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 |  Periodic musings on whatever topic suits me that day. |
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During my teenage years blogging (via such incredible sites as deadjournal, livejournal, and xanga among others) was a central part of my daily routine. But the older I get, the more afraid to post anything truly personal I became. Jennifer Knapp, in what I consider her "coming out" album, wrote, "Careful what you say / Careful who might hear / Someone else inside the universe could write it down / And you'll be hearing it for years." That's the fear with which I've lived every day, particularly since I began coming farther and farther out of the closet. Because I work in education (collegiate mind you), I always have a twinge of concern anytime I post anything even remotely controversial on any site. Here I plan on working to develop my courage at posting my personal ideas, because at least here I have the safety of a certain level of anonymity. (Pen names can be very troublesome sometimes, but they can also be quite liberating.) We will see what comes of this experiment in returning to blogging. |
Today has been a somewhat...emotional...day. I've been a bit of a wreck as I prepare to spend my only week and a half off traveling the country to visit various families. Ten+ hour car rides with two finicky felines are never much fun. The pre-travel stress wouldn't be quite so bad, except that I made the silly decision to hand-make a number of the gifts I'll be giving this year. (For those of you who dabble in yarn craft, a word of advice: Never plan three large projects--along with several smaller ones--with less than two months to Christmas.) I have already put a LOT of effort into the gifts I have completed. I just should have planned the work a little more thoroughly. Some weekends I had hours and hours of time to catch up on larger projects; some I just haven't. And since my overarching desire, more often than not, is to sit and write rather than to crochet, I spent a good chunk of November getting behind. Now, with one week before pulling out of Oklahoma for Adventures in Christmas 2013, I'm overwhelmed with all I have to do, not just with gift MAKING but also gift WRAPPING and getting the house clean and getting the car ready for the trip and AAHHHHHH!!! My partner has SAID she'll chip in more at home, but I'll believe it when I see it.  My failure, in reality, wasn't necessarily in the goals that I set, nor was it in my motivation. I'm still spending every extra minute I can working to get the gifts done. The failure was in the planning that went into those goals. With a little more scheduling (and perhaps a little less ambitious goals), I might not be in the situation I find myself today. And after the obligatory segue...I have a lot of lofty goals for 2014, many of them concerning my writing. I want to: 1. Submit something to a contest NOT related to WDC. I have one (potentially) picked out, but my success will be determined by whether I have something submission-worthy by February 1. A whole month and a half away perhaps, but I want the end result to be FABULOUS, which may be asking too much or setting too lofty a goal. 2. Complete first draft of one novel, and a re-write of another. I completed a novel during Camp NaNoWriMo last July that I have put on hiatus to gain some emotional distance, and I have another idea for a completely different novel that I'm really itching to get started on. So, at some point during the year, I want to complete the first draft of this second novel, and do a complete re-write on another. Which one gets the re-write will be determined entirely by my mood once I get there. 3. Begin submitting smaller works for publication. I'm still thinking this one through, so I have no idea where this might lead. Perhaps I should start small, submitting poetry to various magazines/e-zines and the like. I'll just have to do some research to decide where I want to go with that one. Anyone want to get me a copy of the Writer's Market 2014: ($22.93 from Amazon.Com) for Christmas? 4. Continue interacting with my amazing family here on WDC, keep up with my group review requirements, and generally just enjoy being with people as passionate about writing as I am.  That should be an easy one. So, my next step will be scheduling, and since I'm also participating in several workshops on WDC in 2014, I will have to schedule around those as well. My question to all of you who are the more prolific writers among us: What sort of tools do you use for scheduling? I LIVE by my cell phone and outlook calendar at work, but I think I need a more long-term planning solution for these lofty goals. Perhaps a large desk calendar? I don't know what might work best for me. Side note: I know there are a LOT of people who insist you can't force yourself to write when you don't feel like it. I don't buy into that philosophy. I WAS a professional musician, and a day of half-hearted practice almost always gains you more than a day without practice at all. I may not be into composing Shakespearean sonnets today, but that doesn't mean I can't play with a dictionary or thesaurus and do copy edits to things I've already gotten drafted. In any case, now that I've written the goals down, I will need some accountability. Anybody need an accountability buddy on writing goals in the new year? I'm available! I hope all of you have a FANTASTIC last couple of weeks of 2013!   