WTF have I done?!
Oct. 9th, 2010 08:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
terajk I have just done something incredibly silly. And it is 15 percent rydra_wong's fault.
Although I've never successfully written a novel, ever, and have only recently begun to successfully write fiction ("successful" being defined as "finished two stories I've started"), I've signed up for National Novel Writing Month. To do (a horrible draft of) the Toph-Azula thing. That as of yet has no plot. Or Big Bad. Or geography. (I fail geography forever). And my world-building sucks.
Damn you, NaNoWriMo, and your lure of: "Hey, it just has to be written! It doesn't have to be any good!"
Guess where I'm spending my October? AT THE LIBRARY!!!!!
rydra_wong's fault. Although I've never successfully written a novel, ever, and have only recently begun to successfully write fiction ("successful" being defined as "finished two stories I've started"), I've signed up for National Novel Writing Month. To do (a horrible draft of) the Toph-Azula thing. That as of yet has no plot. Or Big Bad. Or geography. (I fail geography forever). And my world-building sucks.
Damn you, NaNoWriMo, and your lure of: "Hey, it just has to be written! It doesn't have to be any good!"
Guess where I'm spending my October? AT THE LIBRARY!!!!!
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Date: 2010-10-09 01:56 pm (UTC)FWIW, I wrote a novel after only having written a tiny handful of stories, none of which were over 5000 words. So it is entirely do-able. And having an idea that grabs you and demands to be novel-length is the best way to do it.
I wrote a post about what I learned about the process, in case it's any use:
http://rydra-wong.dreamwidth.org/129059.html
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Date: 2010-10-10 01:00 pm (UTC)I wrote a post about what I learned about the process, in case it's any use
And it (as well as your post about outlining) was so made of win I cannot even. I always thought I was one of those Never Outline people, but my process is similar to yours in a lot of ways. Stuff comes to me in tiny bits and pieces, but when they taught us to outline in school, their model was people who got big chunks first and had to work out the details later. (When teachers made us outline things for a grade, I had to write the paper first and then outline it from that).
I had no idea that "outlining" could be anything other than I. blah blah blah A. blah blah blah i) blah blah blah, so you totally blew my mind and now I need to play around with how outlining works for me. So you are awesome.
It also helps me to talk about my ideas out loud and bounce them off people, so they can be all: "I think __" or "What about __?" or "You are silly because ___!" (You and
My mom is usually the go-to person for this kind of thing, but she would be no help here. Not only has she never seen Avatar, but she's only recently realized that I'm not talking about the James Cameron movie with the blue people. Though now she's like: "They made a movie of that! Wait--you don't you want to see it?" And if she were more familiar with Avatar, she'd be all: "Tera, why are you always attracted to mean fictional people? WHY?"
For now, I'll try outlining by posting various Things I am Thinking (or Wish I Were Reading/Things I Have Read) every day and see how that goes.
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Date: 2010-10-09 02:12 pm (UTC)Well, everyone who writes (loosely defined) should give this a try at least once. It's a new experience, y'know? :P
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Date: 2010-10-09 03:13 pm (UTC)Anyway, good luck. I won't be doing NaNoWriMo; however, I will be doing National Dissertation Writing Month... heh...
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Date: 2010-10-09 03:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-10 01:36 am (UTC)Yay! Although I do think Netflix should get off their asses and make the subtitles directly accessible--but then, I'm a cranky transcriptionist. I have no sympathy for big companies who don't provide subtitles.
I think season 3 is my favorite. (Toph and Azula have an altercation! And "The Beach" is my favorite episode ever). But then, I have a Thing for the Firebrats right now.
So I'm definitely curious to see how this turns out.
Me, too! *g*
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Date: 2010-10-10 01:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-10 01:28 am (UTC)OH GOODNESS. *shudder.* Good luck!
And thank you for the geography article! That will be very helpful. While I know the Avatar Wiki is made of awesome, I'm still learning how to navigate wikis in general, and it in particular.