cheaper, thinking we could return it if we found it somewhere else. We did find it, way cheaper. So cheap we could buy three (two extra for gifts for others in the family) and a bunch of different flavors. My mom called up the people we bought the cigarette from at the mall and they said that the website sold refurbished ones. So she then called the website when finished with the mall people and they said they weren't refurbished in any way, so she ordered them.

So, today we went to the mall to take back the other one, and find out that they don't do refunds. Only exchanges. My mom was livid but there wasn't really anything she could do, no matter what she said. The people did not tell us that they didn't accept refunds and that's just not right to do to you're customers. So, we exchanged it for a case and refill things and, well, that's it. But we learned our lesson. Don't buy something until you check online first, and don't trust those people at those stores in the middle.

Whew. Anyway.

I really like the atmosphere of the time leading up to Christmas, it's jut a kind of lighthearted feeling that doesn't really come around during any other time of the year. Even in the chaos and stress of making sure you get everyone gifts (and what are you supposed to get everyone anyway!?) and you don't spend every last penny. What do you guys like about Christmas? Other than getting gifts, I mean ;)

I've been slacking off my story a bit this month, I thought I finished my map finally hardly a week ago but I've got to move the continents around some before I'm done and add in the islands. And I have been messing around with things like myths, customs and, cause of all this holiday cheer, potential holidays and where they may originate from for my worlds countries.

I'm also going to compile my list of goals for next year before the month is out, though I have a strange feeling it will have to do with writing.

My Map!

The last two days have been fun! I'm almost done with my ginormous map and when I say 'ginormous' I mean ginormous. Take a look:

Click on  it to get the full effect. The cellphone is just to give you an idea of how big it is. I had to move my couch out of the way cause there wasn't enough floor space after awhile. I probably went overboard regarding how big this thing is, but there is no way I would've been able to draw it on a small piece of paper, I just wouldn't be able to wrap my mind around drawing a whole world with continents and stuff on a little piece of printer paper.

Although, I did have a much smaller map that I was using before I drew this big one:

That's all I had before but then I traced it onto the bigger paper and added on and on and. . . Well, you get it.

I actually have to add one or two more continents before I'm done with it but I got too excited and took pictures of it, traced it into the computer using GIMP and made it look like an awesome map! Something I've never gotten to do before because I never had a desktop before with an actual MOUSE! All I had before was a 13'' laptop. But, anyway, here is the awesomeness of my map as it is so far:

Click on iiit!

I've still gotta add mountains and stuff like that and make it look more. . . map-ish and stuff but I'll do that after I figure everything out :D

Haha, okay. This is the first time I've drawn a map of this magnitude and actually got to put it in the computer to do stuff like this to it so I'm a bit excited right now. Drawing this map had been an awesome inspiration and brainstorm too! I've got ideas for different countries and conflicts and ways of transportation AND I think my story may take place somewhere else than I had it set all this time, but we'll see :D

A Somewhat Major Breakthrough

I have belatedly realized that my series needs a lot more work than previously anticipated.

A lot more.

Though, really, this shouldn't be so surprising to me. After all it was a NaNo and everything. But really, I don't think I could ever have expected the sheer amount of work that will need to go into this story. The research and the reworking and everything. Last night, I discovered that every single one of my characters are as flat as the paper they're written on, and will continue to be so unless I work on them. I learned that the world needs a lot more work, and not just the history and legends and that kind of thing,  but the lay of the land. Mountains, forests, things like that. Even the cities themselves are flat. The cities I wrote about have no character, aren't unique in any particular way. I didn't differentiate very much of anything between countries and the like, I actually hardly even mention them.

And then there is the magical system which needs to be much more defined and developed than it is at the moment. It's really quite pathetic right now I think. I've still gotta figure out the rules for the magic and so many things.

So, in short, my book is a pile of slush at the moment and is in desperate need of revisions and research.

But, even though I am a bit put out by this revelation, I am actually excited. Like, really excited. The only problem is that I'm not entirely sure where to start. I mean, I know what I need to research, but I just don't know where to start with it all.

But I did actually do something substantial regarding my story today. I greatly expanded the small map I had previously. I really like it, I want to take a picture of it but am wary of doing so. I had to break out the giant floor pad paper that we got years ago for my baby cousin. This thing is like two and a half foot wide and two foot tall. I traced my previous map onto here and then added to it, bringing more of the world onto the page. It's fabulous but still only a small fraction of the world. I have a very strong urge to tear out a bunch of these large pieces of paper and tape them together and draw until I have all the world finished. I might actually do that tonight, it sounds fun! But I have a feeling it will be ridiculously large. . .

I have decided that it is a near waste of time to read through my book any longer at this point because so much of it needs to be trashed and I already have a pretty good idea of what needs to be done. I'm going to get all this research and stuff out of the way so I can have a more developed world and more developed characters and then I will start over, write everything from scratch again. I have a feeling that by that point the whole story will be different, but I know that it will be a better different, and that it will be so much better than what I have right now.

And also, has anyone read or heard of The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss?

I remember finding it awhile ago and thinking it might be good but I never bought it or anything, just put it on the wish list. But the other day Ted Cross mentioned Patrick Rothfuss's blog and I checked it out and remembered The Name of the Wind, read the excerpt and have decided that it will probably be one of the best books I will have read.

I had totally forgotten about this book until the day before yesterday, but since then, I have been obsessed with it and made the mistake of tacking it on to what I want for Christmas. So now, I can't really buy it until after Christmas because someone may have bought it as a gift. I so wish I had said nothing.

And another awesome thing is that this is a BIG book. Like nearly 700 pages big. And his second book (which will be out in march)? Well, it's just over 900 pages long.

So, if anyone has read this book, please let me know what you thought! (Spoiler free, of course.)

Time to Revise

Well, I've taken a week off of writing. At this point I believe that I am officially out of the NaNoWriMo mindset.

I decided last night that I was going to start revising. This meant that I would have to print out everything I wrote for NaNo (except Fork, that will probably be forgotten about). I have to print it out, reading it through on the computer just doesn't work for me, printing it and physically being able to hold my story just can't be matched with a computer screen, and it makes it feel a lot more real.

But before I got to the printing I remembered that I have to do spell check. I did that for an hour before I finally went to bed and then it went on for another hour or two today before it was finally done. I had no idea that the spell check would take that long, I don't remember it being that long last year.

So, afterwords I started printing everything and partway through the ink - of course - decided to run out on me and I had to go get some before I could finish. And my uncle was over so I couldn't start reading anything yet cause that would be a bit rude and then my mom and dad guilted me into staying out in the living room for awhile to watch TV with them cause I haven't spent much time outside me room all last month and this month as well. But now, I finally get to sit down and read it. And I can't wait. All three of my stories are twice the size of last years Angels and it was so exciting to watch it all print!

And I honestly can't wait to start changing things up because the last few days I've thought about it on and off coming up with more things and while skimming through it when it was printing and while I was spell checking has brought all the excitement back and I know what needs to be changed and the things I have to figure out. I don't have any answers yet but that's what this is all for!

Pics of my 'manuscripts':

So Here I Am. . .

Wow.

Like, wow.

I've had no idea what to do with myself today, other than play those video games I've been dreaming about but it's been very strange, to say the least. I feel like I should be writing, but that guilt that has plagued me for most of the month is absent. It feels sorta empty, to tell the truth. I can't believe I'm already starting to miss NaNo, maybe I really am insane ;)

Tomorrow though I'm going to start writing again, I at least want to finish The Journalist sometime soon, and I'm going to be going over The Chronicles, re-plot everything and see what can be salvaged from it. Ooh, I can't wait to print that sucker out. . . It's the most I've ever written so far on a single story line!

