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Post by Conrad on Oct 25, 2006 17:03:17 GMT -5
Y'know, National Novel Writing Month. The idea is that, on Novemeber first, you start writing. On Novemeber 30th, you stop. If you've got 50,000 words and something resembling a novel, you "win." You don't win anything material, of course, but there's that whole bragging rights thing. Really, the idea behind it is to get lazy writers (or potential lazy writers) up off their asses and get them to actually write something. It's also got this whole "community pain" thing going on where we can all bitch about trying to write a novel (well, novella, really) in a month. I'm just using it as a sort of set of jumper cables for a story I've wanted to write for a while now. I think it's as good a place to point creative energies as any (and I could sure use a target since I stopped making music videos and building dioramas in MMOs) 'm I the only who's heard? 'm I the only one who's perticipatin'?
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Post by Xarah on Oct 25, 2006 17:54:30 GMT -5
I've heard of it the past few years, but as any writing I manage to jump start myself into leans more towards the realm of poetry and essays, I've always taken a pass. I might enjoy fiction, if I had even the inkling of an idea to be getting on with, but it's just not something I've ever done, outside of maybe a page's worth here and there in creative writing class in high school. That said, my dad just put me in touch with a teacher/writer friend of his who's read my poetry and is encouraging me to submit some for publication, so as I've been thinking about getting back to writing anyway, maybe I can adapt NNWM to poetry instead - 50,000 words would make for a lot of poems, LOL! Anyway, best of luck, Conrad, I'll be rootin' for ya'!
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Post by Billie on Oct 25, 2006 19:07:41 GMT -5
Can it be a graphic novel?
I've got an idea I've been fleshing out, but it'd work better as a comic.
Oh, I guess I could just click on your link and read, huh. . . ?
(I've written an entire novel before, and countless short stories and songs, but I'm feeling the comic book vibe now.)
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Post by simmuskhan on Oct 25, 2006 22:08:43 GMT -5
Good luck mate! Does the title count towards the word limit? What about page numbers? I've been thinking about a mathematical escapade. Page 1. Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. Page 5. (That's 10 words already if the numbers also count as words!)
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Post by Billie on Oct 25, 2006 23:14:49 GMT -5
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy--repeat ad infinitum.
You can do anything, with this simple mantra.
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Post by Shala-ren on Oct 26, 2006 7:38:19 GMT -5
I'd try if my comp wasn't fried....but I like the Idea and might do it later.
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Post by Conrad on Oct 26, 2006 12:28:47 GMT -5
Can it be a graphic novel? Considering that a picture is worth a thousand words, that'd kinda be cheating. /grin No, it doesn't include graphic novels. The idea is just straight, plain 'ol prose. They've actually got a whole thread on their forums dedicated to what types of prose count, but it mostly comes down to "if you think it's a novel, we think it's a novel." They actually have a new event they're premiering next year called Script Frenzy. No details yet, but it's the same idea. Hammer out a script in a month. I have a feeling it's for stage plays, but who knows, maybe it'll include comic scripts.
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Post by Billie on Oct 29, 2006 17:24:48 GMT -5
OK, I read the TERMS for once and this passage amused me: That said, there are certain kinds of posts we do not allow on the forums. Anyone posting abusive, pornographic, hateful, or threatening material (or any other stuff that may violate any applicable laws), will have their NaNoWriMo account deleted and will be banned from the site.
We will also file a formal complaint with the offending party's internet service provider, and, if we deem it necessary, with their local police department. LOL! I guess they had some problems in the past? /shiver Anyway, I signed up (anyway ). I have very low expectations, but if it gets me to do anything other than play WoW it'll be worth the commitment. There are like 48 signed-up people in my area, so that was a revelation. If you want a buddy, say so.
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Post by simmuskhan on Nov 15, 2006 23:09:57 GMT -5
So how are you all going?
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Post by Billie on Nov 15, 2006 23:18:53 GMT -5
I'm working on it right now! I sometimes sneak out of my document to peak at details on the Internet. Sometimes when I get stuck for an idea, I'll peak at the subject lines of e-mails in my Bulk file and steal interesting words that give me ideas for random details to work into my story. It works surprisingly well! I've been working for hours on my novel everyday (in lieu of playing any video games at all, even though I got into the beta for WoW Burning Crusade!) I'm exactly on schedule. Today we're hitting the halfway mark. I'm 500 words shy at the moment of 25,000. Have not heard a peep from Conrad.
