Let's Get Ready to Wrimo!

In about twelve hours, NaNoWriMo begins. Yes, twelve hours. In that space of time, I need to get lots of college work done, in between the regular stuff for the day like showering and eating. I plan on doing my tutorial work ASAP, then getting to work on the reading for my essay from the books I have from the library. I have approximately one quarter of my plot planned for my novel. Whether or not this will equate to 12,500 words in the first week, I have no idea. Hopefully it'll be more than that, so I can write more than 50,000 words for this book.

So, very little time left. Anyone reading this who's mad enough to attempt NaNoWriMo, here's my advice for the month ahead:

• Plan in advance. Maybe not the whole thing, but at least know where you're going to start, where you hope to end, and a couple of things you want to happen in the middle of the novel.
• Stock up on snacks. This doesn't mean you have to spend a fortune, and it doesn't mean it has to be all unhealthy stuff, but you'll need to have something beside you for when you get hungry; if you can rely on someone else to cook the dinners but you have to wait a few hours, nibble on something while you write. And while you're at it have plenty of tea/coffee/water and allow for toilet breaks when you need to go - you won't be able to write on a full bladder, because you'll be moving around in the chair too much.
• Plan your time. I, for one, have a busy month ahead of me. I've got about three birthdays to attend to, three essays due in this month, three pieces of tutorial work, and stuff to do for December that I should make a start on. My drama workshops will probably take place in November, too, following the unfortunate postponements a couple of weeks ago. I'll be writing on the bus, doing college work at lunch time and whichever one I have time for and need of will occupy any free evenings.
• Don't assume you need to write for hours on end. What this means is that you can write in ten minute segments throughout the day if you have to. Once you get your average of 1667 words a day, you'll be fine! If you're in school and have weekends off, try get your homework done quickly, and add a chunk of words to your novel to compensate for missing out during the week - this will happen at some stage.
• Remember: quantity over quality. NaNoWriMo isn't a test of your ability to write brilliantly; it's a way to get you to write a lot. Write as much as you can, even if it's not all good. You have plenty of time later to edit the novel and make it good. In case you didn't realise, this is more or less what every book you've read has been like - very rarely is the first draft so excellent it's publishable.
• Have fun. NaNoWriMo isn't about driving you crazy - we're human, so we're perfectly capable of doing that to ourselves anyway. NaNo is about having fun while you write, getting the words done that you might not convince yourself to do otherwise, and doing something that so many people put off for so long. You know those people who say "I could write a book but I don't have the time"? Well, you can turn around to them and say "I made the time and had fun doing it."

It's one month, people. If you can't do something for one month, then how do you think you can do it for the rest of your life? Believe me when I tell you, the NaNoWriMo experience is about finding yourself as a writer; I wrote a lot over the summer because I was used to writing a lot in a short period of time. You can do it, too.

Best of luck, everyone! And hey, add me as a buddy on the NaNoWriMo site and we'll keep track of how each other are doing!

Cross-Genred Freak!

That title's funny because genred - while being a made up word - is an anagram of gender!

It has occurred to me that, should I ever get published, and should all my books eventually reach publication, that I will be some sort of cross-genred freak of a writer. I mean, most people will probably get used to the idea of me writing books like Meet Sam, and my novellas, which aren't always as funny or dark in the same measures, are close enough to have the same audience. But, what about the other stuff I write? I mean, the first book I wrote was a young adult fantasy. I wrote a Sci-Fi book, too. And a couple of variations of that same idea, most notably The Jump, which isn't technically complete. And I started writing a Fantasy book called The Magical Emporium of Magical Things, which was similar in style to Terry Pratchett. And just now I've started a story - maybe just a short story, possibly a novel - that's a cross between mainstream and Sci-Fi; semblances of super powers in it, but with a focus on the human aspect of the story.

What in the hell?

