Shiny, Happy, Pretty things!

This is just a quick post while I get in to the habit of writing regularly again. I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather recently so I’ve not been up to much other than lying around and feeling sorry for myself. The upside is that it’s given me a couple of hours to sit in bed with my laptop and do a bit more planning and organising for November.

It’s also been the perfect opportunity to have a look at some of the merchandise on the NaNoWriMo website this year. It’s safe to say that I want it all, but there were a few things that really caught my eye.

First, these merit badge buttons are so cute that I think I might need to invest in a set. They represent little challenges to set yourself throughout November and you can reward yourself with a badge every time you complete one. This includes things like secret writing at work, reaching the final 50k and procrastinating, which I really can’t see being too much of a challenge for most of us! I read a suggestion on the Manchester Wrimos Facebook page this week from a fellow novel-er who is planning on treating herself to a little present every time she reaches a milestone. I think this is a fantastic way to keep motivated to I might have to think about a few treats for myself, perhaps every 5,000 words or so?

I’ve also fallen a little bit in love with this poster and I have the perfect place for it just above my desk. I can’t stand staring at a blank wall while I’m working, so I’m currently trying to cover the space above my desk with as much nonsense as possible!

Finally, I think I may have found my treat for reaching 50k – an official NaNoWriMo hoodie. I am a bit of a hoodie addict, especially at this time of year when the nights are getting colder, darker and drearier. I can’t think of anything better to motivate me through that last few thousand words than a big warm hoodie to wrap up in while I edit my way through December!

That’s all for tonight as my bed is beckoning, more soon hopefully!

Emily x

Tidy Desk, Tidy Mind!

I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m absolutely useless at this whole updating thing. Yet another thing I must get in to the habit of before November! Nevertheless, I’ve been working on another stage of my organisation in time for some serious writing in November and tidied up my perpetually messy desk in preparation.

Not pictured - mess!

First things first, I cleared all the piles of paper, junk mail, old receipts, etc. that always seem to accumulate on my desk. I love seeing a clear space and having some room to work so it’s cheered me up a lot to be able to see the top of my desk! When I’m in a writing kind of mood, I function on green tea, or occasionally camomile if the caffeine is getting the better of me. I’ve dug out my favourite mug from the kitchen cupboards for the duration of Nano. It’s from my last holiday to Marazion in Cornwall. I used to go every year with my parents until I moved out and it’s one of my favourite places to sit and think – a lot of planning got done there so it’s helpful having a little something here to remind me of it.

 I’ve also got myself a stash of highlighters, pens, pencils and a screwdriver (just because) for anything that needs a pen and paper approach before I type it out. I’ve always loved hand writing my rough ideas before I type them up and I have a very big soft spot for pretty stationary. Nano is the perfect opportunity to treat myself to a Paperchase splurge which I have very much enjoyed.

Notebooks, pens and tea and cake.

That brings us nicely on to my notebooks which have all my first drafts and planning notes from way way back. Some of them have notes for stories I’m not even using any more, but you never know when a line or two might come in handy for something new! I’ve had a couple of these books for years now and I still cringe sometimes when I read some of my earlier writing attempts… I should be honest and point out that none of them are even close to full, but even just a couple of pages of scribbling seems to help clear my head and make room for new ideas. After all, there’s only so much you can keep in your head at one time before things start falling out!

The wall above my desk is currently decorated with my proofreading cheat sheets for the course I’m working on at the moment. These will soon be joined by my plot outline and main character bios when I manage to finish them off, so I’ll always have a point of reference in front of me if I get stuck.

Last, but most certainly not least, I have my collection of plot bunnies - and a fish. These bunnies have been bought or given to me once a year since I started writing seriously at university, and I’m starting a bit of a collection now. Rainbow Fish doesn’t quite fit the mould, but as he is a literary mascot I thought he belonged with the bunnies. My little yellow origami bunny was kindly made for me by a fellow Nano-er, who turned up to a write-in last November with a bundle of new bunny friends for the rest of us! I’m on the lookout for this year’s mascot now – there’s a beautifully tacky bunny nighlight that I have my eye on, but I’m not sure I can actually bring myself to buy it...

November is getting too close for comfort at the moment so I’d really best get going with my planning and plotting. I hope everyone else’s preparations are going well!

Emily x

Imaginary friends - for grown-ups!

