Now I am Done

Ahh… Done. That feels really nice. I have finished the novel, written the last chapter, crossed every last T and dotted all my Is. I could have been done a lot sooner if I had just done it. Without the intense need to write that NaNoWriMo creates however, I just can’t seem to focus the same way. I let myself do other things…

In any case, it’s done. Well… Having now come to the end I see that there a couple passages that need major expansion. One got skipped over just in the rush to finish. I thought I would get around to at least following up in a later chapter. That did happen, but it’s still not certain enough for me. Now I have to go back and insert the actual event so that we know what happens to Articka. Her final chapter kind of ends in the middle of mayhem of the last battle. I think I need to be explicit about what happens to her in the aftermath. She’s one of my main characters and hers is the only story that just stops. As is fitting an alien in an alien novel she has to survive in some form so that there are still aliens around for the sequel.

Sequel? Yes. Now that I have written all this stuff, I have so many ideas that didn’t quite make it in or ideas that clearly follow from the things I describe in this novel. I think I could do two or three more stories with some of the threads I’ve laid down here. That’s great! But first things first. I’m going to insert that one passage about Articka and include some more of Meghin’s reflections on the events of the book in her final chapter. After that I will let the thing mellow before I consider looking at it to do a revision. I already see problems with this draft, but I can’t tackle them all so soon. Let it mellow in my mind and then come back to it in a month is what everyone advises.

So next? I’ve got plenty of other novels I can start writing. I think if I can manage to do 800 words a day or a couple typed pages, I’ll be able to finish another novel in a couple months here. There’s the one about the trader who gets caught up in a clash of empires, there’s the one about how the Atlantis is connected to South American and Greek mythology, there’s the one about Beowulf and the one about the further adventures of Julias Rodman. So many ideas. Where to begin?

Something, Something

So now that I don’t have a deadline of any sort looming over me I am much less motivated to write. I’ve taken a few days off completely. Maybe too many days off… Anyway, today I got back to it. Because of course while I passed the 50k mark, my story isn’t done yet. I’m working on chapter twenty-one right now. It’s something of a conclusion and a wrap-up chapter. It will be the last from Pyotr’s point of view. It’s been one of my themes (at least in theory) to have Pyotr be the thinker and for all of his chapters to reflect that. He’s physically static but not mentally. When trying to decide how his story will end I decided that he needs to finally step up and take some action. He fires a gun! Also he defuses a stand off between some of the survivors left around from the massive battle in chapter nineteen (The fact that the heavy hits in chapter nineteen has nothing to do with the fact that I’m reading The Dark Tower right now. This isn’t sarcasim, either. It just worked out that it’s chapter nineteen. If you don’t know what I’m talking about: go read it!). There is still some stuff to finish up. He’s leaving in this chapter, so he’s got to say goodbye to Meghin. I’m not sure how that conversation is going to go. I’ve heard writers say that sometimes sections “write themselves.” After this November, I know what they mean. I hope that this conversation “writes itself.” I certainly don’t know how to write the two of them saying goodbye to each other…

No word count: I don’t have to worry about that anymore (well, not until next November).

I'm a Winner!

I just posted a 50,467 word document to NaNoWriMo’s website! That means I’m a winner! clapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclap…

I decided that since my goal for today was to finish the 50k, not finish the novel that I would focus on just the first two chapters of the four I had left to write today. I wrote about 1,500 words on each and that pushed me over into victory territory. I still have the last two chapters of the book to write, but first I think I’ll rest my little aching fingers. I don’t plan to post anything her for a few days while I recover from this writing binge. But I only want to recover a little. Turns out I like writing almost every day and seeing a story take shape.


By now I should have 45,009 words.
My winning count is 50,467 words.

Very Near the End

Today was another good day for writing. It’s another record for my productivity. I first finished up chapter sixteen and thought of an interesting way to link one of Meghin’s fellow security officers to Riley. I have all this stuff that is still lingering in the distant background that I want to bring to the forefront. That’ll be draft two… or a sequel. That’s right, I am thinking of a sequel. I had all these ideas that Deep Dark would be a little fledgling democracy in against all the rule-by-corporation stuff. That set up Riley and his right hand man Rook (an android) to be at odds with the devoted company types like Meghin and Pyotr and the higher ups who eventually track them there. Well, a lot of that didn’t make it into this draft. I don’t actually spend a lot of time with Riley. Rook, as a secondary to Riley, hardly gets any time at all. That’s why I need another novel to focus on Rook and his efforts for the democracy on Deep Dark and for his own greater rights as an android (artificial person). Anyway…

I finished seventeen and eighteen too. Seventeen contains some of the most important stuff about the aliens that I’ve yet written. In a way that stuff that happens there with the alien queen is why I wrote the story. The whole theft of the artifact and such is all a device to get a few humans into a position where they can find out a little more about the history and nature of the xenomorph species. That being said, I am quite happy with the resulting chapter. It has just the right tone to it. Flowing that the reactions of both Pyotr and Meghin to what they have learned are compared and contrasted. It’s not great yet, but I think there is real potential in it.

So. I have only3,000 more words before I reach the required total. That’s much better than I hoped I could be by this point. I have a lot to do tomorrow to be ready for our after-Thanksgiving trip, but surely I can find the time to write 3,000 words. Surely. The only problem is that I have four more chapters left to write. None of the stories are done yet. I couldn’t bring them to a close in just 750 words each! My dilemma is deciding if I should write short versions of each remaining chapter to be done with the story or just continue as I have and turn in a 50,0000 word novel that’s missing the last two chapters. Decisions, decisions…

For fun, here’s another excerpt. It describes Meghin first seeing the queen alien. (I claim all rights to my original characters and words. Other names, concepts and characters are the property of 20th Century Fox. Do not re-post this excerpt without consent.)