Amalie ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| When I first joined WDC about six months ago, I had to ask myself what parts of my personal life I would allow to become public in this sphere. I had decided before ever joining that I would be using a pen name. I have items published under my real name in the world of academia, and I intended this site to be a place for me to explore non-academic writing. I thought a pen name would help distinguish between those two genres of writing, and it truly has. But how much of my personal life would I allow to bleed into my interactions on WDC? It took me many years to become as transparent in my day-to-day life as I would like to be. I don't know exactly when I decided that I was who I was and people should get over it, but I've lived my life more or less like an open book--at least since I moved to Oklahoma and didn't have to deal with my previous reputation anymore. I decided to take that same stance here. I would not reveal my real name, place of employment, etc., but other than that I would be as open as humanly possible. That decision settled, I began completing my bio block and biography. And wouldn't you know it, there came a question I had no idea how to answer: "Writing Style." What the heck did that even mean? And how could I possibly have known what my writing style is? I hadn't written anything but essays, research papers, and theses for years before coming back to WDC! As I wrote more and more stories and poems and posted more and more entries on the site, I quickly discovered that I had no business judging my own writing style anyway. Other people were much better at doing it than I was, and as the reviews began trickling and then pouring in, I began to see a few trends worth noting. So what have I discovered? I have a gift for poetic imagery, and an occasional penchant for provocative metaphorical/allegorical sentiments. My poetry, which I don't edit as much as I do my short stories, pretty consistently rates more highly than my fiction. Though my fictional plots sometimes need work, I have a gift for creating realistic, sometimes even mildly unsympathetic characters. I am overly loquacious. I don't do well with restrictive word counts. I sometimes feel like a better reviewer than creative writer. I wonder what all these things say about me as a person? I recently purchased a book in hopes that I would begin a journey towards a new novel at the new year:
I don't intend to start on the daily exercises until January 1 (the holiday season is just too insane to start such a journey), but I did work on some of the pre-writing exercises. My favorite prompt: "Write for five minutes. 'One thing I feel strong about is...' Write as fast as you can. Do not lift your pen off the page. And it's just ONE thing you feel strongly about. Do not write a list. And feel is the operative word. Tell us why you feel strongly about this." I won't bore you with my freewriting here, but it came down to one thing: I believe strongly in seeking compassion for and understanding of all people. Period. Whether a person is poor, rich, sickeningly nice, reproachably cranky, philanthropic, or downright miserly or evil, that person still has a vastly important story to tell. And that basic gut-wrenching belief reveals itself in each of my characters. I don't have the ability to write strictly "good" characters. My characters are inherently selfish. They may reveal that selfishness through heroic acts, but their self-centered desire to get what they want by whatever means necessary can lead to sometimes questionable moral choices. My whole-hearted desire then is to tell their stories in such a way that, even if they are hated and beyond salvation, they are understood. In the end, my desire for authenticity, both personally and in my writing, sometimes leads to a lack of sympathy, or even downright hatred. (I've squealed with delight when reviewers have told me how much they appreciated or enjoyed a story even though they HATED the protagonist.) But that's okay. Because my characters are discovering who they are. And much like me, they're learning that it's better to be loved--or hated--for precisely who you are than for who you're only pretending to be. Amalie |
