2012 has been a hectic year this year.
I finished my Masters in English Literature, finishing with a Distinction and I am very proud of that. It took a lot out of me and I went through a barrage of emotions for much of the year, even thinking at one time that I couldn't do it and it would be easier for me to just give up.
It makes me proud that I stuck with it, that I gritted my teeth, hunkered down, and got on with it. The end result is what was born from, for the most part, sheer determination.
I also found that, having spent three years as an undergradute who hated anything to do with postcolonial literature, as a postgraduate I experienced a new love for it. And with this new love, I used my newfound knowledge and admiration for Queer Theory (for which I have an intense interest) I read Stephen Gray's Time Of Our Darkness and wrote an essay, the experience of which it is unlikely I will ever forget.
After writing my Masters dissertation I started a book which quickly developed into a 5 book, and then 6 book, series! I call it my baby because I think it saved me from entering a kind of post-degree panic about what I was going to do career-wise.
I took part in NaNoWriMo in November and ended up with an almost finished draft of a novel I had no idea I had any desire to write to begin with. I learned a lot from my NaNo experience. The way I write, plan, and even feel about writing was drastically changed from the way I had previously gone about my writing before it.
It doesn't seem like I achieved much but in a personal way, I am proud of my achievements however small they may seem.
Next year I hope to have finished reading The Crimson Petal and the White (a book I started earlier this year but could not finish once I entered into the serious end of Masters) and to have finished my NaNoWriMo novel and my baby. I hope that by December 2013, I am on my way up in my chosen career of publishing.
But more than that, I hope that my family and I can continue to be happy and healthy.
Happy New Year everyone! I hope it's a great one!
:)
Showing posts with label NaNoWriMo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NaNoWriMo. Show all posts
12/31/2012
My NaNoWriMo - week 4!
And so it came down to this final week of November. My tree and I entered the week feeling foolishly arrogant about finishing on time because this was the week I was asked to intern at an amazing company.
After working all day I found myself too tired to write anything so I was a bit lax on meeting my word count targets for each day and by the time the 29th came around, I was in a mild panic that I would fall at the last hurdle.
I had 6000 words left to write and barely any time at all to catch up properly. And this was where I needed to put my essaying cap back on. I suppose in many ways, having just finished my Masters helped me to grit my teeth and push through my tiredness to finish.
The obstacle I needed to get through this final week was nothing big. It was just time. Time was running away from me and I needed to get through it and catch up.
And I did. At 10 minutes to midnight, I finally finished the 50,000 words. The novel is nowhere near finished but NaNoWriMo helped me to put a considerable dent in a novel I never knew was swimming around in my head to begin with.
And that is the best part of my NaNoWriMo experience. :)
Expected NaNo Word Count at end of week 4: 50,000
My Word Count: 50,078
After working all day I found myself too tired to write anything so I was a bit lax on meeting my word count targets for each day and by the time the 29th came around, I was in a mild panic that I would fall at the last hurdle.
I had 6000 words left to write and barely any time at all to catch up properly. And this was where I needed to put my essaying cap back on. I suppose in many ways, having just finished my Masters helped me to grit my teeth and push through my tiredness to finish.
The obstacle I needed to get through this final week was nothing big. It was just time. Time was running away from me and I needed to get through it and catch up.
And I did. At 10 minutes to midnight, I finally finished the 50,000 words. The novel is nowhere near finished but NaNoWriMo helped me to put a considerable dent in a novel I never knew was swimming around in my head to begin with.
And that is the best part of my NaNoWriMo experience. :)
Expected NaNo Word Count at end of week 4: 50,000
My Word Count: 50,078
My NaNoWriMo - Week 3!
Having changed the genre of my novel in week 2, I was feeling much more optimistic about my novel than I had been in the beginning.
Visiting my sister in Birmingham was a great opportunity for me to indulge in writing and thinking about my novel all week. You have to understand, this was my idea of heaven and it seemed like a great idea, one that I have often dreamed of.
What actually happened was not quite the same as what I had pictured, well, lusted over morelike. But once I was there, writing no longer felt like a pleasure but chore. I thought up endless scenes in my mind for most of my days there but getting down to actually writing everything I had conjured up in my mind proved to be not so easy.
