Change of plan

Due to busy-ness, I have had to think sensibly about this. I haven't done all the preparation I need. I haven't even registered on the NaNoWriMo website. I am struggling with too many other things to do. I really don't have the discipline to write 1667 words per day on top of college assignments etc. And it's already the 3rd of November so actually I should be on 5000 by now.

Perhaps this could wait until next year (when I might be doing Honours and so should be spending time on a dissertation instead) or indeed some month when I have a lot less going on.

ONE DAY I will write a novel. I'll finish it. It might even be worth reading. But unless I suddenly spring into action, it's not going to be in the next 4 weeks. Sorry.

Note to self

Self, I said, don't forget that it's less than a month until NaNoWriMo starts and where are your plot strands, plans etc?

Incidentally I think you can now register on the Nanowrimo website (link down the side somewhere) for inspirational emails etc.

Reminder

I'm just reminding myself of what's gone before, not really going to add to things.

I still think the idea's got legs but now my first term is looking even busier, with a couple of very part-time jobs and me wanting to do 50% more modules than the full-time amount. How's that for ridiculous?

Ah well. Hold these thoughts, and see how they go. Fortunately my genealogy enthusiasm has waned a bit, so that I'm not doing research on it every hour or anything. It's really because I just got to the end of some of the material I got from family members. I haven't done the sort of Who Do You Think You Are? stuff yet like travel round the country to different record offices, or even round the world to trace family connections (though apparently I'm somewhat English - knew that - and one sixteenth Belgian - although I used to get that wrong and say Danish... close! - and I may even be part Jewish through an ancestor with the surname Solomon or Solomons although that's really just speculation.) Anyway we're all human, what does it matter if we come from umpteen different gene pools (on one side) or have ancestors who married their cousins... Perhaps this could add further fuel to the narrative. How likely is it that a student would get interested in their family history? Maybe they are a history student in any case, think it's boring until Aunt Mabel dies or becomes sick and they travel to see her, have conversations with her and/or other family members and find out who they really are (also influenced by WDYTYA being on telly - series 76?!)

Right I really must go now... TIme for bed said Zeb.

Interlude

This novel is really an ambitious idea, especially with everything else that's going on just now. I believe they call it 'Life' - it's a package deal including 'Immediate Family', 'Extended Family', 'Holiday Work', 'Plans for future income', 'Study', 'Calling', 'Church Involvement' and others. These applications all seem to work well, although the Family modules need some patches, but the system slows down whenever I even think of trying to run them all at full efficiency. I've also been toying with a 'Exploring Genealogy' module that eats up time and energy at the worst moments - mealtimes, bedtimes... This has led me to wonder whether a novel is the best plan at all, rather than a biography of a particular ancestor. OK so it would probably put me outside the rules for NaNoWriMo but that may be helpful (in terms of freeing up processing power for 'Study' at a crucial period of its running). I also have some ideal material for said biography (taped remeniscences from the ancestor in question) but it's not the only copy so it's a fair bet that other family members have had the same idea and could even now be working on such a biog.

Decisions decisions. It would be a shame to abandon these characters, half-created - they've already had ages being stuck in blog-limbo, I fear the repercussions should I simply not use them at all. Hmmm, wonder what happened to my previous novel characters. Where are they now?

Preparation 2 - Characters

I'm thinking that the working owner is a guy called Steve. Don't know why, just seems to work.

Steve is not to be confused with Bruce from Scotland Street by the way. AVOID DERIVATIVE THINGS LIKE THE PLAGUE.

He is working, but perhaps not in the professions.
He's only been working for a while - perhaps a year? He was away from his place of study (Glasgow? or just nonspecific Scottish/British city?) for a bit, but has come back to 'base' (home is elsewhere, somewhere a bit more rural).

He's just bought the flat, on the agreement that his friend will stay with him, so he at least has one rent coming in.

Perhaps the friend is the student who is struggling, not studying. Then again, perhaps not.

Six is a good number: Two shared rooms and two singles in a four-bed property.

• Steve - owner, working


• Steve's friend - honours student, writing dissertation - cynical and tired. Either took year out or did extra year abroad, and was a year behind Steve anyway.



• A couple of friends (female) who are first year, a bit naive, didn't get organised for residences and responded to poster in Student Union.



• A student who keeps himself to himself, has struggled to keep up with work, virtually dropping out - struggles to pay rent and contribute on other fronts.



• A strong female personality, also doing dissertation but far more positive and organised - a 'super-motivated zoom person'.

Sounds like a good collection of people. Names will be required shortly.


First person narration probably won't work as well if this is a six-handed ensemble piece - it's better for a 'one main character job'. Third person is probably better. But on the other hand, I don't want just to do a fast changing first person every short chapter as in Heinlein's 'Number of the Beast'; perhaps simply 'one turn each' would do better. So there are six sections to the book (autumn term, Christmas hols, spring term, Easter break, summer term, period up to graduation?) with each one being the main character for one section, and taking the bulk of the 'action'. This suggests one crisis resolution at the end of each section for the narrating character, with perhaps secondary resolutions at graduation time for all?

OK that's enough for now. Where's that flea spray?

Preparation 1

It's August the umpthingth, and NaNoWriMo is only a couple of months away. I have far too many things to do, so this is a brilliant idea to take up more of my time.

Probably I can do this on the train to and from college, or possibly not. I won't be able to post until I get home, but still...

It's worth a go, I feel - maybe 'writer' is what I will be when I grow up...

So, what does one need for a Novel? (looks better than novel, don't you think?)

My previous attempts have generally started with titles - somehow that works for me, I think. But for a title you need an idea. As someone once said (?Malcolm Hulke, writer on Doctor Who) 'all you need for a good story is an original idea; it doesn't have to be your original idea!' Also Bono said 'every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief' so if nothing else, I may be in good company.

Other things:
Plot
Characters
Structure
Progression
Scenes

The usual old saw is 'write about what you know'. From this and my previous experience, I can say - write sci-fi or fantasy as it's what I know in the sense that it's what I read most of. However this may not be my best plan. Next thought, please!

Something Christian? Hard to do without being cheesy and/or unrealistic. However, these should be no obstacles to a hardened WriMo!

Perhaps a novel centring around five or six characters who happen to be Christians, and who struggle through life like anyone else - their Christianity central to their lives, but not central to the plot, so that the novel is not simply mugging its readers to convert at page-point. Don't want to make it too similar to 'Friends' but then the dialogue isn't going to be tightly written jokes every step of the way so I'll probably be safe from that one.

Perhaps a flat that has a mix of students and newly graduated working/non-working people. The novel could then take place over the period of an academic year.

Some would be cynical and tired (doing Honours dissertation, perhaps?), others eternally fresh-faced and optimistic. All have connections to the local church (or churches? perhaps only one, saves on confusion). Perhaps one who is a resolute atheist, or agnostic - or not so resolute - but has connection to church in other ways.

If Christianity is not central to the plot, something has to be - the climactic build-up over the academic year with unexpected twists and turns. If the academic year is central, then perhaps most of them are students, with just one working person (the owner?, also knows at least one of the students from previous year), and one who is theoretically a student, but struggling to fit in/go to classes/has depression? Then the climax could be Graduation, with a parallel development for the non-student(s).

So is it omniscient narrator stuff, or told from the 1st person? Alternating first person? Told in flashback?
I've done the 3rd person narrator before, I think, so might try 1st person.

OK that's enough ideas generation for now. Let it percolate a bit before tying down some more info tomorrow.