Monday, November 30, 2009
We're all Winners (2009)
We're all (collectively) catching our breaths. We have all stumbled across the NaNoWriMo finish line and completed 50,000 words in 30 days. Now that we've got our lives back (more or less) we'll be back to a more regular posting schedule. But for today-- its roll on the celebrations, 50k in 30 days! Woo hoo!!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Not So Solitary's First Teaser Tuesday
Well, as a thank you to The Purple Patch for posting such a kick ass Tuesday Teaser (which completley made my day), I'm posting a small snippet of my NaNo project. This year my NaNo project is a YA novel. What follows is a bit from the prologue which takes place about 1,000 years before the story starts. It's really rough and I apologize in advance for the sloppy writing and any typos...I'm way too supersitious to have a title for this beast yet, but here you go!
When they found her in the dusk-caked ruins of the old city, their first thought was of murder. Trials were matters of expedience and urgency, but this was something different. For her crimes, she should burn. Immediately. The crowd's anger would be abated by nothing less than the total destruction of the woman. The dogs strained on their leashes, desperate to claw their way closer to the huddled mass of flesh.
Her hollow and deadened eyes stared out at the mob that surrounded her. She hissed at the crowd and flashed a set of serrated fangs. She clawed, her long taloned-fingers slashed the empty air around her. She screamed, it was a sound that broke through the chanting of the crowd and the slowly descending night. Her choked screams sounded like a murder of crows had taken flight. Then she laughed.
Her dark blue raven-wing coloured hair was thick with mats and burs. She had been hiding for too long. Her dark power weakened by the constant gnawing strength of this small village. She should have foreseen this end, her sisters would no doubt be ashamed to find out how foolishly she had behaved. How wantonly she had attempted to live amongst these worthless. These nobodies. These nothings.
She pushed herself up to her full height. She was a statuesque woman, slender and beautiful. Had her face not been mud streaked and her hair not knotted she would have been breathtakingly stunning. As it was, the crowd tumbled backwards in a dark awe. She was terrible and furious. She was the end.
A small woman broke away from the crowd and approached her. The woman's rose coloured hair flapped around her face in the breeze.
“It is time you were gone from here, demon. We have endured your torture long enough.” The woman's voice carried across the ruined buildings. She faced the demon without fear, without remorse, with a certain understanding of how this would end.
The raven-haired creature laughed. “You do not possess the power to banish me. I will call for my sisters and we will feast upon your village. We shall turn your nothing town into our immortal city of bones and ashes. We shall crave our future from your worthless mortal lives. We will drain this land of life and leave a wasteland for crows.” She licked her lips. “And I shall curse those of your descent. For a thousand years they shall no know peace, speak the truth and have others hear it as lies, they shall die in destitute madness and poverty.” She smiled. “Go on, you cheap charlatan, do your worst!” She roared.
The woman took a step closer to the creature. She felt herself waiver. She had studied these creatures for years. She had been raised to destroy such beasts, and yet, standing before it in all its unearthly glory she paled. She looked to the crowd. She raised her silver dagger above her head.
“Gentle villagers we must tie her to a stake and burn her at a cross roads. We must scatter her ashes to the winds that she may never find her way back to our village.” Her voice shook with both fear and prophecy.
The people behind her shifted and shouted. Their torches held aloft and blazing. A man pushed past her and stood between the woman and the creature.
“She lies! We must throw the monster from the cliffs and into the sea. It is the only way.” His hair and beard were streaked with a russet colour that glowed in the torch light. “Do not listen to the outsider, she speaks of madness. Everyone knows the only way to kill a succubus is to throw the beast into the waves. Bind the creature with silver ropes and chains and bring her to the cliffs.”
The crowd cheered as two strapping men pushed past the woman and seized the creature. They bound the creature's hands and ankles to a wooden stake and carried her slung between them from the city and towards the cliffs. Their progress was lighted by the flickering torches.
The woman shivered. “Jezebel,” she whispered. One of the great and last.
When they found her in the dusk-caked ruins of the old city, their first thought was of murder. Trials were matters of expedience and urgency, but this was something different. For her crimes, she should burn. Immediately. The crowd's anger would be abated by nothing less than the total destruction of the woman. The dogs strained on their leashes, desperate to claw their way closer to the huddled mass of flesh.
