As you might know from my most recent post, I just finished A Storm of Swords. This puts me at least a whole season ahead of HBO's Game of Thrones, which should help me to avoid spoilers. Now, I can get back to the business at hand: reading planetary romance, starting with the John Carter of Mars books.
... except that my plans have changed.
You see, I set out to read planetary romance as a form of research in preparation for NaNoWriMo, but my thoughts on the novel that I was to write have transformed it from throw-away adventure into magnum opus. It feels as weird as it sounds. Anyway, that means that I'm shelving it until I get more practice at this whole novel thing. So, what do I do now?
Thanks to cthulhuchick on twitter, I've discovered that one John Maddox Roberts wrote a series of mystery novels that take place in ancient Rome. Throw-away comment about vampires in ancient Rome? You're becoming a throw-away novel about vampires in ancient Rome.
New problem: I know nothing about ancient Rome, and it's about the end of August. This is not enough time to learn about ancient Rome and fully outline a novel! What do I do?
I'm basically looking at two options now:
1. I re-attempt last year's novel.
2. I skip NaNoWriMo this year.
Unless I get a story idea about a subject with which I'm already familiar, these are my two options, and they're both looking about equal right now.
So, my reading schedule, at the moment, is some SPQR, some Barsoom, and some H.P. Lovecraft.
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Friday, August 31, 2012
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Vampires?
Well, I didn't manage to win NaNoWriMo this year, but I've learned some things, and hopefully I can do better next year. Speaking of that, one thing that I'm considering doing is something about vampires. The main reason for this is that vampires have been getting some odd treatments lately, most notably in the form of Twilight, and I thought that it might be nice to take vampires back on the ancient magical beings route, rather than the mutant/nanotech/retroviral stuff or the, y'know, sparkly romantic stuff.
One idea - not thoroughly developed, mind you - had to do with vampires in the Roman senate - or, since they would probably meet during the day, manipulating the Roman senate from afar. Though, if I wanted to do that justice, then I'd have to learn about ancient Roman politics and the like - SPQR and all that.
Whatever it is, I'd like to choose my NaNoWriMo 2012 idea before Xmas, so that I can start researching and outlining and all that.
One idea - not thoroughly developed, mind you - had to do with vampires in the Roman senate - or, since they would probably meet during the day, manipulating the Roman senate from afar. Though, if I wanted to do that justice, then I'd have to learn about ancient Roman politics and the like - SPQR and all that.
Whatever it is, I'd like to choose my NaNoWriMo 2012 idea before Xmas, so that I can start researching and outlining and all that.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
On NaNoWriMo 2011
Well, NaNoWriMo is nearly over, and unless some sort of miracle happens, I'm not finishing my novel on time. I'm still going to write with what moments I have, but 50,000 words it won't be.
Still, it's not the end of the world or anything. The whole point of this is that it's essentially practice. I've learned some things, though, that should help next year. I think that the main one is that I should make a much more detailed outline before the month begins.
Before NaNoWriMo began, I set Steam to not start on boot-up, and I turned it off. That meant no TF2 for me, among other things. So, I've missed several weeks' worth of item drops, but I don't feel worse for wear about it. In fact, I'm considering leaving it off through December, too, especially considering that I'll be using December and January to play the very last of LEGO Universe, which is sadly ending. It'll also help me to avoid the annual temptation to buy XMas-related stuff (i.e., winter keys for festive crates, or whatever).
Meanwhile, I just need an idea for next year's novel....
Still, it's not the end of the world or anything. The whole point of this is that it's essentially practice. I've learned some things, though, that should help next year. I think that the main one is that I should make a much more detailed outline before the month begins.
Before NaNoWriMo began, I set Steam to not start on boot-up, and I turned it off. That meant no TF2 for me, among other things. So, I've missed several weeks' worth of item drops, but I don't feel worse for wear about it. In fact, I'm considering leaving it off through December, too, especially considering that I'll be using December and January to play the very last of LEGO Universe, which is sadly ending. It'll also help me to avoid the annual temptation to buy XMas-related stuff (i.e., winter keys for festive crates, or whatever).
Meanwhile, I just need an idea for next year's novel....
Sunday, October 30, 2011
NaNoWriMo 2011
I figured that I'd mention that I'm planning to do NaNoWriMo this year. Last year got kind of screwed up. I don't remember the details, but I recall that I didn't have an idea until NaNoWriMo had already started, and I didn't get a chance to write until later, so there was no way to make it. Instead, I figured that I'd save the idea for this year. I've been doing some reading and a bit of outlining, so I should now be ready to do the actual writing this year. Here's hoping.
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