This last month has been crazy, much crazier than last year, I think. I've learned a lot from the experience. Like how to just write things because they sound interesting instead of sticking straight to the outline, and how to use an outline as well and not just pantsing the story. I've written something very different than what I have before, trying to go with a deadly serious tone and still not sure whether it was a fail or a win. I've been working on creating a very diverse character with a personality changing story arc that I've never before attempted, straying from the path of good natured character that I usually write into the dark evil characters, which has really been a joyful journey for me. I also dabbled in writing today's modern world with a touch (or perhaps an explosion) of magic in it with The Journalist and found that I am loving it immensely, it is the first story I've actually begun writing that has anything to do with our world, because I usually detest writing about the world we live in from day to day with the usual technology and everything, but in The Journalist it strangely fits perfectly.

I've also tried really hard to put in more detail of the surrounding scenery in my writing, as my cousin pointed out there wasn't enough of when she read some of last years story and I've begun to notice it really was very severely lacking. Like it really was all in my head :p

This month, I've also learned that I can write a ridiculous amount of words (or to some other people, not so ridiculous) in a very small amount of time, while procrastinating to the max. I mean, come on, I went days without writing a word. I don't remember going a single day without writing last November, yet I only wrote the minimum 50k last year. So. . . Those are some of the things I've learned this month. I've discovered many things I need to work on, many other things that I enjoy, and that no matter how utterly painful it is for me to write sometimes, I still enjoy it in some twisted way, even those really tough bits where I'm writing a word a minute and my brain just feels like it's melting into mush, I even like it then because I'm writing. And today, even though I got to play World of Warcraft, I just don't feel as satisfied with myself as I am after a day of writing.

Cheers to writing, to National Novel Writing Month and to amazing stories winner or not! We've all made it to the other side.

100k (Day 30)

Well, I had to write about 8k yesterday and today, but I've done it! I actually did it! Twice as much as last year. I wonder what I'll aim for next year. . .

Well, that story with the villain has been going well, I've code named it The Journalist until I can come up with a real title. I've got nearly 15k written on it, so that's a very good start and I am in love with it already, even though there are a lot of things that need to be worked out that I didn't have time to work out, it's still good. I'll probably work out those kinks some time soon. I also think I'll try to write everyday. Unlike last year I just stopped writing for a week or so, then finished my NaNo book, moved on to edit it the next month, and then didn't write a whole bunch after that until the beginning of NaNo again. Not this year! This year, it will be my goal to write everyday so I can create a habit.

Anyway, I am so happy write now, I had a chocolate chip cookie, and took a (needed) shower, and feel so much better and I'm fixing to reward myself with my neglected video games, life is good :)

I hope everyone is satified with what they accomplished this month and will be returning for the insanity next month, and perhaps Script Frenzy in April. No idea if I'll do that though since I wouldn't even know how to begin writing a script. . .

Enjoy your first I-don't-have-to-write-today day tomorrow! Or TGIO (Thank God It's Over)!

EDIT!
Just so I can look back on this next year and see exactly how everything was at the end, here's the wordcounts for all of my stories I've done this month:

The Chronicles of Siron:
Book I - Remnants: 57,415
Book II - The Key: 26,658 (unfinished)

The Journalist: 14,573 (unfinished)
Fork: 834 (unfinished)

Yeah, Fork hardly even counts does it? Anyway, so there it all is! Got the idea to do this from leofair's blog post here.
(Note: The NaNo word validator counted up a few hundred more words than my scrivener word counter.)

My New Story Is Working! (Day 29)

Well, I'm already behind by at least 5k but I think that'll be okay. I've wrote about 4 1/2 thousand today and plan to write about 3k more tonight so I can get up on that 5k I'm behind on, so according to this plan, I should reach 100k tomorrow!

You see, I got behind because I was thinking yesterday was the 27th instead of the 28th, that threw me for a loop when I woke up today and was 5k behind, but it's all good :)

I've started on that story I said I would with the villain and stuff, it's good so far, a lot better than I thought of course, and I've got 3k on it already, I'm really excited about it because I haven't ever written anything quite like it and the story starts out with this tension. I mean, my stories usually start out with tension or action but it's sort of a prologue style thing and then after that little snippet we start the real story that usually starts out calm-ish. But this one start out with tension, it's not a prologue, and my mc is fixing to get the life scared out of him, or shocked, or, well, he might just have a heart attack so everything is going really good :D

And it's refreshing, to write about something else. You see, yesterday I nearly wrote 1k about this brand new idea that came up yesterday, code named 'Fork' (don't ask) but I just wasn't feeling it, it wasn't keeping my interest so I stopped, went back to the Chonicles and wrote on. But today, after working on the Chronicles some I decided it was time to crack open that new story and get started, and I am so glad I did!

I hope everyone is on the road to winning and is enjoying their stories! Let's do this thing >:D

Settling (Day 26)

Well, I haven't written much of anything the last couple days, I feel so very guilty :( But tomorrow I am going to write again! I have finally decided that I'm going to start writing that story that I've been deciding whether or not I should write this month (the one about the villain), cause with everything that has gone wrong so far with the Chronicles, I'm getting a bit discouraged with it and I think I need a break from it.

And I have to say I'm a bit excited about it, I don't have anything resembling an outline for it and don't really have much of an idea of what the world will be like or the people or anything so I will definitely be pantsing it!

Anyway, since it is pretty much impossible for me to catch up and write that 150k I was aiming for, I am just going to settle for making 100k, which is about 20k from where I am now. I wish I had kept up better this month with my daily word goals but if I make that 100k I'll still be satisfied because that is still twice as much as I wrote last November!

Anyway, I wish everyone luck and hope to see all of you cross the finish line!

Taking An Easy (Day 23)

Well, I've been gone most of the day, again, but I don't think I'm going to push myself to write today.

It's just, I want to do some other things like make some jewelry and stuff and I have to figure out what's going to happen next in my story cause my wipey board outline has pretty much come to an end. . .  And, well, that's all I can really say today, sorry everyone ^^; I'm just not going to force myself to write today, just taking an easy.

I hope everyone else has more will than me to push themselves to write today!

Surprising Myself (Day 22)

Well, today was nowhere near ideal. We (me, mom, dad and bro) went to my grandparents to see my uncle and cousins and had diner, for a pre-thanksgiving thing I suppose. But it wasn't all a waste of NaNo time, I managed to write a whole 2,000 words while over there! This surprised me because I tried to do this last year while at my aunts on Thanksgiving and wrote 0. We left around 7 and I got home around 8-ish and I wrote the rest of the 3k, hitting 5k just before 12am (well, I was about 50 words short but hey, can't stop time ^^;). So today = success!

And, unfortunately, I can't try for 10k tomorrow because I've got to leave home :( My gosh I've been trying to get around to doing a 10k day for a while now and when I finally, actually think I can really do it, things start to happen D:< So not right!

If I can do about three 10k days then I'll be caught up to where I should be! Right now I'm only at 80k but I should be at like 115k, and I feel so guilty D:

But on a lighter note, I've finally gotten to introduce a new character, an interesting, eery, somewhat insane character, and I absolutely love him so far! Remember that drawing I posted awhile ago of that dragon? Well, that's who I'm talking about, and my other characters? Let's just say they're a bit scared of him ;)

I hope everyone is on track with their novels and are enjoying writing those interesting bits!

Miracles (Day 21)

Well i didn't get a lot of writing done for a large part of the day today cause my cousin came over to do some scrap booking. It was fun, but I still felt a bit guilty for most of the day because, well I hadn't written anything.

