Former Posts and April Camp NaNo

I’ve been going through some of the older posts on this blog and…I have mixed feelings.

On one hand, some stuff is good. There are some nice lines, a few informative bits, and I can live with that.

On the other hand, some if it is terrible. Really, really, terrible.

I don’t want to delete it, but I have to make the decision whether I really want content of that quality tied to my name.

***

In other news, I’ve began (begun?) work on my second novel-length project. I’ve decided to put TWOTP (The Will Of The People) away for a while, mostly because I really don’t like the story anymore.

At first I thought it was just the effect of actually writing it, but as I tried to sift through it, I realized that it was very flawed. And I suppose I could redo it, tear everything apart and start again, but ultimately, I just don’t like the story that much.

(NOTE: this new project is going to be my Camp NaNoWriMo novel in April. I won’t be able to write the first week of the month, so I’m adjusting my word count accordingly and writing the difference before NaNo actually starts.)

Variety

It’s the end of Week Two of the hellish parody of fun called “NaNoWriMo,” and I’m getting pretty fed up with my story.

The characters are flat and boring, my MC is pretentious and overly wordy, apt to think and muse for paragraphs and paragraphs without end.

There’s no action and no conflict and the setting is falling apart and I hate it hate it hate it-

Except, then I tried varying things a little. My MC got a backbone and started writing a little of her own story, finally, and I added a character that’s fun and horrible and funny. She’s the villain that you have to love, because of the sheer BA-ness that she has, that I’ve written into her.

I’m sure that I’ll have to tone it down a lot, WAY down, but for now, it’s gotten me a new 1k new words because suddenly writing my story is exciting again.

And that’s the thing to remember in the long middle part of the month, of NaNoWriMo. Keep things interesting. If you’re not enjoying writing, your readers won’t like, well, reading.

Add a character, a scene, a dark past a twisted mind a horrific accident a crippling injury do something, ANYTHING you have to in order to keep yourself from getting bored.

Because it’s when we start to loose interest that we close up the keyboard and never open it again.

Other Writers

Deep in the wilds of NaNoWriMo Week Two, I am losing motivation.

Not to write, because so far I’ve been pretty capable of maintaining the necessary 1,670 odd words a day.

It’s the motivation to be a writer that I’m losing.

I look at other writers work (rough drafts as well as finished work) and see all of the advantages they have over my own.

Granted, this is my first “full length” novel, and most of them have a few written already, but it still makes me wonder, when I finish a chapter, a scene, can I really do this?

And I think that if I’m honest, yes, I can, because the average age for a FIRST NOVEL, not a debut novel but a very first novel, is around 27.

Which gives me hope, because I’m a few years ahead of this deadline, and if I have the extra practice, I can be published sooner, because although I love to write, the end goal is to have your work shared with the world, no?

Despite my mixed success with dispelling the failure-minded thoughts, I’m still plodding along, and I’m fairly confident that finally, I will finish a novel.

I’ll give it until the end of NaNo to decide weather I can continue or not.

***

(that last part was a joke, y’all. I’m not sure I’d be able to stop writing now, no matter how much doubt in myself accumulates)

NaNo 2014 Day Eight

So…I’ve kinda neglected to update for a while. However, I’m still on track for this month, with 13,500 words as of today.

I was really apprehensive when I started, because the writing I was producing was so blahh.

But then sometime today, I noticed that I had actually improved a little over what I was writing at the start of the month.

And so to be quick so I can get back to writing, (my novel, not the blog >_<), I think that this is re-affirming the thought that just finishing a novel, a long piece of writing, is extremely useful in improving as a writer.

NaNo 2014 Day Two

3,600 words, I’m a tiny bit ahead. Just a tiny bit…

I like the story, just not the writing. I feel like everything’s moving too fast and that I’m not spending enough time on scenes…

Oh well, something to study and fix in the revisions. I tend to write short chapters anyway, which is something that annoys me to no end.

Tomorrow sees the new beginning of school…will NaNo stand the pressure of 7 hours of academics, or will it fail like it did every other time…

NO. IT WON’T. I can’t stand to loose again.

NaNo 2014 Day One

1,700 words!

I’m not any ahead…but I had a busy day. >_< Maybe tomorrow can be a catch-up day.

It's already hard to say, it’s not supposed to be perfect. BUT IT HAS TO BE PERFEC-

Shhh. No talking, just writing.

The Will Of The People

I am excited to announce that a day before NaNo…I HAVE DECIDED ON MY STORY!

The Will Of The People will be the lucky idea written by *moi* this November.

I’ll be doing daily posts with my wordcount and progress, and I hope y’all can follow along with me!

-Jared K. Glass

DayPost 4: Dialect

Dialect.

We’ve all written or read characters with thick accents, so strong it’s almost its own little version of English or Spanish or Arabic or what have you.

And while it may be tempting to write them in all their tangled word glory, it’s hell on readers.

I can remember reading the “Redwall” series, and having to skip entire chapters because the moles were talking.

They had thick Cockney English accents and Brian Jacques found it necessary to write every sentence they said phonetically.

Now, I shouldn’t criticize, but this got old fast:

“‘an I wen’ ta’ th’ stor’ ta’ git som’ bread, guv’nor”

Now, that’s definitely not a direct quote but you get the idea.

Characters with a bit of an accent are fine. Including a y’all or a bloke once and a while is fine, but when the dialogue borders on illegible, it’s merely a pain to write and will make readers that more likely to leave your writing alone and find something easier to process.

Day Post 3: Living Characters

As a few of you know, I’m having trouble with my characters…especially with making them realistic and lifelike.

Sure, they’re there, and technically they’re breathing and their hearts are beating, but they don’t feel real.

I’ve tried those ‘character questionnaires’ and while they have some merit, some benefit, I’ve found that I only one or two are helpful.

Doing thousands of character questions will make you knowledgeable about the minutia of their lives…but not about them.

You have to grab a character and toss them into a scene. Sit down, picture a scene or an event, and write how your character will react. Make them live.

Take your Colonial, someone you’ve always disregarded, exempted from the hours of thought you’ve had about your story, and put him in a bakery.

Or your Cook, someone who says ‘yes sir/ma’am’ and prepares the meals your more major characters eat, and put him in a tuxedo. Stick him up with the masters-of-house, make him negotiate for land titles or whatever.

The whole point of this is that just like in the real world, it’s easy to read about something, but harder to do.

It’s easy to make your character, but harder to make them live.

DayPost 2: Game Of Thrones

Game Of Thrones.

I tried reading the book at, like, age 11, but it freaked me out and the language was too dense for me to understand.

Now, it’s fairly easy, so I’m trying to read it again. The first book, at least.

I love the multitude of characters, the deception and lies and struggles. I love debating favorite Houses and Kingdoms and Characters with friends; online and physical.

I do not love the description, especially of colors.

White: “As milk, as the moon”

Black: “As the night”

Cold: “As ice, as snow”

Dangerous: “As a snake, as a dragon”

Red: “As blood”

Pure: “As a virgin”

I could go on but I don’t want this post to stretch into eternity.

And this brings me to MY writing. I used to write like this, in the epic fantasy style. Long, looping descriptions, weak sentences, description templates.

With my new favorite genera, Science Fiction, and with it, Dystopia, Alternate History, and Steampunk, I have tighter sentences, and sharper descriptions.

SciFi/Dystopia isn’t without its downsides though. I really only write female characters now. I’m tempted to have ‘Districts’ and ‘Factions,’ and the government is always the Antagonist…at least at first.

The point of this rambling post was to remind you to watch for the downsides of your genera. Archetypes are good; they’re like the standard bones of a story. Cliches, not so much.