Wednesday, 9 December 2015
Tuesday, 1 December 2015
NANOWRIMO IS OVER
THAT'S IT! WE ARE DONE PEOPLE! IT'S THE FIRST OF DECEMBER, NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING IS DONE!
And if nobody minds, I'm going to go and pass out now, because DAMN, that was one hell of a month! Between uni work, distractions and a thousand and one different fandom explosions, I'm surprised I managed to get through this month.
Thing is, I didn't just get through NaNoWriMo, I smashed it to pieces. As in, I went nine thousand words over target. Have a look yourself at this madness!
And if nobody minds, I'm going to go and pass out now, because DAMN, that was one hell of a month! Between uni work, distractions and a thousand and one different fandom explosions, I'm surprised I managed to get through this month.
Thing is, I didn't just get through NaNoWriMo, I smashed it to pieces. As in, I went nine thousand words over target. Have a look yourself at this madness!
If you're asking how I did that, the answer is that I have absolutely no idea whatsoever. Literally, I don't have the faintest clue how I managed. I'm going to call it a complete fluke, considering for the rest of the year my average daily word count has been around 800. But this month I managed to double (some days triple) that.
It was definitely a fluke, a complete fluke. One I'm very proud of, but still, FLUKE!
There is also one person I'd like to shout out to this month, and that's my best friend Charlie who also smashed it this year. She finished an entire week early this year, doubling (and then some) her last two NaNoWriMo word counts! I'm a very proud, and very, very jealous, best friend this year!
Anyway, I hope everybody who took part got the word count they wanted, or at least got some more words than normal done, because that's what NaNo is all about. So I hope it all went swimmingly for you, and if not, hey there's always next year, and nothing to stop you practicing throughout the year!
But now, I feel that the real hard bit has arrived. It's time to decide what to do next with your project. There are three options for this, and it's up to you to figure out what you want to do next.
Number One: Pass out, ignore the novel until next year, possibly never open the file again, leaving it to gather dust.
Number Two: Finish the story off if it is not completed.
Or Number Three: Start editing this mammoth.
All options are scary (yes, even running away. Think of the missed opportunities if you leave it to gather dust for the rust of time!) but if I may, I'd like to suggest something. In my opinion, I think you should try all three options.
Hear me out a minute when I say this, because I know that sounds mental, but trust me, I've done this before. It's December, aka Holiday Season, and you've trapped yourself a way to write for a month. Go out and do that dreaded thing known as socialising for a bit, take a break from the writing and do something else for a bit. And when you've done refreshing yourself, come back to your novel, if you haven't finished it yet, you'll hopefully have a tonne of ideas and stamina to finish it off. If you need to start editing, it'll be easier now that you've had a break. You've been staring at your screen for ages now, completely consumed by every word you've typed, editing will be near impossible under those circumstances. But if you take that break, you'll be looking at the novel with fresher eyes, there will be bits you have forgotten about, things to surprise you, it makes it so much easier to look over things when you're refreshed.
If you're stuck for ideas on how to edit things down, I will hopefully have some videos up soon to help you with that, for now, think about sorting out spelling/grammar mistakes, possibly start thinking up ways to solve anything that's bugging you with your story. That'll give you a good editing starting point.
So in conclusion, YAY NaNo is over so we can breathe, I hope you all hit your word goal (if not, don't be disappointed), take a break before you break your poor overworked fingers, and allow yourself some time to yourself! It's been a great month, and I'm already looking forward to next year!
Monday, 23 November 2015
Saturday, 21 November 2015
The Mockingjay Lives!
Okay, nothing to do with NaNoWriMo today, I'll vlog about that instead at some point in the next couple of days. Instead, let's talk Mockingjay part 2 - the final installment of The Hunger Games series.
I've been a fan of the series ever since the first came out several years ago, and I've been looking forward to the final for quite a while, desperate to see the conclusion to Katniss' revolution. I could have read the books, but I've been so damn busy recently with writing and university, I haven't had the chance to get past chapter 7 of Catching Fire. I knew enough though, thanks to conversations with my best friend/cinema buddy Charlie, and several spoiler filled posts on the internet. So I knew that this was going to be a painful film, I packed tissues especially, just in case.
