Storylines

Posted 7:53 AM by Tim
::NaNoWriMo::
What's this? I thought that NaNoWriMo was over. Well, it is. But that doesn't mean that the fun has stopped! Two things: First, tonight is the TGIO party for the 'WriMo crew. Should be good laughs. Possibily readings from novels and so forth. I'd have to find a passage that I think I can read in open company. I need something that stands on it's own, and I'd perfer something that wasn't posted as an excerpt. Maybe I'll find something today.

Second, I started editing. Last night, just before bed, I borrowed the roomies print copy of the novel. I was intending to read it aloud to my wife, but was left alone with it too long and started reading it to myself. That's when my brain started going, "Opps. Bad sentence there. That word should be this word. If you used a comma there, it would flow better." And so forth. So I got a pen and started making changes. The first page is covered in blue. Words crossed out with the replacement scribbled above it. New sentences added, and punctuation changes everywhere.

I think a lot of people will do a little bit of this. They'll probably wait until January to get started on it though. Give the writing a break. I'm not sure. I really miss writing every day. Something about it worked for me. I've got other ideas that I'd like to get on paper (well, on something anyway).

We'll see what happens.
::End::

Posted 3:22 PM by Tim
::NaNoWriMo::
It's finished!!! Finally. I've submitted it and everything. The journey is over. It's both rewarding and saddening.

But, I'm glad to have made it here and to have met new friends along the way.

1 Novel, 70 pages, 18 chapters, 51,676 words, 1 day remains.
::End::

Posted 4:20 PM by Tim
::NaNoWriMo::
The story has a name. Surprising, it wasn't until the end that a name suggested itself.

0 Novels, 61 pages, 18 chapters, 49,779 words, 2 days remain.
::End::

Posted 1:47 PM by Tim
::NaNoWriMo::
Prophecy or what? I'm finished the story. And I'm not at the quota. There is just under 1000 words to go. I'm going to be working on stretching to make the quota. I don't want to try any silly tricks yet. Like not using contractions.

I've got a prologue that needs writing up. That'll hopefully get me the thousand I need.

0 Novels, 61 pages, 18 chapters, 49,045 words, 2 days remain.
::End::

Posted 10:01 AM by Tim
::NaNoWriMo::
It's coming down to the last days now. When I started this venture, I was hoping that I would be lazily editing by now. I guess that's not going to happen. I have 2 days to write a little over 2000 words. Seems simple enough, eh? I'm pretty confident about it. I don't see the story growing much past the 50K mark though. I figure that I'll be somewhere around 50,500. Which isn't bad really.

Of the three other people I've met, one has been finished for several days. The other two are racing ahead to catch up, posting huge daily wordcounts. I'd write more with them, but they do their best work after midnight, which, frankly, I'm not able to stick around enough to do. Maybe I'll hang online with them this evening?

So close to being finished.

0 Novels, 60 pages, 18 chapters, 48,045 words, 2 days remain.
::End::

Posted 2:00 PM by Tim
::NaNoWriMo:
So the pressure is on to get this story finished. Technically, I've got until Saturday to finish, but the deadline feels much closer than that. I'm headed to the in-laws this weekend, which pretty much eliminates any chance of me getting something done on Friday and Saturday. They have access to the internet, but it is slow. I don't know how long it would take to upload the story for verification - and I'd hate to miss the verification bit because of that.

I have been talking with the other writers of the area (well, those I know anyway). I've mentioned (to at least one of them), that I wouldn't mind doing this again. Something along the lines of taking January, February and March to write another 100,000 words. Three times the time for twice as much story. It would give me some time to get some real plot and characterizations together. I might sketch out the storyline over December. I'm crazy - I know. The good bit it that with 90 days, I'd only need to write about 1100 words a day. That's not that much really. Maybe 40 minutes of good writing.

Some of the other writers have been trying to frantically reach the 50K mark. They've been holding 15-minute sprints. They'll all write as much as they can in a 15-minute period, trying to beat each other, and their personal bests. I tried it out, and got just under 500 words down. It doesn't read any differently than the rest of the novel, so I figure that it's not harming anything by doing it. And, in a strange way, it's fun to do.

