14:21
After a hazardous night with my crazy kitten, I got next to no sleep, so I slept in today. Eesh.
I am determined to get 3471 words in and hit that 50k goal, starting... now!
14:37
Well, it's going pretty alright. I like writing fight scenes ^^
People say I'm pretty good at writing fight scenes, so one of these posts, I fully intend to explain how to write good fight scenes (probably by linking a bunch of resources that I used to learn how)
23:35
I won NaNo at 50017 words, and I even have almost a half hour to spare. Not too bad for totally sucking most of this year.
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Saturday, November 29, 2014
Day 29: shoop woop skiddley doop
15:33
So, the best board game ever has got to be "Betrayal at House on the Hill." It's a horror survival game made by wizard's of the coast. Like Clue, you have these characters that go into all these different rooms, but you get to build the house. Eventually, a "haunt" will begin, and based on what characters found what items where, the haunt will always be different (there are roughly 50 something haunts). In each haunt, there is a traitor. This traitor teams up with a monster (or is a monster) who tries to kill off all the other players. The traitor has a specific set of instructions on how to complete this. The others have a survivor's manual that tells them how to win against the enemy.
I love the game, because there are a million ways it can go. You never know who's gonna die, who's gonna survive, and who will win in the end. It has a lot to do with strategy as well as luck.
So consider getting this game. It is legendary!
18:17
When my friends tell me they're gonna blast Christmas music, what they mean is Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
23:33
I have written zilch, zero, nada for NaNo today, but that's A-OK by me. I will just have to push to the finish line tomorrow.
Friday, November 28, 2014
Day 28: copious copying
3:19
You might be questioning the sudden skyrocketing numbers in my NaNo wordcount.
Well...
I was explaining my dilemma to TheJazzPony about how I was falling behind, had 2 days left, and roughly 8000 words left to type out. Plus, I was running out of inspiration. I also mentioned the 4284 words I had written previous to NaNo.
So she suggested I re-type out all those words. Then I can honestly say I wrote all that for this NaNo.
So I did. I even wrote several hundred new words to extend some chapters and tweak some scenes. It was really, really easy. Which is good, because I would rather re-type what I wrote pre-NaNo than take yet another break from writing and fall even further behind.
So I did not cheat and just throw the words in, I actually rewrote stuff (even deleted and added new stuff), and so... yah... that's that.
I guess I'm back on track now. I would be very happy to exceed 50k this year, but we shall see what happens.
3:24
In other news, on my characters extra site, I am posting up a list of every name I have ever used in roleplay. At least, what I can gather from my characters' sites...
Some I can recall even without my characters' sites, like my charrie Dastan who was a cheetah, or my werewolf Donnie Darkstorm... among others. Usually names that I have reused several times are easy to recall.
It's a meticulous process, but I like to see what names I re-hash too many times *cough cough* Arteaux *cough*. As well as to just, I don't know, see what I've come up with. It's sort of cool. To me at least. I don't know. Yall probably think I'm weird.
Though it would be more weird if you didn't think that already...
3:28
Two NaNos in a row, I have done a blog post on the Hunger Games.
Nov. 23, 2013 - Nov. 19, 2014
6:48
So, I'm up at the crack of dawn, less than 3 hours of sleep, and I'm just gonna have to deal with it.
She peed on my floor twice, pooped under my bed, then peed on my bed this morning. And we're talking lakes.
Lakes.
My whole room smells like freaking cat pee. WHY?
She does not realize how loved she is. Any other (sane) person would have gotten rid of her by now. Many times I want to. Heck, when I first moved here, she got REALLY territorial (wasn't used to the other two cats) so she would pee on my bed several times a day. I think I broke the drying machine with my comforter going through all those times.
So, this incident here is not that bad. It probably means she's going into her picky "change my litter twice a day" phase. (I hate that phase....) >. >
9:01
I finished my master list of character names (at least all the humans, animals and warrior cats still needs to be made). And A, S, M, and T are in the top four. A takes first place with 89. That's mostly because A is the first letter that comes up on baby name sites when I'm trying to get inspiration for character names.
I really don't have a favorite letter... but it seems that I need to give other letters more attention.
On another note, I have no Q names, which surprises me. Usually, I'm pretty good at having a character in each letter, I mean, take the last few letters of the alphabet that we typically don't touch: U, W, X, and Y. Maybe even throw O into the mix while we're at it.
O=9, U=5, W=6, X=3, and Y has 5.
Oh, what about V and Z? V has 23 and Z has 15.
For those uncommon letters, you would think I would have a Q name somewhere, but nope.
*cracks knuckles* Time to make a Q, I suppose...
That's why I like this list though. It shows me all I used before (including which names I repeated to death, like Aro Septimus Nox o.o ) and where I don't have a lot of characters, etc. I think it's cool.
So yah, that's my spiel.
You might be questioning the sudden skyrocketing numbers in my NaNo wordcount.
Well...
I was explaining my dilemma to TheJazzPony about how I was falling behind, had 2 days left, and roughly 8000 words left to type out. Plus, I was running out of inspiration. I also mentioned the 4284 words I had written previous to NaNo.
So she suggested I re-type out all those words. Then I can honestly say I wrote all that for this NaNo.
So I did. I even wrote several hundred new words to extend some chapters and tweak some scenes. It was really, really easy. Which is good, because I would rather re-type what I wrote pre-NaNo than take yet another break from writing and fall even further behind.
So I did not cheat and just throw the words in, I actually rewrote stuff (even deleted and added new stuff), and so... yah... that's that.
I guess I'm back on track now. I would be very happy to exceed 50k this year, but we shall see what happens.
3:24
In other news, on my characters extra site, I am posting up a list of every name I have ever used in roleplay. At least, what I can gather from my characters' sites...
Some I can recall even without my characters' sites, like my charrie Dastan who was a cheetah, or my werewolf Donnie Darkstorm... among others. Usually names that I have reused several times are easy to recall.
It's a meticulous process, but I like to see what names I re-hash too many times *cough cough* Arteaux *cough*. As well as to just, I don't know, see what I've come up with. It's sort of cool. To me at least. I don't know. Yall probably think I'm weird.
Though it would be more weird if you didn't think that already...
3:28
Two NaNos in a row, I have done a blog post on the Hunger Games.
Nov. 23, 2013 - Nov. 19, 2014
6:48
So, I'm up at the crack of dawn, less than 3 hours of sleep, and I'm just gonna have to deal with it.
She peed on my floor twice, pooped under my bed, then peed on my bed this morning. And we're talking lakes.
Lakes.
My whole room smells like freaking cat pee. WHY?
She does not realize how loved she is. Any other (sane) person would have gotten rid of her by now. Many times I want to. Heck, when I first moved here, she got REALLY territorial (wasn't used to the other two cats) so she would pee on my bed several times a day. I think I broke the drying machine with my comforter going through all those times.
So, this incident here is not that bad. It probably means she's going into her picky "change my litter twice a day" phase. (I hate that phase....) >. >
9:01
I finished my master list of character names (at least all the humans, animals and warrior cats still needs to be made). And A, S, M, and T are in the top four. A takes first place with 89. That's mostly because A is the first letter that comes up on baby name sites when I'm trying to get inspiration for character names.
I really don't have a favorite letter... but it seems that I need to give other letters more attention.
On another note, I have no Q names, which surprises me. Usually, I'm pretty good at having a character in each letter, I mean, take the last few letters of the alphabet that we typically don't touch: U, W, X, and Y. Maybe even throw O into the mix while we're at it.
O=9, U=5, W=6, X=3, and Y has 5.
Oh, what about V and Z? V has 23 and Z has 15.
For those uncommon letters, you would think I would have a Q name somewhere, but nope.
*cracks knuckles* Time to make a Q, I suppose...
That's why I like this list though. It shows me all I used before (including which names I repeated to death, like Aro Septimus Nox o.o ) and where I don't have a lot of characters, etc. I think it's cool.
So yah, that's my spiel.
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Day 27: happy naked turkey sacrifice day
Happy Naked Turkey Sacrifice Day!
I hope all the fires of your ovens accepted your offering of naked turkey. Was it roasted well? Or did the accursed gods of flame deny your sacrifice and return it to you charred and nasty?
I am thankful for my family, friends, and my cat, even though she peed on my floor and pooped under my bed...
She better be darn thankful that she has me for her mommy.
I hope all the fires of your ovens accepted your offering of naked turkey. Was it roasted well? Or did the accursed gods of flame deny your sacrifice and return it to you charred and nasty?
I am thankful for my family, friends, and my cat, even though she peed on my floor and pooped under my bed...
She better be darn thankful that she has me for her mommy.
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Day 26: us
22:47
Greetings everyone. It is Day 26 and the Nii is going back at it with a typing frenzy that will leave their keyboard smokin', and not just cause it's sexy.
*cough* Well, that was awkward.
So, I am once again jumping ship to Chapter 9 this time because nothing cranks out a word count better than high paced action sequences. I am determined to write out scenes where the mini-side characters don't end up dead in the end. So... we shall see.
I will be jumping between Chapter 9 and Uslo and Songbird's chapter on and off. Eventually, I will get the 2001 words written for the night.
Thanksgiving tomorrow!
22:52
I wrote 1 word. It was "us".
Greetings everyone. It is Day 26 and the Nii is going back at it with a typing frenzy that will leave their keyboard smokin', and not just cause it's sexy.
*cough* Well, that was awkward.
So, I am once again jumping ship to Chapter 9 this time because nothing cranks out a word count better than high paced action sequences. I am determined to write out scenes where the mini-side characters don't end up dead in the end. So... we shall see.
I will be jumping between Chapter 9 and Uslo and Songbird's chapter on and off. Eventually, I will get the 2001 words written for the night.
Thanksgiving tomorrow!
22:52
I wrote 1 word. It was "us".
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Day 25: sucks, but it's so true
23:10
It's 50 minutes to midnight and I haven't written a single word today. I will get as much done as possible, but I am resigned to believe that I won't be making the daily goal.
Sucks, but so true.
So, I'm writing from (you guessed it) NEW POVS!
No, I haven't finished Samdagas' chapter, but jumping around helps me plot the finish of this book out. I've never finished a novel before, so the more I get an idea of the finish, the better.
In fact, I'm probably going to write the last few chapters soon and then work backwards. Whatever works, right?
So in this chapter, we have Uslo, a scholarly scholar, and Songbird, Uslo's mischievous, bard friend. I am attempting to write some solid characters onto the page, even though they are temps, who will not fall flat and 2D. I've been doing a lot of reading on how to make 3D characters, so I hope they leap off the page better than my attempts at doing the same with Garnet and Nee.
Now, without further ado, I away to my word document.
23:59
I made it to 41,332 words, which is roughly 300-something off from the 41,666 goal. But ah well. As of midnight, I will be 2001 words behind, which is not that bad.
It feels weird for me to be tying Write This Down in with Hopelost, simply because it fits, but it doesn't. Ugh. It's hard to explain.
I may scrap the idea after NaNo and make this a stand alone piece. I don't know. We'll see. If that happens, then I might have to rename Elai...
And then I'll have to screw around with Hopelost, which will be fun. I already know how the damn book ends anyway.
I really, really want to finish Write This Down, even after NaNo. Then I want to pick up one of my über crappy books from when I was little and write that, because some of my story concepts were great even if my writing sucked. And I know that 'my past self would be so happy'. My past self always wanted to finish and publish a book, but never did so. And I don't want to disappoint me.
If that makes sense... I don't know...
What sort of books did you guys write back then? Ever finish any? Think maybe it's time you revisited that story and made it better?
It's 50 minutes to midnight and I haven't written a single word today. I will get as much done as possible, but I am resigned to believe that I won't be making the daily goal.
Sucks, but so true.
So, I'm writing from (you guessed it) NEW POVS!
No, I haven't finished Samdagas' chapter, but jumping around helps me plot the finish of this book out. I've never finished a novel before, so the more I get an idea of the finish, the better.
In fact, I'm probably going to write the last few chapters soon and then work backwards. Whatever works, right?
So in this chapter, we have Uslo, a scholarly scholar, and Songbird, Uslo's mischievous, bard friend. I am attempting to write some solid characters onto the page, even though they are temps, who will not fall flat and 2D. I've been doing a lot of reading on how to make 3D characters, so I hope they leap off the page better than my attempts at doing the same with Garnet and Nee.
Now, without further ado, I away to my word document.
23:59
I made it to 41,332 words, which is roughly 300-something off from the 41,666 goal. But ah well. As of midnight, I will be 2001 words behind, which is not that bad.
It feels weird for me to be tying Write This Down in with Hopelost, simply because it fits, but it doesn't. Ugh. It's hard to explain.
I may scrap the idea after NaNo and make this a stand alone piece. I don't know. We'll see. If that happens, then I might have to rename Elai...
And then I'll have to screw around with Hopelost, which will be fun. I already know how the damn book ends anyway.
I really, really want to finish Write This Down, even after NaNo. Then I want to pick up one of my über crappy books from when I was little and write that, because some of my story concepts were great even if my writing sucked. And I know that 'my past self would be so happy'. My past self always wanted to finish and publish a book, but never did so. And I don't want to disappoint me.
If that makes sense... I don't know...
