Thursday, November 19, 2015

Beautiful Books #2

   Hey guys! I'm back with another post about NaNo. I'm almost to 10k! So please forgive any mistakes in this Beautiful Books post, since I wrote it as quickly as possible to allow more time for writing Children of the Nameless.


1. Is the book turning out how you thought it would be, or is it defying your expectations? 

   I don't know what to expect. I don't know what I was expecting. But it's turning out great. My word count is slowly increasing. A little too slow my my liking, but I'm writing more than I usually do.

2. What’s your first sentence (or paragraph)? 

 First paragraph of the book:

"It was a time of war. No one was safe. It was a time of blood, but the only glory came to those who delighted in death. Some fought for power. The rest fought to keep themselves and their loved ones alive."

First paragraph that I wrote for NaNo:

 Katria couldn’t help being slightly relieved that the two idiots were still alive. She’d thought Kaleth had lost his mind when he’d jumped off the ship, until she realized Barrow wasn’t on the ship either.

3. Are you a plotter or a pantser? Have you ever tried both methods and how did it turn out?
   Plonster, definitely. I have to have a basic idea of where the chapter is going before I start writing or I panic. And can't write. At all. But when I have an idea, I use it to guide me, and the characters just do whatever they want. Which sometimes involves broken arms. I'm not too happy about that one.

4. What do you reward yourself with after meeting a goal? 

   A piece of candy for every 500 words I write in a day. 

5. What do you look for in a name? Do you have themes and where do you find your names? 

   Most of the time, I look up traditional names from the real-life country I've based the fictional country on. It's a lot easier than making things up(which i did for all of the main characters). I like the names to have meaning, too.

6. What is your favorite to write: beginning, middle, or end — and why? 

   So far, I like the middle best. I get to write things that I've been planning for years no joke. Things are finally starting to happen!

Things not unlike this.


7. Who’s your current favorite character in your novel? 




8. What kind of things have you researched for this project, and how do you go about researching? (What’s the weirdest thing you’ve researched?!) 

   I...don't really research that much? Usually I ask on my writers' group to see if anyone's already done the work for me. I do look up things sometimes though, like mental disorders and weaponry.

9. Do you write better alone or with others? Do you share your work or prefer to keep it to yourself? 

   I can't write when other people are doing distracting things in the room, and I abhor when people watch me write, but I love love love word warring with my writer friends! You know who you are.  And I absolutely have to have people read my stuff. Even though it sucks sometimes. I'm really pushy about getting my alphas to read stuff so they can tell me it's not too horrible and/or flail with me.

10. What are your writing habits? Is there a specific snack you eat? Do you listen to music? What time of day do you write best? Feel free to show us a picture of your writing space!

   Always music. Always. And I can write whenever, pretty much. My favorite place to write is on the comfy couch in my living room right next to the window.

It is the comfiest of all comfy chairs.


How is your November going, my blogglings? Any plans for Thanksgiving? I'm driving up to Utah on Saturday, and I don't know if I'll have wifi there, but I'll be back in December with all the details about how NaNo went!

Saturday, November 14, 2015

In which I spam you with links and flail sadly about NaNo

   It's been an interesting week.
   I'm still sick, but not so sick that I can't sit around and write like I did last week. I've had all day shopping trips/doctor's appointments and basically?
   Writing didn't really happen.

Me too, Snape. Me too.
   Last week when I posted. I had 6k, almost 7k. Right now? I'm at 8k 8628 words if you want to know exactly. I've been trying not to get down on myself for not writing very much, but it's hard. A good friend reached 50k today. It's hard feeling so behind. I just have to remind myself that it's okay to go at your own pace, it's okay that life happens. We're leaving on vacation this Saturday, so this week will be busy with packing and planning, so writing will probably be limited next week too.
   But it's okay if I'm behind, because I can catch up. It's okay if I don't win.
   It's okay if i publish this post that I'm writing at 10:30 at night.

   And I obviously didn't have the time to write up a post about Children of the Nameless like I did last week, so instead you get links. (The main story playlist is a lot bigger and better than the individual character ones.)

Children of the Nameless - story board  playlist
Kaleth - character board  playlist
Danica - character board  playlist
Barrow - character board  playlist
Allorie - character board  playlist
Katria - character board  playlist
Egin - character board  playlist


And now I shall sleep. And/or write. Goodnight. 

Saturday, November 7, 2015

In which I talk about how I write(when I should be writing)

   "What is this?! Krissy, still posting? Have I entered an alternate dimension??"
   No.
   Shush.
   I decided it would be lame to leave you without my presence for an entire month when I've so recently re-entered the blogging world(for the millionth time). So, I aggressively stalked my friends' blogs and looked for tags I could do about writing and wrote most of them the last week of October. Or during NaNo. Mostly during NaNo, because I procrastinated.



   Today I'm going to talk about my writing. All the nitty-gritty, behind the scenes stuff.





1. Is there a certain snack you like to eat while writing?

   I sometimes write a little while I eat lunch. Does that count? When I'm seriously writing, I don't like having any distractions. I will sometimes eat Halloween candy, though.



2. When do you normally write? Night, afternoon, or morning?

   Usually I write a lot in the afternoon. I don't get many chances to just sit down and write, so I sneak it in whenever I can.

3. Where do you write?

   Usually the big fluffy chair in our living room, at the kitchen table, or my bedroom.

4. How often do you write a new novel?

   Ha.
   HA.
   You're funny. This is the farthest I've ever gotten in a book. So I'm mildly proud of myself.

5. Do you listen to music while you write?

   ALWAYS. Sometimes I listen to random stuff, sometimes one of my character playlists, or the Children of the Nameless playlist. I have a hard time focusing when anything interesting is going on nearby(whether it be a conversation or my sister watching Studio C again), so I need music to kinda drown out the background noise. And it helps me get in the mood for what I'm writing.

6. What do you write on? Laptop or paper?

   LAPTOP. ALWAYS LAPTOP. Writing on paper hurts my hands and is 37643675 times slower than my brain.

7. Is there a special ritual you have before or after you write?

   I put on music, like I said before. Sometimes I reread the last few paragraphs so I can get in the rhythm of it again. And I usually pull up one of my Pinterest boards, either the main board or one of the character boards.

8. What do you do to get in the mood to write?

   I write best during a word war, so I ask if any of my friends want to war. People are much more willing to war during NaNo, fyi. 

9. What is always near the place you write?

   My charger. I won't have this computer dying on me, no sir. And my water bottle, so I don't get dehydrated. And a blanket, because being cozy is the most important.

10. Do you have a reward system for your word count?

Yay me, now I don't have to stress about writing any more today. But I should still go write more.
   Also, I made a reward system where I get a piece of candy for every 500 words I write, but I'm regrettably behind on that.

11. Is there anything about your writing process that others might not know about?

   I am the slowest chipmunk in the history of chipmunk writers. Cait from Paper Fury is rubbing off on me. In a 15 minute word war I might get 130 words? It's terrible. But somehow all the wars I'm doing are adding up, and I'm averaging about 1000 words a day, which is my goal.


   And I'm too busy to tag people in this, so.


NaNo Update

   As of the moment I'm writing this, my total word count is 6743 words, meaning I'm only about three hundred words away from meeting my goal this week!


How is NaNo going for you?