A Little Late…

So It’s technically November 2nd now. Big deal. Besides, I’ve been having internet problems all freaking day. Ridiculous, I tell you.

Now, to the main part of my post.

A. I have met my word count for today yesterday. [Again, internet is evil right now.

B. That doesn’t mean I like my beginning, but that’s what December’s for.

C. For some strange reason, the NaNo website won’t load for me. At all. So no official update until after I get some sleep.

Really, this is just a placeholder post until I actually have something to say later.

Countdown [And Vampires]

It’s that time of year again. No, not Halloween.

That’s right: NaNoWriMo is knocking at the door.

Frankly, it can’t start soon enough for me. I’m insanely anxious to start writing. I’ve explored my characters and settings as much as I can without actually writing my novel. I actually think I prepared too much, especially when writing out my character bios. Hopefully this doesn’t come back to haunt me.

In other news, I carved a pumpkin. But not just any pumpkin, oh no. That would be too easy. If you’ve heard of the musical [title of show], you’ve heard of the song Die Vampire Die!. To quote, “a vampire is any person or thought or feeling that stands between you and your creative self-expression”. It mentions three kinds of such vampires, the last being the vampire of despair.

It’ll wake you up at 4 am to say things like:
“Who do you think you’re kidding?”
“You look like a fool.”
“No matter how hard you try, you’ll never be good enough.”
Why is it that if some dude walked up to me on the subway platform
And said these things, I’d think he was a mentally ill asshole,
But if the vampire inside my head says it,
It’s the voice of reason?

So, I carved a physical representation of my vampire of despair [pictures will be posted later]. For two days I carved its nasty crooked mouth with its sharp vicious teeth, all while its yellow flaming eyes glared at me. Mocking me.

But no more. For on November 1st, I will destroy my vampire. I will smash him up so bad that you’ll never be able to tell he was anything other than pumpkin pie filling. I will toss him out with the garbage.

And I will take pictures to post over my computer screen to remind me that I am a vampire slayer. If I can do that, then I can sure as hell write a novel in 30 days.

Mapping Time

With my Halloween costume completed [for the most part], I can now move on to “more important” matters.

Mainly, working out the layout of my fictional flying city. I can’t just mesh all my locations together and call it a day, after all. These things take a little more effort than that. I know the layout in my head, but it would be nice to have a physical representation of that hanging over my computer.

Another thing on my to do list is to develop my villains. I’ve given my heroes all the attention they need [though they claim otherwise], but what are the heroes without a well-developed villain? All I know about my main villain is that when you boil him down to his most basic skeleton, he’s just a guy that wants to sell the most booze. Is that really so wrong?

Well, it is if you’re willing to kill for that goal…but that’s another topic for another time.

A little more research is also in order. I can obviously take some creative license with the technology of the time [which I intend to do so], but a little history lesson wouldn’t hurt to help solidify the foundations of those technological breakthroughs.

One week left. So much to do, so little time.

It’s a Magic Trick!

I came to a not-so-surprising conclusion today. In fact, the only thing surprising was that I hadn’t thought of it before.

I like sitting outside when I write, especially if I’m not at home. Most of the noisy people are inside because they hate being out in nature for more than five minutes, so it gives me plenty of peace and quiet to work. And now, it’s getting chilly around here [an odd phenomenon, considering I live in a state known for being hotter than Hell’s kitchen almost all year round], which means I can bust out my cute little winter hats and jackets and scarves and gloves.

There’s just one little problem. I hate having my fingers covered while I write. It always disrupts the flow of my thoughts to my fingertips. I can’t just let my hands freeze and fall off [I’d never win at that rate], but I can’t be stopping every few minutes to slip some gloves on and off.

So I just took my cheapest pair and snipped all the fingers off. Ta-da! I’m so magical, am I not?

So now I’m even preparing what I’m going to wear on November 1st. That doesn’t sound normal. Maybe it’s just because I’m bored.

System Overload

Have you ever had an idea for a novel that would be perfect for NaNo? You know how it feels, then. You put it aside, do your worldbuilding, develop your characters, and especially work out the plot. Unless you’re a seat-of-your-pantser. Then you don’t know how it feels. You might have it worse, actually. You go in completely unaware of what you’re writing, just making it up as you go.

But I digress. You have that perfect novel idea. It’s all planned out. You might even be able to relax a bit right before November is upon you.

BAM.

You’re immediately bombarded by ten more novel ideas, all wanting your attention. Instead of thinking of a great floating steampunk city in the 1920s, you’re thinking about a dance group that starts the zombie apocalypse [an idea that you got from a Starz commercial, no less]. Perhaps your mind is thinking steampunk, but somehow mixing it with that Doctor Who episode you love so much where they’re going back and forth between dream and reality. And then there are the random conversations with your best friend that end up sparking all those fanfiction ideas. Not to mention that one story based off the Vocaloid franchise. Vocaloid, of all things!

The only good that will come of this is something to write when you get writer’s block, especially since some of these are just too ridiculous to ever really work [dancing zombies don’t work outside Michael Jackson videos].

Please tell me others have had this problem. I really want to know I’m not alone. I’d say I’d like to know I’m not insane, but that is up for debate.

Break Time

It’s not even November yet and my brain is already threatening to boil over. Clearly, I need to take a break from planning my novel. What better way to do that than to plan out my Halloween costume?

Because nothing says “taking a break from plotting my steampunk novel” like planning a steampunk costume. Except steampunk is cheap. Really cheap. As in, you can run to Goodwill and get all the crap you need for $10. So when costumes cost $50+ these days, it makes sense for a poor unemployed college student to make her own costume. Who knows, maybe I can incorporate it in a future novel.

I’d use the design in this current one, but 1920s steampunk is not 1890s steampunk. Fashion evolves. And one of my minor characters would be offended if they were forced to wear something so out of style.

A Helpful List

In just a little over two weeks, the most hectic month of my year will begin. I’ve heard it’s best to write your goals down somewhere. It makes them appear more concrete and you’re more likely to follow through. Let’s see…

November Checklist:

1. – Write my 50K+ novel for NaNo
2. – Continue to pass my classes in college
3. – Somehow find time to celebrate my birthday
4. – Somehow find time to celebrate Thanksgiving
5. – Get a job in order to afford that nice trip my friend and I are planning

I can already feel my brain crying out in protest. But then my characters invade my precious head-space once again and manage to make it shut up. Of course, they immediately start up their own chorus of protests, mostly about how I clearly don’t understand any of them or the plot beyond the barest structure. Why am I not focusing on their needs? I shouldn’t blog, I should write! Who cares if it’s not November yet? Just hurry up, you silly old bird! On and on and on and on and –

I think I need my head examined.