On Friday, I finished line edits on my novel and I set it out to be read one more time. I’m pretty confident it will be one more time. A person could come back and tell me it makes no sense at all or my characters all suck. That could happen, but I don’t think it will. Okay, I really hope it won’t.
So now, it’s synopsis and query writing time. And more active market research. Oh my.
I picked up this book hoping for some inspirational stories about writing a novel when you have time. I didn’t get that. This is a book teaching plot, character and writing structure. That’s fine but I have a million of these. Only the last chapter deals with writing when you have time and is mostly a list of cliches you can find in a Google search.
The book is really for a beginning writer. If you don’t know story structure this may be a good resource for you.
So we have three days till NaNoWriMo begins. I have an outline and my idea is going to be fun. This is my 7th year as an ML and my 9th doing NaNo. I have three wins in all that time, but a lot of material.
This year I have an outline and a manuscript to finish on top of NaNo. Plus daily writing deadlines. It’s a large task but I have a schedule.
NaNo: 2,000 – 5,000 words
Work
Other Novel: 1,000 words
Outline
Video Games
Knitting
Insane right? Oh well we’ll see how it all goes.
At this point I’m diverging from BiaM and You Can Write a Novel. Both mention setting briefly. Smith goes as far to suggest treating settings like a character. Instead, I’m leaving these books at the wayside for now and concentrating on the setting sketch from FDi30D.
I know where BK will be set. I’m listing the settings in yWriter and in my notes software. This is the first part of this step. Once I have the settings down for further reference, I start the setting sketch.
What I used to do is start this in my notes program in a tree view. I really don’t like this, nor do I want to use the worksheets from the book. So this time I’m looking towards yWriter to get this down. One of the features of yWriter is the ability to assign locations to scenes. Combined with scene notes I think I can pull this off.
First I write down the names of the setting in the order I think they’ll go in the novel. This could be by country, city, places within the city or times of day.
I create a chapter and a scene, naming the scene “Setting Sketch”. I add the location for that chapter by dragging it over. In the notes tab, I do the setting sketch or what I think what will happen at that setting.
The actual setting sketch details the place, time, who’s there, a summary of what happens and how many chapters I think it’s gonna take to write it out.
There are two things going on here. I’m not just getting down the where and when, but I’m also getting down the basic plot at the same time. I’m not going to go back on this part. Once it’s down I’ll reference it only once more before deleting it.
Tips for Today:
WD: I am not an Exception: That is learn the rules and follow the guidelines. There are rules on writing, submitting and publishing.
NaNo: Study your favorite authors, their voice style and content. NaNo advises practicing to write like them for awhile. This is great practice but it doesn’t belong in a finished piece.
Time to do another outline. I feel like I must be a schizophrenic outliner. I have a bunch of books on the subject, I tend to pick and choose through them, and I edit the outline as I go. When I first discovered that I wasn’t a “pantser” I found my characters went left, a lot. That led to maps and that, eventually led to outlines.
So yeah, outline. Excuse the dust while I figure all this crap out. I figure if I do it in public I’ll actually get my process down. I’m sure most of you will laugh at me, but I’m used to it.
And books. Here are the books that, over the years, I’ve gleaned pieces and parts from. I’ve not gone through all these books completely. I’m taking time to do that now.
First Draft in 30 Days by Karen S. Wiesner: This is first book I ever got on outlining a novel. It’s badly titled but contains a way of looking at outlining that I had never scene before. It gave me several tools that I really rely on now.
No Plot No Problem Novel-Writing Kit by Chris Baty: In some circles the book is considered the pantser’s bible. I cheated and just got the kit…which I find inspirational every November. Not sure how well it worked into outlining. I’m relying on the daily cards for this, the other items (cheer-leading and inspiration for NaNo) I’m not going to worry about.
Writer’s Digest Writing Kit Okay this is full of idea cards and mini markets and tips. I got it for a birthday a few years ago…it’s still sealed. Seems to be aimed at beginners. Inside are cards with basic writing tips and definitions, an idea deck, a market list and writing tips. I’m going to use the writing tips and ignore the rest for this exercise.
You Can Write A Novel Kit by James V. Smith: I loved Smith’s Writer’s Little Helper, as it was just that, a tiny book with a ton of help. And this has forms too. I like forms.