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Post by Shala-ren on Nov 16, 2006 11:48:58 GMT -5
wow! that is awesome!
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Post by AidinStark on Nov 16, 2006 13:42:19 GMT -5
Yes, that is awesome, keep up the good work Billie. /encourage
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Post by simmuskhan on Nov 16, 2006 15:52:04 GMT -5
Go Billie Go! walrus, wingnut, white, wise These random words brought to you by the letter W.
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Post by summer on Nov 16, 2006 18:09:16 GMT -5
What is it about, Billie?
Pilliage, pumpernickel, parfait, petunia.
Oh, and sassafrass.
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Post by Billie on Nov 16, 2006 22:35:11 GMT -5
Summ'er asked what it's about. Well, when I was in high school, I used to invent super hero characters constantly. I populated an entire universe with all the guys I made up, and I wrote out some of their stories in prose. Other stories I just sketched out in outline form. I've still got files and notebooks full of the stuff. I used to spend hours drawing everyone to get their costumes down on paper. (Years later, it was one of these super hero stories that I shared in a Creative Writing class in college that got me invited into the graduate school for CW at UNT in Denton, TX by the chair of the program. So, I have some experience actually writing stuff, hence my ability to sit at a keyboard and pound out sentences--I don't want you guys to be mislead into thinking I've discovered some miraculous ability I didn't know about. I just never sit down and do it anymore. ) I decided to resurrect one of these guys for the novel project, because I always liked his concept. He is a sort of super anti-hero, not a villain but not a guy who'd ever get his own comic series, because he doesn't try to save people or do good things. He just drives around the country digging up treasure and getting drunk and living in motels. He's called the Seeker, and he has this psychic power that allows him to "sense" the importance that people place on inanimate objects. Everything gives off a resonance if people have a regard for it, so this makes things like lost money and lost gold and lost treasures easy to spot. They "glow" to him, and he just drives around on back roads waiting to find stuff people have lost. He's sort of like a human metal detector. It's not the biggest power ever, but the premise is that when it pays off, it occasionally pays off huge. So our boy has never had to work, or have any responsibility. He has a great affection for MGB's so whenever possible he drives one, until he wrecks it, then has to find and buy another one. (He never runs into police trouble because cop cars give off an enormous vibe since they alarm people, and thus are easily avoided.) Anyway, the novel is a picaresque, so I started out just writing down all these random scenes, ideas I had for weird situations to put this character in. And I introduced him to some of my other super characters. There's not so much action in the book. It's all people talking, so it works better as prose than graphic novel. The weird thing is that all the random scenes started coming together after writing for two weeks, and bits started to explain other bits, so that a plot and a general story arc started suggesting themselves. I just add 1667 words each day (the 50,000 goal divided by the 30-day time period for the "contest") and if some logical bit of plot gets me stuck, I simply come back to it fresh the next day, by which point I usually have some new random detail or line of dialogue I wanted to fit in, which often solves some problem I invented days before. There are still plenty of bits with empty spaces, or parts of sentences with blanks still unfilled, but I have far, far more substance here than I ever expected to make, and it's all thanks to this funny contest that I had never even heard of until five days before it actually started. OK, enough! These are all sentences I should be putting into my word count for the book! By the way, I managed to use "wing nut." Thanks!
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Post by summer on Nov 17, 2006 2:26:08 GMT -5
I am sorry for taking you away!
But, that sounds pretty neat. Maybe you'll be famous!
Well, at least more famous than you already are...
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Post by Shala-ren on Nov 17, 2006 6:42:12 GMT -5
ooooo......I think I'll wait then until it hits bookshelves. sounds great!
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Post by Kikra on Nov 17, 2006 18:57:13 GMT -5
Did you get the idea for the character while listening to the Seeker by the Who?
I got a whole lot of ideas for character from songs like Sister Golden Hair by America.
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Post by Billie on Nov 17, 2006 20:33:23 GMT -5
Did you get the idea for the character while listening to the Seeker by the Who? You know it. I originally named the character 'Ric Townshend, but I decided against the lastname recently. It's a little too indebted. I got a whole lot of ideas for character from songs like Sister Golden Hair by America. Hmm. I admit that one never would have occured to me. I have a girl named Badge, after the Cream song, though.