It’s roughly week three of my preparations and things are still going strong, if not quite as quickly as I was expecting. I always get a little too involved with my character descriptions and end up with pages and pages of notes. I like to think there’s no such thing as too many notebooks.

When people ask me about creating characters, I always liken it to having imaginary friends. It’s just that I’m 22 and I don’t make my mum set a place for them at the table (anymore). For a story to work, they have to be so real that sometimes you forget they aren’t actually there. You have to feel guilty for all the bad things you inflict on them and celebrate when you can finally let them win. After all, that’s the same journey you’re asking a reader to go on as they read your novel.

One of the best tips I ever got for character plotting was in my first year Creative Writing seminar. My tutor asked us to write a series of questions we’d use if we had to interview that character for the position of “hero” or “villain” or whatever role they were going to play. We were asked to tailor it to the job description and the story we were writing as closely as we could, then answer it in that character’s voice – exactly as they might behave in an interview situation. This is also excellent for writers who struggle with dialogue because it really makes you think about the sound of their voice.

This is my go-to method when I’m struggling to work out a motivation for a certain action or “scene”, if you like. It’s a little bit like having a conversation with yourself but on paper, and sometimes letting a character speak for themselves is the only way to muddle through a difficult plot point. To any of my fellow NaNo-ers who are struggling with something like this, or even struggling to get started, I’d have to recommend that you try out the interview technique for yourselves!

I’m going to try and post again later this week when my next task is done – organising my desk and finding a permanent home for my plot bunny friends! All will become clear, I promise.

Hope everyone else’s planning is going just as well!

Emily x

First Update!

It’s been rather a lot more days than I’d planned before updating, but I’ve been a bit busy with work and family and turning 22 so this is the first chance I’ve had to update.

So far, my Nano plans are all on schedule and I have an almost completed synopsis for the first book of the planned “Seas” trilogy. This has made it so much easier to start to work together the snippets I’ve written so far. I now not only know where my characters need to start and end, but how they’re going to get from A to B as well. It’ll be interesting to see how much things change once I start writing. Usually at that point the plan goes out of the window and my plot bunnies start to run away with things again. One day, I will learn to control those bunnies!

My next job is to create some pretty in-depth character bios before I start writing again. I’d like to think I know my characters pretty well by now, but I do like the idea of having a proper biography of each of them before I get going this year. I think it can be easy to forget how your characters think and what makes them do what they do when you’re working with so many of them, so bios are a really good way to make sure they all stay in character and serve their purpose.

I’m quite a visual person when it comes to creative thinking so I also like to collect a few photos and sketches of people and places to help me really see what I’m writing about. My scrapbook is getting increasingly full of little bits of paper so I’m hopefully going to be organising them into something a little more accessible in time to start scribbling again! I've been investigating some cheap cork noticeboards that I might invest in so I can pin up a few of my favourites. 

I’m not sure how much writing time I’ll be getting in the next couple of weeks, as the imminent arrival of my copy of Guildwars 2 could be taking up a fair bit of my time while I unleash my inner gamer once again. I always find that playing fantasy games like this really kickstarts my imagination though, so we’ll see what comes of it once I get going.

Hope everyone else’s Nano plans are coming together too. Only two months to go now!

Emily x 

The Road to NaNo 2012

Hello :)

I've decided to use my little blog to track my progress in the run up to and throughout 2012's NaNoWriMo. This will be my second time participating and, after just about breaking the 20,000 word mark last year, I'm determined to see it through the time.

I'll be continuing with the same project, but all 50,000 words of my total will be written in November 2012 - this is just over 1,600 words a day for a full month and should take me close to completing the first instalment of the trilogy I have planned.

I don't want to say too much about the plot until I've managed to finalise my outline, but the title of this blog is a little tie-in to the titles I have planned for all three books. My working titles have been Seas of Smoke, Seas of Scarlet and Seas of Silence, but obviously this could all change very quickly if I decide to take a different route!

I'm hoping that announcing my plans to the world, or whoever reads this, might prompt me to stick with this and reach my target word count by the end of November. I'm going to try to update whenever I make a little bit of progress so hopefully that should be fairly frequently. I may also throw in some little updates about life outside of writing. I tend to find cooking very therapeutic when I'm working on a big project so chances are there'll be a few recipes and cakes involved here and there!

Thanks for reading, I'll hopefully be posting again very soon!

Emily x