What sort of books did you guys write back then? Ever finish any? Think maybe it's time you revisited that story and made it better?
Monday, November 24, 2014
Day 24: council meeting boring blah blah pretentious snob-snob
1:20
MOO
22:58
It's going slow. Ugh. I need to get 1000 written before the end of the next hour or I'm behind again D:
Meetings, meetings, business, blah, blah.
I hate boring 'filler' stuff in my book, but it is vital.
MOO
22:58
It's going slow. Ugh. I need to get 1000 written before the end of the next hour or I'm behind again D:
Meetings, meetings, business, blah, blah.
I hate boring 'filler' stuff in my book, but it is vital.
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Day 23: rough drafts suck
15:23
Rough drafts suck.
15:29
So I saw Liam's chatango comment about the 1,200,000 words, and I was like "what?"
"I will definitely be continuing "Write This Down" even after NaNo ends, so there is that. It helps to have 12 chapters planned out (equaling roughly 1,200,000 words.)"
Oh right.
Mah bad.
12 chapters at 10k words each is 120,000 words, not over a million >.> I suck at math in the morning. Thank God for calculators.
But since 12 chapters is a fourth of the book, that means the whole book will probably be about 480,000 words. So, yah, still not close to 1.2 million.
Breathe easy people. xD I just suck at math.
16:15
Never post unedited rough drafts to wattpad. Just don't. You'll be banging your head against the wall for it for a long time.
23:38
So, I hit 38,363 words, which means I'm about 30 ahead of count (for the next quarter hour, just about).
I jumped between Samdagas' chapter and the (currently) Chapter 7, which goes back to the refugees with the Falgarith and Hessir and peeps. I usually try and focus on just one chapter at a time, but I was struggling with words and just needed to WRITE! After a few hundred of Chapter 7, I got back into the swing of Samdagas and wrote his chapter. I remembered calling Samdagas a cross between Lady Eboshi and a subtle version of Jiyaria from Naruto. That helped get back in his head.
I also slipped in a nod to the character who will be POVing Chapter 9, but good luck figuring out who that is.
Rough drafts suck.
Posting rough drafts to wattpads suck more.
But a HUUUUUUGE shoutout to raindrop for all her lovely edits on Write This Down. ^^ She is a lifesaver. I intend to send the drafts to other people as well for editing advice/help/etc.
It needs help.
A lot.
But I love it, even for all its imperfections.
Seriously, this is the first time I actually loved my work despite its flaws. Say whaaaaaat?
15:29
So I saw Liam's chatango comment about the 1,200,000 words, and I was like "what?"
"I will definitely be continuing "Write This Down" even after NaNo ends, so there is that. It helps to have 12 chapters planned out (equaling roughly 1,200,000 words.)"
Oh right.
Mah bad.
12 chapters at 10k words each is 120,000 words, not over a million >.> I suck at math in the morning. Thank God for calculators.
But since 12 chapters is a fourth of the book, that means the whole book will probably be about 480,000 words. So, yah, still not close to 1.2 million.
Breathe easy people. xD I just suck at math.
16:15
Never post unedited rough drafts to wattpad. Just don't. You'll be banging your head against the wall for it for a long time.
23:38
So, I hit 38,363 words, which means I'm about 30 ahead of count (for the next quarter hour, just about).
I jumped between Samdagas' chapter and the (currently) Chapter 7, which goes back to the refugees with the Falgarith and Hessir and peeps. I usually try and focus on just one chapter at a time, but I was struggling with words and just needed to WRITE! After a few hundred of Chapter 7, I got back into the swing of Samdagas and wrote his chapter. I remembered calling Samdagas a cross between Lady Eboshi and a subtle version of Jiyaria from Naruto. That helped get back in his head.
I also slipped in a nod to the character who will be POVing Chapter 9, but good luck figuring out who that is.
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Day 22: mr. nobody
0:50
So, now that I am caught up, I can stop stressing so much. I am determined to maybe even go a little over 50k this year. We shall see.
Maybe someday I'll even get over 100K like Liam did.
We all know how well that went for me. *glares at Through Struggle*
I will definitely be continuing "Write This Down" even after NaNo ends, so there is that. It helps to have 12 chapters planned out (equaling roughly 1,200,000 words.)
Yah, this book is gonna be helluva long O.O
Speaking of long, Hessir's chapter is over at 9289 words! That concludes Chapter Four which I will be putting on wattpad in a minute.
Chapter 5... ugh... I can't decide WHICH chapter is going to be chapter five, as I have some chapter rearranging going on, but it will be written tomorrow no matter what. My original order says that Chapter 5 will feature some Kah time (whoot!) but again, not fully determined. I need to plot out more chapters I think...
22:24
Well, I went on Skyrim and did not go to bed till 5 in the morning. o.o
Anyway, I need to get writing my 1k before midnight.
Oh noes...
I have to write original material D: I have just a one sentence outline for this stupid chapter >.< I don't even have a name for the guy... D:
I'll call him Mr. Nobody for now.
22:33
So, I did some chapter arranging. I'm going to be writing Samdagas for this chapter, who, if you remember, was the courier house master in Abdel during chapter 2. Yah... so he will also be introducing a new character and giving away more of the plot developments. Yay!
23:57
I actually hit 36,852 before midnight hit, so I'm gooooooood to go.
I REALLY need to write character bios for these people so they can be easier to write. Some are just fine being in my head (Kah, Orec, Orson) but others need help >.> Like Samdagas (whose bloody idea was it to give him a POV chapter...? Oh right, it was me...)
It's necessary but kind of dry from what I've written. So I will give him a LIFE and then we shall see how that improves things...
His personality has flushed out into this bizarre mix of Lady Eboshi from Princess Mononoke and a (subtle-ish) Jiyaria from Naruto. Do not ask how this works. Even I don't really know...
He's like this loveable womanizing guy who sincerely cares about all the girls who work for him, but he's still gonna womanize them.
Yah, not the best description, but it helps, I guess...
So, now that I am caught up, I can stop stressing so much. I am determined to maybe even go a little over 50k this year. We shall see.
Maybe someday I'll even get over 100K like Liam did.
We all know how well that went for me. *glares at Through Struggle*
I will definitely be continuing "Write This Down" even after NaNo ends, so there is that. It helps to have 12 chapters planned out (equaling roughly 1,200,000 words.)
Yah, this book is gonna be helluva long O.O
Speaking of long, Hessir's chapter is over at 9289 words! That concludes Chapter Four which I will be putting on wattpad in a minute.
Chapter 5... ugh... I can't decide WHICH chapter is going to be chapter five, as I have some chapter rearranging going on, but it will be written tomorrow no matter what. My original order says that Chapter 5 will feature some Kah time (whoot!) but again, not fully determined. I need to plot out more chapters I think...
22:24
Well, I went on Skyrim and did not go to bed till 5 in the morning. o.o
Anyway, I need to get writing my 1k before midnight.
Oh noes...
I have to write original material D: I have just a one sentence outline for this stupid chapter >.< I don't even have a name for the guy... D:
I'll call him Mr. Nobody for now.
22:33
So, I did some chapter arranging. I'm going to be writing Samdagas for this chapter, who, if you remember, was the courier house master in Abdel during chapter 2. Yah... so he will also be introducing a new character and giving away more of the plot developments. Yay!
23:57
I actually hit 36,852 before midnight hit, so I'm gooooooood to go.
I REALLY need to write character bios for these people so they can be easier to write. Some are just fine being in my head (Kah, Orec, Orson) but others need help >.> Like Samdagas (whose bloody idea was it to give him a POV chapter...? Oh right, it was me...)
It's necessary but kind of dry from what I've written. So I will give him a LIFE and then we shall see how that improves things...
His personality has flushed out into this bizarre mix of Lady Eboshi from Princess Mononoke and a (subtle-ish) Jiyaria from Naruto. Do not ask how this works. Even I don't really know...
He's like this loveable womanizing guy who sincerely cares about all the girls who work for him, but he's still gonna womanize them.
Yah, not the best description, but it helps, I guess...
Friday, November 21, 2014
Day 21: dissecting your darlings
0:40
So, I hit 31879 words by midnight. Very happy about that. Still a little over 3000 words behind, but hey, I'm making progress.
I also finished Chapter Three.
I am actually going to call it an early night for once. I think I need to take a break...
Just for this morning at least! I think I, uh, earned it... (idk, I don't earn stuff these days...)
So I'm going to watch Vampire Knight Guilty and snuggo my kitten and just take a deep breath. Maybe if I get a good rest tonight, I can actually crank out more words and get an early start on my day.
0:51
Chapter Three is up on wattpad. For the curious, it is at a grand total of 10,098 words.
Loooooooong.
And shall require work in the editing phase... so it will be longer still.
I feel like I did a better job with Garnet's chapter by actually exploring his past a little bit. He was fun to write about.
20:40
Looking over some of the chapters, each has its set of strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately, this means I need to go back and do a bunch of stuff to fix those weaknesses.
Orec's chapter has a lot of high paced action and then a major slow down with some drama and feelsies. All in all, it's pretty good, but I never really delved into the dynamic of WHO Orec is, which kind of makes the brother conflict not as strong on paper as it was in my head.
Kah's chapter has a lot of going back and forth between dialogue and dropped hints of plot as well as introduction of characters. Through dialogue and character thoughts, we get some characteristics of him, but again, we don't know WHO he is.
Garnet's chapter is... pretty darn perfect. I think I finally got a handle on the balance between dialogue, action, and description. I threw in enough character history to give a sense of who he was and how he feels about who he is, and him meeting a new character did not feel as random as it really was.
Hessir's has a good balance of dialogue and description, but I feel it does not have enough character depth SO FAR. The beginning bits were good with telling WHO he is, but the rest falls a little flat in that area. But that's ok, cause I'm currently writing him, which means I can go ahead and address this issue right now.
Showing WHO a character is, is oftentimes better than showing WHAT they are.
21:01
So, I'm thinking: "Man, my stats suck..."
Whelp...
So, I'm going to write for me.
23:59
I hit 35,079. I am on track! WHOOOOO!!!!
For other people who get really far behind: utilize that little count at the bottom that says "Words Per Day To Finish On Time". If you can write that much in a day, or even go over that count, you will be well on your way to getting back on track in no time.
ONLY EIGHT MORE DAYS!
Peace off, minions!
So, I hit 31879 words by midnight. Very happy about that. Still a little over 3000 words behind, but hey, I'm making progress.
I also finished Chapter Three.
I am actually going to call it an early night for once. I think I need to take a break...
Just for this morning at least! I think I, uh, earned it... (idk, I don't earn stuff these days...)
So I'm going to watch Vampire Knight Guilty and snuggo my kitten and just take a deep breath. Maybe if I get a good rest tonight, I can actually crank out more words and get an early start on my day.
0:51
Chapter Three is up on wattpad. For the curious, it is at a grand total of 10,098 words.
Loooooooong.
And shall require work in the editing phase... so it will be longer still.
I feel like I did a better job with Garnet's chapter by actually exploring his past a little bit. He was fun to write about.
20:40
Looking over some of the chapters, each has its set of strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately, this means I need to go back and do a bunch of stuff to fix those weaknesses.
Orec's chapter has a lot of high paced action and then a major slow down with some drama and feelsies. All in all, it's pretty good, but I never really delved into the dynamic of WHO Orec is, which kind of makes the brother conflict not as strong on paper as it was in my head.
Kah's chapter has a lot of going back and forth between dialogue and dropped hints of plot as well as introduction of characters. Through dialogue and character thoughts, we get some characteristics of him, but again, we don't know WHO he is.
Garnet's chapter is... pretty darn perfect. I think I finally got a handle on the balance between dialogue, action, and description. I threw in enough character history to give a sense of who he was and how he feels about who he is, and him meeting a new character did not feel as random as it really was.
Hessir's has a good balance of dialogue and description, but I feel it does not have enough character depth SO FAR. The beginning bits were good with telling WHO he is, but the rest falls a little flat in that area. But that's ok, cause I'm currently writing him, which means I can go ahead and address this issue right now.
Showing WHO a character is, is oftentimes better than showing WHAT they are.
21:01
So, I'm thinking: "Man, my stats suck..."
Whelp...
YEAR ONE: Monsters of Deja Vu - 46,581words
Do you SEE that? o.o That... right there!
And yes, I would have won that year, but my computer had a major crash that wiped out my entire novel. Even my second copy of it. A few days later, I managed to salvage about 36,000 words of it, but the damage had been done.
Nevertheless, I strove on to win two more NaNos.
YEAR TWO: Death Eaters - 60,128 words
YEAR THREE: Through Struggle - 58,772 words
YEAR FOUR: Write This Down - 32,548 words and counting
Am I behind? Hells yah. Is it that bad?
(looks back at Year One)
Hells no.
22:42
Do I care if people like what I write?
Nope.
Yah know, if I care about what other people wanted, I would be another Stephanie Meyer: writing shit to appease the dumb masses, riding on a fad storm of Beliebers and 1D junkies. But I don't want that. I want to not care.
I want to be like e.e.cummings whose poetry was turned down 29 times, only for the 30th to publish it and send him into immortality in the lit world. He dedicated that book of poetry to everyone who turned him down.
I want to have fun. And if other people don't like it, screw them. They can go eat a Twilight novel.