And trust me, Mockingjay part 2 does not disappoint. The film follows straight on from the end of Mockingjay part 1, after Katniss discovers that Peeta has been hijacked and had all of his memories twisted until he wants to kill Katniss. I especially liked that Katniss' first words in the film were 'I am Katniss Everdeen, I'm from District 12' reflecting the first one beautifully. From there the film follows the revolution against the Capital, specifically on Katniss and her troop going off to kill Snow.
Admittedly, I was a little worried when Katniss and co head off through the city to get to Snow, thinking that it could have been boring or repetitive. It was anything but, the troop are constantly in danger, fighting against the traps the game makers have set up around the city. I was on the edge of my seat for several of these, knowing that people were going to start dying at any moment. The danger is palpable through the screen, between the troops fighting for their lives against the traps, and the fear that Peeta would be triggered into trying to kill Katniss again.
Peeta's struggle with figuring out what was real and what wasn't was painful to watch, and seeing how it hurt Katniss too was heartbreaking. Before this film I was still on the fence on the Peeta/Gale argument, but I think I've now been fully converted to team Peeta, if not because of him, but because of how much Katniss needs him, and how much she cares for him through all this. Peeta and Finnick's interactions were also a joy and made me fall for their friendship, it was a subtle, almost background thing, but still a lovely thing to watch. It didn't need to be shoved in our faces, but it was still a clear connection between the two being established.
I won't give too much away about who dies and how, but let's just say it's very close to the book. There are a great many rumours about a certain character living instead of dying, and I'm sad to report that they aren't true. The character still dies. Now I'll be honest again, I was certain that their death was going to be gut wrenching Battle-Of-The-Five-Armies-Oakenshield-death levels of agony, hence the packing of tissues, but it wasn't. I was incredibly sad to see them go, but it wasn't too painful. Maybe it's just me who's gotten scarred thanks to Tolkien and Shonda Rhimes over the years, but I was expecting more of an agonising end to this characters life.
Overall though, Mockingjay part 2 is a very, very good film. It's emotional and filled the peril, leaving you on the edge of your seat. The plot twists make you hate characters you didn't think you'd hate and realise that war makes people do truly terrible things. Watching Katniss grieve was so real it nearly brought a tear to my eye, and to think that the character is supposed to still be a teenager is devastating.
Everything is tied up beautifully by the end, we find out where all of our characters have ended up, and finally see Katniss and Peeta living the life they deserved together. My only suggestion for the ending would have been to have one last look at the fallen Victors and characters from the last four films, or one last listen to Mockingjay call, or even possibly the Mockingjay pin evolution, like the previous films have done.
But overall, the film is beautifully shot, edited and acted, I loved every minute of it. Mockingjay part 2 is a very, very good ending to a truly epic series, and I for one am very sad to see it go.
I've been a fan of the series ever since the first came out several years ago, and I've been looking forward to the final for quite a while, desperate to see the conclusion to Katniss' revolution. I could have read the books, but I've been so damn busy recently with writing and university, I haven't had the chance to get past chapter 7 of Catching Fire. I knew enough though, thanks to conversations with my best friend/cinema buddy Charlie, and several spoiler filled posts on the internet. So I knew that this was going to be a painful film, I packed tissues especially, just in case.
And trust me, Mockingjay part 2 does not disappoint. The film follows straight on from the end of Mockingjay part 1, after Katniss discovers that Peeta has been hijacked and had all of his memories twisted until he wants to kill Katniss. I especially liked that Katniss' first words in the film were 'I am Katniss Everdeen, I'm from District 12' reflecting the first one beautifully. From there the film follows the revolution against the Capital, specifically on Katniss and her troop going off to kill Snow.
