Writing Sya

Updates
10.31.2004

Another student and I went down to Manchester for the Nanowrimo kick-off party. Lots of familiar as well as not-so-familiar faces in the writer frenzy. I just had a great time listening in on the crazy conversations. One Nano-er had self-published her 2001 novel and another had self-published a poetry chapbook which they self-promoted during the party (they got some sales too, which I thought impressive). I also took some pictures--which I might get around to posting them when I get them developed.

A small part of me wished that everyone would have talked about their novel plots a little more. You know, so I wouldn't inadvertently copy someone. Or they could have talked more about how they were going about doing the novel this year--the unfortunate thing is that most people attending were already Nano veterans so that kind of thing was more "old hat."

I did get a Nanowrimo emergency kit though. Altoids, here I come!

(Cross-posted at Syaffolee.)

[ posted by sya on 6:05 PM : (0) comments ]

There was a question asked: "Where did your plot bunny originate?"

I answered: "I got my idea from an article in a drinking guide."

I'm not kidding. Specifically it's the Diffords Guide to Drinking Issue #2. Page 24. I won't say what the article was talking about here because it would give away what I hope to be a significant part of the plot. But if you're absolutely dying to know, well, now you have the information to look it up.

And what was I doing with a drinking guide since I almost never drink at all? The guide looked pretty on the magazine stand, so I bought it.

I also have a title in mind. It would make an alchemist and a geologist very happy.

Upcoming posts to look forward to:
Later today: A summary of the NH kick-off party in Manchester.
Tomorrow: Finally, revealing the title and general premise after much muse-slapping and furtive secrecy.

[ posted by sya on 8:04 AM : (0) comments ]

10.30.2004

I'm a bit annoyed at all those people who are saying, "No!!! Don't put your novel online because it'll kill your chances of getting published. That's why I'm not putting mine online!"

Someone else on the Nano forums had it right when he said, "Hmm, either the standard is unbelievably high or there are alot of dreamers this year."

Actually, there are dreamers every year. But there's a difference between bad dreamers and good dreamers. The dark side of being a writer is that one can get pretty arrogant and egotistical especially if thrown into a vat of other writers. I think the thing to do is to avoid the people with publishing obsessions (because they can be downright depressing--even worse than the "This is Working Far Better Than I Had Hoped" forum) and just do what you like best.

[ posted by sya on 3:01 PM : (0) comments ]

10.29.2004

On publishing: Some people are complaining about writers who want to publish their Nano novels come December 1. They say that you need extensive revisions before you even think about publishing. Well, you know that and I know that, but some are a bit more idealist rather than realistic. Also, they could be going to one of those self-publishing places where you pay people to print your material up. I wouldn't pay for a self-published novel even if it was written by my own mother but that doesn't mean that other people don't think it's legit. All I can say is--even the trashy authors go through editors and reputed publishers. It's worth some pain to do it right.

On epics: This is just me, but I don't understand why people would want to write series and epics. I have an attention span of a gnat so if a book isn't self-contained, I avoid it. The author would have to be really, really good to get me interested past one book. This goes the same for television series (when I used to watch television). Unless each episode is self-contained (like murder mysteries), I don't tune in the next time.

On opening lines: I can't believe some people already have this totally planned out. I don't think of actually writing anything until I'm faced with a blank page. Of course, I know what my opening scene will look like, but I just haven't verbally described anything in my head yet.

On titles: Last night, I was thinking about titles. Nothing jumped out at me as The Title. Oh well.

[ posted by sya on 7:42 PM : (0) comments ]

10.28.2004

Pfft! Amateurs! A bunch of kids on the forum are whining about trying to get their English teachers to give them extra credit for writing a novel. Real novelists--even wannabe real novelists--don't expect to get anything in return for doing something that they love. My view is: if you want to write a novel, write it, but don't believe the real world will stop just because of you. Learn how to balance your work load. Yeah, that's a cruel assessment, but it's true.

Also, I absolutely hate the note card method. Everyone is gushing over it like there's no tomorrow. I'm assuming that's the case because a lot of people learn by note card method. I can't learn that way. What I do is read a chunk of text and just memorize the heck out of it. So how do I outline a plot? I do actual outlining. And maybe some free-writing. In a notebook. No note cards. Note cards tend to get lost and you only get to see one card at a time. Sure, you can rearrange them, but that requires space. And I never have space.

Besides, real geeks don't use note cards. Note cards are for wannabe-yuppies and self-absorbed artists who wear black all the time.

A link: Blogging Your Novel (Part Two). This is actually more for the novelist who wants to learn how to blog.

[ posted by sya on 7:23 PM : (0) comments ]

10.26.2004

Brainstorming for the past couple of days has been like pulling teeth.

