CampNaNoWriMo: Day 29

Yes, it's Day 29. I've got two more days, and then I should, hopefully, have my 50K written and ready.
The novel, however? Not so much. I'm still not sure how to kill off Hamlet or his uncle or Laertes or the new person that I somehow accidently added to the hitlist. His mother is dead, though, which I suppose is a start.
 I'm getting supremely weary of this novel, but still it's all fascinating me. I originally aimed for a writing style reminiscent of The Silver Linings Playbook and The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer -- mystical but simple and understated. I don't think that writing style will be particularly obvious in this first draft, but it's a feeling I have constantly while I'm writing it (even if it is hidden under a pile of fatigue and moaning). Hamlet, to me, is Shakespeare's greatest play because Hamlet is his greatest character. There are so many layers to him because he's an onion, and he continually surprises others -- and himself. He's like a dark and depressed teen at times and at others he's the class joker, except most of his jokes are so intelligent that his classmates don't know he's laughing at him (note to self: add in intelligent humour because there currently isn't much).
 I'm not going to say I've been recreating that -- I don't think it's possible -- but I've been trying, and it's been wonderful to attempt to make a character so wonderful and alive.
 In short, unless the next two days fall to pieces in a hail of bullets or something, this is the best NaNo I've ever done.
 Let's ignore the fact that it's only the third, people. Just enjoy the moment.

[Edit: I forgot to mention that the Stats page on the Camp website lied to me. It turns out that it's been giving me false hope all along, because its 'Words per Day to Finish on Time' thing counts the day that you're on, even if you've updated your word count for that day. Thankfully, I noticed this before Something Bad Happened and I found myself supremely unable to hit that 50K. Yesterday I got to the point where my daily word count matched up with what I started with having to do (when I worked it out myself because of the website lying). So, yay!]

WriMo out!

CampNaNoWriMo: Day 25

These days have started going faster. It feels like yesterday that I posted for day 22.
 So, day 25... the day that you can start winning. I think I won on maybe the 27th or somesuch in November, but not this time. I've got a good 12,000 words to go and no understanding of how I am actually going to get to the place that I will have to get at some point: the end. Just a couple of days ago, I felt like I was going to run out of story before I got to the big 50K; today, I feel as if I'll get to 100K before my characters actually do each other in like Shakespeare intended.
 Speaking of what Shakespeare intended, this isn't so much a re-telling of Hamlet now as a thing that was origjnally a re-telling of Hamlet. I'm pretty sure that his uncle insn't going to be the one to kill him. And his mum has to die at some point, too. And I don't know what to do about Laertes, because he has to die too and he also has to be Hamlet's uncle's right-hand-man and all sorts of things that should happen in the end don't seem like they'll stick with the characters. Oh, and Hamlet's got another best friend and another murder to do.
 This is probably why I don't feel like it's ever going to end -- because I don't have a clue how it's going to end, not really, even though I think I just said above that I do. I don't know. This is why I don't write thrillers or detective novels or anything like that. I just don't have the brain power to mastermind a murder (let alone like five or however many). Although it is nice to be able to write on a Sticky Note on your computer (for the whole world to see), 'The train isn't a safe place to plan to murder someone'. That was a fun moment of my life.
 In other news, I read a blog post about word wars/sprints, and how you could just do the magainst yourself. I tried one yesterday, just made myself write as much as possible as fast as possible for fifteen minutes, and it really speeded up my time for getting my 1700 words or so done. I've mentioned before how I hate having to rush things and not having the chance to stare out of the window and contemplate life and everything and soak in feels, but I did actually quite enjoy writing that fast. It makes me feel productive.
 And I need to be productive right now.

WriMo out!

CampNaNoWriMo: Day 22

I thought I had another day before I had to write this post. Huh.

You may remember that I put my word count down to 45K because I'm a wimp. Well, I put it back up again, because the stats told me that I didn't actually have to write as much to catch up as I thought I did. Of course, that was before I gave up at 750 words yesterday because I felt so shattered, but, you know. I still don't have to write a load more a day than I originally did. And I've finally got to a place where I can actually get back to the plot, which is always good.

But nine more days, people! Sigh. I don't know if I have nine days more energy left in me. Which is a shame, since I really want to actually be able to finish this first draft. I stopped everything else I was doing because I really wanted to write this. Sigh.

Keep your fingers crossed for me.

WriMo out!

CampNaNoWriMo: Day 19

So, it turns out I was using hyperbole on day 13. Just about hitting your word count? It's cool. It's a nightmare and hard and a total love/hate thing, but it's fine. It's not the end of the world.
 What is the end of the world is feeling like you have to drop your word count goal.

