Blank Pages

This is also going to be a complaints list to my muses.

• My villains keep changing. First it was a God, then it was the dad, then it was the sister, then the mother, and now it’s the manservant with a hint to it being the God in the end. OI. Make up your minds!
• Sleep deprivation is the reason why that voyeur dirty old men scene is in the novel. Which I don’t think I’ll remove. It turned out to be a pretty sweet scene. :)
• The little girl has a proper name now and she is turning out to be very sweet and a really nice child. Though she does tend to be a bit too passive. I’m not sure if she’s ok for a five year old who’s been taken hostage by her nanny.
• Speaking of nanny, I’m not sure how to write the current villain. On one hand, he’s quite passive. On the other, there seems to be a completely different side of him when he reveals his identity. I’M NOT SURE HOW TO WRITE YOU, HALF-HUMAN LICH.
• Also liches are cold. Like, literally cold. I wonder if that’s why Daramiri likes Illyra so much, she’s like a walking airconditioner. /is smacked by muse
• Previous point: Ow

Ok back to writing.

Original entry as appearing at Ink to Screen.

“A liar’s smile is at its bitterest at its truest lie.”

Original entry as appearing at Ink to Screen.

Dear Characters

Thank you for appearing in my headspace. Now can I have some names to go along with the faces please? Thank you.

No love
Me.

PS: Sukina, Naoko, I hold the two of you responsible. SO GET! >(

Edited: And right after that they suggest the names themselves! Girls, excellent work.

Tongs usually are.

You don’t say. *snicker*

And you WOULD make the megane chracter the “Little Dark One,” wouldn’t you? *Facepalms

*angelic smile* We know what you like.

*face in hands*

Original entry as appearing at Ink to Screen.

Found this gem while going through the old Nano Blog:

Ebert: Actually, maybe I can help you. There is nothing you don’t “get” because there is nothing to get. You are the writer. What you write is what is written. It is exactly right because it is exactly what you wrote. If someone else doesn’t think so, fuck ‘em. There is no objective goal, no objective right or wrong. Only the process. Your mind will set itself down in words. Do not criticize. Do not look back at every sentence. Just write. You have no idea where you are headed. Your words will lead you. This above all: Nothing is ever completed until it is started. Start. Don’t look back. If at the end it doesn’t meet your hopes, start again.

Now you know more about your hopes.

Original entry as appearing at Ink to Screen.

Ahem!

Excuse me. Inner Editor Angie here. There’s been quite a few things the girl has been writing (HEY!) that frankly, doesn’t quite meet my standards. Now, considering that this is Nanowrimo we’re talking about AND that the child is actually making effort to write a coherent and concrete story for once, I’m going to let it slide. However, there are some things that need to be revisited AFTER this draft is done, so here’s a list for you. Now, don’t make that face at me. If you’re going to ignore me for an entire MONTH just so you can get the story out, then you bet your pretty little Mokona I’m going to make sure you actually EDIT the bloody thing after Nano.

Things to note:

• Time frame between first and second gen. 200 years seems enough for at least six, not three generations. Get that cleared up.
• Naoko needs a knife in that rempit scene. You know which one I’m talking about.
• The T in TGP needs clarification. Right now it looks like a Mary Sue
• ALL action scenes need to be revisited. PRONTO.
• Disposable characters much?

And this is just for the FIRST 25k words. I look forward to editing the rest. Ehehehe. *evil laugh*

(The author, as you can guess, is whimpering now).

Side note: MEME DELAYED TILL THE WEEKEND!

Original entry as appearing at Reach Into Your Soul.

Stuff I need to write/edit:

1. Edit Nanonovels
Book 1: Key’s Twilight needs editing. It is also sitting on Zoho Writer because apparently GDocs can’t handle documents with more than 114,000 words. It’s over 512kb apparently. Basically it needs to be edited for flow, grammar check and spelling. Book 2: Key’s Kiss requires completion. At 53,000, it’s nowhere near done. I still need to actually get to the END of the books. And decide if I wanna make this year’s Nanonovel all about finishing the Key Trilogy.

2. Write Celefina
I have the ending, I have the opening. Now I need to actually write their stories. There’s five parts to this book and the setting is half inspired by Shadow of Colossus and Prince of Persia the movie (shows how bad the movie is that I want to rewrite the entire thing). I can get through the prologue, but the first arc is already making me go bwuH?

3. Begin Shieri
Interesting character that popped into the head one day. I may base her on a friend, because she seems to take quite a lot of personality traits from that friend. Including the sensitivity to spirits. 8D And the sex appeal. XD

Original entry as appearing at Reach Into Your Soul.

Primordial Sound meditation, is in essence, the idea of going back to the gap in your mind. We have thousands of thoughts in a day; this noise runs through our minds and is in a way, the indication that we are conscious. The thoughts may not make sense, nor may they be coherent, but they are still thoughts otherwise.

What we rarely think about, if we do at all, is the gap between each thought. Take a breath, close your eyes, and ask yourself, "What is my next thought going to be?"

