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SunGrins: I've never had a piece of my fiction published, but now, at this age (hopefully with some wisdom), I look back and recall the responses I got in critique groups and one university fiction writing class, and I think maybe I've had it all wrong. I always *thought* I couldn't write fiction. At least not good fiction - so I plowed ahead with journalism, memoir and some of my UG research got notice.
But only one of the above kinds of writing ever made me feel great, and that was the research papers and grant writing. I enjoyed my fiction (the little I did of it), but seemingly *ignored* that it got me invited to a semi-private critique session with a well-established author. I never took it seriously. I believed the hype about being a fiction writer (as I outlined to Escort above). And while I stopped believing the hype years ago, I never stopped believing I couldn't write fiction.
Fact is now, that I think I can. In fact, lately, I've been on fire. If you truly feel you can't write fiction, so be it, but if there's a lingering doubt, try one of the random word generators (any one will do...but here's one: Creative Random Word Generator ) and set a time for yourself. Some people say write for 2 minutes. I started with 5 for myself. And days later I'm still writing that story. The lead character has taken over and it's all I can do to keep up! I'm simply not in charge (that comes in the editing phase).
Your photography and prison experiences are ripe fodder for a fiction writer! You could pick a photo and just write about it. My first experience with that was in 3rd grade when the teacher put up "Christina's World" (by Andrew Wyeth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina%27s_World ) on the chalk rest of the blackboard and told us to write a story about it.
I've been hooked on writing ever since, but forgot what got me started in the first place!
Okay, okay, I'm not trying to recruit you. I may be reading too much between the lines.
I love the way our characters get enough mass that they start changing how we see them. One, who is the central one of a very large story, I had a basic in mind. But now I really understand him and his perception of his world. I've done scenes twice because somehow the 'plan' just doesn't work. I really hate to dump them when I worked so hard to get the scene right, but it just isn't mr x anymore. If I can, I rewire it to another character and help define them.
I love the way characters grow from this short summary or just someone you need to stand there and establish some event to very complex people as we get to know the other selves living in our heads. And its interesting when you can look at your world through their eyes and see things you never saw before.
I think that is one of the lures of writing, the way it expands your own vision of your own world.
By the way, I'd love to be part of this project. My writing buddies and I used to always review each others stuff and it helped you see what you couldn't too. Feel free to pm me.
nightbird, yep...the characters can run the show and we're just along for the ride.
Good to have you aboard. Here's to hoping we have a 14% "win" rate that about matches NaNoWriMo's in some years.
Thank you for the offer of a pm...I don't do it though. I think I could get too engrossed in a forum if I opened pm, and I do want to live life.
Just an aside to all: in years past winners (meaning those who do 50k words in 30 days) got up to 5 free copies of their book in paperback form (or a proof?) from a self-publishing company called (I think) createspace. I don't know if it will be offered again though. I do think the number of copies has fluxuated from 1 to 5 in years past. I also have no idea what those "books" look like. ie: generic cover? some design?
And newcomputer....I've been thinking about what you're doing, and it's got me fictionalizing the lives of 5 grandchildren playing around a grandma's house, and growing into teens (yikes!) and young adulthood, going their separate ways, but all coming back to grandma's house (you, alas, no longer withering among us...apologies to Dylan Thomas) throughout their lives and into old age. It sounds lovely! Is that the plan? It's ripe for so much!
They are grown now and scattered around the country. Five of them, two years apart, from one just finishing high school (the only one still at home) to my oldest, an art history major working in a private gallery. They will never know that I have done this until I am gone and the letter comes.
I am already designing my book jacket . Big plans for someone who is hoping to close next week. I should be moved in and ready to roll by Nov 1st but I am making an outline now while the idea is fresh.
Just occurred to me that I may be cheating a little
Wow...you are ambitious! Moving on Nov 1 and doing nanowrimo? I think you have more energy than me.
RE: cheating...if by that you mean the outline, I do believe outlines are allowed. I think I read it in several places. Do check, but I'm fairly certain your conscious should be clear. But not one word of the book can be written. Hmm..I guess outlines are okay because they're not the book.
I've got a lot going on in November with planning the town's craft fair and small business expo, but I'm thinking I may give this a try. If you fall behind during the beginning of the month can you catch up later in the month?
I wish I had my ancestor's diary (left it behind when I moved). I always thought his journey from Massachusetts to the Ohio valley would be a great starting point for a novel.
Dee...as I understand it, participants enter their daily word count at nanowrimo. How much you write in a day is up to you; the only requirement to "win" (aside from the other rules posted on their site: ie - no writing before Nov 1) is to have 50k words by midnight, Nov 30. So, if one day you don't write, that's up to you. But to "win" you'd have to have those 50k by the end of the month. So catch up can happen. I imagine though, that it could get out of hand fast. I would suggest figuring out what days you think you would write less than 1667 wpd, and choose days to make up those words.
It's not unusual for participants to stay up into the wee hours of the morning typing away to make up the words. I think it can be thought of as a grueling marathon, and one should keep that in mind as they prepare. However, I think it would be very satisfying to "win".
Do sign up on their site and read their information there.
I've been a member of several writing critique groups, both in person and online. But the best help I ever got was from an editor I hired to work on my memoirs. Right now, I'm taking a leap of faith into fiction, which I've done very little of, as the majority of my work is non-fiction.
I don't mean that we would critique each others work, though. My idea is just to see if there's any interest in retirees here on CD giving NaNo a shot, and if so, I hope I've posted early enough (1+ month) so that people could learn about it and think on it...and maybe even make an outline?
But I hope everyone becomes a cheerleader for each other (me included!).
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