NaNoWriMo 2011

Decided to do it this year with a fanfic, the only orignal story idea I have is the one that crashed last year along with my computer. Plus the world needs more Spider-Girl stuff (What, me crazy fan? Not at all!)

Aw, Kel, that scarf is awesome. I wish I could do stuff like that. How did the monster booties go over at the baby shower? (I know, that was awhile ago)

Well, I'm in NaNo, and I feel like I'm ready to go. I think. I'm worried. Hopefully I make the word count and finish in time. If it's any good at the end, I'll put it up online.

Mine is kind of an urban fantasy for grown-ups. See, the United States is a nation of immigrants, right? Well, what I want is the idea that with the people came their stories, so now we have a blend of that culture as well, mixing in with the First Nations legends that were here first, and the European and African legends that came next, plus the later additions of Asian and Middle Eastern legends. I want them to be kind of clashing and unfamiliar with one another, some integrated into human society, and some choosing to live as isolated as possible. And I took away the immortality, while changing some of the abilities, with the idea that over time, humans made them more fantastic than they really are.

The main characters are a djinn named Samil who is a recent immigrant. He's integrated into human society, but desperate for some interaction with his own kind. He finds a "wood-wife" (A Scandinavian forest spirit), and manages to strike up a friendship. He wonders why a forest-based spirit is living in a city, but mostly just enjoys the education she gives him. She knows the city well, and teaches him about the different factions. Mostly, it's a love letter to Baltimore, where it takes place. I'm kind of writing it in the vein of the Dangerous Angels series by Francesca Lia Block.

As for conflict, the thing is, wood-wives were part of the Wild Hunt. They could expect to be hunted down during every one, and the tradition has carried over the Atlantic. Whoever catches her gets to "keep her", essentially. Samil is disgusted by the very idea of not having your own choices.

I kind of want the idea to be about growing up, and making adult decisions. "Destiny" isn't real, and the idea that someone can be a prize is insulting. In the end, you should be where you are happiest, even if its not the fairy tale ending everyone was expecting.

I'm going to try it this year. Since this contest has no real standards I can try to (finally) write an X-Men fic. It's my first time but it still seems pretty fun

Lapin, that sounds really, really cool.

Decided this morning to do another novel. I'm now two days and more words then I want to know behind. Why do I do these things?

This morning, I was torn between wanting to write a fanfic and needing to work on my novel. So what did I do?

I started writing a little piece where Kurt and Blaine are attending the elite magic school in the world of my novel. At least one of the novel characters has already shown up, and we'll probably be seeing more.

Hey, it got me over the 6000-word mark. Plus if I get stuck in the novel, I can go work in the fanfic for a while.

Grats on your progress! I too hit the 6K mark today. If I can keep up this pace, if we both can, we'll be done a week before the end of November.

I just reached 25,000 words. I've never written this fast in my life. I think it has something to do with the fact that I should be working on my thesis...

Wow, grats! Here I thought I was moving fast... :O

Amazing, Naomi! Keep up the good work!

Writing some fantasy nonsense that started as a fanfic several years ago. I'd planned on developing it further for a while, but life happened and I just haven't gotten around to it. I actually took a step back since I was having character development issues and started writing a prequel to the stuff that used to be a fanfic. It's complicated.

Also, despite the fact that my inspiration is Welsh bardic lore, I officially can't use the name "Bronwyn" unless I wanna create some sort of Sue parody. I mentioned that when I brought up this fanfic but apparently, that "her toes were snails" chick was also named Browyn.

And done! This draft sucks and no one's going to see it but that's OK.

I just finished and validated myself, 50055 words. Not quite as many as I wanted, but enough to win. Wooo!

I completely ignored it without feeling the slightest bit guilty this time, and it feels amazing.

Woohoo! Finished! After falling a bit behind, no less.

I finished, despite having no time to write. It has literally been written on bus rides to and from work / uni / Scouts / other work. Yay!

Mine was an urban fantasy for young adults, to counterpoint Lapin. It's set in Nottingham because our arboretum was the inspiration for Neverland. And Nottingham has a Guild of Magic. And Robin Hood. And, clearly, Byron was an incubus.

I didn't find my notes until the 27th. So no NaNo for me. Meh, I might declare some random month as ~fakeNovember and do it later.

I got three days in, realised I hadn't done anything, and went back to playing Dwarf Fortress and posting on the forums (I wonder what my posting word count was for the month). Maybe January, I work in retail and it's a quiet month for us.