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Post by Billie on Nov 25, 2006 12:08:25 GMT -5
S.O.S. !!!OK, as you know, if you've clicked on this thread before, I am working on writing a science fiction adventure novel, and I have five more days after today to hit the goal of 50,000 words. I am at 39,801 at this moment, which puts me just about caught up with yesterday's word count goal, so I'm almost on schedule. I have a basic structure for this novel mapped out, but I'm stuck on two sequences where I seem to have written myself into corners! I am opening the floor to suggestions, if any of you would like to brainstorm with me. There's no prize if you have a winning idea (just like I don't get any prize for meeting the contest goal), but you'll have my public congratualtions and the comfort of knowing that once again you've helped a fellow FXer finish a quest! So click 'ACCEPT' to the blanket group invite I'm sending out and get on the /groupchat channel and let's see who can help me out of a jam! PREDICAMENT A) Our hero is in a charity hospital, changed to a bed with handcuffs, while a 24-hour sheriff's deputy stands guard outside the door. The policeman at the time of escape is occupied on his laptop, because the hospital has wireless Internet and he is playing SWG to pass the time, so he's good and distracted. Our hero is a non-athletic, undernourished, 25-year-old male with a super power that lets him seek out inanimate objects in his surroundings by casting out and "seeing" the emotions that the objects radiate as auras, so for example a wedding ring would radiate a "cherished" feeling, a hairbrush would have a "useful and comforting" aura, a paperback would seem "entertaining and interesting," a penny on the floor would barely register at all, etc. The power can be used to find things the eyes do not spot, like a hunter's tracking radar in a video game, and then objects that register as blips can be identified soley by their emotional appeal to people who've previously used them. Beyond that, the Seeker has no abilities or powers that you don't have, and he was recently in a car wreck, but he's well enough to climb out a window and run a short distance. Let's assume he's on the second floor and a fall from that height would not kill him. He's good at flirting with nurses, but none of them are going to help him escape, at least not without a damn good reason. His identity is unknown--his fingerprints are not on record and his name is an alias. He is not thought to be a violent criminal, just a thief or something like that. I know how the hero escapes once he is in the parking lot, but how does he get out of the room, and especially the locked handcuffs? (Assume the deputy has the key.) PREDICAMENT B) Our hero has travelled a great distance after finding an ornate key under a bridge. The key is very special and certainly fits into the lock of some great treasue. Our hero can use his power to find the corresponding object when two things are matched, such as a lock and key, even over great distances. Our hero arrives late at night at a country club and follows his psychic radar across the golf course but is stymied when he arrives at his goal. The box or chest that the key fits is buried in many feet of concrete under a tennis court! So. . . 1. How does our hero get the box into his grasp without destroying it and without making enough noise to attract the lone guard, who is on the other side of the complex watching television? (Assume that the Seeker can leave and return if needed, and he has unlimited funds and good transportation.) 2. Why is the box buried under a tennis court? 3. What's in the box?! Any ideas you guys wanna spitball are welcome. I'm just hoping you'll stimulate some thoughts so that I can work through these damn blocks! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! ;D ;D ;D
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Post by Shala-ren on Nov 25, 2006 21:18:04 GMT -5
um...I don't know if you want to use a power from the x-men but shadowcat would be a great help to both these predicaments. Someone who he ran into or something or other who could phase him out of the cuffs, and also get the item he needs. Or just makes the cuffs and concret disappear. Seeker could call up this old friend to come to the country club and help him.
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Post by summer on Nov 25, 2006 22:07:17 GMT -5
For the first one, I would have him do something with the nurse (a very religious one) and try and trick her that he is some sort of prophet or angel sent from above to help save humanity. The nurse, not completely believing him one bit refuses.
But, the Seeker tells her to test him and to leave the room and to put her rosery anywhere on her body, in any pocket, around any wrist and to return and he would tell her exactly where it is.
She leaves, returns with it hidden and he tells her it's around her ankle and htat she should fix her watch because it's no longer working.
