I really am participating…I swear it.

So, Camp Nanowrimo is going the way of most of the Nanos I have written.  Not to well.  I’m letting other things in life get to me and I’m refusing to find time to write.  And even when I do find time to write, I refuse to write.  Why? Because writing sucks. It’s hard for me. I’m impatient. I want to story to flow from me and instead I am have writer’s constipation.  So Nano is so hard for me to do.  Don’t get me wrong, I will pull this out because I want to, but my story is just not forming well. I don’t like outlining, even though it does help me some, but I’d rather see how the story unfolds as I go along.  I’m wondering if I can write the first draft, outline for the second using first draft bones, and then go back in for the fleshing out with that in hand?  I mean it’s my novel and writing isn’t just done one way or another right?

I guess what’s getting me is that the story I am writing isn’t right. This is a rewrite of last year’s Nano because I didn’t finish it and hated it by the time Nano was done.  Why?  Because the story was just flopping around like a dying fish. There was no saving it and so I left it. This year I decided to try again with the original novel in mind, but then I realized, the time frame of that novel wouldn’t work and I’d have to try something else.  Also, the two times before I tried to write the novel they both started with the dreaded, and not much liked, waking up opening.  Yeah, I think it was brilliantly written, but seems a lot of novel’s start that way, and I’m not a sheep, so I had to be creative and go for a different opening.  I think this time around I have it starting much better, but then I fell back into the previous novel’s plot and it wasn’t until the other day I realized I really can’t go with that plot.  I have to change it because the time needs to be in Spring and not Summer.  But then the plot had to change because things that were happening in my story at the time would already have happened by Spring and they were the focal point really of the novel.  So what now?  Well it finally hit my how I could rework it and I think that it might make for a better more challenging novel to write.

I haven’t even tried writing a synopsis for my novel.  Wait, I am lying, I did try a quick one to post on my Camp Nanowrimo author’s page, but it was more like “this happened and then this happened”, instead of what the story is about.  I think I need to get into it more before I can do it and maybe study on how to write a good synopsis.  I always figured that could wait since I am just writing now, but I guess I need that in mind too so I can actually talk about the novel without actually talking about the novel. Hope you understood that.

So what’s next?  Well I am going to face my fear of killing my novel at almost half way into Camp Nanowrimo and starting fresh.  I can do this.  It’s not as scary as it seems and if I don’t hit 50k by the end of the month that’s ok because at least I would have started the novel and it would be the right novel this time around.  So here goes, Camp Nanowrimo 2012, take 2.

Writing away,
M.

Is There A Fourth Wall In Writing?

So I am reading a book right now that is part of a mini series of a series, hope I didn’t lose you there. Anyway, so in this book I am learning some things that I find irritating in writing.  One major thing being, breaking the fourth wall.  The narrator of the book I am reading, which shall remain nameless, keeps having a conversation with the reader. The author’s favorite thing to do is ask the read rhetorical questions.  I really hate that.  I hate that I am engrossed in the story and I am feverishly reading and getting my mind in the heads of the characters and there situations, and then bam!, I am suddenly pulled out of the story with some “witty banter”. Why?

Now granted this book is from the 90s and it’s Young Adult, but I started to wonder if teenagers from that time found this interesting.  Then it hit me, umm duhhhh, I was a teenage from that time, lol.  And no, I didn’t find stuff like that interesting.  I had read other books from the series that were written by other author’s, and I assumed that all the authors got notes on how to narrate the story so they would all have the same feel, but none of the other books I read really broke that 4th wall.  Nope, they did something else I don’t like instead.  Foretelling.

Ok, so umm, I am reading through this book for a reason.  To find out what’s going to happen.  So why would you tell me about what is going to happen before I even get to the event?  And after reading some great advice blog posts about showing instead of telling a story, I can better understand what the advice meant. Along with the foretelling in these stories there is also a lot of telling in general.  I don’t want to be told how she is feeling.  I want her actions to speak words. I want to be pulled into her mind and if she beats the crap out of something because her boyfriend dumped her, I want to feel her rage by being shown it.  I don’t want to read, “Lily was really angry”.  No, just no.

And one last thing these books are becoming irritatingly know for are putting words into the characters’ mouths that would not normally be coming out of them. The characters in this book like to do the swears that are always cut off at just the right moment, or it is just said they swore. So I know these characters outside these books in another form of media and they are not the cursing kind, at least not to the extent in this book. It’s just this one author that I have seen has them cursing. Now I’m not against cursing, but only if it fits the character.  These words do not fit the characters at all.  I’m not sure if the books were going for shock value or if they were trying to use the “lingo” us kids were using back in the day, but it just failed to “impress”.  I have two more books with this author and if it weren’t for me wanting know how it ended I would have stopped at book one.

So yeah, I had to share my little thoughts with you all on that.  I’m glad to see that my way of reading is changing and I am finally learning what I do and don’t like about writing. I feel guilty not liking something about someone’s creation, but if I do become successful at becoming published, I know I will face the same sticky wrath of judgment.  So I might as well have my say.  Speaking of which, I may post some more book issues in the future, but I would like to let it be known that I won’t be telling the titles of any of the books in question simply because while I might not like a technique used by a writer it doesn’t mean I will bash them in a public forum like my blog.  I just want to share my reader’s observations in hopes that they may help someone else with their writing.

And on that note I am going to close for now. It’s almost 5 am and I’m super tired now. I want to read one more chapter, but it’s really late now. I’ll read more later.  And I will talk to you all later as well.  Be good until then.  Bye for now.

Barely able to keep her eyes open,
M.