I don't know why I write like this. I mean, I love writing, and I love these stories... but why do I write such different stories? I mean, it makes no sense from a "business" point of view. What use is it to have two genres of stories, if I don't even have one publishing contract? Yeah, it keeps my options open, but it also means that if I get published in one genre, it'll be a little difficult to arrange a second book of a different genre.

And if I got it? If I had two publishers..?

That means I'd have two groups of people looking for work from me. Yeah... that'd get complicated and difficult. I'd end up like Darren Shan, releasing two books a year, or something like that. And what if I ended up with children's books, Sci-Fi/Fantasy and mainstream fiction? Well, for a start that would be a lot of different books, a huge market and a lot of people coming to me for work... But it'd also be the coolest thing ever. I mean, I sort of like that idea. I have an almost pathological need to be busy. I've a friend who can testify that I get very, very annoying when I'm not busy, because I tend to forget that other people aren't in the same situation as me.

Yes, I notice what this means for me: it's sort of like the thing where children think the world revolved around them... only it's more like I'm getting thrown around the world really, really quickly, so it just looks like it's going around me.

I have ideas, anyway. That's a good thing, right? Even if it means that I have to go to three different publishers to get my work out there? I'd like to think I could get stuff like The Jump published, as well as The Magical Emporium and this new one I'm writing that might still be a novel, and Meet Sam. The latter takes preference, being the only "finished" project I have that's anywhere close to being publishable. Seriously, I've seen the crap I wrote before that. The smell of fail...

Which reminds me: when I was fifteen, going on sixteen, I submitted my first book to a publisher, entirely delusional but very hopeful. I'll just come out and say it - Poolbeg did not accept my 121,000 debut novel, a Young Adult Fantasy, and they were right not to. It was poorly written. I still think the story was excellent, at its core, but it wasn't publishable. I'm saying this now, because in the four and a half years since I received my rejection letter - which didn't upset me as much as I thought it would - I learned a few things. Firstly, I went to the wrong publisher for a book of its type. Secondly, it's common courtesy to thank the publisher for even looking at the manuscript (and it's obvious they did!), and I did not do this. So, thank you, people at Poolbeg, for looking at my very first manuscript, and for the very kind words of encouragement that you put in the letter. Thirdly, I wasn't ready for publication. I mean, I'd probably tell myself now that I'm ready... but my books aren't. And that was true of my first book, too. It still isn't ready, because I haven't really touched it since then, but that was lack of interest on my part, not a disheartening as a result of the rejection.

And you know what else..? I also write poetry.

Now that's a cross-genred freak of a writer! Don't even get me started on all the confusion so many publishers would cause in my brain!

I am aware it looks like I expect to get all this stuff published... I am merely looking at the best possible scenario for my writing. You know, with me being a freak. As per usual. (And damn proud of it!)

Writing as a Response

I tend to wonder about my writing... why do I bother? I mean, what really is the point of writing?

The only theory I have is that, despite people not really liking it, I write as a response to everything that happens in my life. I have all these silly little poems on my Facebook page, because something in my life sparked the writing part of my brain. I write the little poems and the stories, sometimes, because it means I can say something without having to say it directly to people.

The more I think about it, the more sense that makes. The first book I ever wrote was when I was in third year; no real friends, no one to talk to. So I make a book with interesting people who were my age, have them go on a wild adventure chasing destiny and meaning and purpose, trying to fight off this grand evil that's pushed away the powers of good into nothingness.

The second book I wrote follows a writer who's not entirely there all the time. His head is fairly messed up; he has mental and emotional health problems, insecurities beyond measure... I was in sixth year, knowing what I wanted to do, but not sure how to get there, or if I'd like it so much when I got there.

The third book I wrote was Sci-Fi, filled with characters with super powers. Anyone see the point here? I was different. I was in fifth year when I started but I didn't finish it until after the second book. My characters were all aimed at one place. I think, and I'm really only theorising, they were like parts of me, all coming together when the book was finished. But that's not really what happened. I mean, the pieces all fall apart, anyway. The characters don't stay together. Really, if I wanted to keep all the bits of me together I wouldn't have finished the last couple of chapters.