Gasp.

I know, it's lame. It's like losing, except worse because you know you're going to win without putting half as much effort in at all. Basically, it's like cheating. However, it was out of my control. I missed two days (and possibly today; I've got a headache already and I've only been checking Tumblr) because of a really bad migraine. I can see what you're thinking: two days, pah! That's not that much to make up -- but the thing is, when you're wimping out of your word count as it is, it's difficult to see how you would make two/three days of words up. I'm going to try, of course I am. But I'm not going to put too much pressure on myself -- I've already learnt that that's a pointless thing to try and do. Besides which, of course, my novel will never end regardless of it's word count.

In other news, Dropbox is SO slow on my phone it is ridiculous and was a waste of time downloading the app.

WriMo out!

CampNaNoWriMo: Day 16

Well, it's all been going on in the past three days, I have to say.
I have given up on Q10. I don't know if I mentioned it in that previous post, but the thing didn't have scroll bar and the longer my novel got, the longer it took to get to the bottom of the page so I could actually start the thing. Grr.
I did the unthinkable, guys. I copied it all into MS Word.
I know, it hurts me, too.

I also, after a bit of nagging from my mum, 'But what if the thing with the battery breaks the laptop?' etc., I have downloaded Dropbox. I thought it'd be a bit like Google Docs, but actually it's just a folder on your computer that you can get at from the net. It would be cool if it didn't want to sell more space to me.

And Day 13, I think, was The Day That It All Went Wrong. I mentioned how the novel had now stepped into the unknown with no hope of survival, and it's possible that that will still be the case. I barely wrote anything on Day 13, just about caught up on Day 14, and then yesterday I just lost all my motivation. That lack of motivation is still quite obviously there, unfortunately, which is why I am writing this now. Hopefully it'll jump-start my brain, but I don't know.

On another note, my Inner Editor is very unhappy with my lack of research and the marked change in the whole tone since I stepped into the unknown. This part could very well be a sequel to the first part, if the first part was long enough to count as a novel on its own.

I don't think that was 'another note', really, but there you go.
 On another another note, in case you were wondering about the whole 'I have no clue how he'll get out of this' line from my last post, I still don't. I'm leaving it until a certain point that I've fixed in the future of the novel to worry about how that will work. I might have to kick Shakespeare when he's down and change one of the best parts of Hamlet to suit my personal preferences.
 Hurray!

 Well, we'll see how far it's been driven into the ground on Day 19, I suppose.

WriMo out!

CampNaNoWriMo: Day 13

Is it nearly two weeks, 'rinos? It feels like less... no wait, that's a lie. It feels like months.
You may remember day 10's entry. Ironically, I got my writer's block fixed after writing that post, and finished up my word count plus more, I think. So, you know, hurray for me then.
 Today, however, I am back to the self-same slump. My characters have pulled themselves back into line, and the plot with them, but I have got to the bit that I hadn't prepared for, and it doesn't bode well at all. Not at all at all at all. I won't get into the specifics, but let's just say that this novel either has to find itself a deus ex machina or stop being an almost exact replica of Shakespeare's Hamlet, because I don't have the foggiest how I'm going to write myself out of the corner I flung myself in. Sigh.

WriMo out!

CampNaNoWriMo: Day 10

I totally forgot about this post, so I'll keep it quick.
It turns out that today is the day that I start crying (inside). I'm running out of writerly energy, or something. Maybe it's because my brain decided to go against Shakespeare and re-write the plot, making it all harder. Maybe it's because my characters (after quick consultation with my brain) decided to have a bit of a fight, even though one of them is the only person that the other character will trust. Maybe it's because the character with trust issues ran off to his girlfriend who he was supposed to be driving away and have no real connection with. Maybe it's because, just after I'd resigned myself to that, his girlfriend decided she had standards and was strong enough to say no to someone who didn't understand the word. Maybe it's simply because I'm sick of feeling like I have to do something every single day, even though it's the summer holidays. Maybe I'm just being mopey. Who knows, but I'm falling behind my word count for the second day sice you last heard from me. Day 8 was the first time; this was when the plot first started to go kaput. I caught up and wrote past my word count yesterday (there were feels) but now I've started writing late in the day because I've been out with friends all day, and I've been trying to get away from it because I just can't get anything to happen the way I want it to.

Sigh. Not as short as I thought. I've got another 800 or so words to write. Darn.

WriMo out!