What was I missing? It was actually the simplest thing and I chided myself for not having seen it sooner.
Layers. I needed more layers, and not just for F but for the novel as a whole.
I imagined a tree and all of the different branches that come out of it. And from all of those there are other branches, and others.
So I drew one. An actual tree with branches and on each branch I wrote the name of each character and how they factored into F's life. It sounds pathetically simple and childish but it was the only tool I had to continue my novel. This way I had a larger vision of what I wanted my novel to be which in turn enabled me to visualise more clearly how the scenes I had thought up would fit into the novel.
The NaNoWriMo advisors suggest participants do not plan their novels but fingertips to computer keys (or pen to paper) and write whatever comes to mind with their novel. Whilst this is a good idea in theory, this did not work for me. Anyone who knows me knows that I plan everything.
I tried not to but I couldn't do it. What can I say? I'm a control freak when it comes to my writing and darn proud of it too!
Expected NaNo Word Count at end of Week 3: 35,000
My Word Count: 35,017
-Catch up on week 1 and week 2 of my NaNo experiences!
Visiting my sister in Birmingham was a great opportunity for me to indulge in writing and thinking about my novel all week. You have to understand, this was my idea of heaven and it seemed like a great idea, one that I have often dreamed of.
What actually happened was not quite the same as what I had pictured, well, lusted over morelike. But once I was there, writing no longer felt like a pleasure but chore. I thought up endless scenes in my mind for most of my days there but getting down to actually writing everything I had conjured up in my mind proved to be not so easy.
What was I missing? It was actually the simplest thing and I chided myself for not having seen it sooner.
Layers. I needed more layers, and not just for F but for the novel as a whole.
I imagined a tree and all of the different branches that come out of it. And from all of those there are other branches, and others.
So I drew one. An actual tree with branches and on each branch I wrote the name of each character and how they factored into F's life. It sounds pathetically simple and childish but it was the only tool I had to continue my novel. This way I had a larger vision of what I wanted my novel to be which in turn enabled me to visualise more clearly how the scenes I had thought up would fit into the novel.
The NaNoWriMo advisors suggest participants do not plan their novels but fingertips to computer keys (or pen to paper) and write whatever comes to mind with their novel. Whilst this is a good idea in theory, this did not work for me. Anyone who knows me knows that I plan everything.
I tried not to but I couldn't do it. What can I say? I'm a control freak when it comes to my writing and darn proud of it too!
Expected NaNo Word Count at end of Week 3: 35,000
My Word Count: 35,017
-Catch up on week 1 and week 2 of my NaNo experiences!
My NaNoWriMo - Week 2!
I've been away doing lots of great things at my internship so this post is way overdue!
Week 2 of my NaNoWriMo experience was the hardest of all the weeks in November. I was so far behind the word count by the time the second week came hurtling towards me that I began to question how smart I had been for beginning so late in the game.
In truth, pride was the only thing that kept me from giving up and deciding that this whole thing was simply too much trouble and that I could always start again next year on November 1st.
Once I had (re)committed myself to the project, I began to think about the overall plot and how I would start the novel. I always start at the beginning whenever I write a novel and then write whatever comes into my head with the idea of filling in the rest later on when I know how to join things together. It's a messy method on the surface but there is order to it, and it works for me.
Writing a Crime/Thriller novel for the first time ever was going to be a difficult task. Funnily enough, the name of my protagonist was the hardest of all I had to come up with. I tentatively settled on a name with a mind to change it later (at this point, any name was good enough with me. I would have named her Bob if I had to).
In short, P (no surname) was a detective trying to unravel the mystery surrounding her husband's death. It sounds super simple but there is a lot more to it, and as it is still a work in progress, sharing it on here would not be great until I have decided on the ending 100%. I might share bits and pieces of it on here at a later time.
The problem I ran into in this second week of furious writing was P. I needed to construct a character who had been through a life-changing ordeal. Since this event happens at the beginning of the book, I ran into a lot of difficulty portraying her as a character who is devastated by her the loss of her husband. The difficult was not just in this but in how to communicate the gravity of her loss to the reader.
