Daily Archives: 3-Nov-09

The Muse is a harsh mistress

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So that anecdote I was going to tell tomorrow.

Evening. Quiet time. Keyboard.

Another 3K-odd words.  Gah.

Actually, I’m vaguely annoyed, because I feel like I should have applied it tomorrow, but was honor-bound to note it today.  Bringing me to 9,679 words, or good until (should I fall deathly ill) Saturday.  Though I suspect I’ll keep writing between now and then.

As encouragement to NaNoWriMoers, that 3K-word anecdote / flashback / backstory didn’t occur to me until Monday.  And the meat of it, and what it means to the protagonist (and his current companion) was a complete unknown until I was writing it.

Which is my NaNoWriMo Lesson For Today:  word count is serendipitous.  One phrase, one idea, one thought, can lead you down a narrative trail of kilowords without your even planning it.  Go with the word flow, baby.

Ding!

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I topped 6K words today.  If I keep up the higher-than-needed pace for a week, I could take a day off.

Of course, it’s easy when  you just natter on in dialog.  And I’m still not where I wanted to be yet, story-wise.  The anecdote led up to at the end of today’s installment will not (I promise) take the Wednesday dose.  I might actually be up and running and rolling by the time I’m done tomorrow.

So … for those of you reading (the novel or this), I’m writing a “comic book” story.  Which is to say it’s considered a genre tale.  What I don’t want to get into is having it being about flying fists and bands of coruscating light and all that sort of thing.  I actually did a very action-oriented comic book novel in NaNoWriMo in 2001 (Test to Failure), which, rereading, I enjoy every much (despite several egregious flaws).

This time, I’m going for a more dark, quiet sort of thing.  A bit more noir, a bit more about the personalities.  Though the conceit behind the whole thing is comic booky, the tale itself should not rely on comic book conventions or fisticuffs to support it.

Yeah, we’ll just see how well that works.

The Muse isn’t an exhibitionist

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Okay, I have to share another Inkygirl cartoon:

Nanowrimo Day 3 Moxie and Ed

I have mixed feelings sometimes about folks reading my writing — both terror of rejection and eagerness for praise (Insecurities ‘R’ Us)*, but I cannot abide someone watching over my shoulder as I write.

It’s not just a matter of someone noting all my typos and spelling errors (though that’s irksome enough). It’s because when someone’s watching over my shoulder, I find myself wondering more how they are reacting to it than focusing on the creative process itself. Creation, like procreation, is probably best done privately, though it’s fine to show off the results of both to friends.

* That all said, I very much appreciate constructive feedback, even if it’s critical. Critical stuff I can stand (because I can analyze it and agree or disagree with it). Subjective rejection (“Sorry, it’s just not my cuppa”) is fine, too. It’s the “This writing sucks, and the horse the writer rode in on” sort of thing that I get all anxious about receiving, even though when I do receive it, it tends to simply make me determined to go better. I didn’t say this was a rational bundle of feelings.