Writing Sya

Updates

12.06.2005

This is most likely the last entry I'll be putting in this weblog until next year so meantime, head over to my other weblog. Yeah, I haven't updated that one either, but I guarantee you that it will be updated more frequently than this one in the coming months.

Currently, I'm signed up for NaNoFiMo in order to complete my unfinished and unofficial Nano Salamander Hill (which is a fantasy/western), but I'm sort of pessimistic at the moment. I'm sort of distracted with other things and my motivation is near nil.

I saw a forum thread about organizing world building. Personally, I think that if your world building is getting so unruly that every method you try doesn't keep it under control, you're completely missing the point of your story. Do people want to read your story because of the world you make up or because of your characters? And if you have a gigantic story line in which you're pretty much making up a history--well, you're on your own. Not very many people like reading history books, let alone make-believe history books. (Yes, that is a not so subtle hint for fantasy writers of gigantic books to stop writing them, publishers to stop publishing them, and for readers to stop buying them because they have the mistaken belief that they might be good!)

[ posted by sya on 7:53 PM : ]

12.03.2005

Threads that have invaded every Nano forum:

Printing out the novel: Yes, it is expensive to print that monster out with all that paper and ink. But no matter what anyone else says, I think it's worth it. If nothing else, it's a backup of one month's worth of effort.

Post Nano depression: I don't have post Nano depression because after November, I need to do something else. Besides, I regularly write anyway so it's not like I've lost the lollipop.

Ideas for next year's Nano: Sure I have ideas for next year's Nano, but most likely I won't use them. Usually a better idea comes along later.

Sequels: No. Just no. I like my stories self-contained.

I can't believe I did it: A typical reaction of the first year Nanoer who has never written this much in his/her own life. As a Nano geezer (as in how many times I've done Nano, not my real chronological age), my reaction is usually along the lines of, I can't believe I'm crazy enough to do this again.

Novel exchange: Intriguing idea, but difficult to do. I participated in one in 2001 in a Yahoo! group (which is now, unfortunately, inactive) and got to read other people's novels which were way better than mine. This year, I've got myself on an e-mail list...

Editing the novel: My advice, put your manuscript aside for a while and then come back to edit it. NaNoEdMo (National Novel Editing Month) in March might help you. Other related sites, NaNoFiMo (National Novel Finishing Month) and NaNoWriYe (National Novel Writing Year).

Publishing: You mean right now? I don't know, I guess I'm more traditional this way. If your goal for writing is for publishing, you really have to know what you're doing. First you have to edit the sucker. Then you send out the queries to different publishing companies and wait for either a rejection or acceptance. If you're really desperate to see your book in print form, I suppose there are vanity presses and POD (publish on demand), i.e. self-publishing, but my impression is that a lot of those self-publishing companies exist to rip you off.

[ posted by sya on 9:45 AM : ]

12.02.2005

Well, I promised in October that I would do an age distribution of the winners so here it is:

To refresh your memory, the age distribution of participants is here where we see that participants' age spike at 18 and drop off after. Do not take the percentage of winners in the 70-100 age range seriously. There are very few particpants in that range (less than 10 per age group) and finishing or not finishing skews the percentage significantly. So if there is only one 88-year-old participating not finishing (0%) and only one 96-year-old participating but winning (100%)--this does not mean that all 88-year-olds will lose and all 96-year-olds will win. The sample size is just too small to tell accurately.

Looking at the rest of the age range, there is a slight trend that you will have increased chances of getting to 50k the older you are. However, I'm not sure how significant that really is. As usual, the disclaimers apply about people lying about their age on their profiles, etc. The figures for total participants and winners were taken today and probably does not include winners who handwrote their entire manuscript (yikes!) and are currently being verified. (Total participating: 59705; total winners: 9765; percentage of total with unreported ages: 36.5%; percentage of winners with unreported ages: 22.8%)

[ posted by sya on 11:54 AM : ]

12.01.2005

Well, Nanowrimo is over for this year. I hope everyone had a fun time writing like maniacs, even if you didn't reach 50k. And if you did reach the goal--yay! Congratulations! And perhaps I will see you around next year.

* * *
An additional note: Previously, I had wanted to rant about people not reading the directions, but then I deleted it. Then again, some people probably didn't remember: This year is the first year that Nanowrimo had a mock validator throughout most of November. It proved to be helpful for the people who did not trust their own word processor's word count. Actually, no one trusts their word processor's word count, but uploading to the Nano site showed you what the validator saw--especially if you were planning to do the minimum amount. In 2001, there was no validator--getting to 50k was all on the honor system. In 2002-2004, there was no mock validator so word counts entered prior to the validator's availability was on the honor system.