*******
It was a tower of a creature. Meghin panned the light up from the thick spear point tail to the powerful legs in above that its torso looked like a broken mountain range of knotted insect shell. Two long arms ending in claws as long as Meghin’s own hand, rested almost leisurely on the knotted knees. The head was immense, like a demon spaceship pointing into the Earth. It flared out from a maw of needles into a dozen upward curving points. Combining the absolute worst of a spider, a snake and a rhinoceros, it was a queen. A Queen of Xibalba made real, if ever there had been such a thing.
*******

By now I should have 43,342 words.
My current count is 47,206 words.

Record Productivity

I have so many things to say, I’m not sure where to start…

The first thing I did today was typed up all the material I wrote pen & ink this past weekend. I want in all in electronic form, one so it can be officially counted by NaNoWriMo’s counting bots and two so I can edit with ease. Not now of course, that comes later. It turns out that my rough estimate was a little under. I wrote over 1,700 while away. That was the end of chapter thirteen and the start of fourteen. Today in the morning I worked on getting chapter fourteen done and succeeded. I had a great idea to change up the ending a bit that makes it all work a little better. My new fourteen involves Meghin going after Pyotr who has been taken into the hive.

In the afternoon I tried something my writing buddy, AbbyDarling, suggested to me. It’s called Write or Die. It’s kind of exactly what it sounds like except that “die” actually means “hear annoying songs and noises.” The feature I like best is that it counts your words as you type and displays the total at the bottom of the screen. At this point in my WriMo I have a certain number of chapters I feel I have to write – that would be eight after chapter fourteen. On the other hand, I only needed to do 12,000 more words. That’s just 1,500 words per chapter. That’s really short for the chapters I’ve been doing so far. With Write or Die’s constantly counting word count I have a better feel for when I need to move on to the next thing in the novel. It really worked for me I only annoying sounds twice and then chapter fifteen was done. Later, I tried it again for chapter sixteen and again I produced (nearly) a hole chapter in the required word limit.

	1697
90
lab.drwicked.com

I love it, but I don’t want to get to the point that I rely on it. So I’ll try not using the widget tomorrow. I’m torn though, because productivity is really important to me at this point. I want to finish on Thanksgiving Day and that means that I need to be doing 4,000 a day for three days in row. With all the work I did today I actually managed 4,200 words today. That is by far my most productive day yet this month (former record was day 8’s 3,800). Go me!

Of course I can’t take quite take all the credit. Several people have been encouraging me all along and especially now that it’s so close to the end and I’m so far behind where I want to be. I was really discouraged yesterday. But today, I’ve caught up! I’ve more than caught up, I’m ahead again (if only just)! Thanks to all those who have urged me on! According to my personal tzolk’in today is the day of Speaking Defeat. An ominous portent to be sure. Sometimes it’s good to go with the flow of the day and sometimes it’s a day to go against the flow. That was today. I so easily could have spoken of nothing but defeat, but now I’m so close to the win, I can really feel it. There’s a bit yet to go, but the end is really is sight.

By now I should have 41,675 words.
My current count is 42,031 words.

Tiring Adventures

This weekend, and today, I have felt like calling this off more than ever. I have written everyday, but not very much. Today’s count was just over 500 words. On the trip this weekend I only did about 1,300 words in three days. I don’t have an official count on all that just yet because it’s all still pen and paper. The best thing about this weekend is that I now have a much better handle on how this story is going to wrap up. Well, that’s the best writing-related thing about the weekend. Seeing Grand Canyon was the best thing about the weekend. We had other adventures which might make for interesting reading but mostly I’ve been so tired and distracted every day that I’ve had next to no chance of working on Deep Dark. I’m far behind again and the end is coming up close. I am traveling again after Thanksgiving so I’ve basically only got three more days to wrap this project up. I’m not sure I can make it…

By now I should have 40,008 words.
My current count is somewhere close to 37,274 words.

Did You Gain By Your Delay?

I recently watched The Seventh Seal. While generally regarded as a masterpiece, I think it’s so existential and expressionist that you would only like it if you like that sort of film. The image of a man playing chess with Death was lifted by Bergman from a fresco by Albertus Pictor in Täby kyrka, north of Stockholm.

I’m away. I set this to post a head of time. Feel to the very end the triumph of being alive!

By now I should have 38,341 words.
My current count is ????? words.

Wonderful Things…

On this day in 1922 the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun was officially opened by Egyptologist and master self-promoter, Howard Carter. For something only slightly related, try this.

I’m away. I set this to post a head of time. Keep safe in the night of ages.

By now I should have 36,674 words.
My current count is ????? words.

This is Not a Birthday

Today is the 110th anniversary of the birth of René Magritte. Since he is one of my favorite artists, I thought I should make mention of it. Visit his gallery.

I’m away. I set this to post a head of time. Live long and proper.

By now I should have 35,007 words.
My current count is ????? words.

Now For a Little Break

My goal for today was to write 4,500 words. That’s really ambitious, I feel, but I needed to get a lot done as I’ll be away from the computer for a few days. Maya and I are going a bit of a vacation. I’ll be able to write the old-school way with a pen and paper, but I’ll have to type it all up later to get it word counted. My fantasy was to get so far ahead today that I wouldn’t have to worry about it. As it is I managed 3,500 some which is my third most productive day this month. I can live with that. Also, it’s probably a good thing not to stop writing altogether at this point. I’m on track to win if I can just keep the flow going.

