Homo Vampyrus - NaNo '04

NaNo Day Thirteen

2004-11-13T23:18:00.000-08:00

I am a terrible, terrible slacker. I missed one day due to circumstances beyond my control, but then it morphed into two, then three, then...

Well, you get the picture.

But I've managed to beat the procrastination fairy about the head with something heavy, and I'm back writing again. I've broken 25%, which is pretty good, and I've come up with an new way of pacing myself in writing, so that things go easier.

Instead of thinking to myself, "My Gods, I've still got so many words to write," and getting disheartened, I'm writing in little 500-word chunks or thereabouts. 500 words for me is about one side of an A4 page with my handwriting, so it's reasonably easy to gauge. So, I write 500 words, then stop for about five minutes, then write 500 more... I'm getting quite a lot done with this new method.

NaNo Day Eight

2004-11-08T22:18:00.000-08:00

Broke 10k! Woo-hoo! Also finished that damn sex scene, which, now finished, weighs in at 4,640 on its own.

This is the start of Week Two, and while I'm technically behind on the word count I should be at, I'm not feeling too bad. This is mainly because of the weekly NaNo e-mail I received today, which told me that usually around this time is when people start running up against The Wall - drying up plots, characters who refuse to do what you want them to do and just plain "Why am I doing this?" feelings.

I'm not suffering from any of these things. In fact, I'd probably be writing almost non-stop, if it wasn't for hand, neck and arm cramps which I keep getting. I've still got plenty to get through before I start to panic about not having enough plot, it seems.

Onward...

Extract

2004-11-07T21:26:00.000-08:00

Because I think it's about time I put one out...

***

All of this couldn’t possibly have gone on for more than a minute, yet it felt much, much longer. I tried listening out for Luke, partly in an attempt to get my mind off the noises that were still going on, and the fading, gasping screams, because he had fallen worryingly silent since those afore-mentioned slicing and cracking noises and his father’s screams had begun. However, I wasn’t even sure whether I could hear his breathing, what with everything else that was going on and my own short, sharp, bordering-on-hysteria breaths. I wondered if some mysterious, freakishly fingered individual had forced him to the ground and was holding him there as was happening to me, or if something else had happened to him...

The screams eventually trailed off into nothing, but not before they had taken on a final desperate, wheezing quality. I was still utterly sightless, reduced to trying to peer myopically into the total blackness around me in the vain hope of seeing something I had the distinct feeling I did not want to see. And of course, the smell of the blood still filled the air, almost tangible and threatening to overpower me completely. I was finding it increasingly difficult to think rationally when all my basic instincts wanted to do was feed. I also knew I was going to hate myself in the morning for feeling like that, especially about a family member. Even more so if I lost control.

Something touched my face. It was wet and sticky, but underneath that it was cold and felt like something hard wrapped tightly in parchment or very old paper – so much so that I wondered if it was going to crumble into desiccated flakes not that it had come into contact with something solid. It took me a couple of moments to realise that it was a finger. It had a long, pointed-seeming nail on the end, almost like a talon. It almost felt like it had been stuck on. I felt it move slowly down the side of my face, leaving a trail of whatever wet, sticky substance (and in the back of my mind, I knew exactly what that was; I was just trying not to think of it) as it went, as if it were tracing something. I felt icy cold.

“No.”

The word came from close to my right side, so close that I jumped a little. I was still unable to see anything, true, but common sense told me that no one should have been able to get that close to me without my noticing something.

The speaker’s voice had that same, hoarse hissing quality to it that I had heard before, as well as something else – an accent, perhaps? – that I couldn’t quite place. It was also so quiet – it seemed as if the speaker was only mere inches away from me, yet I was only just able to hear them speak. I wondered if they had even meant for me to be able to hear them.

The finger and its stickiness left my face and the hand left my shoulder, almost at the same time. It was still dark, however, and I wasn’t at all sure that these mysterious others who had been holding me had left yet, even if I could no longer feel them, so I stayed exactly where I was, kneeling on the ground and barely breathing.

NaNo Day Seven

2004-11-07T21:21:00.000-08:00

My catching up is continuing well, although today has been a little spotty due to a developing migraine and the painkillers I had to take to put a stop to it. A lot of my evening has been spent in a rather floaty state of mind, which has now decended into increasing drousiness. Still, I'm proud of how I'm doing.

Sex scene still isn't finished, though. I'm being philosophical and thinking of the padding it's doing to my word count - even if, it I ever come to edit this thing, a good deal of it will probably instantly be cut.

NaNo Day Six

2004-11-06T22:53:00.000-08:00

Yes, yesterday was pretty much a non-starter. There was simply too much to do, university-wise, and by the end of that I was just shattered. So I've been catching up today (well, to be exact I've been catching up for most of the week today) and I don't think I've done too badly.

Today I've been writing something that either comes easily to people, or it's like getting blood from a stone - a sex scene. It's completely out-of-sequence with the where I am, of course - this scene occurs/will occur about two-thirds of the way through the novel - but I just decided I would try it out, since I've never really been able to write them in the past. Verdict? I don't think I'm doing too badly at the moment - of course, I'm also only about halfway through it so it could all still go horribly wrong...

