In which Sky talks about NaNoWriMo things.

[cerulean_sky]

• NaNoWriMo has started (obviously) and I am writing. Slowly, but surely. I am several thousand words behind (at 3026 currently, when today's goal is 6666) so I don't know if I can catch up. I think if there were a couple nights when I wrote 2k words I would be able to, but I haven't yet managed that. We'll see.

• Unfortunately, I don't have an antagonist for my novel yet and, as girasola pointed out, having one might come in handy. I have a small conflict that I am going to use, and I shoehorned a character in to do so, but it's not going to be enough for the thing as a whole. It really is only going to affect the two of the main characters. So I am pondering this.

• I am also pondering how my main main character meets two of the other four main characters. Two I have down (or have planned in my head) but the other two are a little more nebulous. To be fair, so are those characters, so maybe if I had a firmer grasp of who they were, I would be able to figure out how to have everyone get to know each other properly.

• Wow, trying to talk about this without revealing anything about the story is hard.

• I am worried about other writing during NaNoWriMo. As a student getting a degree in Creative Writing, I have to actually do some writing for my classes. I have 2 papers to write during the month of November, not to mention the Peter Pan story I am working on which I still want to use for my workshop day in one of my classes. And I have to write a creative non-fiction piece (which will likely have some of my thoughts on Fantasy in it, so it won't be entirely disconnected from the things I love). That's a lot of words that don't go towards my novel. And it would obviously be cheating to count them as such. So. I feel like there's only so much writing I can do, and that writing things not for NaNoWriMo will distract me and make my wordcount drop. :/ Maybe I will just have to buck up and do them both. Like a reasonable and normal person would.

• I don't really read when I am writing. It's weird. Not out of any design, but because I am putting all my energy into either writing or thinking about my writing and thus don't even consider picking up a book (or reading fic). I really ought to see about changing that somewhat for this NaNoWriMo as there are no movies that I own (except maybe A Midsummer Night's Dream or the Lord of the Rings movies) that are inspiring for the particular thing I'm writing. I ought to read bit and pieces of things that are related to my topic. girasola once pointed out that my research methods were kind of meta, and yeah, that might be true. But they're also entertaining.

• Unrelated to NaNoWriMo: I'm going to see In Time with a friend tonight. It has lots of awesome people in it, so hopefully it will be at least entertaining.

That's all.

Comments

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

Do you ever do those exercises like "What does X have in his wallet?" To get to know your characters?

I don't. But I know people sometimes find them helpful.

[cerulean-sky.livejournal.com]

I used to work up full character sheets. Things like "favorite food" and "favorite color" were on them, among many many other things. I don't do that anymore, as I'm not sure they ever really helped.

Actually, I think the thing holding me back with these characters is how they relate to the ones that I already know pretty well. Because I thought it was going to be one thing, and now I'm thinking that will be harder to work in and might not make much sense outside of my head and/or won't make any difference to the story itself. So I think some rearranging with the various characters and how they all know each other and all that will help more than a character sheet or anything.

Plus, I have a general sense of them, and I think that if I just sit down and start writing them, they'll make themselves known to me through the writing. :)

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

I find throwing lots of obstacles in their way generally shows me who they are pretty quickly. :D

[cerulean-sky.livejournal.com]

The problem with this story at the moment is that I have no antagonist, and thus no real obstacles to anything. Only one of the characters so far has any sort of conflict in their story line, and it's minor and will likely be dealt with fairly quickly.

And it's one of the ones who I know pretty well already.

So I'm just going to keep thinking and writing the parts I already know. :>

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

You should make it very hard for your characters to get what they want, imo. So what do they want?

[cerulean-sky.livejournal.com]

At the moment, the four main characters all want the main-main character to love them. Which he sees no reason not to, really. I suppose there could be some jealousy of who he really loves or who gets to "have" him, but I don't think this particular world works quite like that.

Hm. Or maybe it does.

On the other hand, that likely means I need a fifth main character for my main-main character to be with in the end.

Hm. That might actually work.

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

But what does the main character want?

[cerulean-sky.livejournal.com]

That... is a good question. All I know yet is that he thinks he's sort of doomed to be an academic for the rest of his life, but instead he decides to throw it all away to be an artist.

I don't know much other than that. Hm.

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

But what he wants is what the novel is about, right?

[cerulean-sky.livejournal.com]

It's more about repeating history's mistakes, I think.

IDK. I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH OF A PLAAAAAN.

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

Sometimes you have to write the first draft to find these answers. Sometimes you have to write the second one too, to answer them adequately. *squish*

DON'T FRET.

[cerulean-sky.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping that I'll find something to go on while writing all the bits I know. (/fingers crossed)

I AM FRETTING. I AM FRETTING A LOT.

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

Yeah, well. Fretting is part of the fun? No, seriously. You'll be fine. Just keep putting words down. Write all the parts you know and then see what you have.

But keep meditating on what your MC wants. I know that can be a very hard question to answer when the characters come to you without a complete story. I find it easier in some ways to deal with stories that come plot first and characters second, but I am rarely that lucky.

[cerulean-sky.livejournal.com]

Fretting is totally part of the fun.

I tend to get premises before I get plots. And characters often come with the premise. (I had to explain why the two are different to my writing class a few weeks ago, and I was sad. "How do you not know what a plot is?")

But yes. I am meditating on my MC. And the others. And an antagonist. Because that might solve my problems.

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

Insert quotation from Socrates about midwifing ideas here. :D

[cerulean-sky.livejournal.com]

(/snort)

On a totally related note: I went to a lecture by Mr. Starr tonight about The Republic.

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

I love Mr. Starr, but God, I hate The Republic.

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

ALSO OMG FRIDAY NIGHT LECTURE! \o/

[cerulean-sky.livejournal.com]

I remember liking it. Or at least, liking parts of it.

[cerulean-sky.livejournal.com]

YES!

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm so nostalgic! :D

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

It doesn't help that we spent an entire seminar arguing with one dude in my class who kept insisting that he could know what it was like to give birth because he could imagine it.

[cerulean-sky.livejournal.com]

WHUT. DUDE BE CRAZY.

We spent most of an entire seminar trying to figure out what the analogy that this one girl was saying was.

I finally got up and drew it on the board and was like, "OKAY, GOT IT? GOOD."

[cerulean-sky.livejournal.com]

You could have gone to one while you were here!