Monday 4 June 2012

Insecurities

So, four days into NaNoWriMo, and I'm already behind some of the campers in my cabin. I mean, how the hell has one of them written 6,000 words, whilst still going to school?! I'm on holiday, and all I've written is 3,453 words. 

It's not fair how, that to get words written down, I've had to force the information out of my characters, by threatening to kill them. Seriously. Sky has had three death threats already, and all the information that she's given me is that she doesn't want to die.

How does that help me to get the words piling up? That's right, it doesn't. But, at least Gretcha's giving me information . . . too bad she's not in the scene that I'm stuck on writing. 

Grr...


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This could be you, Sky, if you don't tell me what you know.

 
In other, much more happy news, Maggie Stiefvater is coming to my school for a book signing and a presentation!!! And I'm allowed to go!
 
OK, well, I might be able to go, if my teachers let me. See, she is supposed to see the year below me, but I emailed the teacher who is organizing it to ask if I could go because she is my favourite author. And she said yes!
 
But, she has to ask my teachers if I can miss their lessons to see her. I think they'll say yes, though, since they like me.
 
I'm so excited! She's coming next Monday, and I can't wait. Monday, you better come quickly!

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7 comments:

  1. Hang in there, Jessica! The trick with getting so much written for NaNoWriMo is to just let go and write without censoring yourself. Don't worry about the possibility of messing up the story or writing lots of rubbish -- you can always fix it with rewrites in later drafts. My problem last November was that I didn't want to mess up my novel with poor dialogue, stilted descriptions and awkward prose, so I didn't let myself write freely. It was so, so difficult to get the words down. Now I'm rewriting the same novel for Camp, but this time I'm giving myself the freedom to throw words onto a page, regardless of how good they are, and I'm getting lots written as a result. And, strangely enough, the stuff that's going onto the page isn't that bad. Because I'm not self-editing my writing or second guessing myself, the characters' voices come through very strongly in the narrative, so I don't have to issue quite so many death threats as usual.

    The thing that really helps me is Write or Die. Have you come across it before? I have the desktop version, which is great for forcing me to write, write, write without being critical, simply because the programme'll start making awful noises at me if I stop to worry over what I've written. It's a fun way to write :D Anyway, good luck with your word count for June!

    (P.S. You get to meet your favourite author? You're so lucky! I think I'd be deliriously happy if I got to meet my favourite author and get a book signed by him!)

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    1. OMG, thanks so much for this comment!! It has really inspired me to write :) Write or Die... I have heard of it, but I haven't downloaded or used it. It sounds really good and useful, though. Maybe I'll get my parents to download it for me. Thank you, good luck to you, too!

      Yes, I do! I'm so, so excited!! Aw, I am! Haha :D You will meet your favourite author one day, I'm sure.

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  2. Make sure you sneak some pictures of Maggie. I'm so excited for you. The best I can hope is that she'll visit a rather largely populated city near me so I can get my books signed, because she'll never go to my hometown. And definitely not my school. Have fun!
    I love that facebook snapshot.;D Oh, dear Sam.
    Oh, here's a post that an author wrote about how she turned her daily average word count from 2K to 10K in the same amount of allotted time. It's very similar to the way I write anyway, so I haven't tried it yet. Besides, I haven't gotten to write this month enough to even think about giving it a test drive. But she's gotten very good responses and it seems plausible, so maybe it'll help you for NaNoWriMo.(: http://thisblogisaploy.blogspot.com/2011/06/how-i-went-from-writing-2000-words-day.html

    If you're having problems with your characters giving you information, I may be able to help you. What I like to do when my characters get flat (besides yell at them for an hour) is give them an empty piece of paper and do a stream of consciousness writing session through their eyes. Have you ever tried stream of consciousness writing? It's where you write every single thought that pops in your head, no guards and no limitations. It doesn't have to be complete sentences; it doesn't have to make sense. It's pretty fun. I do that when my characters are too quiet and I can usually get some pretty useful information out of it.(:

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    1. Elle, that article was amazing! I'm definitely going to try Rachel's method and see if I can reach the elusive 4k in a day, something I've never done before. I'm actually really buzzed after reading that. Look out, Camp NaNo word count -- I'm coming to get you!

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    2. Haha, I'll try. I'll see if I can sneak in my iPod and get a few photos, because the school won't let us bring cameras :/ Aww, you can always get your school to organise it. I've met two authors in the past year (Darren Shan and Michael Grant) all because of the school organising it all. Thank you!

      Haha, that facebook one is my favourite. It's so Cole and Isabel in the comments :D

      Thank you so much for the link to the article, Elle! It was so helpful, and I think I'm going to check out her 'How I Plot A Novel In 5 Steps' and 'Editing For People Who Hate Editing' posts too.

      Oooh, thanks for the advice! I'll definitely try that. I'm so excited to write now, actually :P

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  3. Also, have you ever checked out Maggie Stiefvater's blog posts with writing advice? They're pretty helpful. Just go to a post and scroll down until you see a button that says "How I Write" and click on it. Voila. (:

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