Okay, Game Over

All good things must come to an end. And this has been one hell of a month for writing. Final total for the month: 61,837. Wacky statistics for the month include:

• Movies seen: 57
  
• Pieces written during November: 8 (poems, articles, and, of course, the NaNo novel)
• Time spent with children: Not enough
• Turkey's eaten: 3 (real, tofurkey, and grain roast)
• Pies eaten: Um... a lot. Let's say at least a piece of a couple dozen
• Videos seen: Oy, too many. But I will say that Babylon 5 was an especially prolific background
• Music as my muse: Israeli music, NPR Planet Money and Science Friday podcasts, Gregorian chants, pop music. When I needed a jump start, I listen to Rogue Trader's Voodoo Child. A gift from Doctor Who, who introduced me to the song.
• Friends I've talked to who've supported me emotionally or otherwise: tons

My characters have been a great source of pleasure for me. And frustration. While I don't want to give the whole plot away, I would like to give thanks where thanks are due.

• Omar: Omar was created from a discussion with a fellow NaNo noveler and a friend of my kids (and, okay, of mine). She talked about a friend who dressed in a thick brocade, had all manner of idiosyncrasies. She had a great idea, and I am just beginning to grow Omar's character in the novel. I think I'll need several more thousands words just to capture how interesting a man he is.
• Thomas: A very neat man. Inspiring, spontaneous, fun. Want. To. Write. More. About. Him.
• Jane: She's the glue of the triad. And she's wrestling with feelings and emotions that I, the author, is going to have to research in order to figure out how to even describe how she feels. Oh, god, this is going to be awkward.
• Iris: She is the Transmogrifier, the transformer, and the reason for the novel. She's an innocent, a wise woman, a catalyst for a chemistry experiment that needs to blow up.

The novel is about a stable, three-person marriage: Thomas and Jane and Omar. And how Iris changes everything, changes all equations, changes all relationships, and changes how I (the author) perceive the universe. A good thing. And an attempt to understand how more than two people on a relationship can take on additional, adult, love.

I've had a variety of readers, and I thank each and every one of you. I hope you got something out of the blog. Check out my blog next year at my 2009 National Novel Writing Month blog.

Until then, I'll see you all around!

Last Day, Characters in Motion

54,500 words -- I can make 60,000 if I work really hard.

The characters are giving me their plot points. The Internet is giving me good, long wine names, and several fellow NaNoers are giving me their wise counsel on relationships and confusion (as if I didn't have enough of that all on my own).

Note to all writers: back up your work frequently. I know folks this month who have lost ten thousand words. Don't let it happen to you! I've been extra-dilligent with my backups, and I strongly recommend Allway Sync for both personal and professional backups onto USB drives. This has saved my work on several occasions, and makes my switching between laptop and desktop an effortless experience.

Onwards and Upwards -- and NaNoBruMo

60,000 is the new 50,000. And I'm about 7,500 words from getting to that goal. And if that works? 75,000. I'm taking it one scene at a time, one character's chatter at a time. It's great to get past 50k before the end of the month, and even better than the book is expanding organically, not linearly, to move towards completion. I feel good that this novel can write its own ending, and it'll be a very neat story indeed.

Part of the jumpstart for this is NaNoBruMo: National Novel Brunch Morning. This is the 4th or 5th year I've been doing it: a six hour write-a-thon at my house, brunch served, powerful Turkish coffee on tap, and chimes, so the faithful completing a thousand words and ring out their new word count. By my count, today Penguins put in at least 27,000 words. One participant added over 4,000 to her total. I was a wimp: only about 2,400 to my credit. Then again, I was the one slaving over the hot stove, taking breakfast orders like a short order cook (which I don't resent, merely bring up for discussion.

Anyway, a great time was had by all, and I'm grateful again to my Municipal Liaison and my fellow writers for a lot of fun being had in the name of writing.

Woof! Done? No!

Official word count was 50,101, which was more than my MS Word counter had. But the novel's way not done. New goal: 60,000. And get the rest of the damn plot written out a little better. Something to be thankful for today! Happy turkey, all!

