And it's official

week 4 of NaNoWriMo

My main character may have the power to see the future, but I sure don't. Here's some recent story developments that I totally didn't see coming:

The wallet that was empty and did not carry the mark of Superman
The Pact of the Pop-Tart
The Skirt in the girls' locker room that was not Analiese
Two trips to Dean Sanders's office (named after Sean)
The admiration of Bracken by the elusive and desirable female character as well as the formerly grumpy and undesirable leader of the surfer tribe


Now I should be coasting into the final acts of the drama with approximately 16k words left to write before midnight on 30 November. 33,623 and counting!

week 2 of NaNoWriMo

I hate to admit it, but I'm not doing so hot this year. I'm a week behind in writing (I'd have to write 8k tonight to be on the right track, and that's not happening) and Bracken's not being the great character driving force that my plot needs right now. He kind of just letting things happen to him, and that's not cool. :( And if that's not bad enough, I'm behind on my reading at work. Anyway, I'm hoping that I can get some writing done tonight to jump start me into tomorrow social writing event.
Random thought: Harry Potter 7 Part I next week. I hope it's good. And now back to the grindstone.

NaNoWriMo update--meet Jamison, the chauffer

"The cars were still lined up in their pristine condition—a 2000 Cadillac Eldorado taking the place of the wrecked Porsche, but every other vehicle still the same. Mr. Jamison still lived above the garage and polished the cars each day without fail, even in the middle of winter. Mr. Jamison kept mostly to himself; sometimes his work seemed that of a ghost. Bracken wasn’t really sure what Jamison did in the free hours of the afternoon when he wasn’t polishing the cars, tending the lawn, or chauffering the Carnagies to elaborate dinner parties, but he often pictured the elderly Brit sitting in a leather wingback with a thick cigar and a selection of Shakespeare’s poems, tapping his polished shoe to the crooning tones of Rosemary Clooney."

First post during NaNoWriMo 2010

Well, fellow writers, November is now upon us, and the writing frenzy is begun. Last night's writing party was very successful (in my opinion). I managed to crank out 1500 words, although who knows how terrible they may sound now in the daylight. Since I know my characters pretty well (although, who of us, even me, can say that we will ever truly know Bracken Carnegie?), I'm not too worried about him driving my plot forward toward the stunning final scene. My main concern right now is coming up with a working title so that I can stop referring to it as Bracken. While it does describe the book pretty well, being the main character's name and all, I am not as a general rule very happy about such mundane book titles.
Books that I formerly had called after their main characters, for example, are now pleasantly dubbed Into the Flames, Jumpin' Jehosephat!, and The Letter to Santa. See how much more intriguing those sound, as opposed to, for instance, Jane Eyre, David Copperfield, or Emma? Now don't get me wrong, those are all delightful books, but the titles don't really tell you that much about them except that their main characters have very common names.
Leaving you with these thoughts to ponder, I shall bid you adieu and make my way back the creative recourses of my brain where Bracken awaits his next move.

Teaser Two!

One of my failed attempts to start this story. I got stuck here and realized that it was not going in the right direction.

Bracken Carnegie. Not much thought went into that name. Bracken, a type of fern. Also the name of my mother’s grandfather, who was a lord of something or other in England. Carnegie, my father’s surname, of course. Passed down from the unknown generations. We’re said to be cousins to the famous Andrew Carnegie, the steel guy, and that’s why we’re rich, but not as rich as he was. And that’s all there is. No middle name, no nicknames, nothing. Just Bracken Carnegie. My parents consistently told me that their expectation of me were very low. Everybody else in their family had already done everything impressive. All I had to do to make them happy was play the violin like an angel, attend Harvard or Oxford, and marry a Kennedy.
Harder than it sounds.

NaNoWriMo 2010 teaser

"She had told me, three months ago, that she could breathe underwater, and I had believed her. But now, waiting for her among the cattails, glancing at my watch every two seconds, I realized that I hadn’t, not really. Despite the years of repression, my hero instincts wanted to take over. My heels kept lifting off the ground, allowing me to peer into the murky brown water, wanting to save her. Needing to save her. She had done so much for me, and now, here I was, still standing helplessly by. She told me to trust her, but I didn’t want to. I wanted to protect her. Why didn’t she ever need protecting?"

This isn't going to make it into the final draft, because I decided that the time frame for the story is going to be restricted to before he met Rahab, but I did this as a little pre-writing to get into Bracken's head. (Also I decided to make the story 3rd person.) Only 42 days until NaNoWriMo...

I see you.