I don't say this to debunk all criticisms. I like it when people help me hone my skills.
But the people loved Ceasar one minute, then bayed for his blood the next. I'm not going to 'write for others' because they are as fickle as the winds. It is MY creation, and by writing it on paper, I am giving humans a great privilege to share in my world.
Wether I become as iconic as J.R.Tolkein and C.S.Lewis, or even if I fade into obscurity like a million others, at least I will always be proud of my works.So, I'm going to write for me.
23:59
I hit 35,079. I am on track! WHOOOOO!!!!
For other people who get really far behind: utilize that little count at the bottom that says "Words Per Day To Finish On Time". If you can write that much in a day, or even go over that count, you will be well on your way to getting back on track in no time.
ONLY EIGHT MORE DAYS!
Peace off, minions!
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Day 20: fight or flight
0:03
Blah, chase scenes.
Blah blah death.
NaNo's going okay...
No one cares...
um...
I like Dracula Untold's soundtrack. Tis nice for writing.
Blah, chase scenes.
Blah blah death.
NaNo's going okay...
No one cares...
um...
I like Dracula Untold's soundtrack. Tis nice for writing.
(prologue)
(janissary attack)
(this life and the next)
What's nice about epic instrumental soundtracks for writing is that they are always changing. And they were made for movies, so you can always expect to find something good for a scene. Want something haunting and sad? "This Life and the Next" is pretty sad, and then segues into epic. Want some dark chanting stuff? The prologue's great.
Video game soundtracks can also work for this too. I really like stuff from Assassin's Creed for my fantasy writings.
(city of rome - ac3)
(ezio's family - ac2)
Especially if you know the soundtrack and what all happened when such-and-such song played and what for (or merely why the title-music is paired that way) then it can cause you to remember things from the source material and help you express and create the feelings you want to inspire in those scenes.
If I want to write a bittersweet nostalgia scene, I go to Ezio's Family from Assassin's Creed 2 because I know it's from/about when he was making promises with his brothers and giving his sister dating advice and helping his mom and talking to his dad before they were hanged and raped and kicked out of their home.
Yay... nostalgia...
Or, make your own soundtrack. I always listen to music when I roleplay, and that song I mentioned before, "Cold" by Jorge Mendez will always bring on the feels from when Kieran and Adrian were fighting and dying all over Were Myths. So that is on my Where Dreams Are Reality soundtrack, along with these old "theme songs" for my characters from way back when. Good old 2000s...
Dem feels...
Soundtracks rule!
1:51
Wow.
So, Garnet's chapter is becoming my longest chapter so far. It's over 7000 words, and I skipped a few scenes to get to the fun stuff. Fun stuff isn't over. So it should hit or go over 10,000 words. My other three chapters, so far, are at:
Orec- 9663
Kah- 8922
Hessir- 6089
Garnet is at 7956.
Hessir and Garnet's chapters are not finished. Orec's is actually missing a scene. Kah's might actually be scrapped entirely and he may be given a new POV chapter. I don't know. I love Kah and like his chapter, but not together or in this book. UGH!
But that's for editing. I need those 8922 words for my NaNo count...
And those chapters are also not really accurate. I constantly go back and edit and add and move around to give each chapter a decent tie-in and flow with the others. So... if the numbers seem off, it's cause they are. I don't pay uber close attention to the numbers right now cause NANO MUST HAPPEN!
I will definitely put up exact chapter counts after NaNo. Just for funsies.
And if you were wondering, yes, this book sucks and these chapters are a friggin BEATCH to write >. >
Well, the story, I think, is good. Just that getting it out the way I want to without confusing the hell out of my readers is what sucks because it's SO HARD!
ALL my characters are named, even the little side ones and minor ones, and I want to introduce them all, but no. I don't want you all to get your heads twisted backwards and upside down by the million names that you would have to memorize. This is a big book that spans a lot of characters. It's definitely more meticulous and fine tuned with the details than anything I have ever written. So, yes, I will spare you the issue of memorizing a million characters.
A lot of characters/ideas/etc that I wanted in this book grew to sizes too big to fit in this novel, so they will be used in other works. I mentioned that prince and his brother? yes, they are going back to their original book for later. Also, Finnick de Casselar and the two or three people associated with him are going to their own book (most likely). Along with a bunch of other unnamed/unmentioned concepts and characters.
2:16
So... soundtracks... again...
After not so much digging, I found out that Ramin Djawadi does the soundtrack to Game of Thrones. I knew he did the main theme, but I guess I just forgot about that or something...
Ramin Djawadi and Bear McCreary are my two favorite soundtrack artists. They use lots of different instruments and experiment with a lot of different types of sounds to bring out different feelings. (too many times I used 'different' in one sentence)
Ramin Djawadi did Game of Thrones, Dracula Untold, Prison Break, Red Dawn (new movie), and other stuff.
Bear McCreary did the new Battlestar Galactica, Black Sails, Walking Dead, and some other awesome stuff.
Not that I watch all the shows/movies they do soundtracks for, but I do listen to their soundtracks even if the movie was not that great (ie: Red Dawn).
They are both amazing, amazing composers who deserve more cred. Check out some of their stuff sometime, especially when doing a writing session. Especially since they did TV soundtracks, they're bound to have a lot of different sounds to get you into your scenes. And best yet, most of their stuff is on spotify. They got four whole GoT albums there.
One of the little things I love in McCreary's work is his use of TONS of random instruments from all over the world that you probably never heard of. You can notice some in the above song, Kara Remembers, but the other song that is my favorite is "Gaedi's Lament", which uses some kind of instrument around 1:06 that makes me want to cry no matter what. (I've been told it's the 'duduk', but I'm not so sure...)
YAY! More soundtracks! Consider adding some of these artist's works to your playlists when you novel/rp/do stuff.
3:17
I hit 30083 words! It ended so... ugh. Awesome.
Dem feels.
Need to go back and write in the scenes I skipped. Then probably editing some stuff in the 'fun' part of Garnet's chapter to match up with what I write in. Whee! But not till tomorrow. Now is sleepy time with snuggly kitten.
3:45
Squee!
Fangirl moment!
You can skip this part if ya like...
So I randomly youtubed Mamoru Miyano, the guy whose voice I wanna friggin marry. And wow, he is adorable in real life.
Like, I clicked on a video of him laughing.
Laughing.
Weird...
But his laugh is so adorable. It makes me laugh.
They're speaking in Japanese, but the guy is talking to him, and Mamoru bursts out laughing, and the other guy just stands there with this whole, "I know, right?" kind of attitude... or something...
I don't speak Japanese...
He's also a singer, and he has a really nice voice ^^ Not my style of music, personally, but it's still very good.
1:51
Wow.
So, Garnet's chapter is becoming my longest chapter so far. It's over 7000 words, and I skipped a few scenes to get to the fun stuff. Fun stuff isn't over. So it should hit or go over 10,000 words. My other three chapters, so far, are at:
Orec- 9663
Kah- 8922
Hessir- 6089
Garnet is at 7956.
Hessir and Garnet's chapters are not finished. Orec's is actually missing a scene. Kah's might actually be scrapped entirely and he may be given a new POV chapter. I don't know. I love Kah and like his chapter, but not together or in this book. UGH!
But that's for editing. I need those 8922 words for my NaNo count...
And those chapters are also not really accurate. I constantly go back and edit and add and move around to give each chapter a decent tie-in and flow with the others. So... if the numbers seem off, it's cause they are. I don't pay uber close attention to the numbers right now cause NANO MUST HAPPEN!
I will definitely put up exact chapter counts after NaNo. Just for funsies.
And if you were wondering, yes, this book sucks and these chapters are a friggin BEATCH to write >. >
Well, the story, I think, is good. Just that getting it out the way I want to without confusing the hell out of my readers is what sucks because it's SO HARD!
ALL my characters are named, even the little side ones and minor ones, and I want to introduce them all, but no. I don't want you all to get your heads twisted backwards and upside down by the million names that you would have to memorize. This is a big book that spans a lot of characters. It's definitely more meticulous and fine tuned with the details than anything I have ever written. So, yes, I will spare you the issue of memorizing a million characters.
A lot of characters/ideas/etc that I wanted in this book grew to sizes too big to fit in this novel, so they will be used in other works. I mentioned that prince and his brother? yes, they are going back to their original book for later. Also, Finnick de Casselar and the two or three people associated with him are going to their own book (most likely). Along with a bunch of other unnamed/unmentioned concepts and characters.
2:16
So... soundtracks... again...
After not so much digging, I found out that Ramin Djawadi does the soundtrack to Game of Thrones. I knew he did the main theme, but I guess I just forgot about that or something...
Ramin Djawadi and Bear McCreary are my two favorite soundtrack artists. They use lots of different instruments and experiment with a lot of different types of sounds to bring out different feelings. (too many times I used 'different' in one sentence)
Ramin Djawadi did Game of Thrones, Dracula Untold, Prison Break, Red Dawn (new movie), and other stuff.
Bear McCreary did the new Battlestar Galactica, Black Sails, Walking Dead, and some other awesome stuff.
Not that I watch all the shows/movies they do soundtracks for, but I do listen to their soundtracks even if the movie was not that great (ie: Red Dawn).
They are both amazing, amazing composers who deserve more cred. Check out some of their stuff sometime, especially when doing a writing session. Especially since they did TV soundtracks, they're bound to have a lot of different sounds to get you into your scenes. And best yet, most of their stuff is on spotify. They got four whole GoT albums there.
Ramin Djawadi - "Dark Wings, Dark Words"
Bear McCreary - "Kara Remembers/All Along the Watchtower"
Gaedi's Lament Instrumental
(the actual Gaedi's Lament sounds VERY VERY different. They're like two whole different songs.)
YAY! More soundtracks! Consider adding some of these artist's works to your playlists when you novel/rp/do stuff.
3:17
I hit 30083 words! It ended so... ugh. Awesome.
Dem feels.
Need to go back and write in the scenes I skipped. Then probably editing some stuff in the 'fun' part of Garnet's chapter to match up with what I write in. Whee! But not till tomorrow. Now is sleepy time with snuggly kitten.
3:45
Squee!
Fangirl moment!
You can skip this part if ya like...
So I randomly youtubed Mamoru Miyano, the guy whose voice I wanna friggin marry. And wow, he is adorable in real life.
Like, I clicked on a video of him laughing.
Laughing.
Weird...
But his laugh is so adorable. It makes me laugh.
They're speaking in Japanese, but the guy is talking to him, and Mamoru bursts out laughing, and the other guy just stands there with this whole, "I know, right?" kind of attitude... or something...
I don't speak Japanese...
Good Lord, that laugh... and he's always like, dying in a corner whenever he laughs. Like it's not just "hah, lol" it's more like "OMFG LOOOOOOOL ROFL ROFLMAO!!!"
He's also a singer, and he has a really nice voice ^^ Not my style of music, personally, but it's still very good.
(only decent vid I could find...)
So yes, just a bit of a fangirl moment.
And I'm well aware that this guy is married and 31, but that don't mean Kuro and Kiba and Zero are *wink wink*
wink
ALRIGHT! END FANGIRLING!!!!!
Back to serious biz...
very serious biz...
3:56
Is it just me, or are there a ton of vids in this blogpost...? o.O
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Day 19: once upon a december
0:17
Yah, December's not here yet, but it's coming...
And I was listening to "Once Upon a December" from the Anastasia movie. Just watched that last night... for the first time.
Yah, I'm behind on "animated films that everyone else grew up with". Also the new superhero movies. I have a list of all the new superhero movies I haven't seen yet... (Amazing Spiderman 1 and 2, Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Captain America 2, Man of Steel) At least I got to see Guardians of the Galaxy last night. Whoo! I AM GROOT!
Also, big shout out to the movie Dracula Untold. It's the latest vampire flick starring Bard from the Hobbit movies. It's a very compelling story taking the actual life history of Vlad the Impaler (the guy Bram Stoker's Dracula was based off of) along with the elements of Bram Stoker's Dracula story. It was so well done. I loved it! And the effects were gorgeous!
So go put that on your list!
Of course, the internet is all abuzz with Hunger Games: Mockingjay coming to theaters soon.
No, I won't go watch it.
Or Catching Fire.
I have seen Hunger Games maybe two times, and then the parody movie done a-la-Vampires Suck and Meet the Spartans.
I probably mentioned this a hundred times, but I am not a fan of the series, movies, books: the whole friggin shebang. And it has little to do with the fact that I love Battle Royale so much better and would DIE if I could get my hands on the novel...
Yes, BESIDES that, I do not like Hunger Games at all.
Which you're probably wondering: why doesn't the person who made MINSTREL not like Hunger Games? It's got blood, death, and children fighting against each other in a Highlander-esque match to the death. Would that not be your favorite thing ever (even if it can't compare with BR by a billion...)
(yah, suck it HG...)
AHEM! That is for another time and blog post, minions. I must return to my novel.
I will one day create a long winded blog post probably none of you will read about Hunger Games vs Battle Royale. If you want to read a blog post by another BR fan who made a ton of points (and actually writes these sorts of things better than me) then click HERE. You have to scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Newer Post" for the next part of his 3 part explanation..