…

……..

Did you catch that?

That small, tiny, almost-invisible gap between one thought and the next?

Yes, that’s the gap between your thoughts.

In that single gap, that space to breathe, is where limitless potential resides. It’s a moment of the Cosmos, of the Universe. I don’t know about you, but for me, that one single moment gives me a glimpse of eternity. Of unbridled freedom. Of simply being.

Now that’s a thought to take away.

Original entry as appearing at Reach Into Your Soul.

Thanks to LadySeishou for finding the actual quote and otter_nanowrimo on Dreamwidth for mentioning it:

Yeah, well, the inspiration of a new story is exciting. But if you wind up not finishing ninety percent of what you start, guess what happens. After a few years you’ll have written 100 beginnings, 40 middles, and only 10 endings. Which means you’ll be great at writing beginnings, only so-so at middles, and you’ll suck at endings. Which means you will almost certainly keep faltering between the middle and the end of every story, which means you’ll keep giving up and not finishing . . . Rinse, repeat.

And that’s a hole you don’t want to fall into. So finish, even if you know this story isn’t going to win you the Nobel Prize—it’s good practice to type THE END.

It’s a great writing tip from Scott Westerfield.

Original entry as appearing at Reach Into Your Soul.

One of the highlights of Nanowrimo for me has always been the Pep Talks. These are the things that keep me sane, that assure me that I’m not alone doing this crazy push to 50,000 words.

This year’s Pep Talks, even the ones by Nanowrimo founder Chris Baty, have taken some time to sink in. Sure, most of the time they apply to newbies and those who are stuck, but they haven’t talked to me yet.

Not until Maureen Johnson’s. She puts wonderfully into words what I could not describe before this, that the Middle, where the books and drafts are actually written, are addictive.

I’ll leave you with the bits that made me wonderfully happy, and you can read the full Pep Talk here. Happy writing!

And once you’ve crossed The Middle once or twice and you’re lounging on the other side, you’ll find you miss it. You’ll realize you long to be out there again, under the sky and the stars. The weather changes a lot in the middle. Some days, the skies are dark and it’s hard to find your way forward. Those days are long and little progress is made. Some days, it’s strangely bright and clear, and suddenly you can see the horizon ahead, and dozens of possible paths present themselves to you. But every day is different, and every day there is a new way to go and a new thing to see.

Original entry as appearing at Reach Into Your Soul.

Was writing this in a darkened room (my bedroom) on Q10 when my word war alarm beeped and I jumped. Here, have a laugh:

Ta’Lern turned the door’s knob. To his surprise, it turned easily. He looked up at Raishan in surprise. Now they both knew something was wrong; Marissa always locked the door, mainly because it gave her that extra warning time when Renami’s visits were imminent. Though it had been years since they had met, she did it anyway. And she would have never left the door unanswered for this long either. The two brothers came to a consensus fairly quickly; Ta’Lern kicked the door opened.

The smell assaulted them.

Air escaped from the confines of the house out into the open, bringing with it the smell of rotting flesh and so much more. It was at least five days old. Even before their eyes adjusted to the darkness, Ta’Lern and Raishan knew what they would find, having been brought up to kill and on the battlefields. The only question was whose bodies were there.

“Annwn, they’re dead,” Raishan took out a handkerchief and covered his nose.

He followed Ta’Lern in. Stopping by the frame of the door, he used the edge of the gun to switch on the lights. The lights flickered and then came to life. As they did, he heard skitterings in front of him and realised what it was.

There were rodents and other stuff on the floor. Blood was everywhere, on the walls, on the floors, and on the furniture. It looked like someone had tried to pain the hallway red using the blood from the three bodies on the floor. They had been clawed to death, innards, limbs, everything was everywhere.

Annwn did not step in, but merely watched from where she was. She made a retching sound; the siblings were still not used to smelling such rotteness no matter how many times they were exposed to it. It was not something to be proud of.

“Three days,” Ta’Lern was squatting down to one of the three bodies. He was examining the woman closest to them.

It looked like a man and woman had been fleeing from the door when it caught them. From the moment of impact, they were dead. Their backs faced them, their spines exposed. Just to be sure, Ta’Lern used the edge of his gun to turn the woman over. The grotesques and bloated face of Marissa was looking at them. Her eyes were closed though, and Ta’Lern pointed to her neck; she had been killed by a snapped neck, which was a quick and painless death at least.

Raishan walked over to his brother, using his boots to turn the body next to the female over onto his back. This one had a look of horror on his face, with his eyes bulging out. In front, there was a slash across his neck, but from experience, they knew it was not enough to kill a person. No, that one had been for torture.

If the wounds on the front of the man was any indication, he had suffered long. Raishan could not say that he was unhappy about it. The chain the man wore was Renami’s favourite. His coat was tattered, and there were self-defense wounds all over him; Renami had fought for his life.

Original entry as appearing at Reach Into Your Soul.