But I did scrap book a really awesome page for last years NaNo Angels! I would post a picture but I'm a bit too tired to take the picture at the moment, maybe tomorrow.

So anyway, she was here for a large part of the day, so large that when they left at 7pm I was basically ready to give up on the idea of writing at all. How the heck was I supposed to write 5k before midnight with so little time?

But a miracle has happened.

I started to write just passed 7pm after they left and joined in the word sprints on twitter. I took breaks when NaNoWordSprints did and skipped their short 5 and 10 minute sprints in favor of more breaks but it's lucky they were doing longer ones, there was a bunch of 15 and 20 minute sprints and about two 30 minute ones! And, believe it or not, I wrote my 5k in only about 3 1/2 hours. I stopped writing at exactly 10:35 and I took all those breaks and I can't believe I actually did it!

So, I should be capable of a 10k day.

We shall see.

30k Behind (Day 20)

Well, believe it or not I'm actually writing today! I haven't made my 5k goal yet but that's what I'm aiming for by 12 am. To be specific I only have 2,100 done right now, so I better get writing, after this blog post though.

Did anyone else donate to the Office of Letters and Light on donation day? I did, and I got my spirit animal from Chris Baty on twitter. Apparently it's a Japanese macaque, or a snow monkey:

(I think they're kinda cute ^^)

So, back to the writing aspect, I will be 30k words behind if I can get my 5k in today, that is a lot! I don't know if I'll be able to catch up but I can give it a try. But that a lot of words! I never meant to get so far behind, it all started with the internet freaking out on my laptop and not working and then it just took a nose dive from there. Yes, I could have written all the days that I didn't but I was just sooo not into it and when I tried to write I just couldn't think of anything to put on the page, it was like my brain, as well as my muse, decided to take a leave of absence! But, the only thing I can do is try to catch up which will take a lot of work if I can do it, so. . . Here I go.

The Dark Night Parody Video (Day 17)

Well, things have been slow going with my novel so far. Not because it isn't good, I'm actually getting to some good bits, it's just that there's that other idea. I've got three quarters of my brain concentrated on the Chronicles and the last quarter, you know the important one, is all over the new idea. And slowly it is taking over the rest of my mind. I am very very tempted to put the Chronicles on hold so I can write about this new idea but I can't do that. I'm afraid I won't finish the Chronicles if I go on to write this new idea. So. . . I guess I'll have to wait.

If I have the self discipline, that is.

But I have something awesome to show you this post! The Dark Night parody/music video that is so expertly done it's hard to believe it wasn't done by a movie director, you have to watch it!



I have no words for how awesome that was! I just found it last night and was in complete awe! They have done a couple other parodies and some other videos, they have a website here, so go check it out!

Hope you enjoyed that video :D

20k BEHIND!!! D: (Day 16)

Well I finally wrote some stuff today! About 3,500 words! I'm gonna take a short brake before I start to write again :D

But despite this good news I have made a very disheartening discovery: I should be at 80k today and I'm only almost at 65k. That makes me nearly 20k behind! I can't believe this! I didn't think I was so far behind and yet. . .

But I'm going to do my best to catch up! I think, after I'm done writing today, I'm going to sit down and try to outline book two cause for right now I've been writing without one (cause there isn't one) and that's been fine for now but I know that once I get in further it'll get harder cause I don't know what's next, I at least have to get my wipey board outline good cause that was tremendous help with book one!

So that's all I can say today: I'm tremendously behind and am trying to catch up. Wish me luck? o.o

No Wordcount, New Idea (Day 14/15)

Well, I missed yesterday. Mostly because my laptop wasn't connecting to the internet, but kinda not since I could have done it on the desktop. Just wasn't the same though. . . Anyway, laptops working now so all is well.

Well, except for the writing. If you look a bit to the right of this post you can see that not a word has been written yesterday or today. My laptop getting unconnected with the internet is a contributing factor cause it put me in a bad mood yesterday, but that's no excuse cause I don't need the internet to write. But it sure is nice. So I took it up to apple today to get it looked at, the guy clicked around at some stuff and now it's working again, miraculously! But then, as if to laugh at me, the electricity went out for about and hour or two before turning on and off every few minutes. It seems to be working well now, but you never know. . . It might go off right now.


But, I think I'm gonna get back to writing now, the break was fun while it lasted, I even read a whole entire book last night, The Giver by Lois Lowry which was a very very good book, I totally recommend it! Anyway, break over, now I need to start writing again! I might be able to get in a thousand or so tonight if I get going.

Oh, and today, I got this awesome idea for a new book! (No I wont be writing about it until the Chronicles of Siron is over, unfortunately) I was thinking about one of the things someone posted in the Adopt a Plot Twist over in the adoption Society at Nano. It said this: Main villain succeeds(or doesn't) at the end and a new even more evil villain enters the room and kills the first villain easily, hopefully surprising the reader. And I was just thinking about and then it hit me! I'm a bit tentative to post the idea here but by the time I actually start writing it it'll probably be something completely different anyway. So I was thinking what if the villain does win but another more powerful villain comes along and tries to take over, and with no one else to turn to all the good people have to go to the old villain for help to get rid of the new one, and the old villain also needs the good guys to help him?

I think that can make a very good story and I already can't wait to start planning it and everything. But after the Chronicles, of course.

And since I haven't posted my twitter account I'll give it here until I make a little sidebar button for it.
My twitter is: http://twitter.com/WritingBookOwl

End of Book 1 (Day 13)

Well, I have finally ended book one only at 57,405 words. I was initially wanting it to be around 75k but after realizing that most of the book was all wrong I just couldn't continue much farther with it. I'm going to start on book two which should be very cool, introducing a bunch of new stuff and the poor MC is going to go through so much I almost feel sorry for him (almost ;). But I can't wait to start, I'll probably be starting it in just a minute once I figure out just how to start it.

Otherwise, I've only written 1k words today so far and I'm upping my daily goal to 6k for a few days until I get back on track after being so fail yesterday :( I want to get these words out of the way quickly today so I can just do whatever so I need to hurry up so I can accomplish that goal >:D

I hope everyone is having less trouble with their stories than I am and am sending some good writing vibes your way )))))))))))

Bad Writing, Inspiring Video (Day 12)

Well, I've been busy all day and have only gotten 500 words written from when I woke to this moment. This sucks. Horribly. And now that I have time to write I don't exactly want to. This is bad.

But at this point I'm not going to push it, I'm just gonna have to make up for whatever I don't write today, but I am still going to write, I at least want 2,000 words in before I go to sleep tonight, so I best get crackin eh?

And also, since last nights epiphany and since I'm nearing the end of the first book I'm pretty much pantsing it now until I make my word count cause the whole entire book 1 needs to be re-planned and outlined, so I'm just going with how I know it must end and then trying to merge it to how the book should have been in the first place, if that makes any sense :p Anyways, so far so good.

Hey, this blog post is doing me good cause talking about my story is making me want to write it! This is good! I hope everyone is having more luck and that you all are writing the living daylights out of yourselves!

Also, watch this video, it's inspiring and full of awesome!

Oh, Thanks, But I Would Have Liked To Know LAST MONTH!

I have just had a very important epiphany today regarding my story. Very important.

Almost everything I've been writing about should be in book two.

I feel sucker punched.

How the heck was I supposed to know!? Remnants - title and all - is book two! Only a small part of it is still book one, this is a absolute disaster! I'm supposed to be starting book two in a few days! Oh my gosh, this is just. . . I don't even know what to say.

Okay, let's see. The whole careful placing of plot points that I've written and carefully situated was all for naught because that should be in book two and I should have been concentrating on a whole other aspect in this book, and I can't believe I didn't see this earlier because now I've written 55,000 words of things that must go through superhorrificmajor changes! And then I have to recycle a lot of it into book two and make the mc all surprised/scared/etc. about the same thing all over again!