This summer I wrote three novellas, and each one of them examined different parts of my life. They were rather less subtle than the other things I wrote, so I won't go into too much detail on them.

All the poems I write seem to be in response to an event, or maybe just a stray thought I have.

And that's kind of the point of me writing, isn't it? I mean, what other reason would I be writing for? I don't make money from my writing, I don't have a legion of fans waiting to see what story I'm going to tell them next. I don't have anything but the need to respond to life when it does something to make me write. Sometimes it makes me happy, sometimes it doesn't, but all the time I'm saying something I never could say in this globally experiences phenomenon known as "real life".

And maybe that's the problem. I don't keep my responses private, so yes: I respond quite verbally to the people who do things to get to me. I don't think I can ever stop that. I can't just quit writing, because I'd probably just go even crazier than I am, now. And I can't just quit people, because even the friends that drive me up the wall are too important to me to give up.

So I'm writing this as a response to that, to all the doubts they give me about everything in my life.

I have a purpose, even if you can't see it.

Review - I Am Number Four

Welcome to the wonderful world of John Smith; average teenager and... alien? That's the tale Pittacus Lore tells us in his debut novel I Am Number Four. Okay, so Pittacus Lore isn't his real name; he's a pseudonym, a combination of the minds of Jobie Hughes and James Frey. And as for the significance of the title - the cover of the book tells the very simply story behind that: there were nine aliens, three are dead, and John Smith is next.

What made you pick this up?
Well, there was this little thing in a free magazine that described this book as being Smallville meets Heroes. Um, yes please! I didn't quite get it at first, but the alien thing kind of does it. Also, working in a bookshop and seeing the delightful cover (the UK one is black with the same orange symbol as on the cover shown to the left, and gold writing for the cover and author - very cool!) every single day I was in work was too tempting. So I bought the book, after reading quite a bit of it in work to (a) fall in love with the story and (b) crease the spine a little bit.

How does this compare with other, similar books?
Okay, in terms of plot and the idea, I prefer this book. It's a lot stronger, because it doesn't leave a lot of doubt for everything happening - as in Gone, where you're not sure what's happening. However, the character's aren't as loveable as I've found people to be in other books, and I wasn't as fond of the style of writing, but there was technically nothing wrong with the writing, or the characters. It was just how I felt about them.

So... was it enjoyable?
Oh yes, very much so. I think if I had a choice about the matter, I wouldn't have stopped reading it at all. Only thing is I had to work... and eat... and sleep. And I think my family have this thing where I'm supposed to talk to them at least once every couple of hours. The book was almost too good to put down. But yeah, like I said, life goes on. Unfortunately.

What can we expect from this series?
Well, if you believe the rumours, five more books. And if you believe IMBD, a movie. Yes, a movie. It's in post-production, due out in February 2011 (as far as I know.) Staring Alex Pettyfer as John Smith and Dianna Agron as the delightful Sarah. (So there's a reason for the girls and a reason for the guys to go see it!) I recommend reading the book before the movie comes out, of course. I hate knowing the plot in adaptation mode before I read it, and now you have lots of notice! And who knows, there may be a whole load of popularity around this series after the movie - get there first!

Yay Nerd Stuff!

Inspired by a video by the amazingly lovely Charlie McDonnell, AKA charlieissocoollike, who I once interviewed, I'm going to more or less list all the amazingly nerdy things in my life. Be prepared for nerd-overload.

