I signed up over at the National Novel Writing Month website in preparation for that big undertaking in November. Devin is going along for the ride—anyone else up for the challenge?
I'm putting out the call for your folks to once again post the cruel and unusual things I'll be subjected to if I don't finish the 50,000 words before the deadline. It'll be quite a task—it seems like November is always chock-full of events, and this year is shaping up to be chock-fuller than ever. It's a good day to be signing up, though: pleasantly foggy and chill for us (it's sad when 60 degrees constitutes "chill," but I'll take what I can get here in the desert southwest). Grading is going fairly well these days, thanks to the revelation by Joanna that no matter how I break it up, grading always takes the same amount of time. Of course this is obvious to the majority of humans, but it was a stunning insight for me. Doing a small amount of grading each day actually won't make it take longer than when I do it in a great, mind-destroying rush at the last minute. Weird how reality works, isn't it?
The last thing I leave you with before I get back to work is this, which was linked to from the NaNoWriMo website. It was an entertaining read for us fantasy aficianados, and I'm happy to say that my novel from March only breaks three or four of them that I recognize (numbers 36, 37, 48, and maybe 17 if you stretch it). They recommend abandoning any novel that contains even one, but these are relatively innocuous, I think. And the novel I'm thinking of for November may once again break the name rules, but otherwise I think I'm pretty safe...
And for those who are wondering, yes, I am still working on the March novel. New draft sections are going up even as we speak.
I'm off.
3 comments:
The fortunate thing - at least, the thing I tell myself - is that if I end up answering 'yes' to any of the questions on the Fantasy Novelist's Exam, I can gleefully disregard any bad feelings about it. No Plot? No Problem! says it's okay if my novel is crappy. I'm going to do my best to be original, and something professional may emerge from whatever I end up writing, but given the fact that I'll also be doing my regular schoolwork (such as whatever material will be required for my Sci-Fi/Fantasy class), I'm not going to give too much worry to cliches that may rear their ugly heads in my novel. After all, if Robert Jordan can get away with it, why can't I? I'm only writing a 50,000-word novel, not a ten-plus volume epic. The pain I cause will be direct and brief in comparison.
Now, having said that, I recognize a challenge when I see one...
Speaking of, here's a website I came across which gives a pretty comprehensive outline of issues to consider when creating a fantasy world for your story to take place in. It may be a bit more than is necessary for a NaNoWriMo project, and I suspect that any gamer worth their salt has already considered such things, but it could still be a useful checklist for covering all the bases:
http://www.sfwa.org/writing/worldbuilding1.htm
Let'z zee...zee puneeshment...
Oh...this is fantatstic. Oddly arrogant, but fantastic all the same.
I come down at the end of November for Thanksgiving. I have tickets that have me arriving at 4:25 PM on November 18, departing Tuesday, November 28. I know this is not exactly the end of the writing month, but hear me out.
I have no way to avoid seeing you on the Disneyland days, but outside of that, unless you have a healthy and respectable word count (quite healthy, considering you likely won't work while the fam gives Thanks in Anaheim), I shall only visit your house when you are NOT there. That's right--no Michael visits from his favorite sister unless he is slamming the words out like a pollen-congested elephant slams snot.
And if you have horrid similes like that, I will also avoid you.
And at Disneyland, I will only talk to you DURING the rides. No queue chats. Just yelling nicities to one another over the Indiana Jones ride. Even if you cry like a nasal-impacted elephant.
Too cruel? I think not.
That's what love looks like, Baby.
:)
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