That massive author notes I promised
Hmm, well, where to start? First of all, Reading for Dragons was horribily rushed. It hurts my brain to think about the mad writing spree that the story was written in. The dialogue took up most of the story, I'm sad to say and I left off a lot of ambient details. That said, nothing a good beta and proof-read won't fix. Thanks to all my friends who supported me through the writing! And especial thanks to Maggie for coming up with the title!
Now... about the story. Hmm, well first of all, the base idea for the whole thing came to me after reading some Ranma 1/2 manga in the public library. Don't ask me how Ranma equates to people being possessed by ancient dragon gods. I've been told my logic doesn't work in normal patterns. Anyway, I had originally thought to place the setting in a still medieval world-which would have stopped the trouble I had with money- but I ended up saying 'screw that, modern-day fantasy is too few and far between'. I'm glad I ended up doing it the way I did. It gave me easier scope for travel, and forced me to invent my own universe a little more thoroughly.
I'm glad we had such a small time limit, because I was forced to finish the story. I think it had a good six or seven more chapters to be played out. I intended Grant's betrayal to come -before- the final fight, which was supposed to be between Resh and Kreole. I also intended them to figure out it was Resh on their own. And spend some time -searching- Luft for the 'ancient ruins that were burried somewhere'. So yes, I cheated out of a good few chapters because I was running out of words.
I didn't want to go over the word count, even though it's a threshold, not a stopping point. This was my first year participating, and I wanted to know that I -could- do it. Not how well I could do it. I'm thinking that after padding and fixing, the story will probably hit the 52,000 mark easily, if not go higher. That said, I'm happy I finished it. Sure, I left the Drawin/Van story open. And I'll probably do their adventure as a side story one day. But it's not long, exciting, or interesting enough to make a novel out of.
As for the future? Well, my next nanowrimo won't be slash, or part of my little Broken Shard universe. (Although the Broken Shard universe has -not- been exhausted,). I'm looking at doing some mild fantasy/fiction. It will probably border with hints of slash, but since the main characters will be female, it won't exactly have gay sex scenes. Pity, but I'm looking forward to it. The story will feature a collection of small stories all centering about the same family. An indian/persian feel to it, hopefully. Something I've never tried or done before, and I'll have to research it.
Now... about the story. Hmm, well first of all, the base idea for the whole thing came to me after reading some Ranma 1/2 manga in the public library. Don't ask me how Ranma equates to people being possessed by ancient dragon gods. I've been told my logic doesn't work in normal patterns. Anyway, I had originally thought to place the setting in a still medieval world-which would have stopped the trouble I had with money- but I ended up saying 'screw that, modern-day fantasy is too few and far between'. I'm glad I ended up doing it the way I did. It gave me easier scope for travel, and forced me to invent my own universe a little more thoroughly.
I'm glad we had such a small time limit, because I was forced to finish the story. I think it had a good six or seven more chapters to be played out. I intended Grant's betrayal to come -before- the final fight, which was supposed to be between Resh and Kreole. I also intended them to figure out it was Resh on their own. And spend some time -searching- Luft for the 'ancient ruins that were burried somewhere'. So yes, I cheated out of a good few chapters because I was running out of words.
I didn't want to go over the word count, even though it's a threshold, not a stopping point. This was my first year participating, and I wanted to know that I -could- do it. Not how well I could do it. I'm thinking that after padding and fixing, the story will probably hit the 52,000 mark easily, if not go higher. That said, I'm happy I finished it. Sure, I left the Drawin/Van story open. And I'll probably do their adventure as a side story one day. But it's not long, exciting, or interesting enough to make a novel out of.
As for the future? Well, my next nanowrimo won't be slash, or part of my little Broken Shard universe. (Although the Broken Shard universe has -not- been exhausted,). I'm looking at doing some mild fantasy/fiction. It will probably border with hints of slash, but since the main characters will be female, it won't exactly have gay sex scenes. Pity, but I'm looking forward to it. The story will feature a collection of small stories all centering about the same family. An indian/persian feel to it, hopefully. Something I've never tried or done before, and I'll have to research it.