Actually, yah know what, don't bother waiting for me to write a blog post, cause nevermind. Screw it. Just go read his, cause it's perf.
And watch the movie. The movie is awesome! It's on Netflix for free! So is the sequel. Which is also perf. (not the sequel in itself, the sequel was really kinda lame, but the fact that BR is on Netflix for free is perf).
I also leave you with pretty pictures.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Day 18: killing the keyboard
1:46
I finally hit the 25k mark.
So I wrote roughly 3000 words since the time I got up (yesterday) around 12ish. I really don't count the days, I count what I call my "writing sessions". Typically my best writing sessions are from 10pm to 4am the next day. Sucks for me and my sleep, but very true.
So in my "writing session" so far, I wrote 3000 words, which brought my count up to 25130. I am very proud of this number.
It means I'm only, oh, 4870 words behind...
Again...
But Garnet's chapter is going well. I decided not to name his master at all since Garnet doesn't like him anyway and he's not an important character. Also, by master, I mean master and apprentice, not master and slave like Kah and the Falgarith. It confuses me too sometimes... I did name one character. A new one. Her name is Nee. She's thirteen years old and she wants to be an adventurer. She will have a POV chapter, erm, later...
She and Garnet get along very well. At first I saw her as this Luna Lovegood type person, but she's developed into something more like Toph but with less out-there attitude.
As part of keeping the diversity thing going, I'm focusing more on the physical diversities. And not just noticeable ones.
For example:
Kah has massive scarring all over the left of his face
Hessir is fat
Nee is called "bug-eyed" for her really big eyes
But I also decided to throw in some differences that aren't so terribly obvious. One character (not sure on the name) is going to have TB. Cloud is very nearsighted. And so on...
I like keeping things mixed up. But I think there needs to be more than just the typical racial difference in skin color. And people can have noticeable, physical differences that are not amputated limbs, scars, and eyepatches. Like seriously, I don't think I ever read a fantasy novel where a character was nearsighted. (I'm talking FANTASY fantasy, not Harry Potter or whatnot)
Another thing I find, is that it is NOT racist to point out how people view other races. A black man is a black man. An Asian man with squinted eyes is an Asian man with squinted eyes. A short Mexican is a short Mexican. It's racism when someone is called out on their actions, mannerisms, flaws (anything demeaning) by insulting their race. For example: "Haha! He doesn't speak English! Chingchong ling long ting tong!" Or if one man makes a slip up, and the response is "You blacks are so stupid." That is totally racism right there, and it's stupid and needs to stop.
But if I decide to make black character and I call him black, that should not be seen as racism. He's freaking black, people!
I've seen it happen before, and it makes me mad. I think people need to look up the definition of racism and then take a scenario-based test on when to accurately use that word...
An interesting point on racial diversity: why are all fantasy gods, like, white people? If the only people in existence in the world are just white people, sure yah, that's fine, I guess. But I mean, the Norse gods worshipped Hel who was half black and half white. So for all the fantasy religions, some mix should be in there.
Also, why are Middle Eastern / African races always depicted as these nomadic, barbaric tribes? I get that the real world has seen a bit of that in the past (especially for middle-of-nowhere Africa), but fantasy is free game to everyone.
And why are Asian races never portrayed diversely in fantasy? I used to think Asia was this pacifist country where people all wore robes and had a billion gardens and it was eternal spring/summer. It was not till anime and in depth research that I learned it was NOT. But every fantasy story seems content with keeping Asians as this mystical, spiritual people locked in a Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe land (but only they are cursed with never winter AND never Christmas too).
Did you know that it snows in Japan? Did you know that the Mongols are Asians? And the Russians? Did you know that samurai were actually archery masters on horseback that only used swords as a last resort? Did you know women wore pants because they worked in the fields and dresses would be stupid for such work? Did you know that not all of them know kung fu from birth or can transform into Supah Saiyans? (seriously, who knew that last one...?)
And why do fantasy authors always make the white race superior? Seriously, all the elves, dwarves, giants, witches, wizards... everyone, is white. Unless they are nomads. Then maybe they will be some kind of Native American or Middle Eastern type people.
We still base everything in fantasy off of white race supremacy ideals. You should know the story: the whites found land and conquered the poopies out of it in the hopes of "bringing civilization to the savage". Well, news flash: this was a real world thing based on the Darwin ideals that white was the highest form of evolution in man deeming all other races inferior to it.
But in fantasy, Darwin does not exist. Therefore, the white man should not think himself superior to the Latino. He should be on pretty equal terms when it comes to race.
NOW: conflict/racism CAN and PROBABLY will arise in your fantasy, but give it a reason. Otherwise, there should be a mix of races around that all respect each other or don't based on actions of individual groups of them rather than the race as a whole. Granted, your sheltered white character who meets a black man for the first time will find them bizarre and possibly terrifying, but they won't think themselves superior unless:
So yah, mix it up a bit. Heck, make the main character in a fantasy be a black Prince in a kingdom full of black people, and their kingdom is pretty much a Camelot-esque/a-typical medieval kingdom.
There is no reason why Winterfell couldn't have been run by Inuits or the Greyjoy family be Asian or something to that effect. There is no reason why elves could not look like Asians but with pointed ears, or fairies look like they come from Bhutan. Magical and mystical stuff can be diverse too.
So, I went on a couple tangents, and I will probably flush out these different topics with well deserved, full-length posts sometime in the future, but for now, I'll just leave with that.
2:41
I was also going to talk about character viewpoints and keeping the continuity OUT of history and lore, but that will need to happen later...
I finally hit the 25k mark.
So I wrote roughly 3000 words since the time I got up (yesterday) around 12ish. I really don't count the days, I count what I call my "writing sessions". Typically my best writing sessions are from 10pm to 4am the next day. Sucks for me and my sleep, but very true.
So in my "writing session" so far, I wrote 3000 words, which brought my count up to 25130. I am very proud of this number.
It means I'm only, oh, 4870 words behind...
Again...
But Garnet's chapter is going well. I decided not to name his master at all since Garnet doesn't like him anyway and he's not an important character. Also, by master, I mean master and apprentice, not master and slave like Kah and the Falgarith. It confuses me too sometimes... I did name one character. A new one. Her name is Nee. She's thirteen years old and she wants to be an adventurer. She will have a POV chapter, erm, later...
She and Garnet get along very well. At first I saw her as this Luna Lovegood type person, but she's developed into something more like Toph but with less out-there attitude.
As part of keeping the diversity thing going, I'm focusing more on the physical diversities. And not just noticeable ones.
For example:
Kah has massive scarring all over the left of his face
Hessir is fat
Nee is called "bug-eyed" for her really big eyes
But I also decided to throw in some differences that aren't so terribly obvious. One character (not sure on the name) is going to have TB. Cloud is very nearsighted. And so on...
I like keeping things mixed up. But I think there needs to be more than just the typical racial difference in skin color. And people can have noticeable, physical differences that are not amputated limbs, scars, and eyepatches. Like seriously, I don't think I ever read a fantasy novel where a character was nearsighted. (I'm talking FANTASY fantasy, not Harry Potter or whatnot)
Another thing I find, is that it is NOT racist to point out how people view other races. A black man is a black man. An Asian man with squinted eyes is an Asian man with squinted eyes. A short Mexican is a short Mexican. It's racism when someone is called out on their actions, mannerisms, flaws (anything demeaning) by insulting their race. For example: "Haha! He doesn't speak English! Chingchong ling long ting tong!" Or if one man makes a slip up, and the response is "You blacks are so stupid." That is totally racism right there, and it's stupid and needs to stop.
But if I decide to make black character and I call him black, that should not be seen as racism. He's freaking black, people!
I've seen it happen before, and it makes me mad. I think people need to look up the definition of racism and then take a scenario-based test on when to accurately use that word...
An interesting point on racial diversity: why are all fantasy gods, like, white people? If the only people in existence in the world are just white people, sure yah, that's fine, I guess. But I mean, the Norse gods worshipped Hel who was half black and half white. So for all the fantasy religions, some mix should be in there.
Also, why are Middle Eastern / African races always depicted as these nomadic, barbaric tribes? I get that the real world has seen a bit of that in the past (especially for middle-of-nowhere Africa), but fantasy is free game to everyone.
And why are Asian races never portrayed diversely in fantasy? I used to think Asia was this pacifist country where people all wore robes and had a billion gardens and it was eternal spring/summer. It was not till anime and in depth research that I learned it was NOT. But every fantasy story seems content with keeping Asians as this mystical, spiritual people locked in a Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe land (but only they are cursed with never winter AND never Christmas too).
Did you know that it snows in Japan? Did you know that the Mongols are Asians? And the Russians? Did you know that samurai were actually archery masters on horseback that only used swords as a last resort? Did you know women wore pants because they worked in the fields and dresses would be stupid for such work? Did you know that not all of them know kung fu from birth or can transform into Supah Saiyans? (seriously, who knew that last one...?)
And why do fantasy authors always make the white race superior? Seriously, all the elves, dwarves, giants, witches, wizards... everyone, is white. Unless they are nomads. Then maybe they will be some kind of Native American or Middle Eastern type people.
We still base everything in fantasy off of white race supremacy ideals. You should know the story: the whites found land and conquered the poopies out of it in the hopes of "bringing civilization to the savage". Well, news flash: this was a real world thing based on the Darwin ideals that white was the highest form of evolution in man deeming all other races inferior to it.
But in fantasy, Darwin does not exist. Therefore, the white man should not think himself superior to the Latino. He should be on pretty equal terms when it comes to race.
NOW: conflict/racism CAN and PROBABLY will arise in your fantasy, but give it a reason. Otherwise, there should be a mix of races around that all respect each other or don't based on actions of individual groups of them rather than the race as a whole. Granted, your sheltered white character who meets a black man for the first time will find them bizarre and possibly terrifying, but they won't think themselves superior unless:
- they have preconceived notions based on what they have heard from other people
- the character judges so much on first impressions that he will allot any and all behaviors to his entire race
- they placed themselves on a pedestal then stuck this massive pole up their butts, aka, the a-hole character
So yah, mix it up a bit. Heck, make the main character in a fantasy be a black Prince in a kingdom full of black people, and their kingdom is pretty much a Camelot-esque/a-typical medieval kingdom.
There is no reason why Winterfell couldn't have been run by Inuits or the Greyjoy family be Asian or something to that effect. There is no reason why elves could not look like Asians but with pointed ears, or fairies look like they come from Bhutan. Magical and mystical stuff can be diverse too.
So, I went on a couple tangents, and I will probably flush out these different topics with well deserved, full-length posts sometime in the future, but for now, I'll just leave with that.
2:41
I was also going to talk about character viewpoints and keeping the continuity OUT of history and lore, but that will need to happen later...
Monday, November 17, 2014
Day 17: "this is do or die / look a promise in the eye"
0:40
"This is do or die
Look a promise in the eye"
Yah, just listening to some "Redemption" by the band Write This Down, cause, yah know...
Ahem!
So, I fell back on my wordcount. Hard. Really hard. 5629 words behind, and only because I managed to write 468 in the past 40 minutes.
Aaaaand, I feel another cold coming on. Perfect. Just effin perfect.
Somehow, SOMEHOW, I will hit 50k.
Yah know, being busy has nothing to do with NaNo. Last year I had college, highschool, and really rough family issues, plus a job, and I finished the 50k goal in 16 days. SIXTEEN!
And now I have no job, no school, no family, and I can barely squeeze in one thousand words a day.
UGH!
*sigh*
So when I hit 50k, it's going to be a victory coupled with a miracle that had a baby with an answered prayer. Yah know? Cause now that I have no routine, motivation, or purpose, the depression and melancholy and exhaustion is hitting me full force. And it sucks.
I need friends. Hobbies. A job... I need a job....
But "this is do or die" and I'm going to "look" my "promise in the eye" and I am going to make that 50k goal. Just one sloppy step at a time.
1:49
Well, Mania helped cheer me up. Now we're working on stuff (her math, me nano) while posting in between. It's very nice.
We're actually rping at Janlea. I haven't been there in a while. Reading over old posts and my character bios... brings back memories of all my plottings with them. Sad that the site slowed down...
2:07
Garnet's chapter is turning out really well. It's still early, but so far I really like it. He's slowly revealing stuff bit by bit, and I'm just adding it in, mostly for filler, but it gives an insight to him. He's probably the only character I've written about that has a well rounded history. Kah has a skeleton outline of his. Orec has none. Blah.
Elai and Falgarith have histories but no POV chapters, so I'll have to figure out how to get that in...
Nah, it'll get in there one way or another. Especially Elai. Cause she's like, the protagonist here.
Yah, spoiler, she's the protagonist *mutter mutter*
"This is do or die
Look a promise in the eye"
Yah, just listening to some "Redemption" by the band Write This Down, cause, yah know...
Ahem!
So, I fell back on my wordcount. Hard. Really hard. 5629 words behind, and only because I managed to write 468 in the past 40 minutes.
Aaaaand, I feel another cold coming on. Perfect. Just effin perfect.
Somehow, SOMEHOW, I will hit 50k.
Yah know, being busy has nothing to do with NaNo. Last year I had college, highschool, and really rough family issues, plus a job, and I finished the 50k goal in 16 days. SIXTEEN!