Her hollow and deadened eyes stared out at the mob that surrounded her. She hissed at the crowd and flashed a set of serrated fangs. She clawed, her long taloned-fingers slashed the empty air around her. She screamed, it was a sound that broke through the chanting of the crowd and the slowly descending night. Her choked screams sounded like a murder of crows had taken flight. Then she laughed.
Her dark blue raven-wing coloured hair was thick with mats and burs. She had been hiding for too long. Her dark power weakened by the constant gnawing strength of this small village. She should have foreseen this end, her sisters would no doubt be ashamed to find out how foolishly she had behaved. How wantonly she had attempted to live amongst these worthless. These nobodies. These nothings.
She pushed herself up to her full height. She was a statuesque woman, slender and beautiful. Had her face not been mud streaked and her hair not knotted she would have been breathtakingly stunning. As it was, the crowd tumbled backwards in a dark awe. She was terrible and furious. She was the end.
A small woman broke away from the crowd and approached her. The woman's rose coloured hair flapped around her face in the breeze.
“It is time you were gone from here, demon. We have endured your torture long enough.” The woman's voice carried across the ruined buildings. She faced the demon without fear, without remorse, with a certain understanding of how this would end.
The raven-haired creature laughed. “You do not possess the power to banish me. I will call for my sisters and we will feast upon your village. We shall turn your nothing town into our immortal city of bones and ashes. We shall crave our future from your worthless mortal lives. We will drain this land of life and leave a wasteland for crows.” She licked her lips. “And I shall curse those of your descent. For a thousand years they shall no know peace, speak the truth and have others hear it as lies, they shall die in destitute madness and poverty.” She smiled. “Go on, you cheap charlatan, do your worst!” She roared.
The woman took a step closer to the creature. She felt herself waiver. She had studied these creatures for years. She had been raised to destroy such beasts, and yet, standing before it in all its unearthly glory she paled. She looked to the crowd. She raised her silver dagger above her head.
“Gentle villagers we must tie her to a stake and burn her at a cross roads. We must scatter her ashes to the winds that she may never find her way back to our village.” Her voice shook with both fear and prophecy.
The people behind her shifted and shouted. Their torches held aloft and blazing. A man pushed past her and stood between the woman and the creature.
“She lies! We must throw the monster from the cliffs and into the sea. It is the only way.” His hair and beard were streaked with a russet colour that glowed in the torch light. “Do not listen to the outsider, she speaks of madness. Everyone knows the only way to kill a succubus is to throw the beast into the waves. Bind the creature with silver ropes and chains and bring her to the cliffs.”
The crowd cheered as two strapping men pushed past the woman and seized the creature. They bound the creature's hands and ankles to a wooden stake and carried her slung between them from the city and towards the cliffs. Their progress was lighted by the flickering torches.
The woman shivered. “Jezebel,” she whispered. One of the great and last.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
NANO Week 3: How Are You Fairing?
Hello everyone out there. At this point, those of you who have joined us in the exciting journey through NANO land have likewise hit the midpoint. Are you hanging in there? Are you still just as excited about your story as when you started?
If not, you're not alone. This is a hard spot. At this point you've been writing for two weeks now, pumping out word counts and exploring the world you've been creating.
This is my third year doing NANO, and while my word counts are vastly improved from the first year, those struggles still haven't abated. I just reach a point when I slow down, not for lack of ideas, but because I just question everything. I just finished a scene that breaks me because I know I'm going to have to go back and get rid of it all. Almost all 2000 words.
The only thing that gets me through this is knowing that I've come so far -- too far to turn back now. That and remembering Rule Number One: Go Forward. You go back when you edit, and editing will happen when the story is done.
Of course, small sweets and other incentives are certainly helping....
How are you getting through NANO this year?
If not, you're not alone. This is a hard spot. At this point you've been writing for two weeks now, pumping out word counts and exploring the world you've been creating.
This is my third year doing NANO, and while my word counts are vastly improved from the first year, those struggles still haven't abated. I just reach a point when I slow down, not for lack of ideas, but because I just question everything. I just finished a scene that breaks me because I know I'm going to have to go back and get rid of it all. Almost all 2000 words.
The only thing that gets me through this is knowing that I've come so far -- too far to turn back now. That and remembering Rule Number One: Go Forward. You go back when you edit, and editing will happen when the story is done.
Of course, small sweets and other incentives are certainly helping....
How are you getting through NANO this year?
Friday, November 13, 2009
Just Be Brave
For me, 2009's motto has been: Just be brave. Its simple, its three words and it makes a whole lot of sense.