As a reader, I must have been drawn towards that part of my task and decided that it was more to focus on the reader and then building on P so that I she would eventually have more layers to her.
I was wrong to do this, however.
I quickly came to realise that P came across as cold and totally unrelateable. Of course, I have read books in which it is the author's intention to make the main character unrelateable to the reader but this was not what I intended. In fact, my vision for the novel was for the reader to empathise with P.
This was not the case and, midway through the second week, I was running out of ideas on how I was going to move into the main part of the novel. By this time, I also had to admit that I had a protagonist I did not particularly like. She was two-dimensional, cold, hard, and I really did not care for her at all.
The guys who give advice on NaNoWriMo advise participants to write and to continue and push through these difficult periods and not to change their novel at any point. I did not want to do that but I knew that there needed to be some compromise on my part if I was to complete the 50,000 word count by the end of the month.
So I did so and was astounded by how much easier things became. I switched to the genre I was comfortable using - Fantasy, and began to write. The sense of renewed inspiration and optimism I felt was something I had not been expecting and I began to write.
Simply switching my characters from humans to werewolves (I have an intense love of werewolves that I cannot begin to describe, and I'm damn proud of it) made my writing so much more pleasurable.
The first sign that I had made the right decision in choosing to switch genres was the way in which P's name changed so effortlessly to the character I will call 'F'. Although F was emotionally the same as P at the beginning of this new novel, I found that it was easier for me to develop a main character with whom it was easier to understand her emotional state. It was incredible how the simplest change of genre could reinvigorate a novel that was failing before it had even really begun.
I suppose that a lot of my difficulty may have been due to the fact that I was broaching into unknown territory by writing a Crime novel. I have no doubt that much of my inability to break through to the main body of my original draft was due to the Crime genre I had originally chosen. The fact that the fog seemed to clear once I switched to Fantasy only reaffirms this. By day 14, I had caught up with the word count and was feeling happy and renewed about the rest of my NaNoWriMo experience.
Expected NaNo Word Count at end of Week 2: 23,333
My Word Count: 23,555
-read Week 1 of my NaNo experience here!
Week 2 of my NaNoWriMo experience was the hardest of all the weeks in November. I was so far behind the word count by the time the second week came hurtling towards me that I began to question how smart I had been for beginning so late in the game.
In truth, pride was the only thing that kept me from giving up and deciding that this whole thing was simply too much trouble and that I could always start again next year on November 1st.
Once I had (re)committed myself to the project, I began to think about the overall plot and how I would start the novel. I always start at the beginning whenever I write a novel and then write whatever comes into my head with the idea of filling in the rest later on when I know how to join things together. It's a messy method on the surface but there is order to it, and it works for me.
Writing a Crime/Thriller novel for the first time ever was going to be a difficult task. Funnily enough, the name of my protagonist was the hardest of all I had to come up with. I tentatively settled on a name with a mind to change it later (at this point, any name was good enough with me. I would have named her Bob if I had to).
In short, P (no surname) was a detective trying to unravel the mystery surrounding her husband's death. It sounds super simple but there is a lot more to it, and as it is still a work in progress, sharing it on here would not be great until I have decided on the ending 100%. I might share bits and pieces of it on here at a later time.
The problem I ran into in this second week of furious writing was P. I needed to construct a character who had been through a life-changing ordeal. Since this event happens at the beginning of the book, I ran into a lot of difficulty portraying her as a character who is devastated by her the loss of her husband. The difficult was not just in this but in how to communicate the gravity of her loss to the reader.
As a reader, I must have been drawn towards that part of my task and decided that it was more to focus on the reader and then building on P so that I she would eventually have more layers to her.
I was wrong to do this, however.
I quickly came to realise that P came across as cold and totally unrelateable. Of course, I have read books in which it is the author's intention to make the main character unrelateable to the reader but this was not what I intended. In fact, my vision for the novel was for the reader to empathise with P.
This was not the case and, midway through the second week, I was running out of ideas on how I was going to move into the main part of the novel. By this time, I also had to admit that I had a protagonist I did not particularly like. She was two-dimensional, cold, hard, and I really did not care for her at all.
