Yzabel's Writings

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Let's get this out of the way, and let's do it publicly, so that I'll feel more compelled to keep my word and won't be tempted:

I won't be participating in NaNoWriMo this year.

Truth be told, I'll have no time to devote to writing in the next ten months or so. I'm studying for a national competitive exam, and this in itself, combined with my job and classes to attend, means a lot of things to do. Since I have less time than other people to prepare for it (I have to devote ~25h/week to my job and commuting), I have to push my scheduling skills to the maximum, therefore I can't be bothered with even more deadlines (NaNo, finishing a short story for a call to submissions, beta-reading, etc.).

I can't say I won't write one single word of fiction until next summer, because I'll probably do here and there, but for the time being, writing has to be put on the back burner. I have to get my priorities straight, and this competitive exam is very important for me, even more important than getting published 'someday'.

So. No NaNo for me in 2008, and if you see me tempted all the same, please smack me with a shovel.

 Word count: 14,175/50,5000. I'm not late anymore, even if I'm only ahead by a slight margin! And I've wrapped up chapter 6, too.

Okay... So Ari ended up almost throwing a dagger through one of her 'colleagues' at the Guild. WTF. And it appears that Taellan *is* in contact with Agas for some secret affair all the thieves are now gossiping about. I don't know what affair yet, but I guess I'll find out. Someday. The beauty of NaNo and of characters taking on a life of their own, I suppose...

Speaking of chapter 6... I think my chapters are quite short (2,000 words on average), but I have no idea if this is a good or a bad thing. They may end up longer than that when I add some description padding, though (I tend to jump to dialogue straight away, and probably not giving enough descriptions). Therefore, I'm not going to worry about this too much right now. Maybe it's just me liking them short, too. Liking that I can read a few pages between two chores, so that I can close the book without being left panting in the middle of a chapter.

And now, as I was saying on my other LJ... Time to wrap up those written exercises for my Japanese language class... *sets herself back to work*

Silly me forgot to mention this here. Even though time constraits will prevent me from updating this blog a lot (but most of you do also read my othr LJ anyway, so between the two, there probably will be some updates), I am still going to attempt NaNoWriMo this year. Don't place high hopes in me, I'm doing it for the fun, and I'm very well aware I won't be able to 'win' or complete my novel, but... I hope that this will give me back my writing groove, and help me remember how it used to be exciting. My project, at least, is a defined one, not something that isn't serious, and I will finish it, proof-read it and all these things. I'm simply using NaNo this year as a starting point, so to say.

So--see you on the NaNo website/forums. I'm still Yzabel there, anyway. :)

From now on, I'm going to post and date back a long series of entries here and then. Don't be surprised to find out that there was much more to read on this LJ!

This LJ originated from http://yzabel.wordpress.com, which I had planned to be my "writing blog", different from the Y Logs in that it was aimed at keeping tabs on my progress regarding NaNoWriMo in 2005. Since I've started the present LJ, though, it's feeling weirder and weirder to keep two blogs updated with almost the same content. I know that my WP blog had the merit of being public, and therefore able to reach a wider audience, but I didn't want to post full NaNovels or other writings publicly on it. Using passworded posts wasn't an option either (a password can be shared, I don't have much control on that), and I preferred the option of locked entries and of "allowing" or not people to have access to them. Sure, this limits it to LJ users only. On the other hand, if someone can't be bothered to take 30 seconds to register an account and simply use it to read this journal, are they really that interested in my writings? Not 100% sure about that, right?

Keep in mind, this is mainly because I am NOT sure yet of what I will try to get published later on, and I'd hate shooting myself in the foot by giving away "first print rights" without even having had the opportunity to try yet. I'm no that concerned about theft. Mostly, it's all about FPR. And in that case, either I just never show my writing to anyone, or I have to wrap it within privacy means, so to say. Seeing a half novel ending up on Google archiving service wouldn't exactly be a nice thing!

So, right now, I'm still going to maintain both blogs, but I'll be porting all the old entries on the WP here, for archiving purposes. For the time being, I'm not removing the "Friends Only" tag, though. I'm still a little too paranoid for that.

I'm supposed to be working on an analysis of poem 670 by Emily Dickinson this morning, so I won't be dilly-dalling here much more longer, but upon checking my WordPress blog, I remembered a bit I had posted there in October 2005, and I think it may be interesting to have it here again.