Today's challenge: trying to weave together the disappearance of Jean and Hawkins with Rahab confronting Bracken about his powers. The two strands are inseparable in the story line, but it's hard to balance Rahab's desire to find her friend with her concern and compassion for Bracken's inner struggle. It's taking too much out of me. I've written a few carefully chosen sentences, but I think I must put off the rest of this scene for tomorrow.
Okay so I know that Avatar is a terrible movie plot- and character-wise, but I *might* have watched it again last night. (To make fun of it, of course!) But today I'm haunted by the phrase "I see you." In Avatar, this greeting sort of means, "My spirit connects with your spirit." (It really has to do with their religion, but that's not important right now.) "I see you" seems so appropriate with this scene of "Into the Flames" that I'm writing. Bracken's power (spoiler alert!) is being able to see through both objects and time. He has spent his whole life trying to hide this behind a rough exterior, but finally, everything is stripped away. Rahab gets to "see" Bracken. He's been trying to see through Rahab the whole novel, trying to figure out what makes her different from others. Maybe now he'll understand? Maybe, when he allows himself to be seen, he can see more fully?

Sol Stein, who's he?

The essence of dramatic conflict lies in the clash of wants. (Sol Stein)

There's so much that I could write about today. The above quote is from "Stein on Writing," a book I picked up during lunch today at Tate. Nothing that he said seemed very revolutionary, and really nothing that I read was any that I didn't already know. But somehow, as I turned the pages, I found thoughts sparking within my head about my novel that had never really appeared there. Mostly they were thoughts that made me realize just how much work I have left on Into the Flames. I've really merely scratched the surface of Rahab's character and I can't believe how quickly I've moved through the plot without showing everything that needs to be said. Needless to say, I've opened Scrivener and started re-organizing the whole plot and each character so that I make sure that no point in the story is left behind. For the past fifteen years (about how long I've been scribbling) I've given little thought to the structure of my novels, letting the characters carry me into and through the plot (or lack of plot). Now I see that if I don't write out exactly where I want each scene to go, Rahab won't let me write exactly her thought process and how she ended up to be the person she is at the end of the book.
Stein writes that everybody wants something, and it is the protagonists' desires that propel the story forward. The protagonist has to want something badly enough to fight for it. This afternoon I asked myself, "What does Rahab want?" She wants to be normal, she wants to be special, she wants to understand Bracken, she wants to be understood. Not only is Rahab clashing with herself and her desires, but her parents, Jean and Hawkins, Bracken, and, ultimately, James. All these people, in turn, have their own desires that they are striving to meet. The simple statement that I quoted above brought to light all the different subplots I have unconsciously woven throughout my novel and the different conflicting desires that have to be resolved before my story can end.
I can't wait to get started!

come to the poll!

I think one of my originals purposes in this blog was to do post bits of my stories on here, like I used to do on myspace. But I keep putting it off becuase I know that I can post a lot more story than I can write, and I don't want to get to the end of what I've written and leave everyone hanging. So I've told myself that I will wait until I finish one of my novels to publish it, one chapter (or half a chapter) at a time, on this blog. I don't know why I'm posting this except maybe that it will make it a more concrete goal. So here I am, committing to finish a novel for you, my few readers. Now, I have two stories that are my most complete, and I have most of the plot of both worked out in my head. I just need your votes on which to dedicate myself to, because I can't decide!

Vote! Either:
1) City of Orphans. Affectionately mentioned in conversation as "Pocatello," this story has been ruminating within me for over a decade, undergoing so many changes that you wouldn't notice anything similar about its current and present forms except the name of the countries Umberland and Windswept. I worked on this story this November to win NaNoWriMo 2009 and have been slowly revising it for the past three months.

2) Into the Flames. Also a story I've been working on for at least eight years, although Rahab was originally a secondary character, Into the Flames is near and dear to my heart. I worked on this story during Creative Writing in the Spring semester of 2009, and was very pleased with the positive response I received among my peer reviewers.

If you need any more info (such as plot elements) to make a decision, ask me. But you must vote! It is your duty as a supporter of the Arts!

Writing update

Yesterday I read through my whole "Into the Flames" manuscript and made notes about what I want to add. I did not, however, get a breakthrough on the whole "major conflict" issue. I ultimately decided to reject the "Bracken's sister in trouble" route because that would focus to much on him and his inner struggles. This book is about Ray. Bracken can have his own book to work through his own issues. Mom, this is a reminder that I need to give you a copy of my manuscript. Yes, I will give you my hard copy since I know you don't like to read it on the computer, but that means you'll have to wait until I've finished with the notes I made on it. I'm sorry I didn't think to give it to you during Fall Break.
I'm also working on another story with the Door Closed--i.e. you can't read it, but I wanted you to know my reasoning for being distracted from Into the Flames.

Thought of the Day: sometimes I wish I had become a singer instead of a writer. But then, I can still sing, it's not like my voice has been taken away from me, so I can really do both at the same time. But doing it for "real" would have been nice.

Question of the Day:
What is it like to feel the need to save the world but to know that nobody wants your help? How hard is it to have to break down and ask somebody else for help when you feel like you have more power than anybody else?

Idea that needs response:
I was going to have "Into the Flames" end with Ray asking Bracken for help in the mysterious disappearance of Jean and Hawkins, and in that way he found out they were like him and he was forced to get to know them. What if, instead, he knew all along but refused to acknowledge their sameness until he is forced to ask for their help? He has a younger sister who has the potential to be Lydia from Pride and Prejudice if need be.

Quote of the Day:
Sometimes I get so weird I freak myself out.
--Avril Lavigne