NaNoWriMo 2012

Free gold!!

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[Moya of the Mist]

Also, good morning, thread! Anybody else up? (I know that it's 6am on a Sunday in these parts, but...)

[Morsuaile]

I'm awake, but I don't know why emotion_zzz

Gotta clean my whole apartment as friends might be coming over this evening and get back to working on that essay that went so horribly yesterday. I'm surprised I didn't sleep till noon to avoid such things xD

[Moya of the Mist]

Mors: G'morning! Good luck with the cleaning. I'm sorry that you didn't get to sleep in.

[Morsuaile]

Well 8:30 is a pretty decent sleep in all things considered. Much longer and I would feel like I was wasting my day.

How are you this morning Moya?

[Moya of the Mist]

I'm okay. Can't sleep, haha. I just get so nervous when I'm home with my family... That's why I've woken up at 5am each day I've been here. It'll be nice to go home to my own place, even though I love my family a lot.

Anyway, I'm having a story plot crisis, so I'm not sure how to handle it. stare I don't think the ending I have planned is actually satisfying. If I don't include [PLOT POINT], though, the subsequent four books won't actually...happen. Basically at all. And I actually really liked those books.

But it may just be better to wrap up this series in four books rather than following the plot I had planned, because it's sort of...blah. I just don't know.

Hence, story crisis. And I'm rapidly approaching the critical point for deciding this. I just wish that I knew what to do...

[Beauty of Grace]

heyyouwiththeface -- That just sucks. I wish I could help. Go with whatever feels right?

I am. . . rapidly getting closer to holding a funeral for my nano. I just. . . don't know. I was supposed to catch up yesterday, but I only wrote like a thousand words, and I'm still at 26000. On the other hand, for some stupid reason I sort of feel ready to write, but I have a feeling once I get started it'll die really fast again. . .

[Moya of the Mist]

graceface: Eh, maybe if I got opinions, people could let me know what they think...?

Also, even if you don't make 50k, you don't have to give up! Every word on the page is a kind of success. And if you don't like the novel you've got going right now, you can always launch a new one!

[Beauty of Grace]

I guess all I could say is go with whatever feels right? If you want to explain more about it, I could give you a better opinion.

Wait. Aren't you writing a collection of short stories?

I like my novel enough, I'm just having serious issues writing anything. Call it writers block, I guess?

[Morsuaile]

Hmm, is there a way to include said Plot Point and then add more to it to make the ending more satisfying? Our could you just say those other books are from an alternate timeline ;D

Or could you even end it before that Plot Point comes into play?

[Moya of the Mist]

GRACE FACE: I'm writing short stories, yeah, but I'm also working on two novels. sweatdrop I finished book three, and now I'm working on book four. I'm doing short stories when I get frustrated with my novels, basically? And novels when I get frustrated with my short stories.

We'll have to team up to punch your writer's block in the face, then! scream I have days like that, and I just have to forcibly put words on the page. One in front of the other.

And more about my story:

Basically, I'd planned to kill off ~10 characters in a really jarring and sudden way, which leads to the turmoil in the fifth book. But then it's sort of like, "So... What was the point of this entire book, then? What was the point of this entire series?"

And that's where I'm getting stuck. Because this is the last book in this particular arc, and I really need it to bring home the points I was trying to make throughout the series--I need it to tie everything together. But this ending doesn't tie things together; it feels like a sucker punch out of left field, to mix my metaphors. I want something satisfying, and I'm struggling to reconcile my initial plan with anything remotely meaningful. I just...don't know what to do.

Mors: If I end it before that plot point comes into play, then I'll be ending with my characters in the wilderness, heading back toward safety. gonk Which I don't think would be satisfying either, unfortunately.

The alternate timeline thing would work if I had the courage to do something like that...

[Beauty of Grace]

Oh my, I wish I could help. I really do. But I have no idea how to, because you sound like you've dug yourself a hole and have started to bury yourself in it. . . ha. . . I don't know. Go with what seems right?

I do like the alternate timeline thing. It you could pull it off, that would be amazing.

[Morsuaile]

@Moya - 10 characters is a rather lot to kill off in a really sudden way. I'd say that once you hit a number that high it becomes a lot harder to process for a reader, especially if these are even marginally meaningful characters in the story. A move like that could be enough to isolate readers. I'd almost say you could get the same emotional impact by cutting it down to 5 even, which is still a really big shock if it's out of the blue.

Not sure if that's helpful.

[Moya of the Mist]

Grace Face: Yeah, basically. The alternate timeline thing would be cool if I could get it to work--but I can't think of a way to make that work, either. confused If I kill off one particular character, I could make the fifth book still work.

But, in truth, the fifth through eighth books were...less strong to begin with. Even though I liked them. Maybe I should just...not. I'm covering a lot of the stuff I meant to address in the eighth book in this fourth book, since it makes more sense.

Would it be weird to release the previous drafts of the books (one through eight) in a big compilation so folks could see what I'd originally planned if they wanted to? Hmmm...

Mors: I could make the subsequent books happen with only one character death, but it'd take a lot of reworking. And I'm not sure how to kill off only one character in the original situation I'd planned. And the original situation doesn't even work any more--not really. gonk

Basically, my books are a mess right now. crying I know there's a way to make it work, but I don't know that there's a way to do it while preserving the second arc. Which wasn't that great to start with.

Maybe I should actually make myself move on from this series.

[Morsuaile]

@Moya - It does sound like a very tricky situation gonk I'd say take a break from thinking about it right now and maybe some way to make it all work will come to you.

[Moya of the Mist]

Mors: Maybe you're right. I could work on some short stories for now. I just thought that I'd be able to finish this novel today/tomorrow... *sigh* Oh well.