I still feel that the story is going to naturally run shy of the 50K mark, but it looks like it will be closer to 50K than I imagined it would be. Some time back I thought that the story would end around 35K, but it pushed on. Then, I figured 40K. Again, it pushed on further. I'm over 40K now, and I'd guess at 45K, but it really looks like it might make it past there before petering out entirely. Filling in those last few thousand words will be tough though. If I start editing from the beginning, I'm probably going to remove almost as much as I put back in. I'll be sure to keep everyone informed of the progress though.

0 Novels, 55 pages, 17 chapters, 43,892 words, 4 days remain.
::End::

Posted 6:38 PM by Tim
::NaNoWriMo::
Well, things haven't gone well for the novel. First, I've reached a point where the novel can end very suddenly and unexpectedly. And well before the 50K mark. I'm just over 40K words now, and I've got only this week to go. Everyone else gets until Saturday at midnight, and it looks like I'm not going to have that much time. I'm going to the inlaws this weekend, so I really can't expect to get anything done on Friday night or Saturday day at all. That means I've really only got until Thursday. I will be making a big push to get the last 10K finished, but it's going a lot slower than I like.

I can't believe I was thinking of starting a second novel this month. I was crazy.

0 Novels, 50 pages, 15 chapters, 40,785 words, 5 days remain.
::End::

Posted 1:54 PM by Tim
::NaNoWriMo::
I miss the commute. It was basically three hours of confinement. I had nothing to do but write or sleep. And I don't often let sleep defeat me if I want to do something. Now, I'm home. I've got the housework, crafts, TV, computer and the internet all just waiting for me to do something with them. Yeah. I'm not getting as much done as I'd like. I almost didn't bother writing today either. It's easy to stay out of the habit.

I'm writing, really, I am.

0 Novels, 45 pages, 13 chapters, 36,198 words, 12 days remain.
::End::

Posted 11:36 AM by Tim
::NaNoWriMo::
No writing got done over the weekend. None. Not a word. At least Friday was productive.

We had another writer's meeting today. It was very nice. Everyone is working on their novel when they can. I've got to get back to mine. This craft show is getting in the way, but I've got some projects I really want to work on. I'll have to time-share it.

0 Novels, 43? pages, 13 chapters, 35,000+ words, 13 days remain.
::End::

Posted 4:12 PM by Tim
::NaNoWriMo::
Working on the story still. I've got just under 20K words to go, and the story really doesn't seem to be supporting much more than another 10K. The padding will commence. Maybe I'll just add in more sex. Yeah. Sex fixes everything.

0 Novels, 41 pages, 12 chapters, 32,743 words, 16 days remain.
::End::

Posted 8:24 AM by Tim
::NaNoWriMo::
Yesterday was a total bust. Only about 100 words done all day. I'm no longer the top word count in KW. One of the others has beaten me to it by a lot. They've got over 40K. I'm just cresting 30K. Gah. I wanna be first again!

Anyway, it's not that I don't still have ideas for the novel, it's just that I'm not getting the time to work on it. That's likely to be the case for a little bit.

I'm also thinking that the story probably has another 10,000 words or so in it as it is now. I'll have to go back over it and fill the remaining 10K, unless I get into some serious firefights, writing or lengthy dialogue. We'll see.

0 Novels, 39 pages, 12 chapters, 30,396 words, 17 days remain.
::End::

Posted 1:05 PM by Tim
::NaNoWriMo::
Slow going today. Was tired this morning, so I only wrote during breakfast. Didn't get nearly as much done as I would have liked. I eventually managed to write a little bit during the day at work. That's always a challenge. I should be able to get a fair bit done on the way home today.

I was assissted out of a small roadblock by Rockinkitty. Thanks! Gotta give thanks where it's due, right?

Is anyone else scared about there being only 19 days left?

