Finding My Stride December 6, 2010

I wrote 1331 words of John and Rebeccah last night, and I *squeed* over every single one. I decided to write a scene I wanted to write rather than force myself to go in chronological order. I wasn’t able to finish the scene, so that will be my number one priority for this evening. I may continue my wanton ways and write another scene – because I want to – and leave the whole “plot” thing until later.

I am very much a planner when it comes to writing, so it will be interesting to see how this random scene-writing frenzy affects the overall feel of the book. I still know where I want to go (and how I want to end the book – hee hee hee!), but the path from A to B is no longer a contiguous, let alone straight, line.

C.

Writing Again! December 4, 2010

My report cards are all done!

I get to write for fun and enjoyment this evening!

I was mean. I teased my beloved cheerleader tonight. Instead of being all, “Yes! I’m writing more John and Rebeccah because you’ve been so good and patient for the last week and a bit (plus the year you waited in silence)!” I was all, “Hmm… I suppose I could write more Toni & Matthias, or a sequel to Nikko, or start on my new book…”

And bless her heart, she took it in stride and assured me that as long as I didn’t write smut about a certain cartoon character (shudders), she would be happy with whatever I produced. And no, I am *NOT* going to write that, even as a joke – get your sick minds out of the gutter!

So tonight I shall endeavour to dive back into John and Rebeccah’s totally messed up world. I need to see if I can do anymore to ruin their lives before making things marginally better at the end. First though, I have to re-read what I’ve written because it’s been a bit and I need to get back into their heads.

Wish me luck!

C.

Day Twenty-Three 2010 November 23, 2010

1658 words last night.

Before I talk about my writing I would like to thank the half-dozen of you who regularly follow my blog – even during NaNoWriMo when all I’m doing is chronicling my insane writing activity. I promise you, once NaNo is done I will return to slightly more eclectic writing topics (such as what’s up with the query process with Nikko?) and maybe even share a bit of this year’s novel with you.

I am totally excited about writing tonight! I’m writing one of the key character arc moments and I am *squeeing* just thinking about it. Luckily I had the chance to do some writing with my students today, and that got me through the last of the “boring” tactical assault and rescue stuff. Now, I get to write an awesome moment: John and Rebeccah are going to…

talk.

Yes, I said talk. Get your mind out of the gutter.

It’s not going to be a pleasant conversation in many ways, but at the same time it’s going to be one of those moments that changes the course of the characters’ lives forever. *SQUEE!*

Okay, okay, okay. Now I must go because I have *got* to write this!

C.

Day Eighteen 2010 November 18, 2010

1410 words last night.

I am on the road to recovery. Honestly, the scene that didn’t work threw me so out of whack it wasn’t funny. I spent last night re-writing the scene from scratch (although I was able to save a few lines) and finished feeling much more pleased with the product. I know it’s right now because I already know what the first sentence in the next chapter will be.

I find that I cannot move onto the next scene or chapter if I haven’t been true to the characters in the previous section. Sometimes it comes from leaving out something that should be put in, and sometimes it’s like that evil scene I wrote two nights ago – it’s so unfair to the characters that it doesn’t deserve to see the light of day.

I shared the new scene with my cheerleader, and while she never said the other one sucked, she did agree that this one was way better. Which, during NaNoWriMo, is saying a lot about the craptastic nature of the original version.

Now I am all set to write this evening – it’s time to up the stakes for the characters!

C.

Day Seventeen 2010 November 17, 2010

Well, yesterday was abysmal.

Seriously.

I went to bed berating myself for not writing, but no matter how hard I tried, I could NOT get anything onto the screen. Was this the infamous writer’s block? I suppose so in a way. Except, as I wandered off to bed I hit upon the precise reason for the blockage: the most recent scene I’d written was totally out of character.

I’m not going to say it wasn’t a good scene, but I KNOW it was not the scene that should have happened. Even my cheerleader knew it (she never said so out loud, and I didn’t force her to violate her cheerleaderly duties and say anything that might be contrued as criticis). And, as I discovered last night, my brain would not let me base future scenes on something that just wasn’t right.

As I lay in bed angry, confused, and disappointed in myself, I decided to force my thoughts in a more productive direction: fixing the problem. It goes against everything NaNoWriMo stands for to delete what’s written – even if it is god awful. So what’s a girl to do? A girl uses the cut and paste functions of Word and moves the offending scene to the end of the document, that’s what. This way the words still count (and they should count because they were written with good intentions) but no longer impact the actual story line.

As soon as I made the decision, the block disappeared and I knew exactly what I should have written. I wrote while my students were nanoing this afternoon, and oh my goodness, it was like I’d discovered the joy of writing all over again! I can hardly wait for my writing time this evening – it feels so good to be on the right track.

C.

Day Fourteen 2010 November 14, 2010

Over 2,800 words last night!