Admittedly, I was a little worried when Katniss and co head off through the city to get to Snow, thinking that it could have been boring or repetitive. It was anything but, the troop are constantly in danger, fighting against the traps the game makers have set up around the city. I was on the edge of my seat for several of these, knowing that people were going to start dying at any moment. The danger is palpable through the screen, between the troops fighting for their lives against the traps, and the fear that Peeta would be triggered into trying to kill Katniss again.
Peeta's struggle with figuring out what was real and what wasn't was painful to watch, and seeing how it hurt Katniss too was heartbreaking. Before this film I was still on the fence on the Peeta/Gale argument, but I think I've now been fully converted to team Peeta, if not because of him, but because of how much Katniss needs him, and how much she cares for him through all this. Peeta and Finnick's interactions were also a joy and made me fall for their friendship, it was a subtle, almost background thing, but still a lovely thing to watch. It didn't need to be shoved in our faces, but it was still a clear connection between the two being established.
I won't give too much away about who dies and how, but let's just say it's very close to the book. There are a great many rumours about a certain character living instead of dying, and I'm sad to report that they aren't true. The character still dies. Now I'll be honest again, I was certain that their death was going to be gut wrenching Battle-Of-The-Five-Armies-Oakenshield-death levels of agony, hence the packing of tissues, but it wasn't. I was incredibly sad to see them go, but it wasn't too painful. Maybe it's just me who's gotten scarred thanks to Tolkien and Shonda Rhimes over the years, but I was expecting more of an agonising end to this characters life.
Overall though, Mockingjay part 2 is a very, very good film. It's emotional and filled the peril, leaving you on the edge of your seat. The plot twists make you hate characters you didn't think you'd hate and realise that war makes people do truly terrible things. Watching Katniss grieve was so real it nearly brought a tear to my eye, and to think that the character is supposed to still be a teenager is devastating.
Everything is tied up beautifully by the end, we find out where all of our characters have ended up, and finally see Katniss and Peeta living the life they deserved together. My only suggestion for the ending would have been to have one last look at the fallen Victors and characters from the last four films, or one last listen to Mockingjay call, or even possibly the Mockingjay pin evolution, like the previous films have done.
But overall, the film is beautifully shot, edited and acted, I loved every minute of it. Mockingjay part 2 is a very, very good ending to a truly epic series, and I for one am very sad to see it go.
Monday, 9 November 2015
Friday, 6 November 2015
I'VE HIT 10,000 WORDS!
HELLO! I'm super excited to announce that I HIT 10,000 WORDS ABOUT 10 MINUTES AGO! And I am SO HAPPY about this (if you couldn't tell by all the capitalisation!)
This week has been a pain to say the least in terms of writing, three days this week I've been at uni, and that means getting up at 6.15am in the morning, so by the time I get home I'm exhausted and really not ready to do any writing! But I've pushed through every time, ignoring all distractions and everything I possibly can to get my 1667 words done, even if that means I'm stretching out my writing time to 4 hours!
To give you context on how painfully slow that is for me usually, I can usually whack out 800 words in about half an hour. So in practice, 1667 should only take an hour, but that hasn't happened this week! This week has carried on in the same vein as last week, where I've been distracted/busy/uninspired for most of it, so it's been a long, hard slog. But it's worth it, because I've somehow managed to push myself almost an entire day ahead of schedule (don't worry, I haven't miscounted, I've checked... three times) and hit 10,000 words at the same time! I'm ecstatic!
To be perfectly honest, I was fully expecting to be miles behind already, or to have run out of steam, but currently I seem to be wanting to keep on going. That could be because at this current moment, I'm being distracted by a) the idea that the band Busted are getting back together and are announcing a new single in 4 days and b) Doctor Strange set pictures and both those things are hyping me up, but I reckon it's mostly down to the fact that the first 10,000 words are now written down for my projects.
I've now officially gotten one fifth of the way through, I just have to continue this pattern just four more time and then I'm there! It doesn't seem as difficult when you get through the first 10,000!