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| I've never considered myself overly provincial. Perhaps specifically because I am. I grew up in a small town in Mississippi whose greatest claim to fame was a mediocre high school football team and a nominal connection to the state university just down the road. I hated that small town life, where my greatest source of entertainment was myself and my plethora of books. As I've gotten older, I've realized that my desire to reach outward, to get out of that cramped atmosphere where deviation from any norm was a source of high scandal, actually trapped me in a vacuum that I'm still desperately trying to escape. I moved 700 miles away from home, and I still tend to keep to myself and my tiny circle of friends--and books--and I am often desperately afraid to reach beyond it. This myopia has become more and more obvious to me as I've become more serious about writing as a hobby. I've found a loving and wonderful support network on WDC, where I can hide in relative safety and anonymity behind my computer screen, but I failed to realize just what a fantastic community of writers exist right here near my new home! I read a recent newsletter on the benefits of writer's conferences, and I quickly realized that the conference the author was pitching was recently hosted IN MY TOWN. Next year's conference will be less than half an hour away! I never even realized such things EXISTED! I've always been a bit wary and shy of these new situations, but I'm hoping that I can get some courage to go out and interact in some of these places in the near future. I think I might even shoot to submit to this contest at the local conference! I just have to decide what and when and see how to go about doing it. The idea of being known by my writing and by my real name is slightly unnerving to me. My whole life I've faked being really open to criticism while simultaneously being appalled by it when I receive it. I've learned to be very appreciative of constructive feedback, but I'm still horrified of being thought slow or untalented. Every time I get ready to take my writing a step further, I spend weeks shouting "I'm not ready, I'm not ready, I'm not ready!" Not a big risk-taker by nature, y'all. And this blog post has turned more into a ranting for me than a legitimate, well composed post, so I shall end before it gets too much more terrible. Amalie |
| This weekend has been most fortunate for me. I've had three days primarily uninterrupted by work or by social obligations, and so I have had a great deal of time to plan and to write. And what have I accomplished? My house is much cleaner than it was three days ago... I love to write; have always loved to write. There is, perhaps, an unexpressed poet hidden within my psyche. She periodically takes the reins of my nimble fingers and types, types, and types, in an attempt to paint a portrait with words. And then, she fades back into the background of my mind, leaving me to mull over what she has left behind. What I discover, time and time again, is that she is afraid. She fears what I might think of her work, and frankly, I imagine myself to be one of her harshest critics. When I take a step back and review what she has written, and sometimes I fall in love with her. I embrace her, I long for her to make her presence known each day and in every way possible, so that my life itself becomes surrounded by evidence of her brilliance. But such embraces happen only on the best of days. On the worst of days, I reconsider what she has written with disgust. I do not despise her works because they are poor, no, far from it. I despise them because they do not live up to some imagined potential. I have held this inner artist up to such a high standard that some days it is nigh impossible for her to show her face, so afraid is she of my scorn. She fears that, should she let herself out, she will be damaged beyond all repair. It gets worse, sometimes, when I show her works to other people. She cowers in fear, and it may take days for her to regain any sort of confidence, and to rise and make herself better for the constructive criticism she is offered. I look in my own port here, at how few things I have released to the community at WDC, and I know what hinders my productivity is little more than fear. Fear of myself, fear of failing, even fear of success. I have lived my life bouncing from one career to another, and though I find myself now in a very stable job, what I long for more than anything is to make something of the modicum of talent that fate or destiny or God has chosen to bestow upon me. For me, each and every day becomes a struggle, not only to become better, but to put myself on the line and to really try to improve. Writing, what has always been my escape, becomes a chore and a duty to be overcome. As I overwhelm myself, I need constant reminders that what I have done need not be perfect; it need not even be good; it simply needs to be the best I can make it in that moment. I hope, one day, I will see that that is enough. Amalie ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| I vaguely remember an interview I once read with Joss Whedon about his incredible productivity. He said something rather brilliant that I'm trying to apply to my own writing now. He said he always wrote (or filmed, or scripted, whatever) the part of a project that he felt like working on at any particular time. He dove right into the meaty bits that he loved, so that when it came to writing the tedious pieces that he didn't enjoy as much, he would already have so much GOOD writing done that it forced him to work his way through the things in which he was less interested. After all, if he wanted to share the parts of the story he really enjoyed, he needed his viewer to be able to make it that far. When I was working the very rough draft of my novel, I was most interested in bits in the