I’m now in chapter thirteen which is back to the perspective of the young alien queen. She’s raging about the outskirts of the hive when word comes that there are intruders. She’s not happy about it. “With every step she became more angry, more anxious to do some damage.” That’s an alien for you.

Wish us a safe journey. See you went I get back.

By now I should have 33,340 words.
My current count is 35,439 words.

Responsible for All Materials Borrowed

It was very hard to sit down to write today. In addition to going to look at some prehistoric irrigation canals Maya and I became card carrying members of the local library. We checked out a whole pile of books. I got Vladimir Nabokov’s Pale Fire. I’ve wanted to read it for a long time. In fact thinking about it is where I got Pyotr’s last name from. I even snuck that title into Deep Dark as an “Easter egg,” I guess. In any case I won’t start the book yet because I am still in the middle of book seven of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower. That’s just not a place where you can stop and go pick up something else. Yet I can’t read that either, because I’m trying to win NaNoWriMo! So I was stewing in the cognitive dissonance that wanted to read two different things and write something else all at the same time generates.

Noveling won out in the end. It’s the one that has a deadline! I managed to add 1,160 words. I now have finished the boring committee meeting that chapter eleven became and I’ve just started on chapter twelve. I’ve tried something to dial up the tension so that it’s a little less sitting around. This one should be an easy chapter because it’s the one where my xeno expert gets to show off how much he knows.

Aaaaand midnight has come and gone again…

By now I should have 31,673 words.
My current count is 31,879 words.

Making Headway

After several days of not really getting much done I’ve managed to write a fair amount today. I wrote 750 words last night after I put up the post. I wrote another 3,000 today. That’s twice the daily quota, but even with all that I’m still only a squeak ahead of the total number I should have by now. If I could only do 4,000 words for two days in a row, that would give me a nice, comfortable margin.

So now, my main characters – all four of them – are in the same place. They are all on board Deep Dark. I’m really enjoying writing Meghin, Pyotr and Riley all interacting with each other. I’ve also had fun designing the ships I’ve been talking about. Now I know what the marine ship and what Meghin’s patrol craft look like. I’ve got labeled diagrams! On the down side I need more action! I thought I would have it when they all got to the station, but it hasn’t happened yet. Maybe in chapter twelve…

Here’s the bit where Meghin and Pyotr first arrive and contact the station. They are told to wait for the mayor and while they wait…
(I claim all rights to my original characters and words. Other names, concepts and characters are the property of 20th Century Fox. Do not re-post this excerpt without consent.)

*******
“What do you make of this place.”

“Fascinating. I think I’ve got some of these optics figured out. This asteroid is covered in domes and towers, you can see if you zoom in. These designs aren’t like anything I’ve ever seen before. How could anyone miss this as alien?”

It was a good question. The asteroid was large and very dark. Type D asteroids were always dark, but this was the largest she had seen. It had a faint red tint, but it was really hard to be sure if that was actually from the asteroid or just the reflected light of distant Lalande. Switching her visuals to high-frequency ultraviolet the constructions on the surface popped out in brilliant contrast. There were at least four main domes that Meghin could see. They weren’t really domes, however. They were more pointed than that, but they were not true pyramids, either. She was reminded most strongly of the Mayan temple platforms near her childhood home. These were round, but had the same tiers and steep sides. From these temple-domes and from the surface of the asteroid itself protruded hundreds of small towers. Most were small, but some were large. They seemed to be built at many different and haphazard angels. The thought occurred to her that they could each be pointed at a different star, as if they were part of a navigation system. “What do you make of it?” she asked Pyotr again.

“Alien. Old. Can’t say any more at this time.” Meghin thought he sounded like someone who suspects something, but wanted to keep it to himself. She was about to press him for more, but her comms panel crackled with an in-coming message.

“This is Mayor Riley Mosley of Dark 163. Please state your name and purpose.” The voice was gruff and coldly formal. This was someone used to being charge, Meghin thought.

“I am Captain Meghin Estrella with CivCom, Security Section.” She hadn’t really expected to find a formal operation here lead by people with titles and using standard comms. It was all so official feeling, like these people lived here. Maybe they did. Maybe they were squatters holed up in this alien space base for whatever reason. Now that she was here, she wasn’t sure how to proceed. Did she come out and say “xenomorphs?” It such a word of terror they might just seize up. They were outside the law, even if they nothing to do with the xenos. These people had no reason to cooperate with Security Section. Well, she decided, let’s just see how the bones scatter. “I am investigating a possible infestation. I’ve tracked a ship here from Zadjel. I’d like to come aboard your…” what should she call it? “…facility and check for evidence of the infestation.”

Standoffish the voice came back, “What sort of infestation are you talking about?”

No reason to hedge anymore. “Xenomorph.” There it was, the “x-word.” The conversation killer and the word most likely to set the residents against her, whether they had anything to do with the monsters or not. She waited in the emptiness. Her tiny patrol ship, part transport and part fighter, facing a huge, alien station turned into human refugee camp across just a few kilometers. “Now we’ll see if they’re on our side or not,” she said to Pyotr. Behind her, he made some kind of non-committal noise.

Meghin was beginning to think that the conversation was over. She was already thinking about emergency docking procedures and cutting into their hull. She was weighing this option against going back for a larger ship (and some backup). Then, to her surprise, the gruff voice came again over the speakers. “Okay. Come aboard.” It was hard to be sure through the static, but Meghin thought the voice sounded tired. “Our docking bay is on our axis of rotation. We use military docking procedures. Do you know them, Captain?”

