Tag Archives: Novel

NaNoWriMo: The Last Three Days

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NaNoWriMo ends in three short days.  I can’t believe how fast it’s gone.  Of course, November is a busy month.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  November is the second worst month to have NaNoWriMo. (December is the worst.)  There is, of course, the satisfying feeling of accomplishment at the end of the year.  If you win, that is.  If you don’t, well, you’ve got your first New Year’s Resolution.

I’ve got enough New Year’s Resolutions to break.  As of today, I have 47,796/50,000 words.  According to my nifty stats page over at NaNos site, I have to write 551 words a day to finish on time.  That’s not really my style.  I write huge chunks at a time.  Ideally, I’d be doing that now, instead of writing on the blog, but you know how that goes.  I’ll probably wait until November 30 and validate my novel at 11:59 PM.  I like the drama.

I say I’m going to validate my novel.  That’s not exactly accurate.  I’ll validate a healthy portion of a novel.  It won’t be finished.  In fact, most of what I validate probably won’t be in the finished novel.  This is some meandering, indulgent stuff, people.  I’m doing what Stephen King calls, “Writing with the door closed.”  (From his book, On Writing, which is excellent.  Read it.  It’ll change your whole perspective on writing.  Good stuff.)  The next few months (or longer) will be editing and rewriting, all with the door wide open.  Open to people who aren’t me, reading what I wrote.  That changes things.   And for the better.

In the meantime, I am willing to show a portion of what I wrote.  Some people think they want to read that.  Well, here it is.  My actual words from my actual novel, in no particular order.

 

 

 

 

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Who Do You Write Like?

Posted in All Posts, Blogging, Books, Reading, Words, Writing by

There’s a nifty little tool that will tell you what famous author you write like, when you paste a sample of your work in the Analyzer.  It’s I Write Like.  I’ve used it before with some of my blog posts.  The results were…mixed.  I got Stephanie Meyer and Margaret Mitchell.  One is a Pulitzer Prize winner, the other is not.  I leave it to you to determine which is which.  But hey, either way, I’ve got what it takes to sell a lot of books, right?  Yeah.

Pulitzer Prize for literature

This could be mine one day...

I forgot about the site.  Then, when looking around on the wordpress forums, I saw the thread,  ”See Who You Write Like”, started by TheInsanityAquarium.    I started thinking.  Unusual, I know.

I’m writing a novel.  I have over 20,000 words I could plug into this baby.  This isn’t some silly blog post.  This is me, as a novelist.  Who do I write like?

So, I went to the WIP, and copied and pasted each session into the I Write Like analyzer.  (This and Words With Friends is what I do when I should be adding to my word count.  Procrastinate much? )  Anyway, here’s what I got.

Lewis Carrol (once)
Kurt Vonnegut (three times)
Ian Fleming ( SIX times)

Me, the dork that I am, Googled each author and their writing style.  (I could have written 1,000s of words in the time it took.  *sigh*)   I wanted to know what “you write like…” meant.

Lewis Carrol

Lewis Carroll, the well-known author of Alice'...

  • “Frequently use italics for emphasis” and employ “odd usage of parentheses and capital letters.”  Viewed as “unprofessional.”  Source:  Down the Rabbit Hole and Back
  • Use nonsense words.

Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut speaking at Case Western Reserve...

(I went to the man himself for style advice)

  • Find a subject you care about
  • Do not ramble, though.
  • Keep it simple.
  • Have the guts to cut.
  • Sound like yourself.
  • Say what you mean to say.
  • Pity the readers.
Ian Fleming oil painting

Ian Fleming (Keep in mind, I got this SIX times)

There is actually a web page called, “How to Write Like Ian Fleming.” 

  • Describe food in detail, but make sure it’s good food.
  • Have your characters drink plenty of alcohol.
  • Include sensuous details about clothes.
  • Let your characters take time to relax and enjoy themselves now and then.

“The Fleming style, which he consciously adopted and employed in all his work, includes details calculated to excite the senses and give readers a taste of luxury and hedonism.”

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There you have it.  Who (and What) I write like.  Three very different writers from three distinct time periods.  So what does this mean for me?

Nothing.

Well, except for the fact that I write like a dude.

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Just for fun, who do you write like?  I’d love to see who you get and what you think of it.  Here’s the link again:  I Write Like…

NaNoWriMo Week One: Six Lessons

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Medieval illustration of a Christian scribe wr...

Image via Wikipedia

1.  Writing a novel is hard.  

Okay, so I knew this already, but it’s hard in ways I didn’t expect.  The story came easily enough, as did the characters and the key scenes that had to take place.  The problem is all the rest.

Dialogue.  Point of View.  Continuity.  Clarity.  Back Story.  And the dreaded Setting.  I suck at setting.  It is so important and if you choose a real place, you darn well better do your research.  Research?  You bet.

What is the height requirement of a Rockette? **

You’d be amazed by what I’ve looked up this week.

**Answer:  Between 5′ 6″ and 5′ 10 1/2″ in stocking feet.

2.  I am an incurable editor.

The whole idea of NaNo is to write with reckless abandon, either ignoring or celebrating the sheer crapiness that inevitably comes out of your head.  I can do that, to an extent.  However, today I deleted 459 words because they were junk.  I have some pride.

I correct all spelling errors because my browser underlines them in red.  I can’t ignore that. When I think of something I should add, I do it.  I can’t remember my own children’s names half the time.  I’m certainly not going to remember, in January, to add that super awesome part I thought of in the checkout line at Kroger that one time to the part I wrote on the night we had chicken for dinner way back in November.

3.  There’s no way I’m posting this thing anywhere on Dec. 1.  

“Ooh, I can’t wait to read it!” I get that a lot.  Well, trust me, you can and you will.  This is a massive free-writing exercise.  Glorified pre-writing stuff.  It’s not even a real first draft, which I wouldn’t show to anyone either.  Again, I have some pride.

4.  I am a creator and a listener.

Rebekah Loper, a seasoned NaNo, wrote a post asking the question, “Do you create, or do you listen?”  Basically, do you decide what your characters will do and say or do you let them tell the story?  My response:   “I’m a creator.  After all, they’re my creations.  How can they do anything other than what I want them to do?”  I don’t know how, but they do.  I start a scene with an idea and somewhere along the way, that idea goes out the window, and I find myself in unchartered territory.  I beg, “Please don’t do that.  That’s not how this is supposed to play out.”  Do they listen?  No, they go right ahead and do it.  ”Okay then, but you’ll regret this when you see what happens next.”  See?  Listener and creator.

5. Nobody you know in “real” life wants to hear about your NaNo progress.

Honestly, I wouldn’t either if I didn’t know what NaNo was before my friend/cousin/uncle/sister started blathering on about it.  I’ve decided to keep my progress to myself and anyone who happens to read my blog, is my friend on Facebook, or follows me on Twitter.

Creative Commons

6.  Writing a novel is easier than I thought.

No Muse.  No bleary-eyed, middle of the night, frantic scribblings to get down that idea that came to me in a dream.  I’m not drunk all the time.  I’m not doing drugs, aside from healthy doses of nicotine and caffeine.  I’m not depressed.  I’m not mentally ill and I’m not suicidal.  So, my chances of being anthologized in a future American Lit. text-book are not good.   I’m okay with that.

I think a lot.  I sit.  I type.  Grammar, spelling, plausibility.

Voila.

I’m writing a novel.

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It’s your turn.  Anyone doing NaNo or writing a novel learn anything this week?  I’d love to hear about it.