Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Writing After NaNoWriMo

Certainly it must be possible to write after the infamous National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

Right?

Yeah.

Okay, I should clarify: writing a different story once NaNo is over. And by a different story, I mean to assume that you've completed your NaNo piece. Because we all complete the things we work on.

I did NaNo last year, successfully. I got it published in April, so I was editing during that time. Once I had it finished, I wrote stuff in vague bits of inspiration for some time. And basked in my own *glorious* writing.

Then I went back to old projects. Then took a break. But now, I've got two main projects and I love them both. I recently checked the page count for my new story, "Daniel and his Dead Brother Brian", and it's at 27 pages. I was very happy. That's something. It's the beginning of a story. Readers can actually judge it!

So, I suppose I am in a surprised state. It feels strange to be writing without an overt deadline. No end of November to hound my dreams (nightmares). Instead just the nightmares of stories forgotten. Just Kidding. Really.

But, in the end, I'm happy that I'm back into writing something and not moving on quickly. I'm back, baby!

-JK

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Jason's Rules of Writing


Jason's Rules of Writing

(And why you shouldn't listen)

  1. You write gold. Except you suck.
  2. You will usually describe objects (nouns) by their three most important features. (More of a context thing.)
  3. Passive sentences are killed by a watchful eye (or eyes) and practice.
  4. Being redundant is redundant. Don't be redundant.
  5. Readers will hate a meaningless story more than a story full of crappy writing.
  6. Readers don't like to read crappy writing, unless glittering vampires are involved; and thus the pages glitter in their own respect.
  7. You write gold. Except you suck.
  8. The mark of a great writer is one who learns the rules (guidelines), and breaks them in such a way that the reader benefits from it (and possibly doesn't realize the breakage).

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Apologia Writing

We don't live in a vacuum.

Our words can hurt others as much as they can enlighten.

Learning to tone down the critical or negative aspects of one's views in light of how others may perceive the message is something I have never been particularly great at.

And, because of this, sometimes it means you have to bite your own words.

NaNoWriMo gave me a lot. Although I have only participated in it a single time, I have fully experienced the trials and stress of the competition. A friend of mine has children and she gave it a shot last year, only to get a few thousands words typed. So, because I finished means what exactly? That I had an easier time. That's all.

Under the guise of being Awesome, it seems I became cocky and then  not-so-cocky after the fact. Now I just pity the poor souls who devote November to the Writing G-ds. I pity them for one main reason: it's a drug that is hard to give up.

I will re-iterate that I am not jealous of my friends doing it this year. It is a tough thing to do and should not be taken lightly. After all, as students, hitting 1667 words a day ain't easy. And, that assumes you don't like writing utter sacks of smelly forgotten words. You want to do well. And so did I.

The first thing one must do in any sort of rhetoric, especially when they are communicating with a potentially opposing beliefs crowd, is not to attack them or make them feel stupid.

I didn't quite miss that mark. I didn't mean to come off as critical or pretentious as I might have. I was only looking to write a blog post.

So, brave NaNo'ers: fare the rocky synonym shores and alliteration valleys with caution as you make your way to the Land of Eternal Denouement. If you're lucky, you might come out with something you'll want to continue working on.

JK

Making NaNoWriMo out to be a (non) Giga Deal

Perhaps it should be stated that NaNoWriMo is a giga deal.

It isn't so much that the act of writing itself is important, but the persistence in doing so.

That is the "magic" of NaNoWriMo.

And, at least in my case, once I've waved the NaNo stick, suddenly the event itself seems to disappear.

Until over half of my writer friends are doing it.

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