“I’m sure I’ll manage.”

“I’ll meet you at the dock.”
*******

By now I should have 30,006 words.
My current count is 30,718 words.

On The

I had visions of doing 4,000 or more words today. I needed to write that much to make up for recent slackage and to get ahead. I really want to finish early because I’m not going to have much time after Thanksgiving. Well, I didn’t make my personal goal. I did a little more than half of that.

Speaking of half: I am half done with the novel (at least by word count). I passed 25,000 today. So, what are the middle two words of the book? Words 25,000 and 25,001 are (drum roll please: dum dum da da da da da da…), “on the.” Since that isn’t really very interesting, I will reveal the whole sentence (which isn’t much more interesting), “Lalande and the orbits of its five planets were plotted on the screen.”

Ta da!

By now I should have 28,339 words.
My current count is 27,026 words.

Halfway to Go...

Didn’t write yesterday. For shame… Unlike a cartwheeling StrongBad, I just can’t seem to break through this brick wall. Zounds!

By now I should have 26,672 words.
My current count is 24,117 words.

Slogging Along

Here’s some words of wisdom from the writer-in-chief of NaNoWriMo:

…the 20,000s are the last momentum-sucking slog you'll have to endure this month. Getting through them is tough, but once you do, the Road to Awesome will open up before you.
-Chris Baty

It’s so true! Chapter eight was okay, but nine is a mess! I can’t seem to get moving on it. I’ve sat before the screen for hours and produced only a couple hundred words. I was really excited about getting to the half-way point today. It just isn’t happening… *snorts frustration* I know I’m not alone in this, my writing buddies have mentioned not liking their novels or trying to re-arrange their plots. I guess I’ll just have to write something, anything… Chapter eleven will be good, if I can just get there

By now I should have 25,005 words.
My current count is 24,117 words.

So Close!

Alas, I didn’t quuuuite make today’s quota. I started out this morning a little bit ahead but now I am behind again– but only just. Another 39 words and I’ll be on schedule. A mere 39! I’ll have that before I finish the paragraph I’m in the middle of! (or is it “of which I’m in the middle?” That can’t be right.)

I’m not too happy with chapter nine so far. Other than actually getting Pyotr to Lalande, everything so far is just Pyotr’s incoherent thoughts about space flight, the dim sunlight of Zajdel, and Meghin herself. Not too interesting. This is coming up on the half-way point of the novel, I should really be ramping up the action right now. This is the “rising action” section. Me? I’ve got endlessly plateauing non action… Well, I said I wouldn’t bad-talk my own work (at least not in November) so I guess I’ll just say, “Yay I’m keeping up!” There’s someone on the NaNoWriMo site with a posted count of 62,000 some words – already!

By now I should have 23,338 words.
My current count is 23,299 words.

A Record-Setting Day

Alas, tomorrow has snuck up on me again! Well, at least I made my quota for today(yesterday). I’m ahead of schedule again, but only just. It was a decent day for writing. I started chapter nine. I have quite a bit more to go but I like the way it is shaping up so far.

Here’s some news: today Deep Dark (which I may change to The Deep Dark) became the longest work of fiction I have ever written. It surpassed even Jaws of Empire (currently at 21,725 words) which I have for months been thinking of as my “major” work in progress. I guess that shows what doing a bit (almost) every day can accomplish. I don’t have access just at the moment to all of the papers I wrote in college, but I think at 34 single-spaced pages, this must be the longest work of any type that I have ever written. I consider this all something of an achievement!

By now I should have 21,671 words.
My current count is 22,035 words.

Speedy Recovery

Alright, so I’m doing okay. I’ve caught up to where I should have been last night and now I’m well into today’s quota. In just 526 words, I’ll be ahead again. I can totally do that before bedtime! I thank all the green tea I’ve been drinking today.

I just finished chapter eight. In it Meghin begins to put the pieces together and finds out where they need to go next although she doesn’t quite know what they’ll find yet.

I have been better this year about not stopping for internet research. Is Olympus Mons tall enough that it would still be sunlit when the plain around has already gone to night? (See the excerpt a few posts back for that.) It makes sense that it would but I did not try to check this on any kinds of NASA or Skylab type website. A lot of stuff about the marine ship Marcovaldo came out in my writing today, but I had decided on that ship’s name a long time ago. It did take a while to decided on it, but I did all that one night after finishing my quota. The only things in a while that I’ve just had to look while writing are the name of the wife of Agamemnon and the name of a saint from Africa. Turns out there aren’t many saints that are 1)from sub-Saharan Africa, 2)lived before the Renaissance and 3)are recognized by the Roman Catholic church. I eventually decided on St. Moses the Strong. Next: Pyotr heads for Zajdel.
By now I should have 21,671 words.
My current count is 21,146 words.

Slack

For some reason I just couldn’t write yesterday. Not sure what it was about me or the day, but I didn’t want to. I guess I am suffering from Week Two Blahs. Need to get going again. No more watching Metroid Prime 2 speed run videos on You Tube!

Three… Two… One… Write!

By now I should have 20,0004 words.
My current count is 19,374 words.

On Armistice Day

Most of my day was not spent writing. A lot of it was taken up in making a turkey costume for the plush Domo that Maya and I got at Halloween. Now, instead of a pumpkin, Domo is dressed up like a turkey. Really. We also made fajitas for supper and watched the new Futurama movie: Bender’s Game. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, that’s okay. I won’t apologize, but I do give you permission to ignore me.

