Tag Archives: Inner Editor

Writing Prompt!

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I’ve done a couple writing prompts this year, and they really are fun.  Just writing about the topic kind of de-clutters my brain, and I’m starting to find that it gets my mind going. 

Today’s prompt is: what do you think about while you exercise?

Mostly how long I’ve been there, and much longer I have to go, which is why I try to cover up the timer with my towel, so I don’t think about it.  Not that it stops me from looking every few minutes, because it really doesn’t.  I spend a lot of time thinking about what song I should listen to next.  Or if I happen to be looking at one of the tv screens, whatever I happen to be watching.  Sometimes random stuff that I don’t remember.  Other times it’s stuff I need to do.  It really does depend on what’s going on.

So I’ll be doing different prompts this month, but whether they’ll be continued throughout the year depends on how it goes this month, so we’ll see.

Harry Potter and The Giant Prehistoric Chicken

Posted in HP & The Giant Prehistoric Chicken, Post-NaNo Wrap Up by

The thing that amazes me the most about this one is the fact that I got off to such a rough start, and still managed to finish this one first!  November 1, I had 414 words, and didn’t write anything for a couple days.  I managed to get up to a few thousand words on the 4th, and got completely caught up about a week in.  But even then I struggled with it, and it was because I was trying to mimic the 5th book too much.  The characters were too in character, and I was trying way too hard.   Once I realized that it didn’t have to be exactly like Order of the Phoenix, it got a lot easier to write.  After all, if I wanted something like the 5th book, I’d be reading it, instead of writing my own version.  And with the struggles that I had the first week or so, I’m amazed that I managed to write 50,707 words without wordpadding!

The focus gradually shifted from Harry over to Hermione (who is undoubtedly one of my favorite characters), which may have been one of the reasons why it became easier to write.  I definitely see a lot of similarities between myself and Hermione, so writing from her point of view is a lot easier than Harry’s.  Also surprising me was that characters who didn’t have huge roles in the series had much bigger roles than I expected.

I won’t be doing any character spotlights on these characters or anything relating to the Harry Potter world, but definitely check out the Harry Potter Lexicon, which has been my saving grace over the last month.  On the rare occasion I needed to look something up, I apparated right on over to the Lexicon, where I could find everything I needed, as opposed to becoming wrapped up in reading Harry Potter whenever I needed to look something up. 

So instead of doing an in-depth character profile, I’ll be talking about each character and why I like or dislike them.  There’s definitely going to be a mythological aspect as well, since they’re going to the underworld, so I’ll probably highlight the places, creatures and gods/goddesses they encounter, plus any spells or potions I personally make up. 

I don’t really have a clear plan on how much I’ll be working on it, but anywhere from 500 to 1000 words, depending on my mood.  I haven’t actually written anything for it the last day or two, but I just need to sit down and write it!

The title should be well obvious by now (or so I hope anyway). 

Victory Song: I was listening to No Way from A Very Starkid Album when I reached 50k.  I knew that it definitely had to be something relating to Harry Potter, and No Way seemed to fit the best, because I was absolutely surprised that this was the novel that I “finished” first, and not only that, but a day early!  And as a side note, Potter Puppet Pals, A Very Potter Musical, and A Very Potter Sequel are absolutely genius.

A General Wrap-Up

Posted in Post-NaNo Wrap Up by

All in all, this was my best NaNo yet.  I’ll talk about each novel individually in the next few days, but today I thought I’d do a general wrap-up.

  1. I’m never doing three novels in one month again.  I will, however, stick with doing two novels.  3 is too much to keep track of, no matter how much free time I have on my hands. 
  2. However, working on 3 novels got me back to writing everyday, which is something that I’ve sorely missed.  While I might not write everyday, I definitely need to be writing at least a few times a week.
  3. This was the year that I remembered why I started doing NaNo in the 1st place- because I love writing, and I have ideas that I need to get out onto paper. 
  4. Writing is fun, even when I want to strangle my characters. 
  5. I’ve, for the most part, ignored my inner editor, which has made for some interesting writing!

I’ll be posting everyday for at least the next few days, but after that, it’s highly likely that I’ll post anywhere from 4-5 days a week.  Sometimes it’ll be more, sometimes less, depending on what I’m talking about.  Not everything will be NaNo-specific now that NaNo is over, but I will be talking about 2 of the novels I’ve worked on this year, plus one of the novels that I worked on last year.  I know I have a couple of non-NaNo projects that I started a long time ago and never finished, so I might be talking about those every once in a while.  And of course, I’ll be talking about anything writing-related, and probably talk about books I’m reading every once in a while.

Meet My Inner Editor

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I thought today I’d talk more about my inner editor.  We all have one, and it’s the voice in the back of my head that keeps telling me to fix my grammar and check my spelling.  It’s that voice in the back of my head telling me that my writing is terrible, my ideas are terrible, and my characters are lifeless and boring.  Every year, I do NaNo, it gets easier to ignore her while writing.  I have no idea what she looks like,  but she seems like an Isabella to me.  She seems pompous, and has an air of superiority surrounding her. 