Well, I guess this is how it goes when writing a series. While I'm finishing up book one I guess I'll have to do my best to concentrate on what the book should have been leading up to and everything. And then book two shall be the way it's supposed to.

*sighing*

Well, I guess it's better to find out now than when I thought I was done with book two :] ;_;

Fabulous Day Today, Isn't It? (Day 11)

Well, it appears to not be as hard as I thought it would be to get myself to keep writing. Though I've only got about 2k words written they've been relatively easy. I guess wanting to get to the next book and all the other people who are surpassing the 50k mark, plus that really clean wordcount checklist, is really motivating me to keep writing. This is what I like about NaNo, it's so motivating!

Otherwise I've been in a very good mood today, the good mood started last night and I actually wanted to clean my room. I know, it was weird, I cleaned the whole entire room for 2-3 hours! My room is now cleaner than it has been for at least a year, everything is reorganized and it looks all nice and designed with my Japanese accents all over the place, I am so glad I did it!

But I still think it's weird.

I've got to get to finishing my 5k, I'll probably post another except very soon, I've just got to go figure out what part to post. . .

Oh, and also, I'm on page 15 of the 'who's got the highest wordcout' which is awesome because it wasn't too long ago that I was on, like, page 60 or something, let's see which page I can get to today!

Hope everything is going well for you guys! I'm just in such a good mood :D Have good nano luck!

50,000 Ant Hills (Day 10 (and 9))

Well, I didn't post yesterday because I hardly had enough time to write yesterday, there was a meeting I had to go to which pretty much messed everything up >.< But I manages to get my 5k in and get it on the nano website at exactly 11:59 PM, so I was waaaay lucky.

But enough about yesterday, what about today?


I TOTALLY GOT TO 50,000 WORDS!!!!!!!

*ahem* Anyway, I got my 5k in way earlier than usual, and so got 50k about an hour or so ago. I am so happy because it took me all 22 days last year (22 days because I discovered it late) to get to 50k and here I did it in a measly ten. And I'm going for more :D

My next immediate goal is 100k which I hope to get to by the 20th and I'm sad to say that, because I made the 50k I'm thinking things like "Why put myself through the torture anymore if I've won?" and "Let's just take it easy; no more 5k a day!" but I can't let myself do that! I have to keep going to get to this personal goal I've set!

Also here's my old wordcount checklist and new one:

(old)

(new)

Can't wait to start crossing some of those off! Starting tomorrow >:D

Also, I hope my story picks up some. It was getting pretty boring yesterday. Did you guys get the pep talk from Aimee Bender? You know how she was talking about that grocery store and ant hill thing? Well, today I noticed that I was concentrating way too hard on the grocery store and ignoring those ant hills I wanted to write, but I took her advice and wrote them because I wanted to and, yeah, I could take them out later. And guess what? It really picked things up for me and added to the plot in big ways, I think! So I say you should take her advice! If you suddenly want to write about a really cool ant hill that just popped into your head, even though your supposed to be writing about that grocery store, go for the ant hill anyway! Remember, you can still write about the grocery store and the ant hill and if later the ant hill doesn't fit, chuck it (only after nano :P) but that ant hill might bring up some really important things you hadn't thought about!

So, that's my wisdom of the day ;p Now go write about them ant hills!

Oh Please No! (Day 8)

I do not feel well today.

I think I'm coming down with something, some head cold maybe. I've got that head ache, the one where you just know it means your getting sick and I am having trouble writing which I think is a by-product of this head ache.

The only thing I can think about this is: NOOOO!! Please, don't let me get sick now!

I'm doing everything I can to prevent this and don't know if it's working yet :( I don't even think I'll get my standard 5k goal in. Instead I'll just do my best to get to 40k today which means I've only got about 1500 more words to go, I've only written about 2k already today and. . . Wow, maybe I should just go for the whole 5k at that point. Maybe not though since all I want to do is stare blankly at a wall because thinking is just soooo hard at the moment.

And I'm hungry.

I dearly hope no one else gets sick because this is not fun.

Secret Narnian Hour (Day 7)

Well, last night during the secret Narnian hour (the daylight savings 1 am-is-two-hours-long thing that most of America and some of Canada does) I wrote 2,000 words in only an hour and a half and I was so happy cause I thought I'd be able to write a bunch today.

WRONG!

Of course today was the day that my mom and dad finally decided to move our furniture and everything into the living room. So, I still have about 800 words to go to reach my usual 5,000 daily goal and I might write some more after that. And to think I was going to try and get 10k in today >:|

And also, my current overall word count is 34,961! I cannot believe I'm already nearly at 50k! And to think that last year I struggled to get to 50k! Anyway, I thought I would just put it out there what my real goal for this month is so I have more pressure to actually do it. My goal is 150,000 words this month and I aiming for Remnants, the book I'm writing right now to be about 75k long before I start on book 2. So, writing has been very productive this month!

I hope everyone else is having a productive month as well and for those who aren't I know you guys can do it! If I can you guys can too, all you have to do is the butt-in-chair strategy and then click away at the keys, or move that pen/pencil on the paper, even if it feels like one more word will kill you! ;)

An Excerpt (Day 6)

Well, I haven't written anything yet but now that I've eaten lunch I think I'll get to it! Anyway, I wanted to share the first Excerpt of my book, it's kind short but there will be others that should be longer.



“Samuel?” Siron asked, walking forward and looking over his shoulder before he too froze.

It wasn’t exactly what he was seeing that made his body seize in fear. What he saw was strange. There seemed to be many black shadows, seeming like black mist that hung in the air flitting about. Strange and, yes, fear inspiring, but that was not what made him unable to move.

It was the feeling. The dark coldness that was seeping into him at the sight of these shadows. It felt like these things would eat his soul if given the chance and it took every ounce of his strength to gain control of his limbs and take a gulp of air. He grabbed Samuel's arm and yanked him backwards. Samuel seemed to suddenly come to life, sprinting like death was behind him, which may very well be, and making a beeline back the way they came, towards the faint sound of the stream.

 M'kay, that's all for today, gotta get that wordcount up!

More Plot!! (Day 5)

Well, today has been way better than the last two! The 5k was a lot easier to write, even though it took so long, though that was mostly because I had to go to ikea. Anyway, I might try to write more than 5k tomorrow depending on how things go. So I have a total of 25,477 words!!

I have a potential sub-plot! Or a contribution to the main plot, whatever it is, it's a plot bunny that has come to spice things up. This little sub-plot is going to make the good side not look so good anymore, hehe :D Oh my gosh I so can't wait to write it! It's gonna add so much more realism instead of the usual good side/bad side thing! It's gonna make some things a bit more believable :DD

Well, things are starting to go good again and I hope they continue to do so. But as for now I have to get to bed, I keep misspelling words everywhere (but you can't see them cause I has spellcheck√!) And I'm starting to think everything's a bit funny, a sure sign that I need sleep.

Also, don't mind the fact that this was actually posted on the 6th instead of the 5th, since I haven't gone to sleep yet it's still the 5th for me z_z

Plot Bunnies, Save Me! (Day 4)

With 2,000 words I've still got to write it seems a bit absurd to be writing this blog post instead of the rest of my wordcount but I said I would post everyday and so I am. Yesterday and today are going by much worse than day 1 and 2 of nanowrimo but I'm going to get through it. There are some things coming up that should be easy to write - that I can't wait to write. Things are going largely according to my outline, not to say I've been squishing any plot bunnies or anything I'd actually love one to come along and get me to my next plot point with a bit more excitement than is currently happening.