Of Characters and Plots

What's amazing, with only a couple of thousand words left in the NaNo competition, is how the plot, which I'd been vaguely trying to move forward, is finally putting itself into place. Honestly, as a poet I've always known that while I might suggest an idea or opening line, the poem writes itself.

Plots in stories are far more complex; it's in that complexity that clarity more easily arises. Poems have a flow and rhythm that, while edited, essentially is unchanged: a poem about trees might turn into one of life changes, but it's based on the essence of tree and initial thought. Stories with multiple characters, each of whom is imbued with their own personality and vector through the story's existence, have unlimited paths to take to reach a certain plot point or consensus.

So it is here. I wanted Iris to meet, and then create separate relationships with, each of the other family members. So while Thomas was the meeting catalyst, and they four are about to have their first group date, Jane "informed" me as to how things were going to proceed. She's a wonderful, wise woman, the earth woman in this story. And the more I write it, the more fun little description and personality nuggets come through and tantalize me. I'm going to enjoy finishing this puppy up after NaNo's over.

45k and flying...

It's almost like taking candy from a baby. I've got more blather, in a fuzzy, wonky-headed way, than there are words left to go. And the words, as much as I feel I'm aspirating more than actually talking or singing: I've got legs for this novel, and I know that what I have is not what I need to sell it, but it is enough to gel it, to get the pieces together so I can tighten it up and turn it into a nice 70-80k novella or tight little novel.

The action is specific, and the scenes are funny. It needs about 15x tightening up, but, as I wrap up the 50k target word count, I see that I still have a lot of fluff and even more editing work, but a fun little novel.

Cool.

Flowing Towards the Finish Line

41,725 words as of this writing. I definitely don't like the midnight cutoff date for word count. I just get started in the afternoon, and by the time midnight rolls around I'm just starting to cook with gas. Yesterday I had a record (for this year) 4,389 words. But, by my calculations, that's not including the 1,200 words I've written since midnight. I guess it's going to be a 7,000 word night for me, but hacked into pieces by the vagaries of their weird, human diurnal patterns.

Whatever. Jane's reminiscences are gems for me. And Iris' character is certainly, ah, perking up as the story, or at least the scenes, unfold.

On NaNo Words (Versus Writing a Book)

Broke 35,000 today, then pushed another 500 words out in the last five minutes. It's hard for me to write in NaNo-ese sometimes. The urge to make the plot move forward is gummed up by my need to make my numbers. And while the descriptions are great, and eventually a lot of them will find their way into the book, it's sort of like filling a balloon with soap bubbles in order to later consolidate them into a bar of soap.

It's like that.

But it's do darn fun filling that stupid balloon!

When Characters Take the Reins

I just had Jane sweetly acquiesce to having dinner with two charming men, one of whom set her straight into the arms of the other. Now they are all arguing in my head. I want them to go off and have a good time at the dinner, but they want Thomas to get hit by a pickup truck to add emotional velocity to their first evening, and catapult her into feelings for them.

Dang, I hate it when they're right! There was so much boredom in that book, until last night, when Thomas (I think he's the crash test dummy here) tried slapping himself in the forehead in remorse, only forgetting he had a boiling hot plastic cup of chamomile tea in his hand. (What, that's never happened to you?)

So, Thomas goes to the local ER today. And Jane has an emotional tie to deal with. And Omar to comfort her. Heh.

You Know You're Going All Out When...

Empty Words:

• You think about giving everyone an extra name or two.
• You write blog posts, then find a way for your characters to read those posts, therefore giving yourself an easy way to add those words to your word count.

Redundant Words:

• Tell a scene from one character's POV, then do it again from a second character's POV. Done right, you can do 50,000 words just in describing a single scene in a large-ish cocktail party

Slogging through the mid-word count mud

Now is the time I vomit details, worry about florid descriptions and ignore the plot. 'After all,' I think to myself, 'plot takes time, and time I haven't got until the word count is done.' Which is, sadly, true. 

The downside to detail-speak is losing track of the plot in my head, as I am not, as I remarked to a friend last night, much of an outline and prewriting person. The characters take me by the hand and lead me onwards into the murk, creating light and order as they walk, not as I project the light of my forethought.

