All Good Things...

National Novel Writing Month is almost over! It seems like just yesterday we started on the grand voyage of fifty thousand words, and now? Now it's coming to a close. Sadness abound, I think we've had a good time this month, and it's almost time to (possibly) revise our little projects until next year. Personally, I've got a lot of work to do. I still haven't finished my own story (I know, pretty terrible for having won halfway through.) and after that comes editing, editing, editing.

So before I ramble my head off, I'll let you all finish up your own novels, and I'll see you in the winner's circle. Next update should be a real update, and not any of this short stuff I've been trying to pass off as good blogging.

Verificationalizingness.

So three days ago, verification opened up on the NaNo website, and now hundred of writers are sitting in the winner's circle with a (perhaps?) completed novel and a shiny new certificate and stuffs. I have just verified not ten minutes ago, and I'm feeling pretty good. I just want to say good luck and best wishes for those of you that haven't yet gotten to 50,000, because I know it's been a long ride and I'm confident that you'll all get there before the 30th is over!

Happy Thanksgiving, Happy NaNo!

So yesterday was Thanksgiving for those who happen to be in America and enjoy gorging themselves entirely on the delicacy of turkey, gravy and tons and tons of potatoes. Yesterday also marked the day where verification on NaNoWriMo began, where around the world, millions of words are being counted, and thousands and thousands of writers are finally crossing the finish line on the month of craziness and amazing awesomeness. I'm actually waiting until I actually finish the novel before heading off to verify, if only for my own obstinate personality. But, that isn't to say that I won't verify if it's 11:58 and I'm still not done.

Regardless, today is the recovery day, where we all get back up and out of the house to do some Black Friday shopping in early preparation for the rest of the holiday seasons. And if not, well, today's sit back and try to enjoy the day. So, whatever you have planned for today, I hope you had a happy yesterday. I sure did.

Review: Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

Hey, guys.

So it's come to my attention that I totally spaced and forgot to post something the past two update days. I feel like... well, I don't know what I feel like, but I'll get back to you on that. Meanwhile, I wanted to talk about something besides NaNo today, for once. I know, I know, such a shock and a travesty, and all sorts of other things, right?

Anyway, I've been playing a lot of games recently. Mostly just Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, though. That seems like a good enough topic to begin on, eh?

If you pay any attention at all to the world of video games and the like, you've probably heard mention of the AC franchise before. When the original was released it was a breath of fresh air, a new concept, and most importantly, FUN. The story was amazing, the action was absolutely awesome, and the fact that you could climb walls at your leisure was simply friggen' stunning. Flash forward a few years and now we have three console games, two hand-held games, a Facebook app, and one or two cellphone adaptations. Brotherhood happens to be the former of the three.

It picks up where you left off after the events of AC2, understandably, and immediately you're thrust into the world of Desmond Miles and Ezio Auditore de Firenze, his ancestor. If you haven't played and/or heard about Assassin's Creed, then you may want to shut your eyes, place your hands over your ears and yell "la la la, I can't hear you," at the top of your lungs, unless you're privy to spoilers and important plot points.

So basically, if you haven't a clue as to why Desmond is able to see, hear, act and think as his ancestor did, it's all due to a fun little device called the Animus. The Animus allows the user to essentially use their DNA to relive the memories of those that came before him or her. Now Desmond's ancestors happen to belong to an ancient order of assassins who fight against the Templar order, trying to keep them from assuming control of mystical and mysterious devices known as 'Pieces of Eden', and therefore taking control of the world at large.

Long story short, Desmond is taken in by the Templars, due to his illustrious ancestry, to track down these Pieces of Eden in their modern day holdings. He is soon rescued by an undercover agent of the assassins and spirited away to learn more about who he is and what he can do, and in the process, find the missing Pieces for the assassins. Anyway, at the start of Brotherhood, Ezio has defeated the big bad and had one such object in his possession, after which he was alerted of a doomsday prophecy and all of that fun stuff.

