Progress
Today I rewrote 6,163 words of DDS. Yesterday I did nothing because life got crazy and then several people crashed on my couch. So today was a makeup day. Tomorrow I'll be writing new material and that should be fun.
I consumed
I read Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater over the last few days. The problem was that I didn't know that this was the first book in a series, and it felt like I knew what was going to happen at the climax. But that climax is going to be the climax of the series, not the book, so when the climax of the book happened, I just kept reading, expecting things to happen, watching myself get closer and closer to the end and wondering how on earth this was all going to get accomplished. Then it didn't get accomplished and I was confused. For a moment I considered it as though it were a single, complete work, and I realized that I pretty much knew what would happen, and thus that was why I was waiting for it, so maybe that didn't even need to be included in the book, just hinted at.
Of course this isn't what happened, and the lesson to take away here is that I need to check if something's part of a series before I read it. Google search.
But I've been thinking about how a story might be able to get away with that. Hmmmmm.
Anyway, aside from that it really held my attention and I devoured it and now I'm looking around for what to read next from Stiefvater. It had nice multilayered characters who had really nice human interactions that actually sounded like people talking. The little details stood out for me: a sentence about the grass peeking up through the spokes in a bike on the ground, the way a car door takes multiple tries to close, little gestures that speak volumes about characterization.
There was a plot twist that I honestly didn't see coming, and that so rarely happens to me that I'm always excited and impressed when it happens.
Also, one of the main characters reminded me of a character from something else that made for some unintentional hilarity. You'd think that imagining over dramatic glitter tears would detract from the experience, but surprisingly it did not.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Thursday, November 1, 2012
11/1
Progress
Today kicked off NaNoWriMo. I've come to terms with NaNo in that I appreciate that I can use it to set goals and then push myself to achieve those goals. But I'm not writing 50,000 words of a fresh novel this month because that wouldn't be useful for me. I'm going to whip DDS into shape instead.
Today I rewrote the first chapter. Lots of new material was added. Lots of things were cut. It wasn't fresh writing, and it went a lot faster than fresh writing goes, but I did put a lot of work into it and I'm liking the results. So 2,897 words of re-writing.
Things I Consumed
Today I watched a lot of Adventure Time while I folded laundry. The best part was the Ice King singing Marcelline's Fry Song (original Marcelline Fry Song for reference). The song is great because it's awkward, and the Ice King singing is great because it's still awkward. But the thing I've been thinking about is how the show made a joke about itself. How it referenced itself and it worked. That original Fry Song was not very long, yet it was memorable enough that when it was referenced nearly two seasons later, it still made sense and it was funny. It added an extra layer of meaning onto itself.
I'm wondering if a single self contained story can do that. This is a series, and the creators could judge what worked and what didn't and hone in on the parts people liked and repeat them. But can you do that if you don't have that feedback? Maybe it's just a risk that it might not work.
Today kicked off NaNoWriMo. I've come to terms with NaNo in that I appreciate that I can use it to set goals and then push myself to achieve those goals. But I'm not writing 50,000 words of a fresh novel this month because that wouldn't be useful for me. I'm going to whip DDS into shape instead.
Today I rewrote the first chapter. Lots of new material was added. Lots of things were cut. It wasn't fresh writing, and it went a lot faster than fresh writing goes, but I did put a lot of work into it and I'm liking the results. So 2,897 words of re-writing.
Things I Consumed
Today I watched a lot of Adventure Time while I folded laundry. The best part was the Ice King singing Marcelline's Fry Song (original Marcelline Fry Song for reference). The song is great because it's awkward, and the Ice King singing is great because it's still awkward. But the thing I've been thinking about is how the show made a joke about itself. How it referenced itself and it worked. That original Fry Song was not very long, yet it was memorable enough that when it was referenced nearly two seasons later, it still made sense and it was funny. It added an extra layer of meaning onto itself.
I'm wondering if a single self contained story can do that. This is a series, and the creators could judge what worked and what didn't and hone in on the parts people liked and repeat them. But can you do that if you don't have that feedback? Maybe it's just a risk that it might not work.
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