And now I have no job, no school, no family, and I can barely squeeze in one thousand words a day.
UGH!
*sigh*
So when I hit 50k, it's going to be a victory coupled with a miracle that had a baby with an answered prayer. Yah know? Cause now that I have no routine, motivation, or purpose, the depression and melancholy and exhaustion is hitting me full force. And it sucks.
I need friends. Hobbies. A job... I need a job....
But "this is do or die" and I'm going to "look" my "promise in the eye" and I am going to make that 50k goal. Just one sloppy step at a time.
1:49
Well, Mania helped cheer me up. Now we're working on stuff (her math, me nano) while posting in between. It's very nice.
We're actually rping at Janlea. I haven't been there in a while. Reading over old posts and my character bios... brings back memories of all my plottings with them. Sad that the site slowed down...
2:07
Garnet's chapter is turning out really well. It's still early, but so far I really like it. He's slowly revealing stuff bit by bit, and I'm just adding it in, mostly for filler, but it gives an insight to him. He's probably the only character I've written about that has a well rounded history. Kah has a skeleton outline of his. Orec has none. Blah.
Elai and Falgarith have histories but no POV chapters, so I'll have to figure out how to get that in...
Nah, it'll get in there one way or another. Especially Elai. Cause she's like, the protagonist here.
Yah, spoiler, she's the protagonist *mutter mutter*
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Day 16: curses, foiled again
0:47
So I planned to write a lot yesterday, as usual. And as usual, I didn't. I got 900+ words in, but it was not nearly enough. Thankfully, I'm maintaining my 4k behind rather than going over 5k behind. Shew. There is still hope.
I just gotta keep on trying. I need to lock myself in my room and crank the thermostat down so my room gets cold, then I need lots of ginger ale and loud, energetic music and epic choirs. Yah... Probably won't get the ginger ale...
1:23
So I have 12 chapters officially planned out (including the three written). I'm actually switching Hessir's chapter with another one. Which is a smart move. We can get in some fighting action and meet Garnet... who's profession is a 7 way tie between bandit/smuggler/slaver/trader/bodyguard/spy/bard. So yah, bit of a doozy, that one.
I was getting so bored with Hessir's chapter because I was trying to fit in as much character development as I could before getting into the big stuff. But now I realized the chapter is over 6000 words, so I think it's safe to say that we can get along to the big stuff now...
But I'm still switching Hessir and Garnet's chapters because it makes more sense chronologically, and Garnet's chapter will have (spoiler alert) DEATH!!!!!!
So I planned to write a lot yesterday, as usual. And as usual, I didn't. I got 900+ words in, but it was not nearly enough. Thankfully, I'm maintaining my 4k behind rather than going over 5k behind. Shew. There is still hope.
I just gotta keep on trying. I need to lock myself in my room and crank the thermostat down so my room gets cold, then I need lots of ginger ale and loud, energetic music and epic choirs. Yah... Probably won't get the ginger ale...
1:23
So I have 12 chapters officially planned out (including the three written). I'm actually switching Hessir's chapter with another one. Which is a smart move. We can get in some fighting action and meet Garnet... who's profession is a 7 way tie between bandit/smuggler/slaver/trader/bodyguard/spy/bard. So yah, bit of a doozy, that one.
I was getting so bored with Hessir's chapter because I was trying to fit in as much character development as I could before getting into the big stuff. But now I realized the chapter is over 6000 words, so I think it's safe to say that we can get along to the big stuff now...
But I'm still switching Hessir and Garnet's chapters because it makes more sense chronologically, and Garnet's chapter will have (spoiler alert) DEATH!!!!!!
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Day 15: back at it again
1:13
So, yesterday, I got maybe 600 words typed up, maybe some more. I did meet my dare and write nothing but 500 words of Hessir wandering through the woods, so I added some description to the book :3 Buuuut, I am back at being 5k behind my goal. Grrr. I am determined to write MOAR!
Here's a writing tip for everyone that helps me get description in even when the running pace of NaNo demands I get to the plot and not take a breather:
1. Take a couple deep breaths.
2. Don't panic here, but I'm actually telling you to pull away from your NaNo. Not for long, just a few minutes. Think of a book you read that had lots of detailed descriptions about places, people, things, etc. (preferably related to your novel's genre, but not necessary) and open it up. Read a few of those descriptions.
3. Pay attention to how the author transits from action to description. How does the author describe a scene without making you feel as if you're being totally pulled away from the book?
When he rounded the tower to its other side, he saw stones of the same color all tossed about a rocky, weed conquered hill of scraggly earth. And it struck him then that the tower was merely a piece of a puzzle. These were ruins. A great castle or something of that sort once stood here, now lain to waste by calamity and nature.
And now that he had stopped for a while, he could smell smoke.
Curious, Hessir followed the smell until he could actually see a white, wispy trail of it rising above the ruins, and then he went on further until he came to its source, which turned out to be a small clearing. The stone formed four massive walls that shaped a square sunken into the earth: the hollowed out shell of what may have been a room at some point. And in this thing that was once a house, there was a fire pit in the middle burning away, attended by a black-cloaked figure, and a horse that breathed smoke.
4. Change up the scenery to make it more interesting.
In the above example, I originally just had Hessir walking through the trees till he found a clearing where the man and his horse were. But then I decided I wanted more description, and threw in a bit of mystical mystery by plopping a ruin into the deeper parts of the forest.
5. Not all scenery is the same.
Do you have any woods nearby? What are they like? Bright and green? Dark and gloomy? Why are they gloomy? Are there massive spiderwebs all around? Is there a brook? Is the ground covered in pine needles? Is it covered in leaves? Is it too early for fallen leaves? Can sunlight get through the top? Are there lots of plants growing between the trees?
I can guarantee that my woods are different than yours.
Woods are always changing too. There will be hills, dried riverbeds, pine groves, little streams after a heavy rain, patches of marsh, fields, meadows, clearings. And also, remember, there are hundreds of more trees out there than oak and pine. Obviously quick check what climate they grow in, but maybe throw an ash or yew or spruce into the mix.
6. Make use of the five senses.
Everyone says it, and we all wave this one away too quickly. Five senses really do help. You don't need to mention every single one in every scene, but changing it up would help. Maybe your character passes by a fishery. Maybe your character's cloak is starting to itch. Maybe your character got accidentally sprayed by perfume when he passed a women's beautification stall. Maybe your character bought a roll and is just munching on it as he goes along. Perhaps the town is so overpowered by the sea that he can practically taste the saltwater in the air.
7. If possible, throw in a bit of history. Only do so if your character would know about this history. It can be handy to give your random locations a bit more permanence to them. Then the forests won't all just blend together, the ruins won't just be tossed up rubble, the fjords won't just be any old fjords. They will be "that fjord where the Great Black Army crossed in their ride against the vampire lord" or "this forest was once a great city before it was laid to ruin". Things like that. It will help readers connect with the locations as your characters visit them. They will say "oh yah, trolls attacked them when they were in there. Maybe it will happen again..."
But don't info dump us on every, single location. Again, if it is common knowledge to everyone, the characters probably won't be too hung up on the story of the place. Leave just enough detail to give readers an idea, but maybe don't give away the whole story.
...it was said that a mighty god descended from the storm, brandishing a war hammer, and struck a mighty blow to the mountain that cleaved it in half, sending shards of icy rock flying all around...
I'm not telling you WHY it happened, I'm just saying it did. It tells something of the character of the mountain without boring you to tears. Maybe later I'll drop hints on the whole story, maybe I won't. Whichever the case, I'll leave you interested and guessing.
So those are my pointers on writing description. What are yours?
2:14
So, I was looking through my photos and I found this...
I drew this a year or so ago when I first started rping Skyrim. My Altmer dude Aramis Maesir and Kayeni's Khajiit, Shivani, were going through the caves looking for treasure, and I drew this... xD
Ahh, the memories...
2:43
Voices.
Voices are one of the hardest things to describe in writing.
Ugh.
I am hopelessly in love with roughly 5 voices, one of them being fake, and I really like 1 others.
Mamoru Miyano
Voice Actor: Kiba "Wolf's Rain", Zero "Vampire Knight", Kuro "Kurozuka", Riku "Kingdom Hearts", Light Yagami "Death Note", Tamaki "Ouran High School Host Club", and a hundred other things.
He does the dark, emotionless characters very, VERY well, but he also delivers a lot of pain to his voice too that just breaks my heart. Love it ^^
Vic Mignogna
Edward Elric.
Nuff said.
No, seriously, FMA is the only anime where I actually did not like the sub. Vic's voice is absolutely perfect for Edward. I'm not in love with it, but I do love it all the same, and it has a special place in my heart.
Ogihci's Voice
Bleach
I have NO idea who did the voice. my best guess is that it was Masakuza Morita but just heavily, heavily altered with digital stuff.
Seriously, I LOVE this voice. It's so twisted, but beautiful in a soul-disturbing way.
Jude Law
Voiced: Pitch Black in "Rise of the Guardians". Plays as Wason in the new Sherlock Holmes movies.
I love the deep, smooth voice with the British accent. I absolutely melt when I hear it.
Sorry, I could not find one of his speeches, but you hear his voice in the trailer :3
Samuel Witwer
Voice of Darth Maul
The smooth tones. The darkness. The evil. And the horrible emotion thrown in. This voice is why I'm in love with the genius, brutal dark lord of the Sith ^^
Sorry if this video gives spoilers away to anyone watching the Clone Wars show...
So, what do people do when they're bored? They ponder what would be if a bunch of songs sung by females were actually sung by men xD
I guess...
Because it gave rise to the creation of a male version of the song "Still Doll" by Kanon Wakeshima, the first closing theme for Vampire Knight.
And oh, wasn't that a great idea.
How it works is you take a music file and turn the pitch lower. Not all songs actually turn out sounding right when this is done, but Kanon Wakeshima's voice is high enough naturally that it can sound like a tenor male without the sound quality overall going to pot.
I love this voice SO, SO much. "His" voice makes me melt. Like Jude Law, only he's singing.
Or she's singing... I don't get how this works... anyway, enjoy!
(sorry for the odd video... this is the best version of the song without me uploading my own altered song to youtube...)
And those are my six favorite voices/ voices I'm in love with. What are your guys' favorite voices?
So, yesterday, I got maybe 600 words typed up, maybe some more. I did meet my dare and write nothing but 500 words of Hessir wandering through the woods, so I added some description to the book :3 Buuuut, I am back at being 5k behind my goal. Grrr. I am determined to write MOAR!
Here's a writing tip for everyone that helps me get description in even when the running pace of NaNo demands I get to the plot and not take a breather:
1. Take a couple deep breaths.
2. Don't panic here, but I'm actually telling you to pull away from your NaNo. Not for long, just a few minutes. Think of a book you read that had lots of detailed descriptions about places, people, things, etc. (preferably related to your novel's genre, but not necessary) and open it up. Read a few of those descriptions.
3. Pay attention to how the author transits from action to description. How does the author describe a scene without making you feel as if you're being totally pulled away from the book?
When he rounded the tower to its other side, he saw stones of the same color all tossed about a rocky, weed conquered hill of scraggly earth. And it struck him then that the tower was merely a piece of a puzzle. These were ruins. A great castle or something of that sort once stood here, now lain to waste by calamity and nature.
And now that he had stopped for a while, he could smell smoke.
Curious, Hessir followed the smell until he could actually see a white, wispy trail of it rising above the ruins, and then he went on further until he came to its source, which turned out to be a small clearing. The stone formed four massive walls that shaped a square sunken into the earth: the hollowed out shell of what may have been a room at some point. And in this thing that was once a house, there was a fire pit in the middle burning away, attended by a black-cloaked figure, and a horse that breathed smoke.
4. Change up the scenery to make it more interesting.
In the above example, I originally just had Hessir walking through the trees till he found a clearing where the man and his horse were. But then I decided I wanted more description, and threw in a bit of mystical mystery by plopping a ruin into the deeper parts of the forest.
5. Not all scenery is the same.
Do you have any woods nearby? What are they like? Bright and green? Dark and gloomy? Why are they gloomy? Are there massive spiderwebs all around? Is there a brook? Is the ground covered in pine needles? Is it covered in leaves? Is it too early for fallen leaves? Can sunlight get through the top? Are there lots of plants growing between the trees?
Woods are always changing too. There will be hills, dried riverbeds, pine groves, little streams after a heavy rain, patches of marsh, fields, meadows, clearings. And also, remember, there are hundreds of more trees out there than oak and pine. Obviously quick check what climate they grow in, but maybe throw an ash or yew or spruce into the mix.
6. Make use of the five senses.
Everyone says it, and we all wave this one away too quickly. Five senses really do help. You don't need to mention every single one in every scene, but changing it up would help. Maybe your character passes by a fishery. Maybe your character's cloak is starting to itch. Maybe your character got accidentally sprayed by perfume when he passed a women's beautification stall. Maybe your character bought a roll and is just munching on it as he goes along. Perhaps the town is so overpowered by the sea that he can practically taste the saltwater in the air.
