Protagonist or Antagonist?

I was reading a forum post on the NaNoWriMo forums about villainous motives and considered my current characters and their motives.

Note, I say 'characters', not 'villains' or 'antagonists' because for my upcoming story, the antagonist is a faceless apparition of evil. I think I liked the title they gave Ganon in Ocarina of Time: "Evil Incarnation of Darkness", too much. If the monster at the end of the tunnel is just evil, has no body, no emotions, but is a concept unto itself, it makes it easier to work with.

My characters on the other hand are half villainous themselves. They have fatal flaws that color their perception of the world. Not in a ridiculous fashion but they have anger issues, are controlling, are filled with self-doubt. They're working for money, for fame, for something they cannot tell the other characters about, because doing so would admit something about themselves they find embarrassing.

In the same way I create my villains. They have families and assets they want to protect. They want to live out their lives peacefully, even if no one else will let them. In certain situations they may be aligned with the values the heroes. People can't simply be evil for the sake of being evil. That's why so many people like the concept of fantasy races, they can be truly evil unlike a human, until you remember they have to love and reproduce like any other living creature.

My villain this year is my hero, depending on what side you're on. The eldritch abomination will attempt to foster friendship between him and people who disagree with his goal, the same people who are purposed entirely with preventing his goal from coming to fruition, but mortals have free will, something the abomination doesn't understand. The characters can make their own choice to help or hinder.

-X

Xander and the Case of the Awful NaNoWriMo Plot

I have good news and bad news.

The good news is that I finished NaNoWriMo 2011. The bad news is that it sucks. Really really really bad.

I know, everyone says this but this is the first time I haven't wanted to finish the story. I didn't have a plot I really liked so I threw five of them together to make a single plot line. Five plots that I didn't like. You know how they say two wrongs don't make a right? Five terrible plots don't make a passable novel.

There has not been a year, even my first year where I ran out of plot where I had as much trouble writing it. Part of me is under the opinion that I my mindset was wrong. It's hard to explain, but until the last week I wasn't writing how I usually do. Part of this is because I've been the Municipal Liaison this year and that takes more work  that you would think. Not just before and after a write in but during. You suddenly have to spend the entire write in as the 'Go To' person for all questions and answers. It's good that I consider any writing done at write ins to be extra words that I don't need otherwise I would never have gotten done. I didn't write at my first two write ins (Midnight Blast Off and Late Night at IHOP w/ Chris Baty).

I fell behind in week two, but I didn't think anything of it. Everyone hates week two. It's part of the pep talks and I can't read week two pep talks cause it's old to me now. I've done week two, I can handle week two.

But this year it wasn't week two. I was still behind and I realized that I hated my novel and for the first time I thought about quitting it. It was just too much trouble to finish. The only reason I did was that as a Forum Moderator I have to be on the website year round and I can't go on there and see my lack of winner status for another ten months. It just can't happen.

But as Chris Baty just sent us another email pointing out that even though his novel didn't work out how he planned it, he learned from the experience. Just like I learned that five terrible plots don't make a passable novel.
-X

Long overdue GOALS post

So apparently I never recreated my GOALS post for 2011. I can see why, I've been busy living in a new state on the other side of the country that is beautiful and warm all year round and because I've been trying to steer this blog away from me just bitching. 'Cause no one wants to read that.

The previous post I made was Dec 31, 2009 for the year 2010 and here is what I wrote

But this is a traditional time to make GOALS so here it goes.
-Reach my goal weight of 175 lbs. I should be able to do this by the end of March at the earliest, by the end of the year at the latest.
-Get a job in theatre. Obvious. Perhaps I'll be less picky.
-Participate in Script Frenzy [2010]. 100 script pages in the 30 days of April. Like NaNo but with more dialogue.
-Get a home. Directly attached to the job part. Hopeful, very hopeful.

 I should also add this other one I picked up as I  passed the year.

I need to get a life.

 So that is five things on the list.

I haven't lost much weight, but at the moment I am living in my car and eating only two meals a day. If this doesn't cause me to lose weight nothing will.

I currently have a very low paying job in theatre. It's something but at this point I just want work so that I can stop worrying about money.

