Change of Plan

I was planning on writing the novel that I’ve talked about here over the next few months, with the aim being to finish it towards the beginning of October.  Or sooner if possible.  The time from then until November was to be spent planning the book I’m intending to write (well, start writing) for NaNoWriMo.  Then November, obviously, doing NaNoWriMo.

 

Having read quite a few things lately about first novels rarely being up to much I’m considering a different plan of action.  I really like this story and I don’t want it to just be practice writing, I want it to be good.  I want to do it justice and be proud to show it to people, not bury it deep on my hard drive and wince whenever I think about anybody reading it – can you spot the person who recently found some stories she wrote years ago? *shudder*

 

So, what I think I’m going to do now is, spend the time between now and October writing short stories and novellas to get myself into a routine of writing often and to let myself get some of the crap writing out of my system.  Then spend October fleshing out my NaNoWriMo idea as planned.  Try and finish that by the end of the year (I don’t think it will be a long book so if I win NaNoWriMo that should be doable) and then write Dreamweaver – yes, I know it sounds cheesy as hell, it’s a working title okay…

 

Tonight I started writing a story about a fairy who bullies a woman into helping her free her friends from a witch who has trapped dozens of them and is selling them as garden lighting.  I’m having fun but I can see already that I had the right idea to do some practice writing.

Theft I tell you

Isn’t it annoying when the authors of books you read build time machines, come and steal your ideas – damn these mind reading, quantum physicist genius author types – then scoot back to when they came from, spin your germ of an idea into gold and write a fabulous book that makes you feel like sulking for a week because it was your idea damn it?

Lightbulb Moment

I quite like the idea of having pictures for my characters, I have found some on the net that are pretty close to the idea I had in my head of some of them but I hadn’t found any for my male lead.  Last night, when watching Chuck I realised that Adam Baldwin is spot on for Flynn.  Well built, good looking without being a pretty boy and looks pretty damn tough holding a gun, well even without a gun really.

Thinking about it, the two characters I’ve seen him play (Jayne in Firefly and Serenity; and Casey in Chuck) have a lot of the same character traits as Flynn too.  Tough guys with a slightly worrying affection for weapons, sarcastic and a little rough around the edges but with hidden depths, that you know are there but are hidden pretty darn deep.  Independent spirits, who don’t really like to play with others but really they need people. 

And did I mention yummy?  I know yummy isn’t exactly a character trait but  looking through images to find a good one for the post made me realise it’s a point that just can’t be stressed enough.

Forever Odd

For some reason, this just doesn’t seem to be holding my attention.  I normally really enjoy Dean Koontz books and I liked Odd Thomas so I’m not sure why Forever Odd isn’t doing it for me. 

I’m finding Odd slightly annoying and the plot a little boring.  That may have more to do with me than Mr Koontz though because I can see that it’s probably not as dull as I’m finding it – there’s murder, a rescue mission, ulterior motives to be discovered – but I still can’t help wondering why he keeps writing more and more Odd Thomas books rather than getting on the third Chris Snow book that’s been rumoured for years.

I hate to give up on books but part of me just wants to ditch it and start another book.  I have so many books waiting to be read that it feels daft to be wasting my time reading a book I’m not enjoying.  I’ll have one more push and try to finish it today but I think I’ll start another book tomorrow regardless.

Away with the fairies

Over the last couple of days I’ve been thinking up ideas for short stories to do some practice writing.  I’ve got quite a few now and I’ve noticed that every single one of them has some sort of magical or supernatural element.  I can’t seem to help it.  I tried giving myself random topics and then I had to come up with a story idea, without fail I managed to find a way to make it magic.  I wonder if that says something about me.

Shhhhh

Since when have libraries been noisy?  I went to the local one lunchtime to try and get a bit of writing done and it amazed me how loud it was there.  And it was mainly the staff!  It annoyed me actually.  Maybe I need a change of day job.  I can see myself prowling the aisles aggressively “shhh”-ing people who dare to disturb my quiet.