So right now Jane is comforting a confused future father-in-law on trying to accept his only child being proposed to by two men and a woman, Thomas has been mute (and he's got next POV, so not for long) -- and, just remembered, I need to give him some more backstory and flavor, as Omar, who is in the kitchen with Iris (the fiancee) and her mom Millie putting brownies in boxes for the troops who are stationed... haven't reach that far. Or, Dan or Millie haven't slipped who we are at war with in 2011 (which is the calendar I'm using for this book).

Yeesh. I could have spent the above word count on the novel!

Oh, just an add-on: check out Oh, click here for a cool article. And head to the main site, www.drashpit.com, to see the entire blog with all the great pieces.

Write What you See, What You Know

A quote from my twitter feed of last night:

I am pregnant with unshed words, trapped in a symphonic tango that won't let go.

It was a sense of complete fullness, impatience almost to the point of physical discomfort. I spent all day yesterday collecting sensations, impressions and observations in the same way that an astronaut in her first time in space experiences viscerally what she has heretofore only intellectually practiced.

So the words are pouring. Omar and Thomas and Jane are reliving their experiences introducing their family to their parents. And bracing themselves as a family unit and individually, for the experience of introducing themselves, as a family, to their hopeful bride: Iris. Should they worry that Iris' parents are survivalists with lots of guns?

So onward I write.

The Art of Observation

I'm writing on the run these last couple and next couple of days. My whiny writing tracking software consoles me by saying "you only need to write an additional 121 words each day to catch up." Shuuut uup!

On the flip side, being with new people has given me great material for including in the book. Wonderful people, fascinating and unique situations. Writing constantly, with a focus this year on reality, instead of the life fantastic, leads to wondering about the real mysteries in life:

Me: So, do you put your toilet paper rolls in any particular way?
Him: I dunno, why?
Me: It's for a scene with a character. He realizes someone new is in the household because of the toilet paper roll.
Him: Huh?
Me: So, tell me about toilet paper rolls.
Him: Well, I find it's easier to control the paper if the paper comes up. But I find it goes faster if the roll unwinds facing down.
Me: Hmmm.... [I hadn't given it that much thought, although I'm apparently in the latter tribe.]
Him: Yeah, that's all the thought I've put into toilet paper rolls. We put them in any which way in our house.

Stuff like that is what makes my NaNo heart sing.

A Soft Spot: defined

It's hard to have a place in which characters interact without visualizing it. And, for better or for worse, I've visualized a very specific, very busy and very central place for my characters. There's at least one passionate on-the-table-with-ye scene in the works, not to mention thousands of hours of droning labor. And the odd 'work in the dark' scenes (no, not that kind of scene!).

So here's a very rough draft of the place. I hope to have a better image later on, one incorporating the various furniture and small touch elements.

Twitter & NaNo

In these hyper-communicative times (and times where the NaNoWriMo web site goes belly up and a regularly irregular basis), twitter has become a great way to at least vent one's writing progress and angst to one's circle of friends.

My twitter feed is rolling on my web site (not this one); it's a great way to keep friends and co-writers involved in what's going on (and heckling those deserving of same).

I only hope the NaNo site gets its proverbial act together -- there are a lot of grumpy writers looking to bond with fellow writers and not able to do so. Myself included.

Hopefully this will help...

... I've found dashboards as great ways to motivate me. So here's my current (pathetic) one. I promise I'll do better tomorrow!

You Know It's Gonna Be A Tough Month When...

... your word count for your blog exceeds that for your story. On the other hand, I think I've stumbled on the 'atmosphere' for the novel. I've posted a tiny snippet on the NaNo site under my author profile here.

Fizzle of a start

As I write this NaNo is less than 12 hours in, but I've only got around 1,200 words. Usually the 1st day is 6-8k. :(

It's hard writing in a new genre, and I'm writing in 3rd near POV, with multiple characters. I've got two main characters mapped out pretty well (the men), a little of one of the women, and nothing except for a name for the 3rd. Grrr...

Well, back to the millstone. I've got the kids this weekend, so I'm free to write until the littlest comes toddling home. Then it's off to the (non-writing) races! Well, parks.