But on a serious note, if you're behind target or really struggling, all is not lost. This week could just be a bad week for you, getting into the swing of 1667 words a day is hard, and more importantly, it's exhausting. Nobody can judge you for that, and you are trying incredibly hard, and that is all that matters.
Think of it this way, you've still got words down, which is more than you had before the start of the month. You're still giving this challenge a good shot, and if you don't reach the 50.000 target, then that's okay. You gave it your absolute best, and still got so much written, you can continue at your own pace for the rest of the year until you make it to the end of your project. Writing is a process and it can't be rushed, 50,000 words in 30 days is mental, and not reaching it is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. The rest of the year is still yours to write in, as is the next year, and the next, and the next. You have all the time in the world to finish your novel, and while the rest of us are stuck in the painful editing process, you're still in the fun bit of writing the story!
So if you're behind then don't worry, if you're ahead like me then go party, and if you're on time, congratulations! But remember, we all go at our own pace, and sometimes life gets in the way of writing, this challenge is insane, and we should all be proud of everything we achieve in this month! Even if we only manage 5000 words by the end of it!
This week has been a pain to say the least in terms of writing, three days this week I've been at uni, and that means getting up at 6.15am in the morning, so by the time I get home I'm exhausted and really not ready to do any writing! But I've pushed through every time, ignoring all distractions and everything I possibly can to get my 1667 words done, even if that means I'm stretching out my writing time to 4 hours!
To give you context on how painfully slow that is for me usually, I can usually whack out 800 words in about half an hour. So in practice, 1667 should only take an hour, but that hasn't happened this week! This week has carried on in the same vein as last week, where I've been distracted/busy/uninspired for most of it, so it's been a long, hard slog. But it's worth it, because I've somehow managed to push myself almost an entire day ahead of schedule (don't worry, I haven't miscounted, I've checked... three times) and hit 10,000 words at the same time! I'm ecstatic!
To be perfectly honest, I was fully expecting to be miles behind already, or to have run out of steam, but currently I seem to be wanting to keep on going. That could be because at this current moment, I'm being distracted by a) the idea that the band Busted are getting back together and are announcing a new single in 4 days and b) Doctor Strange set pictures and both those things are hyping me up, but I reckon it's mostly down to the fact that the first 10,000 words are now written down for my projects.
I've now officially gotten one fifth of the way through, I just have to continue this pattern just four more time and then I'm there! It doesn't seem as difficult when you get through the first 10,000!
But on a serious note, if you're behind target or really struggling, all is not lost. This week could just be a bad week for you, getting into the swing of 1667 words a day is hard, and more importantly, it's exhausting. Nobody can judge you for that, and you are trying incredibly hard, and that is all that matters.
Think of it this way, you've still got words down, which is more than you had before the start of the month. You're still giving this challenge a good shot, and if you don't reach the 50.000 target, then that's okay. You gave it your absolute best, and still got so much written, you can continue at your own pace for the rest of the year until you make it to the end of your project. Writing is a process and it can't be rushed, 50,000 words in 30 days is mental, and not reaching it is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. The rest of the year is still yours to write in, as is the next year, and the next, and the next. You have all the time in the world to finish your novel, and while the rest of us are stuck in the painful editing process, you're still in the fun bit of writing the story!
So if you're behind then don't worry, if you're ahead like me then go party, and if you're on time, congratulations! But remember, we all go at our own pace, and sometimes life gets in the way of writing, this challenge is insane, and we should all be proud of everything we achieve in this month! Even if we only manage 5000 words by the end of it!
Sunday, 1 November 2015
Worst NaNoWriMo Prep Ever!
So it's the first of November, which only means one thing... National Novel Writing Month has begun, and I am NOT prepared!
Usually, the last week of October is spent preparing for NaNoWriMo, meaning getting some writing playlists ready, planning which days I may have trouble getting 1667 words written, getting my projects planned out so I can just write steadily throughout the month. This year thought, to say the least, that didn't happen.
