Becca Stareyes

The novel is maybe half done -- the major conflict has been resolved, but the heroes have stumbled on a new conspiracy.

Now, to get back on my to do list. And to clean my apartment.

Eh, tomorrow...

(Thanksgiving was fun -- a meal with twenty-three people and a crazy amount of food, plus music and singing afterward.)

The NaNo auto word-counter (the one that validates that you indeed wrote 50,000 words and links you to the winner page where you get a button and a printable certificate) is more generous about words than my writing program. Not by much -- a difference of maybe 200 words in a 30,000 word passage -- but enough that it boosted my mood. Browsing on the forum shows that Word and OpenOffice users are having the opposite problem -- special characters like em-dashes and curly quotes apparently mess up their ability to count words, so they give more words than the NaNo site.

I also made my 30K, which means I'm only a day down. I could either do a hard day's writing tonight again, or just make sure I'm setting my daily goal to 2,000 instead of 1,700.

Plus, I'm getting a free lunch out -- the speaker today is taking us to the Mediterranean restaurant instead of letting the department buy us all pizza.

I am learning that I'm less happy with my original fiction than my fanfiction when NaNoveling. As is, I think I'm going to be just writing the first half of a novel -- I'll get to a solution, but really it's not all of the story, and I'll have to keep going, and weave some of my threads back in. I might try the 90-day novel community on Insanejournal (except it's dead) instead for original fiction in the future, and stick to using NaNo as an excuse to write longer fanfiction work, where 50,000 words gets me a lot more. (The 90-day novel is 750 words a day for 90 days. Even then, this might run short -- the writing every day thing does work for me, and keeps me from spending most of my evenings goofing off on the interwebs).

But, after this I have a fanfiction to write for Yuletide, and probably other obligations that I've forgotten about.

So, normally I worry about my second attempt at any challenge, or my first attempt after my first success. Because usually the first time I succeed I do so without really expecting to -- it's either 'I keep trying and one day I'll make it' or 'wow, did it on the first shot!'. Second time I'm cocky and overconfident going in, and I end up not being careful and screwing myself over.

Unfortunately for NaNo, it appears this was true on the third attempt, perhaps because my second attempt went so well. I'm still stuck around the mid twenties and want to get 30K tonight, which means essentially turning everything off and writing all evening tonight. A couple of good days (and I can do 3,500 words when uninterrupted for two hours, as that's my normal write-in rate) and I won't have to consider breaking out the emergency Word Count boost I have. (Basically, take a weekend and write 500 words an hour all day.)

There are lots of little things I could have done better -- the first weekend, I didn't get up a good start thanks to Halloween and being sick a couple of days ago is when I turned a treading water novel into one that was heading downhill.

But, I intend to keep going until the 30th, or I get my 50K.

I'll be on IM tonight, and open for word wars, but probably not that chatty otherwise.

First off, nary a day after I give my note about 'Not reading SF until November', Ryan makes a post about how someone got the rights to Red Mars (by Kim Stanley Robinson) and is going to be doing a TV series or miniseries. Ryan mentioned the fact he read the Mars Trilogy in high school when he was just getting into planetary science. So did Briony, another friend (who shares the blog and her advisor with Ryan). So did I.

( So, I had to go out and order all three Mars books, plus the short story book.  )

So, as part of my NaNo prep, I've sworn off SF for the month of October, so that I don't get too much genre leakage as I write. Still reading, just trying not to read anything that will subconsciously take up residence in my brain and come out later. I'm already worried that reading Accelerando fudged things up.

Also, I need a beta reader for a piece of Avatar: the Last Airbender fanfic I wrote. It's Aang-centric and has Katara/Aang, but that's not the focus of the plot.

And, as is traditional, the NaNoWriMo site is already down due to overload. If pattern serves, they'll get it up soon, only to have it down again sometime in early November.

Speaking of, expect worldbuilding snippets to be posted here on the journal. Comments would be nice.

(Also, Ryan from work is also going to be NaNoWriMoing this year. We've been trying to talk other grad students into it. It doesn't work that well.)

Between DPS and trying to get as much non-NaNo things done in October so I can write in November, life will be busy. I already opted out of the October A round of MAX.

No, not 'Never act incautiously around an unarmed, smiling bald old man'; that's the Discworld's Rule #1. My Rule #1 is 'the only way to write is to write'. Meaning that whenever I am just fooling around on the internet thinking 'man, I probably should be writing or drawing something', I should at least open my sketchbook/computer file/notebook and check my to-do list and actually try to work. Because usually it's just the lack of inertia that gets me to procrastinate things. And writing or drawing takes surprisingly little inertia to get me to do, because I like them. If I'm still not in the mood after I stare at things for a while, thats when I can probably assume I really don't want to write or draw right now.