I did participate and win Script Frenzy in 2010. I also became an ML (local event coordinator) for 2011. I completed Nano 2010 as well. Doing this I discovered that I like writing a lot. I got terrible grades in English when I was in school which discouraged me from telling stories and I am extremely thankful to Nanowrimo for helping me get over years of pessimistic teachers. Overall I have discovered that I enjoy screenwriting better than noveling. I'm probably just more familiar with the format with my college education in theatre.

As posted above, I'm living in my car right now with all my worldly possessions. I would really like a place that I can get comfortable and stay for awhile. Sadly, you need money for that. I'm definitely working hard towards this goal.

For other GOALS I am creating, I want to write another screenplay so that I might be able to get representation. One that doesn't have a metric shit ton of required special effects, because I won't get a shit ton of effects for my first sold script.

• Get a life
• Get a job
• Get a home
• Become physically fit
• Exercise
• Lose weight
• Write more
• Write a novel in November
• Write a low budget screenplay

That makes a very pretty list doesn't it?
-X

That's kind of embaressing

And by 'that' I mean when you look at your blog and realize that you haven't updated it in a month. Nearly a month. Close enough to a month.

In this past month I have been doing 750words.com and am on a 44 day streak. That's a lot of days. I can't believe I've done it, that I was able to think of things to write or that they made sense. As it is I haven't written today and after that one terrifying attempt to blog via that site I am not trying again. Of course today I could write that much without difficulty because it's been so long since my last post.

I started to edit my Nanowrimo 2010. It's hard work and I am often bored of it. Instead I showed my Script Frenzy 2010 to my writing group and got feedback on it. They like it. They say it's marketable. It's so close to salable that I can taste it. I should be working on it more, but as usual I am distracted.

On a similar note Screnzy is rolling around again in April and I am going to be writing the sequel to my first. I always hate the people that talk about writing a sequel before they finish the first, or sell the first, or have actually contemplated the first. They do that on the forums. It's almost as annoying as complaining about not having an idea two months before the event. Now I am one of those people.

I still don't have a job. I am staying with a friend for free, which is nice but I do want to be able to at least assist with some bills after a while. I don't like taking charity. Honestly I am surprised that I am able to be her comfortably as I am.

The only thing I really need to do still is I have to lose some weight. I want to fit back into my clothes and I want to look better, but as happens when I get busy I don't pay attention to Calorie-count. Putting that website on my radar always seems to make me feel like I have too much time that could be spent elsewhere.

Anyway. I just read two books at a rapid pace and am playing a video game I shouldn't have bought and barely runs on my laptop.

In the next day or so I will be updating my GOALS because I realize I haven't. I messed with the numbers the other day but they need a post to go with them.
-X

Here comes a New Year with 750 words

Today is New Years Eve! Yay!
The only good thing about the last year is that I moved to Los Angeles, California. Everything else sucked. I now have a couple of friends, if odd friends, but then again, what good are friends if they aren't odd. I'm currently living somewhere free of charge and fighting a winning battle against roaches. Christmas sucked a bit because I was alone, but I dealt with it by reading A Christmas Carol and watching A Muppet Christmas Carol. Yes, I am geeky when it comes to Christmas literature.

Yesterday, I finished the revision of my 2010 Screnzy and I will be allowing people to read it as soon as I can print it out. I'd feel bad about using my friend's printer because it'll be about five hundred fifty pages for all the people I want to read it. That's a little over a ream of paper. Not to even start on how much it is of ink (eek).

Since, I have that done I now get to reread my National Novel Writing Month Novel from this past November. The most difficult part will be not doing anything to it during the first read through. I know I need to add more description because I hate description. I still love my story (which I was saying about my script at this point too, not anymore) and I have many ideas on how to expand on it. My story is something of a prelude/origin story any I don't know how well it shows off my characters or the world. Most people have been looking at my synopsis on the Nano website and gasping at how long and detailed my concept is and you don't really get any of that in the novel I've written.

I started drawing again and I shall continue to draw into the new year. I am planning on pulling my art box out of storage and messing around with it. Technically, I should be going around and looking for a job and a permanent place to live, but what fun it that? What I would really like to do is play with jewelry making some more. I have some left overs from my class but a couple of important tools that make metalworking easy, like a blow torch. I like the blow torch.

