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!
Showing posts with label Nanowrimo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nanowrimo. Show all posts
December 6, 2013
November 8, 2013
A Change of Pace
With the transitions outlined in my last post, it became apparent that my novel needed both a change of title, as well as a slightly different direction to aim for. So, unless I find a more aptly suited name in the future, the title is now Fair too Far. We'll see how long that sticks.
And as for the change in direction, perhaps a change of theme would be a more accurate description. I try to let everything I write have a purpose. I.e. I try not to write something simply for the heck of it, or simply because its awesome or hilarious. I write because there's a story that needs telling, and hopefully a truth that can be investigated or made clear.
One of my ultimate goals in writing is to create a vacuum of space where I can make a darkness so deep that when it cracks, the light shines through with stunning brilliance. That's why I love writing, because I can create awful scenarios, horrendously dark moments, and put my characters through more than they rightly deserve, so that the reader sees the truth with the same clarity that my characters do.
Sometimes that truth is simple. Or straightforward. Other times it is not. Sometimes it is very clear before I begin writing what the end goal will be. Other times it is not. This time is one of the not so clear times. But at the story gains more strength in my mind, and as words add to words, it will become more and more clear to me what exactly I need to bring to light in this particular tale. Perhaps hope. Or justice. Or patience. Most likely something more complex than that.
I am reminded of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. There is a deep message in that book, behind all the wonderful action and science, but it is sometimes hard to put in words that will not make the story seem cheap and fake. The best way to understand what I am talking about is of course to read the book itself.
Hopefully that is what Fair too Far will end up being like.
Gaining courage,
Farjag
And as for the change in direction, perhaps a change of theme would be a more accurate description. I try to let everything I write have a purpose. I.e. I try not to write something simply for the heck of it, or simply because its awesome or hilarious. I write because there's a story that needs telling, and hopefully a truth that can be investigated or made clear.
One of my ultimate goals in writing is to create a vacuum of space where I can make a darkness so deep that when it cracks, the light shines through with stunning brilliance. That's why I love writing, because I can create awful scenarios, horrendously dark moments, and put my characters through more than they rightly deserve, so that the reader sees the truth with the same clarity that my characters do.
Sometimes that truth is simple. Or straightforward. Other times it is not. Sometimes it is very clear before I begin writing what the end goal will be. Other times it is not. This time is one of the not so clear times. But at the story gains more strength in my mind, and as words add to words, it will become more and more clear to me what exactly I need to bring to light in this particular tale. Perhaps hope. Or justice. Or patience. Most likely something more complex than that.
I am reminded of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. There is a deep message in that book, behind all the wonderful action and science, but it is sometimes hard to put in words that will not make the story seem cheap and fake. The best way to understand what I am talking about is of course to read the book itself.
Hopefully that is what Fair too Far will end up being like.
Gaining courage,
Farjag
November 6, 2013
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. :)
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. :)
November 4, 2013
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
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
November 1, 2013
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.
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!
October 28, 2013
The Iceman Cometh
And with him November, that dreaded, longed for month. Sometime within the next 36 hours I shall sit down before the white wilderness of the blank page and begin to build, carving line after line of black letters until the wilderness has been civilized and a story has begun.
Time will tell how fast or far my attempt will go, but I hope to reach the other side of the month having built at least a 50,000 strong army of words who tell a story worth remembering. But if I fall midway, to battle or busyness, at least I will have attempted the journey.
I hope to see you on the other side, if my mixed metaphors don't get to me first :)
Forth, and fear no darkness!
Time will tell how fast or far my attempt will go, but I hope to reach the other side of the month having built at least a 50,000 strong army of words who tell a story worth remembering. But if I fall midway, to battle or busyness, at least I will have attempted the journey.
I hope to see you on the other side, if my mixed metaphors don't get to me first :)
Forth, and fear no darkness!
October 10, 2013
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.
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.
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.
September 23, 2013
Once More Into The Fray
Once again, dear readers (the few, the proud), I'm back. Probably not for long, but definitely for the duration of November and NaNoWriMo, and possibly after that! If it does continue, the theme of the blog will likely shift to represent my more current interest of screenwriting and architecture, but in the end it will still be all the same story I am telling.