So, welcome to you, traveller of the web, who has added me to your friends, or is just swinging by, and/or who I'll likely add back in not too long. In case locked LJs tend to irk you, I hope the following paragraphs will help you understand my decision to not make all my writings and planning notes public.

(From the WP blog in 2005):

Zette on the NaNoWriMo forums [note: in 2005, not sure if anything like this has been posted again this year] has put up an interesting post that may be very useful to those who plan on publishing their NaNovel online (whether in a blog or on a regular website):

For many of you this will have no bearing at all on your work or what you do with it. If you are writing fanfiction, or not in the least bit interested in a writing career, then you can post anywhere you like and not worry about it.

However, others who even remotely think they might later want sell their NaNo novel (or anything else they’ve written) to a publisher, need to know that posting the story on an open site on the Internet is the same as publishing it. You have thrown away your First Print Rights, which are the ones that the publishers want.

Many people put their stories up on sites in the mistaken belief that if they aren’t paid for them, they aren’t published. This isn’t true. Anything that is in a position where it can be read by the public is considered published. This includes posting on your website, LiveJournal, Blog, or any site where just anyone passing through can read the work. It doesn’t matter how many people actually read the story, either.

Sites that are safe, however, are ones in which the reader needs a password in order to get to the story. Most writers’ sites with critique groups are set up in this way. ‘Friends Only’ LiveJournals are also safe because the owner has full control over who sees the posts.

There was much more to it, and the rest of the post was just as worth the read as this extract. There’s a difference between copyright and First Print rights, and Zette explained it fairly well.

Again, this year, I’m not sure yet whether I’ll ever “do something” with my NaNovel. However, my needs of sharing my words is often strong enough to compromise my efforts, hence my decision to lock all of this in this journal.

I've just understood why, without me noticing it at first, my writing has somewhat slowed down - and by this, I don't mean the problems with my dead hard drive, but something more general, with different roots.

I'm currently stuck at a scene I absolutely hate, yet a scene that is essential to the story. The one where my two groups of characters meet, and realize they come from different places, places that shouldn't be in contact with each other to start with, places about which each involved party has its own beliefs/ideas/legends. It IS an important scene, one that has to happen at some point, since this little bunch of characters wear signs of not originating from the same continent, and it would be totally out of character for them to not ask at least a few questions. On the other hand, my attempts at writing it have, so far, all been pretty dull.

I could distillate the information in-between action scenes, but I'm wary of burdening the reader under too much action, under combat chained to pursuit chained to combat, or anything close to that. I could write your average sit-around-the-campfire evening and have the characters honestly answer to each other's questions, yet this is a) too much exposition all at once, b) revelations that are spoon-fed too early and too fast to the reader. I'm pondering trying a mix of both methods - a beginning of discussion, followed by an interruption, from which other relationships/a spark of trust could emerge.

In a way, I'm even glad that I've ran into this problem: I know that when I manage to overcome it (because I WILL overcome it, I'm not giving up!), I'll get out of it with a new experience under my belt, and a very valuable one at that.

Right now, though, I'm just at a loss about how to make all of this interesting. * cringes *

Niltoy | scene | writing

No no no, I'm not dead! It's just been not that exciting to keep several blogs updated in the past months, especially as I was doing mucho rewriting and editing, and as such there wasn't anything new under the sun, as we say here. However, I'm not gone, and if time allows it, I'll be back into NaNoWriMo as well this year!

First, here's some of the reasons why I've been away for so long, and an insight on what's going to happen in the next months/years.

Second, here's what happened recently, and completely crushed my attempts at writing, due to not being exactly thrilled about the "event". As of today, I'm starting to recover some of the files, and I could already lay my hands (totally by chance, hahaha) on some of my old versions of the Wall of Silence (formerly called Lord of Mirrors). This is some comfort, and I'm feeling the juice come back slowly, after these weeks of anguished waiting.

As for NaNoWriMo, I'm not sure yet of what I'll do. I nevertheless want to try again, and in English as well, if only because it'd make excellent practice for college and for my exams. That's the really good side with this kind of studies, really - anything that makes me practice English is good!

Oh, and as a slight update on WoS: I'm 35.000+ words into it (close to 40k, in fact, but I can't remember off the top of my head right now). That's not bad, and now that I've gone on with the plan and with (yet again) new ideas, I should be able to write more and faster.

