NaNoWriMo 2013 Post #6

Sorry it's been a while but I've been so busy writing!  I reached 50,000 words on day 22 and I haven't stopped.  I can't!  I've got a book to finish!

Current word count stands at 64,117.

And I'm still going.

Again, since the last blog post I've been enjoying the online company of Movellains who are always there to push you forward.

I have nothing more to add as I'm so busy trying to keep up with my novel and all the other stuff that's piling up.  Including books to read.  Oh yeah, I've just discovered Goodreads.  And I was in the paper today!

Please pardon the pun.  It's killing me.

So I'm going to sign off and keep on writing.  See you when I'm done.  Wish me luck.

I'll leave you with the latest quotes.

Ash - "with Cerulean I could look at my worst and it didn't matter.  He'd hate me just the same whatever I looked like.  There was something liberating about that.  There was something wonderful about that."

Cerulean - "Life is complicated, isn't it?"

Cerulean - "It really is something, feeling so alive you could burst with it."

Cerulean - "It wasn't that I was scared; it was more that I was terrified.  But that good kind of terrified.  The kind that brought a thrill.  The thrills that people lived for."

And the link to my NaNoWriMo 2013 novel on Movellas - well most of it.

http://www.movellas.com/en/book/read/201311081846376106-ice-flame-until-i-can-think-of-a-better-title

Molly Looby

Author / Wrimo / Movellian / Editor / Reviewer / Blogger / Writing Coach / ZA Ready

Contact me about writing, reading, NaNoWriMo, Movellas, zombies and everything awesome here: molly.looby@hotmail.com

NaNoWriMo 2013 Post #5

So two weeks in.  I was right before.  Week two was good to me.  I speak to you now five days ahead of the target with 35,000 words under my belt.  It's getting easier every day to sit down and  write 2,000 words.  According to the NaNoWriMo website I am going to finish and reach 50,000 on the 24th of November which is fine by me.

Other than that things are going great, there's really not that much to say, other than this week I've really enjoyed the encouragement I've found on Movellas once again.  The community of WriMos is so friendly and ready to lend a hand and an encouraging word whenever you need it.  I couldn't ask for a better writing community to turn to.

So for any of you interested, here's a link to what I've written so far.  Or should I say, what I've found time to put on Movellas so far.  I think about half is on there at the moment but I try and put two chapters on a day so it grows every day:

http://www.movellas.com/en/book/read/201311081846376106-ice-flame-until-i-can-think-of-a-better-title

As I'm feeling pretty good about this novel right about now it's time for another insight!  This time I'm going to clue you in about the main characters.

The novel has two narrators, Ash Sauna and Cerulean Thistle.  They alternate chapters and lead very opposite lives.

They are both in training in the Training Centre (which is kind of like university but much more practical and useful)

Ash lives on campus and has taken Sport, she wishes to be a personal trainer.  She lives on the fifth floor of one of the apartment buildings opposite Solar, who is a close friend of hers.  She's energetic and fun but can also be selfish and impulsive.  She means well and is caring but she has a short temper.  At the start of the novel we find Ash with her best friend Ember at a party.  Ash has her life exactly how she wanted and planned it to be and she's in a pretty good place in her life.

Cerulean lives off campus in his family home with his mother and younger sister, Skye.  Cerulean has taken Scientific with the dream of becoming a neurologist.  He's intelligent and ambitious but can also be a little cold and only gets close to a few people.  He has only one friend, Azure, who he's known for as long as he can remember.  At the start of the novel we find Cerulean asleep, soon to be awoke by his twelve year old sister who had a bad dream.  Cerulean's life as he knew it has recently fallen down around him and he's just happy to get through each day at a time.

So they're my protagonists and at first I was a little concerned about both of them as I wasn't that fond of them.  But they're both flawed and real and after I'd started telling their story I fell in love with them faults and all.  So what Cerulean's not a great socialiser and Ash's too daring for her own good?  It only makes me love them more.

I'll sign off again with my favourite quotes since the last blog post.

This is one I found from week one that forgot to include: Cerulean - "I couldn't see a way this was going to get any better.  Things could get worse of course.  Things always got worse.  But better?  Nah.  Better was a fairytale.  Better wasn't going to happen."

Now these are from week two:

Ash - "Everyone is always afraid.  All I have to do is figure out what it is exactly that frightens you."

Solar - "But it's a dangerous game, Ash.  If I were you, I'd quit right now."

Ash - "I was more comfortable with this boy that I hated than I had been with the one Id loved all that time ago."

If I keep on going like this, in eight days I'll be at 50,000 words.  See you there.

