National Novel Writing Month

Somehow or other, it is now DAY TWELVE of National Novel Writing Month. For those who don't know, NaNoWriMo happens each November, when thousands of people (200,000 participated last year) sign up to write 50,000 between November 1st and November 30th. Yup, 50,000 words in one month. That's around 1,667 words a day, or close to 12,000 words a week.

Today is day twelve, which means everyone participating should hit 20,000 words today.

So what am I writing, and why did I take a month off from revising my WIP to do this?

My NaNo project is a prequel to my WIP, Water Magic. It's set in the same universe—a world parallel to ours called Abernwyth, a world humans with magical powers (faeries) migrated to thousands of years ago, after a split in evolution created magic and non-magic humans. The prequel is called Dyllan and Abigail, and it covers events that took place twenty years before my protagonist in Water Magic stumbles into Abernwyth and ends up facing an evil magician called the Stone Mage.

I decided to take part in NaNoWriMo this year for a couple of reasons: firstly because I thought I could use a break from my WIP after working on it for two years, and secondly because I thought working on a prequel could only be helpful, in that it helps me to gain a deeper understanding of the history of the world I've built, and the lives of many of the characters.

So far (aside from causing me to neglect my laundry) my first NaNo has been going well. I tend to fall behind on days I work, but get caught up fairly easily on the weekends, when on a good day I can get out around 4,000 words. I've never been a particularly fast writer, so this whole experience has helped me to see that maybe I can actually write more than I thought I could.

I've currently got 17,000 words finished, so I need another 3,000 today to be caught up.

So, lovely readers, are any of you participating in NaNoWriMo this year, or have you participated in previous years? How did you/do you find the experience—liberating, stressful, or something else entirely?

Happy Halloween one and all!

Have a spook-tacular night!

Writing, introversion, and extroversion: who's got the upper hand?

One of the things I love about Twitter is that sometimes people post links to really interesting articles (or funny photos of cats/puppies/babies, which are good too). A couple weeks back, @YukonGraham posted a link to a Psychology Today article called "Revenge of the Introvert," by Laurie Helgoe, and I've been thinking about said article ever since. The basic gist of it is, about half the people in the world are introverts, and half are extroverts, and the two halves experience socializing in different ways. Introverts (who are not necessarily shy), enjoy socializing one-on-one or in smaller groups, and need time to reflect and process information. Large, loud gatherings can be overstimulating for the introvert, who values quiet solitude at least part of the time in order to think about things and decide how he or she feels. The extrovert, by contrast, thrives in the busy social world of large parties, clubs, and the like. For the extrovert, too much time alone can be boring rather than rewarding.

Of course, most people fall along a scale, sometimes feeling more introverted, and sometimes more extroverted. But I think that most people fall more to one side than the other, and if they had to pick, they would readily know in which category they best fit.

Writing other things

Recently I started writing short stories again, after not having written one in a couple of years. I had been focusing on my novel for so long that I started to miss that feeling of having finished something. It's also is a good release-valve, allowing me to take a break from the novel when I'm getting frustrated, and blow off some creative steam. I've written a rather dark, depressing magical realism piece, and I've got some ideas for children's stories building up. It feels good to see finished things piling up in my short stories folder, and if I can improve my craft (I've never felt that I've really mastered the short story form), I may end up with some pieces that I can submit to literary magazines and competitions.

So, this makes me curious. Do you other aspiring novelists have side-projects that you work on? Do you short story writers have secret novels hidden away on your hard drives? Do you submit work to magazines and competitions, and, if so, to which publications do you submit? Feel free to post links in the comments to your published work!

Want to start reading comics, but don't know where to start?

If you're a comics reader, this will be old news to you. In August 2011, DC Comics ended all of their monthly superhero storylines, and started fresh in September with a relaunch of 52 issue number ones.

There are also other changes to the DC universe—many characters have been updated with new costumes and backstories, and the worlds have been modernized to make the stories more accessible.

If you haven't read comics before, but are curious about what they have to offer; or if, like me, you've only started reading comics recently, this is exciting news—it means you can start following the stories from the beginning, without any prior knowledge of the characters or universe.

I read a few of the first issues last week, and I found Aquaman, Batgirl, and Superman to be very good. Check them out at your local comic shop or order them online.

 Further suggestions for beginning comic readers:

• You can't go wrong with Neil Gaiman. His Sandman series follows Morpheus, the Lord of Dreams, and is filled to the brim with allusions to literature and mythology. It's also won a whole lot of Eisner Awards.
• Joe the Barbarian is a series I really enjoyed—told through the eyes of a boy suffering from hypoglycemia, whose hallucinations turn his house into a fantasy landscape he must battle his way through—with the help of his pet rat—to get to the kitchen and drink a can of soda before King Death can defeat him. Magical, action-packed, and sad. Written by Grant Morrison, illustrated by Sean Murphy.
• One of my personal favorites is an independent graphic novel called I Kill Giants, written by Joe Kelly and illustrated by J.M. Kim Niimura. The protagonist is misfit schoolgirl Barbara Thorson, who lives in a fantasy world to escape an impending family tragedy. In her imagination, Barbara is a giant killer; giants, of course, represent the personal disaster she tries desperately to ward off. 

So, readers, what are your favorite comic books and graphic novels? Do you read comics religiously, or are you an occasional dabbler?

What nobody tells beginners

I found this quote on facebook, where it's lately been circulating among artistic types. I wish I had read this when I first started writing seriously—it would have helped a lot with the fear of not being good enough. But I think it's relevant for all aspiring author types, so here you go:

In which I bestow blog awards

So, Sarah over at Squidink was kind enough to give me these two lovely blog awards! (Well, technically speaking, "One Lovely Blog Award" and one "The Versatile Blogger" award.) Aren't they pretty? Thank you, Sarah!

As the rules state, I must now share seven random facts about myself:

1) I once volunteered at a zoo, working with reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates. There were a lot of awesome parts to it—I once got to play with a baby Channel Island fox, and I got to help feed the penguins, and I got to distract the American alligator so that my zookeeper could go into her enclosure without getting eaten. I also got to carry snakes around in pillow cases. The only thing I didn't like was cleaning out the giant hissing cockroaches. Shudder.

2) I love iced coffee. Especially a really well-made iced mocha. Nectar of the gods, that is.

3) I'm a vegetarian! Yay!

 4) My favorite animals are cats, elephants, squirrels, whales, and of course the great apes.

 5) One of my grammatical pet peeves is when people use personal pronouns when referring to professional sports teams. If you're actually on the team, go ahead and use "we." But I find it really annoying when people say things like "we beat the Raiders." No you didn't. A group of professional athletes, who have nothing to do with you, beat the Raiders. Also, historical events: "We beat the British in the revolution." You weren't involved; stop trying to claim credit.

6) I'm from California, but I've now lived in more cities in the UK than I have in the USA.

7) I'm a feminist and proud :D

And now it's my turn to pass on the love! I hereby bestow these blog awards on the following individuals:

• Audrey at ChiquePeek: Style Scrapbook, because she's my best friend and she's got amazing fashion sense.

• Jeff at JRussell Teacher Blog, because he's an awesome teacher of an awesome subject (English, of course!).

• SP Sipal at Harry Potter for Writers, because her blog is always interesting and insightful.

• Brad at Brad Jaeger—Aspiring Author, because he posts lots of interesting stuff.

So, there you go! Feel free to pass on or ignore these awards as you see fit.