Ah well. Anything to keep the word count climbing.

NaNo Day Four

2004-11-04T23:23:00.000-08:00

Arrggh. Traumatic Values workshop, followed by research question on the rule of law and parlimentary sovereignity threw one great big spanner in the works today. I'm amazed I managed anything at all.

Tomorrow doesn't look too much better, what with Contract and Contstitutional and Administrative Law lectures. Don't expect me to get much past 6k, if that.

NaNo Day Three

2004-11-03T23:14:00.000-08:00

This is more like it. Despite being distracted by election results (and with condolences to all those in America who wished for a change in the Presidency) and several little things to do in the morning which left me too tired in the afternoon, I have now finished both Chapter Three and Chapter One.

I have a very unusual way of writing sometimes. I find it difficult to start stories, although I know exactly what is going to happen a few pages or a couple of chapters down the line. This frustrates me, and often means that I leave stories unfinished because I just can't write the beginning so that I can get to the interesting bit.

So I started writing my chapters out of sequence. If I get stuck on a particular part of a story, I just leave it for a while and move on to another part, one for which I have the events already planned out. Usually this helps with the earlier part as well, as I see things that I have to set up to get to the later chapter, thus giving me the content to write to keep it all going.

So I had actually written Chapter Three first, before I managed to write the whole of Chapter One this evening.

Now I just have to decide between Chapter Two and Chapter Four for tomorrow...

NaNo Day 2

2004-11-02T20:33:00.000-08:00

(Because yesterday's Progess meter didn't show up correctly for whatever reason.)

It is said that everything is interesting when you have work to do, and today that has been very true for me. It doesn't help that I'm easily distracted at the best of times, but it seemed like I was finding an excuse to wander over to the computer and check the net every half-hour or so (I'm writing away from the computer at present, using the old-fashioned method of pen-and-paper, because I tend to get migraines if I stare at a blank white screen [much like an empty Word document] for too long). The other half was also a distraction, wanting me to sit and watch him playing video games all afternoon.

But I prevailed, and managed to finish the chapter I started yesterday, as well as getting through that key scene I was one the edge of when I finished last night. I should be able to post an extract of that tomorrow, once I've gotten it typed up (my typing speed is a lot faster than my writing speed when I'm copying from something already written.

I may try to write a little more tonight, but even if I don't I can at least say that I've gotten off to a solid start now.

NaNo Day One

2004-11-01T23:33:00.000-08:00

1,100 / 50,000
(2.2%)

Overall, this isn't too bad a start. It's been worked out that a person needs to do 1,667 words a day for 30 days to his the 50,000 exactly. Of course, sticking to that schedule can be extremely difficult, if not impossible, when real life gets in the way. In my case, it was having to spend a lot more time at the university than I had planned to, which not only took several hours out of my writing schedule there, but also left me exhausted for several more hours when I finally got back.

I had hoped to have gotten to a specific point in the story today as well, but that hasn't quite occurred. I'm just at the 'edge' of that key point, so I know that at least I'll get to it tomorrow.

Why NaNo?

2004-10-23T21:44:00.000-07:00

Short answer: Because I'm not quite sane and I like a challenge.

Long answer: Because I think it's good for me. I've been writing on and off for years now, sometimes with a friend, sometimes not, but two problems have always dogged me throughout. One, I never seem able to finish the pieces I start, and two, I have practically no time management or editing skills.

So the idea of settling down to write (or try to write) 50,000 words in 30 days appeals to me, or to some masochistic part of my nature at any rate. There's very little time to stop and worry about editing, which suits me just fine, but on the other hand you also have to make the time to write every day. Finishing whatever you write for the month is another matter entirely, but I figure that, if I can manage 50,000 words I'll be well on the way to finishing it anyway.

I attempted NoNoWriMo for the first time in 2003, and was managing quite well for the first ten days or so of November. Then my other half's grandmother took ill very suddenly and died, which unfortunately stopped everything in November dead. So I still don't really know if I'm up to the challenge of 50,000 words in a month (I only got up to 14,552). That's another reason; I want to see if I can actually meet the challenge.

And it's fun. As mad as it seems, trying desperately to come up with an idea, outime, plot, characters and everything else inbetween in such a limited amount of time, there's something strangely liberating about the whole thing at the same time. There's no worry about editing or writing tight, neat prose; quite the opposite, in fact. You're usually trying desperately to use as many words as possible to bump up your word count.

Finally, there's the sense of accomplishment at the end of it all, when you've finished and can say "I did it!". Or even if you didn't make it to the magic number, you can say you tried. And no-one's going to stop you from continuing after November 30th.

Introductory Post

2004-10-22T11:15:00.000-07:00

This blog is going to be used to record my progress (whatever that may be) in National Novel-Writing Month, which is taking place in November of 2004. Provided everything goes according to plan, I'll be posting word counts, extracts of the novel as it progresses, and other general thoughts on the subject.

I'm not posting the full novel as I have the far-fetched idea that, if I ever manage to finish it, I may one day want to try submitting it to people. So it's extracts only to keep within the publishing rules.