Tag: NaNoWriMo

I don’t think I’ve ever written a fight scene.

I’ve thrown a few fictional punches in my day, but … I don’t think I’ve written, or even imagined, a full-fledged fight scene.

So, Jenna’s advice is intriguing to me and now I want to write a fight scene. It sounds fun. And disturbing. And fun!

There are few people in my life I’d like to punch in the face. Maybe I’ll write a fight scene between me and these people. (Spoiler alert – I’m gonna win).

If you’re writing a story and need to insert a fight scene, here are some tips from Jenna.

https://youtu.be/vl5KFMOYPKg

NaNoWriMo update: Up to 10,969 words. I thought long and hard on my way home from work today. I’m now working on the project I was going to work on to begin with. I even have the first seven chapters “outlined” and I use that word SO loosely. I’m not even done with the prologue yet and I’m having so much fun with it. I don’t regret the writing I’ve done thus far; I’m looking at it like a warm up, if you will. And I think, in a way, that sort of works for me. I warm up my writing chops so when I get serious about something I’m primed and ready to go. This is another reason I really like NaNoWriMo, I learn so much about my writing self every time I participate and it reinforces, yet again, how much I LOVE writing. I’m not trying to brag (okay, maybe a little) but it’s such a high when my characters just sort of take over and I’m simply trying to keep up with them. If I could just teach myself to harness that creative energy into something organized and cohesive, I think I could actually do something with this hobby.

Baby steps.

What makes you a writer?

I used to see this question around the Internet a lot “back in the day” (like when the Internet was first made available to the public) and the popular opinion back then was, “you’re not a writer if you haven’t had anything published.”

I used to get SO ANGRY when I read this because I desperately wanted to be a writer but aside from having an imagination, I’m also a realist. The odds of actually being published are slim to none. So I thought, why try? What’s the point? It’s never going to happen and I guess I’ll never be a writer.

WOW. What an idiot.

I now champion people who call themselves writers. If you have an imagination and you write stuff down, you’re a writer.

Period.

But for kicks and grins, I looked up what being a writer “meant”, and here’s what I found:

1. You read, a lot. (ME!)
2. You talk to yourself (no comment – okay, yes, I do this occasionally)
3. You go into bookstores just ‘because’ (yep – though I haven’t read a “real” book in years – it’s all Kindle, baby)
4. You write down your ideas (yes, and then promptly forget where I wrote them down)
5. Every story you tell is ‘slightly embellished’ (maybe sometimes)
6. You have a stack of unused notebooks and yet, you continue to buy more (yes!)
7. You read everything (YESYESYES)
8. People call you a Grammar Nazi (YESYESYESYES!!!)
9. You’re a word nerd (YES!)
10. Your phone is always on silent (I ABHOR talking on the phone)
11. You’re constantly searching for ‘why’ (you mean you don’t?)
12. You write in your sleep (actually – I nap on an idea and I wake up with a direction – it’s super weird – and helpful!)
13. You prefer to be alone (YESYESYESYESYESYESYES)

These are just some fun things that writers may, or may not, have in common. The bottom line, if you write, you’re a writer. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

NaNoWriMo update: I”m now at 8,895 and I HATE my story. The prompt I’m working from is dark, too dark, and I can’t bring myself to do what the prompt suggests, so I’m trying to dance around it and now my story has veered off like a golf ball that sliced to the right. I don’t think I’ll post it because it sucks. Royally. But who knows, I’m just allowing my characters to take charge of the mess that I’m writing now and we’ll see where it takes me.

This is precisely WHY I should outline my stories. I can write anything, truly, quantity has never been my problem. I can write circles around a laptop but it never goes anywhere. And then I get stuck, and then the story takes a breath on it’s own and before long, it’s jumping off the page and chasing ME around in circles. It’s the quality that I have a problem with. There is no direction.

I’ll learn, one of these years.

Super hard to force myself to write after work today. But I forced myself and trudged through. I can’t decide if I’m going to continue with this story, see where it goes, or just chuck it and start something new. Think I’ll sleep on it and see how I feel tomorrow.

If there is one thing (out of 489) that I’m bad at, is physical description, as evidenced in my current NaNoWriMo project. I try and sprinkle character physical descriptions into my writing as opposed to having them stand in front of a mirror, scrutinize themselves and tell the reader what they look like. (True story).

And something Jenna says really hit me between the eyes, allow the reader to picture the character in his/her mind. It’s important to give readers a general idea of what someone looks like, but it’s true, no matter how descriptive you are, readers will likely picture someone different in their minds.

I know physical descriptions and describing locales in stories is important but that’s the part I find the most dull to write and read. Anything overly descriptive and I just find it pretentious and tedious. (Oh, look at you use your words – how precious). I like stories that are fast paced and exciting, describing someone’s acne or the color, texture and function of someone’s kitchen drawer immediately turns me off.

Forget the flowery prose, let’s dump your character in acid and see what happens.

NaNoWriMo Update: I’m at 6,210. I finished Freedom Riot – (you can find the story here – I broke it up into four parts because it’s 6200 words and no one has the attention span for that Part One, Part Two – I haven’t posted parts three and four yet – patience grasshopper). I wrote A LOT yesterday. I don’t know, I was excited for it. I was READY for it. I think reading all year long also REALLY helped – I felt like I had been transported into one of the stories I read this year.

By the way, the prompt I used for Freedom Riot was: A world wherein employees work nonstop with no vacation—a riot ensues.

I feel like I’m more interested in writing crazy, weird stuff. Not really horror, definitely not romance, but somewhere in between. I’m really interested in mystery, thrillers. I love twists and turns and stories that keep throwing stuff at you so you’re forced to duck and dodge incoming missiles. And you know what? I was watching more of Jenna’s videos (I’m sort of fan girling on her, not gonna lie) and something she said really resonated with me – write what  interests you, not what you think you should write. Not that I have to write romance, but honestly, there are only so many ways to describe In flagrante delicto, or caught in the act for those that have no idea what that means. But human depravity? Endless options here. So, I’ve learned that about myself. I want to write more twisted, fascinating, disturbing stories, without the blood and guts. More psychological stories – stuff that mess with your head.

I’ve also been thinking about the repercussions of putting my work online. I’m going to think of the works I post as teasers. I feel like most of my stories could easily be expanded on, made longer, into novels. So if I ever feel compelled to take a story further and try and get it published, the part I posted online will be an excerpt of that bigger story. That way, that gives me the freedom to post a little something-something for you all and the flexibility to make it bigger, put some meat on the story bones, if I choose to. Though I didn’t feel particularly invested in Bianca and Trey this go around, I definitely felt like I could have taken Freedom Riot much, much further.

So, dear reader, I apologize in advance, but you’re going to get a lot of excerpts and very little “finished” projects.

I already have an idea for my next short story and man, is it going to be dark. Stay tuned.