NaNo Arsenal at the Ready

I am as ready for NaNo as I am ever going to be. Well, there are things I could do, but then that will always be the case. So anyway....getting to the point....interested in finding out what's in my arsenal to kick NaNoWriMo butt?

1. Outline - My outline is finally complete. It's somewhere between a phase outline and a scene outline. I just came up with it based on all the various methods I had learned over time. It is fairly detailed, and I am hoping that because of it I will have far less plot holes than I usually do. If I find it effective then I will do a detailed post about the method after NaNo is finished.
2. Finn - you know Finn. :) Shiny new netbook. I expect I will be using that at home as well, so I won't have to keep transferring stuff between computers.
3. Liquid Story Binder & MS Word & Excel - Excel for word count spreadsheet. My outline is created in MS Word, and I will probably do some writing in it as well, and varify the word count. Liquid Story Binder is the new writing software I have downloaded. I prefer it over y-Writer, because to me y-Writer looks quite dated, where LSB has more modern, customizable appearance, and the screens and everything look more similar to MS Word. But what I like about it most is that you can have many windows open at the same time, and you can organise them as you like - overlaping, side by side etc. For small netbook screen, I find it gives me bigger screen than MS Word.
4. Coffee - *drool*
5. Coke - Just in case I need cold caffeine
6. Food - chocolates, crisps, brownies, and to compensate for all that junk one tiny pot of healthy seeds

AND Most Importantly...

7. A Great Deal of Enthusiasm

So what's in your NaNo Arsenal?

P.S. Three and a Half Hours To Go before NaNoWriMo starts

Kreative Blogger Award

Thanks very much to Matt at Pensive Sarcasm for this Kreative Blogger award. :) I do love blog awards. The Rules: 1. Copy the Kreativ Blogger picture and post it on your page. 2. Thank the person that gave the award to you and link back to their blog. 3. Write 7 things about you that we don't know. 4. Choose 7 other bloggers that you would like to give the award to. 5. Link to the bloggers that you chose. 6. Let your winners know that they have the lovely award!

7 Things You Don't Know About Me:

1. My favourite colour is Green
2. For outside coffee, Starbucks is my favourite
3. And since I talked about coffee, to go with it, I love Dunkin Donuts Chocolate Glazed Munchkins
4. I love old fashioned British accent. Not pinched-nose-royalty accent, but I suppose more standard accent that you hear on TV from more upscale newsreaders or documentary narrators, or Hugh Grant.
5. I LOVE STARGATE S.G 1 and ATLANTIS (okay, some you may know this, but not all)
6. I hate insects. All of them. I don't care if they exist out of my sight, but when they are in my space, or in my house, or in any indoor property that I happen to be in, I hate them.
7. Contrary to popular trend, I didn't want to be a writer when I was a kid. It never even occured to me as a child to consider being a writer as an occupation.

7 Bloggers that I would like to pass this award to

1. Jamie at Variety Pages - from posts on writing, her goals, and even samples of her writing, Jamie's blog makes an interesting and fun, and often thoughtful reading. I really enjoy it.
2. C R Ward at Random Thoughts - C R usually has regular topics on her blog, which include writing, detailed descriptions and good deal of thoughts on particular forms of poetry (often unusual ones that I have never heard of), as well as samples of her writing.
3. Lady Glamis at Innocent Flower - offers indepth post on all aspects of writing
4. Shonna at Routine for Writers - Interesting posts about how you can make sure writing is a regular part of your life
5. Todd Severin at My Writing Life - he offers more practical advice and shares his experience
6. Erica at Laugh Write Play - I have only been following her blog for a short time, but I do enjoy her entries
7. Three Amigos at The Literary Lab - If you haven't checked it out, do it now, and you will understand no explanation required.

NaNoWriMo Write-In

I learned from NaNo official website that my local area has a NaNo write-ins. Writers from Bristol and Bath meet in Bristol on Sunday afternoons and Thursday evenings during November. Thursday evenings are no-no for me, because travelling by public transport at night is something I totally avoid. But on Sundays I am thinking about going. From the description, I have to say that the whole thing sounds more social than writing, though quite a few people mentioned that they do manage to up their word count by encouraging each other. Since 1st of November is a Sunday, I have decided to go and check it out. While I would really love to meet local writers and see how I get along with them, spending Sundays socialising and just talking about writing, instead of writing, isn't what I want to do. If I want to push for finishing a first draft in November, I really cannot afford to waste weekends. Still, worth experimenting. When I thought of write-ins in my head, I always head this idea of people sitting around, mostly writing, occassionally chatting. I accept that to a lot of people this would sound incredibly boring. Someone might say that we might as well not bother getting together. But having been to one-day workshops where we have done just that, I have to say that I find that totally exciting and appealing. If I am sitting around writing by myself, I am prone to distractions. But if I am sitting around writing at the same time as other people, I don't get distracted. I am focused. I think it's the fact that everyone else is writing, you don't want to be the only one not doing it, or when they end up writing 5000 words, you don't want to be stuck at 500. Okay, I admit, I am competitive. Not insane in I-have-to-win kind of way, but more in a if-you-can-do-it-so-can-I kind of way. I will let you all know how my experience with Bristol write-in goes. But what about you guys? Especially the old NaNoers. Have you been to NaNo write-ins? How did you find it?

