PBW’s E-Book Challenge
amber October 31st, 2006
I tried and failed to get myself together for PBW’s E-Book Challenge, but I’ve already downloaded a couple of stories to get me through my lunch break today.
Check it out.
On to the Outline
amber October 23rd, 2006
I’ve actually completed my three leads’ character sheets. While I’m tempted to do up sheets for the secondary characters, I could be working on those until Christmas and completely miss Nano. So, instead I’ll now be centering on doing more than a 4 paragraph write-up for an outline, and actually use YWriter to complete something more intelligible. Who knows, maybe this year I’ll not only complete, but I’ll finish and it will be worthwhile to edit.
Maybe.
Characters are Hard
amber October 18th, 2006
So, I’ve been working on the Character Sheets, and while I am still waffling on the names, I have picked my “actors for inspiration”.
Cassandra York - Rachel Weisz (The Mummy)
David Travers - David Tennant (10th Doctor Who)
Michael Andrews - Christain Bale (American Psycho)
See, I need someone’s face in my head, so I can put a voice to it, so I usually “cast” my book just so I can get at least beyond a primordial blob in my brain. It is amusing that I’ve picked Brit/Scot actors all for a story that I’m tenatively putting on St. Simons Island, GA.
And anyway, this has given me an excuse to surf for gratuitous shots of Mr. Tennant and Mr. Bale, either of which float my boat. 
Take a Flyer
amber October 12th, 2006
I went to my workplace’s Writing Group today, and handed out flyers for Nanowrimo. I actually got a couple of people really interested in it, which makes me happy. Since I’m a contractor at the college, with only over a week to go, I would like to keep up going to the meetings, but I don’t know how viable that will be once the contract is up.
Off to try and work up the semblance of an outline for my novel.
The Plot Thickens
amber October 8th, 2006
Thanks to the Adopt-A-Plot thread on the Nano Forums, I think that I have a plot. Or, should I say, an Idea. Yes, as in capital “I” Idea. Wanna hear it?
A woman in her mid-twenties works in a small bookshop with a selection of deliciously eccentric characters. Everything’s going fine, if a bit mundane, when one day she picks up a book from the floor and a polaroid photo drops out of it. She glances at the cover and it’s a book about stalkers… and the polaroid is a picture of her taken through the window of her apartment.
Now, I think I’m going to mess with it a bit, but the bookstore and the photo in the book will stay. Instead of stalker, I think I’m going to go as far as serial killer. After that, it’s all a blur at the moment.
I’m actually attempting to be pro-active here in regards to Nano… I’m trying to sort out a plot beforehand, actually *gasp* outlining the damned thing. Last year, while I did do some planning, I didn’t do either enough or a good enough job with it. I’ve posted some of the chapters to one of the online groups that I’m a part of, and there were too many comments that the writing was sub-par for me, of differing levels of “niceness”. That sticks, ya know.
And, while it stung, it’s the truth. That was some really crappy writing that I did last year, and while that’s mostly expected from Nano, I know that I can do better than what I did. The two years previous, I wrote better, but I got completely hung up on trying to figure out WHAT I was going to write about instead of going ahead and actually writing it, which is why I failed.
So, I’m getting my shit together and organizing. Beforehand. Not During.
Wish me luck, I’ll damned well need it.
Trying out Ideas
amber September 29th, 2006
So, I’m trying to get on top of things, and actually get *gasp* organized for NaNo this year. So, for the one or two people that actually pay attention to this site (maybe), I’d love your opinion.
So I’m tossing around some plot ideas (thanks to the Adopt-A-Plot thread on the Nano forums) in my brain, but I keep coming back to a post-apocalyptic theme, because of watching and falling in love with Jericho. So I’m torn, and I’m tempted to ask the interwebbys their opinion.
What am I opening myself up for?
On a completely different note, I’ve joined a writer’s group at the HBCU that I’m contracting for currently, so we’ll see how that goes.
I hate it when that happens
amber November 16th, 2005
So, lo and behold, my novel’s changed genres on me…. instead of being a straight Historical, it’s now a Mystery.
I think I might actually be able to turn this into a series. That could be cool.
Yesterday was a Wash-Out
amber November 8th, 2005
I didn’t get anything done yesterday due to the freakout that I had yesterday about bugs. I feel horrible about it, but family comes first. I’m hoping to get back on track today.
The Diaries of Elizabeth Page
amber November 5th, 2005
Well, I ended up going with the Revolutionary War mystery, but I’ve changed it up a little to take place in modern times with an archaeologist finding a set of diaries from the Rev War period, with major chunks of the story being the diary entries and trying to sort out what exactly happened from the time period. I’m not particularly liking the writing I’m doing right now, so I don’t know if I want to post the excerpts just yet, but I’ll try to provide at least a rough outline sometime soon.
