Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[inEQUALITY]

And - thank goodness! - close to the last moment, I've come up with a setting I want to explore in detail. An hour left until midnight. I'm sitting here mulling over a page of brain vomit notes on the setting.

It's a far-future medieval-esque scifi setting where knowledge of technology, industry, and even history has been lost to time and warfare. Technology is patchwork and vaguely understood at the best of times, unreliable garbage at the worst.

The setting ranges from melange starships, to knights on horseback; from the rarest laser rifle, to the commoner's sword; from the towering skyscrapers of an emperor's personal demesne, to the crumbling walls of a backwater farming colony.

I have to say, I'm excited about this setting. Now I just have to come up with exactly who the character is, the situation he finds himself in, and what goes on from there. 

[Sirus]

horseback infantry

Wat.

[inEQUALITY]

horseback infantry

Wat.

Meh, corrected it. My mind and my words didn't quite work together well on trying to express what I intended. Brain farts stink. 

[monk12]

horseback infantry

Wat.

Meh, corrected it. My mind and my words didn't quite work together well on trying to express what I intended. Brain farts stink. 

To be fair, horseback infantry is a thing; it's the original meaning of the word Dragoon. Basically they use the horses to get to the battle quickly, then dismount to fight. They were pretty much gimmicks before ~1600, but I imagine a fair amount of that had to do with the social status associated with horsemanship, which wouldn't be given to conscripts lightly (quite apart from the expense of the feat.) That said, it's easy to think of half a dozen settings where Dragoons would be the order of the day, particularly if they're mounted on speeders and jeeps instead of horses (which would technically be motorized infantry, but heck, Dragoon is a fun word. Dragoon Dragoon Dragoon.)

Also hey, it's NaNo in my time zone! Think I'll go to bed though, I do nothing tomorrow so I'd rather get a good night's sleep and be rested for a day of writing.

[Sappho]

I got some sleep, woke up at 7.00, thought immediate of NaNo. Now it's 8.30 and I'm still procrastinating. I suppose although I know what I want the story to be about, I don't know how to start it. I'm trying to persuade myself that it's okay if I don't start with the very beginning, if I just start somewhere slightly into the story then go back and write the beginning later, but it bothers me to start anywhere but the start.

Typical block, unable to find the words for the first page. And in a few hours I have to go to work for the afternoon. So I'd really like to get started before then...

By the way, here's the description of my story, which I posted on the "Czech Republic and Slovakia" forum on the NaNo site:

Spoiler: Background on and summary of my story. (click to show/hide)

I'm taking inspiration for my novel from a few places. First is my transition from growing up in America to living in Prague. The cultures are very different in some important ways. In the US the pressure is on to be the best, the fastest, accomplish the most, be goal-oriented, cultivate the right image. In Prague the people I've encountered are more worried about being happy, having enough time for their families, bending and getting around the rules, being individuals. In America there is a deeply-rooted belief in (and fear of) a monotheistic God, obsession with rituals and literal sacred texts. Here there is more of an overall feeling of wonder, a belief in magic.

Another source is my experiences working with children (as a teacher). I've taught at a Materska Skola (kingergarten/preschool) and now I work at a Zakladni Skola (elementary school) and kids are so different these days than they were when I grew up. They all have smartphones and they all know how to Google. When we take them on field trips they're all taking photos on their phones and playing games with headphones on instead of looking at the world around them. In America especially, kids are less and less believers in magic and stories, because they can just look on the internet and find out what's "real" and what's not.

So the core of my idea is there are two kids from America, a brother and sister. Their mother is very modern and progressive. She teachers her kids to be practical and realistic and values academic achievement above all else. She divorced their father over his parenting style - he refused to read any of the books on child psychology and insisted on teaching them fairy tales about Santa Claus and elves. The father was born in the Czech Republic but moved with his parents to America in the 80s - after the Velvet Revolution, the parents moved back home while the father stayed in America with his young wife. Now the mother has decided that her children ought to be exposed to more cultures before they develop any ugly xenophobias, so she ships them off to Prague for a summer to stay with Babi and Deda. The kids think they will be spending two months in Prague exploring historical monuments and learning a bit of foreign language, but the grandparents have other ideas. They are horrified to see what has become of children these days, and whisk the kids off to their cottage in the mountains for the summer, far from any mobile phone or internet service. They teach the kids all the old fairy tales and take them on adventures to find the local Skritek and other creatures. Over the course of the story, it is the grandparents who teach the grandkids how to be children.