CampNaNoWriMo: Day 7

You may remember me saying I would be crying by today. Well, I was right, but it's more because of the intense heat, high pollen levels, and large amount of open windows than any issues with Camp.
 However, that brings me to one of the points that I don't like as much about writing a novel in a month -- the lack of feels other than 'I have to get this done'. I mean, giving myself a deadline is extremely necessary (I take years to finish novels when I don't have one), but I like meandering my way through a story line. I like taking a minute or a day or a week, whatever I feel like, to soak up the feels of a scene. I like to take time to plan my chacters' next move (by which I mean to let them plan it themselves).
 But that's irrelevant, because working like that won't get anything wrote, and I can always catch up on feels while I'm reading it for editing purposes. It can just feel a little bit empty sometimes.

 Other than my winging, though, it's going okay. I didn't hit my daily word count yesterday because it was absolutely boiling and I had to play at a concert (an annual one which was the first one in three years to A: be warm and B: be inside with hot stage-lights trained on the players), but I have been writing five per cent or so over most days anyway so I didn't go under the word count I was supposed to be at.

Hurray!

I can't think of anything else, I'm too busy watching the Tennis to think properly. I promise a better round up on the tenth.

WriMo out!

Umm, guys... guys... GUYS!

YOU NEED TO VOTE FOR NOAH AGAIN! HE'S UP AGAINST DAEMON FROM OBSIDIAN AND ONYX AND ALL THOSE BOOKS!

I know, right? This is gonna be a tough one.

Thankfully, Noah is hot, considerate, dreamy, sexy, funny, and British, while Daemon is just a sorta-people-shaped light alien.

You know who else were glowy and sorta-people-shaped once?

Yeah, the Cybermen, right before they ripped their way into our world.

Now, I'm not saying Daemon's a Cyberman... but he's certainly not as feels-full as Noah. Daemon and Kitten's relationship is hot enough for sparks and broken laptops, I suppose, but Noah? Mr Shaw can make fires even on his own -- and I'm not just talking about his love of cigarettes, ladies. He is hot.

So what are you going to do, ladies and gentlemen, lovers of Noah all? Well, you're going to vote for Noah Shaw, of course!

Charlie out (to go vote)!

CampNaNoWriMo: Day 4

It's only four days since I started out on my quest, friends. Can you believe it? No, I can't either.

I apoologise for the following post. All the stuff I have to get done has made me brain-dead.

You may be aware of my propensity for procrastinating. You may also be aware of all the stuff out there on the Internet to stop people like me from doing what it is in our nature to do.
I downloaded one of these things. It's called Q10. It makes your entire screen go black, and anything you type comes up in tiny orange type.

Shall we do pros and cons? Yes, let's do pros and cons.

The pros:

• You can't go on anything else (ie the net) without saving and exiting. It might not seem like that big a deal, but dudes: I'm lazy as owt. It really works.
• You can set a word count goal! Hurray!

The cons:

• You can't really see what you're writing
• There's no spell-check
• It saves as a .txt file, which will mean a lot of fiddling about later on
• It has that thing where it skips a line when you press enter, like this:
•  
• See?
• You can't format (centre, left, italics, etc)

Overall, though, I really like it. I mean, really I just like it because it makes it hard to procrastinate. And that is always good, because I've hit my wordcount goal (and surpassed it) every day! Wahoo!
I also feel like writing my lovely Hamlet re-telling is helping me to crawl out of the writer's block cave! Huzzah! I'm still having to toil, but today I kind of enjoyed the work -- I went 8% over my goal because of the feels! YAY!

Just wait til Day 7. I will be crying into the Internet's shoulder.

Wrimo out!

CampNaNo Starts, With a Promise that My Novel Won't Sell

Indeed.
My novel, as some of you may know, is a re-telling of Hamlet.
...
Well, darn.

However, it won't keep me down. This re-telling is going to be so awesomesauce that those ones that were planned will be thrown out in favour of mine.

Gulp.

Wrimo out!

YA Crush Tourney Round Two

Yes, it is that time again; time to vote for Noah Shaw in the YA Sisterhood's Crush Tourney! For anyone who has forgotten why Noah Shaw from the Mara Dyer books is worthy of your votes, here's a quick recap:

• He's an animal lover
• He's from England (the place to be, I'll have you know)
• He has a 'panty-dropping smile'
• He's a book-worm
• He is almost constantly dishevelled
• He's brilliant at innuendos

By Anabelle at Mara Dyer Phillipines

You really need to know more? Head on over to The Page Sage's blog to find out more.

And then vote, minions, vote!

Charlie out!