Flip flop

So I switched stories; I found myself at a bit of a wall on Spirit of the Hunt (the handwritten one) so I switched over to the sequel. It's a bit liberating to be able to just change stories when I get stuck, rather than being wedded to one and forced to keep writing on it.

I think that Spirit is stuck because I was writing past the ending; it was stuff I needed to write, I think, since it was important character development, but I don't know that it will end up being in the final piece.

It's fun to go back to the sequel; I love those characters so much. It has a bit of the feel of a YA novel, and I wonder if that's how I might market it. It might be a better first attempt than Spirit would! Who knows.

Gotta finish one before I can start thinking about what order I want to try and publish them in!

When it rains, it pours

For the past week, I've been in a writing frenzy. I've picked up Pride of the Hunt, which I abandoned about halfway through NaNo last year, and even wrote several thousand words on Mortuus Rex; I haven't stayed up until 1 AM writing in months.

There's a change in the air; quite literally. I can feel fall coming, and with it comes my muse. I've programmed myself, over the last 9 years of doing NaNoWriMo, to feel writerly in the fall.

The forums get to buzzing, and now it's translated into writing motivation.

I've still got more to write on my handwritten novel. I need to focus on it, because my aim is to have it finished before November, but my other two stories (this is the prequel to Pride of the hunt, and is untitled) keep calling me.

Mortuus Rex has taken a turn for the darkly erotic; this isn't really like me, but it's been therapeutic. I'll probably plan on editing it harshly and toning a lot of the violence down. It's a damn good story, and I don't want it pigeonholed as erotica; that's not the point of the story. It IS a dark story (death and vengeance abound) but I don't want to get it lost in all the sex. Although the sex is awfully fun to write. ;)

Overall, though, I'm happy. My brain's buzzing with ideas, and this bodes well for 2010. Bring it, NaNo!

NaNoWriMo 2009: First day's progress: slow but steady

I didn't get as much of a boost as I was hoping for, this go round, but I've set a comfortable pace that I think I can actually maintain.

Last night's trauma left me with a pitiful start: 200 words by the time I went to bed. In all fairness, it was the Lortab that left me drowsy and unable to focus, that combined with general exhaustion from a long day and pain from the sprained ankle.

Today has been a frustrating day dealing with malfunctioning forums, although I have been incredibly impressed by their performance thus far. Failures to load aside, they're staying up and reasonably zippy, given that this is our highest traffic day, and in years past, this always meant CRASHING or completely unusable.

I wrote in drips and drabs, starting and stopping my writing timer so I could keep track of how much actual time I wrote. Most of it happened after 9, when the girls went to bed. Final results?

60 minutes of writing, 3,737 words total. I need 3,334 per day to reach my ultimate goal of at least 100k. My full goal: 100k or a complete novel. Preferably at least the former, combined WITH the latter. I'd really like a complete novel, more than a particular word count, so if I hit 90k and it's done, I'll be happy.

i'm starting the story slowly, with the interactions between my two MC. They're twins (don't groan, please). One is albino... but she suffers from the same maladies real world albinos do. She's damn near blind, and has to wear a cloak any time she's outside, or she'll get a severe sunburn. This is a fantasy, so she's learning to use magic to compensate, but it's imperfect, and she's definitely a bit handicapped.

Her brother is the protective sort, very outgoing and physical, she's introverted and academic.

I've also introduce the other MC, the third member of their Hunter's Triad. This thing really has a bit of a YA feel this first chapter, even though they're 22, because they haven't yet become Journeymen, and are still students. That's definitely not the focus I'm going for, though. They'll be out in the world and their age and student status will be left behind.

I'm trying to decide if I want three POVs or not... there will be at least two, Sara and Larath, but I'm trying to decide if I want to pull L'varen in. I guess it'll depend on how strongly he comes through for me. Right now, he's a bit more clownish than I intended. He'll get more serious, I hope.

Things are flowing smoothly, a good sign. I was already having trouble finding my characters last year at this point. They're coming through, and already feeling real.

A bit about them: They are both 22, and living under the shadow of very famous, skilled parents. Part of the point of this story is going to be them finding their own identity, outside of a famous family, and making a name for themselves. Sara is not as concerned with this as Larath; she's content with her books and her magic. He is more ambitious, and is determined to be a greater Hunter than his father, who is one of the best. i'm trying to design them to be not polar opposites, but complementary. They're close. I'm going to introduce more friction as the story continues, because I want their growing independence from each other and their parents to be a strong focus until the middle of the story, when it's going to become more about them dealing with the consequences of their family's past... through no fault of their own.

So, tell me about your stories. If you're doing NaNo this year, what is your novel about? What genre? How has your first day gone? I'd love to hear from you.