( So, I wrote and draw today. )

Post the first line of your 2510 most recent fics, and look for patterns. (from Othercat@LJ)

( Read more... )

I thought I tended to open with dialog, but it seems like I favor a statement about the protagonist, usually with thoughts, rather than actions.

I'm in the mood for an essay, so here's an essay. Also, I am back.

( Read more... )

One thing I rather like is when I'm rereading and I come across some inconsequential detail thrown in for background, that I notice because it relates to a future book. For example, I'm rereading The Sharing Knife: Legacy, and just found a place where Shaun mentions to Dag what he heard happen in Log Hollow when a Lakewalker patroller took up with a farmer woman. In the next book, Dag happens to run into that Lakewalker. At the time I first read that, I hadn't read Legacy recently, so I took it for granted Dag knew which camp the character was from -- stories like that get around. Now, I know that I could have as well.

Similarly, I was flipping through Grave Peril by Jim Butcher and happened on the scene where Harry and Michael were trying to bargain with Leanansidhe, a Fae member of the Unseelie Court, who had Michael's sword. Lea already had something on Harry (she was his Fairy Godmother, and he owed her a favor.), and said if she just collected, she'd return the sword. Michael offered himself in her place, but she refused, saying that he was boring. She then asked for one of his children -- mentioning that she wouldn't mind taking his oldest. Michael told her to take a short walk off a long cliff. Some six books down the line, in Proven Guilty, Michael's eldest child, Molly, is indeed kidnapped by the Unseelie Court and it's actually explained why they have an interest in her. (Not just because one of the things bad fairies do is still children.)

I don't always know if the author was planning on using it when they wrote it. Maybe sometimes they are, and sometimes they aren't, and just happen in on re-reading and think 'hey, I ought to pick that up'. It's still pretty cool.

So, it's been a twenty-four hour period since I burned my thumb on the baking tray. The burn hurts when I bend my thumb too far, which is why it is staying bandaged -- a bandaid wrapped around the joint of my thumb immobilizes just enough that I can't bend my thumb far enough to hurt. I did take a peak under the bandaid today and got a bit worried. So, I read that first degree burns are dry and red, second are red, can be wet, and blister, and third tend to be dry and black or white. Currently the burn on my thumb feels like normal skin, except I burned off some of the indentations. It also is red around the edges of the burn, but is a paler sort of pink in the center.

On the other hand, third-degree burns aren't supposed to hurt like hell -- I kept my hand under running water for ten minutes, because taking it out meant that my hand felt like someone had run it over. (And not just because cooling the tissue ASAP is generally a good idea to stop the damage)

Really, it's mostly that I don't remember enough about first aid. I need a refresher course -- the neext time the Fire Station near where I live offers first aid and CPR, I'll sign up.

Well, that and I am such a hypochondriac when it comes to injuries.

I wrote about 600 words this morning, and did some crocheting. I also promised myself I'd pick up some DevArt drawing memes and work on those for practice. And got more ideas for the Avatar AU fic idea that is building into another albatross. I'll wait until after this week to do anything on that -- no sense starting anything when the finale is so close. And maybe I should finish my Slayers albatross before that -- at least write the third part of the trilogy and get the first part ready for beta-ing. (Damn, am I going to start calling every novel-length work of fiction I write an albatross?)

Speaking of Avatar, I wonder how iTunes is going to handle giving me the episodes they owe me, since Nick is airing the last half-season over a week? Which... well, it's nice that I don't have to wait, but it's a bit unusual to say the least. (I guess they found the flaw in finite series -- once it's down to the wire, people don't want to pick it up, but they need to finish it or else they get lynch mobs.)

Not that I don't prefer finite series to the never-ending cartoons of my youth. (Or rather, I like having both the kind where all you need to know is the premise of the series, and the kind where it is telling one story in episodic form, and anything in the middle.)

( Slayers Revolution, ep. 2 )

( Read more... )

On Social Fantasy...

This blog post may contain spoilers for Lois McMaster Bujold's Sharing Knife books...

( Once upon a time... )

Dear Escaflowne Muse,
Midnight when I am trying to sleep is never a good time to hit me with the cure to my writer's block. Never.

-- No love,

Becca Stareyes

In other news, this morning I got about 100 words on my Dresden Files 7 days fic, made some notes on In the Shadow of the Flames (I need to rewatch or skim Escaflowne, to get the layout of the Crusade) and started a new short Escaflowne fic (Monsterslayer is the working title). One of the ones I've been threatening to write for years. 250 words so far.

All before work.

I finished a fanfic. One I've been writing on for longer than I've been in grad school, I'll add. Came out to 20,00 words -- the sequel, which I did for NaNoWriMo last year, is around 50,000.

