NaNo '13
I know it’s a little late, but between writing and going to see Frozen in the middle of it, as well as working on a rather complex Lego set my boyfriend got at the Lego Store on Black Friday, which he was waiting for me to finish writing to start on, I didn’t really have much time to write up a journal for this year’s NaNo. Which is strange, considering last year, I hadn’t even felt like writing one! Maybe I just needed a year off from writing one of these, I don’t know. Either way, I did know I wanted to write one this year, and so, I am, the day after NaNo ended. I mean, hey, why not, right? I did enough writing yesterday.
This year was completely interesting, and not just for me it seems. While this is hardly the first year I did NaNo while working, it was the first NaNo I did while having something of a social life. Normally, I’d be able to write around my work schedule, even if was difficult to write later. But I could do it. This year, though, I had to work on top of keeping up with my usual boyfriend schedule, which I’ll admit, is probably a little more obsessive than most. (Most people probably go days and day without seeing their boyfriend/girlfriend at all. For me, the longest I went without seeing my boyfriend is two days. My mother keeps getting on my case about it. But hey, if your schedules work out that I can see him every day, why shouldn’t I?)
I do have to say that I am so glad that the NaNo site allows you to edit word count by day now, because I love working with what I call the star-step technique. Basically, it means I write essentially the same amount each day, such that the stat graph looks like stairs. Once, at the beginning of the month, I got to his place, sat down, and just could not write. So I ended up playing catch up the entire week afterwards, until I forced myself to write two chapters halfway through the month. And if it weren’t for the fact that we could edit word count, I would have been very, very sad. Granted, I would have forced myself to write that day, and all those other days I could get myself to actually finish the damn chapter, such that I had to write a few extra pages the following day, but whatever.
Thanksgiving was the worst, and I have no clue why. Usually, I’m able to sludge through a chapter, even though I’m really distracted by family, so I just assumed that I could do it against this year. I was able to write two freaking pages, and I ended up leaving a little early so that I could sit down and write a few pages without distraction before bed. And I managed it somehow. It helps to have goals. ;P
And I’m sure you want to hear more about the story itself than my struggles writing it, even if this year was completely different from every other year I did this. Its so strange to think I finished this story that I created in my senior year of high school, some twelve years ago. I never really had a plot for it back then, other than Buttercup and clover rescuing Robert and having a general fantasy-like adventure bringing him back. The plot for this actually came about this years later, although I really have no idea where the hell it came from. It’s just sort of…there now, I guess. I do know at the very beginning, the Angela Dea, as she was called then, was in fact kidnapped by her brother, and some point later, I had the idea of, oh, what if they got their gods mixed up? What if the angel goddess was actually the one whose evil, and her brother is the good one? And thus, the idea that she disappeared because she’s actually plotting something evil appeared, and the plot was formed.
I also don’t really remember how the idea of Buttercup being an ‘other’ came about. At some point, she was the bodyguard of Robert rather than Clover, which is how they fell in love, and then somehow, she became an outsider. I think we can all remember when she was a spoonbender, but I guess because of her hair, I decided to make her a Fire Mage. Being able to summon fire is way more cooler, after all. Or something. I don’t know. The whole thing just sort of…developed over the last twelve years, and I couldn’t even begin to explain most of it.
I’ll admit that the story itself came out way differently than I ever expected. I always thought that this story would be told through Robert’s perspective, at least until I realized it was only the beginning that needed his view. The rest of it could have Buttercup’s view. The idea was supposed to be that it started off with Robert, and ends with Buttercup, but the idea of a shifting POV made so much more sense, especially since I could give a view of what was going on with her earlier on. Sadly, the idea of the two chapters him, two chapters her came about later, although I should have started it as soon as they all met up. Oh well. C’est la vie.
It’s funny looking at my outline, because I screwed up on so many parts near the end, but somehow, it all just works. Granted, if I go through with my plan to make this a series, I’m going to have to rewrite the last few chapters, because overall, I don’t really mind the way that this story went. But to make it a series, Robert and Buttercup would be better off not married at the end. >.< So she wouldn’t be fretting about it. (Robert would still be declaring that he plans to marry Buttercup later, though. ;P So awkward.) And I’m annoyed at my muse for giving me an idea to make it a series. It was in fact supposed to be a one-shot, even if I had title ideas for a total of four books. But one little comment Aria makes, and whoosh, there it goes.