A couple days ago, I came up with an idea based on the premise that people could use magic but needed something to focus on. The setting would be around the 1920's and the main character used beads while the villain used dead people. After that, the plot got a little strange and it didn't feel like something that I would want to write. People actively using magic seemed a bit, well, heavy-handed to me.

I came up with another plot today. Some weird stuff is going to happen but I haven't decided yet what kind of weird stuff I want happening. No one is going to have any special mumbo-jumbo powers which is a good thing I suppose since I don't want the characters to have any easy deus ex mechanica ways out of a problem.

[ posted by sya on 6:55 PM : (0) comments ]

10.20.2004

On prewriting--I've stalled since the 16th. If I work on it any more, I'll only be rearranging plotlines, not unlike someone rearranging kitchen tiles. Last night, I was toying with the idea of just scraping everything to write a fantasy on the high seas. With lots of pirates, of course. At the moment, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I have a plan, but I'm not feeling really excited about it. Maybe I should just nuke it and start out with a fresh plan.

* * *
More visibility? Well, at least another Nano-er and I tried this afternoon. We put up some flyers around campus and we saw at least one person voluntarily looking at one. Maybe more people will join up, but since I'm now an old veteran hack I feel I have the flexibility to be cynical.

And is it only now the people on Blogger have noticed Nanowrimo? Let me tell you--the first year I did Nanowrimo, I started a blog. So there, what people are proposing now isn't that original.

Today, the fellow Nano-er who was helping me with the flyers predicted that Nanowrimo was going to get bigger this year as well as subsequent years. In my mind, there is only a limited number of writers in the population. Sooner or later, the numbers are going to max out. But this year, well, with the additional publicity Blogger is pulling there might be a record turn out.

Some links:
Blogging Your Novel (Part One) - An article about putting your Nano novel progress on a blog by Biz Stone.
Na-No-Blog-Mo. The blog which lists people who are blogging their Nanowrimo novels. I was thinking that I should submit it in November when I actually have part of the novel and a novel title.

[ posted by sya on 8:49 PM : (0) comments ]

10.16.2004

Like last year, I find myself not posting very much as the month progresses. Which means come November, I will be concentrating on what I'm doing rather than reading the Nano forums. Which is a good thing, I suppose. I'm a procrastinator but my need to not be influenced by other people's ideas usually overpowers that.

There are also topics on the forums that I automatically skip over. People can post whatever they wish, of course, but I have little interest in reading questions where people ask for help (because I have no qualifications in the area) or where people ask for ideas. As someone who writes, I sometimes get bombarded by people who tell me it'll be great if I wrote about such-and-such idea. I already have my ideas, thank you very much, and don't have any extra ones. People with too many ideas should tell them to someone else.

Here's an interesting quote from the boards:

The only thing we were trying to say is that this year NaNo seems to have more suicide/SI [self-injuring] stories than the past ones. Last year it was all about the Lord of The Rings and the Diary of Bridget Jones rip-offs. I wish you could see the forums to get an actual feel of how much was talked about those two topics. This year, suicide/SI seems to be the big thing, and some people think that it is because it has become rather fashionable to be angsty.

Heh. If people want to write what is fashionable, then they can do it. Writers can do whatever they want, even if what they're doing is not very good. I guess I'm barely ahead of the crowd--the main character in my 2003 novel had a tendency for slashing her wrists. As for this year (not to mention subsequent years) I do not want to do what everyone else is doing. Oh sure, I'm dying to tell someone about the plot that I have, but right now, I'm keeping that under wraps even if it drives me to drink.

[ posted by sya on 6:36 PM : (0) comments ]

10.15.2004

Here's one on types of speculative fiction which sums up the major sub-genres nicely. It's not all inclusive, of course, but such lists can't be. People create new sub-genres all the time. There's another thread on male vs. female main characters. There's an argument that readers like male main characters better because both genders can identify with external issues and that female main characters aren't as popular because males find it difficult to sympathize with a woman's internal conflicts. The argument, in my opinion, is just a stereotypical excuse for something more fundamental. The reader can identify with any character if the writer describes the character well. If the writer does this badly, then the character comes out inscrutable and at worst, fake.

Cross-posted at Syaffolee.

[ posted by sya on 7:40 AM : (0) comments ]

10.10.2004

Some people are saying that if you post your novel online, you give up first electronic rights--yadda, yadda, yadda--and thus serious publishers won't give your work a second look if you want to publish. Yes, these people are right, but only if you're serious about this.

I'm primarily a short fiction writer when I am writing. I am serious about that (yes, I do submit to publishers, and yes, I have rejection slips to prove it) so I don't post those works online.

