Once Were Angels Part 1

So after having a long break from the writing over the summer months I'm slowly getting back into it.  First thing on my agenda is continuing last years NaNoWriMo Novel (now renamed Once Were Angels)
In case you peeps are curious. Here's a little snippet from the opening...

Chapter 1

(The Visitor) Illustration by Joey Cataliotti

To those he might pass on the street, the visitor would look young and serious. They would say, there goes a man preoccupied, squashed under some heavy burdensome thing, crushed by his own cares.

That was far kinder assessment of his character than his own kind would give him.  Behind his denuded, forever scarred back, THEY would glare, mutter and rage.

He didn’t care. He flinched, turning the words over and over in his mind, willing them to become truth. Speaking of—long ago it so happened that truth became lies and lies became truth. The worlds turned and there was no going back, only forward, ever forward. A calamity of circumstance. Tops gone turvy.

Everyone craves purpose and acceptance. And it was that unfortunate truth (wrapped in lies) that had brought him here, walking down this street—walking toward her.  He moved swiftly, his long-legged momentum was god-like, unstoppable, though to the particularly observant eye the strides might teeter on frantic. The visitor was in fact a man plummeting (fallen far) though one could not be certain if his destination would end in death or salvation.

... (to be continued)

I'm still working on that opening and even if it's not exactly right yet I'm pretty confident I'm heading in the right direction. AT LAST!   

It's at this point I'm going to recommend critique partners. They are really, really helpful! One of the reasons I've probably progressed so slowly in the past is that I have been holding back from getting critiques because heck! I know that there are things that don't work in my stories. "Somethings not right, but I'm not completely sure what it is..." Without confirmation I was blundering round in the dark and it's so damn easy to get over-zealous (cut,cut,cut) "oops I've thrown out the baby with the bathwater."

Critique partners can really help illuminate things-- those stinky little problem areas, as well as the dang-flashy rock-star bits that work. You see the process of writing can create such a whirlwind of ideas that it's uber-easy to get lost in them. A good critique partner is like a compass. They can point you in the right direction and help you find your story's north again. 

I'm gonna follow this up soon with more from Once Were Angels, and a few more concept sketches done by both myself and my wonderful illustrator Joey Cataliotti.

Goals for 2016

I finally got around to posting on 2016 goals. Thanks Judy L Mohr for encouraging me to be brave enough to declare them. 

So they are posted up on my art blog, reason being that they are broader creative goals rather than simply writing goals. I've tried to make them as realistic as possible because life will get crazy-busy with young ones, pending house renovations and caring for all our animals. I find if I put to much pressure on myself I encounter a strange form of hopeless indecision paralysis. "I have so much to do, but what do I do first?" *panics and promptly buries head in sand*.

Anyway check out the post on my art blog. Here's the link- Amuri Art: Goals for 2016 . I'll try my best to forge forward, one small step at a time. 

Across A Sea Of  Cloud by Jessica Colvin

NaNoWriMo 2015

It's that time of year again. NaNoWriMo is upon us! 

When the clock ticked over to November the 1st, people from all over the world embarked upon the exciting (and at times arduous) quest of writing 50,000 words in 30 days.

This is my 4th time participating in the event.  I find NaNoWriMo to be the perfect motivation to get new novels started or existing ones finished. My full drafts usually end up being between 80- 120, 000 words, and at least 50,000 of those words are written during NaNoWriMo.

If you would like to know more about this fan-dangled-fun-dangily NaNoWriMo thing and what it stands for, then check out http://nanowrimo.org.

Even better (in a fit of spastic spontaneity) why don’t you sign up? Join us! 

 Joooin Usssss!

Now here’s some Lemons (unrelated)…

So if you have always wanted to give writing a go and enjoy challenges that have the potential to eat your soul? And yeah those plot bunnies can be mighty fierce sometimes. Ye-ouch!

I’m not selling this very well am I? Nope...

Hey I gotta be honest it’s hard reaching to that 50K, sometimes you have to frigging bleed those words from your raw finger-stubs... and yeah, some of those words will definitely suck (I’m talking from personal experience).

That being said, all you need to do is write 1666 words a day for 30 days. That doesn’t sound too bad does it? All you need is some general idea for a story and the rest should come.

Nothing coming to you? Hey if you don’t know what to write about or how to start there are plenty of story prompt generators out there.

Here’s a few links that might be fun/ or useful.

Need a Plot? How about adopting one from here! http://nanowrimo.org/forums/adoption-society

If you're stuck and need an item, a motto, a planet, or a fancy drink check out...http://chaoticshiny.com/ It's oh so fun— If you are looking for something really wacky, this is definitely the place to go.

http://writingexercises.co.uk/plotgenerator.php The plot generator here gave me some interesting results and the good thing about it is that you can re-roll certain elements until you find something that works.

Most importantly don't worry about getting it perfect first time (that just doesn't happen). NaNo is designed so you get that story, or at least part of the story out of your head and onto paper. The revision and editing comes later (or as my case much later). This first draft  (in the words of the wonderful Terry Pratchett) is basically just you telling yourself the story.

And that’s my little NaNo chat for 2015. Have a great November, and if you are partaking in the NaNo madness may many-a-word be with you.

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