0 Novels, 33 pages, 9 chapters, 26,795 words, 19 days remain.
::End::

Posted 11:32 AM by Tim
::NaNoWriMo::
Well, I met with two of the other NaNo people in the KW area. Yay! Finally. I think that my motivation was starting to wane, and it was great to finally meet a few of the people who are doing this crazy thing too. It helps that they're both attractive. :) Oh if only I wasn't married, eh? Let's skip ahead then.

I've got to get some serious writing in today. I've got the start of a really good fight scene starting. At least a dozen casualties to write in. All while minimizing damage as much as possible. Should be interesting.

0 Novels, 29 pages, 8 chapters, 23,576 words, 20 days remain.
::End::

Posted 9:00 AM by Tim
::NaNoWriMo::
Well, it's my blog, so I get to say whatever I want and deal with the fallout later. I wish the KW NaNo forum would find itself a leader. We're all so busy being polite to each other that nobody is willing to put any leadership forward, for fear of overstepping their bounds and offending someone. I'm growing frustrated with this true democracy.

This all stems from the fact that we're having a lot of trouble organizing a location to meet. Some of the people have ideas, and some of them don't. Those that don't are willing to go anywhere (like me), and those that do have an idea are also willing to go anywhere. I think that if one of us had stepped up and taken on the Municipal Liason job that we wouldn't have this issue. Of course, there's no sense in calling the kettle black, right? Why didn't (don't) I take on the job? Because I simply don't know enough about KW. I've lived here only about 3 months, and I almost never get downtown. I don't know what restaurants there are, or where people can get together and have a few coffees and relax and chat about novels without getting booted by the owners after an hour. I'd do the job, but I just don't know.

Also, like I said yesterday, I've got almost nothing written this weekend. Good thing that I managed to work myself three days ahead on the schedule, eh?

I don't remember where I am on the novel. No update now... maybe later.
::End::

Posted 8:56 AM by Tim
::NaNoWriMo::
I'm visiting the in-laws this weekend. I expect productivity to be pretty low. I might manage a few thousand words over the whole weekend. Then I'm home from work on Monday, and there's the NaNo meetings coming up this weekend that I'd like to attend. Overall I'm going to get further behind than I'd like.

0 Novels, 7 chapters, 28? pages, 21,034 words, 22 days remain.
::End::

Posted 1:26 PM by Tim
::NaNoWriMo::
I've lost two posts to Blogger today. I'm gonna keep it short and sweet. I didn't get much writing done this morning. Just did not get up early enough. I had to crash VELMA to make her work properly, and she spited me by going all inactive for 45 minutes during a disk scan.

I think I wrote about 500 words. Very bad.

I've been setting the daily goal pretty high lately. I don't want to get discouraged, so I've got the minimum default goal of 2000 words. Is it so wrong to want to do 5,000 words a day? Maybe the bus ride today will let me get that many words in. Then again - maybe it won't. The bus tends to be cramped.

I figure that I'm probably insane. I have a hankering to try to write a second novel. It's almost sadistic really. I figure that the second novel should take my mind off the first. Crazy or what?

0 Novels, 7 chapters, 25 pages, 20,021 words, 23 days remain.
::End::

Posted 3:05 PM by Tim
::NaNoWriMo::
The trouble with work is that it's getting in the way of my writing time. I wanna write now! But I gotta work! But I wanna write!

This sucks.

0 Novels, 7 chapters, 22 pages, 17,765 words, 24 days remain.
::End::

Posted 9:14 AM by Tim
::NaNoWriMo::
Well, the story is coming along nicely. I originally thought that I might get only 15 chapters written, but it looks like I'm going to have more than that. I'm in the 7th chapter now, and I"m less than half way done. At this rate, the novel will be 21 chapters or more. Oh well, so much for planning, eh? I was a little tired today, so I didn't get as much written as I would have liked.

There's supposed to be a meeting of KW NaNos this Friday. I'm not going to be able to attend. Maybe I can convince one of them to meet me some morning after my unemployment starts?