That's it for my outline. I have a few other details written down, but I don't want to plan out the whole plot. Mostly I'll just create the characters and set them up somewhere and see what happens.

Also, I like that part of the advice in the latest "pep talk" is "Lie to yourself."

[Darkmere]

First insomniac word sprint of inspiration came to 800 words. I'm sort of making myself call this a good stopping point, because I want to keep going, but know I'll need some motivation tomorrow.

@Sappho: Start at the beginning. The kids step off the plane and are greeted by their grandfolks. You get some time to develop the characters before the conflict occurs that sets of the rest of the story in motion that way, and if you want there's room for foreshadowing commentary on Prague from the kids' and elders' perspectives.

[Sappho]

I'm torn on where the start should be. I had imagined originally that I should start in America, establishing what the kids' lives and family are like before dropping them in Prague. Now I'm thinking that maybe I should start in Prague, then later the kids can remember various things that happened in America, and the background will be revealed that way. I'm remembering that sometimes I start reading a book that I know will be good, but first I have to slog through two or three chapters of background before the fun stuff happens, and I don't want to create a book like that.

Anyway, I think it's okay if I write whatever is easiest to write first. Later on I can rearrange things so that the parts in America come at the right time.

It would help if my cat would stay off the damned keyboard!

[sjm9876]

Coffee failed me. Now, at 9:00, it begins.

EDIT: 2 hours, 2,800 words. I may need to pick up the pace a tad to be able to finish once school starts.

[Gentlefish]

Year 2 for me. I don't think I broke 20k last year. This year though!! My plan of attack this year like last is PLAN AT ZEE START OF NOBEMBAH!! I'm aiming for a half marathon. 50k. Easy enough. Right?

[Sirus]

It'll be several more hours before I can even begin writing. Such is working life

[Digital Hellhound]

4020 words today. Did most on my school skip. Pretty good feeling. I have a bit more overall cos I cheated and wrote a prologue beforehand because I am a bad person. Still, 4020 words, oh yes. My plan is to double my rate on every day.

[Sappho]

Holy wow. 4020 is too many words for the first day! You're making the rest of us look bad!

I'm up to 1484 now, trying to push through to 2000 but I'll stop short of that if I need to as long as I reach the minimum. There's a meetup of local NaNos in Prague tomorrow at a really cool pub/cafe place, so hopefully I'll make some new friends and get some work done there. Naturally I'll be drinking plenty of beer. Not at all sure if that will make me write more or less. Probably more, but worse. : )

[monk12]

Day 1: 2242 words, with plenty of daylight left. I wasn't sure which story thread to pick up, so I started a new one by casting one of the main characters into the Infinite Horrors of the Abyss. Very definitely not based on that time a kobold with a dagger of distortion banished me on D:6 in Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup no sir.

Spoiler: excerpt (click to show/hide)

   “You're both fools!” The kobold said, squirming to break free. “Even if you have some way of getting to the Abyss, you won't wind up in the same place as your friend! The odds of finding her aren't any better than the odds of finding an exit portal! You're crazy if you think you can find both!”
   “Well, getting to the Abyss won't be a problem.” Harald said. “That dagger sent Misty there. It can send me too.”
   The kobold went still. “You really are insane. Your plan is for me to stab you?”
   Harald nodded. “If you stab me, I'll let you go free.”

Also, I got to add the word "kobold" to Open Office's dictionary, so that's a plus!

[Darkmere]

I managed to sneak in a bit of wordsmithing this morning. Sadly, I only got up to 1200 words or so, but I decided to add in a new character and the beginning was my least-planned segment. I'm sure things will pick up later once I can get some distraction-free time.

Spoiler: Apocalypse Ambience (click to show/hide)

She grabbed an MRE from the middle of the pile and carefully avoided reading the label. Once prepared, she tasted a spoonful and tried to guess the flavor. It was some kind of chicken casserole, as far as she could tell.

The package read: Teriyaki Beef. Trish sighed.

[USEC_OFFICER]

Well, I've pretty much abandoned my idea and gone back to the one I used last year (and didn't get far with). However this time I'm writing it in a kind of memoir style that I like (mostly because it's long-winded and rambly) so I should be able to make 50k words if I put in the effort. Whether the novel will be any good is something that is secondary at this point.