Welp.

Well, if you haven't guessed, I didn't quite finish Nano this year. In fact, I threw in the towel about the fifteenth. There are a lot of reasons why, but the least was the busyness of school. While definitely a contributing factor, there were other, more serious problems with my story.

As evidenced in previous posts, I lost my sense of direction on The Imaginarium/Fair too Far/The Farthest Mile fairly early on, and it was only after fifteen days of wrestling with a story that was fighting tooth and nail to go a different direction that I realized my mistake.

See, the story I had set out to write was far different from the one I found myself writing, and while that can often be a good thing, in this case it left me hogtied, trying to finagle characters and settings into a plot that wasn't theirs.

In addition, by the fifteenth, even though I was a good deal behind on my word count, the story was gearing toward the final act. Which meant that the story would be a great deal shorter than 50,000. That was the final piece of a rather complex puzzle of problems that contributed to my decision to stop and try again later.

Because that's what I plan to do. And though planning and writing have not always seen eye to eye in my mind, there are two full-fledged stories floating around in my brain right, just waiting for me to sit down and write them. One of them is The Farthest Mile, the final iteration of the story I settled on.

Mashing together themes from the parable of the prodigal son and awesome setting of steampunk, coupled with some good old-fashioned story tropes turned on their head will make a wonderful story, once I can separate it from The Imaginarium in my head.

So we shall see. I've been writing a bit since, in tiny spurts and leaps, and plan to continue doing so for some time, perhaps even setting a much smaller goal for myself every other day or so. And since that is the case, the blog shall remain open for a bit longer, though I highly doubt regular posts will become... regular again.

All said and done, I had a blast Nanoing this year, and thoroughly enjoyed diving back into writing. I'm already looking forward to next year!

On Existential Crises and Ninjas

So after the good start on day one, day two found me suffering from an existential crisis.

I had no idea where my story was going to go. Which is bad. Because I thought I knew that already.

It turns out, the plot I had outlined prior to November 1st didn't have enough forward impetus to be properly labeled a plot. It had character development by the buckets, danger and mystery by the tons, but nothing to dictate what happened next, no forward catalyzation.

Which evidently isn't a word.

Anyways, that was the main problem, but there was a second problem hiding behind it. And that was a lack of setting. I had characters, but nowhere particular for them to inhabit. Which quickly caused the story, already lagging from a lack of forward motion, to stagnate in a undecided place somewhere between Transylvania and the southern half of Virginia.

I.e. nowhere particular.

So all this is running through my head on day two and into day three. The setting was a relatively fix, and helped me push through the existential crisis of wether or not I should even continue Nano.

And then, late on day four, I remembered the old Nano adage: "If your story stalls, add ninjas!" Or something similar. While ninjas aren't exactly suitable to my story, it definitely started me thinking on what I could inject in the plot to completely create a new story. I realized that the plot I had was very thematically similar to 2011's Nano novel, The Trust Hole. I.e. A young, innocent character enters a dark place, meets colorful characters with dark secrets, and turns the place around, learning in the process their place in the world.

So while by day four I was really warming to the characters and setting, I realized the plot had to go.

So I added ninjas.

Or more properly an armada of death-dealing dirigibles breaking out of a cloud-filled sky to the sounds of hundreds of gatling guns.

I'm pretty sure this is going in a far more interesting direction than previously. :)

On Arson

Now, some of the very astute readers here will notice that the name "Arson" has been used once before here on the blog. Back in March of this year (so long ago!) I waxed lyrical about a plot bunny that momentarily distracted me from my other current literary projects.

That trail went nowhere particular in the end, I wrote about another half page before the trail dead-ended. The reason was very clear, I had no plot. I had two very distinct characters, without a true trail for them to follow. So they were forgotten.

But I very much liked the name, and so I resurrected it from the grave of unfinished tales, dusted it off and set it back to work. And while female protagonist's name stayed buried, the character itself soon found its way into my pre-Nano scribblings and plot prep.

So, in a way the story is finding new life. I took characters with no plot and placed them in a plot that had no characters, and hopefully I shall find a happy marriage between the two before the end of November!

Writing on,
Farjag

Off To A Good Start

Well, today went well. Not only was I able to turn in my architectural homework on time, but I also happened to finish off my first 1,700 words just now. Which means I have time tonight to relax and write a blog post!

What's that? Getting ahead while I have time? Pssh!

We shall see. I enjoy stopping writing at particularly chewy points of the story, much like commercial breaks for a tv show. It gives me an impetus to finish the next part the next time I sit down to write, sort of like a self-propelling kick in the rear. All that to say I stopped at a particularly delicious point, more on the comedic than suspense side, but still very much a kicker. To illustrate my point:

Arson grumbled. “Your head’s a little big for your shoulders, Alice.”

“Exactly what will get me a job someday. Or today, for that matter. Tell you what, I’ll make you a deal. If I impress your boss, Mr. What’s-what’s-face with what I can do, I get to stay. If he won’t hire me, than I’ll be off back home and you can keep on your merry, solitary way.”

Arson frowned in thought before extending a hand to his sister. “Deal.”

A half hour later Arson found himself setting Alice up in a bunk next to the juggler twins. Apparently her sleight-of-hand magic had duly impressed Mr. Kash.

Mwuah-ha-ha!

Let the Games Begin!

NaNoWriMo has officially entered pre-production! That is to say, I logged into my account... and set up my novel. :D

But that did require some thought, as I had to synthesize all the dozens of different ideas bouncing around inside my mind into a single, semi-coherent train of thought that could be further synthesized into a synopsis.

In addition there was that pesky thing called a title... my novel had been going by the unassuming name: NaNoWriMo Novel. That was going to fly any further, so additional thought was necessary on that front.

And to complete the trifecta of unknowns, I had not named any of my characters yet. They had been simply going by Protagonist and the Sister. So that had to change too.

So after much soul-searching and brain-wracking, I worked the bits and pieces of a story in single whole, filled in the missing pieces and came out the other side with something resembling the skeleton of a novel. It definitely isn't much, but it's enough to go on.

The Imaginarium

When Arson Folkert ran away to join M. Kardanian's Traveling Imaginarium, he didn't realize he would never see his parents again. Now his younger sister Alice, an orphan with nowhere to go, comes looking for him, but Arson has no intention of leaving. And the Imaginarium hides a dark secret; the small troupe who run it are far more than they seem. The deadly road that Arson has started on will take both him and Alice into the darkest places of their soul, and it will take a strength they don't have to escape.