0 Novels, 7 chapters, 22 pages, 17,765 words, 24 days remain.
::End::

Posted 8:08 AM by Tim
::NaNoWriMo::
Just yesterday I said that writing on the commute was getting more difficult. Today, I'm going to say that it's getting easier. Expect absurd reversals of thought like this in the novel too. Anyway, it seems like my brain managed to get the idea that we are writing a novel in the commute time and not sleeping. Today I did not get sleepy while writing, I just wrote. My overall speed seems to be up too. I'm getting my 2,000 word quota in the morning now, which means that any writing in the evening gets to be pretty laid back. It all adds to my being ahead, which is precisely where I want to be.

I think the novel is going well, but I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to fill in the 40,000ish words I've got left to use. I'm really getting worried that I won't be able to stretch the sketchy storyline that I've got out long enough to meet the desired quota before finishing. We'll cross those bridges when we get to them I suppose.

0 Novels, 5 chapters, 18 pages, 14,176 words, 25 days remain.
::End::

Posted 2:54 PM by Tim
::NaNoWriMo::
Writing during the commute is getting more difficult. Lack of caffeine, I think. The writing is going well, it's the staying awake that is not so easy.

I find that I'm sort-of competing with the other KW writers. I want to have the highest word count. I don't, unfortunatly, but I want to. That's good enough for me. :)

0 Novels, 3 chapters, 13 pages, 10,121 words, 26 days remain.
::End::

Posted 10:21 AM by Tim
::NaNoWriMo::
I got a good start early today. Nearly managed to finish my quota on the ride in to work today. I probably would have if I hadn't been so tired. I wrote for about 30 minutes and then put the laptop away for sleep. There's still some discussion about meeting times for the KW group. Hopefully we'll get our act together and do something.

I realized today how close to 10,000 words I am already. This seems odd to me, even though it shouldn't. I mean, I was focusing on the 50,000 aspect, and working all month. I forgot that 2,000 words a day meant that I would have 10,000 words after only 5 days of work. That's just freaky. 10,000 words is a short story (a very short one), but it's still a good goal. 50,000 seemed so daunting at first, but now seems like an actual, possible goal. It's a good feeling. I just worry that my story won't support the 50,000 words, which means that I'll have to do some rewriting or add in a few additional scenes.

I'm not sure how anyone else is writing, but I can't avoid some minor rewrites as I go. I'll think of something in one part of a scene and then realize that I forgot to mention it earlier in the story somewhere. For example, I needed my main character to wear gloves at one point. He had an opportunity to put them on when he was at his apartment, but I forgot to mention that he did so. When one of my other characters mentioned the gloves, I remembered that he hadn't put them on earlier. So, I had to go back to the scene at his apartment and have him put on gloves. Doing this little action, however, modified the conversation that he had been having with another character, which meant some additional changes through that whole scene. I guess it's a part of the way that I tend to think of things when I'm imagining too. I'll imagine something, then rewind it, add in additional details and move on again, changing things as I go. Very revisionist, eh?

0 Novels, 3 chapters, 9 pages, 7401 words, 27 days remain.
::End::

Posted 12:12 AM by Tim
::NaNoWriMo::
Slowly linking to the other KW NaNoWriMoes. Look here! I'll be adding this link to a special section on Storylines. The writing bit has been alright so far, and we're coming along well. The days continue to fly by. I had a birt of trouble making today's quota, but I'll be alright.

I thought that I should point out that the chapters and pages count are both the number I'm currently working on. The word count is the current count from MS Word. The days count includes the current day.

0 Novels, 2 chapters, 8 pages, 6112 words, 28 days remain.
::End::

Posted 1:50 PM by Tim
::NaNoWriMo::
It seems that the hard part is not just getting started, but getting started every day. I'm still on schedule, and I've got a fair bit of time today to write. There's a gathering of writers in the KW area planned for tomorrow, but I'm not going to be able to make it due to other commitments. I might post a snippet of the novel later today.

0 Novels, 2 chapters, 5 pages, 3555 words, 29 days remain.
::End::

Posted 8:16 AM by Tim
::NaNoWriMo::
Getting started was more difficult than I had hoped. I always have trouble getting the details in there and heading off in a direction. My story pacing is incredibly slow. But, I've started. I'm going to try to update this blog every day, in addition to actually writing something meaningful. I hope I can keep it up.