God I want to weld. And I hate welding. It really sucks after the first couple of minutes. I probably just want to do theatre. What would be really nice is to go get a job doing the stuff I know and then I get to feel all superior on my first couple of days at least. Yeah, that would be good. I think I might have too many plans for this coming year.  I want to write 750 words everyday, I want to complete a script and a novel. That doesn't count participating and completing Script Frenzy 2011 and National Novel Writing Month 2011. Maybe even become a Municipal Liaison this year. I'm not committed to that last one, I am just toying with the idea.

Be the leader of something would be fun too. I like organizing people and making them do stuff. I find it too exciting. Particularly when events go well, which in my history they don't (not entirely my fault... actually so far it hasn't been my fault).

Lot of movies are coming out this year too and I need to get a job so that I can afford to see them. The ones produced by Disney I can go see for free, but that is a small number of them out of the year.

If you're wondering why this is possible the longest blog post I have ever written it's because I am writing this for the 750words.com website which gives you points for writing a lot without stopping. I can't even stop to think about what I am writing. I've written on the site most days this month, but this is the first time I have tried to write a blog post on it. A seven hundred and fifty word blog post. They honestly don't care if you put the same word down seven hundred and fifty times.

Yes, I have to write out 'seven hundred and fifty' each time. It adds more words and makes it so I don't have to add more content. I'm kind of getting tired and my back is hurting from the position I am sitting in right now. Hey look I made it to 750. Joy to me and you.

Happy New Year!
-X

This is required

I have to post simply to say that I once again completed National Novel Writing Month. Also to say that I once again plan on editing the novel in a month, just like I claimed last year. Hopefully this year I will not reread it and declare it the worst thing since Twilight.

Now instead of saying how I need to prepare for Nanowrimo I'll  be saying how I need to prepare for Script Frenzy in April. I'm thinking about doing the sequel to my previous work, but it is still four months away, anything can happen between now and then.

I got to see my family for Thanksgiving. My brothers brought me a ticket to Michigan, which begs the question, why go to Michigan in November when you're in Los Angeles? No one on the plane could answer the question.

On the topic of airplanes I really need to start flying during daylight hours. Flying at night is so boring. Everyone on the plane is usually asleep or if they aren't you still can't see out the windows. I like looking out the windows no matter what, even if all I can see is the top of clouds, and I can't sleep in a moving veicle. I've sort of done it a couple of times, but it not real sleep. Its closer to dozing.

I'll end with saying that LAX is not nearly as bad an airport that everyone was telling me. There were no lines or delays outside of my airline and it was the day before Thanksgiving.

Now we get too look forward to Thanksgiving and figuring out what you get a nine month old.
-X

I'm a wordcount rockstar

I have the highest wordcount of the people that attend the write-ins that I go to. Which makes me inordinately proud. I suck at writing more then ten words in a row (if you can't tell from this blog). Not only that, but I have stayed on top for an entire week (not to mention it was the dreaded Week 2) with little trouble and I'm still on track for my Overachieving goal.

My story still interests me, though my 'outline' is used up now and the rest of it will be made entirely by the seat of my pants. I am well beyond the halfway point and aiming for the finish line.

This is really a fasinating experience the second time around. So many people on the forums I want to smack because they overreact to things like the website crashing or their plot changing. I never even thought of questioning these people last year, but this year they just seem like whiners.

Well, not much else on my mind,
-X

Why must everyone steal my name?

Last April I learned that there is an Australian scriptwriter that goes by the name "Xander Bennett" whose twitter account is @xanderbennett and email is xanderbennett at gmail.com. You might be wondering why I care since my name seems to be 'X', but is isn't. The title of this blog is Thoughts from Xander, I just sign with an 'X'.

Now I had maybe wanted to have that twitter account, but no I had to use my alias @artofcheatery and my email is bennett.xander@gmail.com - that's right, he gets all of my improperly addressed emails. Now I got over this because if I ever got published I would use my full name (which I've previously disclosed).

Then I found this kid @ABennettBooks, you see that? That's my name with 'books' on the end! He has a Blogspot with a horrible misspelling of my name too, I assume because some loser already took the correct spelling and abandoned it (that monster). My point is that people need to stop stealing my name!

Okay, I'm done. I need to write a bunch, because unlike my name thief I am not way ahead. (I also haven't done those other things I need to do. You know what I am talking about.)

