We're Back!

Hello everyone!  I know I dropped off rather suddenly mid-NaNoWriMo last year.  Unfortunately, since I started this blog, my family has gotten smaller.  As one may expect, this disrupted my life rather dramatically.

I have started getting the itch again.  Most anyone who writes knows the itch I'm talking about.  It's the compulsion to write.  The need to put pen to paper or fingers to a keyboard.  For me, the itch takes the form of a story or character that keeps running around and around in my mind.  I realized that NaNoWriMo is not the only writing race in town.  Or rather, November is not the only month they put on a race.  Apparently, they also organize summer camps and call them Camp NaNoWriMo.  Twice over the summer, once in June and once in August, they set up similar challenges.  You use your same log in for camp as you used in November.  There are a few differences.  You have the option of joining a virtual cabin, people who are also participating in the challenge who can help encourage you.  There is still a tracker of how many words you write a day.  It is an interesting little project.

I decided to join the June camp a little over a week into it.  I don't really have a story line, I just have a need to get something out.  I'm reasonably sure I'm so far behind that I'll never meet the deadline, but it will be interesting to participate anyway.  I'll keep posting here about my adventures in writing.  Stay tuned!

NaNoWriMo, Day 1

YAY, I REACHED MY FIRST WORD COUNT GOAL!  Okay, now that I've gotten that out of my system, I want to tell you about what I'm learning so far.

I'm afraid I started the day a bit out of it.  I figured that I had time to read a few books before November, and I did.  I read 3 books in 2 days.  It was an excellent series.  Unfortunately, I wasn't counting on the literary hangover after my reading binge.  My day started with my head full of someone else's characters and motivations in my head.  Not good.  Eventually, I cleared my head enough to find my characters.  I read some of the pep talk posts and some technique posts from authors I admire.  Then, I read through my own notes.  I was able to see them again.  Finally, I was able to start writing.

My story did not start where I thought it would.  When I first conceived this story, it started in a bar.  Turns out, when I put my fingers to the keyboard, my story started before that.  Also, my cast was apparently incomplete.  I thought I had accounted for ask the major players.  Turns out, I was wrong.  I'm not sure who I just made in the last few sentences of today's work, but I cannot wait to meet them tomorrow.  Until next time!

Characters

As November approaches, NaNoWriMo occupies more and more of my thoughts.  I keep reading advice about how I ought to write something I would want to read.  I think about the stories I enjoy.  What makes me come back to a story, time after time?  What is special about the book I stay up late reading because I just can't put them down?

My favorite tales span a wide variety of genres, though usually in the lighter range of any given genre.  They frequently have a fast paced plot, but not always.  The main thing that moves a book from my library list to my shelf seems to be the characters.  I read and reread books who get me invested in the characters.  These are the books my family gives me looks when I read them the first time because I gasp and giggle at what seems to outside observers to be a random time.  But there is nothing random about it.  The author purposely included bits to help you connect with the characters.  What makes them laugh?  What makes them cry?  Why do they decide to do what they do?

I've worked out some of this for the main characters in the yarn I hope to spin through November, at least the motivation part.  It still needs to be fleshed out a bit, maybe more than just a bit.  I'll work on it this weekend.  I hope I will have defined my characters enough by the time November gets here that the little nuggets of personality and purpose will just flow through the story.

Who are your favorite characters?

It's Official

Today, I finally got around to actually signing up for NaNoWriMo.  Clicking on the NaNoWriMo badge on the right will take you to my profile page.  I know, procrastination is my middle name.  I just didn't really see the point in signing up early.  Now I do and, if I participate again next year, I will definitely sign up earlier.  One perk to signing up early is getting to know the local NaNoWriMo community.  Turns out that there are groups across the globe that get together to support each other.  I'm in the Northern Virginia group.  Northern Virginia is generally considered the Virginia section of the Washington, D.C. infrastructure.  I did not sign up early enough to participate in most of the outline parties available, however I am looking forward to the Kick-Off party this weekend!

Just because I haven't participated in an outline party doesn't mean I haven't done any thinking about my novel, though I would be hard pressed to call what I've done outlining.  My instructors from school would have laughed themselves sick if I had tried to turn this in as an outline.  Yep, that scribble with bubbles, arrows, and squiggles is what is passing for my outline.  In case the big circled "Spacestation" on the outline didn't give it away, my story is going to be science fiction.  I have no clue how much of what is on that page is actually going to go into my story, but that's the fun part!  I may spend some more of the waiting period fleshing out my mental image of some of the characters.  I'm so excited I can hardly wait for November to get here.