middle, or in the climax at the end, and writing the opening and all the stuff in between was akin to torture. Now I find myself very interested in working on my opening, because I'm at the point where I know my characters, their personalities, and where their stories are going, and I want to do whatever I can to make sharing those stories with my (as of yet non-existent) readers as powerful as possible. In "The Fifty-Page Dash," (from The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing, first edition) David King speaks of the importance of hook. A reader must already be completely invested within the first 50 pages of the manuscript, or chances are said reader won't spend the effort to get to the end. King's essay gave me TONS of ideas for restructuring the opening prologue and chapter of my novel. I've included just a few highlights for anyone who might be interested:  Open with something interesting and exciting. If necessary, create a prologue with information from much later in the story. Then, the audience is left wondering from Chapter 1 on about when and how the prologue eventuates.Ensure that the most engaging aspects of your characters are revealed as early on as possible. Readers will give you more leeway in terms of plot if they are intrigued by your characters early.Make sure you set the ground rules for your "universe" early on. If magic exists, for instance, have something miraculous or unexplainable happen almost immediately. Don't jump genre expectations late in the story, or you might lose readers who were otherwise interested.My favorite quote from the essay: "Plot twists are always more satisfying when there's a sense of the familiar about them." I.e., while you want to be careful not to give too much away, you want to hide tidbits early on to ensure maximum impact to the reader.These items have actually given me a great deal to think about as I continue to work out the opening sections of my novel. I am hoping that if I can really get the beginning and ending the way I want them, I can take Joss Whedon's approach of trudging through the middle just to get to reveal the rest of the story. We shall see. I hope everyone has a great and productive week! |
| I thought, when I began my second master's degree, that I knew how to write. I'd been given nothing but praise from anyone who'd ever read any of my work, fiction, poetry, or essay. I realized my very first semester back in graduate school that my readers, though encouraging they had been, had in some ways done me a great disservice. The first few times I wrote drafts of papers for my adviser, she said to me, "Brandy, you have a true gift for stringing a bunch of words together in pretty phrases that don't mean anything." I was absolutely crushed at the time, but as I worked and worked on my writing in hopes of gaining her approval, I realized that she'd given me a gift far greater than the encouragement I'd received the rest of my life. I realized that, though I loved the sounds of words wrapped around one another in an intriguing labyrinth, I was making it close to impossible for anyone to decipher any real meaning in those words. Particularly if I were to be taken seriously as a writer in academia, I had to realize that my ideas had to take precedence over the way in which I wanted to present them. This epiphany was incredibly hard won for me, and it would be disrespectful to myself to disallow that epiphany from enlightening my creative writing as well. In his essay, "What I Stole From the Movies" (from The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing, first edition), Les Standiford discusses the value of a scene when writing a screenplay for a film. He imagines a film with a production cost of $30 million in which one short scene is approximately 1% of the total film. That short scene, maybe a minute long, must be worth some $300 thousand to justify its existence. He argues that a novel should be approached as a series of interconnected scenes that inevitably tug the reader through the events necessary to construct the major point of the novel. Each of these scenes then, must essentially justify its value in the grand scheme of things. Additionally, each scene must be kept as bare as possible to ensure maximum impact. Of the essays in this book that I've encountered thus far, I fear this one may be the hardest to apply to my own writing. Standiford suggests that, to ensure a scene is worth its placement within a work, a writer should "get into a scene as late as possible and get out as quickly as you can." And herein lies my difficulty, or perhaps more appropriately, my string of difficulties. I've naturally tried to structure most of my longer works as series of scenes. I outline important occurrences and revelations ad nauseam, and then tackle each item on the outline as its own scene. And here's where I see the first signs of real trouble. I begin any given scene as I imagine many writers do. I have some ultimate goal in mind, which is ultimately to further the main plot or one of its subplots. The protagonist finds some vital clue towards solving a problem, or perhaps discovers something new about her potential paramour. And no matter how stripped down