See, I've spent a lot of time allowing my fear of different things to drive me to near legendary distraction. I'm an obsess-over-the-big-picture type of girl. It means I'm really great at looking at all the steps involved in starting a new venture, changing careers, or effectively manage a series of tasks or projects. However, it also means I cripple myself with doubts from the outset-- because my brain has already told me (in no uncertain terms) just how many different things could go wrong or how much work it will take to actually make something successful. It's blistering.
And along came 2009...
See, this year I've just decided to go for things. I wrote a novel, it needs work, but I did it. I successfully changed careers (ok, I left my last job in late November 08--but you get the idea). I became a permanent resident in the UK (that process was overwhelming and the idea of permanently living here still surprises me). This year, I've just been brave.
And then along came NaNo....
Up until the moment I opened my document on November 1st I had no idea what I was going to write about. I had a theme, I had a rough few thoughts that I thought I could stretch out to something interesting, but nothing concrete. After I wrote the first sentence, I realized that no matter how hard I tried, the story I was going to have to work on next was a very old one. It's a story that has had at least six false starts. And of course, my brain decided that this month, this one crazy month of writing, this was the story it was finally ready to tell.
WTF? Right?
I took a deep breath, I resigned myself to another potential false start, and now, at 20800 words in, I'm thinking I might just (finally) finish this novel. Because here's the thing. It's brave to just put the story out there and let the characters do whatever they want. They will be edited later. It's brave to chuck out all my notes and outlines (which never worked in the first place) and just let the story go where it will...I am sure I will be grumbling mightily when it comes time to edit this mess-- but here's the thing, this time I'm sure I'll get to edit this mess, because, I will finish.
So, who else is doing NaNo?
See, I've spent a lot of time allowing my fear of different things to drive me to near legendary distraction. I'm an obsess-over-the-big-picture type of girl. It means I'm really great at looking at all the steps involved in starting a new venture, changing careers, or effectively manage a series of tasks or projects. However, it also means I cripple myself with doubts from the outset-- because my brain has already told me (in no uncertain terms) just how many different things could go wrong or how much work it will take to actually make something successful. It's blistering.
And along came 2009...
See, this year I've just decided to go for things. I wrote a novel, it needs work, but I did it. I successfully changed careers (ok, I left my last job in late November 08--but you get the idea). I became a permanent resident in the UK (that process was overwhelming and the idea of permanently living here still surprises me). This year, I've just been brave.
And then along came NaNo....
Up until the moment I opened my document on November 1st I had no idea what I was going to write about. I had a theme, I had a rough few thoughts that I thought I could stretch out to something interesting, but nothing concrete. After I wrote the first sentence, I realized that no matter how hard I tried, the story I was going to have to work on next was a very old one. It's a story that has had at least six false starts. And of course, my brain decided that this month, this one crazy month of writing, this was the story it was finally ready to tell.
WTF? Right?
I took a deep breath, I resigned myself to another potential false start, and now, at 20800 words in, I'm thinking I might just (finally) finish this novel. Because here's the thing. It's brave to just put the story out there and let the characters do whatever they want. They will be edited later. It's brave to chuck out all my notes and outlines (which never worked in the first place) and just let the story go where it will...I am sure I will be grumbling mightily when it comes time to edit this mess-- but here's the thing, this time I'm sure I'll get to edit this mess, because, I will finish.
So, who else is doing NaNo?
Saturday, November 7, 2009
What NANO has Reminded Me: Early Morning Writing Joy
In many ways, participating in NANOWRIMO teaches me things about writing and about myself. Many of those lessons are reminders. The biggest thing I've been reminded of lately is of my morning creative period.
Before joining the huddled masses in the real world, I was always an early riser. As Ginny and Jenny can both attest, for much of my time in college I was up before my roommates finishing papers and projects I hadn't finished the night before. Ten PM was my limit of lateness for work, but during the morning hours -- from six to eight (in some cases, nine, if I didn't have a class) -- I was gold. I liked working in the morning. My brain liked the morning. And I was more than willing to run with it.
Fast forward eight years. Work life and home life being what it is, my sleep clock shifted. My husband (love him dearly) has always been a night owl. He works best in the late hours and has no problems sleeping in until eleven on the weekends if there is no alarm. While I've never really been able to sleep that late, I might get up when the cat wanted a feeding, crawl back into bed and sleep until the alarm or until about nine AM without it. But I'm not going to bed until eleven PM - midnight. And, I've been getting into the habit of blaming work as much as my husband -- in getting home and needing to get so much done before bed because I was at work all day, but I'm rediscovering early mornings this NANO, thanks to the time change.