So expect the next month to be filled with a smattering of ideas, brainstorming, dead ends, restarts, random plot threads and the like, while the following month of November will be filled with excerpts, rants on plot, more brainstorming, more dead ends, probably at least one reboot and quite a few cringe-worthy grumblings at my own ineptness. After that? Hopefully some cohesiveness as I seek to organize the brain-frenzied creative outpourings of the month previous into a coherent whole.
Until very soon,
Farjag
So expect the next month to be filled with a smattering of ideas, brainstorming, dead ends, restarts, random plot threads and the like, while the following month of November will be filled with excerpts, rants on plot, more brainstorming, more dead ends, probably at least one reboot and quite a few cringe-worthy grumblings at my own ineptness. After that? Hopefully some cohesiveness as I seek to organize the brain-frenzied creative outpourings of the month previous into a coherent whole.
Until very soon,
Farjag
- The Road goes ever on and on
- Down from the door where it began.
- Now far ahead the Road has gone,
- And I must follow, if I can,
- Pursuing it with eager feet,
- Until it joins some larger way
- Where many paths and errands meet.
- And whither then? I cannot say.
November 15, 2012
Mission: Abort
My readers and friends,
I have decided, after much consideration, to call off my NaNoWriMo attempt this year. The reasons are multiple, but being too busy with schoolwork or simply not feeling the story do NOT rank among them, I can assure you.
The problem is far simpler. It is impossible to edit a movie and write a story at the same time. One will naturally preclude the other. And seeing as I have only completed final editing on one out of three episodes for a December slated release, I'm in a pickle.
To misquote,
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve Film and novel."
Har har.
But seriously, I haven't been able to get much of anything done on either because I haven't the time or energy to work on both and be a full-time architecture student and still get sleep. :) So I must choose.
And as the film has a considerably higher number of people waiting expectantly on its December release (as opposed to my one for the novel), it takes precedence.
So, my November will be novelless, but who knows? I might do the last three-quarters in December! Or January... Or maybe never. But I won't stop writing, that's for certain.
As soon as Ironwing shows in theaters near you (not really :P), I'll switching from iMovie back to Pages and hitting the keyboard a lot harder.
Until next we meet (or I guilt myself in posting something here),
Farjag
I have decided, after much consideration, to call off my NaNoWriMo attempt this year. The reasons are multiple, but being too busy with schoolwork or simply not feeling the story do NOT rank among them, I can assure you.
The problem is far simpler. It is impossible to edit a movie and write a story at the same time. One will naturally preclude the other. And seeing as I have only completed final editing on one out of three episodes for a December slated release, I'm in a pickle.
To misquote,
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve Film and novel."
Har har.
But seriously, I haven't been able to get much of anything done on either because I haven't the time or energy to work on both and be a full-time architecture student and still get sleep. :) So I must choose.
And as the film has a considerably higher number of people waiting expectantly on its December release (as opposed to my one for the novel), it takes precedence.
So, my November will be novelless, but who knows? I might do the last three-quarters in December! Or January... Or maybe never. But I won't stop writing, that's for certain.
As soon as Ironwing shows in theaters near you (not really :P), I'll switching from iMovie back to Pages and hitting the keyboard a lot harder.
Until next we meet (or I guilt myself in posting something here),
Farjag
October 31, 2012
-1.0 Hours till Launch
What does one do on a sleepless Wednesday night a few hours before NaNoWriMo begins?
Why makebook covers desktop pictures of course!
Why make
So! Which of the fonts I shamelessly found on dafont.com do ya'll like? And while you're ogling at the incredible job I did of putting a text box on a black background I'll go catch a few hours sleep before November sucks me in!
October 24, 2012
Meet Ash Skarslard
When an accident on the main track sends the Tyrus Bros circus train on a five hour detour, they are forced to stop in Arskone to refill their coal. But the train will never leave. As the train slows to a stop at the sleepy station, hell itself erupts around them, swallowing performers and animals alike. And the creatures of darkness have plans for all of them.
Twisted and warped into his own greatest fear, Ash became one of them, no longer alive, not quite dead, eaten and hollowed out by his terror and anger. Terror at what he had become, anger at the ones who had done it to him. Terror at their retaliation, anger at the ones who had caused it all in the first place; those praying folk across the tracks.