Of course, that one little comment helped make my asspull ending actually make sense. All I have on the outline is that Ignatius realizes that the over-worship she was receiving was driving her insane, and that he uses that to his advantage to overpower her and stop her, and he managed to convince to stop this madness. And then she disappears again so she doesn’t hurt anyone, and they go about fixing things. Instead, I have him revealing the truth, and her just going ‘oh, hee hee, my fault’, and reverting back to normal. But then she says in the next chapter that it felt like something was possessing her, making her even more crazy, and suddenly, there’s some greater enemy out there, possessing the gods for their own gain. What is it? I have no idea at the time.
The only thing I really regret about this is making Buttercup and Clover badass fighters…except you never really get to see it. You sort of see it at the end, but I wanted to show it at a grander scale. But I’m not really one to write combat. And thus, I failed. But oh well, can’t win them all, I guess.
I can’t think of anything else to say on the subject. I’m sure callisto-chan will think of something that I’m forgetting. ;P
Now, for some stats:
NaNo ’08 Purebred: 80,186 words
NaNo ’09 Purebred: The Order of Ara: 113,604 words
NaNo ’10 Earthia: 160,083 words
NaNo ’11 The Gatekeeper: 227,387 words
NaNo ’12 Modern Day Cupid: 83,051 words
NaNo ’13 Angelus Dei: 171,812 words
My goal for this year was 180,000, but that was because I thought I wrote that much in ’10. Once I saw I actually only wrote about 160,000, that changed to just more than I had for Earthia. ;P So yeah, I succeeded in my goal, although I would have reached my 180,000 goal, I believe, if I hadn’t forgotten that I wrote 9 pages instead of 8, and then just got stuck writing a page less. I blame MDC, since I had decided to make those 8 page chapters instead of 9 so I’d only write an hour a day during NaNo, and then just got used to it. ^^;
I sort of already know what I’m going to write for next year, since I’m slowly running out of ideas for November. I might have to do what I did for the first one, and actually come up with some new eventually! But I’m happy it’s over, and I get to rest for a bit. Because I’m hoping to finish Gatekeeper finally in the upcoming year. We’ll have to see, though. :D
This year was completely interesting, and not just for me it seems. While this is hardly the first year I did NaNo while working, it was the first NaNo I did while having something of a social life. Normally, I’d be able to write around my work schedule, even if was difficult to write later. But I could do it. This year, though, I had to work on top of keeping up with my usual boyfriend schedule, which I’ll admit, is probably a little more obsessive than most. (Most people probably go days and day without seeing their boyfriend/girlfriend at all. For me, the longest I went without seeing my boyfriend is two days. My mother keeps getting on my case about it. But hey, if your schedules work out that I can see him every day, why shouldn’t I?)
I do have to say that I am so glad that the NaNo site allows you to edit word count by day now, because I love working with what I call the star-step technique. Basically, it means I write essentially the same amount each day, such that the stat graph looks like stairs. Once, at the beginning of the month, I got to his place, sat down, and just could not write. So I ended up playing catch up the entire week afterwards, until I forced myself to write two chapters halfway through the month. And if it weren’t for the fact that we could edit word count, I would have been very, very sad. Granted, I would have forced myself to write that day, and all those other days I could get myself to actually finish the damn chapter, such that I had to write a few extra pages the following day, but whatever.
Thanksgiving was the worst, and I have no clue why. Usually, I’m able to sludge through a chapter, even though I’m really distracted by family, so I just assumed that I could do it against this year. I was able to write two freaking pages, and I ended up leaving a little early so that I could sit down and write a few pages without distraction before bed. And I managed it somehow. It helps to have goals. ;P
And I’m sure you want to hear more about the story itself than my struggles writing it, even if this year was completely different from every other year I did this. Its so strange to think I finished this story that I created in my senior year of high school, some twelve years ago. I never really had a plot for it back then, other than Buttercup and clover rescuing Robert and having a general fantasy-like adventure bringing him back. The plot for this actually came about this years later, although I really have no idea where the hell it came from. It’s just sort of…there now, I guess. I do know at the very beginning, the Angela Dea, as she was called then, was in fact kidnapped by her brother, and some point later, I had the idea of, oh, what if they got their gods mixed up? What if the angel goddess was actually the one whose evil, and her brother is the good one? And thus, the idea that she disappeared because she’s actually plotting something evil appeared, and the plot was formed.