7. If possible, throw in a bit of history. Only do so if your character would know about this history. It can be handy to give your random locations a bit more permanence to them. Then the forests won't all just blend together, the ruins won't just be tossed up rubble, the fjords won't just be any old fjords. They will be "that fjord where the Great Black Army crossed in their ride against the vampire lord" or "this forest was once a great city before it was laid to ruin". Things like that. It will help readers connect with the locations as your characters visit them. They will say "oh yah, trolls attacked them when they were in there. Maybe it will happen again..."
But don't info dump us on every, single location. Again, if it is common knowledge to everyone, the characters probably won't be too hung up on the story of the place. Leave just enough detail to give readers an idea, but maybe don't give away the whole story.
...it was said that a mighty god descended from the storm, brandishing a war hammer, and struck a mighty blow to the mountain that cleaved it in half, sending shards of icy rock flying all around...
I'm not telling you WHY it happened, I'm just saying it did. It tells something of the character of the mountain without boring you to tears. Maybe later I'll drop hints on the whole story, maybe I won't. Whichever the case, I'll leave you interested and guessing.
So those are my pointers on writing description. What are yours?
2:14
So, I was looking through my photos and I found this...
Ahh, the memories...
2:43
Voices.
Voices are one of the hardest things to describe in writing.
Ugh.
I am hopelessly in love with roughly 5 voices, one of them being fake, and I really like 1 others.
Mamoru Miyano
Voice Actor: Kiba "Wolf's Rain", Zero "Vampire Knight", Kuro "Kurozuka", Riku "Kingdom Hearts", Light Yagami "Death Note", Tamaki "Ouran High School Host Club", and a hundred other things.
He does the dark, emotionless characters very, VERY well, but he also delivers a lot of pain to his voice too that just breaks my heart. Love it ^^
Kuro's Flashback from "Kurozuka"
Vic Mignogna
Edward Elric.
Nuff said.
No, seriously, FMA is the only anime where I actually did not like the sub. Vic's voice is absolutely perfect for Edward. I'm not in love with it, but I do love it all the same, and it has a special place in my heart.
Ogihci's Voice
Bleach
I have NO idea who did the voice. my best guess is that it was Masakuza Morita but just heavily, heavily altered with digital stuff.
Seriously, I LOVE this voice. It's so twisted, but beautiful in a soul-disturbing way.
The King and His Horse speech from "Bleach"
Jude Law
Voiced: Pitch Black in "Rise of the Guardians". Plays as Wason in the new Sherlock Holmes movies.
I love the deep, smooth voice with the British accent. I absolutely melt when I hear it.
Sorry, I could not find one of his speeches, but you hear his voice in the trailer :3
Samuel Witwer
Voice of Darth Maul
The smooth tones. The darkness. The evil. And the horrible emotion thrown in. This voice is why I'm in love with the genius, brutal dark lord of the Sith ^^
Sorry if this video gives spoilers away to anyone watching the Clone Wars show...
I guess...
Because it gave rise to the creation of a male version of the song "Still Doll" by Kanon Wakeshima, the first closing theme for Vampire Knight.
And oh, wasn't that a great idea.
How it works is you take a music file and turn the pitch lower. Not all songs actually turn out sounding right when this is done, but Kanon Wakeshima's voice is high enough naturally that it can sound like a tenor male without the sound quality overall going to pot.
I love this voice SO, SO much. "His" voice makes me melt. Like Jude Law, only he's singing.
Or she's singing... I don't get how this works... anyway, enjoy!
(sorry for the odd video... this is the best version of the song without me uploading my own altered song to youtube...)
And those are my six favorite voices/ voices I'm in love with. What are your guys' favorite voices?
Friday, November 14, 2014
Day 14: bullies are bad
0:09
So I finished yesterday with 2700+ words and I am soooo happy! Now I am only 3000 words behind instead of 5000 like before. I need to write about 3000 or more today, and then I will be good.
So, in Chapter Three, I was writing this sort of bully scene in with my poor character Hessir. He gets put through the ringer because he is fat. If only he lived in a hobbit community where everyone is cute and chubby and eats good food...
I suck at writing bully scenes. Pure, unadulterated torture: sure, any day. But bullies? I don't know, I think it's because they are truly weak and pathetic that it makes it hard for me to write anything believable into them...
Also, have I said that my descriptions are lacking? Yes, yes I have, and I will keep on lamenting it all NaNo. It sucks! Just about everything is fueled by dialogue and it sucks! SUCKS!
I am determined to now sit down and crank out 500 words of nothing but description. There. I will dare myself. I will write 500 words of nothing but Hessir wandering the words looking for "falgarith". >. >
Yes, this is the chapter where we finally meet the famed 'falgarith'. Seriously, he's been mentioned in two chapters but never appeared... well, now is his moment to shine!
Sort of.
Spoiler alert: he never gets a POV chapter.
So I finished yesterday with 2700+ words and I am soooo happy! Now I am only 3000 words behind instead of 5000 like before. I need to write about 3000 or more today, and then I will be good.
So, in Chapter Three, I was writing this sort of bully scene in with my poor character Hessir. He gets put through the ringer because he is fat. If only he lived in a hobbit community where everyone is cute and chubby and eats good food...
I suck at writing bully scenes. Pure, unadulterated torture: sure, any day. But bullies? I don't know, I think it's because they are truly weak and pathetic that it makes it hard for me to write anything believable into them...
Also, have I said that my descriptions are lacking? Yes, yes I have, and I will keep on lamenting it all NaNo. It sucks! Just about everything is fueled by dialogue and it sucks! SUCKS!
I am determined to now sit down and crank out 500 words of nothing but description. There. I will dare myself. I will write 500 words of nothing but Hessir wandering the words looking for "falgarith". >. >
Yes, this is the chapter where we finally meet the famed 'falgarith'. Seriously, he's been mentioned in two chapters but never appeared... well, now is his moment to shine!
Sort of.
Spoiler alert: he never gets a POV chapter.
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Day 13: two in one go
0:20
I did not manage to get things up in time, but I (pretty much) finished and uploaded two chapters in a day! I am very happy about that. Not that I expect to do that again anytime soon as I doubt I can write 20,000 words in one day (probable, but not possible, especially not right now).
So the second chapter featuring Kah is also available on wattpad. Again, you need to be following me on wattpad to read it. This is for publication rights issues and privacy issues.
I know that both chapters are lacking in description areas as I have pointed out before, but I do lengthen them as I do some minor correcting and adding when I read over things. I really should do that during the editing stage, but it still bugs me, so I do some things now.
I still need 4484 more words to catch up to where I'm supposed to be at. Thankfully, my friends will be at work/school, so I won't have any distractions (except maybe where pets are concerned...)
With Chapter 2, we are introduced to Kah, and we are given a bit of a look at the world Kah lives in. Several more characters are introduced which brings the character count to... um...
Orec
Elai
Mara
Yonke
Orson
Kah
"master"
unnamed-steward
Maquet Dragorathe
Maquet Silenias
Samdagas
Meruse
And it also introduces several places. I fully intend to draw a map for my own benefit. It's in my head at the moment, but needs to become more concrete.
Chapter Three... hmm... now this is tricky because I am not using any pre-written stuff. It will probably be from Meruse's point of view.
Chapter Four, from what I have gathered currently, will be from Hessir's point of view. He's one of the fat people I mentioned where I wasn't sure if it was good or bad. (which, by the way, I brought the count down to two). Hessir reminds me of Samwise Gamgee with maybe a little more cowardice. He has a good heart though. I like writing from his POV since he's so lighthearted yet blunt about everything.
Oh yes, here's another list: already written characters for future chapters (from the scenes I wrote before NaNo)
Keenah
Candiz
Sar Finnick ne Casselar
Saressa Hannelore ne Casselar
_ de Mure
and if I decide to include these characters too...
Prince Esslin
Prince (_)
( Kingsguard)
Yah, some people don't have names. Sorry.
Prince Esslin and the other two were from a short scene I typed out after using the first line of a novel as a writing prompt, the line being "The prince was dead." If the scene does not appear in Write This Down, they will most likely appear in whatever fantasy I write next. I found that I LOVE fantasy, and that it is perfectly okay to just sit down and write a hundred different fantasy novels if I choose. I don't need to be Tolkein to be a fantasy author :3
1:17
So after checking through my blog as thoroughly as I could, I realized I did not actually say why this novel is called "Write This Down". Well, the name comes from two things.
The first is a name of a band that I got into recently. I was listening to quite a few songs by them at the time of my inspiration for the novel.
The second was that I would often come up with fantasy story ideas at the most random times, but I never bothered to really write the stuff out, figuring someday the best idea ever would just come to me, and I should wait for that.
I had just gotten back from vacation with friends, and while at their house, we randomly watched this Netflix thing on Pompeii. At home, doing dishes, I was hit with a burst of inspiration: a boy running through the streets, looking for someone important to him while a volcano rages all around him.
Then I thought "You know what! I just need to write this down!"
And so, I wrote down the first bits of the volcano scene with Orec.
And then stuff (a lot of stuff happened that would make for one long freaking story) happened, and I wrote another little scene of a man wandering through super crowded market.
And so I wrote down the scene that eventually became Kah getting anxious going through the crowded market.
And then I wrote another scene (a future scene of Hessir complaining about the bandits).
And more scenes and more scenes.
And I shoved them all into one word document and told myself, "Someday, this will all be in one great, big book, Niitari."
But what to call this book of stuff where all I did was "write this down"?
2:54
I find that I tend to do lots of rambling when I make blog posts at the early hours of the morning... thank you for bearing with me.
I am steadily but surely catching up. Just 4150 words to get caught up now.
No, it did not take me 2 hours to write 200+ words. I took a break to roleplay.
Speaking of, Nox may be joining Skyrim again. That would make me uber happy. Skyrim needs love <3
And I posted to Aisthesis today. That's good. I am going to be getting back to that site hardcore soon as NaNo eases up.
3:51
So, I submitted my novel for the 30 Covers, 30 Days challenge. We'll see what happens, I guess...
18:01
I lost my phone in the woods. >. > Sucks that there are so many leaves everywhere to bury it, and that my sound settings were disabled so there is no actual ring. Hopefully when I go back tonight, I'll be able to see it glowing if my friend keeps calling the phone.
I did not get lot done today save tweak bits and pieces of the pre-written stuff for Chapter Three. I should be able to crank a bunch out tonight since I know exactly where I am going with this Chapter.
I did not manage to get things up in time, but I (pretty much) finished and uploaded two chapters in a day! I am very happy about that. Not that I expect to do that again anytime soon as I doubt I can write 20,000 words in one day (probable, but not possible, especially not right now).
So the second chapter featuring Kah is also available on wattpad. Again, you need to be following me on wattpad to read it. This is for publication rights issues and privacy issues.
I know that both chapters are lacking in description areas as I have pointed out before, but I do lengthen them as I do some minor correcting and adding when I read over things. I really should do that during the editing stage, but it still bugs me, so I do some things now.
I still need 4484 more words to catch up to where I'm supposed to be at. Thankfully, my friends will be at work/school, so I won't have any distractions (except maybe where pets are concerned...)
With Chapter 2, we are introduced to Kah, and we are given a bit of a look at the world Kah lives in. Several more characters are introduced which brings the character count to... um...
Orec
Elai
Mara
Yonke
Orson
Kah
"master"
unnamed-steward
Maquet Dragorathe
Maquet Silenias
Samdagas
Meruse
And it also introduces several places. I fully intend to draw a map for my own benefit. It's in my head at the moment, but needs to become more concrete.
Chapter Three... hmm... now this is tricky because I am not using any pre-written stuff. It will probably be from Meruse's point of view.
Chapter Four, from what I have gathered currently, will be from Hessir's point of view. He's one of the fat people I mentioned where I wasn't sure if it was good or bad. (which, by the way, I brought the count down to two). Hessir reminds me of Samwise Gamgee with maybe a little more cowardice. He has a good heart though. I like writing from his POV since he's so lighthearted yet blunt about everything.
Oh yes, here's another list: already written characters for future chapters (from the scenes I wrote before NaNo)
Keenah
Candiz
Sar Finnick ne Casselar
Saressa Hannelore ne Casselar
_ de Mure
and if I decide to include these characters too...
Prince Esslin
Prince (_)
( Kingsguard)
Yah, some people don't have names. Sorry.
Prince Esslin and the other two were from a short scene I typed out after using the first line of a novel as a writing prompt, the line being "The prince was dead." If the scene does not appear in Write This Down, they will most likely appear in whatever fantasy I write next. I found that I LOVE fantasy, and that it is perfectly okay to just sit down and write a hundred different fantasy novels if I choose. I don't need to be Tolkein to be a fantasy author :3
1:17
So after checking through my blog as thoroughly as I could, I realized I did not actually say why this novel is called "Write This Down". Well, the name comes from two things.
The first is a name of a band that I got into recently. I was listening to quite a few songs by them at the time of my inspiration for the novel.
The second was that I would often come up with fantasy story ideas at the most random times, but I never bothered to really write the stuff out, figuring someday the best idea ever would just come to me, and I should wait for that.
I had just gotten back from vacation with friends, and while at their house, we randomly watched this Netflix thing on Pompeii. At home, doing dishes, I was hit with a burst of inspiration: a boy running through the streets, looking for someone important to him while a volcano rages all around him.
Then I thought "You know what! I just need to write this down!"
And so, I wrote down the first bits of the volcano scene with Orec.