Molly Looby

Author / Wrimo / Movellian / Editor / Reviewer / Writing Coach / ZA Ready

Contact me here for all things writing and reading and everything! molly.looby@hotmail.com

NaNoWriMo 2013 Post #4

Today I feel confident.  Today is the first day I have felt like I can do this.  After the pep talk that made it clear that discipline was more important than inspiration, I've been so determined.  For the two hours this morning my internet was turned off (mostly) and I made myself sit still and just get words on paper.  And I've already done my words for today.  Today the words have come easier than any of the other days so far.  Maybe for me the weeks have been reversed.  Week one is supposed to be easier than week two but it seems that already week two is treating me right.  Good for you, week two.

I hit 15,000 words and feel pretty good about it.  My word count as of this second is: 16,582.  For those of you who don't take part in this crazy task by the eighth you should have reached 13,333 words to be on track for 50,000 by the end of November 30th.  I'm only 84 words away from being two days ahead!

So in celebration of my current success I'm going to tell you a little about my story!  I know!  I've never really done that before!  I'm a little frightened.  Well . . . here we go.

This novel takes place in a universe that isn't our own.  The characters are human for all intents and purposes but with one major difference.  They are split into two races.

The Shards.

The Flares.

So this is essentially my old idea of fire and ice back when I thought about 'Phoenix Feathers'.  And for those of you who haven't read my blog post on that, it was my first ever novel idea, a few months before my first novel I actually wrote, 'Mattie'.  So in 'Phoenix Feathers' these girls could turn into phoenixes and their natural enemies were the ice dragons.  I only wrote one chapter.

Two years later, I picked up the idea, liking the opposite nature of fire and ice and wanting to write about them again.  Different characters, different plot.  They could still turn into these things but it was more about the fact they hated each other.  I wrote about eight chapters I think.

So now, two years again - I think - and the idea has changed.  This time the characters are the same as the second attempt but now they can't turn into dragons or phoenixes, they just hate each other.  And now there are no normal humans in the universe, just Shards and Flames (because they're much cooler names than fire or ice)

Explaining that to you is actually encouraging as it shows me how much the idea has grown which is an exceptionally good sign as 'I Dare You' went through a similar process and is without a doubt the best thing I've ever written (in my opinion).

I think that's about it for now.  I don't want to give stuff away too fast.  Instead, here are my favourite quotes of the week (today included).

Ash - "My favourite part about living alone was that I didn't feel as though I had to withhold that wild side of myself for the benefit of the group."

Cerulean - "I'd never thought about my first kiss much before.  But I never anticipated I wouldn't have wanted it to happen."

Ember - "And then we all lived happily ever after, what's your point?"

Azure - "I just always assumed we'd just ignore each other and then die peacefully in our sleep."

Bring on week two.

Molly Looby

Author / Wrimo / Movellian / Editor / Reviewer / Writing Coach / ZA Ready

Contact me about all the writing stuff and whatnot here: molly.looby@hotmail.com

NaNoWriMo 2013 Post #3

Although this is my third NaNoWriMo post, this is the first one during NaNoWriMo.  It has begun.

I was in Spain during the 1st and the 2nd of November and found it surprisingly stress-free to hand write my words for each day.  I hit my target of 2,000 (I need those extra 300-400 words a day to keep away from the exact word count.  I have to be ahead!) both days without much hassle.  My friend helped me work out where was best to start and then I was off.

Counting it up at the end of each page so I didn't have to do it all in one go though, was very irritating.

The real challenge was yesterday, the 3rd.  I arrived home late on the 2nd and unpacked everything but that was just the very beginning of my list of stuff to do.  I read three books on holiday meaning I had three more reviews to write (which I still haven't done - they're coming, just slowly, it is WriMo after all) to add to the two that are still unwritten from before I left.  So now my reviews to write are totalling five - the most I've had to write since I decided to do them.  I also read through the beginning of the novel I finished in October and have a few changes to make to it before the big print out.  I had to put my holiday photos on my laptop and send them to my friend.  I had to sort out my word count on NaNoWriMo.org.

I had to write this blog post.  I wanted to track my progress so that's what I'm going to do.

I had to write up my words from holiday.  (This is coming along in bits and pieces which makes it even worse trying to work out my word count).

I had to do my words for that day.  And today I have to do my words for the 4th.

It's strange how I thought this year would be easiest.  Last year I had work on Friday nights, Sixth Form on the weekdays and tons of homework to do in my spare time and I still got it done.  This year I've got none of that going on.  I go to the lovely writing community - Movellas www.movellas.com - where I intern on Tuesdays and Thursdays but that's it.  And there I write a lot on my train journey into London.

This shouldn't be so hard.

I think it's getting into the swing of things that's the trouble here.  Being in Spain and having some stuff to sort out now I'm back means I haven't had a very good writing routine.

But I am a very driven person.  I would go as far as saying I'm scared of failure.  So that means I will write 2,000 words every day regardless.  Because I will not admit defeat.

I'm coming to get you, Wrimo.

Molly Looby

Author / Wrimo / Editor / Reviewer / Writing Coach / ZA Ready