that ultimate goal is, I inevitably find myself in the trap of giving too much detail. I start by saying, "How do I get from point A at the beginning of the scene to point B at the end of the scene?" I outline the minimum number of interactions which must happen for the story to take place, and I think "Okay, this is how we'll get in and get out." I have a plan, and I'm ready to go! And then the worry sets in. What details does the reader need to know? What details do I have in my head that I'm sure are absolutely vital to furthering the story? What sorts of background actions demonstrate my characters' personalities as they act, react, and interact. And oh, wouldn't that be so awesome if I showed her nervousness by making her ramble on and on about something completely unrelated? And the next thing I know, my scene blows up from a simple 500 word "in and out" and turns into a 2500 word monster that I can't bear to mutilate by removing anything. That's where the wonderful reviewers at WDC need to come in. I need to know, as people read my works, what helps, what hinders, and what is unnecessary. Sometimes I'm just too close to everything to see it for myself. So, here's another valuable lesson for me going forward: treat each scene as if it's going to cost me $300 thousand, and perhaps I'll better learn how to trim the fat. |
First and foremost, my apologies to myself and to everyone who may choose to read my blog regularly. I can't believe I've gone nearly three weeks without an update! I try to hold myself to this standard of "quality over quantity" when it comes to everything, reviews, blogging, posted works, etc., so I felt like I couldn't devote the time I wanted to devote to this entry to make it the best that I could. I still don't feel like I've given it enough time, and it's far shorter than I would otherwise like, but I suppose if I'm ever going to move on from it I need to at least lay it on the table.        In her essay, "The Plot Thickens" (from the first edition of The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing), Monica Wood distinguishes between a fictional situation and a complication. The former she associates with a setup, that is, the backdrop against which the real complication can come to unfold. She writes: A complication must either illuminate, thwart, or alter what the character wants. A good complication puts emotional pressure on a character, prompting that character not only to act, but to act with purpose. If the circumstance does none of these things, then it's not a complication at all--it's a situation. So, I've been wondering how this distinction might play out in my own novel in progress, and I'm discovering that my protagonist actually has a number of situations and complications that are all intertwined with one another. Frankly, I am having some difficulty distinguishing one from another. The entire novel is set upon the backdrop of her partner's death, which lends itself easily to a set of situations in which she might unexpectedly find herself. But which of these offers true complications? Where is Wood's "point of departure" in my novel? I'm not sure, to be perfectly honest. Once again, I must return to the inherent wishes of my character. What is it that she desires, that she wants in the deepest of her psyche? The truth is she hasn't had much of a chance to explore it. She's found herself shuffled from under the shelter of one person to another her whole life: first her grandmother, then her best friend, then her partner, but she's never been forced to live life completely on her own. The more I think about it, actually, the more ironic I find it, as she has always felt completely alone, even as she has subconsciously striven to build very intimate relationships with those around her. I find myself returning to my previous thoughts regarding my need to refocus on my characters, and I find it odd that I feel like I know this character inside and out, yet can't say exactly what it is she wants. Partially, I think that reluctance comes from her own character. Regardless of what she wants, she believes in her deepest of hearts that she can't have it, that "people like her" don't succeed. So, in a way, part of what she most wants is to discover what she wants. The biggest detractor from that discovery, unfortunately, is herself, that she's afraid to even contemplate what her life might be like for fear she will fail and become broken in the attempt. With that particular aspect of her character in mind, my next question is how I can best portray that struggle, that desire to figure out "exactly what she wants to do next," whilst in the midst of the drama that surrounds her. As I begin re-outlining the novel (one of my goals for the past few weeks), I want to keep these things in the forefront of my mind. For me, it isn't enough just to tell an interesting story--though I certainly hope I can do that as well!--it's about showing off the character that I've fallen in love with, regardless of all her faults, and also to watch her grow into the person she could be if she just opens her eyes and allows it to happen. |