Starting at about 23:15 tonight (technically yesterday, at this point) I did start writing. I almost let it slide altogether, but I recalled some advice from last year’s attempt: Never go a day without writing. Even if it’s only 10 words, at least you are still working on it. With that in mind I started written and now I’ve got almost 500 words I didn’t have before. That’s something!

Today I noticed a mildly disturbing trend in my writing. Every new character that I come up with is male. Other than Meghin I only have a gender neutral synthetic dressed as a woman and the lady Skorpios refers to. Well, I guess all the aliens are female. Most of them, anyway. But it’s not enough. I’m trying to use all kinds of sources for my names to show the multi-ethnic nature of life off the Earth. I think that in such a future society there would be at least as many women in the workforce as men. So, either I need to go back and change names (maybe a job that needs to wait for draft two) or I need to introduce more females in the pages ahead. Speaking of pages, my .doc is 30 pages long – single spaced!

By now I should have 18,337 words.
My current count is 19,374 words.

Right as Rain

I did not quite make today’s quota, but I’ve been ahead for the last few days so I think it’ll be okay. I finished up Meghin and Pyotr’s conversation. Low and behold I now know what the next two chapters are going to be about. Meghin has to find out some more information that will lead them to Deep Dark and Pyotr has to join Meghin on Zajdel. I keep hacking away and the word count keeps getting higher. I don’t really have anything else to say, I guess, so here’s another bit from today’s writing. I claim all rights to my original characters and words. Do not re-post without consent.

*******
Pyotr stumbled up and to the door. In the hallway he gasped for breath. Strange that he should feel so restricted. This was a life he had chosen. He had things pretty good. All things considered. He walked to the picture window at the end of the hallway. Night had come. The rocky uplands stretched away in the darkness but the sands looked almost pearlescent in the thin moon light. Far away was Olympus Mons, so tall that the top of its western slope was still sunlit. With darkness all around that ruddy peak looked afire. It was the Fire of Olympus, to be sure, and he felt its mythical pull. He felt a deep longing for open landscape and the need to escape from his bonds. He placed a hand on the cold glass and stared at the Martian night. The fate of the original fire-stealer never came to his mind.

A scream startled him out of his dreams. Now he did remember the eagle with a taste for liver. Spinning, half expecting to see flapping wings filling the hallway, he saw Skorpios Temeni grinning from ear to ear. “Day’s done Nabokov! Time for to cheer!” Pyotr’s fellow scientist lifted his face to the ceiling and screamed again. “You going three doors down?” There were several bars near the lab. One in particular was frequented by those just rotating off shift. “Wash says they got a new girl at Squat’s. I hear she’s got knockers out to here!” Temeni held his hands an unlikely distance out in front of him. “So, you coming tonight?” His smile was huge and his eyes wide.

“You know I don’t go in for that, Temeni”

“Man, what’s wrong with you?” Pyotr could only shrug. “Whatever. We’ll get you one of these days!” He turned without any more pleasantries and trotted away down the hall. He let loose yet another yawp as he disappeared around the corner.
*******

By now I should have 16,670 words.
My current count is 18,898 words.

A Day At the Lab

I wrote about Pyotr today. He’s in his research facility, watching his xenomorph specimens smell their way through a maze. I resisted the urge to talk about how it was like a hamster run except with a man-sized, fanged, acid-blooded hamster. Right now he and Meghin are hashing out (via hyperspace link-up) the details of… well, somehow Pyotr ends up going to where Meghin is so the conversation has to get him to the point that he would leave his cozy research and embark on a dangerous adventure. He has to, or the rest of the novel doesn’t happen! I’m sure I’ll get it. Most things so far are coming out better as I write them than when I think about them beforehand. The only thing that is concerning me right not is that while I am on-track to finish 50,000 words by 30 Nov, my story may not be done by then. Today I surpassed the 1/3 mark with still some more to go before I even get my main characters altogether. I told myself that Meghin and Pyotr had to get to Deep Dark by the half-way mark. Hope I can meet that goal!

So, writing two of my main characters having a conversation with each other is not something I have written yet. Not in anything I’ve written. Fun! I’m really having fun with this novel-writing thing!

By now I should have 15,003 words.
My current count is 17,282 words.

Et Maintenant il est Après Minuit…

I keep meaning to get these posts up before the date rolls over. I guess I can’t be too upset about it tonight, though, because I was in the zone. I checked the time about 23:00 and then when I looked again it was 23:58. No chance to type up a post by then! Alas. Buuuut, like I said, I was in the zone tonight! I was for most of the day, really. This morning I started out close to 700 words down. That bit at the end of yesterday’s post about going back to it… that didn’t happen. I worked most of the day and now I’m ending the day over 1,000 words ahead. I’ve written 3,800 words today! That’s the most of any day so far this WriMo. It may be my most productive day ever. I can’t be sure of course, because I don’t keep daily word counts the rest of the time, but it feels like I got a lot done. With this new total I have surpassed my WriMo from last year – in only 8 days! My final total for that book was only 12,303 words.

I did some very good work on chapter five. Things just came together for the alien character as I was writing about her lying on the rocks expecting to die. I’ve thought of a way to improve the character and gain a lot of insight into the alien species and their hive culture. I think all that stuff is fascinating and that’s one of the main reasons I’m into this project in the first place. It wasn’t planned. Somewhere between one key stroke and the next, the path was clear. I guess that’s all that making gold stuff Stroud was talking about.

