Day #24 of a Meme.

Day 24 → Whatever tickles your fancy

NaNoWriMo...why not? It's what my life has been wrapped around lately. So far this year, I've been told I'm: crazy, obsessed, beyond obsessed, and completely weird for writing three novels in all this year, let alone doing NaNoWriMo at all. My Dad's been telling me every day he's going to put "this NaNo thing to end!" So far, it has not been put to an end.
Three novels...that is 150,000 words in all. In one month. That's 5,000 words per day. Okay, so maybe it is a little crazy. I just wanted to see if I could do it. The first year I won, I managed to complete 50,000 days by Thanksgiving. My second year, I set out to write a one novel, but 100,000 words long instead of just 50,000. When I reached the 50,000 mark by the 20th, I realized I hated my story. So, with just ten days left of the month, I decided to write another novel 50,000 words, hoping that it would turn out better. And I did it. I wrote 100,000 words that year. I reached the 100,000 mark a couple hours before the midnight deadline on November 30th, 2009.
So, this year, I wanted to challenge myself even more...so I added on another 50,000, raising the bar to 150,000.

I'm actually finding it much easier than I thought it would be. 5,000 does seem like a lot to write per day...but I have a system. I'm writing three novels. So, one day I'll write 5,000+ words in one novel, the next day it'll be the next novel, and the next day the third novel...and so on over and over in that pattern. So every three days I return to the first novel, which by then I'll have figured out the next step in the story. It really does make it much easier to get so many words per day.
However, I do not think this is my best year story-wise. I am not impressed with my stories, and while I have fallen in love with several new characters, the stories are starting to grate on my nerves a bit on just the eighth day of NaNoWriMo. I know I will need to turn them around and figure out something to fall in love with them again, before I go absolutely crazy and decide to start them all over again.

Every year during NaNoWriMo, I rediscover just how competitive I can be. I set a word goal for myself each day, and if I do not reach that goal, then I become very crabby and very disappointed in myself. For instance, yesterday, I wanted to get 10,000 words written, reaching the 45,000 word mark, but it just did not happen. The halfway mark was easy enough, but after that, it went much more slowly. I managed to squeeze out another 3,000, but after that I just could not handle any more writing. Try staring at the computer screen all day with my eye sight and you'll understand. I gave myself a two hour break from writing, but it didn't help. By eight, I finally gave up trying to write, and decided to try relaxing (not that that worked either...I couldn't help but feel so disappointed that I could not even write 10,000 words in one day. Like I said, I am competitive. Too much for my own good, apparently.).

Today, my word goal is 7,000 words, but it's staff meeting at work tonight, so we shall see how much I can get accomplished before work, then after the staff meeting.

And what are my novels about? Well, like I said, there are three...and they are all mysteries. Again, another obsession of mine. Heh. It's not so much that I'm obsessed with mysteries, (I am, but that's not exactly the reason I chose all mysteries) but also that I find mysteries much easier to write than a normal novel. Normally, for NaNoWriMo, I just think up a brief plot and start writing with that. This year, I came a bit more prepared. I wrote down an outline of the plot, I listed a bunch of clues for my "detectives" to find, I wrote down a cast list, I made sure I had a solution for the mystery written down for each novel. I knew WHO the "bad guy" was, WHAT he or she did, WHY he or she did what they did, WHEN they did it, HOW they did it, and WHERE they did it.

(Note just to add: Titles are not definite, set in concrete. They may and will most likely be changed to suit the stories better once they are completed.)

It Ends in Murder: A Mark & Karrie Mystery: Book #3 in my Mark & Karrie series. (Book #4 was written last year...yeah, long story.) Set in Boston, Massachusetts during WWII, Mark & Karrie are a young couple, who team up together as a private detective team. In this particular mystery a few things were changed from the plans I drew up beforehand. Originally the mystery surrounded Mark's young cousin, then a young friend of his, but eventually it ended up being a complete stranger to Mark, but a good friend to Karrie's cousin Reggie.
Amelia Daniels is training to be a nurse at Boston City Hospital. She befriends a young woman who was in an accident in a factory at the Boston Naval Shipyard, where ships are repaired during WWII. As the woman recovers, Amelia bonds with her. Something is troubling the young woman, and finally she confides in Amelia with a secret that has been haunting her. The very next day, the woman is released from the hospital before Amelia can ask her any more questions. And when Amelia goes to the woman's apartment, she finds her dead. She cannot go to the police with the secret, so she calls Mark Ingleford for help instead, having heard about him from Reggie. She arranges a meeting with him, so that she can tell him what she knows. But she never shows up, and when Mark and Karrie investigate, they find she has disappeared altogether while another murder occurs. It's up to them to solve the mystery and find Amelia before she too is killed.

Snapshots
This is my modern-day mystery. Hayden Cooley is a young woman who goes off to school with her best friend. They share an apartment together, and are just starting to enjoy college-life when Hayden's world is turned upside down. As an introvert, she already finds it hard to deal with change. One day, she discovers an envelope full of candid photographs pushed under her apartment door. All of the pictures are of herself. First suspecting the young man from her photography class who just so happens to have a crush on her, Hayden puts it out of her mind. Until a week later when another envelope is shoved under her door. This time, the photographs are Polaroids of her inside her apartment...taken only minutes before being shoved under her door. Someone is stalking her, and she has no idea why.