Light fades, sundown comes; the time to strike is now
Slip across the battlelines; assassin on the prowl
Darkness will reign, chaos clutches deep
The price for life is steep
October 19, 2012
For Reals
Well, since I forgot to add the link TO my NaNo page last post, (containing the plot synopsis and characters), I'll just stop being lazy and actually do a post on that here.
So... the synopsis:
Railway-
When Ash Skarslard is saved by the shadehunter sent to hunt him down, he begins the strangest of friendships with the young Chase Forthen. Suddenly fighting on the opposite side of the war, he is faced with questions and decisions that will change his life forever. A shadow war rages around the railroad town of Arskone, and the clash of light and dark has never been so clear; except for the one scruffy weretiger who doesn't know on which side of the rails he stands.
So... the synopsis:
Railway-
When Ash Skarslard is saved by the shadehunter sent to hunt him down, he begins the strangest of friendships with the young Chase Forthen. Suddenly fighting on the opposite side of the war, he is faced with questions and decisions that will change his life forever. A shadow war rages around the railroad town of Arskone, and the clash of light and dark has never been so clear; except for the one scruffy weretiger who doesn't know on which side of the rails he stands.
And the link to me on the Nanowrimo site, in case any of you actually do want to buddy me, or just check my stats :)
Also, character profiles (being me making things up on the spot), to follow!
October 16, 2012
November? Ah!!
NaNoWriMo? Ah, yes, that lovely part of the year where I write like a maniac. I love November! And...
IT'S ONLY TWO WEEKS AWAY!! AIEE, I'M NOT READY!!
AHH!
*frantic running around my 10x10 room, hopping over the bed every three steps*
Wait...
I do have something...
Combine:
Just-for-fun 3d model of anachronistic town....
Doodling-in-class character sketch...
Selected parts of a never-completed short story...
Potential Halloween costume...
That normal NaNo craziness...
And Viola!
I give you Railway*; my pretty much totally unplanned, steampunk/fantasy adventure I shall embark on a little over a fortnight.
We shall see how it goes. :) Some time ago I would have frowned at myself for doing something this crazy... but I'm in college now.
Just kidding.
See, the first time I did NaNo, I had a pretty good plan, and stuck fairly well to it. The next year I whipped up a magnificent plan that was even better than the last... and scrapped it three days in for a insistent idea involving an abandoned circus, a talking tiger, fighting robots, a bunch of 'gifted' ex-convicts who battled those fighting robots in death matches every night, and a completely normal young man called Alen.
The story that came out was one of the best I had ever written.
So I've since come to discard many of my beliefs in doing things 'by the book' (pun very much intended) when it comes to writing. In many cases, letting the book write itself (especially in those cases where you're not allowing yourself to forget about it) is the best possible option. At least for me :).
So there's my two bits of wisdom tacked on to a unorthodox NaNo 'announcement'. Hope it makes you smile. Or at least quirk an eyebrow.
Anyways, if you're looking for "mo' info", head over to my NaNo page and check out whatever I happen to have up! And while you're there, buddy up with me! I enjoy seeing how good my friends are doing! (or bad >:) he he)
Now then.... to make up some sort of cover without photoshop....
*If you've been around a while, you might have seen the title Railway pop up elsewhere here; it was a placeholder for that short story I mentioned above. I really liked the title, but didn't have a story it fit with. Now I do. :)
IT'S ONLY TWO WEEKS AWAY!! AIEE, I'M NOT READY!!
AHH!
*frantic running around my 10x10 room, hopping over the bed every three steps*
Wait...
I do have something...
Combine:
Just-for-fun 3d model of anachronistic town....
Doodling-in-class character sketch...
Selected parts of a never-completed short story...
Potential Halloween costume...
That normal NaNo craziness...
And Viola!
I give you Railway*; my pretty much totally unplanned, steampunk/fantasy adventure I shall embark on a little over a fortnight.
We shall see how it goes. :) Some time ago I would have frowned at myself for doing something this crazy... but I'm in college now.
Just kidding.
See, the first time I did NaNo, I had a pretty good plan, and stuck fairly well to it. The next year I whipped up a magnificent plan that was even better than the last... and scrapped it three days in for a insistent idea involving an abandoned circus, a talking tiger, fighting robots, a bunch of 'gifted' ex-convicts who battled those fighting robots in death matches every night, and a completely normal young man called Alen.
The story that came out was one of the best I had ever written.
