Absence With Leave

Family First
Due to Family Commitments I shan't be blogging for a little while. I've also had to put NaNoWriMo to one side but hope to resurrect my own little one when things have calmed down.
Hope to resume normal service soon...

NaNoWriMo - Day Five and Six

Not Much To Report.
Yep, I've lost my rhythm but I'm sure I'll get it back. As some of you know I am (with the unending support of Writers Abroad members) compiling an Anthology of Short Stories for National Short Story Week and getting it into an E Book presentation that I'm happy with has been testing to say the least. However, I can report that at least I am learning something else about this whole writing business whilst I'm not achieving my word count...how to be an editor and a publisher. It's all grease to the elbow (or whatever the right saying is).
Until Later, much later...

NaNoWriMo - Day Four

Causing a Scene
And no I don't mean throwing a tantrum, although at times this afternoon I've felt like doing so. Sometimes I think I make life and writing too complicated. I'm a kind of 'back room girl' (I really was told that in feedback following an interview once and was very offended!) and by that I mean I like to drive things quietly, digging around and playing about with different options. I think I do that with my writing and sometimes it can become a little distracting and impacts on my ability to write. I become so obsessed with the finding the 'right way' that  it occupies my head instead of my characters. I've read so many blogs, posts, articles and pieces about the simplicity of defining and writing scenes that I came to a point this afternoon where I couldn't even think of a title for one. Which kind of defeats the object. I know that a little bit of planning will help my flow and improve my word count but for me the scenes sometimes come as I'm writing another one. So I make a quick note so I don't forget and then get on with what I'm doing. I'm what's known as a 'panster' in NaNoWriMo terms apparently, which I think means 'flying by the seats of ones pants'. I can live with that.
Until Tomorrow...

NaNoWriMo - Day Three

Finding My Voice
And no I don't mean I've lost mine. Today I have made inroads in the voices of a couple of my main characters. It always takes a while for me to 'hear' them. I know this might sound a bit odd, but it really helps if your character talks to you so you can hear their inflections, their speech patterns and develop a sense of their talking rythym. Obviously this may need refining at some point and I probably will find that I've allocated a dreadful speech trait to my main character which readers will hate. But that comes later. NaNoWriMo isn't about a polished piece of narrative or dialogue, it's about producing a first draft. Yes FIRST. There will definitely be a second and most probably a third. So if I've found I've stuck a plum in the wrong mouth, I can always remove it later...
Three days in and I'm hitting the given target, but I want to up my game and word count a little. Think a little more scene planning is in order. Until tomorrow.

NaNoWriMo - Day Two

Characters and Composting
I'm sure you are thinking what do composts have in common with this blog post? Well quite a lot actually. As you may know I was a little behind with my preparation for NaNoWriMo. But a little preparation has been better than none which is my usual format. So I've spent the morning building on the work I'd already done and having conversations with my characters. For me this has felt a little bit like 'composting', another subject close to my heart, well the vegetable garden at least. It has a similar kind of process, you start off with an empty vessel and a blank vegetable patch. You keep adding bits and pieces here and there into your vessel, nourishing with water to help the process and develop your mulch. Bit by bit your compost heap builds, becomes more rich and nutritious with all sorts of goodness and you can feel the heat. Then you apply it to your patch, work it in and plant your seeds. Some time later, you have lots of healthy, full rounded, delicious vegetables which look and taste fabulous. That to me is my character development, getting all warm and cuddly with my stars (though I promise I do not get warm and cuddly with my compost). Enough. NaNo fever has definitely turned me a bit gaga.
Until Tomorrow...

NaNoWriMo - Day One

Ready, Steady, Go! 
After a few technical hitches over the weekend where the gremlins trashed all the blogs I had written since Friday I very nearly gave up. After all, I have a novel to write. But blogging about it here is very, very important for my soul so I am not taking this lying down.
So Day One and my NaNoWriMo buddies at Writers Abroad have been tapping away furiously and at time of writing we have a combined word count of just over 10,000 words. Yes TEN THOUSAND WORDS! Well done to us all.
Other WA friends have been offering lashings of coffee, shoulders for support and a kick up the backside when required. All virtual of course. But it feels good, scary but good.


Until Tomorrow

Oh and by the way in case your're wondering, 'The Duchessa' is my user name for NaNoWriMo!

BLOGGETTE # 2

And Counting...
Well, there is not long to go and the pressure is mounting. We've had discussions in the NaNoWriMo forum on Writers Abroad about Outlining, Plotting and Point of View. Yesterday I concentrated on my characters as for me, this is the way to drive the story and therefore the plot. There are writers who disagree and that's fine. There is no definable template for writing. Sometimes that can be frustrating, sometimes its the freedom that makes all the difference. We really wouldn't want it any other way. So I have been delving into my characters traits and habits, interviewing them for the job and fleshing out those bits of their character that make them come alive on the page. Some of them don't have names yet, but that will come. I love using the Zodiac to help me think about characters, so when I've defined their birth date, I look up their star sign. This can give you an indication of their physical attributes, their behaviour and personality, their likes and dislikes, what they are like as  a lover, friend, parent and what kind of ailments they are prone to. Of course as in real life, characters will not all meet the definitions, but that's what makes character real. Being People. So onto the next task. Settings...


Until Tomorrow (is that a line of a song?)...