This past week has been a reading week at uni, so I've been off lectures, which is great, more time to spend planning. Yet that didn't happen, somehow I've either been incredibly busy, the day itself has run away, or I've been incredibly ill. Literally, I've had a week of busy days (which never happens), days that go so fast I haven't had time to do anything significant, or I've been so ill I haven't been able to move. And I have no idea why this has happened! Usually I manage really well, I can get stuff done and get myself properly prepared for a month of novel writing madness. This year though, it seems as if the world decided to go 'NOPE, YOU'RE SCREWED SUCKERRRRRRRRR' at me!
So yesterday was spent having a mad scramble to get everything sorted, while also enjoying Halloween to some extent. It was not an easy task I can tell you, and now I've had to spill prep into today, which is the first day of NaNoWriMo! Ahhhhh!
But, in good news, I think I have sorted myself out. I've got a rough idea about where both my stories are going, I've had some time to have a good stab at my word count (currently 400 off but that'll soon be fixed) so I think I'm going to do okay. If I'm lucky. And I'm determined, which I am. I think.
Basically, I think I'm going to be okay, if I hit writers block I'm screwed, but I have a vague plan for my projects and a best friend to bounce ideas off of, I can manage. If that fails, I'll built up word count by writing blogs about my progress over here, because I'm a terrible cheat when it comes to word count!
Hopefully, all is going to go to plan, I'll write blog posts anyway, but won't need to add them to my daily word count, as I'll reach the daily goal with my usual projects. If not, well, never mind, I'll still have written 1667 words a day for 30 days, which is the point of this challenge anyway. At some point, I may even have time to upload a vlog or two this month, though that is currently looking very doubtful, so I wouldn't hold my breath on that one. Blogs should be okay though, as that doesn't require me moving from my seat, or breaking the flow of typing.
Let's just wait and see what happens, shall we? May be easily than all this guessing!
To anybody else doing NaNoWriMo, good luck and I hope your prep was easier than mine!
Usually, the last week of October is spent preparing for NaNoWriMo, meaning getting some writing playlists ready, planning which days I may have trouble getting 1667 words written, getting my projects planned out so I can just write steadily throughout the month. This year thought, to say the least, that didn't happen.
This past week has been a reading week at uni, so I've been off lectures, which is great, more time to spend planning. Yet that didn't happen, somehow I've either been incredibly busy, the day itself has run away, or I've been incredibly ill. Literally, I've had a week of busy days (which never happens), days that go so fast I haven't had time to do anything significant, or I've been so ill I haven't been able to move. And I have no idea why this has happened! Usually I manage really well, I can get stuff done and get myself properly prepared for a month of novel writing madness. This year though, it seems as if the world decided to go 'NOPE, YOU'RE SCREWED SUCKERRRRRRRRR' at me!
So yesterday was spent having a mad scramble to get everything sorted, while also enjoying Halloween to some extent. It was not an easy task I can tell you, and now I've had to spill prep into today, which is the first day of NaNoWriMo! Ahhhhh!
But, in good news, I think I have sorted myself out. I've got a rough idea about where both my stories are going, I've had some time to have a good stab at my word count (currently 400 off but that'll soon be fixed) so I think I'm going to do okay. If I'm lucky. And I'm determined, which I am. I think.
Basically, I think I'm going to be okay, if I hit writers block I'm screwed, but I have a vague plan for my projects and a best friend to bounce ideas off of, I can manage. If that fails, I'll built up word count by writing blogs about my progress over here, because I'm a terrible cheat when it comes to word count!
Hopefully, all is going to go to plan, I'll write blog posts anyway, but won't need to add them to my daily word count, as I'll reach the daily goal with my usual projects. If not, well, never mind, I'll still have written 1667 words a day for 30 days, which is the point of this challenge anyway. At some point, I may even have time to upload a vlog or two this month, though that is currently looking very doubtful, so I wouldn't hold my breath on that one. Blogs should be okay though, as that doesn't require me moving from my seat, or breaking the flow of typing.
Let's just wait and see what happens, shall we? May be easily than all this guessing!
To anybody else doing NaNoWriMo, good luck and I hope your prep was easier than mine!
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