So I've since come to discard many of my beliefs in doing things 'by the book' (pun very much intended) when it comes to writing. In many cases, letting the book write itself (especially in those cases where you're not allowing yourself to forget about it) is the best possible option. At least for me :).
So there's my two bits of wisdom tacked on to a unorthodox NaNo 'announcement'. Hope it makes you smile. Or at least quirk an eyebrow.
Anyways, if you're looking for "mo' info", head over to my NaNo page and check out whatever I happen to have up! And while you're there, buddy up with me! I enjoy seeing how good my friends are doing! (or bad >:) he he)
Now then.... to make up some sort of cover without photoshop....
*If you've been around a while, you might have seen the title Railway pop up elsewhere here; it was a placeholder for that short story I mentioned above. I really liked the title, but didn't have a story it fit with. Now I do. :)
May 4, 2012
What now?
So... now that finals are over... and summer is here... I must decide...
What should I work on for writing?
And this is where I need your help, dear readers. Since I have multiple novels/stories underway (all in various stages of completion), I am at a loss as to which project to focus my attentions on. My options are thus:
Freeborn and Freegiven: Deep in the land of shieldsfell-ruled Quartorlen, the last of the freeborn must conquer their fears and journey into the heart of enemy territory to break the invader's hold on both their country and their countryfolk once and for all.
Stats: NaNo 2010 Novel
Genre: Fantasy
Word Count: 51,342
Project: Rewrite
Feather and Fang: Twenty-two years after the events of Freeborn and Freegiven, the freeborn of Quartorlen have split into factions, each vying for supremacy in the vacuum of power left when the shieldsfell withdrew their forces. When an assassin from one faction and a bounty hunter from the other are trapped together in the deadliest place in Quartorlen, they must work together or perish. And if they make it out alive, they will bring information that could change the face of the war.
Stats: Sequel to Freeborn
Genre: Fantasy
Word Count: 18,319
Project: Finish
The Truth/Trust Hole: In the heartland of a country much like ours, there is an arena. An arena where criminals with special abilities work out their life sentences fighting robots for public sport. These Games attract citizens of all ages, races, and walks of life, all come to see their favorite fighters cheat death again and again against a pitiless enemy. But when a young boy named Alen is thrown into the Hole, by chance, it would seem, everything begins to change.
Stats: NaNo 2011 Novel
Genre: Sci-Fi
Word Count: 52,973
Project: Rewrite
Deep Red/Crimson Streak: Somewhere in the Cluster an out-of-work headhunter sets out on a mission to find the greatest commodity in the markets of the Core: something he has heard is called 'Hope'. But when he enlists the help of a young boy who can apparently see the past and future, things go in a direction he wasn't planning.
Stats: Short Story
Genre: Sci-Fi
Word Count: 3,272
Project: Finish
What do you think? All of them have a lot of potential as far as ease of completion goes (unlike the other dozen or so which I could have listed), all of them get me excited when I think about them... so I'm in a pickle!
Help me out, and give me your opinions! And rest assured, one day I'll get to all of them, I just need to know which one to work on first.
Thanks in advance!
Farjag
What should I work on for writing?
And this is where I need your help, dear readers. Since I have multiple novels/stories underway (all in various stages of completion), I am at a loss as to which project to focus my attentions on. My options are thus:
Freeborn and Freegiven: Deep in the land of shieldsfell-ruled Quartorlen, the last of the freeborn must conquer their fears and journey into the heart of enemy territory to break the invader's hold on both their country and their countryfolk once and for all.
Stats: NaNo 2010 Novel
Genre: Fantasy
Word Count: 51,342
Project: Rewrite
Feather and Fang: Twenty-two years after the events of Freeborn and Freegiven, the freeborn of Quartorlen have split into factions, each vying for supremacy in the vacuum of power left when the shieldsfell withdrew their forces. When an assassin from one faction and a bounty hunter from the other are trapped together in the deadliest place in Quartorlen, they must work together or perish. And if they make it out alive, they will bring information that could change the face of the war.
Stats: Sequel to Freeborn
Genre: Fantasy
Word Count: 18,319
Project: Finish
The Truth/Trust Hole: In the heartland of a country much like ours, there is an arena. An arena where criminals with special abilities work out their life sentences fighting robots for public sport. These Games attract citizens of all ages, races, and walks of life, all come to see their favorite fighters cheat death again and again against a pitiless enemy. But when a young boy named Alen is thrown into the Hole, by chance, it would seem, everything begins to change.