I'll need some work to make this a stand-alone fic. As of now, it needs a less abrupt ending. And editing. Massive amounts of editing.

I love the program I'm using. It's pretty basic, but it lets me leave margin notes for myself. Which is great when I don't remember a character's name, or just realize I have a plot hole that needs to be fixed in the next draft.

18,786 / 40,000 (46.0%)

I am in such a blah place. This whole section will be jazzed up in editing.

I really need to just get a feed made from this journal, so I don't have to cross-post everything. I'm already behind about things like that.

Anyway, I have two whacked out crossover-fusion ideas. The less weird is a Fullmetal Alchemist/Vorkosigan Saga crossover* with tinges of Elizabeth Bear's work, involving nanotech. The second is a Firefly/Crest of the Stars crossover, mostly themed around 'loss of the frontier' and probably AU to the Big Damn Movie.

* I totally blame othercat@LJ. Well, that and the fact both series ahve main characters who are Very Self Conscious about their heights, and probably would have been much taller, if not for unforseen Tragic Circumstances. (The fact Miles's mother nearly died of poison gas when she was pregnant wiht him, and the whole 'Ed bound his brother's soul to armor' thing.) Plus, Miles is one of the few adult men Ed is taller than.

Granted, given the number of other Large Fanfic Ideas I have -- In the Shadows of the Flames, The Sun, Half Covered (and the end of that trilogy -- why did I finish the second one first again? Oh yeah, NaNo.), the Avatar AU, a couple of mid-sized Dresden Files fics -- I think it's safe to say I will never write these. Especially not if I just sit and play RPGs and Harvest Moon after work.

Take the letter you're given, and think of ten things that start with it that you like. It's sort of like Sesame Street. Then let others reply and play

The Letter H, courtesy yuuo
1. Hershey's Chocolate. Okay, intellectually I know that there is better chocolate out there. I usually will go for something different if I can. On the other hand, this is the chocolate I grew up with.
2. Hyperion. One of Saturn's moons, and the one I did my first summer project on. Still waiting to finish that, thanks to having to remind the Small Moons team I need data.
3. Halloween. My mother's favorite holiday. Not only would she decorate the house to look really spooky (and silly -- my mother loved things like novelty gravestones, and funny decorations like the witch she'd hang up who looked like she had crashed into our tree), but she would also sew us costumes -- anything we wanted (never mind that Mom hated to sew). I swear, that's where my love of cosplay came from.
4. Harry Dresden. The books and show are made of awesome, and I have a thing for characters with a strong narrative voice, like Harry has.
5. Hajime Kanzaka. I loved Slayers, I loved Lost Universe -- man is good at telling a story. (Damn it, I want more of the manga and novels translated.)
6. Hash browns. If they weren't horribly bad for me, and a pain in the neck to cook (at least the kind that look like peeled potatoes), I'd eat them every day.
7. Harvest Moon. I have no idea why this game is so fun. But it is.
8. Hawks. I admit it. I like birds. I especially like birds of prey, since they fly so gracefully. Even vultures -- hey, in the air, those things are pretty impressive.
9. Humpback whales. Again, I I have a weakness for marine mammals. I especially like humpbacks. True story -- I played the cello in elementary school because a cellist came to speak to us and used his cello to imitate whalesong. (Star Trek 4 was also my first initiation to Star Trek). I got to see a humpback in person on a whale-watch -- a female and her half-grown calf. (Not to mention something like a dozen Minke whales.)
10. Horseshoe orbits. Because they are dynamically neat.

It's odd. Most of my productivity goes in step. So, if I'm in a good enough mood to clean my apartment, I also tend to be in a good enough mood to write. Conversely, my normal non-writing distractions aren't 'clean the apartment', but they are 'play clicky-games* on the internet and do sudoku puzzles'. My sister cleans when stressed -- I do useless things. I think she got a better deal here.

* Clicky-games are hear defined by any game on the internet that requires little thought, and a lot of mouse clicks. Wajas' Rune Game is a perfect example. Running around Gaia Towns catching bugs to make inks is another. Gaia Jigsaws, and various puzzle-based flash games are on the limit -- they require some thought, but not much.

Yesterday, I finally cleaned my apartment -- well, mostly, but the spots I missed were because I misplaced my mop bucket and forgot to buy all-purpose cleaner. This morning I wrote a couple hundred words. I don't think this is coincidence.

Wrote 400 words on In the Shadows of the Flames. Unfortunately, most of it was rewriting Chapter 2 (which was now part of Chapter 1) since the muse decided it wanted only one POV (except it wanted to keep a first-person Celena prolog), and most of the scenes worked from Allen's POV. Knowing my luck, I'll get halfway through and the muse will change its mind.

I also need to work on some fanart for ides_of_march.