Drawn to Death: An Eliora & Simon Mystery
Set in London & Eastborne, England in the late 1800s/early 1900s, my story is about twenty-year-old Eliora Gayle. Her mother died when she was very young, so she grew up with only a wealthy father for family. He, however, dies unexpectedly, and Eliora finds her new guardian to be her father's younger brother, the uncle she hasn't seen since she was a little girl. She must remain under her uncle's guardianship until her twenty-first birthday, when she is to become "of age" and inherit all of her father's wealth. Eliora is an obstinate, headstrong young woman, who embraces her new family. Her uncle is married to a widow, who had one son from her previous marriage. Simon...Eliora's step-cousin...is her total opposite, with his cheerful, laid back, and easy going nature. In spite of their differences, they become good friends. The mystery begins when Eliora begins to receive suitors. Each time a suitor comes to call, the poor young men are killed in horrible accidents only a day or so later. People begin to call Eliora a jinx, and meanwhile, Eliora cannot just pass the deaths off as accidents. It is too much of a coincidence for her to accept. With Simon's help, she is determined to find out the truth behind the deaths, and no one is going to stand in her way.


Maybe I make it sound like I don't find NaNoWriMo that difficult at all, but that's absolutely not true! NaNoWriMo is an enormous challenge! I have to literally push myself to actually write every single day. It calls for late nights, leaving you tiiiiiiiiiired, and it calls for you to actually THINK. Writing 5,000, even 1000 every single day is not so easy, especially if you've got writer's block! You're forced to stop and mull over your story...to try to get past the boring spots, you're forced to think through things and look at your story from different angles, trying to figure out which scenario would benefit your story the most. You can't just sit down and write. You have to know what you're going to write to actually get any writing done! And some days, your brain just does not want to think anymore! Here are some things I do to get my words done for the day:

Sam's Personal Crazy NaNo Tips (aka SPCNT):

QUOTES. You cannot begin to imagine how much of a help quotes can be! I will keep a note book or my laptop handy while watching movies, that way if I hear a quote I love or think is especially hilarious, I'll jot it down onto a list...and whenever I have writer's block in my story, I can go to my list, choose a quote and challenge myself to work it into my story somehow. This REALLY helps in getting past the writer's block, and yes, NaNo DOES allow it!

BREAKS. It is very important for me to get up, step away from my computer, and just walk around for a few minutes every hour or so. Otherwise, my eyes will start to glaze over and I get tired more quickly. Don't follow my example and be so competitive that you push yourself to the point of a migraine! Get up, get a drink, go for a walk, practice the piano for a little bit, read a book, eat a snack, go shower...do what it takes to clear your head a bit and relax your body.

HOTPACK. My new best friend. I don't know about any one else, but I find when I get wrapped up into my stories, I sit hunched over my laptop, my shoulders getting VERY tense as the mystery progresses. I get too involved with my stories, let's just say. *wink* So believe me, a hotpack is VERY welcome after a long day of writing!

WORD WARS. These things are amazing. What is a word war exactly? Well, it's where two people get together, and decide to challenge each other in writing. Set a timer for a certain amount of time (my friends and I usually stick to a 5-10 min. time period), and as soon as it starts, you both write like crazy in your story. When the timer beeps, you both count up how many words you wrote in that time, and whoever has written the most words has won the "Word War". This is also another great way to get past writer's block, as it challenges you to think of a solution much more quickly. So what if what you write is extremely silly? The point of NaNoWriMo is NOT to get quality but QUANTITY.

QUANTITY NOT QUALITY. Again, to repeat what I just said...NaNo is NOT about quality...it's not about writing a best-seller! It's merely a challenge to write as MUCH as you can in one month! It is about QUANTITY. So don't waste your time worrying about how much your story stinks! Forget about a good story...just write, write, write like crazy!

MOOD MUSIC. Music is one of my highest inspiration sources. It sets the mood for me, and really helps me set my scenes. I'm finding dark-sounding/epic-sounding soundtracks to be the genre of music for me this year. Trust me, it really helps with the mysteries!

SURPRISE. Whenever I get stuck in my stories, I just throw in an extra loop to my mystery...another murder is very popular with me, it seems. It really does give a TON of words and helps you get past the slums. But it doesn't necessarily have to be a murder. It could be a totally different kind of clue discovered by the detective. It could be a brand new character appearing on the scene. It could be the murderer actually confessing ahead of time! It could be a piano falling out of a window! It could be a duck flying by and hitting a window. It could be a crab latching onto the pant leg of my MC! It could be literally anything. The crazier the BETTER.

LONG CONVERSATIONS. Another fav. of mine...looooong, weird, crazy, stupid, silly, funny conversations between my characters. They may not make much sense, but in a way they give off the personalities of the characters, lighten up the stories, and make it actually fun to write! Arguments are great...you get to just go back and forth, back and forth with the characters for a while.

ENJOY THIS. Like I've said repeatedly, I am way too competitive. So, I know too well what it's like to get way too caught up in being MAJORLY serious over this contest. And that's NOT the point of NaNo. NaNo is not about being serious! Sure, NaNo is about being discliplined and dedicated to writing every day...but it's not meant to be a chore! It's supposed to be FUN. Don't ever get too caught up in being too serious about writing to ever let it become a chore instead of fun. Yeah, some days you're going to hate your story, and not feel like writing. Don't SWEAT it. And yeah, while pushing yourself is a good thing...don't become obsessed about it. Just sit down, think of something fun to add to your story, think of something different that will help you get the words down. Relax and enjoy this time to the fullest!

BE CRAZY. Yes. Be crazy. Go all out with your story. Do the unexpected. Love what you write. Love the craziness. Embrace the craziness. It only happens once a year!

And here I am rambling on and on about NaNo in a post when I really should be writing. Haha. Here I go! 43,000 words down, 107,000 to go. Happy writing, peeps.