So Ezio is now in possession of the particular PoE the assassins of the modern world are looking for and it's only a matter of finding where he put it, right? Wrong. Something big happens, protagonist loses all of his armor, weapons, and some of his abilities (sad face, Metroid, sad face.) and we the player are forced to do it all again.

But, in order to stave away further spoilers, I'll leave it at that.

If I were to review Brotherhood properly, I'd say something like, "A good game, true to its predecessors, very stylish and polished. Story is up to par, and indeed, a fairly unexpected plot twist occurs at the end, causing a cliffhanger and a hook for the next installment (because there's almost a 100% chance of it happening - the series is much too successful for Ubisoft to call it quits here. Being milked like the cash cow it just so happens to be...)."

My judgment on AC: Brotherhood? Buy it, at the least for its replayability, but more than that, because it stands up to those that came before it and adds to the experience without bogging it all down.

Next update should be something more novel-ish. Or maybe turkeyish. I don't know, but I swear!

A Short Post About Stuff

Hey guys. Didn't do much in terms of writing over the past week, simply lying back and enjoying my relatively stress-free November. I know, it may seem like I'm gloating to others who may not have the same luxury, but I'm definitely not. I sympathize with all of you guys.

Anyway, I was one of the lucky hundred thousand or so across America who got to go attend a midnight showing of HP: Deathly Hallows: Part One last night/this morning, and I am... wowed. To keep it short and full of brevity, I can't wait for the second part to come out. Anyway, I'm sorry for such a short update, but it seems as though I have little time right at the moment. Perhaps later I'll try and expand on something or other.

Should Characters be Treated as Real People?

Yesterday, I came across a post on the Fantasy Genre Lounge on the NaNo forums that regarded the topic of character "realness". For the past few years that I've known about the National Novel Writing Month, I've maintained that even though I may outline and plan, bordering on obsessively, my characters actually have the final say on plot outliers and the like. You know the deal, really interesting tangent that you figure you can fit into the main narrative to explain a little bit of one of your character's motivation and background? I generally chalk that up to the character in question begging to be explored a little more.

But, in keeping with topic, the author of the post brings up good points to the contrary of a character's life and reality (in the figurative sense, not the literal).

Writing a novel requires that you take mastery over the facets of your novel the way a skilled painter would the pigments on his or her palette. Your characters, plot, theme, setting, and dialogue are all under your exclusive control. No external force, no magical muse, is taking your hand and making you do anything. That's why I tend to feel frustration when I see a would-be author blaming one of the aforementioned for hijacking the tale.

I both agree and disagree with their sentiments here. Yes, you have direct control over what your characters say, think, do, and like. But sometimes there are points in which your mind begins to think as if it was the character. Your mind says, "hey, this would be something extremely cool to put in the story, because it explores a what-if situation you hadn't planned on". That's what I speak about when I say that my character set off on a tangent. I don't go out of my way and say that my character is writing the story using me as a vessel to set his words on paper (or screen).

You are telling the tale, and should be consciously making use of your novel's elements to do so. The lion's share of misplaced blame for novel derailment gets heaped on characters. When you're saying "My character refuses to do this!" what you're really telling us is that you've failed to give the character proper motivations in the story up to this point, and now your mind does not feel that it would be logical for the character to move on to your desired course.

Now this is something I definitely agree with the post's author on. Character motivations are a tricky business, but are absolutely essential to a good tale. Sometimes you as a writer forget to add something essential that would cause a character to do something or to think some particular way. That's the beginning of a pretty big plot hole just waiting to happen. Your inner editor stops you before you make the plunge into this plot hole, and that's when you run into issues in your will to write. That's when irrelevant tangents take over your story and it begins to act in a different way than you want. And if you don't want it that way, the readers likely won't either. To use a cooking analogy and try and warp it into a writing one, don't use a wine that you wouldn't drink to cook with. In writing, that becomes, if you don't like writing it, your reader won't like to read it.