It begins...

Nanowrimo started today. I attended a midnight write in and didn't write very much. Got to get my grove back, which is starting to happen as I continued to write throughout the day and I made my goal easily - even with distractions.

I even got some responses from my craigslist ad that didn't sound like axe murderers. Super extra special feeling now. My brother and sister-in-law are trying to transport me to Michigan for Thanksgiving and I'm meeting lots of cool people through Nano Write-ins.

I'm feeling good. I'm writing a blog post soon after the previous post (!) and I think a third of all my tweets on twitter have happened in the last twenty-four hours.

Things are good and getting better,
-X

Elusive Apartments

What is it about deciding "I'm doing 'X'," that  makes it so hard to do 'X'?

I decided again that I'm going to get an apartment by the end of the month and it is being a very elusive target. Yeah, this sounds like a lot of my posts. But I'm not sick, and I fear this hotel room like the plague, because I think it might contain the plague.

Meanwhile, NaNoWriMo starts in only days. I'd say I feel like I'm not ready, but no one is ever ready for Nano. It would be better if people were just randomly informed of Nano on the day it started, so it wouldn't have the opportunity to terrify us.

But really, I am ready. I was ready when I came up with a plot a month ago. I actually planned a lot more than I thought I would. I should plan more. I should also research more because it occurs in the near future and I need near future tech. I asked on the forums and I got the most half-assed answers. Maybe that's the wrong word, I don't really care. They were bad, and vague, suggestions.

Okay, instead of hanging around here, I'm heading off to plan a little more.

-X

Tips for NaNoWriMo

I participated in National Novel Writing Month 2009 and won. As with all winners I have to give my advice on how to win.

Leave the story open ended. 

When you start, don't block your story down to a day, or a week. If you do, suddenly your characters will decide that they all want to go to mexico for a week, or decide to take a nap and miss an important event. Or you will find yourself nearing the end with 30,000 words left. I did this last year and had to add extra characters just to have something else happen in the twenty four hour period. That was after spending hours panicking about what to write to waste words.

That part you think will be really cool? It won't be.
By the time you get to that part the story will have altered it to the point that it won't work out the way you thought it would. Luckily, the part right afterward, which you thought would suck, will end up being pretty awesome.

Write out your problems
Start by writing out your problem and possible solutions to it, even the weird ones that would never work, mostly just to get them out of your system. You may come up with something you never expected, or you combine the odd ones with a more realistic one. (This is actually how I was taught to design sets)

Take a nap

If you can't figure something out, try coming up with a solution while falling asleep. I find doing this gets you to think outside the box. Even when you think you are consciously thinking out of the box you probably aren't, being sleepy you forget the earlier events in your story which allows to to rewrite them (not literally). You also tend to lose those logical boundaries that we work with while awake. Think of it as writing while dreaming.

Break the rules and reread the beginning

Everyone at the Office of Letters and Light says not to read any part of your story until one month after NaNoWriMo is over. The reasoning is that you will read it and decide it sucks and stop writing, or you will try to rewrite it and waste time that could be used adding more words. But you could suddenly remember about a character you had in the beginning that could be used in the current scene or maybe you added an extra character in chapter ten and you realize she could make an appearance in chapter two. Couple lines of added foreshadowing lessen the total amount you need to write.

Keep track of how much you "need" to write each day

This threw me last year. Nanowrimo.org has the progress report tool that will tell you how much you are suppose to write, but it was broken for the first two weeks of November 2009. If this happens again calculate it as ((50,000-WordsWritten)/(31-DayofNovember)). Do this on a regular basis to remind you that just because you had a really good day and wrote twice as much doesn't mean you get to take a break and not write for a day, it means you get to write maybe one hundred fewer words for teh rest of the month. Your goal should be to write at least thirty words beyond what you "have" to write, this way you "have" to write one less word the next day.

Break up your writing
Write in the morning, write in the evening, write during lunch. You might not get much written in the morning, but it will be three sentences that you won't have to write during lunch. It also helps keep the story in your mind during the day. And 500 words during three sessions is a lot easier to think about than 1666.67 words a day

The possibilities are endless

What should I post about today?

I could post about how the new forum notifications at Nanowrimo suck and they took away the autosubscribe feature, but I won't because I'll get over it.