This year, I’ve managed to almost completely ignore her.  Not completely, of course, but I’ve gotten a lot better at just writing, which to me is what NaNo is all about.  The poorly written sentences, the inconsistencies, and the terrible (and yet oddly funny) spelling errors can all be fixed later.  You can’t edit it if there’s nothing to edit.  Ignoring Isabella means I can focus on writing, and not have to be bogged down with the worry that it won’t be good enough.  It is a rough draft, it’s not supposed to be perfect.  Accepting that has gotten easier every year as well.

Secret Service Novel: 41,839; I feel like the pace on this one has definitely slowed down, but there’s still plenty of ideas to go around.  I think I’ve settled on a direction for this one, so we’ll see how that goes.  But if it doesn’t work out, then I’ll have no problem trying to find a new direction to go in.

Harry Potter Sequel: 44,342; the ideas just kept coming forth today.  If I can write an extra 667 words today, I’ll be a day ahead! 

2006 Sequel:  43,415; the complaining/venting seems to be working out rather well so far, but it is getting a little old.  Hopefully, I’ll have inspiration for something in the next few days, or failing that, I can always go back and write one of those chapters I know I’ve skipped over.  I’ve lost my muse on this one, I’m hoping I can miraculously get it back in the next few days.

Grandtotal: 129,596; today was a good day for getting ahead (at least for one novel).  I’m hoping that I can continue to get ahead today, with the hope that on the 30th, I won’t be writing until 11 pm and scrambling to get my word count verified, because that’s usually when things go wrong.  I’ll be very superstitious the next few days to be on the safe side!

Sleep is Important

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Lack of sleep makes for an interesting day writing wise.  I’d say I got maybe an hour of sleep.  While I did get a lot of writing done, as I might as well be productive if I’m just going to sit and wait to be tired, when it comes to writing later in the day, I write even stranger things than normal.  I’m honestly surprised I didn’t fall asleep at the Living Room this morning.  Here’s a few tidbits from sleep-deprived writing:

  • “I am never reading barry potter.”  (who’s barry potter?)
  • “I’m hpping you don’t forget the.”  (forget what?  that you never ended the sentence?)
  • “Do you think he was in on it?” kiora saidked.  (don’t say or ask when you can saidked)
  • ancoient rines (what’s ancoient rines?  is it like ancient runes?)

Note to self: never write when I’ve only gotten an hour’s sleep.

Secret Service Novel: 33,522; I’m rather amazed I stayed awake long enough to write anything for this one.  Things have a taken an interesting, unexpected (and possibly illegal if it keeps up) turn.

Harry Potter Fanfic: 32,373; My attempt to write this one today hasn’t gone well, mostly because I felt like I was going to fall asleep.  Hopefully my nap will give me enough energy to finish today’s quota. 

2006 sequel: 35,674; at least something productive came out of my inability to sleeep.  I also realized that I’ve given up on trying to figure out a plot for the second half, and instead am going to complain about everything.  Chloe’s been complaining most of the last 6,000 words or so, and since complaining is good for my word count, I might as well run with it.  It is fictionalized complaining, as it’s Chloe who’s complaining about everything.  I’ll see where it goes.

Grand total: 101,569; I’m relieved that I’ve passed the 100k mark!  150k is firmly within reach now!

Typos!

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Today I thought I’d share some of the funny stuff that I end up writing.  In any given NaNo, there are always grammatical errors and spelling errors.  And in any given NaNo, you leave out words, say things in very bizarre ways, and even type things that you later read and think “WTF?!!” 

I’ve managed to shut out my inner editor (well, for the most part).  A rough draft written in one month is not the time to worry about grammar or spelling.  Not caring about spelling or grammar leads to some pretty interesting typos and stuff.  Last year, I kept spelling ninjas as ninkas.  I’m comtemplating going back through previous NaNo’s and trying to find the funny stuff.

While I haven’t gone back and reread anything, when I do notice stuff, I make a comment in word, so I can find it easily.  that’s very rare for me, but when you plan to write 150,000 words in a month, being able to find this stuff easily is becoming a necessity.  So here’s a few gems from my secret service novel that I’ve managed to catch after writting it.  I’ll post stuff from my other novels later, everything is copyrighted to me.  oh, and my comments are in parantheses. 

  • “It’s not having secret service agents around you all the time is helping things.” 
  •  “She might not be able to kick you clowns out of class, but she most certainly can and will kick me out of class if it means you people being quiet.”  (the image of a relatively petite girl calling a bunch of guys twice her size clowns is hysterical)
  • “hat explains everything,” dustin said” (i had no idea hats could explain stuff)
  • “duiton whispered to kira” (i have no idea who duiton and kira are…maybe dustin and kiora’s doppelgangers?)

Secret Service Novel: 24,035; I’ve just now decided that this novel is the one that I need to write last.  I’ve struggled off and on with the other two, and I figure if I write the one that I’m not having trouble with last, it’ll make me feel better about having something that I have no trouble with.

Harry Potter Fanfic: 23,927; to resurrect the giant prehistoric chicken, there’s a spell that needs to be performed and a potion that needs to be made.  I still haven’t figured out how to get them to the underworld, but I’m sure I can come up with something.  Hermione’s going to ask fred and george to get the ingredients she needs for the potions. 

2006 Sequel: 25,060; I’m halfway there!  chloe’s decided she wants to find her dad, and get some answers from him about what happened between him and her mom.

Grand total:  73,022; just over 2,000 words before I hit the halfway point.  That’ll be in the next few hours (I hope!).  I can do this.