The music I've got is going wonderfully with my writing so far. I've tried a couple times to write with some other songs,  the ones with words, but got absolutely 0 words while doing that so I'm sticking to my soundtrack for the month.

One of these days, I will try to write 10k words so I can catch a break, I'm hoping I wont have to write Sunday at least cause I've hardly had time to do anything else. Of course that is kinda the point of nanowrimo but, you know, I want to do something else.

And to think this is only day 4!

And now, I go back to finish writing for the day.

Getting Tough (Day 3)

Well, I got to this post a bit too late but ah well.

In short, today was pretty brutal. It took everything I had to get those 5k out today and I think it's cause I'm getting to the middle. Even though I have it planned out it's still. . .hard to write for some reason. From the way things are going it doesn't look like things will be smooth until I get to the next major plot point which is about 4 or 5 chapters away. I'm already hitting the hard stuff! I was hoping that wouldn't happen until at least half-way in :(

On the bright side I now have a total of 15,227 words.

Anyway, there's been this article here in response to the anti-nanowrimo one that some of you might enjoy.

I think all the tea I've been drinking has kept me going today, and twitter of course :P

Well, that's all for now, sorry guys :| Maybe I'll have better luck tomorrow.

10k! And Somene Dissing NaNo (Day 2)

Today was very productive! I went out today and didn't get back until about two and didn't start writing until about two thirty/three o'clock yet I still finished my five thousand words two hours before last night in which I had the entire day with nothing but writing to do. I also have resisted the temptation to read the new book I got from half-price books today about linguistics (I'm finding I may be very interested in the subject) And I'll probably finally get to crack it open after this post :D

Already having ten thousand words written I can say that this year is going waaay better than last year so far! I think I mentioned last post that my aim is 5k a day and if I can keep up with it I will write 150k words this month, which means I would get to start on book two which I'm anxious to get to.

As for how my stories going, it's going great, I'm just getting to the starting of the plot stuff, I'm trying to  figure out what to do with MC's friend, how to make it believable that he leaves with Siron and stuff. So it's going good, the world is still slowly taking shape and coming to life with things I didn't really think of before. There's already many things that I'll have to edit come December, I've forgotten to write many things, like how my MC even looks like. There's not even a mention of what he might look like and I find this a major problem. As well as forgetting to write the first major plot point in the prologue *headdesk*

Anyway, twitter continues to help me get my writing done with word sprints which I find I enjoy immensely. There has also been an anti-nanowrimo article done here. Read it if you dare. You will be filled simultaneously with rage and sadness for the person, rage because who is she to write such things about something she's never done before!? And sorrow cause she has no sense of fun or craziness or, apparently, a joy of writing just for the heck of it. In her own words she thinks we should do the "selfless art of reading" instead of the "narcissistic commerce of writing."

 Anyway, one of these days I'll try to go for a 10k day so I can slack off a day or two if I feel I need it. Also, I'd like to see if I can actually write that much in a day :D It'll be hard but I think I'll go for it anyway.

I hope everyone is having a good nano so far cause I am ;) Good luck everyone!

Making Progress (Day 1)

Well I have to say that I am doing waaaay better than last year so far. I have written five thousand words today, the first day of NaNoWriMo and I'm going to write just a bit more to finish the chapter. Another thing I'm loving is that I've written five thousand words consisting of only the prologue and first chapter, though when I go to edit I'll have to add in a very important part I forgot to write in the prologue (silly me, I should go write it in right now!). The next chapter is when the really interesting things start happening though. And guess what? My MC, Siron, got himself a friend! This is very good because in the outlines and stuff he didn't have a friend which, let's face it, is unrealistic when living in an orphanage. So that problem is fixed, which has also fixed some future problems I was worried about. The world is really coming to life as well, it's kinda a mixture of the things we're familiar with and the regular high fantasy stuff like no vehicles or technology, etc. I really like how it's going so far.

It took five cups of tea (two of which I chucked after one taste cause they did NOT taste good) one mini kitkat which I rewarded myself after making the NaNo daily goal, and all the word sprints and tweeting to keep me going so long, so thank you NaNoWordSprints and the other wrimos I follow on twitter!

I think I'm going to make five thousand my daily word goal so I can definitely finish my book and possibly start on the next one as well. That would be awesome! To get part of book two done this month!

And you know, despite all the writing, today has felt somehow normal. I didn't feel like I was rushing to get words in (which may be because I actually have an outline!) but it was nice. I'm sure it won't feel like this at the middle of the month.

I hope everyone is having success with their word counts! May the force be with you (the NaNo force that is :P).

Day 1

Well, the first day is here! I stayed up until 12am last night, as planned, and at 12:35am I had 1,243 words and the prologue done (prologue might be too short dang it!). Then I went to sleep. So now I've only got 424 more words to do (I love that nifty status thing on Nano now :D) to make the Nano daily word goal but I'm going to try to aim higher, I would like to actually complete my entire novel this month and that entails more than 50k words.

Otherwise I have to go out today and get some tea cause I'm out of the black stuff (good for the mornings) and return a game to half-price books and then I shouldn't have to leave the house for while (hermit-ness here I come :D).

And did you know that the NaNoWriMo collective wordcount is already over 800,000?

Waiting for Midnight

Well, Nanowrimo is only hours away.

I finished my fingerless gloves just minutes ago, I ended up having to sew them instead of knit (I was horrid at knitting gloves Dx). But here they are, they turned out nice:

 And I have my incentives in place so I'll finish my writing goals:

The PC game isn't a grand prize (though i wish I'd thought of that), I'll just get to play it at the end of the day if I get my writing in :)

My chapter-by chapter outline isn't done but the wipey board one is, the one that covers the major stuff:

My inspirational picture:

(lolz! I has no face!)

One day that'll be me signing my books!

My sticky note chain:

And everything else:

So all that's left to do is clean my room, and that shouldn't take to long!

So everything is ready for Nano! I'm going to relax and watch TV, play games, indulge in things that shall be forbidden come 12am. I hope everyone's prepared! Who else is going to write at the stroke of midnight tonight? Or if it's already November where you live have you started writing and how much have you done so far?

(I think I did too many photos, hope it didn't bug you but I was  in the mood to take pictures of everything)

My Inner Critic and No More Reading

Has anyone read leofair's post on the inner critic? Well, that little bugger has just begun attacking me. I was looking at my wipey board outline and the inner critic suddenly appears and tells me: "No one's going to like that! That's a bunch of trash, why are you even working on it? You should just give up right now because everyone will think it's a stupid story!"

You see, this fell little voice has done many things to me in the past. It has gotten me to give up stories and ideas that were probably good, only allowed me to write a chapter or so before viciously attacking me and making me give up. It didn't attack me for most of last years Nanowrimo though because there was no time to concentrate on anything other than clicking the keys on the keyboard. But halfway through the month it did end up attacking me and I almost gave up, if it wasn't for my writing buddies I probably would have abandoned it and all of Nanowrimo. But now its attacking me before Nano has even started and I have to remind myself that it is a good idea and to ignore it's depressing words. The voice has left me alone for now but I'll just have to keep the uplifting thoughts in store for when it returns.

Does anyone else face the inner critic? What do you do to get rid of that foul little voice?

So is everyone else just to twitching in excitement for November to start? Twitching in horror? Is November coming too fast for some of you or not fast enough? I can't wait for November to get here, even if my outline is unfinished! Speaking of I've gotten to chapter ten on my outlines, but the complicated chapters are just coming up so we'll see how I deal with those. . .

