Thoughts on NaNoWriMo...

[keaalu]

Well, it started out with the intention of being what I'd call "hard sci-fi" - as in, the sort of thing I usually write, just purely science fiction based on the premises of what is scientifically theoretically possible, with no flowery magicky gods-and-demons spiritual aspects that can't be scientifically quantified and whatnot.

...Now it seems to be wanting to become a horrible mishmash of steampunk-ish alien-Victoriana sci-fi and faux-historical fantasy, with a helping of pseudo-Bloggery on the side, and small diversions into strange territory like sacrifice/cannibalism and body-modification and weird psychology. Mirii, the pierced and painted goddess-daughter born of thunder, to fulfil ancient prophecies, to bring the rains and end years of drought, and to end up on the dining table... Sei, trapped at the bottom of the ocean in a past-computer-age society driven by steam and pneumatics, unable to return to the surface without the help of his hosts, some of whom seem intent on instead turning him into a giant battery to drive long-dead computers and help them recover the words of ages past. Suni... well, sort of trying to help out, but equally content to sit back and let them plait feathers and flowers into its fur.

There won't be any magic or real deities, so far as I can help it, but the "hard sci-fi" aspect of it is diminishing. I mean, for all their astrological ability, the closest the "Maya" are getting to the stars is making up all kinds of cosmological deities. :\

It's all going to go horribly wrong, I can just sense it. Argh!

Edit: I forgot to mention the were"wolves" and hallucinations. Bad me!

Comments

Tis a sad thing

[shamshir-tin.livejournal.com]

when a story begins falling to pieces, and wiring is tangled, and blocks begin to fall, so another character or plot twist may be added as temporary scaffolding. I understand your feeling. We writers always feel that every so often.

Re: Tis a sad thing

[keaalu.livejournal.com]

I should observe that I've not STARTED it yet... This is just planning! And things I want to add in. Themes I've never worked with, characters that haven't had much air-time, and how I might reach the magic 50,000 in 30 days...

[julian-wilbury.livejournal.com]

I've known several other people who did NaNoWriMo in the REAL kamikaze writing style...y'know, starting at the start of the month and just writing from there. You have NO idea how much their stories ran away from them. XD

I think that's supposed to be the nature of NaNoWriMo. Just write, don't really care about the semantics, just get the darn words down. While I have known a person who had an outline for her novel (it was part of a series), I don't think that's really the norm or what you're really supposed to do, PERIOD. Hence why I've never done it, myself. P:

I wish I can write "hard sci-fi" sometimes, but then I remember partially why I write the way I do is because my brain is often to wrapped up in contemplating Life, the Universe, and Everything also along with bitterly ruminating on sociological issues. Then I realize I should just stick writing my really eccentric allegories.

[keaalu.livejournal.com]

I'm sure my story is going to run away from me completely, too. Hence why I said "It's all going to go horribly pear-shaped". But still, I want a smidgen of an idea as a germ for me to start with. Plus, of course, if I don't have an idea I'm itching to get going with, I just... won't write. Which'll make it kind of difficult to reach 50,000.

I hasten to add I've not STARTED to write it, yet - I'm just collecting up ideas that I like which I could put into it, hashing out a rough idea for a plot. I always seem to go off on a complete tangent, so heaven only knows where I'll end up, but eh... Like you say, that's the spirit of it, right? Just write, dammit, get out 2000 words a day and to hell with where it takes you. Which sounds like fun! I'm looking forward to flinging Sei and Mirii at the craziness, since I want to stretch them for their debut. I want to see if Sei CAN explode in anger, or if he's just too zen for it. I want to see if Mirii CAN take charge of a situation and lead it to a logical conclusion, instead of hide behind a senior, older, smarter figure and let him do the work. I want to see if I CAN carry off the whole "steampunk" concept. And I want to see what happens if primitive tribes try to eat an android.

(I should also say I'm not so hot on "hard sci-fi" either. I always get distracted and go off on the meaning of life and the Universe and everything, too. I don't want to write about space battles and black holes and supernovae and crap. I want to write about living machines and alien cultures and silly fluffy things like that. )

[julian-wilbury.livejournal.com]

I'd just like to say: using nonhuman characters with different cultures, different POVs, is such an awesome way to look at human nature as a whole, which I find avsolutly faaaaaasincating. (I'm one of those rare people that actually ENJOYED reading Lord of the Flies.) You can use different nonhuman cultures to represent races and such and be all allegorical and crap presenting different societal rifts...wait, can you tell I watched a lot of Star Trek as a kid with my father (especially TNG)? XD Too bad most anthropomorphic animal variations on the same theme are getting cliched *cough*redwall*cough*cough*.

Then there's the fact that I just often use my own writings as a way to feel out what the heck it means to be "alive", which is a topic people can argue about till the cows come home (well, people who are contemplative enough to CARE).

