(no subject)

[aleathiel]

Okay, two days before I have to start writing, I'm having a bit of a re-think of my plans for my Nano novel.

Basically, I have to choose between the two plot outlines below. They're completely different types of novel and I'm not sure in which direction I'm currently leaning.


1.
As yet untitled. Parallel stories about a youth called Gareth, one being his first term at university, the other being his last Christmas vacation before his finals. It's about his family, his friends, his future. And yes, there are more than a few skeletons in the closet. I want to write this one because it's new and fresh, I've only begun thinking about it in the last couple of weeks. It's more personal, more realistic (obviously) than the other outline. But, it's underdeveloped, I'm not quite sure what it's trying to say and I'm worried about running out of plot because it isn't a plot-based narrative and I'm not sure how well I can sustain it under the write-every-day pressure of Nano. However it's probably the better of the two novels.


2.
Lighter hearted and less 'literary' than the above. This is the story of two characters, Raffael and Morgan, who I've had in my head for ages. It's basically a futuristic whodunnit, but not entirely futuristic in the laser guns and space stations way, it's set on a world afflicted by the changes of global warming and the affect that's had on the earth and it's people. It's plot driven and a little bit silly, which I suspect would make it an easier Nano project than a more serious novel. But, and it's a giant but, there are huge gaps in the plot. I don't really know what happens after about the first quarter of the outline.

So, what do you think? Which outline do I spend two days beating into shape to start writing on Wednesday?

Comments

[aleathiel.livejournal.com]

I absolutely agree with the posting of whatever's done attitude. I'm well aware that it's going to need a hell of a lot of work after Nano's over. However I think I am going to have my Nano journal locked (I pretty much never lock posts on this LJ) because I'm not quite brave enough to let everyone see the outpourings of my brain. That is, I'm happy to let people read them, but I'd quite like to have an idea of who is reading them!

And yeah, I can see my journal being AleathielsNano or something.

[angiepen.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking that if people are watching I'm less likely to wuss out and give up. :P The more public it is, the more likely I'll actually do this. I need all the kicks in the ass I can get, especially since I'm going to have to go at least a few days without writing much of anything because of Thanksgiving. My mom'll have me baking cookies and making stuffing and helping decorate her house and I won't be able to get out of it for at least three or four days there heading into the holiday. So that means I need to write more earlier (or later [blanch]) rather than just trying to keep it up at a steady pace all through.

So the more people who wander through with baseball bats, the better, LOL! Although I have a feeling most people won't want to. I'm pretty fanatical about editing, and since I'm an edit-as-I-go type what I post probably won't be totally sucky from a mechanical POV, but still, I have no clue how this is going to turn out as a coherent story and I doubt many people will be interested in sticking around for the whole thing. Which is probably just as well, but.... [headdesk]

Angie

[aleathiel.livejournal.com]

Ah, I understand the audience-as-motivator thing. It's one of the reasons I stuck with fanfic for so long (with the exception of Rubies, which somehow got left along the wayside even with people asking for more) however, I'm just as likely to write on the motivation of one reader as twenty five. Actually, maybe more likely, because I get the the feeling I'm letting that specific person down when I don't update!

And I understand about Novemeber not being a good month. It's the reason I've never done Nano before. We don't celebrate Thanksgiving over here (well, my Mum's American, so we do have a dinner, but not much more than that. Some years we have a gathering of displaced Americans we knoe in the area!) so at least I don't have that on my time, but November isn't like August in that it's likely to contain a holiday or anything. In the last few years it's always been a melee of deadlines pre-Christmas. This year that isn't true, so I thought I'd have a go at Nano, although I am working three part time jobs which leaves next to no time off! However, my perhaps not terribly cunning plan is that while I'm working this job (it's in an academic bookshop) I'm often not really busy (as you might have noticed today) so I might use my time at this job, interrupted as my concentration will get, to write my novel. We shall see how well that works out! But it also means an unbalanced spread of time through the week - I'll only be writing when I'm on this job as opposed to the others. And hopefully at the weekend.

