Where have I been? Nowhere. What have I been doing? Nothing. Well, nothing that interesting. I've been busy with Mothers of Twins stuff. I've been getting Halloween stuff done. We've been mildly sick. Our water heater broke. We mopped A LOT until it was fixed. Then our gas pipes broke.
See, nothing exciting. I haven't even been that busy, certainly not too busy to post on my blog. I've just been....boring.
But now here I am, all full of excitement. Bask in it. Why am I full of excitement? Because NaNoWriMo starts on Saturday!
That's part of what's been eating at my time. I'm trying to decide on which story to write. Trying to decide which world, which characters I want to spend wrapped up in for the next month. I was going to try to do some plain ol' fiction, but I think I have to face up that I'm a total geek. I'm writing fantasy this year. Or maybe I'll gloss it up with a sci-fi coating, but let's face it, it'll be fantasy.
I can't help it. It's where my mind goes. I just read Empire Falls by Richard Russo. It was a beautifully done book about a small town on the decline. Does it make me a bad person that I kept hoping that there'd be some evil curse on the town that was causing the decline? Or that Mrs. Whiting, the rich lady who owned and controlled much of the town turned out to be a vampire? Or that Miles' daughter would find out she had some kind of superpower? None of those things happened, and I really didn't expect them to. But I have to face facts: I probably would have enjoyed the book more if they had.
So I'm writing fantasy. I'm pretty sure. I reserve the right to change my mind any time in the next three days. Or really, any time in November though it'd probably be pretty difficult for me to keep any non-fantasy-writing promise. I'd end up sending someone through a wardrobe, or have a Death Star open up an attack. But maybe, just maybe, it could all be just a dream...that's some good plotting.
In the spirit of lazy writing, anyone want to share some character names with me? I hate picking character names! I'm looking for recognizably normal but not so common that they feel anonymous. I'm not down with the whole made-up-fantasy-names, though feel free to give me some joke names filled with consonants and apostrophes (gosh, I'm not even sure if any of my readers are geeky enough to get that joke! Please, tell me I'm not the only sci-fi/fantasy geek in the room!) If I use a name you suggest, I'll give you lots of air kisses. I'll be your best friend. Oh heck, I guess you don't get anything but my eternal gratitude!
And I'll be around. Hopefully posting. I'm still considering NaBloPoMo, though I feel bad about doing it as I bet I'm not going to be the best blog-commenter during November! Last year my arms and hands hurt from all the typing I was doing on my novel. Yes, I wrote so much it burned!
This is rambling. I'll sign off now! Adios, glad to be back!
The Balance by Neal Wooten
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Canus is a land in which three races of man live in precarious balance with
one another. The Fathers of the city in the sky, the Scavs (who call
themselv...
10 years ago
8 comments:
Sorry about the illness and the house problems and such. Ugh!
NaNoWriMo, right. I need to get on that this year, because I actually have a book to write.
As for character names, I'm ridiculously un-creative, so I'm no help. Here's my only offer: today I was reading a book with Maddie and Riley that featured twin bunny rabbits named Zinnia and Zoe. I thought that Zinnia was a pretty awesome name.
oooh I like Zinnia!
Xander. Xander is cool too.
I've always like Jenna. Not sure why.
I'll come back with more I'm sure...
Nancy, as I told you at pick up, B-man was going to be named Alexander (Xander) until TK invoked the "none of our children will be named after Buffy characters" rule, which I still don't agree with :)
And Snick, you're right, Zinnia is a good name. Too soft and flowery for my main character, but may definitely make an entrance as a 2ndary character!
I guess it makes sense to have the basics figured out before the month, otherwise it would be a difficult first few days (and probably a lousy story overall)! I look forward to hearing about your progress.
Anything with a "Z" or "X" is very fantasy in my book. Alas, I've never really read fantasy books so what the heck do I know.
You can use my name, if you want.
I love fantasy, but can't stand most science fiction. As far as character names, I've always been a fan of names that were similar to mainstream names, but had a slightly different pronunciation or an unusual spelling, like Aerin instead of Erin or medieval names since fantasy often has a medieval feel. Naming characters must be a lot like naming children. Time to break out the old baby naming books.
How 'bout using the multi-purpose JACK as a character? It can be lucky ... jackpot, blackjack ... playful .. jack-o-lantern, jack-in-the-box, or busy ... jumping jack. It can greet you "Hi, Jack" or teamed with Jill can make a tumbling pair! What a name! Also like Jo as in Miss March from Little Women. Just be sure to keep your characters gender-specific since it's disturbing to your older readers to have to guess male or female???!! High point scrabble letters should make good fantasy names , X, Z, Q, J.
Much success with NaNoWrMo .. I know you'll do great!
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