You know all this already, I bet, but sometimes I feel the need to prove that I actually do put a lot of thought into why I write about what I do. Paranoia makes me think that people think my ideas are rather dumb/weird. *blank-eyed head-cock*

Back to the point...
I know you haven't started. ;) Still, like I said, some folks just started writing on November 1st and ran. I know one person who is still running with her 2006 novel she started on Nov. 1st. Pretty crazy stuff; stuff I could never manage, or at least wouldn't have been able to manage before. Maybe now that I can sit down and work on things for long periods of time it'd be more possible. :b

PS. Keep on forgetting to tell you, but those Maya-esque art in your icons are so AWESOME. (Er, sorry...I'm getting more and more self-conscious of my Southern Californian speak...)

[keaalu.livejournal.com]

I love to speculate about alien cultures. (I never read Lord of the Flies, to my shame. We read bits of it in GCSE English, and of course they picked out the strangest most nasty bits they could find, so I never felt too obliged to read the rest. Maybe I should.) I think the main problem I see with 99% of anthropomorphics is that it's so... dull. Nobody ever takes the time to try and make them anything NEW, they're just the same-old same-old Goth/raver/cutter/drugged-up-US-teen-with-a-tail, who speak like teens and angst like teens in spite of the fact that they're still somehow "noble mystical animal spirits, in tune with nature and the mighty ancients", and who can't think of anything better to do than shag each other in a variety of lovingly illustrated ways. (Sorry, bugbear. Part of the reason I try to associate more with "sci-fi", and less with "anthro" (esp "furry"). And I miss TNG on Wednesdays. ) I'm sure I'll still be running with my ideas long after Nov07, too, but eh, if I reach the magic 50,000 I'll be happy. Plus, I may actually be able to have something in a fit state to self-publish. (Heaven forbid!)

"I feel the need to prove that I actually do put a lot of thought into why I write about what I do."
- I hear you there! Not that it often seems to matter, I can count my readers on the fingers of one hand. But eh, I know it's my own fault, so go figure...?

Finally, I sense VICTIM-... I mean... did I say that out loud? *models halo*

...my markers didn't play nice. :( BLEEDAGE

[julian-wilbury.livejournal.com]

When it came to "anthropomorphic animals" was talking more of the classic novels like Watership Down, Tailchaser's Song, John Livingston Seagull, and even the original books that Bambi and The Fox and the Hound were based off of rather than what the furry fandom spews out. The first two especially put a lot of development into creating a whole culture and religion for the animals. (Which, I should note, were just "anthro" in that they talked. It's so bleedin' hard to find a blanket term for "animals who are endowed with humanlike thought and speech and perhaps more".) I had brought those up because they very much explored human nature and even some touched upon higher ideas.

Of course, all of these were all written before the INTERNET and had nothing to do with what would become furry. People just thought they were good books. P:(John Livingston Seagull used to be a common high school read at least here in the US.)

/end spends way too much time in libraries mode

DHUUURRRR. Man, originally when you posted those last two to DA I was thinking "wow, she must have fun with those." Considering how fast that came out, I think I'm right. XD You're too nice. Seriously. :D

[julian-wilbury.livejournal.com]

...Wow. Was playing around with the giftartses in Photoshop and can you say..."Happy Little Accidents"? I just dragged on a photo of a texture into the "wrong" place and it was like "WHOAH. That's fitting. *exploits idea more*"



(Sorry if you get this twice. Ache Tee Em Ellll.)

[keaalu.livejournal.com]

Ahhaha, I need to learn to do that in my computerbox. It'd save on markers, if nothing else! And manually creating "textures" is a PAIN. :\

[julian-wilbury.livejournal.com]

It's really just goofing around with Layer modes in programs like Photoshop, maybe GIMP, PaintShopPro, and I mainly use textures on the web, although I know people who have used their own photos as textures, which is all a lot of the things I've done really are. (The texture on my LJ background, the "Coyote Placing the Stars"...free stock textures.)

http://mayang.com/textures/
This site is awesome.

(I responded so quickly because I had just happened to sit down and get read to scan a comic when I got your email. If it weren't for automatic email updaters, I'd often find myself refreshing my inbox for hours on end.)

[keaalu.livejournal.com]

Ahh, fair enough - I was thinking there may be some deep, dark secret to it, or something... ;) I'll have to go root through some textures, then. I *THINK* PhotoPlus is about up to the task... MUAHAHA. *rubs hands gleefully* DOOM IMPENDING

I hear you on the email thing. If I'm not actually DOING something, I get all "I'll just check my email... wait, I've not checked my inbox in the last 3 min... hm, when was the last time I checked my mailbox?... etc"

[keaalu.livejournal.com]

Ah, of course, I keep forgetting that "anthro" refers to those animals with human brains but animal bodies as well. (I've been around the intarwebs too long. :P I think my brain automatically goes "something-pomorphic" = "human form".) On an unrelated-but-related note, I'm astounded by just HOW different the Mannix story was to the Disney "Fox and Hound". :P But anyway.