Book in a Month by Victoria Lynn Schmidt: This book advocates writing while outlining. Which drives me nuts. But it has forms…and I am a form sucker.
From First Draft to Finished Novel by Karen S. Wiesner: I’ve skimmed this book so not sure how much I’ll use.
Sundry Items: There are various tips, worksheets and such I’ve collected over the years. I’ll be referring to these as well from time to time.
So anyway on to Day One, Step One! Oh wait, you want to know why?
I started Without Honor in 2001, just after September. Not only was the world as we know it imploding but my life imploded as well. That’s nearly nine years. I have plenty of partial manuscripts around…why did my first novel take that long to complete?
I had no idea what I was doing. A creative writing degree doesn’t deal with novel composition at all. Okay it may now, but back then it sure didn’t. This was odd, considering how many novels we had to read. (I had fifty to ready for one class that fall of 2001…they were YA novels but still that’s not including the rest of my course load).
Without Honor started as a hokey dream that basically played out like a title sequence of my friends dressed in renfair garb playing up to the camera while they played up to the camera and theme music.
Yes, my dreams are weird. Back on topic:
I started a short story, decided I had a novel. I think I wrote three scenes…and then didn’t touch it until December 2002, after my first NaNo and had 16,000 words towards a sequel that would become two chapters of WH.
My life was crazy. I was writing every day but most of it was non-fic and helped me do things like provided food for my daughter. Now I have this finished thing except for a final sweeping revision…and I really like it.
I want to do that again, in a much smaller span of time.
Technically, Between Kingdoms already has an outline. However, I haven’t looked at it for a long time. The one written scene was written nearly six years ago. Let’s start fresh and get this down and ready.
Step One: The Idea
Everything starts with the glimmer of an idea. Ideas come from anywhere, a phrase, a joke, a mention, a dream, real life, fiction, anywhere.
I’ve heard a few would be authors’ claim they have so many ideas and can’t pick one. Write them down, pick one, work on it, finish it and then go onto the next. How is that hard…well I’ll get to that.
The current project came to me in a dream. A long narrative dream which I still remember vividly. I kept it in my head for a long time thing about it. Percolating as several authors call it. Now to get it in a novel I have to define it. So let’s start this outline.
1. Get an Idea
Got one? Good. No? Wiesner suggests brainstorming, reading, etc. Schimidt has a questionnaire about likes and dislikes to help you come up with an idea. Write that idea down. If notes, pictures and such come while your formulating…stick them all together. Smith suggests a salable idea. Then he states know one knows what that is until they see it. So make sure the idea is something you love and are willing to research and devote time too. If not. Drop it.
2. Write the Idea Down
Describe the idea in one sentence. Schmidt calls this the pitch. Smith calls this the nugget and includes title as well as small paragraph. Starting with a sentence you have the idea condensed from the start. It saves later condensing, and can be rewritten if the central idea changes later. I open yWriter, start a new project. Open the project settings and fill out the project description. Title, one sentence, followed by a paragraph.
3. Idea and Reality
Smith has a test for checking your idea. It’s like a Cosmo quiz that start’s “How do you rate?”. He also lists some Cardinal Rules that boil down to don’t be boring. This is similar to Richard Peck’s 10 Questions ask about your Novel. I don’t write these down but ask myself these questions about my idea.
And that’s step one. Now for inspiration!
NaNoWriMo Card 1: Just Write
Problem One: Not Writing
You know why not everyone who has an idea writes a novel? Because they don’t write.
I’ve reviewed books by David Morrell here before…some more kindly than others. But there is no question that the man has been successful. Movies are made from his books and he’s published 30 or more. I’m always looking for something inspirational to read while I write…it reminds me why I do this crazy shit.
I love it.
So David Morrell’s book The Successful Novelist deals with the reality of writing and publishing as well as writing concepts such as grammar and dialog. I found the book clear, entertaining and realistic. The secret of success in writing is to actually write, of course.
I bought this book at the Tattered Cover before going in for a sleep test. This book will always remind me of diode cement in my hair.
This books is based off and a gathering of weekly columns run in the Telegraph through 2006. Each column covered a week of writing, researching, and various questions from readers as they wrote their own novels. The book is inspirational and fun but also gives a good does of reality to the living writer…this is dour, lonely work and it may take years to see results you desire.
