Thursday, October 28, 2010

Now, now, now!

I grow extremely impatient to start my NaNo project. I have outlines, character sketches and am already developing a nervous tick. They say ability to delay gratification is a sign of maturity. For my entire life people have been telling me I'm mature for my age, oh if only they could see me now.
When I sit and think about my story, my knee starts jiggling up and down because I'm so excited. That's a good sign, I wasn't nearly as excited last year. Perhaps it's macabre to be this excited at the prospect of writing about murder, but I just decided who my killer is tonight. That's very exciting. I had chocolate to celebrate and wrote a few more character outlines.
Now that I have the main plot skeleton figured out, I've been adding in fun things, sub-plots other relationships the characters have. There needs to be a hearty amount of *stuff* in my story- I learned that the hard way last year.
Mostly I'm extremely excited about my characters, especially my "hero team" if you will. I'm actually planning the next two books. I know, it's called "getting ahead of yourself," but it's nice to be this excited. I'm not usually this... confident about my stories or this infatuated with my characters. Not to sound snotty, but I've always steered away from anything that could be called 'genre fiction' due to some bad reading experiences. However, I feel a great sense of liberation in having some parameters to gauge my story by, and yet I feel there is a lot I can do to test those parameters and become a better writer through the process.
I'll be honest, I don't even know how to describe the story I wrote last year, except as depressing and convoluted. I have high hopes for my story this year being suspenseful, witty, sexy, and exciting. Much better adjectives.
In two weeks when I start having a novel identity crisis feel free to refer me back to this post. It will be hellish, but I intend to surface from it relatively un-scorched.
I have to go shopping for NaNo supplies this weekend. Yes it does require supplies. Specifically I'll be looking for fake mustaches and a bubble pipe to cheer myself up at low moments. I also need a new robe for those cold nights that turn into morning while I tap furiously on my laptop. Something I've been looking for for a while is a small digital voice recorder to put idea on- I always have a notebook, but when driving or running across campus I'd like to have a recorder for convenience and time efficiency.
I wish you all well in your similar preparations for the '30 days and nights of literary abandon.' If you haven't committed yet this year, what are you waiting for? The worst that could happen is that you don't make 50,000. I had to quit Script Frenzy in April, it was fine, they didn't even beat me much.

6 comments:

  1. I found your blog after you were curmudgeon of the week--such fun!!! I also decided to sign up for nanowrimo thanks to your posts! Thanks for providing some laughs and ambition! How did you get the badges for your blog, just curious. I am freaking out about just registering willy-nilly, and could be doing some actual planning, but then got distracted by the colorful side bar flair! I was intending to be a nanowrimo rebel, but couldn't find a different way to register, so I hope where I landed is ok (they don't seem like the lynch mob type if I did screw up...already!)

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  2. Oh, you don't have to register a genre, but your "Novel Info" is where you can list what you're doing if you want.
    I got the blog badge from the "Fun Stuff" tab on the top of the page I believe.
    Glad to have encouraged insane novelling attempts in others! We should be writing buddies.

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  3. I don't know exactly what being a writing buddy involves, but it certainly sounds like a good thing...but I should warn you...I believe I might be very old in your opinion! I am JumpingIn

    I did see the badges when I went back to further excite/panic myself poking around the site yesterday! Thanks!

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  4. I may be what most would consider young (I'm still in college), but I was an "autumn child" meaning all my siblings are much older, so I actually feel I relate better to people that are a bit older than me. My best friend is a good 12 years older than I am.
    Essentially, as writing buddies we can watch each others' progress and send notes of encouragement, ask for feedback, etc. Low pressure, but it feels good to know you have people at your back while you embark on the journey. Watching their word count inch closer to 50,000 can also spur you forward.

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  5. Sounds great! Have a fun Halloween---lots of sugar to keep us up until past midnight into November!! My username is JumpingIn (oops I see I mentioned that above), as I am sure you are better versed in linking writing buddies!

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  6. Ha, thanks, I'll be locked away hiding from trick-or-treaters and trying to get ahead on research papers... and possibly reading more Sherlock Holmes stories.
    I added you as a writing buddy!

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