The guys who give advice on NaNoWriMo advise participants to write and to continue and push through these difficult periods and not to change their novel at any point. I did not want to do that but I knew that there needed to be some compromise on my part if I was to complete the 50,000 word count by the end of the month.
So I did so and was astounded by how much easier things became. I switched to the genre I was comfortable using - Fantasy, and began to write. The sense of renewed inspiration and optimism I felt was something I had not been expecting and I began to write.
Simply switching my characters from humans to werewolves (I have an intense love of werewolves that I cannot begin to describe, and I'm damn proud of it) made my writing so much more pleasurable.
The first sign that I had made the right decision in choosing to switch genres was the way in which P's name changed so effortlessly to the character I will call 'F'. Although F was emotionally the same as P at the beginning of this new novel, I found that it was easier for me to develop a main character with whom it was easier to understand her emotional state. It was incredible how the simplest change of genre could reinvigorate a novel that was failing before it had even really begun.
I suppose that a lot of my difficulty may have been due to the fact that I was broaching into unknown territory by writing a Crime novel. I have no doubt that much of my inability to break through to the main body of my original draft was due to the Crime genre I had originally chosen. The fact that the fog seemed to clear once I switched to Fantasy only reaffirms this. By day 14, I had caught up with the word count and was feeling happy and renewed about the rest of my NaNoWriMo experience.
Expected NaNo Word Count at end of Week 2: 23,333
My Word Count: 23,555
-read Week 1 of my NaNo experience here!
11/26/2012
My NaNoWriMo - Week 1
The first week of my NaNoWriMo experience was a little bit out of character for me. Although it is a very popular event, I had never heard of it before this year when it seemed the universe was trying to tell me something.
This is where social media really helped me. I had seen #NaNoWriMo trending on Twitter on October 31st and again on November 1st. But it was not until one of my favourite Fantasy authors, Kelley Armstrong, tweeted about her NaNo experience on the 3rd that I actually looked into what it was.
You don't need to berate me for my ignorance in all of this, I assure you, I have already done it myself because once I found out just what it was, I realised I had been missing out on something very special.
Thinking I had missed the opportunity to take part, I promised myself that I would do it next year. But one of my dearest friends, Tas, after hearing about it also, sent me a message and urged me to do it. The fact that she was pushing me to do it caused me to finally create an account on the NaNoWriMo website. I knew that I was now 3 days behind everyone else and I was feeling very weary about doing it. Truth be told, I wanted to stick to the novel I was already 5 weeks into writing and the thought of leaving it to catch up on writing a novel I had yet to form in my head was more than I thought I could handle having just completed a long year of constant writing.
But then something strange happened. A plot for a Crime/Thriller novel, of all things, popped into my head and I quickly wrote an extract and synopsis. (I know I already covered this in my introduction to my NaNo series but just go with me on this).
The first week went suspiciously well. I met up with another very close friend, Zahrah, whose eyes lit up like Christmas lights when I told her that I was taking part in NaNoWriMo. She, along with my sister, has always loved to read my writing (in fact, only last week she was asking me if I had any short pieces to send her to read because she missed reading my stuff). That gave me a boost of confidence and now, with two friends and my sister cheering me on, I decided to give this NaNo project a really big effort. What is wonderful is that one of the tips on the website for continuing with NaNo through to the end of the month is to tell close friends and family that you are taking part. That way, when you feel like giving up, you remember that you might well be asked about how it is all going. It's amazing how saving face can be a real motivator on the days you feel like giving up!
I like to call myself a realist (my mum and sister both call me a cynic. Hardly surprising I disagree then) so when I spent my first week hammering out the plot of the novel and writing to catch up with the prescribed word count, I found myself waiting for the other shoe to drop. I began thinking to myself that there was absolutely no way that, having hardly read any Crime novels, I could suddenly write one in a month.
I admit, it was a little bare. There were no intricately woven storylines, no red-herrings, no suspense. But, considering I had started four days behind, the basic plot was there and I knew what was going to happen from start to finish. I figured the rest would come the more I wrote. I had total faith that I could do it. After all, I had just completed a dissertation for my Masters. A project that, in the beginning, was just a series of disjointed ideas that I thought I had no hope whatsoever of ever turning into a coherent research paper that I could be proud of. But I did so I went with it.
