Tuesday 30 October 2012

Death of the Outline

I spent the better half of yesterday writing character profiles, researching names and reading all sorts of writing tips as preparartion for Nanowrimo 2012.



I came up the following: Four women who are connected by one and they are each searching for happiness in love. One of them is in a common law relationship but her partner has not fully committed himself to the union. One of them is single and struggling to find the "one". One of them is discussing marriage with her boyfriend of four years but has make it a neccessity that there will be no wedding without an engagement ring and the other one has three men vying for her hand. The story is supposed to follow them as they struggle to get their own way and find happiness in love. They will make mistakes, they have character flaws, they will push their men away and in the climax; be all alone. There will be a sub-story following their friendship with each other as it is tested by their character differences and strengthened by their commonality. It was going to be set in my home country with some local dialect, local places and local struggles of women. I picked out names for the girls, making the group of ladies a multicultural one from different financial and educational backgrounds.

So what happened to that plot, to those character profiles?

It still exists on paper but I don't feel like it has the power to make it to 50,000 words.
I read a writing tip yesterday which said, "Every scene and every chapter must keep the protagonist off-balance - things may get better for him/her, or worse, but they need to be constantly changing." (http://www.writersworkshop.co.uk/Plot.html) I don't feel like I can do this for these characters. I don't feel they have that sort of impact or their story is such a great one to be told. Sure, they are not Mary Sues, but are their story intriguing enough that someone would want to read about it? I know you will say it depends on how I tell it, but honestly I don't feel I can tell their stories that well.

These women are a reflection of friends I have in my life, and their true struggles with finding happiness in love. I do intend to emblish every detail when I write it, but the truth is, it is based on people I know and I am not sure it that makes for something fascinating or gripping.

So as self doubt prevails, today I aim to either make their stories worth reading about by plotting my chapters out, or by coming up with a whole new idea. Which one I will do, I dont know, you will have to return tomorrow to find out.

Thanks for visiting
XoXo Anjie

Monday 29 October 2012

NANO IS TWO DAYS AWAY.

What would drag me out of my cocoon and bring me back to blogging? Nanowrimo of course!

I cannot explain why I haven't been blogging or writing. Maybe it is laziness, maybe the muse went for a vacation when I did, or maybe life just interevened and wouldn't let me back to this world of escape. I swear one of the above is an excuse and apology for not keeping you entertained.

But now I am back to blogging and just in time for Nano.

This is my second year doing Nanowrimo and I can't explain what it is that I feel exactly. Am I scared? Yes! I have not decided on a story, or characters or nothing for November and it is two days away. Will I be able to come up with something? I have no idea but I still intend to participate.

Am I excited? A little. With fear there is this excitement of being able to shell out those 50,000 words in thirty days. I acquired it in 27 days last year and I haven't looked back on the story. I know all I have to do is keep a steady 1667 words a day and I will accomplish it but it isn't that black and white. I remember setting times to wake up at 3am in the morning to get words in, trying to accomplish 5000 words a day on weekends and pushing in whatever I can, wherever I can. The thing is we write when the muse gives us something to write about so planning to trot down the road at a steady pace is not something realistic at all.

I am reading all the blog posts by my fellow writers with their tips and advice but does that prepare me? NO!

However, in spite of it all I am not giving up. I aim to accomplish a few things during nano; I aim to get a novel written in thirty days, and I aim to keep you updated through my blog posts, so come on back weekly for updates on the craziness.

xoxo Anjie