Nano 2015

It’s forty mins to nano. Is it panic time yet?

This years nano will be an urban fantasy detective story with a mid-twenties mage called Prym, who also suffers from chronic pains (some due to her magic) and a private eye called Novi, who has no magic herself, and the adventures they have. Most of the story will focus around the series of murders which Novi is trying to solve, with a side of magic vs technology, Prym & Novi’s relationship with each other and an assassin called Sainté Sylvie von Strichnädeln, who kills people with double edges knitting needles.

There might also be a cat. And vampires. Possible references to pop-culture might also make an appearance. There might also be male characters. Maybe. Hopefully using up 50K words.

Nano-prep

I’ve never begun thinking about nano this early in the autumn writing season (calling it writing season because of october_writing, nano and yuletide and because I seem to write the most during this time anyway, before the gardening madness strikes in the spring).

So far my plans include genre, the very basic of plot ideas and some hastily-scrambled-together words. >.> My first notes go like this:

NANO 2015

• spefi detective story?
  • crime?
    • MURDER MOST FOUL
• supernatural vs human?
  • hate-crime?
• femslash
• fae, vampires, weres

And then I have this silliness I scribbled one night when I was reading in bed before turning off the lights:

“murder-victims are metamorphmageprostitutes whom the murderer kills when they have taken the form of his first victim”.

So it’s kinda like my 2009 (2010???) nano, possibly set in the same ‘verse than my Iridian&Mirdre story and the rest of the plot is ripped from that Sookie book where the supes come out and there’s that sniper? (I think it’s Dead as a Doornail.) But without the were’s coming out as part of the plot, as this is a society where the supes live side-by-side with the human population and there’s magic.

S&A edits – day nineteen :)

Finally finished editing day nineteen of my 2007 nano, which left me with 69668 words in the second draft of S&A. Actually finished the edit yesterday but didn’t post about because of laziness. Not quite if the tone of the scene is right at all, I think I need to do some background research. (It’s better than the first draft and actually I noticed I had edited it a bit since the original mad writing frenzy during nano, maybe.)

Here’s an exerpt:

His body felt so foreign, even through the haze of pain. The pain was slowly dulling, not the sharp stab it had been when he’d woken up. But the aftermath… his thoughts in turmoil, trying to come to grips with his altered state, it would take time. There was a chance he’d never fully accept the current state of things. Panicked and in pain, Kayrenn was sure that he never would. He just curled tighter around himself and tried to forget the world outside, his body continuing to shake with violent sobs.

“Kay?” Leyn’s voice suddenly asked. Kayrenn had not heard his husband come in. He’d been too preoccupied with his thoughts. He shook under the blankets, hoping that Leyn hadn’t seen, that he hadn’t realized what he’d become before rushing out of the room. That he’d just focused on the blood and the pained screams. That he’d not, not seen… His lover, his husband, sounded anxious, worried.

Hoping to get back to regular daily/bidaily edits, hell, I’ll settle for weekly edits, even. Eleven more days worth to go, at this point. I think I can safely say the second draft will be somewhere around 90K or nearer 100K. And then there’ll be another edit, after a read-through, and then… sending to publishers! Or something. (Well, after people have read it and deemed my words good enough. Non-publishing people, I mean.)

I liiiive!

… just haven’t really been writing, tbh. Not original stuff anyway. I was supposed to get cracking with S&A edits during January but that didn’t happen for several reasons, most prominent of those being my seasonal winter depression (what we call kaamos depression here in the “cold” north) and studying keeping me busier than I’d expected. Which is hilarious in the face of my having graduated. But turns out that doing a secondary MA degree keeps one kinda occupied.

Anyway. I have been writing, just that it’s been fanficcing. Dracula fanficcing at that. There’s this thing called Femslash february and it’s inspired me to dabble in some Lucy/Mina and Carmilla/Laura. It’s me geeking on what I’ve academed over for years. I have a femslash kink bingo card from a tumblr community, which’ll probably keep me busy for the rest of the month. I am going to tackle some S&A this week, though, as a birthday treat for myself, because the part I’m at currently is one of my absolute favourites in the whole story.

I’m also foreseeing some interference to my writing time from growing seedlings even with my Schrödinger’s balcony situation, knitting for the baby a friend of mine is having in March, the job search and apartment search. I am intent in trying to reschedule my life a bit, though, giving myself a daily writing slot, so those things might not eat into writing time.

I am writing some today, though, because the itch to write is getting kind of hard to ignore. Original or fic is anyone’s guess, though.

Writerly resolutions for 2015

– I will finish editing the second draft of Silver and Auburn and (real life permitting) will polish it to a third draft and start sending it about before September/October

– I will look at all the other novel drafts I have at least a bit, especially Iridian& Mirdre

– I will unearth The Tale of Joriende (which I want to rename to The Rise and Fall of the House of Joriende which is both too long and a bit spoilery though I still don’t have my endgame in sight after having the thing in my head since 1996/1997?)

– I will try and fic more in Finnish instead of just English, I’m thinking poetry, dark gothic poetry

– I will try and finish at least one of the three long-running Inuyasha fanfics I’ve been meaning to finish just for my own peace of mind, nothing else

– Lastly I promise to write as many job applications as will get me a job

… these will all hopefully be executed without becoming a hermit and still being a reasonably tolerable person to be around

What hell is this nano even?