The rest will follow, I thought.
Oh, how terribly wrong I was!
Expected NaNoWord Count at end of week 1: 11666
My Word Count: 4195
This is where social media really helped me. I had seen #NaNoWriMo trending on Twitter on October 31st and again on November 1st. But it was not until one of my favourite Fantasy authors, Kelley Armstrong, tweeted about her NaNo experience on the 3rd that I actually looked into what it was.
You don't need to berate me for my ignorance in all of this, I assure you, I have already done it myself because once I found out just what it was, I realised I had been missing out on something very special.
Thinking I had missed the opportunity to take part, I promised myself that I would do it next year. But one of my dearest friends, Tas, after hearing about it also, sent me a message and urged me to do it. The fact that she was pushing me to do it caused me to finally create an account on the NaNoWriMo website. I knew that I was now 3 days behind everyone else and I was feeling very weary about doing it. Truth be told, I wanted to stick to the novel I was already 5 weeks into writing and the thought of leaving it to catch up on writing a novel I had yet to form in my head was more than I thought I could handle having just completed a long year of constant writing.
But then something strange happened. A plot for a Crime/Thriller novel, of all things, popped into my head and I quickly wrote an extract and synopsis. (I know I already covered this in my introduction to my NaNo series but just go with me on this).
The first week went suspiciously well. I met up with another very close friend, Zahrah, whose eyes lit up like Christmas lights when I told her that I was taking part in NaNoWriMo. She, along with my sister, has always loved to read my writing (in fact, only last week she was asking me if I had any short pieces to send her to read because she missed reading my stuff). That gave me a boost of confidence and now, with two friends and my sister cheering me on, I decided to give this NaNo project a really big effort. What is wonderful is that one of the tips on the website for continuing with NaNo through to the end of the month is to tell close friends and family that you are taking part. That way, when you feel like giving up, you remember that you might well be asked about how it is all going. It's amazing how saving face can be a real motivator on the days you feel like giving up!
I like to call myself a realist (my mum and sister both call me a cynic. Hardly surprising I disagree then) so when I spent my first week hammering out the plot of the novel and writing to catch up with the prescribed word count, I found myself waiting for the other shoe to drop. I began thinking to myself that there was absolutely no way that, having hardly read any Crime novels, I could suddenly write one in a month.
I admit, it was a little bare. There were no intricately woven storylines, no red-herrings, no suspense. But, considering I had started four days behind, the basic plot was there and I knew what was going to happen from start to finish. I figured the rest would come the more I wrote. I had total faith that I could do it. After all, I had just completed a dissertation for my Masters. A project that, in the beginning, was just a series of disjointed ideas that I thought I had no hope whatsoever of ever turning into a coherent research paper that I could be proud of. But I did so I went with it.
The rest will follow, I thought.
Oh, how terribly wrong I was!
Expected NaNoWord Count at end of week 1: 11666
My Word Count: 4195
11/15/2012
NaNoWriMo - My Saviour
NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, is the most wonderful thing that could possibly happen to a struggling graduate like myself.
For those of you who don't know, NaNoWriMo is a scheme that challenges writers and non-writers alike to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November.(It says National, but it has been so successful, people all over the world are getting in on it, like me in sunny London!)
Of course, 50,000 words seems like a daunting task but writing about 1,667 words a day is not. That is what they so helpfully recommend you go by. If you write more, great. If you write less, not to worry, there is plenty of time to catch up.
Together with useful tips, encouragement, help, and a community that makes you feel like it is ok to ask even the most obvious questions, their website tries to encourage you to keep at it and stay the course throughout the month. If you reach 50,000 words by the end, you win! Yay!
What I love most is getting those words of encouragement I get as NaNoMail. It feels like I am being cheered on to finish a race, especially on those days when I feel like quitting. What is also cool is that members hold group writing sessions at various different places such as coffee shops. The sense of community that comes with this really makes me smile. I have yet to go to one though. I just get distracted easily but for those who enjoy writing in quiet groups I imagine it is very rewarding.
