It has begun!

What has begun? Why, NaNoWriMo, of course! I know, this post is late. I blame that on last-minute school items to complete. Let's just say I'm looking at some pretty sturdy B's for this last semester. :) I was rocking it. I took notes like a madman, I read that textbook like it was the most amazing piece of writing I've ever had the chance to write, I worked on those big projects as if my very life depended on it! But I'm getting distracted.

So, no writing done on Day 1 of NaNoWriMo, but I have a whopping 5,200 words from yesterday to add to! Go me! Is it the idea I had planned for myself that I wrote about on October 12? No, no, no... This is an old idea from 2010's NaNoWriMo that is being rewritten. The entire idea has been reread, rejected, and revised! With that said, I shall return to my writing, but rest assured, I will have a bunch of updates for you all to read soon!

A Series of Novellas

My co-author, Alicia, and I are parting ways this November regarding our writing. Well, sort of. You see, Alicia and I had a lot of fun writing a novel together this June, and we've decided to do something similar for November NaNoWriMo. However, instead of taking turns working on the same novel, we're going to write a series of novellas. You see, Alicia and I don't just write for NaNoWriMo. We also spend our free time writing on a site known as The Black Hole, created by us.

A quick explanation is as such: I have one character, and Alicia has another. Through a series of crazy plot twists and bizarre ideas that we take turns coming up with, we each write a paragraph or more from only our character. Alicia is responsible for writing a response to what my character says; I cannot write her character's response. In this way, we often don't know what's going to happen, and it makes everything unexpected. This isn't how we wrote our novel, and it's not how we're planning to write our novellas.

No. You see, over time, Alicia and I have accumulated several dozen characters doing stories in this fashion, and sometimes we will recycle the same characters and stories using different plot twists, reactions, etc. For November's 2012 NaNoWriMo, we are planning to each take a story that is part of a larger story we like to call "The House."

I will be working on the story of two misfits--Kelsey and Mac. You can read more about their story here. Using what Alicia and I have already written as a guide, I will be adjusting the plot and characters as I see fit. Some pieces of the original story will be removed, like Dr. Xavier's school for mutants since we don't own that. Other things will remain. Alicia, however, will be working on the story of two other misfits--Aiden and Alex. You can read more about them here. Like me, Alicia will be using the original story as only a guide.

Eventually, we hope to do this with several other characters' stories on the same website, and they will all eventually connect into a longer novella called "The House." For more details regarding the House, please visit this website.

Cover for "Tales of SFU"

Fabulous cover drawn and colored by me!

So, this is the cover of my novel Tales of SFU that I am co-authoring with Alicia. The school is called Singularis Facultas University, which roughly translates to "unique powers." It's Latin, by the way, in case you wanted to know. Underneath is the motto which is "Cum magna potentia venit tanti." According to Google Translator, it means "with great power comes great responsibility," which is what I wanted it to say. According to one of the four young women in the cabin with Alicia and I, it actually translates to "with great power comes much." Oh, well! It's close enough.

Not-so-awesome starter sketch

This cover was drawn by hand by me, and then I scanned it into my computer and colored it using my Wacom tablet and Corel Painter Essentials 4 after a very helpful Aland tech helped me correct a bizarre crashing issue. Here's the original sketch for those interested.

Figuring out my Writing Life

You know what I have discovered? I have way too many story ideas and too few ideas on how to go about them. Lately, I've been reading this book called The Everything Guide to Writing a Novel. It's pretty fascinating and has helped me discover what genre might be best for me. Right now, I have three that really call to me--romance, fantasy, and erotica. Romance and erotica are pretty easy to mix together, and I've always loved books that create their own world like The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Hell, I even enjoyed Twilight, but she didn't really create her own world in that one. She just took fantasy creatures and tossed them into reality, which is also fun.

I have also come to discover that I focus too much on vampires. Any story I write, I feel like it has to have a vampire in it. I think I'm just obsessing with them. Right now, however, I'm obsessing over something else. Obviously we all know about super heroes, and we all enjoy them in our own way. Because I'm in college myself, I'm thinking of writing something called Tales of SU, SU standing for Superhuman University. I know, so original, right? I sort of got the idea from this show my husband watches about a human who ends up in Monster High. No, not THAT Monster High with the dolls and everything.

Anyway, my idea is to take a normal human with no superhuman powers. He's tried applying for colleges and can't get accepted anywhere. Through a fluke, he applies for SU and is accepted! It's on the bus ride over that he realizes the school he's at isn't a normal university because people are flying, some look like rock people, and there's a girl who can duplicate herself, among other people. Anyway, on his first day he runs into this girl who can turn invisible (hence the reason he runs into her). At first, she thinks he's a super too, but as the story progresses, she realizes he's a human and tries to help him stay hidden at the school.

Well, that's all I've got on this idea right now. I'm off to brainstorm and outline. This is my idea for Camp NaNoWriMo, which starts in less than 4 days (3 days, 13 hours, and counting...). My hope is to write Book One during June camp, write another in August camp, and a third in November. Wish me luck!

My Novel is Taking Off!!!

So, recently my mother was asking me some questions about my characters to help me figure out how to make my character's respond. Well, her questions brought to mind some questions of my own so then I sat down and wrote out some character sketches. This took my novel in a new direction, but it's also taken off in that new direction. I am very happy that my novel is now taking off, but now I need to stop blogging so I can keep writing!

Why?

One of the things I tend to do is try to write for an audience, an audience that I don't know even exists. Will I publish this particular piece of writing? Will the audience I am trying to write for like it? What if they don't? What if they don't like the characters? There are several things I have recently discovered regarding this type of writing.

1. Writing with a specific audience in mind often makes me more nervous, causing the writing to stutter and then stop altogether. When I was younger, around 12 and 13, I simply wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote with no audience in mind. Now, I just decide what age group I plan to make this book available to and go from there. That age group can decide if the book suits them or not, no matter their personality or background, etc.
2. My characters go flat. I always have elaborate ideas in mind for my characters: the depressed 17-year-old living in a mental institute, the 17-year-old rape victim trying to pull her psyche back together, the 17-year-old drug addict trying to put his life back in order. After a few pages of the drama and background and insanity that is that particular character's life, they suddenly fall flat. They miraculously get better, they fall in love with this amazing guy without having any trust issues, or they just stop taking drugs simply out of sheer will-power that doesn't actually exist in this person's character. Talk about "god in the machine." My characters always manage to slip out of tight spots.
3. Worrying about publishing draws my writing to a stand-still most of the time. I worry if it's going to be good enough, if anyone will read it, and so on and so forth.

This year, I'm going to self publish because I recently won NaNoWriMo 2011. Along with the fabulous winner's certificate, I also received 5 free copies of my novel. The coupon is good until June 30, 2012. I have until that time to edit, proof, and publish my novel. And guess what? This year, I'm going to do it because I WANT TO. Not because I'm worried people won't like it. So, be prepared to join me on my journey to editting, proofing, and publishing my novel through CreateSpace.