One method is to go on the new logical route and see where it takes you. If you are a discovery writer, as opposed to someone who outlines, this can be a healthy process. If it's going to leave your story in shambles instead, or destroy all of the carefully laid plans for your plot, then you need to step back and rewind. Find out where you failed to give your characters proper motivation, and make the necessary changes. Take ownership of your characters as tools to tell your tale.

Of course, pantsers are allowed, and in fact celebrated. But here's another part where I agree with the post. If you don't directly control your characters when you're outlining, things can become very messy, very quickly; unless of course some of these subplots would actually work well with the main plot (see my original blurb).

The big pitfall of believing your characters are actual, sentient beings is that you lose the ability to tell the best possible story with them. Grow too attached and you'll always find a way to keep bad things from happening to the character. You'll enhance their traits until they're the embodiment of everything you want to be. You'll give them unrealistic rewards, or become blind to their faults. You'll stop using them to serve the needs of the story, and they will become a parody of excellence that you may adore, but no one else will want to read.

Sometimes, bad things need to happen to great characters to facilitate the best possible outcome. If you behave as if you're the characters' kind and loving creator, instead of an artist who is using a tool to shape your tale, you're always going to be tempted to mitigate any disasters that occur to your imaginary friends. 

Here, they make another very valid argument in why falling too "in love" with your characters is a massive mistake. In fact, to correlate their point, I'm going to pull an example from one of my favorite video games to show exactly what they mean. In Mass Effect, you play a character called Commander Shepard. In the most basic terms I can afford to use, they are a bad ass (trying to avoid pronouns because it's up to you whether they're male or female). But at the start of Mass Effect 2, the developers, BioWare decide to throw you a big 'ole curveball (you only need to watch 'till 2:49 for full effect). They aren't afraid to destroy what they've built in the first game in order to provide a richer storytelling experience. Many writers would do well to heed this advice, and don't grow too attached to their characters. Of course, just a little is necessary for believability, but as it is in almost all things, moderation is key.

So, what do you think about the issue? Are characters real entities, entitled to their own opinions apart from what you have set out for them? Or are they tools with awesome personalities and weird quirks that make you love them?

50k and Beyond

Yesterday, I think I experienced my most successful day of writing ever. Not because I wrote a lot, or wrote some truly spectacular stuff, because I know I didn't do either, but because I sat myself down, amidst at least five distractions or more around me, and I wrote as if there were none. And because of that, I made it to the target of 50,000 yesterday. And, well, I'm pretty excited.

But there are still plenty of people out there struggling along in their novels this month, and that's okay too. I've said in other posts that word count does not mean everything, that sometimes you need to disregard some higher goals to get to where you want to be, and that it's good to take a small break every once in a while. But now we've reached the midpoint of November, and thereby NaNo, and many find that the game changes a little bit when this time rolls around. Late bloomers see their word counts soaring, stragglers begin to not straggle so much as they see the end of the month looming over them (or maybe not, I don't happen to know), and all over the world, novels begin to... well, end.

Maybe you are a late bloomer, making one of those heroic dashes to the finish line in style, as the final seconds tick down on the clock. Or maybe this year just wasn't your year, distractions and real life finding ways to get into your writing time and sucking it all away. Either way, if you're behind at this point, it's still okay. Today's advice is quite possibly the most important I can impart upon you guys: DO NOT GIVE UP. As long as you don't give up, there is still a great big possibility that you can pull out a win.

I have heard stories about NaNo winners who literally took until 11:58pm on November 30th to verify their 50k wins. There is no shame in such a thing, nor is there even shame in losing. Because you tried. You tried your hardest and either you came out on top, or maybe you didn't and fell short a bit. Either way, you're all winners because you simply attempted to write a novel this month.

But, whichever way you want to look at it, remember these words: do not give up.