So how did I get started? Not until the 3rd November when my best friend pushed me to do it. Truth be told, at first I didn't want to do it. I had just started a new book that I was excited about writing and the prospect of having to keep to a deadline in my writing after 4 years of non-stop deadlines, was daunting to say the least. But she wanted me to do it, believing that it would help me in the end. (She was right and we're not even at the end yet!)
So, I signed up. I realised that I needed to start a new book entirely and thought again about not following through with it. This is where I scolded myself. Here I was, barely 5 minutes in and I was already thinking about quitting? I never quit!
"Screw it," I said and began to type a synopsis. I wanted to try a crime/thriller novel so that is what I went with. A plot began to form as I typed and I ended up writing an extract too. Proud of myself, I went to sleep happy and excited about trying something new.
It has been a bumpy ride since then and I will be documenting my progress from the day after, the 4th November, to now. So much has happened that it may take me a few days to catch up on it and the rest of my backlogged blogging but I am determined to see this and my NaNoWriMo novel through. That is another thing I must credit NaNo for, forcing me to get back to blogging. Until recently I had not wanted to blog, a voice in my head saying: "what could you possibly have to blog about?" every time I thought about writing a new post. (I'm glad I don't hear that bitch's voice anymore).
The only thing that makes me sad is that I cannot give back to them by donating money. That is the first thing I am going to do next year! It's the least I can do considering how much I have already gotten out of this.
But for now, all I can say is that NaNoWriMo has saved me from sitting at home scared about what my future holds. The first big lesson I have learned from doing this for the last 10-11 days? It is ok to not know what is going to happen next.
And that has helped me so much already!
;)
For those of you who don't know, NaNoWriMo is a scheme that challenges writers and non-writers alike to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November.(It says National, but it has been so successful, people all over the world are getting in on it, like me in sunny London!)
Of course, 50,000 words seems like a daunting task but writing about 1,667 words a day is not. That is what they so helpfully recommend you go by. If you write more, great. If you write less, not to worry, there is plenty of time to catch up.
Together with useful tips, encouragement, help, and a community that makes you feel like it is ok to ask even the most obvious questions, their website tries to encourage you to keep at it and stay the course throughout the month. If you reach 50,000 words by the end, you win! Yay!
What I love most is getting those words of encouragement I get as NaNoMail. It feels like I am being cheered on to finish a race, especially on those days when I feel like quitting. What is also cool is that members hold group writing sessions at various different places such as coffee shops. The sense of community that comes with this really makes me smile. I have yet to go to one though. I just get distracted easily but for those who enjoy writing in quiet groups I imagine it is very rewarding.
So how did I get started? Not until the 3rd November when my best friend pushed me to do it. Truth be told, at first I didn't want to do it. I had just started a new book that I was excited about writing and the prospect of having to keep to a deadline in my writing after 4 years of non-stop deadlines, was daunting to say the least. But she wanted me to do it, believing that it would help me in the end. (She was right and we're not even at the end yet!)
So, I signed up. I realised that I needed to start a new book entirely and thought again about not following through with it. This is where I scolded myself. Here I was, barely 5 minutes in and I was already thinking about quitting? I never quit!
"Screw it," I said and began to type a synopsis. I wanted to try a crime/thriller novel so that is what I went with. A plot began to form as I typed and I ended up writing an extract too. Proud of myself, I went to sleep happy and excited about trying something new.
It has been a bumpy ride since then and I will be documenting my progress from the day after, the 4th November, to now. So much has happened that it may take me a few days to catch up on it and the rest of my backlogged blogging but I am determined to see this and my NaNoWriMo novel through. That is another thing I must credit NaNo for, forcing me to get back to blogging. Until recently I had not wanted to blog, a voice in my head saying: "what could you possibly have to blog about?" every time I thought about writing a new post. (I'm glad I don't hear that bitch's voice anymore).
The only thing that makes me sad is that I cannot give back to them by donating money. That is the first thing I am going to do next year! It's the least I can do considering how much I have already gotten out of this.
But for now, all I can say is that NaNoWriMo has saved me from sitting at home scared about what my future holds. The first big lesson I have learned from doing this for the last 10-11 days? It is ok to not know what is going to happen next.
And that has helped me so much already!
;)
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