#11 That time of year again

Once more NaNoWriMo rolls around and I return to this blog. Hmm. Getting pretty bad at posting here. I've had a lot going on, but this sort of keeps me writing and thinking about my writing. The fact I haven't posted here probably explains some things.

Anyway, NaNo. This year's plan is to tackle my EpicWIP. Finally. It needs a complete rewrite from top to bottom so this seemed to be a good opportunity. It's almost certainly going to be longer than 50K, but this will be a good start. I've had it in my head for such a long time. It'll be weird when it's gone and all down on paper. Although I have so many funny extra little skits that I play with, there'll always be something to add.

Hmm. Don't want to talk about it too much just yet - I'm sure I'll get into that once NaNo kicks off. But it is funny how things work. It's evolved from a relatively simple story into something so complex I'm not sure how I can convey all the nuances of it. And I've been looking critically at it for a couple of months, trying to condense a sequence of events into something that will work in a more concise way. I've spent ages trying to hammer it out and make it work. And then I get what I will call the Voice of Experience in my head. Something that comes up just occasionally when an idea comes completely out of nowhere, like it's been handed to you. And it pats me on the head and says "Very nice. Three acts, I like that. But you know... It would make more sense if you did it like this..."
And I look at the rearranged pieces and it works. Sure, a few other things get screwed up along the way, but I'll fix 'em. Little epiphanies are nice, but so frustrating after so long. I just wish they'd show up sooner.

I think once NaNo is done (since I'll probably be sick of the sight of the NaNo project) I might start my reading for my next project (Editing? Hahaha... Yeah, right. Still haven't finished NaNo '06 so I have no unrealistic expectations of leaping into editing...).

I have this thing that I've written the beginning for. There's a plot with it now and I think the idea is really interesting. If I can do it right, that is. It starts out and feels like something approaching high fantasy (not medieval though, a little later in technology than that) but as things go on, it becomes clear that things are very very dark. It has layers. Some characters know much more than others, but none of them are really aware of exactly what's going on. For sure, at least one main character is going to die, but I'm not totally sure which one yet.

Let's try for a synopsis. It might help my thought processes. There are three countries, each with their own god, although the all nominally worship all three. They just pay special attention to their particular deity. Travel and trade between the three is severely restricted (thriving black market though), though the clergy and those high up have access to what they want. Money and power can get you anything. The clergy don't rule, but wield enormous power within the structure of each country. Belief is more or less compulsory, and in any case, no one would question it because the gods actually appear in the temples frequently.
Into this, my little revolutionary, Oona, is born. She gets inducted into the priesthood. It could be a path to greatness, to power and wealth and secret knowledge. It also comes with institutionalised child abuse of the worst kinds, unknown to most of the population (those that guess don't care). Oona manages to get out of it after many, many years and plots her own revenge, against the priests, the politicians and the system that let it all happen.
She knows the gods aren't real, but smoke and mirror creations. She gathers people to her and has a plan to bring everything crashing down, but makes discoveries along the way that make it untenable. There is a fourth country, with a god of its own, that has a part to play. And while the temple's deities are illusions, there are real gods and they are the last thing that Oona expects.
Oona isn't the first revolutionary. Not even the second. There have been many before her, all children who initially wanted to bring the system down. But you kill a god and you take its place. Once you're a deity, the last thing you want is to bring down the system that sustains you. Power corrupts.
She's in a spot, unable to kill them but unable to let them go. I'm not entirely sure what happens here. There are a few scenarios and they all involve dead people. Hmm. Decisions. But this should serve to prompt my memory come the end of November.
*pats Oona* She's a bit of a pyschopath but it's not exactly her fault.

#7 Why I hate my story

This is my story so far. I'm more or less on target as far as the word count goes.

But I hate it. I keep trying to make myself like it, and there are bits that are ok, but... no. I'm bored of it. I don't feel there's anything exciting to look forward to, so I can't even make myself just get through the next bit because... there's only a lot more like it to come. Argh.

Anyway, I am going to keep writing it. I'm going to hit 50K, though the story is planned out to 80K, so it won't actually be finished then. Maybe I'll abandon that planning scheme to try and make it more exciting. *yawn*

But so far as the discipline of actually sitting down and writing nearly 2K every day goes... I've done pretty good. Way better than last year. Last year it took me most of my evening to get my writing done. This year, I sit down and do it in a couple of hours and get the rest of the day to myself.

I'm planning post-NaNo things to keep me going. This is not so much a blog post as me trying to encourage myself to open the thing up and do some more writing...

#6 The Curse of NaNoWriMo

National Novel Writing Month is nearly upon us. This year I bought a T-shirt because I liked the colour (also because I still have a lingering belief from childhood that the more stuff I have around me associated with something will somehow make me better at it... I know, I know.) and I have been playing on the forums, answering questions and generally being sociable. Should anyone like to friend me, that would be most welcome (Gem351 is my username).

I thought up until yesterday that I knew what story I would be writing. I had a retelling of Beauty and the Beast in mind, in a more historical setting than fantasy. I had named my characters. I had worked out a few plot elements, although not very many. Now I'm not so sure.

Last year, I had vague meandering plot ideas, but I had characters that I knew. I had a decent, but still vague idea of Zillah, Sam and Micheal. Red was easy as soon as he walked onstage, as it were. Flowers was... challenging for me, but it just doesn't feel like that this time round.

This year I really feel it's laboured. I don't really HAVE a plot (even last year I had a faint idea of one, such as it was). The thing is, nothing much really happens. I mean, I have complex relationships worked out between people (which I think I'm getting pretty good at, my epic WIP to thank for that one.) but there's nothing much for them to DO.

I'm seriously considering ditching it, which is a shame because I still love the title and beginning I have in mind. But it just isn't cooked yet. I think this one needs a while longer in my head.

I have various other ideas I could pull out. There's Jemima's story, but again, that's a newish idea that I think needs time to stew and needs a lot of research. I could fudge it, but I get a lot of ideas when I read non-fiction and it would be a shame to miss out on those.

So... second NaNo idea is something that I wrote the first four paragraphs of two years ago. Or so. I was never quite sure what the rest of the story was but it seems to be playing ball with me for the last week. The world is built. I need to work a little on one of the characters (Oona) but I think I could write that. It lets me play in a lot of cultures and with a different technology level than I usually write.

Lastly, the same as last year, my epicWIP which has been uncooperative over the summer, now decides it's time to get active again. I think it has some kind of weird hibernation cycle. I'm still writing the backstory thingy for Deedee (it's up to 12 pages... how did I get this verbose?) and now I have another thing I want to write quick before I forget it because it is neat and awesome in so very many ways (and also shows that last years Pink bunnies of Doom sketch had its uses...)