On Names and Aliases

Coming up with characters isn't hard. But translating folks I know, or folks that know folks, is harder. So Oscar, the velvet-wearing, oddly swanky man described by a friend, becomes Omar, Sheikh of the Chihuahuan Desert, with flowing robes and a headscarf instead of brocaded velvet (a good choice, actually, given the milieu).

Tougher will be some of the other characters. Keeping the name is a kind of key to who they are, and a trigger for me, the author, to feel their actions and emotions more clearly.

Maybe a global cut & paste when I'm finished? {shrugs}

Worry less: write more -- tomorrow!

Rethinking Novels and Genres

There's a writing maxim that one should write what one knows. There's another that says that a writer should 'push the envelope' in terms of their writing. Well, I know relationships a whole lot better this year than last, and I've never written a 'relationship' novel. A few short stories, now that I think of it, but they're all in the weird fiction realm: Lazarus-like people, Jewish faeries, etc.

This year I'll go brave: fiction but no fantasy or science. Romance but nothing hard-core. 3rd person omnicient, but hovering around a single character. A book in seasons, with months as chapters. Flowers and plants play a key memetic and plot role. Characters. Love in non-conventional relationships, with committed and uncommitted partners.

I've been pretty coy about my novels in previous years. This time I will try and be more clear on some of the research details and angst of the writing process through the month. The coy factor will continue, as I'm writing this for publication (read: payment) and not just self-gratification. But the process is good to write about, and share, since I'm not alone this November, and anything I glean in the process should be shared.

Counting Down

The local kickoff party was this evening. It's like meeting summer campers after a year apart. Trading stories, finding up what's new with whom, hazing the hatchlings... Great fun.

I was grumbling with one of the folks about not having a prepared plan of action for this year's NaNo book. But I never do. I guess the real issue is that I'm torn between writing 50k of stuff to get it done, or writing something that's readable and salable. I'm also torn between writing my "usual" fare, and writing something outside my comfort zone.

Some folks are prewriting for months before NaNo. I've tried doing that (last year's disaster and almost failure was an example of that). But there's no small amount of stress in trying to write a novel on a wing and a prayer. Grrr...

There's only one thing to do: get a good idea together, leave my comfort zone, and try and sell the resulting book anyway.

Hmmm... that sounded almost too easy.

Hey, it's early for this!

Yup, it's only September one, and NaNoWriMo 2008 is all of two months away. But it's not too early for me to think about the challenge to come.

I learned a lot from the last NaNoWriMo.

1. Egos are made to be punctured. I had everything planned out for the last one, and ended up hashing together absurdly long chapter titles with 'a dream within a dream' dialog (combined with an overgenerous dollop of hallucinogenic fantasy), to make the requisite end of novel and 50,000 words.
2. Long character names and listing of meals is too a legitimate way to add words to the novel.
3. Your kids are at least as devious as you are in creating puff-novels that are detested from the moment created through the last !$#(!@ word. And never to be looked at again.
4. Well, there were a few good nuggets in there...
5. ...but not useful for this year's NaNoWriMo.
6. NaNoBruMo is a place of mind, not location. I say that because it'll have to be somewhere other than the last several years, owing to the sale/foreclosure of the current residence (don't ask me how this year has gone!)
   

Resolutions for 2008:

• I'll get a location for NaNoBruMo pegged down by the first week in November, even if I have to kill a family to take over their house. (Well, that was a little over the top. See novel from last year.)
• While I sketched out the novel last year, this year I have to actually like the novel idea, not just see it's word count potential.
• Blogging doesn't add to word count, but it's important. I realized I'd only done three blog entries all of last year. No good. This year, it's many. I promise. I swear. (I swear I won't edit this on November 30th!)
• Advertisement! I'll push this on friends' blogs, on twitter, and everywhere else I can.

I guess that's all for an opening salvo. My current idea is to take the TV arc of my Induction, Infection and Insurrection novels and turn each episode into a treatment, then have the treatments strung together as a narrative with a narrator moving the viewers/readers from one episode to another. Should be fun.

More on this in my next post, which should be within the next couple of weeks. Gotta rev up for the writing. I want to be able to hit the magical 100,000 word bullseye this year.