0 Novels, 1 chapters, 2 pages, 1157 words, 30 days remain.
::End::

Posted 10:12 AM by Tim
::Reader's Note::
Sickness leads to inactivity. Nothing done on the overviews, so I'll be writing them in as I go with the NaNo. That really sucks because it increases the total amount of time I'll spend typing.
::End Note::

Posted 10:49 AM by Tim
::Reader's Note::
I was supposed to meet with some fellow NaNo writers this weekend. The meeting never quite happened. I'm not sure what happened to it. Anyway, there's only 3 more days until November. I've got to get this overview finished!
::End Note::

Posted 2:04 PM by Tim
::Reader's Note::
I've started with the overview files and the characters. Only one of which (a secondary character) has a name yet. I'm still trying to think of main character names. Something will come to me - I hope.
::End Note::

Posted 1:42 PM by Tim
::Reader's Note::
I've been thinking that the NaNoWriMo stuff will take up nearly all of my time in November. Anything I post here (progress, chapters) I'll probably headline with a ::NaNo:: tag. That way you know what it is before you get reading.

I've been doing a little bit of thinking about the plot, etc. That's perfectly allowed in NaNo, so I'm doing it. Anyhow, I've got the startings of a plot, and the beginnings of at least three characters. There's very little information on them right now, and I'm hoping to solidify the ideas before posting any of it. This way, you don't have to suffer through the multitiude of changes.

The story will be about a future time, probably touching on the cyberpunk genere (at least the genre covered by Cyberpunk, that is). From there, I'm not sure where it'll go.
::End Note::

Posted 10:11 AM by Tim
::Readers Note::
I've just joined NaNoWriMo. I'll probably post some of the progress here as the story gets going, so there should be a lot of really good stuff coming down the pipe. Well, by really good, I mean lengthy, not necessarily good.
::End Note::

Posted 9:24 AM by Tim
I've been talking to a friend of mine to try to get some help. The trouble is, my friend is an hallucination. I think. It seems that if I start to get better, my friend will go away. Then I won't have any help anymore. I try not to think too hard about that.

Posted 3:12 PM by Tim
Sanity is only a question when you wonder where it went. I've had to ask myself that question a lot lately. What is it that makes me this way?

Posted 9:28 AM by Tim
I've been fighting the madness so long that all I know anymore is the struggle. Sometimes, the thought creeps in that maybe I could find peace by just letting it all go. Then I remember that that isn't the way. I just have to keep fighting.

Posted 10:54 AM by Tim
Each day I feel my mind slipping a little further away. Some days I think I should just stop fighting and give in. Usually I wake later - sometimes covered in blood, sometimes not. I don't know where I've been or what I've been doing. All I know is that I've slipped a little further.

Posted 8:14 AM by Tim
Every now and then, I listen to the voices in my head and do what they tell me.

Posted 8:40 AM by Tim
I can feel the madness coming again. It's stronger this time. I don't know if I can hold it back again.

Posted 1:16 PM by Tim
::Reader's Note
Goodness, so few ideas lately. More unrelated stuff.
::End Note

Jonah ran down the corridor and turned sharply left, ducking and stopping just past the corner. He leveled the shotgun and heard the running footsteps following him. He was glad he didn't have to cock the weapon now, as the sound would give away his position. The steps were getting closer. He could hear more than the one set of footfalls. They came closer.

One of the footfalls stopped, but one continued on. "Rookie, wait!" called out a voice. Too late, the young man zipped around the corner and received a shotgun blast to the face as his prize. The scene moved in slow motion like in an action movie. As soon as he shot, Jonah dropped to the floor. Shots blasted bits of plaster out of the corner he had been hiding behind. He recocked the shotgun and rammed the barrel through the thin plaster. He fired a shot in the direction of his stopped pursuers. With his free hand he grabbed the foot of the unlucky rookie and pulled him behind the corner.