[angiepen.livejournal.com]

Ack! Good luck with your writing at work plan. I'll keep a set of virtual fingers crossed for you that you don't get a sudden run at the shop or something like that.

Holidays in general aren't a problem for me, but I spend Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas up at my mom's, a week or ten days or occasionally two weeks at a shot. I can write up there, especially since I got the laptop, but Mom seems to think that if I'm going to fly a few hundred miles to see her, and since I only do it three or four times a year (sometimes I go up to visit in the summer, too), I should spend a lot of my time up there actually doing things with her. [wry smile] I know I can write there, I just don't know how much. [biting fingernail]

[aleathiel.livejournal.com]

*g* We shall see what happens. It being an academic bookshop it isn't usually too busy at this time of year - most of the students have bought what they need for this semester and don't have their reading lists for January yet.

I can see your Mum's point about you spending time with her - not a problem I have because even when I am at home, as I am at the moment, both my parents are at work all the time. If we're lucky we all eat together in the evenings. Are there times of day when she has something she likes to do? When we go on holiday everyone in my family (if we're not out specifically doing something in the evening) likes to spend the evening reading. In that time I've always taken to doing a bit of writing. Or first thing in the morning when everyone is faffing about having showers and breakfast before we leave to go out for the day. But I guess I'm still at the point where I'm used to having my parents dictate some of my time (although when I was at univesity I used to hate it when first came home for the holidays, always made me feel like a child again, although I know they were trying really hard not to make me feel like that) and when you are used to organising your own life and dividing your time as you want to I can imagine it's difficult to have an extra demand on your time, even if it is a valid one.

[angiepen.livejournal.com]

Oh, sure, I see Mom's POV too, although she takes it to extremes at times. [wry smile] I have no problem spending time with her if we're actually doing something, but she's grouched at me for going upstairs in the evening to get on the computer for hours at a time. Except that during that time she's downstairs with the TV on and a book. I don't watch most of the shows she watches and even if I did and if I were down there, we wouldn't be talking or anything anyway, so I get frustrated with her desire to have me there occupying space in the universe a few meters nearer to her when we're not actually interacting. [headdesk]

My mom's retired so she doesn't go to work, and she doesn't go buzzing around shopping or visiting friends all that much while I'm there and when she does she wants me to go with her. I don't always but you know the guilt thing parents can do? :/ She has arthritis in her hands and when it flares up she can't do much with them, so she doesn't crochet or paint anymore. We hang out and talk sometimes, or we spend a lot of time in the same room reading, although I can't read with the TV on so that's a limitation there.

It's just that she likes to have me within sight whether or not we're doing anything together and I get impatient with that. [sigh] She doesn't usually treat me like a child anymore -- and thank whomever since at forty-three I'm quite sick of it :P -- and we do manage well enough for a week or maybe ten days. Longer than that and I start wishing very hard to be home again.

I'm just trying to figure out exactly how much writing time I'll be able to carve out while I'm there without triggering the Guilt Attack of Doom, LOL!

Angie

[(Anonymous)]

Oh dear, that sounds like a lot of fun! Can you write on your laptop when she has the TV on or is it too distracting? I guess you just have to find the balance, which I imagine is something you've been trying to do for years...

Right, I get to go home now for a whole half hour before I have to go to my evening job (I keep reminding myself that I'm doing this for travelling money, otherwise I'd be curled in a ball in my room). It's pouring with rain and dark and it was so beautiful this morning that I don't have a raincoat with me. Oh joy. :)

[angiepen.livejournal.com]

No, unfortunately I can't do much of anything when the TV's on, at least nothing that requires concentration. If I'm cooking or something then I don't care but for reading and writing having the box babbling in the same room drives me nuts. :P

Have a fun, umm, half hour and try to stay dry! [wave/hugz]

Angie

[aleathiel.livejournal.com]

That was me obviously. For some bizarre reason it appears to have signed me out of my own journal!

[angiepen.livejournal.com]

LJ's been doing that, apparently at random, for a few months now. I hate it. It makes me want to fly up to their office and kick them all in the shin. [glare]

Angie