Well, here I am. I have recently finished the first completed draft of my novel, "Invalid Item"  . The big question: Now what?As I wrote about in my previous entry, "Invalid Entry" , I am making a valiant attempt not to give up on this particular novel until it is as close to an enjoyable piece of fiction as I can make it. Unfortunately, this means months--maybe even years--of work are ahead of me, and without a specific plan I know I'll find the project nearly impossible to ever complete. So, for the time being, I present the first stage of my plan (quoted from my previous entry):A while back, I was perusing the "Reference" section at HPB and came upon a copy of The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing (first edition, copyright 2002 by Writer's Digest Books ). The book is full of interviews and articles by some of the most respected authors in the genre, so I obviously had to have a copy. A few nights ago, as I was looking for inspiration, I began flipping through the introductory sections, and realized that perhaps this is what I need to keep my inspiration going. As I read the words on the page, I began to consider my own novel and wondered how I might apply some of the lessons to make my own writing better. I felt refreshed and excited for my project again for the first time since the last week of July had set in.My plan is thus: over the next several months, I intend to read a chapter a week--maybe every two or three depending on the chapter--and use it as inspiration for both a blog post and for further edits on my project. A year from now, who knows where I might be as far as edits and revisions on this potential novel? As I work through the pages of the text gradually, I hope that I can make my own story come more alive, and maybe even eventually feel confident enough in it to begin soliciting opinions from my readers and groupmates here on WDC. So, without further ado, my take on "Chapter 1: The Philosophy of Plot" by James N. Frey. Frey provides a good summary of what seems to be one of the biggest arguments among fiction writers today: What makes a good work of fiction? A well-designed plot? Or well-designed characters? Frey argues that inevitably, a good work of fiction must by its very nature have a bit of both. His eventual conclusion, however, is that well-designed characters, particularly if they are intentionally designed as somehow oppositional to one another, will force an author into an interesting plot. When I first began plotting for my novel for Camp NaNoWriMo, my largest concern was plot. To be frankly honest, I didn't think I had it in me to create any cohesive sort of story, at least not on the scale of a 50,000-word--or even larger--work. I felt like I lacked the ability to create a tightly woven set of events that led directly from exposition to resolution. In some ways, I still doubt my ability in that area. So, during my plotting, I spent the largest portion of my time and anxiety on attempting to craft a somewhat defined plot. To me, this equated to a list of very specific events, all designed, so I thought, to bring me to the end conclusion I wanted to reach. According to my own experience, and to James N. Frey, I seem to have been going about my plotting completely backwards. As I got closer and closer to the climax of my draft, I found it more and more difficult to get my characters to do exactly what it was I wanted them to do. It wasn't even so much that what I wanted them to do was out-of-character, necessarily, but that they had better ideas. So I wonder which of two possible problems I have stumbled upon: did my characters simply want to do what I would have wanted to do rather than what they wanted to do? Or, did I neglect the requisite character development from the outset? At this point, I think my problem lies somewhere between the two extremes. I had sketched out my characters in some detail, but I think I had not truly contemplated how their opposing goals would put them in conflict with one another, nor how those conflicts would be incorporated in the storyline. After all, if the heart of plot is conflict, then how could I have possibly created an effective plot line without consideration of those conflicts! So, how shall I apply these new insights to my current revision? I hesitate to rewrite any sections until I have a better idea of the overall arch of the various elements of my plot. I hesitate to better design my plot until I've come to know my characters better. So, as I am reading my current draft for further ideas, I am planning on doing some extensive soul-searching regarding my characters. I even believe that come November, I will make my NaNoWriMo project a series of short-stories based on my characters rather than another cohesive novel. I think that this particular exercise might help me better understand their motivations and personalities, and will contribute to my next re-write.During this process I have felt, in many ways, like a ship without a rudder. Here's hoping further reading and reviewing of my own processes will give me at least a better grip on the ship's wheel. Amalie ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