And then stuff (a lot of stuff happened that would make for one long freaking story) happened, and I wrote another little scene of a man wandering through super crowded market.
And so I wrote down the scene that eventually became Kah getting anxious going through the crowded market.
And then I wrote another scene (a future scene of Hessir complaining about the bandits).
And more scenes and more scenes.
And I shoved them all into one word document and told myself, "Someday, this will all be in one great, big book, Niitari."
But what to call this book of stuff where all I did was "write this down"?
2:54
I find that I tend to do lots of rambling when I make blog posts at the early hours of the morning... thank you for bearing with me.
I am steadily but surely catching up. Just 4150 words to get caught up now.
No, it did not take me 2 hours to write 200+ words. I took a break to roleplay.
Speaking of, Nox may be joining Skyrim again. That would make me uber happy. Skyrim needs love <3
And I posted to Aisthesis today. That's good. I am going to be getting back to that site hardcore soon as NaNo eases up.
3:51
So, I submitted my novel for the 30 Covers, 30 Days challenge. We'll see what happens, I guess...
18:01
I lost my phone in the woods. >. > Sucks that there are so many leaves everywhere to bury it, and that my sound settings were disabled so there is no actual ring. Hopefully when I go back tonight, I'll be able to see it glowing if my friend keeps calling the phone.
I did not get lot done today save tweak bits and pieces of the pre-written stuff for Chapter Three. I should be able to crank a bunch out tonight since I know exactly where I am going with this Chapter.
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Day 12: stupid chapter
0:39
I am GOING to FINISH this chapter SOMEDAY!!!!!! >. >
1:04
Now that Liam mentioned that Orson and Orec are like Kieran and Adrian, their dynamic is easier to write about. Sort of. I mean, they are like them, but they aren't in many ways. But the comparison did help.
What sucks though is I feel that a lot of stuff is happening in my head and is not getting out in my story. Some of these characters have such short 'screen time' (as it were), but I'm already in love with them, and I worry no one else will be.
Oh well. People tend to surprise. Some people pick up on characters and things in ways that others don't. I guess there will be something for everyone then, though this book in its entirety won't be.
1:36
I saw Liam's blog and Fili's blogs, and I'm sad because they have this awesome thing going where they put a sentence (or two) of what they wrote that day as their blog title, and it's so cool. But 12 days have passed now, so I can't exactly jump on the bandwagon. Oh well. There's always camp and next year's NaNo to look forward to.
Also, I feel like my next NaNo, or even during this one, I should really plot things out more. Granted, I know what the plot is and who my characters are, but there are still lots and lots of gaps that can be avoided if I plot things out. Especially concerning characters. They are the driving force of this novel after all.
2:13
I hit 15K!!!!!
I am SOOOO happy right now! I still have 4974 to write before I am caught up to today's goal, but I'm just happy that I hit another landmark. I'm pretty much a third-ish done with the NaNo 50K. Not nearly a third done with the book, not a chance. This chapter alone is reaching 10K words long.
Yes, they are long, but who the hell cares. Certainly not me.
2:25
I finished Chapter One. It's only 9383 words and 19 word document pages...
And Kah, it's your turn to shine again! Whoot!
By the way, some great noveling music for you all! Anything by Joe Hisaishi, especially his work done for Studio Ghibli/Miyazaki films, is a real treat! I love the Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, and Princess Mononoke soundtracks. I do like some of the stuff from Nausicaa despite my disappointment in the film (a talk for another time).
Oh yah, if you wanted, here is a list of all the Ghibli/Miyazaki films I have seen:
Princess Mononoke (own)
Grave of the Fireflies
Howl’s Moving Castle (own)
My Neighbor Totoro
Spirited Away
Arrietty
Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind
Kiki’s Delivery Service
I started watching Castle in the Sky but lost the site I was watching it on. So if you wanna 'fangirl' or discuss his films, YAY! Just don't spoil the ones I haven't seen yet, and wait to talk about Castle in the Sky, since I have yet to really watch it.
And yes, I own Princess Mononoke and Howl's Moving Castle. I really wanna buy Spirited Away next. I love that film to death. All of them really, but I do like some better than others.
AND I'm so happy to be here to introduce my favorite little peeps to the world of Anime! Pickle Bunny is really taken to the Ghibli films. Even though she's nine, she seems to understand the stuff she's watching. She's smart like that. She loves Howl's Moving Castle and has seen it twice. Like me, she did not care too much for Nausicaa. She enjoyed Princess Mononoke and really liked Spirited Away. I was so happy about this. I put on Howl for myself, and she watched a few scenes. Then I was watching Spirited Away with her parents, and she sat down to watch it too, but she didn't say much during the move. Then she had to go to bed, and was sad that she couldn't finish it. This is a good sign! It means they like the films! Yay! She finished it the next day. She kept asking if Chihiro and Haku ever meet again. Aww ^^
And then she ran up to me begging to watch Howl's Moving Castle and said she loved the movie. Tears of joy! It's great to see kids enjoy anime and Japanese films.
She has also gotten into Avatar the Last Airbender, which I find is a fantastic gateway to anime. Probably the best anime gateway, really. Soon, she will be old enough to watch Fullmetal Alchemist. I think some more maturity needs to happen before she's ready for it. Even though she got some of the stuff in Princess Mononoke, she did not get all of it. So I think she has a little growing up to do beforehand.
Still, it's nice to see someone growing up into nerd-dom. She's even excited to try LARPing!
Well, anyway, it's back to NaNo-ing for me. So peace off for now, minions.
2:46
My body really has switched to third shift. It's 2am, and I feel so chipper. This will suck when I get a job or go back to college.
3:00
I have come back to announce the posting of my novel to wattpad!
Yes, it is simply called "Write This Down" for several reasons that I probably explained earlier somewhere. It is fantasy. I love it very much *huggles book*.
Prologue and the first chapter are up. Second chapter will probably come soon since I already have 6700+ words written in it already.
And probably more since this is a character I do not want to put down. That character being Kah.
It was so hard to conclude Chapter One, and I still hate how I ended it, but it just had to stop. The story must go on!
14:45
The issue with putting this book on wattpad is how much time it will take to get chapters out. And for once, I don't mean this because I am lazy or have writer's block. I mean this because my chapters are about ten thousand words each. Phooey.
I am GOING to FINISH this chapter SOMEDAY!!!!!! >. >
1:04
Now that Liam mentioned that Orson and Orec are like Kieran and Adrian, their dynamic is easier to write about. Sort of. I mean, they are like them, but they aren't in many ways. But the comparison did help.
What sucks though is I feel that a lot of stuff is happening in my head and is not getting out in my story. Some of these characters have such short 'screen time' (as it were), but I'm already in love with them, and I worry no one else will be.
Oh well. People tend to surprise. Some people pick up on characters and things in ways that others don't. I guess there will be something for everyone then, though this book in its entirety won't be.
1:36
I saw Liam's blog and Fili's blogs, and I'm sad because they have this awesome thing going where they put a sentence (or two) of what they wrote that day as their blog title, and it's so cool. But 12 days have passed now, so I can't exactly jump on the bandwagon. Oh well. There's always camp and next year's NaNo to look forward to.
Also, I feel like my next NaNo, or even during this one, I should really plot things out more. Granted, I know what the plot is and who my characters are, but there are still lots and lots of gaps that can be avoided if I plot things out. Especially concerning characters. They are the driving force of this novel after all.
2:13
I hit 15K!!!!!
I am SOOOO happy right now! I still have 4974 to write before I am caught up to today's goal, but I'm just happy that I hit another landmark. I'm pretty much a third-ish done with the NaNo 50K. Not nearly a third done with the book, not a chance. This chapter alone is reaching 10K words long.
Yes, they are long, but who the hell cares. Certainly not me.
2:25
I finished Chapter One. It's only 9383 words and 19 word document pages...
And Kah, it's your turn to shine again! Whoot!
By the way, some great noveling music for you all! Anything by Joe Hisaishi, especially his work done for Studio Ghibli/Miyazaki films, is a real treat! I love the Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, and Princess Mononoke soundtracks. I do like some of the stuff from Nausicaa despite my disappointment in the film (a talk for another time).
Oh yah, if you wanted, here is a list of all the Ghibli/Miyazaki films I have seen:
Princess Mononoke (own)
Grave of the Fireflies
Howl’s Moving Castle (own)
My Neighbor Totoro
Spirited Away
Arrietty
Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind
Kiki’s Delivery Service
I started watching Castle in the Sky but lost the site I was watching it on. So if you wanna 'fangirl' or discuss his films, YAY! Just don't spoil the ones I haven't seen yet, and wait to talk about Castle in the Sky, since I have yet to really watch it.
And yes, I own Princess Mononoke and Howl's Moving Castle. I really wanna buy Spirited Away next. I love that film to death. All of them really, but I do like some better than others.
AND I'm so happy to be here to introduce my favorite little peeps to the world of Anime! Pickle Bunny is really taken to the Ghibli films. Even though she's nine, she seems to understand the stuff she's watching. She's smart like that. She loves Howl's Moving Castle and has seen it twice. Like me, she did not care too much for Nausicaa. She enjoyed Princess Mononoke and really liked Spirited Away. I was so happy about this. I put on Howl for myself, and she watched a few scenes. Then I was watching Spirited Away with her parents, and she sat down to watch it too, but she didn't say much during the move. Then she had to go to bed, and was sad that she couldn't finish it. This is a good sign! It means they like the films! Yay! She finished it the next day. She kept asking if Chihiro and Haku ever meet again. Aww ^^
And then she ran up to me begging to watch Howl's Moving Castle and said she loved the movie. Tears of joy! It's great to see kids enjoy anime and Japanese films.
She has also gotten into Avatar the Last Airbender, which I find is a fantastic gateway to anime. Probably the best anime gateway, really. Soon, she will be old enough to watch Fullmetal Alchemist. I think some more maturity needs to happen before she's ready for it. Even though she got some of the stuff in Princess Mononoke, she did not get all of it. So I think she has a little growing up to do beforehand.
Still, it's nice to see someone growing up into nerd-dom. She's even excited to try LARPing!
Well, anyway, it's back to NaNo-ing for me. So peace off for now, minions.
2:46
My body really has switched to third shift. It's 2am, and I feel so chipper. This will suck when I get a job or go back to college.
3:00
I have come back to announce the posting of my novel to wattpad!
 |
The novel is HERE
Yes, it is simply called "Write This Down" for several reasons that I probably explained earlier somewhere. It is fantasy. I love it very much *huggles book*.
Prologue and the first chapter are up. Second chapter will probably come soon since I already have 6700+ words written in it already.
And probably more since this is a character I do not want to put down. That character being Kah.
It was so hard to conclude Chapter One, and I still hate how I ended it, but it just had to stop. The story must go on!
14:45
The issue with putting this book on wattpad is how much time it will take to get chapters out. And for once, I don't mean this because I am lazy or have writer's block. I mean this because my chapters are about ten thousand words each. Phooey.
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Day 11: eyeballs and kittens and wizards, oh my!
So, I had an eye exam today. It sucked. Well, I mean, the doctors and nurses were nice. But they had to do this thing where they dilate your pupils (ie, make them bigger and fill out your eyes). It's the same process as when your eyes are in the pitch black.
So basically, my eyes were drawing in every bit of light around me, which is a lot since the room was really bright. I could not focus on anything really well, which meant my nearsightedness was shot to hell and I could not read a thing. It caused all sorts of headaches and horrible nausea.
So I just slept all day withDovahkiin who is soooooo snuggly. And I watched episodes of Merlin. it's such a great show. Really. I highly recommend it. It's on Netflix, the whole thing. It's also a nice show to play as background for NaNo (but only after you've watched it all the way through).\
I got maybe a thousand words written before midnight hit, which is better than nothing. I am inching towards the line where I'm supposed to be at.
I am determined to get this freaking chapter done. >. >
On another note, I also want to go to jousting school, but it's hard to find them. >.> Most of them are on the West coast, which is nowhere near me. ):
So basically, my eyes were drawing in every bit of light around me, which is a lot since the room was really bright. I could not focus on anything really well, which meant my nearsightedness was shot to hell and I could not read a thing. It caused all sorts of headaches and horrible nausea.
So I just slept all day withDovahkiin who is soooooo snuggly. And I watched episodes of Merlin. it's such a great show. Really. I highly recommend it. It's on Netflix, the whole thing. It's also a nice show to play as background for NaNo (but only after you've watched it all the way through).\
I got maybe a thousand words written before midnight hit, which is better than nothing. I am inching towards the line where I'm supposed to be at.
I am determined to get this freaking chapter done. >. >
On another note, I also want to go to jousting school, but it's hard to find them. >.> Most of them are on the West coast, which is nowhere near me. ):
Monday, November 10, 2014
Day 10: comparing things
17:59
So, Liam compared Orson and Orec to Adrian and Kieran from Were Myths, which is a pretty accurate comparison: they're both brothers who care about each other, the younger gets horribly injured, the older could not stop it from happening, they have dark hair, they're orphans. That's where it pretty much ends.
I can't really say if I as inspired by Adrian and Kieran for Orson and Orec. It certainly was not plotted out that way. Orson was not supposed to show up in the chapter initially. In fact, he was just "older brother" who as off somewhere doing other things while the scene was focused on Orec. Orec was not originally supposed to get horribly injured. He was supposed to just die.