Chapter Ten (or what is currently chapter ten) is another homage to my husband’s words of advice. In order to further develop my characters and throw them into more and more horrible situations, I needed to advance the plot a little. So, I did as was recommended and I made something blow up.

Hee hee hee!

I find my adrenaline tends to get going as I’m writing action scenes, and so the act of writing becomes a rush. I’m starting to grin, sitting here, thinking about last night. I remember the tension vibrating through my arms, and the feeling of almost preternatural awareness as I typed. My heart pounded in my ears as I forced John into one fast-paced moment after another. *Whee!*

Oh, and to celebrate passing 30,000 words last night (yay me! go team!) I ordered my NaNoWriMo 2010 winner shirt and the notebook. I will not wear the t-shirt unless (and until) I win, but things are progressing well and I want to wear the shirt for the TGIO party on December 1st.

C.

Day Thirteen 2010 November 13, 2010

Yesterday was a new daily record for me! 4065 words! WOOT!

According to my NaNoWriMo stats, I am averaging 2132 words a day, and if I maintain my current pace, I should WIN NaNo on November 24, 2010! Woot!

I won’t be finished the novel by the end of the month, but I will have a huge chunk of it done. And OMG, I am having a tonne of fun doing it!

Am I tired? Yes.

Have there been days where writing was painful? Sort of. It was painful to start, but once underway, my natural love of writing took over and swept me away into another world.

I love John and Rebeccah. I honestly don’t care if any other books starring them ever see the light of publication. I’m going to keep writing them because I’m not done telling their tale. Just think, if I never publish another Firestorm novel, the stuff I’m writing now would be like fanfiction! Hahahahahaha!

Tonight I am going to blow something up (that was the second piece of advice offered by my husband after, “Move the ship.”)

C.

Day Eleven 2010 November 11, 2010

I have decided I am more interested in my characters and their relationships to one another than I am in the actual plot of my book. And, because it’s NaNo, I’m going to do what I want.

I’m going to focus on bringing John and Rebeccah together (after they’ve suffered for 60,000 words or so), and to hell with the space pirates. I’m sure they’ll be important at some point – I’m already planning an awesome ground offensive scene that will highlight the differences between John and Monty – but only insofar as they assist with making my characters’ lives miserable.

I wrote 1933 words last night. I opened my Word doc expecting to write a chapter that delved into the diplomatic mission and the complexities of the situation, but instead John had a headache and walked into a nightmare (two women arguing outside the door to his quarters). At first I was disappointed, thinking the character stuff is great, but no one wants to read 80,000 words of romantic angst so I resolved to take it out and write something ‘better’ that tackled the plot.

As I delved into the emotions of my characters I realized I was happy there. At this point I couldn’t care less about the pirates. I care about John and Rebeccah and what Monty and Kimberly are doing to ruin things for them. And, like a pig in mud, I am content to roll around there and snort in pleasuure.

Besides, I think there might be one other person out there who’s VERY interested in what’s going on with John and Rebeccah. You’ll know her when you see her; she’s wearing a “Team John” t-shirt with the words, “Move the ship” on the back.

All hail my cheerleader! This book is for you.

C.

Day Ten 2010 November 10, 2010

1933 words, and while they were a bit of a slog, making it over the 20,000-word marker was pretty awesome!

I think I was emotionally exhausted from pushing myself so far beyond my comfort zone with the sex scene. Now when I look at the page, the intensity isn’t there (not that it should be, I don’t think I could do 50,000 words of intense sex) and I feel a little adrift.

I let John wander a bit today and he stepped into something big. And messy.

At first I was thinking this was part of my adriftedness, as it heads back into relationship territory instead of plot, but the more I think on it, the more I want to explore the scene. Worst case scenario? It gets cut.

Besides, NaNo is about letting the fingers run wild and silencing your inner editor.

Time to go make John squirm! (And not in a good way.)

C.

Day Eight 2010 November 8, 2010

1980 words last night.

Oh boy! That chapter–which isn’t finished yet–was a huge drain on my brain! I had to juggle a complex scene with four people in it (dialogue is best with only two speakers, so not only was I risking ruining the scene, I was conscious of having to make it flow and seem natural), PLUS I had to layer in personal and plot-related backstory in an engaging way that didn’t come across as an info dump.

In addition–as per Donald Maass’s instructions in the Breakout Novel–I had to keep increasing the tension between the characters and to make sure they didn’t all agree even though they’re all on the same team. Conversations where everyone agrees are boring.

Add to that, I wanted to show one character making a move on the POV character without the POV character understanding the gestures for what they were, but writing them in such a way as to allow the reader to come to the conclusion that the POV character totally missed.

PHEW.

Maybe I’m still too new at this writing thing, but whoa Nellie was that ever a lot to juggle at once!

And now I am contemplating a move that I never expected to consider… poor Rebeccah!

C.