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.

[ posted by sya on 10:13 PM : ]

11.30.2005

I have just finished reading a forums thread where someone has lost their entire novel in a spectacular computer crash. Talk about major cringe factor! Well, if it happened to me, I would have been majorly pissed. This is why I make backups all the time. Save them to different types of disks (cd, floppy, zip, jump drive). Save in multiple formats. E-mail each draft to yourself (and don't forget to check that the files didn't get corrupted while you sent them!). Upload them to your website if you have one and don't care about publishing. Send a copy to someone else. And print out a hard copy. At least you will still have the paper version if your computer crashes, your disks get erased (or broken), your e-mail eats your inbox, the server crashes, and if for some reason, the Wayback machine forgets you.

This is why I went to the local Kinko's this afternoon to have this year's novel (and my 2002 novel--I realized I never made a hard copy of that one for some reason) printed out. There is no such thing as too many extra backups.

* * *
My advice for reaching 50k: This is my fifth win, so I should hope I know what I'm talking about. After going through the rigors of Nanowrimo for so many years and seeing others go through it as well, there really is only one thing that will guarantee you success at putting down those words--write.

I don't really care what your excuse is. Crowded schedule? People have won Nano through school work, exams, moving house, personal problems, jobs, getting sick, natural disasters (or non-natural disasters), and various other obstacles. Don't say that you've stopped writing because you had to clean your house before your mother-in-law comes to visit. If you want to reach 50k, you'd better make time.

Well, what about writer's block? Work through it. Write a different part of your story first. Write something totally different and tack it onto your word count anyway. Do a writing challenge. The main thing is, don't stop, or writer's block will block you for the rest of the month.

And what about the people complaining that they could hardly write any more because they're writing crap? The problem is--you're rereading your stuff and letting your inner critic get in the way! Don't reread your stuff during November. Save it for later. If you're worried about continuity and consistency--throw that out the window. All of this can be fixed later. And don't tell yourself that you're writing crap. (Have I ever told you that all the threads in the forums about writing crap annoy me to no end?) That is the ultimate defeatist attitude that will bring you down. What you're writing is a first draft. And no first draft is perfect.

* * *
Addendum: Why do most of the published authors participating in NaNo seem to be romance novelists? This is a question asked by Odds-n-Ends who I found through a search that somebody did on this site for published authors. You know, I've noticed this trend as well and I have almost no idea why this is so. Why almost? Well, romance is pretty much the only genre these days in which publishers (particularly publishers of category romance) regularly accept manuscripts under 100k. This doesn't mean that authors in other genres are dissing Nano (oh, on the contrary--Neil Gaiman thinks it's a great idea). More likely, Nano just doesn't fit with their own goals.

* * *
Novel Stats

Word count
Total word count: 74725 (according to Nano validator)
50,000th word: poured
Last word: necessary
Word count did not include author byline, chapter titles, the quoted poem by Lucille Clifton, section markings, or the words "The End."

Number of pages
In 10pt Times New Roman, default margins, single spaced: 97
In 12pt Courier New, 1 inch margins, double spaced: 341

Current ranking
Word count, all: page 7

[ posted by sya on 5:56 PM : ]

11.29.2005

Finished!

Yes, I am indeed finished with the story in 74,725 words. This is the longest thing I have written, ever. I've been writing around 4-5k the past couple of days and my brain is fried. Meanwhile, I will give you the summary. I'll blabber more tomorrow when I'm feeling more coherent.

Summary: The city of Amanthus may be mysteriously rotting from the inside out, but Zan Hu has other worries. Her Uncle Elliot has passed away leaving several people clamoring after Zan, urging her to complete the research that he has left at loose ends. There's also the Museum director who's after her uncle's machines. Then there's her strange patron funding her work--why is he so adamant in following her around? Oh, and there's another thing that has her worried--changing into a fox at the most inopportune moment.

If you're curious and aren't afraid of reading a first draft, you can go to the "novel" link on the above menu to read the entire novel in several installments or to download the entire thing to read at your leisure.

[ posted by sya on 9:59 PM : ]

11.28.2005

Erg. Less than 500 words to 70k. I can almost taste it. And I'm going to finish this thing tomorrow--no matter what! So tomorrow will be the big finale with the villain and everything.

As for the latest chapter, I suppose an alternate name could be "In Love and War" because there is both a fight scene and a love scene. Personally, I find violence far more easy to write than the gooey emotional stuff. Fighting bad guys? No problem. Writing an intimate scene? It's like getting your toenails pulled out. I'm always second guessing myself. Should I really write this? Or maybe this? Oh no, I couldn't possibly put that in.

On the forums, I've read about two extremes. Some people find it really easy writing sex scenes and then they find that they can't stop and neglect the plot. For other people, it's really hard and it ends up as an impediment for the word count rather than a benefit. I can't say I'm in the camp of people who find that this stops the writing process altogether--because it hasn't. It's just that I'm afraid I'm not doing my characters any justice.

But then again, hey, if my characters are happy, I'm happy too.