1. Doctor Who; it comes first on the list of nerdy things because
   a - I write (or at least wrote) a form of literature I dubbed Doctor Haik-Who; they are haiku about Doctor Who.
   b - I have a Doctor Who t-shirt
   c - I have a sonic screwdriver
   d - I have ten figurines based on the show, including the Face of Bo
   e - I dressed up as a Time Lord for my college Halloween party (right)
   f - I have a Doctor Who poster
   g - I have The Writer's Tale
   h - I listen to Trock
2. Books; I know they aren't specifically nerdy... but when you read, mostly, Fantasy, Sci-Fi and children's books... I think you see my point. Very nerdy indeed.
3. Writing; you might not think it's nerdy... but you don't also study it in your spare time. I have over a dozen books on writing - children's books, scripts, fiction, poetry - and on the book industry in general - that includes getting a job in publishing, marketing books, and a few editions of The Writers' and Artists' Yearbook. Also, I tend to write across genres; I have lots of poetry, a children's book (and ideas for more), a sci-fi novel, mainstream fiction, and books that pose as mainstream fiction with some metaphysics thrown in.
4. I study Religion... and like it. And not for the spiritual side of things either. It's actually just really interesting!
5. Every now and then I pick up a new subject and read about it, ranging from Snark; Business books - marketing and financing; psychology, specifically the science of personality in Rita Carter's Multiplicity. Why? Because I find learning to be an enjoyable experience.
6. I'm on the Internet... a lot! I use it for Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, my blog (i.e. this), research (both for college and for a number of different things). Basically, I could spend a day on the Internet and not get bored. (note: I can still get lonely)
7. I don't do well with social interactions; people in college might disagree, saying I'm usually so happy etc etc... except I never know what to say to people and generally I don't make physical or eye contact with other people. And I don't know why!
8. I listen to music from DFTBA Records; don't know what that is? Exactly! They're incredibly indie. Not in the sense of being in that particular genre of music, really just in the sense that they're not mainstream and all their artists are from YouTube.
9. My clothing; I've touched on this already with the Doctor Who t-shirt, but did I mention I also have four Family Guy t-shirts, two Mighty Boosh t-shirts, a Muse t-shirt, a James Morrison t-shirt, a Pink Floyd t-shirt and a Smashing Pumpkins t-shirt? Basically, my wardrobe is filled with essences of pop culture.
10. YouTube; I can spend several hours a day looking through old videos, particularly those of nerds such as the vlogbrothers, John and Hank Green; nerimon, Alex Day; charlieissocoollike, Charlie McDonnell and communitychannel, Natalie...something. I always forget her surname.

Does that seem nerdy enough to you? It seems nerdy enough to me... and I didn't even mention the fact that I watch all manners of shows on the SyFy channel, and learned a couple of short phrases in Japanese through the Heroes Magazine! Among other things! So nerdy...

So You're Writing a Book

So you're writing a book. Well done! That's takes some guts and a lot of patience. You want to know why? Well, there are a few reasons. Firstly: it takes a while to write a book unless you have a lot of free time on your hands and you write very quickly. I mean, it's easy to get a lot written very quickly, but you actually need to time to do it. Many people do not have this time, so it can take a long time to write the book even writing very quickly.

Secondly, the questions. Also thirdly, the questions, but I'll get back to those ones later. The first set of questions are the ones you need to ask yourself. And trust me, asking yourself questions that you then have to answer can make you seem like a crazy person. But you need to ask yourself: What is the plot of my novel? When is my novel set? Where does all the action take place? Who is my main character? Why is my character behaving in this way? How will my character resolve the predicament he/she is in? And many other questions revolving around the five Ws and the H. Basically, if you can't answer a question like that, your novel isn't making much sense to the reader.

BUT you have to remember something. First drafts don't have to be great. You can get away with writing a lot very quickly when writing a first draft if you don't stop to ask yourself questions about everything straight away. When it comes to challenges like NaNoWriMo, you need to avoid stalling like that. Just write like crazy. Ask the questions when you're editing, instead. Just make sure you can answer them, and fix everything up to make things work well as a whole.