Also what are some things you wont be able to do during Nano? (other than the general not able to clean/eat/sleep/etc.) I won't be able to read. I mean, I've got this pile of unread books that I've just gotten in the last month that I haven't even cracked open even though I've been dying to. Why you ask? Well, every time I read a book while trying to write something a large piece of that book makes it's way into my story. Whether it's the writing style or physical objects, they somehow sneak into my stories. You should see the poor idea I was writing when I was reading the Lord of the Rings! Poems and riddles were suddenly all over the place, you should see the poor bit of manuscript they made it into DX So I'm gonna have. . . at least 8 books that I'll want to read once November is over (don't let that number fool you, there is numerous more, those were just the ones I haven't started reading yet =O). So what are you distancing yourselves from this Nanowrimo for one reason or another?

Oh, one more thing. I'll be trying to post everyday during Nano to document my experience through it and I'll try to make things interesting for all you guys reading my blog.

Anyways, I'm off to knit some fingerless gloves, last year my hands were freezing cold while I was trying to type, too bad I didn't think about fingerless gloves last year :(

The "NaNo Mood"

Well I'm starting to get in the NaNo mood. I wasn't even aware I had one until today, seeing as this is only my second time around. But I suddenly got the urge to break out my fuzzy knitted scarf and soft faux fur hat that I seemed so fond of last year in November and just wear them around the house. Weird. I have actual writing totems that I didn't know I had. I'm wearing them right now as I type and am getting a tad nastolgic thinking about last year and excited about next month. Let me snap a picture of the items real quick. . .

So there they are in all their glory!

Another tradition I think I'm developing is buying a whole album of soundtrack songs to listen to will writing my novel. Last year I got the twilight score and soundtrack (but don't worry, no vampire made their way into my story), and later into the month the Avatar score. I've been getting the urge to get a soundtrack for a week or so now and today I finally did! I got the soundtrack to Assassin's Creed II. Despite it being a video game soundtrack it is very good and very movie soundtrack-esque sounding, more of a score than anything else. The songs on the album had more of the feel I was leaning towards and many of the songs have a thoughtful emotional edge that I'm loving, I can't wait to write to this soundtrack!

What do you guys listen to while writing? Does anyone else buy songs especially for their books? And does anyone else have certain items they use or have near them during Nanowrimo?

And guess what everyone!? I actually got some outlining done today! I've outlined up to chapter four and, believe it or not, I filled a gaping plot-hole up while outlining the prologue/chapter one! It was amazing! I had been worrying about this for awhile cause whether I could fill this plot-hole or not would decide whether Aurenna, a woman who lives in Siron's (the MC) head, would remain or be thrown out and I am rather fond of her. But now she's staying cause that worry has gone and a lot of other things have come up that could potentially fill up other plot-holes I have, so hurray! And to think I got all this from outling only four chapters! Imagine what I'll get from all the rest :D

Only 3 more days till Nano, I hope everyone is having the good luck I've happened to catch (compare this attitude to yesterday's (yes I just totally linked myself :P))

Have fun!!

My Very First Idea

I can't believe it's a measly 5 days before NaNo. I am sooo not prepared in the least, though hopefully that wont be too much a problem cause last year I had nothing but a vague idea. . . Anyway, I finally sat down today to redo my wipey-board outline to incorporate the new stuff and did that in probably 15 minutes. After this post (or maybe tomorrow) I'll start doing brief chapter by chapter outlines. I only have five more days so I better get going!

On a side note I finished my PC :D (*This is a writing blog!!!*) D:

I hope everyone else is doing good. (Actually, no I don't! I hope your suffering just as much as I am!! >=O) <.< >.> . . . Just kidding :D

Sometimes I wonder how I ever started writing. I mean, I used to hate it and I wasn't good at it either. I had a problem getting my thoughts on paper, seriously you should see some of the stuff I wrote for school >.< But then I read this book when I was about 12. Eragon by Christopher Paolini. I really liked how it was about a dragon rider and it was really awesome and I admit I started daydreaming about having my own dragon and having my own adventure, but isn't that how many ideas come about? So, miraculously, I started writing about this idea. I made this character named Esmerda, later changed to Arza, drew out a map. The country was called Alashia. Alashia consisted of Jokasee Swamp, The Lake of Fire (desert, with a valcano), Zera Plains, Eyrie Forest and Gright (in the north). There were also four separate countries the Phanle Mountains, Sirjang (Sirjang was the country of the water dragons), Tostite Jungle and Erthite which were both of the elves.

While I tried my best to make it all my own, of course there were many similarities between my first story idea and Eragon. There was the dragon riding thing, the elf thing, the tyrant king (Arza's brother was drafted into the army against his will and stuff), even the map is similar, especially with the placement of the mountains XD But the plot was very different besides involving dragon riding and magic. Arza had a grand destiny involving the dragons and I believe she was going to defeat the king (the memory of this story is fuzzy. Though I wrote many things down I didn't write everything). I think some kind of ancient sword was involved in the grand destiny making thing. And her dragon was gold, a sign of who she would become as there had only been 3 gold dragons in history, each of them and their 'magicians' (or riders, but hey I was trying to not copy Eragon :P) doing really grand things in history.

OH! I remember some stuff now! The king is actually a dragon named Zochi that is out to defeat all the other dragons. I had a whole back story for him and everything (even back then I was into the evil characters :D). He was an asonjee dragon, their natures inherently good but the 'evil' dragons, the sirzers and batine, got a hold of him at a young age and 'contaminated' him with black magic and everything to turn him against his own race. It worked but Zochi wasn't fond of any race of dragon other than himself, and he was an abomination so to speak. The reason the evil dragons did this was to get revenge on the asonjee's due to a battle, and the asonjee race is the most powerful of dragons. So that was a brief description of his back story.

So that was how I started writing and my very first idea! I'm much better at writing now and my ideas waaaaay more original :D I hope I didn't bore you with that story :P

Now I gotta try to get myself to outline some more. I wish you guys luck in your writing endevors!

Dragons

Well, I have to say I was on the fence about putting dragons in the Chronicles. Mostly it's because, no matter how much I may like dragons, they seem cliche to me. Plus they just didn't seem to fit into the chronicles. If I were to have dragons I knew they would be a entirely sentient race, not animals, not something to ride on (in fact, a human riding a dragon is about the lowest of the low for my dragons).

So, still undecided I've been vaguely thinking about them from time to time and then I had the perfect idea: Mages and dragons have a mild rivalry going on between them, namely who is superior than the other. This idea just grew and grew bringing with it history and how dragons came into existence, the scuffles between the mages and dragons and now, they fit perfectly. In fact, I already have dragon a character (though unfortunately he shouldn't make an appearance until book 2) and it was really him who said, "Yes, us dragons do exist," with an eerie smile on his face. His name is Oris and here's a simple drawing of him:

 (Click for larger version)

Probably not the best but it catches him. He's not the nicest dragon and is rather frightening at times.  As you see my dragons do have hair, as well as tusks and horns. They don't look very much like giant lizards anymore but more on the mammal side. I think that actually may have been why they didn't seem to fit into my world because I was imagining the stereotypical dragon with all the scales and the long snakish neck and the fire breath and everything but once Oris came into my head that all went away and I knew that they would be looking a bit different.

So, now I got some new things to outline in Remnants cause I'm sure there will be dragons! This will be great, having this added diversity. Quite honestly I can't wait till I get to book two so I can write about Oris!

I hope everyone is having a good time with their NaNo stories! And if you haven't already, click the NaNo Bloggers image at the top of the sidebar to get a list of blogging wrimos and to add your blog if you will also be blogging for NaNo.

Good Luck!

So Very Busy

Wow, I have been so busy! Running around town getting DBA's and stuff, visiting grandparents until midnight, trying to perfect business cards at 3am and then spending all day working the Young Living booth at the wellness expo, I'm just tired!