More Excerpt Time

Yesterday I accomplished something in my writing that I never thought I'd manage to do. I wrote a thousand words in less than an hour. How? Well, to be honest, I'm not quite sure, but I do know that it probably had something to do with a system I was trying out for the first time yesterday: writing for reward. I told myself, "Self, for every thousand words you write, take an hour and play one of your favorite games, and once that hour's over, go back and write another thousand."

So I did. I wrote three thousand words yesterday morning, in a total of just less than three hours (I meant to write more, but fate conspired against me and included travel in my schedule for the day). I'm feeling rather good about my NaNo this year, and I'm sure to hit 50k within the next two or three days, if yesterday was any example. Moral for the story? Writing for reward works wonders (just so long as the reward is something you really enjoy) for your word count.

My last update, I promised an excerpt, and an excerpt you shall get.

On Why Sleeping is A Fairly Important Thing

Hey, everyone.

We're nearing the halfway point of the entire National Novel Writing Month thing and I must say that I've run into a bit of a trouble spot. It isn't with the material I'm writing, or even the Week Two disease. No, I'm suffering from the rare disorder of Really Strange Sleep Schedule.

Now, this sort of thing isn't exactly a rare occurrence with me, but I rather hoped that it wouldn't show it's ugly face during the month of November. It's not the hardest thing to overcome, but it definitely interferes with my writing time, and that is NOT a good thing. I said two days ago that sometimes a day off can get you re-focused on your novel and your writing, but I suppose those days off that I took didn't help me much.

Anyway, to keep from rambling, I've decided to finally disregard my 5k a day regimen (as if that wasn't quite apparent already), and have started striving only for the 1.6k that serves as the original daily requirement. If I happen to write more, then so be it. If not, eh, at least I have that massive buffer. I intend to keep writing until I can't write any more while in keeping with the story, so it's rather safe to say that Shades of Change will be totally complete by the end of November. Minus major edits, of course. This year's goal (as seen on my "Projects Listing" page) was 50-75k, and so long as I keep up the current pace, I'll probably end up over a hundred thousand. And again, if not, well, 75 shouldn't be a difficult number to obtain.

But to keep with the title of this update, I reiterate: sleeping is a good practice. Try not to lose TOO much over NaNo. Unless you are like me and suffer frequently from RSSS. In that case, write when you can while you're awake. My next update will most likely include another excerpt from the novel, if I can decide on what I want to share with you all.

Taking a Day Off (Of NaNo)

Yesterday and today, for me have been days of relative inactivity. I did absolutely no work on Shades of Change, and I don't feel the least bit upset about it. Why? Because as I said two days ago, NaNo isn't about word count goals, self-imposed or otherwise. It's about writing a novel. And if that novel ends up taking just a bit longer than a month? So be it. That's the way of the world regardless.

But in my case, I don't think I should have that much of a problem, I must say. But, unfortunately the same thing can't be said for others in the great writing marathon. So, here's my NaNoWriMo advice for this post: take a day off that you yourself have a control on the reason 'why'. Writing doesn't have to be a stressful endeavor, but often day to day life seems to get in the way and makes it so. So take a day off and remember why you enjoy to write.

Daylight Savings Time

Many of you probably already know this, but it's time for the fun little half-year of DST to say bye-bye. I, for one, could not be happier. Not only does this give me, and in fact all of us, an extra little hour push for the day's writing, but it provides something fairly valuable besides just that. It gives us a bit longer in the sunlight.

Sunlight is good. It feeds the grass and trees (unless it's fall, in which it allows us to watch all these wonderful things wither and die), it signifies the day time, and of course, it's most important job, in that it provides us with a great source of light, as the name might ever-so-subtly imply. But, of course this all depends on whether or not it's being covered by a generous helping of clouds or not.

Anyway, beyond what magic happens in the realm of the sky, or what sorcery turns time back and forth an hour every other season, it's still time to write. And, as we are all probably aware, writing is good too. Which brings me to my first reason for bothering to write a blog post at 2:30 in the morning.