… there is zero to no sex in my nano. Suuuure, my lovers are a girlcouple but they do not sex each other up. Well, they have, once. OMG this nano has actual non-sex-related plot. (Dear Mia and Jenny, why must you two be so difficult and refer to the last year of your life using popculture references? Oh, I forgot, your trauma, my bad.)

And a Finn-Swede non-human who flounces! (Christer, where did you come from and why can I only refer to you by your full name, surname and all?)

Things to research once nano is over: the ramifications of amnesia for relationships, is there a Finnish folklore creature the type of which Christer seems to be, and what it feels to be a female cancer survivor.

Day Ten / 11007 words

So. I’m behind on both my wrimo and mango. Oh joy. Tomorrow, however, I’m going back to my apartment (have been staying with parents during my bathroom renovation) so I should get more back on track.

Part of the reason of being behind is the fact that my characters are difficult to write! There’s Christer, a FinnSwede private investigator who want’s to be a bigger character. Then there are Mia and Jenny, my tragic lovers. (Why are my lovers always tragic?) And I keep adding more drama.

I’ve also been troubled with coming up with a major plot point, the reason behind the happenings in the story. On Saturday I went to an event at the local castle called Tonttu-päivä (Day of Santa’s Elves) and I came up with something I did not intend initially. It’s a bit tricky but surprising.

So yeah. I would also get a better wordcount if I could manage to get Mia and Jenny into bed with each other. But Mia has a bucketload of issues and every time I try and do it they fight against it so bad! 😦 I hate when my characters do that.

Not at 1667 yet…

Is it normal to start disliking your character and your budding novel befor you even reach your first days wordcount? I don’t think it is. I still stand behind my idea yet I’m unsure if it’ll carry anything supposedly novel-lenght.

Here’s an exerpt from my first page.

“So, you’ll be left with people who you love who you know once loved you back, who have needed to love you a second time but that second time doesn’t feel the same as the first. It can never be the same because the memories are gone. They will never look at you quite the same way ever again. They will know who you are from photos, videos and other memories but there is something gone, the single most defining moment which forever bound you two together.”

Doable? Yes. Doable if set in Finland and written in English? …no? How can I be at such a stage of creative dissonance on the first day already? Mehh. Less than two hundred to reach wordcount quota for today but it feels like pulling teeth at this point.

Nanowrimo & Nanomango 2014

Yes. I’m doing both. Because I’m stupid.

Technically I have the time even when I’m doing more credits this autumn semester than I was last year. About thirty credits if I do one thery&fact package for Folkore in December. The heavy course load is mainly due to the Tolkien studies course I’m taking, which has a lot of reading writing involved. Then I have some Finnish and an introductory course into MA level Folklore studies where I still have a fe bits and bobs to do.

Anyway. Less than ten hours to go by my timezone until nano-madness. I’m kind of ready. Haven’t decided on which languege I’ll be writing yet though I’m leaning toward Finnish this year, even with knowing it’ll mean more work for wordcount than English. Might switch to English at the last minute though. However, this years plan could forgive some multi-lingualism, even though the thing is set in Finland. If I do it right, I thinks it’s a publishable enough idea. Not saying anything about plot yet, saving my creative writing energies, but the genre is speculative fiction and I’m going to have several focus-narrators, like G.R.R Martin.

As for my mango, I’m hesitantly aiming for 20 pencils and 10 inks, but might let it slide at some point. Will be inking chapter one, which I cannot do until after I’ve gone home. I’m currently at my parents because my bathroom is being renovated ie. out of commission until after the renovation, which should be over in 2-3 weeks, and have only the current chapter of BD with me, with the rest of it being in my apartment. So I’ll probably finish the pencils for the chapter I’ve been doing lately (well as “lately” as June), chapter 7. Then I do need to go into inking because I don’t have a script nor thumbnails for chapter 8.

9 hours and twenty minutes and then it’s go-time. Can’t wait. 🙂

Still editing, not dead

… just have had my time consumed by a nasty flu and studying. This fall has been really strange, as I’ve been studying more now than I was last year when I was an actual degree-student. But supplementing my degree is fun and the Finnish I’ve been studying at the open university will supposedly help me with my job.

Anyway. I think I may need to abandon my plan to have S&A edited before nano. Yes, I have now finished editing chapter nine out of 13…buuuuut: what is now chapter nine used to be chapter eight! So that would make the thing be 14 chapters, though the number is subject to change.

I’m now at day 18 of the first draft and was originally at 30,320 out of 50,041 words. Now my wordcount is 66 078.Meaning I’ve more than doubled the wordcount with the editing. I’m hoping to be somewhere around 100K for the second draft, hopefully. But as I’m really only now getting to the good stuff, the juicy core of the novel, I’m not holding my breath. (I think after this second draft I’m re-reading and cutting at least a third of the sex out, at least I’m cutting down one particular scene.)

And here’s an excerpt:

Kayrenn and Leyn dutifully paid their respects on the sixth week after their wedding in a temple of the goddess Jiree, praying to her for marital happiness, having their fraying marital binds blessed by the resident priestess. She admired their resilience in keeping to the tradition so adamantly, it must be hard to manage with the ties, she’d commented with a reverent tone in her voice. Six weeks with the Ribbons of Love and Destiny still intact at the end of them, especially in wintertime, was almost unheard of. Kayrenn and Leyn had just deftly shown her their clothes. They’d undone the seams on the side where their hands were bound and devised a system with some laces through the articles of clothing to keep them on, still enabling them to undress and dress up again.