NaNoWriMo is over. Now what?

Time to set my post NaNoWriMo goals.

First: Finish the novel. I'm at the 76K maker and just coming to the end of Act 2. But I hit a little snag. My story was originally planned out as a potential TV series with 5 years and cliffhangers spread out over the life of the series. It has since been changed to a trilogy and during NaNoWriMo 2014 I have started Book 1.

But the first book shouldn't have a cliffhanger. I am writing it to be a self-contained book; however, since it has a thick mythology (like LOST) everything won't be explained. In fact, Book 1 will sprinkle in the mysteries of the town and each book will delve deeper. So there will be some things left untold, but the main issue will be resolved.

In order to resolve it, I want all my main characters to come together. But one character was a little harder to play with. So I had to pause and start to plan a bit and change up what would work in a season finale but not for a Book 1 ending. And the light is starting to shine!

Second: Edit, Edit, Edit! Did I mention I need to edit? Thank goodness for Scrivener and all the little keywords and labels I have set up.

• Make sure there are no plot holes
• No subplots left hanging (so I will probably need to add a couple of scenes).
• I wrote so plainly to get everything down fast. Better known as vomiting out words. So I need better sentences. Dissect every sentence and make them better.
• Make sure I don't head-hop. 5 MCs and I am using 3rd person multiple. Make sure each scene has one POV. If it really needs 2 then I will be doing a hand-off. Start with POV 1, go to POV 2 and not return to POV 1
• Dialogue. I need to go through every person's dialogue, character by character and make sure they have a distinctive voice. Really hard when I have 5 MCs. 

Third: Peer reviews. I will be going to Scribophile to get some critiques

A lot of work to do... #AmWriting

My 2013 NaNoWriMo Updates

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It's a great site created for writers to get together as they strive to finish 50K words in the month of November. And here's the website:
http://nanowrimo.org

DAY 9:

The site contains stats to show your progress. And well.... I should be at least 15000 words in by the end of tonight. But so far I am under 8000. So I have a lot of catching up to do. 

Prior to starting, I had it pretty much laid out. This was an idea I had tossed around in my head for over a year as I struggled between whether or not to make it a screenplay or a novel. And since I never finished a novel, it took me this long and the threat of November looming to make the final decision. 

Although I had the plot laid out, there was a spot that I felt could use fleshing out. I figured I wouldn't worry about it until it came up... after all I have 50K words to crank out and there's no time to think! But as I was writing I imagined a conflict character that could really make things interesting for the love interest and ideas just starting flowing, and I wrote a future scene to set up his story for much later. 

Adding a shady character can really spruce up a story. So even though I'm so far behind, I feel like it's been a good writing week,

Anyway... time to continue writing!

Ciao!

My NOT So COMEDIC Affliction: “Writer’s Block”

If you’re a writer then you know what “writer’s block” means. You’re hoping to write scene after scene, you flick your computer on, open up your writing software package and stare at the screen with your fingers hovering over the keyboard.

You may even have saved your script under a title name with the words

FADE IN:

…firmly planted in place. You know what you want to write, you may have even visualized scenes in your head… But your fingers are paralyzed, struggling to type …

INT. or EXT.

In my case, I have nearly 50 pages written. Crappy 50 pages, but 50 nevertheless. I have a fun title, a logline I like, a flaw for my character, the lesson the character learns, and a complete outline using Snyder’s Beats.

So what’s the problem? Why has it taken me 2 months to get to this point?

I think each case, each script, each moment in your life is different. It could be personal stress or issues, working double-shift etc…

I have assessed that my current situation is due to FEAR. YEP… FEAR. Now I have completed a couple of other scripts and have put down an Action-Revenge script which was moving along at a descent pace (even through graduate midterms and papers) before putting it down and starting my new baby.

So what is the basis of my FEAR?

It’s about the GENRE. It’s about stepping out of a comfort zone.

My current script is a COMEDY.

Now I’m sure there are writers out there wondering “why is this a problem?” Some writers are gifted with great comedic timing. That’s nice… **as I toss a badly rolled-up snowball at them**

Well some of you may know people like me or may even be like me – the kind of person who gravitates toward Action, Horror, Dark, Thriller, or Sc-Fi movies. Fact is if you don’t watch a lot of comedies, it’s hard to write about them. Same could be said for any genre…

If you want to be good at something, you must first become a student.

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I’m a morose person. I’m not sitting around waiting for 2012 to come and wipe out humanity. Okay, maybe I am, but that’s another story.

For the last month, I went on a Comedy Netflix binge, learning about what makes comedy work – the quick one-liners, the gags etc… It’s been an enlightening experience and has helped me tremendously. I even managed to think of a gag which morphs into two more gags for my transition from ACT TWO to ACT THREE because of this. I’ve also read the first 10 pages of various Comedy scripts.

As a result, the majority of the 50 pages I’ve written have come during my Netflix viewing. I’ve been able to incorporate my NY sarcasm (uh… wit) for some jokes and gags for the situational problems my protagonist will find himself in and try to get out of. And mostly, I’ve grown an appreciation for Comedy writers.

Truth be told, the writing isn’t smooth. It’s like swiss cheese, with gaps of action and dialogue in many scenes. But the important thing is to write. It’s easier to edit a crappy scene, then to put fresh words on the page.

Of course it would be easier to just dump the story and stay in my comfort zone, sticking to a safer genre, but Comedy is popular. I think it’s important for me to at least attempt one, and quite frankly, I want to hurdle this beast… plus, I like my logline. HA!

And in the midst of all this, I managed to inadvertently come up with another comedy idea and a Rom-Com to boot. I never saw that coming! So after I finish, I’ll be sure to go on a Rom-Com binge. To Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan and Kate Hudson… Soon I’ll be on my way to a DVD starring you!

So there you have it. I’m pushing through my “writer’s block” by studying the cause of my problem and working through it (via Netflix and reading screenplays), as I slowing type letters on the screen even if they lack fluidity, until I type those last two words…

FADE OUT

I think it’s time for a Margarita now. Cheers!