I could post about how I don't have a job or an apartment,  but I don't really have anyone to blame for that other than myself.

I could post about how my new laptop barely runs Mass Effect (which I got myself for my birthday) and that the new Sims 3 patch makes it impossible to use custom content, but I suspected that would happen when I bought it.

What I will post about is Scribophile.com. I was suggested the site by someone at Nano because I mentioned that I have too much time on my hands. It's a critiquing site, post your work, people read it and give feedback. This sounds pretty awesome and it would mean that people would actually read what I write. 

Now the site has a feature built in to make sure that people are actually critiquing. If you want to post, you need "karma" points. To get karma you need to read and rate/critique other works. Rating gets you .02 karma, critiquing gets you more based on the length of the work, the length of your critique, and how recent the work was published.

First month I didn't really do any of this. I tried to write something to have something published on it but that didn't turn out very well (never finished the work, mostly because it changed from a short story to a novel) then I thought I could just start sticking my Nano on as I write it. Almost unedited, but it would be something and if I note that it is for Nano and that plot advice is most important (even during Nano I'm good about my grammar). The problem shows up that I only have the 2 karma points you get for joining and I you can't even post with that.

So the last couple of days I've been looking for stuff to read and critique but everything is something like "Feminine Hygiene Issues - Chapter 28" in which case I'd have to read the previous twenty-seven chapters first and it doesn't sound very interesting. Everything I do find interesting is either past the preferred critiquing time or for some past the any critiquing time. So all I've done is rate a couple short works and I now have 2.2 karma... and I need five to post anything and I have to pay ten dollars to post more than two pieces a month.

Maybe over use is a bad idea. At least until I get a job. When I won't have time to write.

You know what? I'm tried of this. Going to go write something instead.
-X

23 is number one

Last year for my birthday I did a multipart post going on about myself. Not doing that again.

This year I'm too busy doing nothing. Really, I have done nothing. Still don't have a job, don't have an apartment. I've been playing video games, watching TV, over sleeping.

Oh and prepping for NaNoWriMo. Forum wipe is in two days. Two long arduous days.

I'm bored and don't know what to do with myself.
-X

Maybe not perfect

Of course a couple weeks after I post about how I feel so much better living in LA, I get the stomach flu and can honestly say that I think I lost some weight.

This is the almost the worst possible time for me to get sick. Worse would be after I had a job or on a day I needed to move into a new apartment. Still being unable to get out of bed means that I haven't looked for an apartment or job in three days.

Whatever. Being too sick to move makes you realize you need to slow down at time whether you want to or not.

Meanwhile I've been working on my Script Frenzy screenplay. It might have something to do with being in Los Angeles or maybe I just like the story enough that I actually want to see it through. I'm reading Essentials of Screenwriting and it is somewhat depression to discover that even if you sell a screenplay, it doesn't mean a studio will produce it, or if they do, that they will release it. Meh. This whole concept is a bit of a leap from theatrical design, but I'm slowing finding overlap, particularly in revision. I was going to have the revision done by the end of August, but losing that one day and the fact I feel like I should be sleeping right now instead of writing this put a slight crimp on that.

It's also two months before National Novel Writing Month begins. I will complete it for the second time this year and hopefully it won't suck like last year's did. The event founder writes in his book that you should avoid trying to write a 'good' book and try to write a 'not horrible' book. I'm going for that this year. We will see what happens as I argue with my plot.
-X

Novel writing sucks

So one would think that being stuck in a house for a week with multiple feet of snow would make you want to write many blog entries, draw many pictures, and write many words. Yeah, no.

Being stuck inside makes me want to do just about anything else. I've said before that I don't like working on things when people can look over my shoulder so I'm not comfortable writing or drawing in the main areas of the house. Also most of the communal areas are only set up slightly better than my bedroom.

Only table is the kitchen table and my father has been working from his home office this week for obvious reasons. This is bad for two reasons, one, I feel like some one is watching what I'm doing all the time, even if it isn't active watching he has a general idea of when I woke up (about eight hours after I fell asleep). Two, all of his smoke stays in the house and because it's "cold" he doesn't open the window. On Monday night I had to open my window for a few minutes so that I could breathe. I don't consider this very cold, I think of it as refreshing.