Jonah flipped the man onto his front, grabbed him by the back of his bulletproof vest and recocked the shotgun in a series of moves that would make John Woo envious. Hoisting the rookie and himself forward, he ran back towards his pursuers. Three of them crouched low in the hallway, one was reloading his pistol with a speed loader and the other two were keeping up suppressing fire on the corner he had been hiding behind. The two firers turned and loosed a hail of shots. Jonah used the body of the rookie as a shield and fired at the legs of the man on the right. The shell blasted a hole into his leg and brought a bright splash of blood. He hurled the body of the dead man at the other shooter and flipped the shotgun end-for-end grabbing hold of the still smoking barrel. The barrel burned his hand but Jonah ignored the pain and focused on moving faster. He placed one foot against the left wall of the corridor and proceeded to run up it.

While running over the heads of the three shooters, Jonah wound himself up and used the butt-end of the shotgun as a crude bat on the head of the last man. The man's head snapped back and he toppled over. Jonah finished his short run down the wall and continued down the hallway back the way he came. He hoped there weren't any more pursuers - he was nearly out of shells.

::Reader's Note
I'd love to draw this, because it just seems so vivid. My trouble is that I don't think I could portray it. Maybe I'll try anyhow.

I'll try to get back into some sort of continuity soon.
::End Note

Posted 4:11 PM by Tim
::Reader's Note
Once again, totally unrelated plotline!
::End Note

He woke up slowly. At first just noticing the jostling and bouncing of the old truck, and later the smell of the oily black smoke that poured out of the exhaust. He wasn't sure how he'd managed to fall asleep. The noise, bouncing and smell were overpowering, and had kept him awake to the point of exhaustion. Even when he had been truly tired, the jagged floor of the rusted truck bed was too uncomfortable. Attack, or the threat of attack were too prevalent most evenings as well. Somehow, though he had fallen asleep. He last remembered it being early in the day, but the sky now showed that it was closer to night.

"Pedro," he croaked, his throat dry from the dust and lack of water. He licked his lips and tried again, "Pedro!"

"Si, Lance."

"Water, please." Pedro handed him a small canteen of water. It tasted stale and rusty. He handed it back. The landscape hadn't changed much while he was asleep, which meant that they probably hadn't gone too far yet. Running supplies north across the border was tricky business, and not something that you'd try during the day. Nighttime runs weren't much better, but you took an advantage where you found one.

The cargo wasn't much different from all of the other runs. Some weapons, ammo, smokes, booze and drugs. Maybe a few medical supplies or food. Sometimes the shipment would make it across the border (less a little for bribes), and sometimes it didn't. Lance had been fortunate enough to never ride with a shipment that got caught. More often than not, the border guards would get a few minutes of target practice before incarcerating the survivors - if any.

This was his last planned run. Actually, it was the run after the last. He had stopped making runs two months ago, since he no longer needed the money, but he had been forced into making this one last run by a series of bad luck, ending with a debt owed to a loan shark. Once he was done this run, he would have repaid his debt. He wasn't planning on going back though, this time. He was going to stay.

::Reader's Note
Umm, this story is getting away from me, and I'm not sure where it's headed. Maybe I'll catch up on it later. "Lance" is a silly name though, eh?
::End Note

Posted 10:37 AM by Tim
::Reader's Note
The site was down, this post should reinstate it.
::End Note

Posted 10:35 AM by Tim
::Reader's Note
I'm back! After 4 full months of hiatus, I'm finally back. I've got my muse, and a place for this to all go. I hope to find some time to make a real post today too. Until then, enjoy this bit of random:
::End Note

The slap had been unexpected. Nobody had ever slapped him before. Not really. A few playful pats now and then, but never a real slap. He wasn't sure what to do next. The thought of hitting her back crossed his mind. He pushed it aside. His mouth fell open like he was about to speak. It closed again. He looked at her face, all rage and anger and frustration. He turned and left her fuming.

::Reader's Note
And this:
:: End Note

"He smiled like a man unaccustomed to the action. It was fascinating to watch. It looked like he had to remember which muscles made the corners of the mouth turn upwards instead of down. It was almost more a grimace than smile, but, he was smiling."