As you can see, I'm not giving up on Niltoy & Co, but I seriously have problems keeping up with forums and the likes, so please don't mind me if I don't visit there during extended periods of time... *sigh*

Niltoy | update | writing

An update from the front, at last!

* Unsung Heroes was finished in January, just so that you know. I'm now waiting a couple months before going through the edition process and try to make it something worth the read. I was planning to hand it to a few friends for reading, but come to think of it, it DOES need a serious dose of editing first, else I'll be too ashamed to show it to anyone.

* I've joined NaNoWriYe, for the simple reason that with or without it, I'd have anyway taken the year (less if I can, of course) to write the first volume of the trilogy I absolutely need to concretize. I had decided to take January off, do the plan of the first volume come February, and start writing as soon as I have solid enough a base to craft a good story. Joining NaNoWriYe will, just like NaNo, give me even more reasons to be committed to it and finish what I've started. Its current title, by the way, is The Wall of Silence, but this one will be all in French, even though I'll write the updates in English. I need to work toward being published in my own country, after all.

* A few changes to come here: I'll reorganize the categories, with sub-categories to differentiate things. It's very likely that I'll do NaNoWriMo again in 2006, and I don't want things to be too messy.

NaNoWriYe | writing

70,097 / 75,000 (93.5%)

Although the end word count will likely be a little above 75k, I can't believe I'm going on. No, really. I'm so torn these days between this novel and another idea I want to peruse, that I marvel at seeing myself still writing, against all odds. This makes me glad and hopeful.

I've been toying with the idea of changing a few scenes, because looking back on it, I think they suck. However, I swear I will resist this need. I don't care if there are plot holes left, or if some things have changed since the first time I mentioned them in the story. I just want it finished. The rest, well, will be given as lunch to my Inner Editor after Christmas.

Tags: NaNoWriMo | novel | word count | writing

Current word count:

66,578 / 75,000 (88.8%)

It's very weird. These days, I have ideas for other stories, and as a result, I'm itching to start them, putting the rest on the backburner for a short while. Then, as soon as I've ranted and written about how lame I am for being unable to finish a novel before starting the next (see the Y logs and other places where I flail myself with noodles), I fire off the word-processor and add 1k or 2k words to the current work-in-progress. I don't understand myself, but as long as it works and helps me remain focused on said WIP, perhaps I simply should suck it up, take it as it comes, and feel happy?

And I can't access Zokutou anymore, unless I get through Tor and Privoxy first o_O Go fig, this will probably get fixed by itself in a few days, much like it's been for every site with which I've had this kind of problem. Since I don't like seeing my own stuff broken, I'm switching to Feath's counter for the time being.

Tags: NaNoWriMo | novel | word count | writing

I've taken a short break from the NaNovel. I had mentioned this on my Y Logs (or was it on another of my blogs? I can't remember now), I happened to be struck with 1) the desire to draw again (characters design were part of this spree), 2) the desire to whip up my project of a blog about vector-based art, that I had put on the backburner for long enough to be seriously itching about starting it.

I haven't been suffering from burnout, or simply lacking interest about my story. This is good news, since I had this fear, at first, of being disgusted, and of not writing for a long time after NaNo. It's not happening, which tells me I can do it, I can do it again, and I can write "for real". All good for me. This past week has also allowed me to think quietly of my story, of the missing parts, and of a few elements that I need to change when I get to the rewriting of the first draft. All in all, nothing wrong here.

Right now, after having started to write again today, I stand at 62,076 words. It may be a little off compared to the last post count I posted, since the last one had been analyzed by NaNoWriMo's word counter, and not being able to access this one anymore, I now need to rely on the one integrated into my word-processor. If it's off, it's probably no more than by 200 words or so, from what I had observed during November. I'm still going to refer to it without altering the "new type of word count", though. Easier this way.

Tags: NaNoWriMo | word count | writing

Note for further use: sketching characters and ending up with better designs than what I had in mind first is a great thing; now I just need to remember to edit the descriptions in my novel when I get to reading it fully a first time. I bet I'll forget, but noting it down all the same doesn't harm.

Tags: story | writing

60,054 / 60,000 (100.1%)

So I've reached my goal!