After I finished that chapter I went on to another. The new one features another main character, Riley Mosley. He’s the Mayor/Captain of the community living inside the asteroid where the aliens also live. I’ve introduced his heritage, talked about his swanky (for a Spartan) office, shown him examining a strangely carved stone he found recently, and now he is discussing growing tomatoes with his second in command. I’m close to the end of it now. I just need to introduce one more little idea before I can move on, so I might go finish it up after I post this.

I’ve also decided that I need to re-arrange the chapters. So the chapter I was just discussing (the 6th I’ve written) has moved up to be chapter four and the one I wrote as chapter five (the alien chapter) has moved down to be chapter seven. Here’s a list of what I have so far:

1. Aliens steal an ancient artifact
2. Meghin begins to investigate the aliens
3. Pyotr painting and then at work on Mars
4. Riley at Deep Dark, dealing with various things
5. Meghin goes to see a lead about the artifact
6.
7. Artifact reaches the alien hive

Tomorrow I’ll start chapter six!

By now I should have 13,336 words.
My current count is 14,802 words.

Mother says Bring!

I did not do much writing today. It was a day for working crosswords, seeing museums and cooking a big meal. The writing I did do is pretty good. I added 700 or so words to chapter five, which is from the perspective of one of the alien drones. The other side of stealing the artifact is bringing it back home. Here’s a taste:

*******
She was not thinking about the distances she still had to run once she got inside. She had been sent to bring this thing back and she would. She would make it inside, if no further. She crawled. Lifting the stone and setting it down ahead of her she drug her knees forward until she was close again, then lifted the stone forward again. A mere ten steps from the gate, the door to home, the last entrance, she collapsed completely. Run down, she thought. It was no further away than the length of a tail strike in prime condition and yet she had nothing left. She would lay here on the jagged rocks under the whispering suns for a while, then she would be gone.
*******

There will be more tonight. I plan to have today’s quota before I sleep, but I wanted to get this post up before midnight (but I just missed it!).

By now I should have 11,669 words.
My current count is 10,977 words.

Gold Dust

I kept working last night (that is, in the small hours of the 6th) and I managed to get chapter four to a close. It stops more than wraps up, but I feel like building more suspense in this early part of the book. When I finally went to bed I only needed 23 more words to meet today’s quota. I did that and more this morning (again, 6 November). Chapter five has us back to what the aliens are up to. I’m not sure how it’s going to go, but I like the way I describe the sensations of the aliens arriving home to DeepDark.

With this whole NaNoWriMo thing you get regular e-mail encouragement! Some are sent by the head of the whole shebang. A nugget I’m taking from his week one message is this:

Getting through a first draft will require you leave perfectionism and self-criticism at the door.
- Chris Batty

Most of what I have written so far on this blog is about how my work doesn’t measure up. I’m going to try to have less of that. I’m going to try to just celebrate my writing, at least for now.

The encouragement doesn’t just come from the NaNoWriMo staff, either. We get messaged from “real,” published writers. It’s great, because they don’t talk down to people new at this or hint that we aren’t actually writing a novel. They just share stories about their own writing experiences. He’s a bit from a name you may know:

…when I look over and see a little fragile stack of written pages that weren't there that morning. A few hours earlier they didn't exist. And now they do. In a strange way this is more actively thrilling than even holding my finished, printed, book in my hands. It's where the magic lies. Alchemists tried for centuries to turn base metals into gold. Every time we sit down and put words on paper, we succeed where they failed. We're conjuring something out of nothing.
-Jonathan Stroud

By now I should have 10,002 words.
My current count is 10,228 words.

Longest Chapter Ever

Today was a good day for writing. That’s the only thing I did today, but a made great progress. I wrote 3300 words today! That’s the most I’ve written in one day yet. It’s all in chapter four too, which is still not done. It was supposed to be Meghin going to see a contact connected to the mystery of the aliens’ behavior. Even after all that writing, though, I’m not quite there yet. First I had to describe her office and them how she said goodbye to an old friend. Then she gets on a jump ship to space hop over to other side of the planet and that makes her think of when she had to evacuate Earth as a child. When she actually gets there… Well, I wrote a bunch of stuff. Mostly it is a series of conversations with really eccentric minor characters. It’s all interesting stuff, I’m just not getting around to writing the actual conversation Meghin went to have. I’m going to go work on that when I finish this post. Hopefully it turns out well.

Without my consent this guy she’s visiting has expressed himself as some kind of travel agent slash geologist who sometimes deals in alien artifacts. He’s from an Amish community on the next planet over. That’s right. Amish folks. In space. It’s an idea I’ve wanted to use for a long a long time and somehow it snuck right into this story and now I have to go with it. He uses some kind of dumbbell-shaped communication device Meghin doesn’t recognize and speaks with an accent she can’t place. Oh and he has wooden furniture. Not sim-u-plast, real wood. Very exciting stuff.

I intend to periodically put up notable excerpts when I’ve written something I consider “good enough.” Today I wrote my first of those bits. It’s Meghin remembering her past. I claim all rights to my original characters and words. Do not re-post without consent.