Stats: NaNo 2011 Novel
Genre: Sci-Fi
Word Count: 52,973
Project: Rewrite
Deep Red/Crimson Streak: Somewhere in the Cluster an out-of-work headhunter sets out on a mission to find the greatest commodity in the markets of the Core: something he has heard is called 'Hope'. But when he enlists the help of a young boy who can apparently see the past and future, things go in a direction he wasn't planning.
Stats: Short Story
Genre: Sci-Fi
Word Count: 3,272
Project: Finish
What do you think? All of them have a lot of potential as far as ease of completion goes (unlike the other dozen or so which I could have listed), all of them get me excited when I think about them... so I'm in a pickle!
Help me out, and give me your opinions! And rest assured, one day I'll get to all of them, I just need to know which one to work on first.
Thanks in advance!
Farjag
April 23, 2012
Fullscreen Writing and other
Well, I guess this post needs no explanation; the title says it all: I have (re)discovered fullscreen writing. I had dabbled with this amazing idea back during NaNoWriMo 2010, but hadn't really been hooked.
Then, last week, while forcing myself to write, I remembered. A few google searches and disappointing tries later, I found one that worked.
And let me tell you; getting your desktop to disappear is amazing. When it's just you and the words, they come SO much easier. I started writing, and before I knew it, I had written a thousand.
This is a really lame post, if you hadn't noticed. Oh well. Maybe a beautiful picture of a far-away, imaginary place will help with the lameness.
Maybe not. My brain's fried right now. Finals are next week, I just got back from a visit to the college I'm transferring to in the fall, and I've got a fair bit of homework to do.
Oi.
Until my brains become Un-fried,
Farjag
Then, last week, while forcing myself to write, I remembered. A few google searches and disappointing tries later, I found one that worked.
And let me tell you; getting your desktop to disappear is amazing. When it's just you and the words, they come SO much easier. I started writing, and before I knew it, I had written a thousand.
This is a really lame post, if you hadn't noticed. Oh well. Maybe a beautiful picture of a far-away, imaginary place will help with the lameness.
Maybe not. My brain's fried right now. Finals are next week, I just got back from a visit to the college I'm transferring to in the fall, and I've got a fair bit of homework to do.
Oi.
Until my brains become Un-fried,
Farjag
February 10, 2012
How Primorlen Began: Pt. 2
So, where did I leave off? Ah, yes. Freeborn and Freegiven.
On November 1st, 2010, I began digging into Quartorlen and the characters who lived there. It was the first time I had written more than a few chapters since Grey Warrior. And the effect was undeniable. By the third week, I had grown more in my writing skills than I had in all the years before. It's the coolest thing to look back a your own work and see a progression in skill from the beginning to the end (though it makes for a lot of editing :P).
Perhaps the thing that I fell in love with about NaNoWriMo was the fact that I got to live thirty consecutive days with my story. There was none of the sporadicalness or choppiness in writing time that I had experienced in previous stories, and so there was a much more natural progression of character development and growth. When you meet your characters every night, you can track their progress far easier than when you only meet once a week. And the depth of character I achieved astounded me. Here were real people! Growing up on Henty and Tolkien (not a bad thing, by the way), my first characters tended to be models of perfection, ready for anything far younger than was realistic, and always distinctly good or evil. No one changed, there was no fall or redemption, no chance for the hero to grow.
When I first met the four freeborn, I knew immediately they had problems. Why else were the last of the freeborn hiding out in the woods and mountains? Shouldn't they be working to free their country? Or at least bringing some small measure of hope to their Contained brethren? And thus were my first character arcs created. Farjag was self-doubting. Nitiren was proud and bitter. Flashel was fearful. Ogel was dejected. Each blamed themselves or others for events in their past, and had retreated to the wilds to stay away from everyone and everything. Now, they were being called to a mission that was likely to end in their deaths. They would be risking everything for a country they had given up on. Needless to say, no one wanted to go.
And that was what I latched on to. In many of the stories one reads, the hero quite often wishes for adventure or excitement, and only when actually get what they want do they realize what such things really are. They come back wiser. Or perhaps they reluctantly take up the calling given them. But here were four folk who did not want anything to do with saving the world. Perhaps the premise is original, perhaps not. But the fact remains that each character had an important arc in front of them, and that they would end up much changed.