I was going to post the day before yesterday but didn't have time, but, see. . . I met Scott Westerfeld. I did, and it was awesome. I got there two hours before the signing was supposed to start (this is because attending Stephenie Meyer's signing closer to the right time was a nightmare) and Scott Westerfeld was there - with his wife Justine Larbelestier! - and I got to meet them and shake hands with them! This may not sound too special to some of you but it felt like meeting a celebrity to me. Anyway, they left very soon after that to eat and I waited for the signing to start and slowly people started to trickle in. Scott Westerfeld's presentation was awesome, with all the history that inspired his Leviathan idea and some stuff on his Uglies trilogy. I now wish I had already read the Leviathan series but I just haven't because of everything else I'm trying to read, but now I'm going to get started on them! Anyway then we got the books signed, I also had his Midnighters series which he signed and my mom brought the Uglies for his to sign. She also had me sit next to him and get a picture, kinda embarrassing for me but awesome! I can't wait to print it and hang it on my wall by my desk, that'll be great inspiration :D

Other than that, I haven't had time to outline at all since my plot breakthrough awhile ago and I have to get started with that again because November is almost here! I'm so nervous and excited about it and I have to get back into my story cause I feel a bit detached from it now, having not thought about it very much for the last few days :(

Plot Breakthrough!

LATE POST!!

Or early, depending on your perspective ;) I was up really late at a meeting earlier and only got back an hour and a half ago, a couple of us stayed talking for a long time, it was nice :)

Anyway, I have just thought of something for the Chronicles! It just hit me out of the blue and I am so glad I thought of it now instead of halfway into November because this thing I thought of will completely influence most of my world! It will influence the magic, the society, the history, absolutely everything! And I think it's a very original idea that I haven't seen used before (though who am I to know? I have just barely begun perusing the fantasy genre for books having found lately that YA is getting very flat and childish to me) and I think that I can do a very good job implementing it into my world because this thing I just thought of is also - to a certain extent - part of my own life :DD I have actually been thinking that I should start to live the way they might just for fun XD
Sorry I can't tell you anything else cause I'm being shy and paranoid :[ but it is a very good world building point and is already adding extra plot and conflict and scenes are already popping up in my head! This will be great!!!
Sorry for being so excited about this, I just think it is a major break through for my story, plus I am a bit tired and I usually get easily excitable at night :D And I just thought of something good to add but forgot. . . dang it.

Anyway there's this contest thing that Tahereh is doing where you could win 100 dollars for books!! All you have to do is follow her and leave a comment with your favorite title of a novel and your in! Thought you guys should know so you can go enter in!!

Anyway, just thought I should share this stuff before I forgot tomorrow or something. Have good dreams!

History and Magic

I have finally - finally - done a bit of outlining and planning and stuff :D Yesterday I outlined another chapter or two and I started to further develop my magic and I'm trying to learn just what it can and can't do, creating the rules and structure and all that. I have to say that I particularly enjoy doing that type of thing, thinking about the way things should be with the magic and the world. I've also created a legend that has, for a long time, become a children's bedtime story, and it will be relevant to the story so I didn't make that just for fun. . . But it was fun.

So today I think I'm going to continue with the magic development and start to figure out the things about the remnants that have been on my mind for awhile now. The remnants have a very interesting history that I can't wait to dig into, that will be fun :D I wonder how much of their history will actually make it into the book though. . .

I think it's kinda funny how we will develop all this interesting history and magic rules and things about their world and tons upon tons of other things that probably won't even make it into the book. Even though we know that there's no way a bunch of this stuff will get into the books we write it anyway. Like I was just talking about the remnants history up there? Well very little of what I discover about it will probably make it into the book and I know this yet I will figure it all out anyway. Then I got Siron's mothers past and her family that I have to figure out and lots of her history will get into the book yet I'm not as interested in figuring all that out as I am about the remnants.

How many of you guys bother about making a history for your world? Or how much do you figure out about their magic rules and boundaries? And how are your outlines going, if you're outlining at all?

How Much to Share?

I am sad to say I haven't done any more outlining yet :'( This is due to getting new parts for my PC, reading and just general laziness. But I have made a (unneeded) wordcount checklist :D I will start on the outline immediately though! For real! I mean it this time. . .uh. . .

Anyway! I don't really have anything in particular to blog about today but I do have a question: How much of your story are you willing to share, both to someone you know and on the internet? Do you only say so much about it or are you somewhat paranoid about sharing too much?

Reminiscing and My Synopsis

So let's reminisce for a moment.

It was a small bit less than a year ago that Justine Larbalestier, an authors blog whom I followed, started posting tips for this strange thing called NaNoWriMo. I never got to read on her blog what, exactly, NaNoWriMo was cause I hadn't visited her site for a week or so. She was on tip #7 I believe when I finally decided to google this strange NaNoWriMo. What I discovered was the wonderful thing that is National Novel Writing Month! As I read about the website and the challenge it immediately appealed to me, and I thought that I just had to join this, I had too! So after joining I tried to decide what I would write, finally choosing Dk27, an old sci fi/fantasy idea I had. I didn't start writing until the next day though and that day I wrote somewhere around 800 words before I decided I could not write this story any longer; it just wasn't working! So I abandoned that idea and looked through my journal for something else to write, deciding on an idea I had just discovered a week or so earlier, having to do with angels. But, being disappointed with that day I didn't write until the next day. So the next day, I wrote a lot knowing that I needed to pass up the measly 800 words from the day before! (I was also embarrassed that I gave up on my story and didn't tell anyone. This is what gave me the motivation to pass up DK27's word count) And I made over one thousand words that day! And then I just kept going and going - but don't be mistaken, there was a place in the middle where I very nearly gave up because I fully believed that I could not do it and that my story was stuck anyway. . . But due to the inspiring words of one of my writing buddies I kept on and eventually made it to the end at 50,028 words! I was so proud of that book (named Angels)!

(Whew, that was long)

And so here I am back to do it again! It really is addicting I suppose, despite all the stress and headaches and the freaking out cause of writers block. The sense of excitement and happiness you have when your writing that scene that you couldn't wait to write, or the adrenaline rush when that perfect idea just hits you out of nowhere - that all makes up for it. And then when you get to the end of that 50,000 and know that you actually did it, that just makes it all worth it. Even if your not done with the book yet, even if you still have 10, 20, or even 50 thousand more words to go, it was still worth it.

That's why I'm back!

I've also finally filled out my novel info on NaNo, but I'll post the synopsis here for everyone, I've been dying to get this out. I still think it needs some work, but I'll fix that later when the book is more. . . well, known to me.

Synopsis: The Chronicle of Siron - Book I - Remnants

Siron is an orphan in the small country of Dimor having no knowledge of either of his parents or anything else far beyond the borders of the small orphanage. But he knows there's something different about him, and not only because of the woman Aurenna who lives inside his head but something else. . . something he can feel in his very soul. And lately he has been hearing whispers. . . Telling him things. . .

But not too long after he can hear these whispers a man finds him. Damen. He says he's a master mage, and that Siron is a mage as well, and together they leave the orphanage and the small country behind to journey to the Islands so that Siron can be made Damen's apprentice. But the whispers are following Siron and are chasing him in black shadowy forms. They say they need him, that Siron has what they need, that they will give in return whatever he might wish. Power. . . Knowledge. . . The world. . .

And Siron is beginning to believe it.

NaNo Plot Bunnies!!!

Today is the day. . .

The day that NaNoWriMo will be reborn!!!

Mwahahahahahahah!