*******
“We call them bugs,” Mother is telling her as they pack a small bag. Granmama is already by the door, clearly upset and mumbling something about the revenge of Kawil. Little Meghin, no more than five, doesn’t understand why they have to go. Bugs are only big after all, she thinks. Mother sets down her big gun and takes ahold of little Meghin’s shoulders. There are tears at the corners of her eyes. Meghin can’t remember if she has ever seen her mother cry before. “Meghin, these are big bugs, from space.” You know ‘space,’ right?”
Meghin nods, “above the sky,” she says matter-of-factly. She is a good student. “By why do we have to go? You’re here to protect us.” The honest innocence of a child
Mother’s tears begin to fall now. “Yes, that’s what I’m going to do. But I don’t know if… I might not… I want you to be safe. I want you to go with Granmama and take care of her. You protect her. I have to fight the bugs and then I’ll… then I’ll come find you. Meghin is too young to suspect Mother could be lying to her. Mother hugs her tight and then kisses her on the forehead, the lips, each cheek. Meghin reluctantly hugs back. Her tiny hands resting against her mother’s strong arms. Her tiny nose pressed against her sweaty chest. “I love you,” Mother whispers.
“I love you momma,” coos little Meghin., starting to cry a little herself. Her lip quivers any she opens her mouth but there is nothing to say.
Mother carries her to the transport. Inside are other children, other granmamas, granpapas. Only when the transport begins to lift off the ground does Meghin become scared. Mother is left behind. At first Meghin sees her, standing at the edge of the jungle clearing and waving. Then she only sees the trees, then just a sea of dark green in the coming night with an empty brown dot in the middle of it. Then nothing at all, there are too many tears. Mother never comes to find her.
*******

By now I should have 8,335 words.
My current count is 9,063 words.

Dis… Distra… Distractions!

Today (4 November) was an amazing day, but not for writing. Maya and I spent a wonderful day out and about together. We’ve just added cable TV so during dinner (Indian food we made ourselves!) we watched a show about the Rendlesham Forest UFO. It’s totally the best-documented and most-likely UFO encounter I’ve ever heard of. Way better than Roswell. I know because the next show was on Roswell! Look it up: Rendlesham. Of course there were also election results to look at. It was a wonderful day to be alive, just a terrible day for focusing on my novel.

I only wrote 580 words today! That brings me to the end of chapter three, and I never got around to really introducing the character. I did let myself re-read some of it and made minor changes. Mostly I inserted an earlier mention of a nervous habit I invented for Pyotr today. I think he’s going to be scratching behind that right ear a lot.

Next we’ll go back to Meghin on Zajdel. I need to do 2500+ words tomorrow, just to get caught up!

By now I should have 6,668 words.
My current count is 5,763 words.

Mars is What?

After I posted last night I went back to it and started chapter three. That’s where we meet our scientist. Last night I wrote about him unwinding and today I wrote about him going back to work the next day. I don’t really say a lot. Mostly I drone on about touch screen controls and the terraforming history of Mars. I have this idea that Mars has a breathable atmosphere now, but is still cold and dry. It was all fairly easy to write, but I don’t think it’s very good. Also, a lot of it doesn’t need to be in the story. It’s wordy filler. However, I’m determined not to go back and re-read it now. I’ll just get caught up in re-doing. I don’t have time for that. Rather, I don’t want to spend the time I have on that. Where I stopped today has Pyotr at his office receiving the message from Meghin, so things are really about to start happening. That’s a good place to start from tomorrow.

By now I should have 5001 words.
My current count is 5183 words.

Not Much of a Much

I had a really long list of things I wanted to get done today and just wasn’t able to squeeze in much time for working on my WriMo. This is a bad sign. It’s only day two! With the big lead I got yesterday, however, I am still ahead of the game. Ever so slightly ahead.

Yesterday I wrote the first chapter, in which the aliens – xenomorphs – break into the museum. I continued on into the second chapter, in which Meghin arrives on the scene and takes a look around. Today I finished up chapter two, but it was mostly the events of chapter one seen from a different perspective as a human watches what the aliens did on security tapes. I feel like I didn’t really advance the plot much. I can take consolation in the fact that Meghin’s attitude and her thoughts about what she’s seeing begin to reveal her character. That’s good. I’ve read (or heard) some famous line about writing that states every sentence of a “well written” story should advance the plot or reveal character. I don’t claim to have anywhere near that kind of efficiency, but that is, very broadly, what I’ve written in my first two chapters: plot and character. I guess I need more plot next.

By now I should have 3,334 words.
My current count is 3,352 words.

The Quest Begins

I had intended to post an overview of my plot before the month actually started. I just never got around to it. So, today is 1 November and today I started writing my WriMo. I think the writing went well. Maya was at work today so I had the whole place to myself. I wrote, ate lunch, did some research and wrote, but not much else. So considering that, maybe I didn’t do so well after all. To make the 50,000 in 30 days you have to write (type) 1,667 words a day. I did 2,318 today. So as of day one, I am ahead of schedule. Of course, again, that doesn’t count for as much as it might because the first day is the freshest day. There are no weedy plot paths to struggle through, just a blank page and your ideas.

I mentioned that I didn’t want to get bogged down in looking something up every paragraph, but I did! My main character… one of my main characters is originally from the Yucatan peninsula so I wanted her to have an authentic surname. Typing “modern Yucatan surname” and similar into Google just didn’t turn up results like I wanted very fast. Right now she is Meghin Estrella. Apparently, Mayan for “star” is ek which was translated by the Spanish to Estrella. It isn’t a very common surname, but the fact that it’s both vaguely sci-fi and is, apparently, authentically Yucatanese(?) appeals to me. For now. I have to remember this is just draft one. The subtle associations for various characters’ names can always be revised later.

Another thing that occupied me far too long is the name of the planet the story starts on. I should have just stuck with something simple like Alpha III – how generic is that?! It took me one half of one second to come up with that just now! But no, I had to be all thoughtful and decide first on a star that is the “right” distance away from Earth and then think about what people might name a planet around that star. Sitting here, now, I can see those details are unnecessary for the story. Yet, while writing, I felt unable to go until I had a good name. The name I settled on, for reasons that I may explain in the novel (or not), is Zajdel.