Form follows function, as a certain famous architect once said, and so the form of the story fell in place around the function. To change these characters, they would have to go through a series of trials that would test each as it tested them all, burning away the selfishness and fear they had been living under. There would be no wizard to help them, or give them cryptic answers to questions, or provide a convenient road map. Only a frail old otter-elder who somehow seemed to know each one well enough to know how to chafe each one into going. Once they started, it would be just them. Except for one small addition to their party. If there are four freeborn, then there must be one freegiven.
But that's going to have to wait till next time.
Until then,
Farjag
On November 1st, 2010, I began digging into Quartorlen and the characters who lived there. It was the first time I had written more than a few chapters since Grey Warrior. And the effect was undeniable. By the third week, I had grown more in my writing skills than I had in all the years before. It's the coolest thing to look back a your own work and see a progression in skill from the beginning to the end (though it makes for a lot of editing :P).
Perhaps the thing that I fell in love with about NaNoWriMo was the fact that I got to live thirty consecutive days with my story. There was none of the sporadicalness or choppiness in writing time that I had experienced in previous stories, and so there was a much more natural progression of character development and growth. When you meet your characters every night, you can track their progress far easier than when you only meet once a week. And the depth of character I achieved astounded me. Here were real people! Growing up on Henty and Tolkien (not a bad thing, by the way), my first characters tended to be models of perfection, ready for anything far younger than was realistic, and always distinctly good or evil. No one changed, there was no fall or redemption, no chance for the hero to grow.
When I first met the four freeborn, I knew immediately they had problems. Why else were the last of the freeborn hiding out in the woods and mountains? Shouldn't they be working to free their country? Or at least bringing some small measure of hope to their Contained brethren? And thus were my first character arcs created. Farjag was self-doubting. Nitiren was proud and bitter. Flashel was fearful. Ogel was dejected. Each blamed themselves or others for events in their past, and had retreated to the wilds to stay away from everyone and everything. Now, they were being called to a mission that was likely to end in their deaths. They would be risking everything for a country they had given up on. Needless to say, no one wanted to go.
And that was what I latched on to. In many of the stories one reads, the hero quite often wishes for adventure or excitement, and only when actually get what they want do they realize what such things really are. They come back wiser. Or perhaps they reluctantly take up the calling given them. But here were four folk who did not want anything to do with saving the world. Perhaps the premise is original, perhaps not. But the fact remains that each character had an important arc in front of them, and that they would end up much changed.
Form follows function, as a certain famous architect once said, and so the form of the story fell in place around the function. To change these characters, they would have to go through a series of trials that would test each as it tested them all, burning away the selfishness and fear they had been living under. There would be no wizard to help them, or give them cryptic answers to questions, or provide a convenient road map. Only a frail old otter-elder who somehow seemed to know each one well enough to know how to chafe each one into going. Once they started, it would be just them. Except for one small addition to their party. If there are four freeborn, then there must be one freegiven.
But that's going to have to wait till next time.
Until then,
Farjag
February 8, 2012
How Primorlen Began Pt. 1
I was thinking the other day (read: a few moments ago) about how I began writing the tales which take place in Primorlen, my brain child world.
It began some years ago (computer and formatting switches have rendered the "Created Date" useless), probably sometime in 2009, when I and a good writer friend tried to write a story together. Temporarily called According to Power, it consisted of little more than an outline and two prologue-ish snippets. The one that I liked the most, however, was this one:
The north wind blew cold over a brush-covered knoll overlooking the Aquer Sea. A young girl and her little brother were playing on the wind-swept rocks, gathering ferns and moss from among the crevices. Their clothes were not new and showed much wear, but the children did not seem cold. Their hair was shaggy and unkempt and the children looked almost like animals, scampering on the rocks and sniffing the moss before placing it the sacks they carried.
Suddenly the little boy cried out in excitement, “Sister, look! What are those?” he asked pointing far out to sea. His sister followed his finger, shading her eyes with her hand. Several white marks dotted the horizon. Her eyes narrowed as she sniffed the air, then widened. “Ships, little brother, ships!” “Shall we go tell mother?” the little boy asked. “Yes, lets. Come on, I’ll race you!” answered his sister. The siblings began to howl as the raced down the slope, their bare feet slapping over the rough stone.