Once again I reiterate, I need to move out of here. My doctor agrees. Anyway, back to my point.

I was doing pretty good on my little writing project. My due date is the end of March so that I can start the next day on Script Frenzy and I was only about a day behind. Emphasis on "was". I haven't been able to write. As I wrote the last couple of chapters I was getting to the end of what I really had planned out in my mind and having four supposedly major characters was becoming burdensome. The dialog I wrote for some of the characters was interchangeable and the conversation with the NPC (non-player character for those not in the know) was dull. Not to mention the NPC was really more likely to kill them and take their stuff instead of talking. I'm having too many cases of real world/fantasy world overlap, something I prefer to the way Narnia was done wherein the kids just accept the stupid nonsense that is going on. Mostly though I don't know what to do with three out of four characters. The last one is by himself and has all kinds of things to do, the others got to town and literally heard an old man say that the missing one is the chosen one. It's kind of like what a lot of NaNoers say about their stories going off in directions they never expected. My story informed me that I have three extra characters who need to return to the real world and forget about their cousin. Now even though this is not a NaNo project I'm still using their rules for story aspects I don't like - I can't delete the words. Perhaps as the story progresses I'll realized that I can use those extras, but until then that section of the novel will just sit and make me slightly closer to my goal.

Now to write several hundred words.
-X

Knocking on wood.

Image via Wikipedia

I have been writing as one would guess as I won NaNoWriMo. I have not written any fiction since the end of November, but I am trying to form ideas of what else to write, whether it is an idea for NaNo 2010 or Script Frenzy or just writing something outside of those events.

To help keep me organized I use a Word Document that maps my linear outline and I have been using GenoPro to map families and relationships. The examples in the help menu use Harry Potter characters. It really helps even when I am writing in a fictional universe and can't really use real time measurements. So I have decided that I should actually buy a license for it.

It costs $49. I get my paycheck on Thursday (probably deposit on Friday unless I am really awesome), which I really shouldn't be spending on this. I can't turn off my laptop for about four days or I will lose the map for my current project. If I lose it, it will be gone forever, because I make many random assumptions while writing the information down - choosing birth dates, especially years, as well as names.

I half turned off Windows Update. It keeps telling me that I need an update but I don't think I actually have the software that it wants to update. Not to mention it whenever it tries to restart for "critical" updates at three in the morning it freezes up on the shut down and/or start up screen. Sometimes I can't tell.

Bad laptop. You're not allowed to die yet!!!!
-X

Mid December update

I'm exhausted tonight for some reason and I need to start updating.

I am currently working seasonal retail after getting pissed off at my mother for "putting me to work" raking leaves. I don't really mind it but I prefer a concrete schedule. In theatre you have an odd week every six weeks, but you know about the other weeks, and even that week, the bad week (more commonly called tech week), and the weeks after are going to roll out. At the toy store I'm working at we find out once a week and it changes dramatically every time and the hours are odd. Otherwise it isn't that bad, though I must resist buying toys. I now have money coming in and my student loans are still in deferment because I am not working for more than thirty hours a week for a period longer than three months.

Funny/scary story, I added my student loan accounts to the Bank of America "My Portfolio" feature that allows to see all of your accounts across different banks on one site. It lists my net worth - about negative $25,000. It has a bar graph that only shows the loans from when I added them to the site. I looks really bad.

As I mentioned in my last post I succeeded in writing 50,000 words in 30 days, therefore winning National Novel Writing Month. I still need to change the web badge on the site to say "winner", but I'm really tired right now. That said it is far from readable. I wrote a passage early on that I thought I would have to remove before I could let anyone see it (for fear of being institutionalized, not for lack of quality) and by the end of the story I had been forced to add several different sub plots that were not well-thought out and in some cases not in good places. I'm not sure if I will seek publishing for it. At the moment I not suppose to look at it for a month, then I'm suppose to read through it and begin revision. So beginning of January I will decide if it can be saved.

An on a fun note I saw I Fight Dragons when they were in Baltimore. totally worth the two hour drive. And the cram sessions to finish writing.

Well that woke me up a bit. Another post sooner rather than later.
-X

Response to Peter Carey's NaNoWriMo Pep Talk

Hi everybody!

(chirp... chirp...)