As I said in my post a couple of days ago, I had to somewhat stop myself in my conquest of my novel's progress in order to attend the weekly Dungeons and Dragons game. I had a plan, and I didn't adhere to it quite as well as I had... well... planned. My original thought was that I'd use small breaks in the action and write a little bit in the notebook at all possible times. Of course, this didn't happen. Well, I at least managed to bring the notebook and a writing tool, but everything else just kind of fell flat. So, yesterday, I found myself needing to play just a small game of catch-up to jump from my 21-or-so-thousand word count up to 30 thousand, in keeping with my 5k a day attitude.

I'm proud to say that I made it most of the way in another vastly helpful 6,500 word day, which leaves me short just less than a thousand words from 30k, which means another 6k day is in order for me to be back on track with myself. But, on the plus side, I've got a hook for a possible sequel. Maybe next year?

And that, boys and girls, is what will segue into my advice for today. Not the part about the sequel, but the whole word count thing.

On Various Things Vaguely Related to NaNo.

At the outset of this post, I left the title line rather blank. Not because I didn't know what I wanted it to be, but because I was unsure of how to phrase it. This, admittedly, happens more than I like it to. Titles are supposed to be an indication of what something contains, and as such they should be clear and concise, and all of that fun little nonsense. But no one ever tells you in schooling, what makes a good title? Is it how short it is, or how detailed it is, or is it just how cool it happens to sound while remaining in the ballpark area of what's within? Whatever it is, titles are not today's topic.

As I've stated before, I've been enjoying great success in my National Novel Writing to date, putting in an average of at least 5,000 words per day (although I am quite proud of my 6k day yesterday, that was refreshing!) and not showing the least bit of interest in slowing down. However, tonight, all that has to change due to prior obligations.

That's right, it's Dungeons and Dragons night. And I'm fully expected to be there.

So, what am I to do? Well, I've already decided that I'll be taking a pad and a pen to the game and at every chance I'm able to get, jot down a few hundred or so words, or whatever I happen to be able to fit in the time I'm given. During breaks, that's when I'll get up to about a thousand down or so. And when the night's all said and done, I get to come back home and transcribe. This also gives me the chance to edit some of the work to flow better and not sound so... disjointed.

And that brings me to the true topic of the day: editing during NaNo.

I went around to a few different writers' blogs yesterday in an attempt to slow myself down just a little, and I came across a few stating their opinions on the taboo that is editing in November's writing insanity. I'd just like to say one thing in opening: without mid-writing editing, I would be a lost soul. I rely on a few bits of editing here and there to soothe my minor bouts of OCD (no, I don't actually have the disorder, but my brain works in such a way at times.), so that my inner editor is calm enough to allow me some time alone to write whatever fancies me.

I seem to have perfected the art while I was busy writing fan fiction stories. I was never one for drafting, and often times, the very moment I finished a chapter I would publish it on the website, so that meant that I needed to have a relatively readable and at least somewhat edited piece of work ready when I did so. How did I manage this? I used the trusty old pencil-and-paper technique. I find it allows for quick and easy edits during the transcription process, because as you're typing the information in, you yourself are forced to read what you wrote and see if it just so happens to work. If it doesn't, make changes as you type. All the time you spend in writing your story longhand comes back to you in transcription, with the added bonus of more quality to show off to all of your wonderful readers.

And the good thing is, that it works both ways. Say you're pressed for time, and you'd like to keep a paragraph or two that you've typed in on your computer for context. Write it down in your notebook, making small edits to that little snippet, take that notebook with you, continue where you left off, and when you're ready to sit back down at the computer, take those paragraphs and rephrase them using the edits in your notebook. You'll thank yourself for it in December, I promise.