Writing a novel for Nanowrimo, however, is one of those fun, seat-of-your-pants, kind of things for me so I don't really care if everyone and their mother reads my efforts. I am not seeking publication for these works (if I were, they wouldn't be online). My primary motivation for putting this stuff online, as I've mentioned elsewhere before, is that I want to let people know that writing a novel in a month can be done--even if your main job isn't full-time author. I'm a student who works insane hours in lab. Many other people in my shoes can barely manage enough free time to make it to the beer parties at the end of the week. Besides, isn't it annoying when you finally find a Nano novel but then realize that the author has only put up an excerpt?

[ posted by sya on 3:59 PM : (0) comments ]

10.08.2004

Note to self: Have you stopped reading the Nano forums? Nope. I'm still addicted.

So I'm still fiddling with my plot. I'm pretty sure how it will begin. And I definitely know how it will end (a big change from the previous years!) but it's the middle I'm worried about. Yeah, I know which big points I will have to hit, but it's the details that are worrying me. As for fleshing out my main character--I got an idea while I was riding the bus home so hopefully that will go somewhere.

I was also amusing myself with the Fictitious Crushes Anonymous thread. I have never had crushes on fictitious characters and have never had the inclination of writing fan-fiction (I'm a control freak in that regard; I do not want to use other people's creations) but I find the idea of creating a universe that will spawn fangirls/fanboys absolutely hilarious. So what's the recipe of writing a character that will make readers drool after?

Of course, this is assuming people will actually read the resulting product. I'm thinking it would be kind of nice to be in a community like LiveJournal where there will be a bunch of people who will be reading your stuff religiously and commenting impatiently that they want to see the next installment. But who am I kidding? Readers are usually pulled in kicking and screaming, out of obligation. I'm just lucky enough as it is with referrals from the official Nano website--probably from visitors wondering who this crazy poster is.

[ posted by sya on 8:40 PM : (0) comments ]

10.07.2004

If you haven't seen my posts on the Nano forums, I have finally formulated an outline to the plot for this year's Nano novel. I suppose I could call it magic realism although anything "magical" happening isn't going to faze any of the characters--it won't be as if they suddenly discovered that their universe was unraveling. My main character is going to be an out-of-work programmer (who will soon get work in the course of the story, but that's not the point) who's attached to a cat-spirit.

I'll explain here a bit about cat-spirits since I probably won't in the story since cat-spirits in that world is as old hat as electricity in our world. They're beings of a sort and only 10% of the population can actually see them (believe it or not, I spent last night fiddling with numbers so I could figure out how many people would need to see cat-spirits so it wouldn't be so unusual in that society). They can walk through objects like ghosts, but they are not ghosts. Here's where it gets a little mind-numbing: string theory. According to string theory, our universe has four visible dimensions (three spatial and time) as well as several other "hidden" dimensions which are curled up below the Planck length (that's incredibly small, way beyond our current methods of detection). In my story's universe, the other dimensions aren't so curled up so that some things can exist on that dimension. Only certain people can see into that dimension (the ability can be inherited)--think of it as how color-blind people and color-sighted people perceive things differently. At any rate, I won't go so much into the physics. Although with this explanation, it's more like hypothetical sci-fi realism than magic realism.

Well, enough about what I've planned. I've noticed on the Nano forums that a new genre has been added: chick lit and women's fiction. Are there really that many people writing that stuff? How about thriller? Western? Choose-your-own-adventure? And I won't name any names, but there are some weird topics on the forums--I guess the internet really does bring out the fringe people.

[ posted by sya on 7:42 PM : (0) comments ]

10.04.2004

No, I have not weened myself from the Nano forums yet. If anything, I'm getting even more dangerously entrenched.

I've noticed in the twenty-something forum that a significant number of Nano-ers my age have kids and/or cats. To me, this feels incredibly weird. I am definitely getting too old or something. There are also some people who are turning 24 during November. I am too, but you won't find me blabbing about it in the forums. No one really cares about my birthday anyway.

And another thing: It's always about the cats. What is it with writers and cats? All right, I admit that if my apartment building allowed pets, I'll be the first one in line to get a kitty or two, but still. Is it some personality quirk that makes people prefer one pet over another?

[ posted by sya on 7:32 PM : (0) comments ]

10.02.2004

Gah!

I've got to get away from the Nano forums. It's totally sucking away my time.

[ posted by sya on 7:20 PM : (0) comments ]

10.01.2004

One month until Nano madness begins!

For some reason, I feel really psyched despite the fact that no one in real life and no one in my online life are interested in what I'm doing. Maybe I'm just too frazzled with all the other stuff that's going on that I'm finally going crazy.

Ideawise: At the moment, I'm enamored with an idea that I came up with in February. I hadn't really thought about it until last night, but hey, I still have a month to flesh it out if I do decide to go with it. This will be more of a mystery rather than a horror (as my previous big idea) so it will have to require some extensive planning.

Curious as to what I came up with in February? I had a map. An extensive outline on genetics. Some sketchy ideas on a novel magic system. Currently I'm not sure how much I'm going to keep.