Doughty doesn’t pull punches. She is very frank about writing and the work it entails. The book makes a good companion as you write, it keeps you honest. You can read some of the original columns at the Telegraph.
I bought this book in a book store because the cover was cute.
So the very bizarre cramps continue. I feel okay today, just woozy. Haven’t felt like eating, then I gorge. This isn’t good.
The weekly deadlines for video game writing has seriously cut into my novel writing time. I’m nearing the end of this section though…really it’s been fun. With the larger beast being in paperweight mode, and the smaller one being taken up to make deadlines. I have lots of website work right now too, some pay, some not.
It’s going well…but I want to work on my novel, dammit!
I’ve made the second WW goal. Which means I’m at a total of 10lbs loss. I’ve been her before….hopefully I’ll get past that.
For some reason Hypothyroidism and PCOS have a lot of hypochondriac glommers on. I hate going to PCOS and thyroid boards and lists. There is some crap being slug around by idiots it’s unfathomable. Let me give you some straight dope.
You can’t diagnose yourself. If you have the symptoms of either disease…talk to your doctor.
Take your pills. If it does not seem to be working…don’t stop…talk to your doctor. You may need different pills, a higher dose or something else maybe wrong. Asking to see your tests is just fine…but posting them on the internet so that some random nurse can tell you they are not right is stupid. If doctor is telling you something you don’t want to hear like you may have depression…you should talk to your doctor about it. There is no one fix for these problems…and you may have others. I can’t stress this enough…TALK to your doctor. If they said it must be depression…did you ask what can be done about it?
Do you live in the US? Do you eat green leafy vegetables or fruit? Do you drink tap water (filtered or not)? Do you eat meat? If you answered yes to any of these questions then you DON’T need iodine supplements. The same goes for iron. In a multivitamin…fine…but unless you have a disorder that requires the supplements (ie talk to your doctor).
Going from doctor to doctor to get them to prescribe you pills you only think you need makes you look like an idiot. If you are thinking of looking for a new doctor ask yourself the following: Why? Did I talk to him/her about the problem I’m having with them? What did they say? Do they talk to me at each visit? Why am I angry? Have I explored all possibilities with this doctor? Have I tried what they suggested? If answered no to any of these perhaps you should try them.
Don’t dose yourself. Follow the doctor’s dosage. If have concerns about the dosage talk to your doctor. Take more or less because you feel like it can kill you.
Exercise…you have to exercise. Live with it.
Balance your diet. Give up most if not all sugar…live with it.
Finally if your doctor tells you your thyroid is fine or that you don’t have PCOS…ask why, discuss your tests with him or her. If you really have something wrong then talk to them about it.
Doing research is fine…but unless you are a real doctor you really can’t just dose this away yourself. It does not go away. Deal. It takes up to 8 weeks for thyroid and PCOS medications to start to take affect. Trying to change things in less then a week is stupid. This takes time. There is no wonder drug.
If you can’t handle any of what you just read…you might need therapy. Seriously…did you find yourself rejecting everything or anything I just said? Talk it out with a professional.
I thought I was going mad before getting on Sythroid. I still felt tired, lost hair and though I could keep my weight steady…it took way too much work to get it off. Turns out I have PCOS. So now I’m on metformin and the synthroid (same dosage since first prescribed) I can say I feel great now…and that I’m loosing weight just with dieting. I know that once I get into a good exercise routine I will feel even better and loose more weight. Had I listened to the half the crazies on the web I’d still be in trouble. This isn’t that hard folks…talk to your doctor.
Sigh.
I’ve managed to start the outlines for both the modules. I’ve got some good ideas…. These games should be lots of fun.
I bought a copy of Supernotecard. It seems to be working great for keeping my notes. I’m almost done with gathering them all up then back to writing the novel. I should have the registration code soon…just waiting for paypal to clear.
I really can’t remember if I mentioned that after B5 we moved on to Kenshin.
From now on…I say we pick shows everyone hates…cause this everyone loves this show bullcrap is only getting us the worst in tv shows.
Kenshin is bad. They have a rule…talk during fights…and if you talk long enough you’ll heal. It goes down hill from there. From the dialog to the art to the plot…nothing is consistent. We’re stopping at disk 14, because honestly we can only take so much shit.
I sent M. the novel in it’s parts now. I need to:
Collect my notes
Write a PP article
Write two modules.
Wheee.