Oh well. Anyway on November 29th I successfully wrote 50,000 words in (less than) thirty days making me a winner of the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). After we wrote our words and validated we are kind of still on a high from it all and we continue to troll the message boards afterward.

We also get info on how to edit our novel and seek to publish it and we get one last pep talk.

Sadly the last pep talk was lacking in pep as one poster pointed out.

Here's the thread it was posted in near the bottom it's the longest one, I'll give the real link when I can. Anyway I ranted about it in the discussion thread (the second longest post) and some people (okay one person) complimented me on it.

Therefore to save it forever.
REPOST!

-Most of this was written from my first read through. You may notice what I got from it in the first pass. I realize that I am somewhat harping on a single thing ("turn off your television"), but of course I don't want to be a writer, I want to be an artist-

Shortly before I heard about NaNoWriMo I read the Idiot's Guide to Novel Writing, mostly just to see if there was something important I didn't know.

The author, Thomas Monteleone, got a Masters in English because he felt that to be a novelist he needed a high level degree in English, yet he discovered that academia didn't think that much of "commercial" writing (he was derided by his professors). He stated that he never made use of his masters and could have better spent the time. He also comments that many authors think that writing should be a painful, boring arduous task.

He disagreed. You should enjoy what you are doing. Otherwise why are you doing it?

Personally I have a degree in Theatre. My plan is to become a theatrical designer. I like art and I have a broad definition of it. A fiction novel is art, as is a television show as is a major motion picture just as much as the Mona Lisa, Stary Night or Shakespeare's Twelve Night or "Ave Maria" or "My Heart Will Go On". They vary in quality, but I understand that they are art. They are reflections of human emotions and in many cases they are felt by others and help them realize that someone else has gone through (or thinks about, or fears) the same thing.

If you want to be a serious writer watch television. Watch shows you don't like, because your characters won't all be writers and they will watch those shows. Watch chick flicks and the movies that bomb in the box office. Realize what those writers did wrong and do the opposite. See live theatre, see classics, hear the door slam that rang across the world, but also see how an animated film can be brought into real life too. Attend concerts, see a live orchestra or a rock band, note how they differ from the recordings. See how people react to their favorite idols in person. Travel, see your country, see your mother country, see something other than your own hometown. Watch the news, understand politics in your country and others. When a world leader does something you don't like, understand why they did it even if you still disagree.

Do these things and your stories will be greater for it.

Then Get Excited and Make Things

-X

“Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, everyday, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.”
- Christopher Morley (American writer and editor 1890-1957)

Six thousand behind

As of right now I am just a little over six thousand words behind on my NaNoWriMo novel.

I'm not in the mood to write right now. I'm on a rather gory chapter and while I love reading gory chapters, writing them is quite a different thing. Every time I write a sentence I feel less like I want to someday publish it and more like I should be institutionalized. Much like the opening line in Castle "There are two kinds of folks who sit around thinking about how to kill people - psychopaths and mystery writers.". Yeah, that's not the only reason, but it is a major one.

As I'm unable to get myself to write I keep doing everything else. I've read, I've watched Hulu, I've even drawn. I once again have the feeling that I cannot be myself here, mostly because I lacking a desk. I have nowhere to work on anything from drawing to writing, even looking for jobs is uncomforable without being at a desk. I you haven't realized I have a laptop, yet I prefer to use it at a table of some sort. Instead I'm delegated to lying in my bed (not good for my wrist) or on the storage tote I put half of my clothes in, which is about level with my bed so it is a little awkward to use. I tried to sit on my bed like a chair, but it is a little saggy, which is even irritating me for sleep purposes.

You know what I think it's time for? The "I Need a Job" song!
-X

That's a lot of words

So I already decided that I would participate in National Novel Writing Month aka NaNoWriMo, wherein I will have to write 50,000 words during the month of November. That's 1,667 words a day, every day for thirty days.

I wasn't worried about this, until I glanced at my draft for Storms of Chaos. I checked it and the two half-complete chapters I wrote together make about 1,700 words. I suddenly remember that in the early days of this blog I had trouble writing 200 words. (Still have trouble with 200 words, this post is about 100)

What was I thinking?

Meanwhile I haven't done anything on this site, less on Illuminated University.I'm really just worried that my outline won't last long enough, otherwise I think I can make it.
-X