NaNoWriMo

Just over 80 hours to go until the writing frenzy begins. So far, I have a general story/plot idea, a few loose conflict ideas, and some sketchy character sketches for 4 of the characters. I'm pretty much going to be a Pantster this time around and see how it works for me. Now I just need to find a title...

Crazy

I must be nuts. There's no other explanation. I just signed up for NaNoWriMo. 50,000 words in 30 days. In addition to working 2 jobs and starting my 22-Week Challenge. Somebody, commit me before I sign up for or dream up some other crazy scheme.

Anyway, I'll be trying to keep an update of my progress here. Wish me luck and sanity! And coffee, lots of coffee!

characters

I read a great excerpt from a book a few weeks ago centered on how to flush out secondary characters in novels. It really struck a chord with me, and I immediately went to work trying to incorporate the bits of insight. Check it out here!

New Prologue

In case you were interested... let me know what you think.

They say your life flashes before your eyes right before you die, but that’s not how it happened for me. Instead, as the streetlights spun around me, I saw the things that would never be, the moments I wanted to live more than anything else. The first and last time I wept was at the funeral, but this new devastation pulverized me. I was pinned beneath the ache, the agony, the loathing. They were a fifty-five gallon drum crushing my chest. I hadn’t been man enough to risk one thing, so now I would lose everything.

There was no denying it. I was too far gone.

revision

So, after yesterday's critique, I once again find myself going back to page one and looking at my manuscript sentence by sentence... and making a LOT of changes. While I did this a lot in the beginning, for the past month or so I've tried to constrain myself to only reading the last complete chapter plus the one I'm working on before moving forward. The good news is, I really think I'm making some significant improvements. The bad news is, there is no forward momentum. Although not making much forward progress is very frustrating, it helps me to know that this is stuff that needs to be done, whether I do it now or at the end of the process. The good things about doing it now are that the critique and inspiration are still fresh in my mind and maybe, if I get into the habit now of writing the depth that I need, it will flow into my new stuff, too, which in turn won't need as much revision later. That's what I'm hoping for anyway. Maybe this is just my process. This is already the third or fourth layer of revision. I just don't want to get stuck in the trap of not moving ahead b/c I'm too wrapped up in revising. We'll see how it goes.

feedback

Had a meeting with my writing group early this afternoon and received comments on Chapters 3 and 4. It was a great meeting. I really received some great feedback for improvement, as well as some nice compliments. There's a lot of food for thought floating around in my head right now. If I can figure out a way to harness it all, it can really bring this novel to a whole new level. I'm off to splash around in characterization and stretch out and soak up some language.

sharing

I came across this great blog last week and wanted to share. There is so much great info here on publishing, queries, etc. If you're interested in writing, being published, and such, definitely check it out. I'll also post a link on the sidebar for future easy reference. Today's a writing day, so I'd better get back to it.

Smile people! :o)

Pub Rants

playlist

here is a partial playlist for "too far gone"...

too far gone

They say your life flashes before your eyes right before you die, but that’s not how it happened for me. Instead, as the streetlights spun around me in a crazy kaleidoscope, I saw the things that would never be, the moments I wanted to live more than anything else. More than having my mother back, even. And while this realization made me ache for her, I couldn’t deny it.

I was too far gone.