But, what about classic editing? You know, reading line by line in an effort to find even the smallest discrepancy? Don't do that, unless you find yourself very far ahead in your writing or if you find yourself stuck. For instance, if you're stuck, there's a good chance that going back and looking at what you've written already will clue you into some things you can write to continue on and move not only your novel, but your word count into higher territory. Just don't do it too much. That can be a bad thing and perhaps even dissuade you from writing anything at all, which is definitely not good.

So, with all of that having been said, I'm off to begin writing today's 4k so that I can keep my pace up and hopefully hit the halfway mark of NaNo's 50k today. Happy NaNoing, everyone.

P.S.: I almost just hit the 'publish' button without titling the damn post. Curse you, title fairy! Also, quick question for you guys. Do you like to title your chapters, or do you prefer to leave the chapters as mere numbers?

NaNo News: Day Three

So it comes to be that day three is nearly past and NaNo is definitely in full swing now, with hundreds of thousands of writers pouring their wit upon the now-not-so-blank page in their efforts to write what some of us crazies hope will become the next bestselling novel. I, in a more personal generalization, have enjoyed great success in my own little noveling world, hitting a stride of two 5k word days in a row, and working on making the third one a reality (though it's a little more difficult than the first two were, I must say. A terrible case of the stubborn scene seems to have hit me particularly hard today.) My current word count? 12,778 words, and with four hours to go until the official end of the day, I have a total of 3,009 words to slog through in order to make my self-imposed quota.

Just about an hour and a half ago, I received a comment on my last post regarding my word count and my status as a college student, and I suppose there isn't a better topic today than to give a quick rundown on my writing habits.

First off, I want to say that I am an absolute sucker for pen-and-paper writing. It has given me something to do when there's been nothing else to occupy my time, and it's probably preserved what's left of my sanity admirably. This goes for NaNo especially; while in a particularly redundant lecture, I'm able to pull out my trusty novel notebook and begin busting out passages and scenes that I can later expand upon and type into my novel-in-progress file on the computer. This alone has probably accounted for more than a half of the current word count, plain and simple.

The second thing I do is when I find any free time at all, I write. Five minutes to get to class? Rush and get there early, pull out the notebook or laptop and begin typing furiously. Personal word wars are fantastic in such short bursts. There's also a great potential for inspiration to be drawn from your courses, given the right circumstances. For instance, history courses offer a great starting point. Find a little fact from hundreds of years ago? There's a novel or short story premise, right there.

Thirdly, I find that homework isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's provided me with enough pent-up writing energy and excitement that when I'm finally able to work on my novel for the month, it's a blur of ideas rushing straight from my brain to my computer's hard drive. Okay, so maybe a little bit of finger movement is involved, but hey, it's as close to directly beaming my thoughts into a word processor as it gets, eh?

So there you have it. Writing on a short time frame doesn't necessarily mean you have to sacrifice words when there are plenty to go around. So, what do you all do in terms of quick-writing rituals during times of having no time?

Success on Day One

So my first official day of noveling insanity is finally done and over with, at a total of 5,017 words. Which means that I also completed my forum challenge of 5k on the first day. To celebrate, I'm providing everyone with a blog post, as well as an excerpt! Huzzah!

As it turns out, I actually found challenge where I expected none. I figured my excitement of finally starting work on Shades of Change would simply carry me away to success, but apparently my brain didn't want any of that. Every so often, it would wander away in search of something else, be it a word I couldn't find, another thing I wanted to do, or whatever. In short, my brain forced me to take many, many, many small breaks while I was trying to sit and write seriously. Thankfully, I already had close to the daily goal of 1,667 during the midnight write-off and that helped immensely in my quest for wordly domination (see what I did there?).

Incidentally, inspiration struck yet again while I was trying to drain my brain of inspired thought, as it so often does. Unsatisfied with the way my novel's beginning ended up coming out on paper, I actually figured out a way to fix it while still ignoring it in favor of fresh progress, so at the end of the competition, I will be writing the true beginning of my novel, as long as I don't forget about it.

Now for excerpts!