The rain fell in torrents as thick as canvas curtains as lightning flashed and cracked in the clouds above...
It began some years ago (computer and formatting switches have rendered the "Created Date" useless), probably sometime in 2009, when I and a good writer friend tried to write a story together. Temporarily called According to Power, it consisted of little more than an outline and two prologue-ish snippets. The one that I liked the most, however, was this one:
The north wind blew cold over a brush-covered knoll overlooking the Aquer Sea. A young girl and her little brother were playing on the wind-swept rocks, gathering ferns and moss from among the crevices. Their clothes were not new and showed much wear, but the children did not seem cold. Their hair was shaggy and unkempt and the children looked almost like animals, scampering on the rocks and sniffing the moss before placing it the sacks they carried.
Suddenly the little boy cried out in excitement, “Sister, look! What are those?” he asked pointing far out to sea. His sister followed his finger, shading her eyes with her hand. Several white marks dotted the horizon. Her eyes narrowed as she sniffed the air, then widened. “Ships, little brother, ships!” “Shall we go tell mother?” the little boy asked. “Yes, lets. Come on, I’ll race you!” answered his sister. The siblings began to howl as the raced down the slope, their bare feet slapping over the rough stone.
Time, however decreed that our cooperative work was not to be, and the document fell into the dusty confines of my "Old Stories" folder. A couple months later, me and my brother had a wonderful game of imagination in the backyard, where I borrowed names and occurrences from the unused plot. What came out fit so well into the old story that I updated the plot to match. Now I had a usable story, but nothing happened... yet.
Some time later I began to play with the idea of 'alterers,' a race of beings neither human nor animal, but both. Their birth had been in that snippet above. So I began writing what would become Feather and Fang, a story built entirely on this idea, with these words:
Some time later I began to play with the idea of 'alterers,' a race of beings neither human nor animal, but both. Their birth had been in that snippet above. So I began writing what would become Feather and Fang, a story built entirely on this idea, with these words:
As detailed elsewhere, when I was introduced to NaNoWriMo, I began pulling the various threads together. There was the general plotline from According to Power, the "alterers" and alliteration of the title from Feather and Fang. My last world had been an entire planet, which I thought was fairly original, but gave me the distinct problem of large distances and nowhere to grow. So I created the island of Quartorlen, with distinct boundaries, avoiding the "Mountains of Mysteriousness" so many fantasy writers use to create edges to their world.
For names, I fashioned all place names out of two words, usually descriptive, but also having a sense of place, as opposed to "Dark Forest." Thus were born Flamehope and Thunderfell and the other three provinces in Quartorlen. Character names were simple, easy to say, and different without being exotic. Farjag had been with me since According to Power, but Flashel, Ogel, Nitiren and Thoer were new. I set up several underlying structural rules I would follow in creating and plotting: namely a significance on certain numbers. Quartorlen was built on four and five. Five heroes. Four freeborn. Four main provinces, with a fifth in the center. I'm not sure if it's the best way of going about something like this, but it gives a certain foundation that lends to the credibility of a world. Everything connects to something else, much like on earth. Everything is named in our world for a reason, and has a meaning. Nothing is named because it sounds cool. So that's where that's kind of going.
Names are given as such: A first name, your 'animal' form, and a title you earn when you come of age. Thus "Farjag, Tiger-claw," is my namesake's proper name. A title can be an occupation, a character-trait, or a weapon if you are a warrior. Thus you can find "Thoer, Otter-scribe" and "Eppel, Eagle-cry" in the pages of my tales.
But our world is influenced by different countries and traditions. Different people groups view the world differently. So when I created the shieldsfell invaders and their fellow countryfolk, I sought to make them different then the folk of Quartorlen, but still have similarities. Germany and France are quite distinct, but there are parallels. So I gave the people of Dyrmlen a different naming system. Many of their titles and names end with 'fell' or 'len', and their 'animal' half is reptilian, as opposed to the mammal and avian forms of Quartorlen. Their language is rougher and more brusque than the Anglic of Quartorlen, and the names reflect that. Names in Dyrmlen might be thus: "Rhalax, Commanderlen." "Drobax, Patrollen" "Rogchaen, Macelen"
It was with this structure that I dove into Freeborn and Freegiven, but more on that next post!
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