Woot!!!!!

Well I just finished my NaNo for this year! I have to say this year was way more difficult than last year. this year I had to find time to write, do calculus homework and apply to colleges. But after all the toiling, the sweating and the cramped up fingers, it feels good…

Halfway through the month, the “v” key on my keyboard stopped working. I have to hit it really hard to get it to work. I found myself avoiding words or names that contained the dreaded letter “v.”

I was realyl worried that I woudl run out of plot before I reached 50k. And I did. So I had to improise. The plot of Airheart was over, I;d reached the final scene with the final lines my mai character said adn I still had 10k left to fill. So I had to improvise. I wrote a series fo short stories, little things I had thoguth of some time ago that were pertinent to the main story but were also superfluous. I called them Incidents. There’s six of them. They all tell a short story covering an adventure of Daica and Cryseeh or Evan and Angela. There’s even one for a minor character, Adam.

Now that NaNo is over I can blow away the dust from this poor blog and begin to write for it again.

Goodbye monster NaNo, see ya next year like always.  Now, let me get out my red pen and edit Airheart…

Counting Down For NaNo ‘08

It’s only August and I’m already thinking about this year’s NaNo. Since I can’t do any actual writing of the plot, I just began to develop it in my mind. I’ve decided that this year, I will try a different genre. Last year I worked on the manuscript of The Lion’s Head, which is in the fantasy category. Although The Lion’s Head is still not finished, I want to try somehting different this year.

Earlier this year, I responded to a prompt in everydaytellsastory.wordpress.com [This is a great writing excersice and a fun past time to]. My response was about 400 words long. When I was done writing the thought of using this response as the basis of this year’s NaNo began to creep inside my head. The more I think about it, th more I agree with the idea.

Since I can’t write the plot down until November, I’ve started to just take notes in a small notebook. I carry it wherever I go, [except the bathroom, of course] and write down whatever creative ideas I get. The notes aren’t very organized, they’re just a bunch of random sentences. Like: “appearance vs. reality” and “undergrond labyrnth society–nohting there.” They might not make much sense to others but they are just small reminders that will keep me from forgetting the story until November. I also include details, like character names and their relationship to each other. I call this little notebook my Idea Log.

Maybe later I’ll scan a page and post it as a sample.

Hidden Under Your Nose

Mark passed his index along the spines of the books in his bookcase. “Aha!” he said with satisfaction. “Here it is.” He pulled out an old green book titled Hidden under Your Nose. He gave it to me along with a free smile. “Just don’t tell my grandfather I lent it to you or he’ll definitely have a heart attack.”

Mark had a peculiar sense of humor. His grandfather was still in the hospital room, recovering from a heart attack. Moreover, I had never met his grandfather. “Thanks,” I said.

“Do you want something to drink?” I was relieved he had asked. It was the middle of summer and Mark’s air conditioning had been broken for the past three years. I nodded silently. Mark slipped out of the living room and went into the kitchen.

I opened the book and discovered that it was not a book at all. It was filled with written words, but they were not typed. They were handwritten. This was a diary. Immediately, I felt out of place. I was invading someone’s privacy. A shattering sound came from the kitchen. “I’m alright!” came Mark’s voice from the kitchen. “I just broke a glass, again.”

The sound had startled me and made me drop the diary. it fell on the floor with its pages divided in half. The covers were spread like the wings of a dead bird that crashed on the ground. I picked up the diary. A yellow envelope slipped out from within the pages. I picked it up. It was addressed to: “Whomever Finds Me”

I tore the envelope quickly and extracted a folded paper and a smaller sheet. I unfolded the paper. It was a drawing, more like a tangle of lines. I could not tell what it was. The other piece was titled “In Order to Find The Things Hidden Under Your Nose.” Al list of strange names and places followed as well as some gibberish that seemed to be written in a foreign language and looked as thought it were impossible to pronounce.

“Hey!” yelled Mark. I quickly stuffed the papers inside the envelope and the envelope inside the diary. ” forgot to ask you what you wanted to drink.”

“Water’s fine.” I was relieved. I still felt out of place reading the private writings of Mark’s grandfather. But the envelope was addressed to me, since I had found it. But had I found it first? The envelope was not open… I heard the sound of the kitchen door open. I had to make a decision quickly.

“Hey I ran out of water, so I got you orange juice. I hope that’s all right,” Mark said as he handed me a cold glass of the juice.

“That’s fine,” I said.

Mark sat down and gulped down his orange juice. “Are you going to drink that? Because if you aren’t, I’ll take it. It’s the last of my orange juice supply.”

I handed the glass to Mark. I wasn’t so thirsty anymore. “You won’t believe what I found.”

Mark raised his eyebrows in a quizzical look. I handed him the envelope. He looked at its contents and smiled. And so, an adventure began.

~~~~~~

Written as a response to today’s prompt in Everyday Tells A Story. Currently, an idea for NaNoWriMo ‘08.