Having said all that, I really feel I must relate some of the plot. The franchise this is set in is a Twentieth Century Fox / Dark Horse property: Aliens. I’m a long-time fan of the movies. I appreciate all of them in their own way. I’ve also read quite a few of the Dark Horse comics. Oh, and the novels. Great stuff. I could gush on an on about Aliens and the Aliens story world, but I’ll control the urge, for now.

For those of you who are also fans of the series let me say that this novel fits into the over-all time line after all four films, after Earth Hive (also know as Outbreak), Nightmare Asylum and The Female War but before the main events of Aliens vs. Predator: Deadliest of the Species and Genocide. Exactly how it fits in is hedgy at best as there is no “official” time line of all the different stories. I’ve spent a while over the last week sorting out the sequence of events I want to follow.

As for my story, it happens (mostly) in a near-Earth system in the first years after Earth is over-run by aliens. In the aftermath of the Earth’s infestation, the all-encompassing Wayland-Yutani Corporation fractures and several new companies are established and proceed to compete amongst themselves. Military enforcement essentially disappears. With this as the back ground the novel opens when aliens attack and steal an ancient artifact from a museum. Meghin Estrella is the security chief assigned to investigate this highly unusual behavior. She contacts a top alien behavioral scientist on Mars named Pyotr Nabokov. Together they investigate and track the alien to an asteroid with a human community of squatters. The asteroid, given the designation Deep Space Object DRK 801, was hauled in from deep space for mining purposes in the days before Earth fell. It was never mined because it turned out to have been converted to a space station by some ancient unknown race. A proper investigation was never conducted because of the partial collapse of W-Y and of authority in general. The squatters came later.

When Meghin and Pyotr arrive they meet Riley Moore, a former Colonial Marine who has retired to build democracy up from the ground on the station they call Deep Dark. They are aware of the aliens in the lowest levels of the ancient station, but claim that there is a truce and the two sides leave each other alone. Riley is not interesting in these company people messing around on his turf. Soon he has more problems to worry about as two other groups arrive on Deep Dark. The first is a mercenary seeking to wipe out all alien hives and all those who would hide them. Short on her heels is a Company ship that (as always) wants samples of the alien for study. Into the tension of this four-way standoff comes yet another force: the aliens themselves. Amazing things are then revealed about their true nature and true motivations! Exactly how it all works out is still unclear, but hey I have all month to figure it out.

I think that is quite enough for one day. Au Revoir.

By now I should have 1,667 words.
My current count is 2,318 words.

Tying Off Loose Ends

I’ve decided I want to use this web log to reflect on all my writing, not just on this up-coming WriMo. To that end, here’s some news about a novel already in progress…

With NaNoWriMo coming up I feel the need to get some of my other writing projects to a “good point” before I leave them behind for a month. The biggest thing I’ve got going on right now is an epic fantasy novel that’s been in progress since March. I won’t go into the details, but it’s called Jaws of Empire. At least, it’s called that as of now. I have bits and pieces of the first seventeen chapters. A few are complete, some are no more than a few paragraphs. Almost all of them have accompanying notes about how to clean them up slash improve them. The goal is to spend these last few days of October with those chapters, getting them closer to their final form. That’s what I worked on today. I looked back at Chapter the First. It’s about a young pirate lass (well, other people call her a pirate) discussing with her captain the anti-pirate efforts of the neighboring empire and what they (the pirates) might be able to do about it. I had written some description of the harbor and a scene where the young lady meets the King that I needed to integrate into the rest of the chapter. That’s now complete. It came out pretty good too! At least I think so.

The Road Before Me

Greetings. I will be a participant in this year’s National Novel Writing Month and in a fit of over-ambitious creativity I’ve decided that in addition to actually writing my novel, I am going to write this log about writing my novel. This way, people other than my fellow participants can follow along with my progress.

For those of you that don’t know, the basics of NaNoWriMo are as follows: Starting on 1 November participants begin writing a novel. Typical things that writers focus on like plot progression, character development and intriguing settings are not in focus here. They are, in fact, mostly irrelevant. The only measure of success for NaNoWriMo is completion of a 50,000 word manuscript by midnight on 30 November. If you upload and have officially counted your 50,000 word novel by the end of the month, you win! If not, you don’t. There are no prizes, no publication opportunities and no expectations. There is only writing. The focus of the organizers is on getting people in our hyper-busy, über-connected modern civilization to take some time out for simple creativity.

I did NaNoWriMo last year, but I only managed 12,000 or so words. I was attempting a historical fiction set on Sri Lanka between the years 1948 and 1983 that dealt with two families on opposite sides of the political strife that has plagued that island. Basically, I was attempting a James Michner style, multi-generational epic. Since I started without knowing much more then that Sri Lanka is an island plagued by political strife, I was constantly finding myself bogged down in finding the answers to pressing questions like “what kind of animals are on the island?,” “did the British consulate have a large front porch?,” and “are there plantations on the east coast?” Suffice it to say I learned a lot more about Sri Lanka, but didn’t quite finish the novel.

This year I am trying something that (I hope) won’t get me so bogged down. I am going to write I science fiction novel. Not only that, but a science fiction novel based on a film franchise! This is no tabula rasa. I have a wealth of pre-established main characters, archetypal supporting characters, and plenty of loose threads left behind by the canon to draw upon. Plus sci-fi, generally, is highly malleable. Just about anything I want to happen can happen, no matter whether or not there have been any prior hints about it in the canon. I think this year I will totally win!

The greatest adventure is what lies ahead…