Let's Play A Game

I have this sudden urge to reorganise my books, or maybe it's just an excuse to sit between piles of books. Whatever. I am doing it. The picture is taken just now, of books resting on my living room carpet.

So then I thought of something we can share...

Ok here is the deal ...assuming you are near your book shelves (if not, walk in the vicinity of it), close your eyes. Now, pick out five books at random and tell us in the comments sections what they are. If you have the time/inclination then tell us something about those books. How much or how little is entirely your choice, otherwise just leave their names and authors. Let's share a little of our literary tastes.



I will start:

1. Jo's Boys - Louisa May Alcott
   I love this book, though I do prefer Little Women and Little Men more. In terms of classics, I think Alcott is bit like Jane Austen in that their language and their stories are accessibly and applicable to us today as they were in her days. Besides, I simply love Jo March.
   
2. Foundation - Isaac Asimov
   I enjoy reading this, though I wouldn't say I love them as a lot of people seem to. Foundation series is an interesting read, and something I wouldn't mind re-reading, but I am not a die hard fan.
   
3. The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy
   This is literature at its best. Roy's poetic languages makes this one of my favourites in regards to the skill with words. The story is gripping too, but it is the language that captured me.
   
4. The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
   I only read this book a short time ago, and totally love it. The concept of the story is great, and raised a lot of questions in my mind regards to the control Henry has over his life, due to his time travelling, though he doesn't really know it. The language is simple and easy to read.
   
5. Ship of Destiny - Robin Hobb
   I haven't read this yet. This live-ship series is one of the over 100 books I have got waiting at home to be read. But I loved Hobb's Farseer Trilogy, so I have great hopes for this.
   

How Sexy Are You?

No, I don't mean you personally. Sex in books is nothing unusual these days. Whether it's subtly hinted or explicitly drawn, sex sells stories too. It has done for centuries. However, putting that aside, sex - if used well - can also elevate the story by portraying a side of human nature.

In quite a few of my favourite books, sex is included. I don't mind. Sometimes, it's good and I read it, and sometimes it resembles tons of romance clichés and I skip over it.

In my own stories, there is always romance to a certain degree, and in some stories sex wouldn't be unsuitable. I even had ideas for a few erotica novels, but after attempting to write sex scenes, I have almost come to the conclusion that it is not my thing. That is not to say that my scenes are prudish or don't contain any sexual stuff, because they do. It's just that total, explicit, full sex scenes might not be my thing. They always come out sound ridiculous.

I have definitely decided against erotica. That's just not my thing. Of course considering that I don't particularly like to read erotica should have been a hint there. But oh well! Anyway, so back to occassional sex scenes in other genres - like fantasy or mainstream in my case. At this point I have decided that I will continue to write them, but not necessarily describing every single detail of the act. That is working better, instead of forcing myself to write sex scenes. Though I would like to improve my skills for these scenes, no doubt about that.

What about you? Do you have sex in your stories? How comfortable are you with them?

A Smile and A Moan To Share

First the moan...

I lost 963 words, and from the bloody scene that I had hard time writing yesterday in the first place. It was an incredibly stupid mistake of backing up the old version, instead of the new one. So now, I have to re-write that damned thing, and as it is I wasn't feeling fantastically motivated today anyway, so today's word count will be even less. *SIGH* That will teach me to be more careful when transferring files from here to there.

Last few points of the outline have been difficult. Maybe it's because it's more muddly middle, I don't know. I am hoping that it will get better. It's really a pain when you have to force every bloody word out of your brain.

Okay, so that's the end of a moan!!


Now the smiley bit...

My entry won for moleskine art. You can see it here. And as a prize, I got to pick a fabulous moleskine sketchbook, which I received today. And if you do check out the entry, read the letters in the skirt from left to right in rows and see if you can see the phrase.

Sighing, Nodding & Clichés

Now, 60K+ into my first draft, I am more and more aware of the repetitive phrases and clichés and just general rubbishness of using the same words and gesture over and over again. For example, my people nod a lot, sigh a lot. They also glare a lot, and narrow their eyes a lot.

As I write more, when these words come up, I am aware of them but I still write them and carry on because I know that if I stop to think of a better way to write that sentence, I will start editing as I write, and that would then hinder the writing.

The frustrating part is that I am aware of that, and I know I have all that to fix when I do begin the edit. On the other hand, the fact that I notice these things now, is a good thing because at least it means that I am spotting some of the things that need improving.

Another thing distinctly missing in my first draft is description. I have known this for a while now that I am a dialogue heavy writer. Dialogue comes much easier to me than description, so much so that often my first draft lack majority of description. This time, it's no different. There are very few scenes where I have taken the time to describe the surroundings etc. So that is something that will need to be added with the edit. There is a reason why I am not worrying about it now.

I feel that first draft should come from instinct. So as I write, I just get on with what comes naturally to me. If I happen to think of description, I put it in, but if I move the scene ahead without describing things, then I let it be. Because I feel that thinking about that would be another thing that would slow the writing down and also make me worry about what I should put in, how much, how to describe it etc. So if it's needed, it can be added later.