Actually, I didn't write at all yesterday (I drew instead. Lovely vector software of mine), but I pumped up a nice little scene, and the 2402 words I added to the counter to reach the 60k, in the train taking me back home at the end of the afternoon. Not bad, for a 55-minutes long trip + waiting for the train to depart, proof that when I want to write, boy, I can do that fast! This also allowed me to finish one of my uncompleted chapters, hence why I'm so glad about it.

Nothing's over yet, though. December will allow me to work on the details some more. I guess that if I can end with a ~80k novel by New Year, I'll still have completed a "normal-length" novel in, what, two months? And if only for that, it'll be a matter of pride to me.

Tags: NaNoWriMo | novel | writing

57,652 / 60,000 (96.1%)

I knew there wasn't any need to stress.

I've focused on a few other things, and all of a sudden, the words to write one of the remaining scenes took shape in my mind all by themselves. Not sweating over it seems to work well enough for this week-end, even if I likely won't pull out 8,000 words like I did the past one.

On the 30th, I'll have 1h30 to kill in the train... I'm sure I'll write more by then anyway.

Tags: NaNoWriMo | word count | writing

Alright, I suppose I could and should have worked on my story more these past two days. I know where I'm going with it, I even have two more "action" scenes to write, it's not like I don't have anything to look forward to, but... let's say my attention was focused on a few other things. Cleaning, for once, since there's still a crapload of... well, crap to take out of the cellar (and the cellar is HUGE). Second, I made the "mistake" of beginning to read Richard Dawkins' "The Ancestor's Tale", and drats, this book is interesting! Not the easiest thing to read in English, thus it takes me more time than with a regular book, but interesting nevertheless. Third, I really wanted to tinker with the layout, options and first posts on Vectorized, because I've waited to start this project for weeks, and now that I have the domain name at last, there was no way I could wait any longer. I can be an impatient little fellow.

So for the past two days, I'm totalling a meager... 1000 words. Probably better than what I've done in past days, during these four years I had basically taken an extended break from writing seriously, yet it's still a little crappy in my book. I think I'm going to go on taking it easy today; these interesting scenes to write will come more easily if I don't stress over them for the five or six upcoming hours, and I don't care if I write 100 words here and 200 words there, what matters is that I write them.

Word count to be update later on, since it's only 5 pm, after all.

Tags: NaNoWriMo | writing

55,872 / 60,000 (93.1%)

Numb from cold, that is. Since our wood stove decided to pull a suicide-bomber on us and let its glass door explose last Sunday, we've basically been running on two mini-electric heaters. For a house with six rooms and two stories, it's just not enough at all. I'm not completely dead and frozen, but it gets hard to focus at times when I keep on wondering if we'll have some kind of heating system again before Christmas. Then the laptop told me that its network card had gone ballistics; given that I'll need it next week to bring at the office, I'm a tad bit unnerved. No need to say my motivation is, err, not great, buuuut at least I've completed one of the unfinished chapters. Going slowly, but going.

I'm wondering, too, if I shouldn't up the previsional post count to 70,000, but I'm too tired to think of this properly now. I'll reach 60k, and then I'll decide what to envision.

Tags: NaNoWriMo | novel | writing

54,700 / 60,000 (91.2%)

I decided to aim for 60k fo the end of the month. I'll probably go past this, but as I have no idea how many words I'll need for this quick 'n dirty first draft to be completed, I don't want to set a goal that I'll fill with crap just to reach it. Today was already filling loose parts anyway; I hope I can actually finish a chapter tomorrow!

Tags: NaNoWriMo | novel | writing

53,245 / 50,000 (106.5%)

Some more done tonight; I completed part of a chapter that still was in telegraphic style, so to say. We're going there. I think I can safely aim for a 60-70k goal, although I haven't exactly decided yet. Let's finish this beast first, before wanting to add details.

Tags: NaNoWriMo | novel | writing

Hell, no :)

51,325 / 50,000 (102.6%)

I haven't written a lot today, but in the end, contrary to what I had decided, I wasn't able to force myself to take a break from the novel, not yet... so I wrote a bit before bed. There are still some loose strings I need to tie up, after up!

Not sure if I should aim for a new word count... 70,000, perhaps? I just want to finish the story. 80-90k could be for later on, when I get to revise it. I'll see.

Tags: NaNoWriMo | novel | story | writing