NaNoWriMo: November 3 Update

Words Written Last Night: 1,768
Total Words Written: 4,615
Percent of Final Goal: 9%

Notes: Last night, I had an “Oh, yeah” moment. As in, “Oh, yeah, THAT’S why I like NaNoWriMo.”

I’ve been writing mostly introductory elements right now – explaining first meetings between the major characters and the like. A lot of what I’ve written (re: everything I’ve written) is total crap and won’t survive the first revision; however, it’s all been valuable. I’m building characters – except that’s not quite right. I’m DISCOVERING characters.

Wendy, for example, is an artist – she likes to draw and paint. I didn’t know that about her when I started. Her father, a doctor, treats his patients like family and his family like patients. He walks hunched over with his big hands folded into his pockets. Both of these characters are starting to feel like real people to me, and that’s EXCITING.

Tomorrow I start writing about Peter (yeah, HE’S in the story, too). I’m looking forward to getting to know him.

News Newbie

I spend most of my Wednesdays out in Magna doing improv workshops with the Jesters Royale. Often, my favorite part of the workshop is a ten-minute segment we call "Pop Culture Theater," wherein we discuss a lot of current happenings and whatnot. Obviously, we usually focus on pop culture topics (big movies at the box office, popular bands, etc.). However, every now and again, someone will bring up something actually significant in the world at large.

For example, a couple of weeks ago, someone at the workshop mentioned a tear gassing incident that took place during a protest in New York. I asked him for more details - like what the protest was actually about - and he kinda shrugged and said, "I'm not sure they actually know."


He was, of course, talking about the "Occupy Wall Street" movement. And I had no idea that was actually happening.

Since then, I've tried to educate myself a bit on the subject, and I find that there's a LOT that's happened recently that I didn't know about. For example:

• The country of Greece is on the verge of financial collapse.
• Michael Jackson's doctor, who treated the pop star just before he died, is apparently still on trial for manslaughter.
• There was a little riot in Egypt that makes the "Occupy Wall Street" movement look like a pickup football game
• Apparently, people start running for president more than a year before the actual election.

I kid a little - I'm not a COMPLETE ignoramus, and I'd heard bits and pieces about all the above. The point still stands that I have next to no idea WHAT is going on in the world today outside of what's reported by The Daily Planet (Hot Tip: The Daily Planet doesn't actually exist).

So I've spent the last few days actively looking up news. It's weird, and I'm not quite sure I'm understanding EVERYTHING going on. It's like I've started watching a new television show halfway through the season, and I don't know who the characters are yet.

(I'm pretty sure that's a sad and telling metaphor I've chosen to employ.)

Anyway, I'm sticking to this whole "news" thing for a while. I mean, I'm an alleged adult now (at least, that's what my driver's license tells me). Guess it's time to stay informed.

NaNoWriMo: November 2 Update

Words Written Last Night: 1,101
Total Words Written: 2,847
Percent of Final Goal: 5.7%

Notes: Wednesdays were always the hard days last year. I work a full eight-hour day which I follow up with a three-hour improv workshop. Add an hour of travel time, and my day’s pretty much shot. I’m actually pleased that I was able to get any writing at all done last night, even if it was 500 words short of the daily goal.

My first day of writing could have been far more productive than it was, but I spent about an hour reading up on poker techniques on Wikipedia (it was research for the story, don’t worry). I’m coming to realize that, for my topic this year, there’s a LOT more I need to learn. I’ve decided not to worry about it now, but I’m keeping a list of things I want to read up on after the month is over so I can get a better idea of how to incorporate these subjects into my story. Already, my list includes poker, knitting, and pedophilia…

My book may be a little messed up. Just warning you all now.

Why I'm Still Single 39

Literary theory did some strange things to my poor little undergraduate mind. I stopped taking movies at face value, refused to read anything that couldn't be found on a college syllabus somewhere, and considered myself a war criminal in the battle of the sexes.

NaNoWriMo: November 1 Update

Words Written Last Night: 1,746
Total Words Written: 1,746
Percent of Final Goal: 3%

Notes: A bit of a struggle, but the first day counts as a success – I got just about as much writing done as I was supposed to.

Last year, I wrote from an outline – I hopped around to whichever part of the story I felt most like writing. This year… I’m not doing that. I decided to try letting the plot evolve more organically, writing from beginning to end. I have a couple of characters in mind, and a couple of plot points and images that I’ll be writing towards, but no real concrete scenes. Also, I have no premeditated conclusion. I have NO IDEA how this story is going to end, and that’s… kind of exciting.

I forgot to mention yesterday that I’ve added an element to the NaNoWriMo process this year that I didn’t include last year – a media fast. I’m not indulging in ANY superfluous electronic entertainment – that means no movies, TV shows, or music (I have allowed myself some classical music to write to, but that’s it) Also, no video games. My time’s a lot less abundant this year than it was last, so these sacrifices may just be necessary for me to even finish the project this year.

Time Once Again For...

That's right, I'm doing the NaNoWriMo thing again. That means I get to shut myself in my apartment and write 50,000 words of a novel - as if I didn't get enough torture last year.

Seriously, as much as I enjoyed doing NaNoWriMo LAST year, I find that I'm lacking the naive excitement that drove me to completing the project in 2010. This year, all I can think about is the sheer volume of work. Seriously, it's a LOT of work, and, from the beginning of the project, it appears to be a bit daunting.

Luckily, I've got a couple people I can keep tabs on (and who will HOPEFULLY return the favor). Last year, I had a friend who was instrumental in keeping me on task, so I'm planning on taking full advantage of that support.

Also, I'm incredibly excited for this year's novel, which I've been wanting to write since the middle of LAST NaNoWriMo...

Alice and Wendy

You might say I'm cheating a bit in picking Alice and Wendy as my NaNo project. After all, the rules say you're supposed to start a novel from scratch, and Alice and Wendy isn't exactly a brand-new concept for me. However, it's been a long poem for the last five years of its existence, so I say this is good.

So, yeah... NaNoWriMo begins NOW. Wish me luck!

Horrorshow: The Last Exorcism

Unlike last Halloween, I haven't been able to watch a whole lot of horror movies this year. I did manage to squeeze in a viewing of The Last Exorcism, which looks like some strange mash-up of The Blair Witch Project, The Exorcist, and, oddly enough, Rosemary's Baby (that, um, may have been a spoiler).

Despite the unoriginal the premise, there's a lot that works in this movie. I got freaked out quite a bit by the creepy atmosphere, and there are a couple of well-executed jump scares. The casting is pretty good, especially Ashley Bell as the possessed girl.

I did get kinda disctracted by some of the casting, though ("Hey, isn't that the guy from that one episode of Burn Notice?").

So the movie's scary enough, but the plot left a LOT to be desired. The whole "Satanic cult impregnates an innocent woman to give birth to the Antichrist" thing felt a little out of place, almost tacked on, like the writers realized they forgot to add the requisite twist ending (However, I STILL felt that the demon impregnation plot is still handled better here than in Rosemary's Baby. Horror purists may commence with the hate).

I guess I can say that I LIKED The Last Exorcism, although I feel little desire to ever watch it again. I'm starting to wonder if horror just isn't my genre - with only one exception (Psycho), I've yet to see any horror movie that I felt drawn to watch again.

Oh, I also saw Charade for the first time this weekend, and now I want to be Carey Grant when I grow up. But that's not scary at all, is it?