Completed Nano last night

What a different experience this nano was. What a pain in the rump this nano was.

Lesson 1. Do not attempt a complicated novel when you don't understand what you're doing yet.

Lesson 2. If you don't know where you're going or how even to accomplish it in a non-linear story, do not expect the story to just write itself.

Lesson 3. Do not attempt stories that require a lot of research without actually doing the research prior to nano.

Lesson 4. You can still write 50,000 words while not knowing what you're doing.

Lesson 5. Those words will be crap.

Been neglecting this journal

Only 13,000 words left to go to finish nano's demands. I've wanted to quit innumerable times. Not quite sure what's kept me going. Most of the actual writing I've done will be tossed out immediately upon rewrite. This nano's not like last year, where I could concentrate and wrote quite a bit I liked in the first draft. This go around is really like doing an expanded novel outline with dialogue. It's a load of crap. That's okay, and I'm cool with that. At least I know what happens in the story now, and I know what I don't like and what needs to change. I haven't had the same level of excitement I had last year towards the work. I care, but in a different way. Maybe because it's three novellas instead of one narrative. Because just when I got attached to the characters, I finished and had to move on to a new set. Because I'm unhappy with the p.o.v.s. Because I don't know how to work in the things that have to be there yet. Because it's so hard.

And yet, it's funny. Because when I had the choice early on this nano to drop this one and pick up the first book of the fantasy trilogy instead, my only thought was, but what's the point? This new book raises the bar for me, and nothing will be the same after it. I still like that other fantasy story, but if I ever write it now, it has to be reimagined into something different. It's so... straight-forward. A good exciting story, sure, but nothing distinguishes it from a hundred other good stories. And this is the problem with growing older, watching your writing and ideas mature. Sometimes you just can't go back.

Maybe I'll just "get the hysterics"

So, nano's underway and I'm a fair amount behind. I did reach nearly the daily quota yesterday. Nearly. Looking forward to today, to see what I can do with more time. Of course, I'm already procrastinating...

running short of time

A week and a couple days until I have to start writing in earnest, and I'll be gone for half that. But I feel ready... sort of. My brain has consciously NOT been plotting and planning. I have the characters, the basic structure, a lot of questions, and the rest is just going to have to come together on the fly as November progresses. I think I should be far more worried about this than I am. Like there's a murder in part one and I don't know which guy gets murdered or by whom, and, as it ties heavily into part two, I feel I oughta know who gets bumped off. I can make a case for all sorts of scenarios, and all of them work, but none of them feel right yet.

I'm sure the characters will delight in surprising me when I actually get there.

My goal this week is simply to read and read and read. Get words flowing easily in my head.

Oh crap.

You think I'd have learned my lesson last year: never disparage a fictional character. Never doubt them when they tell you they can make something happen just because your brain is too limited to see the big picture. Because they'll just laugh at you (good-naturedly, in this case) as they deliver the goods.

The scifi western IS a novel.

Insufferable, smirking, stupid, shirtless character.

I guess I have my nano project.

ACK! NANO@))^

That was a typo for 2006, but it feels appropriate so I'm leaving it.

I don't like any of my possible Nano projects!!!

What am I going to do?

10 days down, 21 to go. Somewhere in those 21 days, a project must be found. And where the heck are my muses when I need them? What good are they? Why is an annoying pestering C! character lounging around, grinning crookedly, and going "how about my sci fi western story?" while the muses remain absent? It's just not fair. And unless he's got a subplot or six up his sleeves, that idea is a short story, novella at best. You got that, buddy?? So it won't cut it.

And I still don't have a project.

Does it have to be a novel? Can it be two novellas? Five short stories? Anything totaling 50K new words?

Sigh. That's the character talking, not me. He wants his story. It's about love. Figures.

Productive Sunday

2500+ words yesterday. It's been MONTHS since I've turned out that much in one day. Three different projects, two short stories and a third story/project. It felt very very good. Gave me one of those "you can do Nano yet again, really you can, yep."

Uh-huh. Need to start getting characters and world nailed down. Fast.

NaNoWriMo approacheth

And the inevitable question -- what do I choose as this year's project? Do I do the one I had intended to start last year, and ended up dropping in favor of a hotter project on Otober 31st? It's the first book of the Mystic fantasy trilogy. I'm actually leaning towards not doing it again, and writing something new and unplotted. I have this young adult fantasy novel idea. It would be different for me, and therefore fresh and 180 degrees from last year's novel. Might be a good thing. I have exactly one page of notes on it. It's tentatively called "The Barristal Riders" but who knows if that will stay or not. I like the idea a lot, so that give it sway. Though I like the Mystic books too, they're just more involved than I think I want to go right now. I think I want something different. The problem is, I know I can write the Mystic book... I know the whole story, it's just a matter of getting it down on paper. It would be a safe option, a relatively easy option. I know only a paragraph's worth of plot on the YA book. I could get partway in and fizzle. Course, that's always a risk on any story.

Well, there's most of a month still to decide, though I'd like to do a chunk of plotting first before I begin.