So far I have got my outline method sussed, but editing method is still something I need to work on. Haven't found my perfect match yet. I am hoping that this first draft will be in far better condition than any of my previous first drafts, which hopefully in turn should make finding an editing method a less frustrating experience.

How do you feel about your first drafts? Are you notices holes and faults? Or do you think you are sailing on high seas?

NaNoWriMo WIN

Just a quick post - reached 50012 just before 5 pm today. So that's official win for my first NaNoWriMo.

Now, to plod on with the rest of the book and win my own challenge.

One more day before getting to 50K & Word Count Motivation

Ok just a little post to blow my own trumpet - tomorrow I shall reach 50K.

Today I did lowest ever word count in my NaNoWriMo project - 2105. But because I went out for a meal after work, I knew I wouldn't spend much time writing afterwards. So I had to move my goal to finish 50K from today to tomorrow.

Current word count is 47170
So I need to do just 2830 to win the official NaNo

But of course that's not where this will end, so I have got quite a way to go before finishing the challenge I want to win - between 85K to 90K

Speaking of word count, I am kind of obsessed with them. Not just to post them, but also for myself, with my excel spreadsheet, because it really does help me in writing that little bit more. In fact, when I switch Finn on, and click the shortcut to my NaNo Folder, the first file I usually open is my WordCount spreadsheet, and then I leave it open. Then I open the points I am supposed to work on, and sometimes either the previous one or the next couple of ones to make sure where the story is coming from or going to.

If I am having a particularly easy scene, then I just type and don't worry about the word count till I am done. But if I am kind of pushing myself (which is more often the case, especially when I am knackered), then I keep updating my WordCount spreadsheet after few paragraphs, so I can see the number going up, and that helps me write a little bit more.

Same logic applies to updating wordcount progress bars on my blog or on AW signature or on NANO website. I look at the bar going up, and I can see how far I have come.

What about you? Do wordcount motivate you, or do you hate the sight of spreadsheets or handwritten calculation or whatever?

NaNoWriMo and 87 Points of Outline

For weeks I have spoken about my NaNoWriMo outline, and how it has helped me. Today, having some leisure time this evening, I shall explain a little more about it, and why it has been helpful in not only shooting forward with the word count, but also with continuing momentum.

First let me explain that altogether this outline took me two weeks, but I had been planning the story and knew my characters months before that, so it certainly wasn't a quick job. For this particular novel, it's been a roundabout journey because I was still developing methods that work for me; I had tried many different things and I had changed the story several times. But with going around in circle with this story line, I found a method that will make future stories much easier - hopefully. This may or may not work for you, but hopefully it might inspire you to create your own method.

So this outline:

• It's fairly detailed. About 12000 words total, but taking out all the repeated titles, headings etc. still about 8K to 9K. So pretty long. The important thing is that it is an outline of EVENTS.

• Basically, I have listed in bullet point 87 things that happen from beginning to end. 87 wasn't a selected number, but that's where the story ended. Under each heading, I have described what that bullet point is supposed to be about. Some points are more detailed than others, depending on how much I knew when I was writing the outline. It's not necessarily a scene by scene outline, because sometimes a scene carries on from one point to the next. It's simply what happens.

• I was hoping that each of the 87 point would be approximately 1000 words, giving me about 87K of the first draft. I never expected it to be exactly that, as currently I am on 43rd point, and my word count is just over 40K. Some points have been as low as 200 words, and one or two have been as long as 2500. That's something that I learn as I write the draft, and end it where it needs to end. So eventually I will end up with the first draft that is between 80K to 90K, and that's my goal.

• Personally for me, I think I have found the exact balance that I need between having enough detail so as not to worry about what happens next, and not enough detail so it doesn't suck the creativity out of writing. I have TOLD what should happen in the outline. I have not SHOWN how it could happen. That happens in the first draft. But not having to worry about what should happen next has made the writing process much much easier.

• All the plot fixing has been done in the outline. I revised this outline about three times, with significant changes. As I wrote it, I found plot lines that didn't work or plot holes that weren't filled. I fixed it before I started writing the first draft. This has been one of my biggest problems with my first drafts, because it totally puts me off editing, and makes me feel like whole thing is unfixable. But with most of the plot holes fixed at the outline stage, the first draft is fairly consistent. I know there will be things that need fixing, but at least the most obvious ones are out of the way. I am hoping that it will make editing less of a nightmare.

• It has divided writing in small sections. So this morning when I took Finn out of my bag, I didn't have to face the whole novel, just point 42. Simple. It should also make it easier when editing, because there will be a small section to handle at a time, as oppose to the whole book.

So that's my outline. Like I said, I have tried different things and different types of outline, but this is the first that has been useful and I have enjoyed using it, so I intend to stick to it for future books.

And why am I having a leisurely evening you may ask - that's because I have already reached today's target. I wanted to reach 40K today, but I am currently at 40514 words. I will still write a bit tonight, but I am not in hurry to finish a certain word count, so tonight, bit more writing and also more reading.

Have you learned anything new about your writing method or preferences from this year's NaNoWriMo experience?