The boys also have a slightly reversed role psychologically. Adrian was the kind to fall apart under the insane pressure and Kieran was being the stronger and always picking him up. Though Orson did literally pick Orec up, it's actually Orson who falls apart and Orec who stays strong. So, yah, role reversal-ish.
But you will see all that when I actually get the damn chapter up :P
So, Liam compared Orson and Orec to Adrian and Kieran from Were Myths, which is a pretty accurate comparison: they're both brothers who care about each other, the younger gets horribly injured, the older could not stop it from happening, they have dark hair, they're orphans. That's where it pretty much ends.
I can't really say if I as inspired by Adrian and Kieran for Orson and Orec. It certainly was not plotted out that way. Orson was not supposed to show up in the chapter initially. In fact, he was just "older brother" who as off somewhere doing other things while the scene was focused on Orec. Orec was not originally supposed to get horribly injured. He was supposed to just die.
The boys also have a slightly reversed role psychologically. Adrian was the kind to fall apart under the insane pressure and Kieran was being the stronger and always picking him up. Though Orson did literally pick Orec up, it's actually Orson who falls apart and Orec who stays strong. So, yah, role reversal-ish.
But you will see all that when I actually get the damn chapter up :P
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Day 9: letter to orec and orson
3:45
I hate how I am writing this book.
I want to stick around with my characters and keep them going for the rest of the story. Now I see why people typically stick with 1-3 main characters. I keep falling in love with each and every one of my creations, and knowing I have to put them down and move along is the hardest thing I will ever have to face.
But it must be done this way. It must be.
So I have to write this letter.
DEAR OREC,
I'm sorry, Orec. I picked you up and shook you to your core and brutally defiled you and damaged you beyond repair, and now I must toss you aside so that the story can continue.
Don't worry, poor baby. You and your brother will go start a sheep farm in a pretty meadow. And you will get married to a beautiful lady and have beautiful babies who all have your beautiful eyes, and they will make your life happy again. And Mara will come over to bug you all day. And Yonke will shake his head and drag her off while she yells at you to cut your damn hair and take your wife on lovely outings more often and why-haven't-you-named-one-of-your-kids-mara-yet? and other such things.
I'm sorry for what I did to you. But life will be better for you.
And at least you are not a main character.
DEAR ORSON,
I'm sorry, Orson. I made you face horrific decisions and watch your brother suffer and leave you helpless to do anything for him and curse yourself so cruelly for 'letting it happen'.
You did the right thing. It was a life or death situation. I'm sorry that I had to make you do all those horrible things. Orec forgives you too. He loves you very much you know.
Soon, you both will move past the pain. You will have many adventures, just like you wanted, and get a nice big scar on your arm in an impressive battle with which you can brag to your friends about. Then you and Orec will start a sheep farm. Don't lie, I know that you like sheep. You count them in your sleep. You will also have a hot foreign girl for your wife (probably a southerner like the Maquet, I know you go for exotic types). You will have children as rambunctious as yourself who will give you quite a few gray hairs.
I'm sorry what I did to you. But life will be better for you.
And at least you are not a main character.
I love you, my babies! Have good dreams tonight! When I wake, I write more horror for you, but keep the future in mind. Let that console you in these dark times.
Sincerely,
your psychotic, evil, demented, horrible author
4:02
In other news, I hit 10k today. Mucho proud, and sleepy. Yes.... sleep.... the bed calls to me.... sleep...
I hate how I am writing this book.
I want to stick around with my characters and keep them going for the rest of the story. Now I see why people typically stick with 1-3 main characters. I keep falling in love with each and every one of my creations, and knowing I have to put them down and move along is the hardest thing I will ever have to face.
But it must be done this way. It must be.
So I have to write this letter.
DEAR OREC,
I'm sorry, Orec. I picked you up and shook you to your core and brutally defiled you and damaged you beyond repair, and now I must toss you aside so that the story can continue.
Don't worry, poor baby. You and your brother will go start a sheep farm in a pretty meadow. And you will get married to a beautiful lady and have beautiful babies who all have your beautiful eyes, and they will make your life happy again. And Mara will come over to bug you all day. And Yonke will shake his head and drag her off while she yells at you to cut your damn hair and take your wife on lovely outings more often and why-haven't-you-named-one-of-your-kids-mara-yet? and other such things.
I'm sorry for what I did to you. But life will be better for you.
And at least you are not a main character.
DEAR ORSON,
I'm sorry, Orson. I made you face horrific decisions and watch your brother suffer and leave you helpless to do anything for him and curse yourself so cruelly for 'letting it happen'.
You did the right thing. It was a life or death situation. I'm sorry that I had to make you do all those horrible things. Orec forgives you too. He loves you very much you know.
Soon, you both will move past the pain. You will have many adventures, just like you wanted, and get a nice big scar on your arm in an impressive battle with which you can brag to your friends about. Then you and Orec will start a sheep farm. Don't lie, I know that you like sheep. You count them in your sleep. You will also have a hot foreign girl for your wife (probably a southerner like the Maquet, I know you go for exotic types). You will have children as rambunctious as yourself who will give you quite a few gray hairs.
I'm sorry what I did to you. But life will be better for you.
And at least you are not a main character.
I love you, my babies! Have good dreams tonight! When I wake, I write more horror for you, but keep the future in mind. Let that console you in these dark times.
Sincerely,
your psychotic, evil, demented, horrible author
4:02
In other news, I hit 10k today. Mucho proud, and sleepy. Yes.... sleep.... the bed calls to me.... sleep...
Saturday, November 8, 2014
Day 8: a day in the life of a volcano
The sun rises. I am a volcano. The sun sets. I am still a volcano.
A bird deposits its lovely gifts of white and brown to feed my tender, fertile soil. I thank the bird. It hears me not. I am a volcano.
A human climbs my face and sticks a seed in my nose. I sneeze. The human does not notice. I am a volcano.
The birds sing. More lovely presents of white and brown scatter about my face. Hallelujah. I am a volcano.
A great struggle stirs within me. My psychopathic alter ego wishes to rise again. My therapy fail me. I must give in to my sick, demented nature.
I rain fire and hell down upon the land, incinerating the birds till they are beyond well done. Charred skeletons of humans dust into ash. The humans structures, once thought so strong, fall at my mercy. I rain down fire and brimstone. All hell opens up from within me. The world trembles at my roar. I am a volcano.
Some time passes. I remember that it is not nice to go on violent rampages. Cool logic overcomes my alter ego. He subsides. I take my meds. Multiple personality disorder is a great problem in this world, children. We need to spread awareness. Celebrate multiple personality disorder awareness with me, children.
I am a volcano.
AND THIS WAS A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSORS. CALL TOLL FREE 1-555-555-5551 FOR A FREE MPD AWARENESS RIBBON. YES, WE ARE AWARE THAT THEY ARE SHAPED LIKE VOLCANOES.
A bird deposits its lovely gifts of white and brown to feed my tender, fertile soil. I thank the bird. It hears me not. I am a volcano.
A human climbs my face and sticks a seed in my nose. I sneeze. The human does not notice. I am a volcano.
The birds sing. More lovely presents of white and brown scatter about my face. Hallelujah. I am a volcano.
A great struggle stirs within me. My psychopathic alter ego wishes to rise again. My therapy fail me. I must give in to my sick, demented nature.
I rain fire and hell down upon the land, incinerating the birds till they are beyond well done. Charred skeletons of humans dust into ash. The humans structures, once thought so strong, fall at my mercy. I rain down fire and brimstone. All hell opens up from within me. The world trembles at my roar. I am a volcano.
Some time passes. I remember that it is not nice to go on violent rampages. Cool logic overcomes my alter ego. He subsides. I take my meds. Multiple personality disorder is a great problem in this world, children. We need to spread awareness. Celebrate multiple personality disorder awareness with me, children.
I am a volcano.
AND THIS WAS A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSORS. CALL TOLL FREE 1-555-555-5551 FOR A FREE MPD AWARENESS RIBBON. YES, WE ARE AWARE THAT THEY ARE SHAPED LIKE VOLCANOES.
Friday, November 7, 2014
Day 7: lack of description
13:04
I find that when I am trying my hardest to crank out enough words to meet a deadline, my descriptions are sorely lacking. I think the only people that are actually described decently are the two Maquets. As was seen in my previous post, I wasn't even sure what Kah looked like, and he has roughly 6000 words about him. Well, we know about his eyepatch, he has black hair, and broad shoulders. But other than that, we don't know anything else. Literally nothing else as far as appearance.
I am happy that I at least gave the Maquets' castle a decent enough description.
And if you haven't figured it out, Maquets are a type of ruler. I made up the word because I figured King and Queen would not suffice. They're more like... like warrior rulers of this castle stronghold, but the man and woman have the exact same amount of power in ruling. So I needed something that was not King and Queen, since we all associate that with King being above Queen. The Maquets were established to balance each other out, and they were given the same rank and power so that all the people would know thy were completely equal. Especially since their country is extremely rigid about social rank and caste system.
Sorry, I was rambling a bit...
In other news, I decided to do a different direction for Chapter One. It is actually the original very first chapter of Write This Down from when I first started writing the darn thing. I like it better since it has more engaging action and will actually introduce one of the most important characters right off the bat. There is no Kah in that chapter... I'll have to make a mention of him or something. That would be a good tie in... Kah's chapter is going to be moved to Chapter Two.
13:52
I was commissioned by Krys to make her symbols of the (clan/group/things) for her new site Savage Hearts. It's a site about shifters and people and there are 6 animals assigned to an element with a spiritual one as a seventh (yah, sounds like Were Myths but it's not).
I got four of them done this morning. I went all tribal on these bad boys. They are NOT finished. I intend to do more with them before announcing that they are done. But here are four of the bases.
I have a bear of earth, a stag of wood, and the twin dragons of void left to do. We shall see how those go... hopefully just as well as these. I left them for last for good reason. I'm not the best at drawing bears. Stags... eh. Dragons: depends.
23:34
I found the PERFECT music. The PERFECT PERFECT PEEEERRRRFECT music! Ever get that feeling?
The great city thought it was invincible. Indestructible. That is, until the volcano that for centuries lay dormant, awakened.
While the volcano unleashes havoc, Orec runs through the streets, desperately trying to find the little girl he swore to protect. He will find her, even at the cost of his life.
The song perfectly conveys his urgency, fear, and adrenalin. While the somber-sweet pauses convey a sense of devastation felt whenever he pauses and just looks at what the volcano is doing to his beloved home.
Will he live? Will he die? Will he find Elai? I'm not telling. You'll have to go read the book when I put it up.
23:59
Finished today with 2840 words under my belt! Whoot!
Peace off, minions!
I find that when I am trying my hardest to crank out enough words to meet a deadline, my descriptions are sorely lacking. I think the only people that are actually described decently are the two Maquets. As was seen in my previous post, I wasn't even sure what Kah looked like, and he has roughly 6000 words about him. Well, we know about his eyepatch, he has black hair, and broad shoulders. But other than that, we don't know anything else. Literally nothing else as far as appearance.
I am happy that I at least gave the Maquets' castle a decent enough description.
And if you haven't figured it out, Maquets are a type of ruler. I made up the word because I figured King and Queen would not suffice. They're more like... like warrior rulers of this castle stronghold, but the man and woman have the exact same amount of power in ruling. So I needed something that was not King and Queen, since we all associate that with King being above Queen. The Maquets were established to balance each other out, and they were given the same rank and power so that all the people would know thy were completely equal. Especially since their country is extremely rigid about social rank and caste system.
Sorry, I was rambling a bit...
In other news, I decided to do a different direction for Chapter One. It is actually the original very first chapter of Write This Down from when I first started writing the darn thing. I like it better since it has more engaging action and will actually introduce one of the most important characters right off the bat. There is no Kah in that chapter... I'll have to make a mention of him or something. That would be a good tie in... Kah's chapter is going to be moved to Chapter Two.
13:52
I was commissioned by Krys to make her symbols of the (clan/group/things) for her new site Savage Hearts. It's a site about shifters and people and there are 6 animals assigned to an element with a spiritual one as a seventh (yah, sounds like Were Myths but it's not).
I got four of them done this morning. I went all tribal on these bad boys. They are NOT finished. I intend to do more with them before announcing that they are done. But here are four of the bases.
Bayu - Bat of Air
Aguna - Bobcat of Fire
Pani - Fox of Water
Dhatu - Rabbit of Metal
23:34
I found the PERFECT music. The PERFECT PERFECT PEEEERRRRFECT music! Ever get that feeling?
The great city thought it was invincible. Indestructible. That is, until the volcano that for centuries lay dormant, awakened.
While the volcano unleashes havoc, Orec runs through the streets, desperately trying to find the little girl he swore to protect. He will find her, even at the cost of his life.
The song perfectly conveys his urgency, fear, and adrenalin. While the somber-sweet pauses convey a sense of devastation felt whenever he pauses and just looks at what the volcano is doing to his beloved home.
Will he live? Will he die? Will he find Elai? I'm not telling. You'll have to go read the book when I put it up.
23:59
Finished today with 2840 words under my belt! Whoot!
Peace off, minions!
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