Now, that second set of questions: the ones other people ask. The worst one, by far, is 'What's your book about?' Oh. My. God. This is by far the most annoying question; how is an author supposed to sum up his/her novel in the space of a few words, when in a writer's mind the book is a larger piece? Also, 'about'? A lecturer of mine despises that word regarding literature (and probably movies, too.) You know why? Because 'about' can make it too easy to summarise a piece incorrectly. Hamlet is about a prince out for revenge. Right? Yes, but it's also 'about' a prince whose father has been killed, who may or may not be feigning madness, who mistreats one of the most lovely characters, as well as being about the relationships between parents and children, brothers and sisters, lovers, employers and employees, and about the concept of revenge outside of Hamlet's endeavours. So when a writer is asked what his/her novel is about... there is no easy answer. My book Meet Sam is about a writer with a narrator in his head. That's the 'Hamlet is about a prince out for revenge' explanation. Meet Sam is also about insecurities, relationships with various people, underlying depression, writing, a city and various significances that I don't have the time to go into right now. Can I say that to someone asking the question 'What's your book about?' No. No I cannot.

People refuse to accept the easy answer but they get bored with the longer one. And unfortunately for the aspiring author, many people also ask, 'Is it published?' Now, I could easily respond by saying, 'Have you heard of me before now?' or 'If I was published I would be trying to sell you the book, not trying to evade answering a thousand questions about it', but people generally don't respond well to things like that.

So... still writing that book? You should! Not every writer that wrote a book was patient all the time; personally, I'd rather not wait until NaNoWriMo started to do my novel for it, but I wouldn't be able to add on another 50000 words to whatever I write during my reading week. Also, I kind of have essays to prepare for, too. And as for the questions..? Well, you learn to get past them when all the people who care have asked them. I get them every now and then, but generally it's because one or two people were told and then others found out through them. I think it's just the idea of writing a book that people like, because not everyone does it. It's like when people have a high grade in a musical instrument; suddenly that person is very interesting, because not many people have high grades in an instrument.

And you know what else? Writing a book can be fun. If you're doing NaNoWriMo, just keep your head down, get your words for the day (and thensome, if you can manage), plan in advance (unless your style is to wing it!) and when it comes to people making plans, and school/college/work stuff coming up, arrange your writing time around it (so that you don't fail at school/college or lose your job/friends). If you find your motivation lacking (particularly around week 3), just remember to Power Through! It works, trust me. Just keep on going, keep on writing, and don't worry about quality. You can always edit the book when it's finished.

So you're writing a book; the plot bunnies are running free. Good luck!

Rhyming Thoughts

My head is weird. Fact. I mean, really, really weird. Sometimes I think in rhyme. Or I get a first line of a poem in my head and I have to find a way of finishing it (or else!)

The result of this is a few odd little rhymes. Mostly they're posted on Facebook, because my status updates are boring otherwise. Mostly they get ignored on Facebook, too, because not everyone likes poetry. And they're not great. That also attributes to it. Here's an example of my rhyming rubbish:

Too much time alone is never enough, 
And some people play this game; 
Suffer the silence and the lies; 
Nothing again will be the same.

Dreadful, eh? I can't stop them happening. I think I have a writing deficiency since college started back. It's making me do things like this, because finding the time to write is difficult. I suppose if I was bothered enough I could try type short pieces every evening, or on the bus on my iPod, but that requires more energy than I generally have.

And yet I'm blogging..?

Okay, someone needs to force me to write! NaNoWriMo is coming up. I could attempt that, but I don't know if I actually have the time to try it. Or the material.

I have a week to decide, anyway. And to read a lot for college. And to start writing more essays. And stuff like that. Busy busy busy. It's "Reading Week" now, so we've no lectures... but that doesn't make things any easier. And there are only four weekends in NaNoWriMo this year! Egad! We had five last year! And I'm probably working all the time, anyway!

Maybe the iPod idea will work. Short writing sessions, poor typing... all I'd have to do is email the pieces to myself every time I write them and voila - I'd have something written. If That Guy I Am continues to cycle rather than get the bus it means I have lots of time in the mornings to attempt writing a novel.

Did I just talk myself into actually doing this? I think I did. I'm a bad influence on myself.