She sets him free. -------------------------------- The second one is much more profound. All I can really think of is that tennis courts have week points where the posts go into the ground. If He could get something strong enough to yank and break the concrete in that area it will become brittle as concrete is very brittle. He should be able to do it in some silence and if he can sense things he should be able to sense when the guard is fighting in SWG and the music and guns are going off, thus not able to hear the noise at opportune times. So, with a pick axe and timing the hits just right, he should be able to get underneath and to the box. Especially since he can sense where the box is, yes?
Another way to get it would to be to dig from the sides and under the court and if the box is IN the concrete, he can make mor enoise underneath than from on top.
Or, use sulpheric acid and have it cut away around the box and have some sort of way to wench it up using a wedge or something like that.
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Post by SenSai on Nov 25, 2006 22:16:27 GMT -5
relatively simple for the first one have him wear the type of hospital chain handcuffs where he can move his hands about a foot so he can eat and such then have him flirt with a nurse who likes to wear jewlery for awhile then have him drop something when nurse leans down take the jewlery out of her hair that the hero then uses to pick the lock
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Post by SenSai on Nov 25, 2006 22:22:18 GMT -5
heem sorta cheesy but put some plumbing of some sort down under the tennis court then have him back it up and bust it somehow come back later as a repair man to fix the busted pipe rip up part of it with a backhoe apolagizing the whole time procrstinate until the guard gets fed up and leaves fire up backhoe and dig down to box while also digging to pipes walk back to guard say something along the lines of ur SOL i dont have the right tools/materials and walk away while guard curses at you and his boss while calling the company ur impersonating oh this isnt exactly unobtrusive and its loud as hell for why it needs to be there make it out in the wilderness somewhere which has recently been paved over to make way for a sports complex complete with tennis golf pools etc....
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Post by Billie on Nov 26, 2006 0:08:29 GMT -5
/whisper (You guys are really helping me! This is exciting! I don't want to declare a winner yet, since not everyone has had a chance to log on and even hear about my plea. It'd be rude of me to declare a winner before everyone had a chance to pitch in, so I'm being fair.) (But wow! Way to come through for me, FX! ) Yay us!!!
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Post by Billie on Nov 26, 2006 22:39:00 GMT -5
QUICK UPDATE: I got through the Buried Treasure scene by using Sensai's idea with the plumbing COMBINED with an idea that Simmus e-mailed me. He has a great Real Life story about a pal of his who disinterred some relatives' bodies from under a golf course by burrowing underground from a sewer main, all without disturbing the ground surface! I had Seeker walk through the sewers until he was as close to the treasure as he could get, subterranean. Then he went back to the clubhouse and put a bunch of cherry bombs with long fuses (encased in gallon freezer bags filled with air so the fuses would burn) into the toilets and flushed them away. This was a great idea, completely irresistible, since my guy has a strong anti-establishment streak. Trashing a country club's plumbing is just good fun. I'm working on the hospital scene now. Summer had the winning idea--using his super powers to fool some poor lady into getting careless is Great Scene. I talked with a policeman friend of mine, who says it is indeed possible to pick handcuffs with a bobby pin or paper clip. So to make it interesting, the Seeker tricks the nurse into letting her hair down, but the deputy notices that she looks different and comes into the room and confiscates the bobby pin. Fortunately, our guy counted on this, which is why he snagged a paper clip from the lady's clipboard and hid it in his nose. Thanks, everyone!! It coming along great now, and I've gotten past my jams. /phew Now to go write the part where the hero wakes in the hospital and finds, to his horror, that he has a catheter inserted that he cannot escape without removing it. . . !
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Post by summer on Nov 27, 2006 0:15:20 GMT -5
Way to go, Billie! You'll make that deadline yet!
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Post by AidinStark on Nov 27, 2006 1:01:18 GMT -5
Now to go write the part where the hero wakes in the hospital and finds, to his horror, that he has a catheter inserted that he cannot escape without removing it. . . ! Good lord, thanks for making me almost vomit up m&ms. And let me add my cheers as well. While i don't have the writing experience that you do, i know that i've never really been able to 'end' a story. You're doing great. Oh and i do hope we'll get to read it at some point.
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Post by SenSai on Nov 27, 2006 6:12:44 GMT -5
yeah we should get to read it since we arnt getting spoilers about TBC from her now
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Post by Shala-ren on Nov 27, 2006 6:19:54 GMT -5
a catheter?! ouch. that would be painful. I really need to write again....those other ideas were better than mine!
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