I mean, someone with two books in the writing stage shouldn’t plan to start an entirely new book. These things simply aren’t done.
Well…
Go ahead and call me crazy, I guess. I did give myself an ultimatum though. I must have my first book, Suzie’s Nightmare, completely edited and ready to start shipping out to agents before I’ll allow myself to start planning for this piece. This next book will definitely require planning too. Possibly a better choice in titles as well.
Heck, Suzie’s Nightmare is in need of a new title in my opinion.
Good title or not, it needs to be ready to ship out soon. I’m done having that piece picking up dust. It needs to move on to the next stage. Then maybe I’ll feel like I can give the proper time to it’s sequel and to the Colton Fen series.
I felt all old-school yesterday pulling out a pencil and notecards to start jotting down plot points for my Camp NaNo novel. Normally I use Scrivener for all of my plotting and planning. Instead I pulled up my Scrivener project and worked on character templates while I started writing out cards. Sometimes having a pencil and paper really helps you get your ideas down.
I’ve always considered myself more of a pantser and I would have merely a smidgeon’s idea of a plot at this point in the game. I thought that was what I had yesterday, until I started writing out notecards. I must have ended up with at least ten or more plot pieces, and the storyline wasn’t even completed. All of that stuff I had figured out in my head, but writing it down gave it permanence. I was worried I wouldn’t have anything to start with come Monday, but it looks like I’m more than ready for next month.
Once again I love the character templates they provide in Scrivener. They’re pretty simple, but really helped me pin down a few of these characters. I have a bit more planning ahead of me before I’ll feel fully comfortable diving in come Monday, but overall I think this is the most prepared I’ve been before writing a novel.
I guess we’ll see how well that works out! I’ll be posting my regular updates on here as I make progress throughout the month, so expect many more posts on the way.
Leaving with a bit of inspiration for my fellow Campers out there.
Tomorrow is the big day: the start of April Camp NaNo, and I think I’m prepared.
I’ve been putting together all sorts of plot points and backgrounds over the last few days, some of which are way more detailed than I expected it to be. I’ve realized that this story has a few main inspirations:
Alice in Wonderland of course. I don’t think that an alternate world story could get away with not having this fabulous tale be an influence. Wonderland itself is the primary key in my story though, not so much Alice.
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is another. The amount of detail put into this intricate fantasy world is mind-boggling, and I can only hope my book can do a quarter of the world-building that Ms. Clarke did.
Indeed I think this is the first full-length book I’ll have penned that does not include the horror genre. That’s quite a feat for me! Don’t worry though, there is definitely some creepy stuff going on in this piece, that will probably push to just the edge of terrifying. The world my protagonist will be falling into will be a far crueler place than our own, even if it is beautiful.
I’m tentatively labeling this book a YA Fantasy novel with a dystopian twist. We’ll see if that carries over into the actual book or not. I’m really stoked about getting started though, but I’ve somehow been able to hold myself back from diving in this weekend. Too bad Camp NaNo doesn’t start on a weekend!
Here’s an image that I think gives a few hints at what will be happening in this piece. Probably soon to be my wallpaper on this computer. 😉
Have I mentioned how much I hate starting out stories? I think the bane of writing is figuring out how to start and end your tale, and this one is no different. I struggled for over two hours today trying to decide how to paint this world. I’m happy to say that it worked out pretty well for my first day!
I had the bug to write all day while I was at work (isn’t that how that always works?) and then after coming home, doing chores, and making dinner, I was almost too tired to sit down to finish the day’s writing up. Now I’m glad I did of course. My earlier writing was just piecemeal and wasn’t anywhere near as detailed as I wanted it to be. So I went back in and fleshed out the details that I wanted, and ended up getting my 2k in that way. Left it off in a clear plot direction so it won’t hold me back when I sit down to continue tomorrow.
Just 29 more days to go, right? 😀
In other news, I spotted this gruesome preview on my Facebook page today. It’s a snippet from Netflix’s upcoming Hemlock Grove, which should be going up on April 19th.
This is a gory bit! Consider yourselves warned!
Now you all know how much I love werewolves, right? Well I was on the fence with this show, mostly because I thought I spotted angels in the preview and I wasn’t too crazy about that. I thought it was going to be a Heaven vs. Hell show instead of a paranormal horror series. I guess this scene just helped me make that decision!
Project: Madam Cloom’s Garden
Summary: Shaleigh’s world is so complicated, that it’s no wonder she’s known for being rebellious and argumentative at school. With her father constantly crying over what he’s lost, and a friend going through major life changes, Shaleigh finds herself feeling more and more out of touch with the people around her. She feels isolated, ignored, and angry.
Then she and her father get into a car accident, and her entire world changes. When she’s greeted by a talking stone animal, she realizes that she’s either dead, crazy, or in another world. But the beautiful land Shaleigh has landed in has its dark secrets, and she’s not as welcome there as she believes.
Current Word Count: 2,089
New Words Written Today: 2,089
Progress: Shaleigh argues with her father about his incessant crying, and then talks with her friend about her mother that she never knew. Then she’s given an alarming request at school and she realizes that she’s got some tough decisions to make.
Total Words for 2013: 5,266
Random Research Tidbit: I needed a quick university name, and this handy site came to my rescue! I’m pleased to say Shaleigh’s Dad now works at the Roseworth College of the Arts. 🙂
Day Three comes and goes. I’m really loving how Shaleigh is turning out as a character. She’s got a lot of spunk in her and definitely is not your typical protagonist. Her relationship with her father is so broken that she relies almost entirely on her best friend’s company to keep her sane. It’s going to ruin her when that falls apart too.
Yes, fictional writing is all about figuring out how to ruin someone’s life. I probably just spoiled every book in the world for you.
I got some writing in yesterday, but didn’t get a chance to post about it since I had to do lawn maintenance. It’s getting warmer down here, and the weeds are already trying to take over the place. This year’s winter has been incredibly short and mild, meaning bugs will be out in force and early this year. I’m definitely not looking forward to the mosquitoes.
Project: Madam Cloom’s Garden
Summary: Shaleigh’s world is so complicated, that it’s no wonder she’s known for being rebellious and argumentative at school. With her father constantly crying over what he’s lost, and a friend going through major life changes, Shaleigh finds herself feeling more and more out of touch with the people around her. She feels isolated, ignored, and angry.
Then she and her father get into a car accident, and her entire world changes. When she’s greeted by a talking stone animal, she realizes that she’s either dead, crazy, or in another world. But the beautiful land Shaleigh has landed in has its dark secrets, and she’s not as welcome there as she believes.
Current Word Count: 6,132
New Words Written Today: 2,611
Progress: She runs into trouble with her Political Science class, and then gets called out on it by the teacher. Her punishment? Getting moved to a higher level class. After that she finds out why her friend was in hysterics earlier, and tries to console her. She closes out her day with a snarky talk with her dad and a long raid on her favorite video game. Overall a pretty typical day in the life of Shaleigh.
Total Words for 2013: 9,309
Random Research Tidbit: I needed to figure out the difference between tactics and strategy. I’ve always been told that these are very different things, but never saw a clear explanation of how they were different. Guess I finally quit being lazy and looked it up.
The difference between strategy and tactics: strategy is done above the shoulders, tactics are done below the shoulders
Marlena Frank 