 Success ! I will admit, when I clicked "Validate" on the Camp NaNoWriMo website last night as I updated the completed results of my July 2013 project, I was filled with a sort of calm joy. My untitled project, officially at 66,883 words by the site's validator, came as a result of thirty days of unrelenting tenacity. Though some days were certainly more productive than others, I followed through with my desire to hit at least 750 words each day--without exception--with a more ambitious overall goal of 2,000 per day. The way I look at it, I deserve elation. I deserve smugness. I deserve my own congratulations.But then I look at the 300+ document manuscript sitting on my laptop and wonder, "Will this ever be publishable?" Perhaps even more appropriately: "Will I ever think this is good enough?" At the moment, I'm downright embarrassed with my final product of the month. Certainly, I see a glimmer or two of potential within it, in its characters, its premise, perhaps even the overall story structure, but as a manuscript it's downright hideous. Herein lies both the joy and the curse of NaNoWriMo: Congratulations! You've finished a novel! Now what? Of those NaNoWriMists who make it to the end of a project, I wonder how many continue to work at transforming the project into a publishable manuscript. For many, the point of the project is simply to reach the end and say, "Yes, I poured my time and effort and creativity into this long piece of writing, and it was AWESOME!" I will admit, this was my ultimate goal with my first--and only other--NaNoWriMo Win back in November 2008. I was absolutely elated at what I had accomplished. I'd said for years I wanted to write a book, and lo and behold, I had done it!But then there are those like me, those who come to the end of their project full of joy, only to fall to the post-NaNo blues, the time when you stop to think, "So, what did I ultimately accomplish with this project?" And you realize just how far you have to go, how much time and love and energy and editing goes into producing a publishable manuscript. Though I toyed with the idea of doing a full revision of my project back in 2008, by January of 2009 I'd all but chalked that project up to a vain ambition and an interesting experience which I might, just might, decide to tackle again, but which produced no real tangible reward. As a self-identified Slytherin, I will admit that realization was a little bit depressing.This time, ladies and gentleman, I have a game plan. Sort of. In 2008 I had only days to prepare for November, and my plotting was harried and rushed. This year it feels like I've been spending months storyboarding, plotting, doing character sketches, etc., long before July ever arrived. I've fallen in love with some of my characters, come to be mystified by others, and more than anything come to want to know them better and to share them with others. For the sake of my characters--and my conscience--I refuse to give them up for dead. If I don't bring them to life, I can't expect anyone else to do it for me. One of my favorite bookstore chains is Half Price Books . I can spend hours wandering the shelves, perusing for good deals on new and used books. I hardly ever walk out of its doors empty-handed, and it is the one and only store for which I will get out to face the crowds on the U.S. "Black Friday." You just never know what you are going to find. A while back, I was perusing the "Reference" section at HPB and came upon a copy of The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing (first edition, copyright 2002 by Writer's Digest Books ). The book is full of interviews and articles by some of the most respected authors in the genre, so I had to have a copy. A few nights ago, as I was looking for inspiration, I began flipping through the introductory sections, and realized that perhaps this is what I need to keep my inspiration going. As I read the words on the page, I began to consider my own novel and wondered how I might apply some of the lessons to make my own writing better. I felt refreshed and excited for my project again for the first time since the last week of July had set in.My plan is thus: over the next several months, I intend to read a chapter a week--maybe every two or three depending on the chapter--and use it as inspiration for both a blog post and for further edits on my project. A year from now, who knows where I might be as far as edits and revisions on this potential novel? As I work through its pages gradually, I hope that I can make the story come more alive, and maybe even eventually feel confident enough in it to begin soliciting opinions from my readers and groupmates here on WDC. Above all, my goal is to tell the post-NaNo blues to shove off. As I have often been told by those who know me, I am as stubborn as...well, as stubborn as a word that a lady most likely shouldn't say. Let's hope they are right. To all my fellow Camp NaNoWriMo authors out there, keep at it! And remember that determination got you this far. Here's my hope that it continues to take you as far as you wish to go. Amalie ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
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I definitely consider my dog a member of my family. We got her when she was 5 weeks old and now she's nearly 14 years. 
Pets are very special. 