Post Writing Blues

Yes, I am over it. I am still slightly concerned, but I am plodding along. With this particular story, it's been a hell of a journey. First, I wrote a whole first draft with the same characters but DIFFERENT STORY. That was the heroine's story, and the hero had a sub-plot. By the time I finished that draft, I decided the hero had a far more interesting story to tell. So that's where this story was born. What changed? Everything except the characters, and the main idea of the sub plot. That's the funny part, and that's what gives me the confidence that this story is worth writing. Because the hero's beginning and his destination has remained unchanged throughout all this upheavel. The ways of getting to that destination have changed a lot, and in fact that's what I am still attempting to figure out. I think it's a matter of finding the right route. And speaking of changes, initially, my heroine had 4 brothers. Then there were 3. Now she has 1. This came as a result of writing blues, and I decided that because she is close to her family, her brothers were always around (large cast issue), and they are important enough that they won't be just pushed aside. They were therefore major supporting characters. I figured I had far too many major supporting characters for the scope of this book. This isn't an epic fantasy. This is just standard one-book fantasy. So it needs to limit its scope. It needs to focus on the hero's journey alone for the most part. And while I hadn't minded getting rid of several people, I didn't particular like getting rid of one of my favourite characters. The heroine's twin brother. He was a very cool character. But then I found a way to cheat ;) I got rid of him as a brother. But he will appear as a minor character. Granted, he will be quite different than what he was intended to be - quite evil instead of good - but it's not a stretch for his personality. In fact, I think he will be even more fun as an evil dude. I definitely don't have time to do a detailed outline for NaNoWriMo now, but I am just hoping to have a solid enough loose outline that I can feel comfortable with. I did a lot of work on the previous one, but at least at the end of it, I am glad I found out that it wasn't quite the right way before I wrote 80000 words and not after. (I am sick of that happening now) I think initially with this story - like everything I do - I was trying to achieve too much at the same time. That just doesn't work. But one thing at a time is a concept I have a hard time grasping. Still, this story is turning out to be a strict teacher. And now because of all the bloody hard work I have put into it, I am all the more determined to write it to a standard where I would enjoy reading it. And since I have quite high standards of readings, that's a good enough goal for me...for now.

Feeling the Writing Blues

Yesterday, while attempting to work on my outline for NaNo, trying to figure out questions that I don't know the answers to, I felt the outline was rubbish. The story just doesn't seem as powerful as it does in my head. Then the despondency that it's all shit, and it's never going to get better, and even if I spend all the time writing the draft from the rubbish outline, it will still be flat. I am sure you know how it goes ...when one negative thought starts, the whole lot of them follow close behind. I still think the plot isn't good enough, and while a part of me is worried that I would never complete a book that is good enough, a logical part of me notes that I write much better now than the very draft I wrote many years ago. There is an improvement. It's just damned slow. Still hoping that I can make the plot good enough so that it won't ruin my excitement about writing the book for NaNo. I just wish I had picked a better time to get all frantic. Not long left now to change stuff, but let's see how it goes.

My Partner in Crime - Meet Finn

What were you expecting? My writing buddy? Well, in a manner of speaking that's who Finn is. Remember the post about netbooks? I couldn't wait. I had to have one. And so after research and reading your comments, I had three final choices: 1. Acer Aspire One 2. Samsung N140 (Thanks to Jamie) 3. Asus eee pc 1005H Both Samsung and Asus had far better battery life than Acer, and I didn't like the look of Acer as much as the other two, so I decided against Acer. Samsung N140 and Asus were pretty much in tie. Their specs were fairly similar, especially for my need. The final decision at the end was based on the fact that for pretty much the same thing, Samsung was £70 more expensive. So I went with Asus. It arrived yesterday, and because I feel so attached to it, I named it: Finn. Ok, it is weird to name a computer. I accept it. But hey, if you guys couldn't handle weirdness, you wouldn't be writers :P I have never named a computer before, but Finn is different. Glossy black, totally gorgeous, light as a book, and very handy. I started using it in the bus today, and it was incredibly easy to just keep it on my legs and carry on typing, despite all the potholes and mad drivers. I got rid of quite a few things it came with like MS Office Trial. The only thing I have installed are MS Office 2003 (which I already have) and Liquid Story Binder (A post about this later). Also, as mentioned in the earlier post, I have NOT activated Internet. I think that's wise decision. Otherwise there will be far less writing and much more surfing. Now, I am certain that I will win NaNo, because I can't resist using that little thing. And since I don't have a lot of distractions there (except for solitair and all those other basic games computers come with) I don't have much to do except write. Keyboard is very comfortable, and I really like the flat, mac type keys, as oppose to normal 3D keys. The screen, though small, isn't much of an issue with writing. In fact, for use in public places like buses, it is quite handy because it's more private. Ok, a good writer shouldn't depend on gadgets, but hey, if you got one, might as well enjoy it. :D So here are the pictures, all complete with my lovely wallpaper...

Dealing With A Large Cast

One of the things I have always found challenging is dealing with a large cast of characters. Unfortunately, all my books tend to have a large cast of characters. Even after eliminating several, there are still plenty of people. They are not necessary. Each one is supposed to add something important to the story. Each one is supposed to contribute to the growth of major character(s). The key words here are: supposed to. When I think of the plot, I have some clear scenes in mind where these characters are important. Those are the scenes that go in the outline. The difficulty then is to tie these characters all around the story, and not just have them disappear after the first scene. I always get confused about where to set the scene? If there are several characters, and if they are just sitting around, talking, that would drag the story. And yet, what kind of action scenes can I possibly create with these characters? The importance of these characters often comes from the things they say to the main characters, or the things they do to the main characters, and this is more often emotional rather than physical. So all the more difficult to show with action scenes. Having too many people in one scene is a common problem for me. Unfortunately, I am still figuring out how to fix it, and how to handle a large cast of characters without turning the scene into a circus or a set of a soap opera. How about your cast of characters? Are they small, medium, big? How do you deal with LCS (large cast syndrome)?