Haha :P Anyways. . . I'll probably be hanging around the site until it's wiped! This is my second year doing NaNo and the first year I wasn't around for the wipe so this is exciting! Last year I didn't even have time to plot, jumping in head first on the 8th of November! But this year shall be different. I am already starting my outline and as I outline my story is evolving as new plot bunnies emerge to better enrich (distract) my story. Just yesterday as I was outlining chapter 1 I thought of some things like: Maybe the remnants will have already contacted Siron before Damen got to him? And this would also give a reason as to how Damen decided to look in that country and find Siron instead of just chance. . . And then the prologue too, should that come from the mothers perspective? The enemies perspective? Third person omniscient? The whole story is going to be third person limited so maybe I should do omniscient for the prologue. . . And then just last night another idea came up for the remnants and their history! So many things, and I'm sure this is only the beginning. . .

If you guys have heard of Scott Westerfeld and have read his books, you should know that he's doing a book tour this month! I'm hoping to go to one and bring a lug of his books with me! He's the author of the Uglies series which was pretty good and his new Leviathan series. If you haven't heard of him you should check out his books! He write mostly sci fi I believe. . .

Oh, one more thing! StickyNoteStories has started a NaNoWriMo blog chain! Just click this icon and it'll take you to the blog chain where you can link your blog and find other wrimos! If you join in the chain be sure to post this icon in your NaNo post so other wrimos can join in! :D

I'm going back to the forums now! Weeee :DD

Waiting for NaNo

(Fixed)

I've finally made a cover for the first book of the Chronicles of Siron. It took two or three very wrong tries but I finally did it:


(Note: Image used does not belong to me)

I think it came out very good, a lot better than last years Angels cover by a long shot! I especially love how eerie the eyes came out :D I also made a signature banner thing for it:



I didn't do that texture thing I did with the cover but it came out better without it.

Gosh I'm just so exited! Waiting for NaNo to come up! I've just barely started to outline. I've done this major event outline on a wipey board, an idea from someone on the forums, but I'm still going to try and outline chapter by chapter. I just feel the need to because the wipey board isn't detailed enough, though it is good to glance at for reference. Like in chapter one the outline will be like, 'Be sure to include this or that, etc' That's what I think it'll be like anyway. I haven't actually written it yet. . . <.<

Haha, anyway. I know a lot of other people are just as exited as me, you can tell by looking at the forums, all the topics for 'Countdown to the Wipe' and 'Farewell Forums' and some others.

Um, I might be able to talk about something else tomorrow (or maybe after the new site is up) but for now I CAN'T WAIT!!!1! XD

50k a Day!?

Well I did some of the word sprints today, starting on my idea #1 because I basically already had some characters and a feel for the world. Basically, it is a reincarnation of an older idea and so I have recycled some of the characters, including the MC, his name is Lighsen Law (last name may be subject to change). The title for my old idea was DK27 and I'm trying to find a way to keep that same title, as I'm rather fond of it, it would have to be incorporated into the plot somehow (there is a meaning behind the title, I'll tell you guys what it means if I can put it in the plot somehow. . . ). So I have a couple thousand words written on that thanks to the sprints but it was hard going because I wasn't entirely sure how to start and I think I started the story two or three times before I finally got in the flow with a good beginning. So that's nice, it feels good to be writing again (I haven't written for a month or so due to my computer braking and losing close to everything; thank goodness for flash drives and my forethought to save my two most precious stories!). I'm going to be doing outlines for this as well as the Chronicles and maybe another or so. The Chronicles is at the top of the list however.

Now, you guys have probably already heard of Kateness, the girl who wrote 1,000,000 words during NaNo last year. But, nevertheless, if you haven't checked out her blog I advise that you do, huge inspiration boost for me. Here is her blog posts throughout November '09 (Day 1 is at the bottom). She wrote 50,000 words in her first day of doing NaNo. O_O :O Anyway it was a great inspiration and you should check it out and read it because it lifted my spirits some to see someone write so much in so little time.

I'm also trying to get myself on a good steady sleep pattern before NaNo (psh, that will probably go down the drain ) so that I might not be so tired.

Well, that's all for now! I hope everyone is having luck with their NaNo plots and such!

Crazy

I am crazy.

No, really, I am. As if doing nanowrimo itself wasn't crazy enough I want to write two books within that thirty day time frame. Two. Books. . . .Two. In thirty. Days. *Terrified Shriek* Why do I have to do this to myself? I mean, I know I don't have to write two of them but it just sounds like a new challenge! Interesting and twice as hard! I could write one after the other or work on both at the same time, which, according to some people is easier because if you get bored with one book you work on the other. Sooooo. . . What should I do? Should I try it? I mean seriously, in the last two or three days I have come up with. . . Four (FOUR!) ideas! Three of which are already decently formed ideas with their different worlds already very distinct in my mind and their different plots taking shape. One of these three ideas may actually be a reincarnation of an older story that I gave up on but it now has what it didn't have before: an actual plot! And then I have the Chronicles of Siron on top of these new ideas *mumblegrumble* Here, I'll give a quick summary of my three new ideas (please don't take them) and probably the Chronicles too (don't take that either).

#1

In the near future it is manditory for every person to have a chip put in them at birth. These chips are used for transactions of any kind as well as information about you, etc. It's illigal not to have them. What they don't tell everyone is that you can be tracked with them and they can also kill you. There is an underground group that is utterly against these chips and are often causing the government great trouble and they are trying to get people to believe that the government has the absolute power to kill them, this group wishes to start a revolution. The leader of the underground group is one of the people who helped create the chip.

(If you know what's on page 1,001 of the health care, you know how this idea came about >.>)

#2

Earth is not the only world in existence, the problem is they don't know that. Yet.

There are many worlds, many different planets and earth does not know because they have been 'protected' from knowing of the other planets and lifeforms because of their inability to perform certain abilities. Namely magic. But in a time of war the leaders of each planet have decided that it is time to let the humans know, to let earth realize that they aren't the only ones. Because during this war they can't protect them any longer and they are running out of soldiers so they wish to recruit humans for their own battle as well.

And on earth, there will come a day when hundreds of planets suddenly appear all over their solar system.

(This idea is still very subjective on certain parts but this is the main deal)

#3

A journalist who decides to travel with some one trying to do something (i.e. searching for something/going after someone/travelling to a place no one goes) so he can write up the great article. But he gets more than what he bargained for, when the person he's accompanying ends up discovering major things and everything takes a nose dive as they travel through dangers and peril into the unknown and the very brink of death.

And the journalist? Well, he was there to write about all of it.

(This would be coming from the journalists POV, of course.)

The Chronicle of Siron

In the world of Ailon a young mage, Siron, discovers his magical abilities and travels to the islands to be taught in the ways of magic. Another better learned mage travels with him fortunately, as dark shadows seem to be tailing them on their journey to the islands. They whisper to Siron, tempt him. . . And he soon wonders if he should join them.

(That's the main thing of it but there's a lot more that goes on. I'm afraid if I try to sum it all up here this post will become very, very long)

So, what do you think? The Chronicles of Siron is definitely getting written but what of the other three? I love them all and I want to write! Actually, I want to start writing now so I'm wondering if I should start writing one of them now to pass the time. . . If you can, please comment with your thoughts!

In case you don't know, on twitter NaNoWordSprints is doing sprints every evening (I think) and they'll be doing sprints all day saturday. Join them if you can! I haven't yet because I can't decide if I should start writing something now.

Oh! There's this cool website I recently found called TV Tropes that I find both mildly funny and partially helpful. Especially the Applied Phlebotinum. You guys should check out that website!

Anyway, I think this post is more than long enough, so I shall end it here.

Best writing!