I'm rediscovering my early creative period. For the last week, I've been up every day by seven at the latest (the old eight). I pour myself a cup of tea, curl up with the cat (the only time he "cuddles"), and I get working. By the time the alarm goes off (around eight), I've got six-hundred words or so banged out. I'm awake and feeling good starting my workday. Perhaps it's a little early to say, but I think this is something I want to keep going into the rest of my writing year. Perhaps not upwards of two-thousand words a day -- although NANO has proved to me I can do it (and makes me feel more guilty about my dry spells), but maybe this is how I could keep that up post-NANO.
I do have other revelations that have come to me this and prior NANOs, not the least of which is that I'm capable of doing two-thousand words a day, but we'll save those for another post on another day.
In the meantime, I'm going to get back to my NANOing. For those who might want to track my progress, too, the NANO log-on I'm updating is MiaBrightborn.
13894 and counting!
Before joining the huddled masses in the real world, I was always an early riser. As Ginny and Jenny can both attest, for much of my time in college I was up before my roommates finishing papers and projects I hadn't finished the night before. Ten PM was my limit of lateness for work, but during the morning hours -- from six to eight (in some cases, nine, if I didn't have a class) -- I was gold. I liked working in the morning. My brain liked the morning. And I was more than willing to run with it.
Fast forward eight years. Work life and home life being what it is, my sleep clock shifted. My husband (love him dearly) has always been a night owl. He works best in the late hours and has no problems sleeping in until eleven on the weekends if there is no alarm. While I've never really been able to sleep that late, I might get up when the cat wanted a feeding, crawl back into bed and sleep until the alarm or until about nine AM without it. But I'm not going to bed until eleven PM - midnight. And, I've been getting into the habit of blaming work as much as my husband -- in getting home and needing to get so much done before bed because I was at work all day, but I'm rediscovering early mornings this NANO, thanks to the time change.
I'm rediscovering my early creative period. For the last week, I've been up every day by seven at the latest (the old eight). I pour myself a cup of tea, curl up with the cat (the only time he "cuddles"), and I get working. By the time the alarm goes off (around eight), I've got six-hundred words or so banged out. I'm awake and feeling good starting my workday. Perhaps it's a little early to say, but I think this is something I want to keep going into the rest of my writing year. Perhaps not upwards of two-thousand words a day -- although NANO has proved to me I can do it (and makes me feel more guilty about my dry spells), but maybe this is how I could keep that up post-NANO.
I do have other revelations that have come to me this and prior NANOs, not the least of which is that I'm capable of doing two-thousand words a day, but we'll save those for another post on another day.
In the meantime, I'm going to get back to my NANOing. For those who might want to track my progress, too, the NANO log-on I'm updating is MiaBrightborn.
13894 and counting!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
I heart NaNo
As you can see from our badge on the side, this year we're taking part in NaNo-- the whole blog!! Last year the three of us each embarked on the NaNo adventure and we now have finished drafts of novels to show from all our work. We all hit the NaNo 50k word goal within a month (astonishing) and then finished our novels in the following months. I'm still revising my novel from last NaNo, but I'm beyond excited to be working on a new project.
This year I'm writing a YA Fantasy/coming-of-age novel. It makes a change from last year's Urban Fantasy/Time Slip novel. I have to say that editing and writing at the same time seems to work best for me. It makes me feel less pressured, as if all my eggs aren't in the same basket (or something).
So, what are you all up to? Any other NaNo-ers out there? If so, feel free to friend me-- I'm imaginatively called: gennstone.
I have to cut this blog short and get in some more words before the husband comes home and we stare at some of the fireworks going off as I type this (its Bonfire Night here in the UK). But I promise more updates soon!
8877 (and counting)
This year I'm writing a YA Fantasy/coming-of-age novel. It makes a change from last year's Urban Fantasy/Time Slip novel. I have to say that editing and writing at the same time seems to work best for me. It makes me feel less pressured, as if all my eggs aren't in the same basket (or something).
So, what are you all up to? Any other NaNo-ers out there? If so, feel free to friend me-- I'm imaginatively called: gennstone.
I have to cut this blog short and get in some more words before the husband comes home and we stare at some of the fireworks going off as I type this (its Bonfire Night here in the UK). But I promise more updates soon!
8877 (and counting)
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