Posted by Nicky Drayden on Nov 29, 2010 in
Writer's Life 
Echium Filigree Boomsnaggle Stahl. That is not my protagonist’s name, but it was for the ten-minute process of padding out my NaNovel the necessary 2500 words to reach 50,000. At this point, it’s a tradition for my characters to suddenly gain two middle names somewhere around November 30th.
But I am still proud of this work of art. It’s wild. It’s wacky. It’s got killer space rhinos, talking flatworms, and zombie politicians. There’s more left to the story, but I’ll sort that out in December. For now, it’s time to celebrate. So Echium Filigree Boomsnaggle Stahl, this one’s for you!
Tags: NaNoWriMo
Posted by Nicky Drayden on Nov 26, 2010 in
Writer's Life 
Photo by Hamed Saber Creative Commons
Phew! Just passed the 40,000-word mark on my NaNovel, two days behind schedule now. It’s going about as well as can be expected for a novel without a plot–not to say it doesn’t have any redeeming qualities. There’s adventure galore and more crude humor than is socially acceptable, but if at one point I thought I knew where this story was going, I surely don’t now. My main character is currently headed towards a volcano, and we all know that if you show a volcano in the first act, it must erupt in the third.
This November I was mildly successful at blowing off the social obligations that I had, but I somehow managed to put everyone off until “the first week in December”, so now my calendar is crammed almost through mid-December. It will be strange venturing back out into civilization and having conversations that don’t exist solely in my head. Hopefully the transition won’t be as painful as it sounds.
Anyone out there still NaNoing? Any early finishers? You can tell me. I promise not to hate you…much.
Tags: NaNoWriMo
Posted by Nicky Drayden on Nov 19, 2010 in
Writer's Life Just a quick update: I survived week two and am over the 25,000-word hump. It’s all downhill from here, right? It’s been a pretty smooth ride so far, though right now I’m a day behind schedule. And I’m starting to realize that this novel will end up closer to 100k if my chapters keep being as long as they’ve been.
The plot is still hazy, and I ended up killing off a character since the novel was starting to feel like a previous one I’d written. That did the trick, and I somehow have a motley crew running for their lives, with lots of angsty drama in space. Spangst? Is that a word?
Tags: NaNoWriMo
