Friday, October 22, 2010

NaNo Prep (#11)

So, ladies and gentlemen, this post will be different than the others I've posted before.

(Sorry this isn't about Angela this time, but I fully intend to catch back up with her at a later time.)

NaNoWriMo is swift approaching! As I am planning and thinking, plotting and internally drafting, I have come to realize that while my story has a PLOT, it does not have anything necessary to fulfill said plot.

This issue was brought to my conscious mind today (earlier is better, I still have a week-ish to sort this out) and I can't get it out of my head now that the thought has arrived. This is a very light reference to Inception, so you might get it if you've seen it, if not, you may not get it anyway. lol.

Back to the point! There is an infamous Dr. Jack Price, and "Pedro," the nickname of Jamal Bartholomew Rutherford Swalinsky (or something like that). Pedro has a twin (male? probably.) Twin is missing. No one knows why. Pedro has his own resources, which might seem shady but really aren't. Pedro has done all in his power to find his twin, and has continuously failed.

The PROBLEM here, is that I don't know where the twin is. Its like playing "Where in the world is Carmen SanDiego" with myself. Its not only boring, but its irritating because I don't know the answer.

I have a feeling that once I determine where Twin is, whether or not he was kidnapped and by whom, (is that correct? gah, who and whom! i shake my fist at thee!) and from there whether or not he is safely recovered that all else will fall beautifully into place.

However, I know that is almost never the case when it comes to writing a story, and that one tiny (yet power-packed word) can change an entire story.

I'm not worried about not having a story at all, but on bigger projects like this I am mostly concerned with having great material all bubbling away in the pot, but not having a spoon to stir with, or not having bowls to serve it in. If that makes sense. As it should.

Sunday is one of two kick off parties this weekend for NaNo, and they are asking me to be able to more or less "sum up" my story into a sentence. A daunting task in itself, though not impossible. I am left feeling even more overwhelmed because I have a dangling plot line that is attached to nothing.

Its time to get serious for this. I need to know what I'm about to launch myself into. And once November first hits, at midnight, I will need to be able to not back down from what I've started. There is no changing lanes halfway down the road. I have to stay in the space I've chosen.

Another obstacle: Life tends to do what it wants, with you in it. I have (roughly) calculated that I need to write between 2500 and 3000 words a day MINIMUM or I will not make the goal of 50K for the competition. This is all fine and good, and with some practice, I know the time it takes and how much space on the comp. screen I am using with that amount of text. Yet I am nervous slightly about the fact that I am not currently writing that many words per day, and that sometimes I can only manage about 1500, or on very slow days, around 730. While word amounts may not mean much to some in the audience, the count is crucial. If I do not keep up with the count, I will not succeed.

This is make or break. Its game time and I've got my elbow pads on. Maybe I should prep my wrist brace just in case... Which makes me wonder if I should buy one for my left hand too... Hm.

Perhaps I'm overanalyzing. The snobby part of my brain says I'm better off being prepared and getting the willies out now, before the crunch begins.

Another obstacle: I am due to work an overnight shift on Halloween (which is fine) but it means that I cannot start right at midnight, that I will have to wait til daytime. And I'll probably be working the overnight on the first as well, so that *may* set me back at the beginning. I am also currently job searching, because 16 hours a week just doesn't cut it, and certainly doesn't make that fancy piece of paper with BA on it feel truly earned.

Alas, I feel I am rambling onto tangents unknown, and I feel that I should cease this behavior. Hm. Perhaps I shall write a beginning scene for the NaNo story... knowing there is no way I could crank out 50,000 words in a week, I'll not consider it cheating, lol.

Off I go!

2 comments:

  1. This is going to get rough, potentially, so we should encourage one another. I have some Twin location suggestions, also. Also also, I love you bunchies!

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  2. after tonight, i can see where the roughness begins. After talking with alex, i think we should try again with the same group next week (if i'm not working, but i probably will be). perhaps we can find worthy peeps in the same cluster. also, i might be doing away with the twin concept. :D in order to lay down something better. also also, i love you too!!!!!!

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