I also don’t really remember how the idea of Buttercup being an ‘other’ came about. At some point, she was the bodyguard of Robert rather than Clover, which is how they fell in love, and then somehow, she became an outsider. I think we can all remember when she was a spoonbender, but I guess because of her hair, I decided to make her a Fire Mage. Being able to summon fire is way more cooler, after all. Or something. I don’t know. The whole thing just sort of…developed over the last twelve years, and I couldn’t even begin to explain most of it.
I’ll admit that the story itself came out way differently than I ever expected. I always thought that this story would be told through Robert’s perspective, at least until I realized it was only the beginning that needed his view. The rest of it could have Buttercup’s view. The idea was supposed to be that it started off with Robert, and ends with Buttercup, but the idea of a shifting POV made so much more sense, especially since I could give a view of what was going on with her earlier on. Sadly, the idea of the two chapters him, two chapters her came about later, although I should have started it as soon as they all met up. Oh well. C’est la vie.
It’s funny looking at my outline, because I screwed up on so many parts near the end, but somehow, it all just works. Granted, if I go through with my plan to make this a series, I’m going to have to rewrite the last few chapters, because overall, I don’t really mind the way that this story went. But to make it a series, Robert and Buttercup would be better off not married at the end. >.< So she wouldn’t be fretting about it. (Robert would still be declaring that he plans to marry Buttercup later, though. ;P So awkward.) And I’m annoyed at my muse for giving me an idea to make it a series. It was in fact supposed to be a one-shot, even if I had title ideas for a total of four books. But one little comment Aria makes, and whoosh, there it goes.
Of course, that one little comment helped make my asspull ending actually make sense. All I have on the outline is that Ignatius realizes that the over-worship she was receiving was driving her insane, and that he uses that to his advantage to overpower her and stop her, and he managed to convince to stop this madness. And then she disappears again so she doesn’t hurt anyone, and they go about fixing things. Instead, I have him revealing the truth, and her just going ‘oh, hee hee, my fault’, and reverting back to normal. But then she says in the next chapter that it felt like something was possessing her, making her even more crazy, and suddenly, there’s some greater enemy out there, possessing the gods for their own gain. What is it? I have no idea at the time.
The only thing I really regret about this is making Buttercup and Clover badass fighters…except you never really get to see it. You sort of see it at the end, but I wanted to show it at a grander scale. But I’m not really one to write combat. And thus, I failed. But oh well, can’t win them all, I guess.
I can’t think of anything else to say on the subject. I’m sure callisto-chan will think of something that I’m forgetting. ;P
Now, for some stats:
NaNo ’08 Purebred: 80,186 words
NaNo ’09 Purebred: The Order of Ara: 113,604 words
NaNo ’10 Earthia: 160,083 words
NaNo ’11 The Gatekeeper: 227,387 words
NaNo ’12 Modern Day Cupid: 83,051 words
NaNo ’13 Angelus Dei: 171,812 words
My goal for this year was 180,000, but that was because I thought I wrote that much in ’10. Once I saw I actually only wrote about 160,000, that changed to just more than I had for Earthia. ;P So yeah, I succeeded in my goal, although I would have reached my 180,000 goal, I believe, if I hadn’t forgotten that I wrote 9 pages instead of 8, and then just got stuck writing a page less. I blame MDC, since I had decided to make those 8 page chapters instead of 9 so I’d only write an hour a day during NaNo, and then just got used to it. ^^;
I sort of already know what I’m going to write for next year, since I’m slowly running out of ideas for November. I might have to do what I did for the first one, and actually come up with some new eventually! But I’m happy it’s over, and I get to rest for a bit. Because I’m hoping to finish Gatekeeper finally in the upcoming year. We’ll have to see, though. :D