Start Page: 70
Current Page: 72
Pages Written Today: 2
Target Page: 73
Pages Left To Go: 1
Location In Story: I am currently having all my characters stall so I can figure out what to have them do next. They could maybe discuss battle strategy. I'm not sure yet. So I'm have them stall the story until I figure it out by having Romeo and Puck and Demetrius and Morgan discuss what they next should discuss. They'll most likely go with discussion of battle strategy and other things of a reasonably important nature.
As you can tell, I did NOT succeed in the 11,111 word challenge yesterday. I find my lack of success in this endeavor rather depressing. However, I DID set a new personal record for Words Written In A Day for this year (I'm not sure if I trumped anything I did last year; I don't remember any of the records I set last year). So that's a good thing, since I can relax on word count later (and/ or today). I'm going to try and write past page 73 today so I can bump my word count for later, when a time comes when I get super stressed and incapable of doing 2,000 words a day, but if I don't get past page 73, then whatever, since my word count is already about what it should be for my target of 2,000 words a day. That in itself is a sort of padding because I will have time to catch up on word count if I fall behind (if I continue to do 2,000 words a day, I'll finish 50,000 words by November 25th). I have no idea whether 50,00 words is enough to tell the story, but if I keep up doing 2,000 words a day, then I'll have time at the end of the month to write accordingly.
Um... I do not know what else to say right now.
Nothing of great consequence happened today.
I didn't write much, which I should probably fix right about now (or very soon). I am also going to have to do calculus after dinner, as well as other homework things. For example, I have to read 'Othello' today as well. And email some Earth-space stuff to my teacher. And study for a government test. And finish my word count. And possibly exceed my word count, since musical rehearsals start on Monday and I do not want to get to the point where I have to go to sleep at around two in the morning every single day I have musical rehearsal. Because going to sleep at two in the morning on any day really sucks. Especially when you have a novel to write, calculus homework to do, Shakespeare to read, Earth-Space to email, and government tests to study for.
So yeah. I am going now.
Farewell.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Friday, November 11, 2011
Day 11: when I attempt lunatic word counts
Current Page: 64
Target Page: 95 (will get to this in a minute)
Pages Written Today: 4
Pages Left To Go: 31
Location In Story: Romeo has just knocked out about 300 orcs (she put them to sleep with her wordy awesomeness, because she can) and has now passed out from the strain. Also, King Hamlet is speculating how he might meet his daughter, and what she might look like. (King Hamlet is Romeo's father).
Before I get to Why I Am Writing 35 Pages In One Day, I would first like to say: THANK YOU VETERANS FOR YOUR AWESOMENESS!
Now onto the Topic of Today's Post: Why I Am Attempting To Write 35 Pages In One Day.
Well, as you all know, today is 11/11/11, the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the eleventh year of the twenty-first century. Yes, I DID wish at 11:11 AM this morning as well, because the 11:11 wish would obviously be more potent today than on other days.
Anyhow, as it is 11/11/11, there are two potential National Novel Writing Month Challenge Options: write for 11 hours today (no WAY will I be able to do that), or write 11,111 words today. Since I can't sit still and write for 11 hours straight (not that I have tried, because I can barely do 1-2 hours, AND I am feeling lousy, so that makes me even more distractable than normal), I am trying the 11,111 word challenge.
Although I am already ahead on my word count, I want to get to a point where I can actually get to a reasonable plot development, instead of having a bunch of minor plot developments. I need to get myself to the first Super Epic Plot Development. If I do that, then I will for sure finish the novel in a month, because I will be fully interested in what is going on. Because things of an important nature will be occuring. Huzzah!
Yeah, I am not doing a lot of homework today. I thought I would, but I am not. I AM out of bed and dressed and showered and I have fed myself twice today, which is an accomplishment. I have also written about 1400 words, which is also a good accomplishment. So it is a good day in most respects.
Obviously, I am going to have to take a break from writing a TON tomorrow and Sunday because I will have procrastinated so much on homework and such, but if I make the 11,111 words today, then I will be able to afford to go easy tomorrow and Sunday.
Week three is going to be the hardest of the month, though. That is because Week Three is the only week in November in which I do not have any additional days off of school. Which is annoying. Also, I do not know how far I am going to get today, and my progress today will determine a lot of my progress for week three. I will either be forcing myself to write and only be getting like 1,000 words a day, or I will be finding every spare moment to write because I am fully interested in the novel, because things of an important nature are happening, which is exciting.
Okay, time to stop procrastinating and start getting a purple ink stain on my finger and writer's cramp in my wrist. Farewell!
Oh, yeah. Fall formal last night? It was awesome. Finally, a GOOD year. Huzzah! Except for my shoes. I am still debating whether my shoes were a win or a fail - they were 3.5 inch stiletto-type shoes, and they were bright orange and slightly painful. I enjoyed being 5'10", but my toes did not enjoy it.
Okay, really. I am done procrastinating.
Goodbye.
Target Page: 95 (will get to this in a minute)
Pages Written Today: 4
Pages Left To Go: 31
Location In Story: Romeo has just knocked out about 300 orcs (she put them to sleep with her wordy awesomeness, because she can) and has now passed out from the strain. Also, King Hamlet is speculating how he might meet his daughter, and what she might look like. (King Hamlet is Romeo's father).
Before I get to Why I Am Writing 35 Pages In One Day, I would first like to say: THANK YOU VETERANS FOR YOUR AWESOMENESS!
Now onto the Topic of Today's Post: Why I Am Attempting To Write 35 Pages In One Day.
Well, as you all know, today is 11/11/11, the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the eleventh year of the twenty-first century. Yes, I DID wish at 11:11 AM this morning as well, because the 11:11 wish would obviously be more potent today than on other days.
Anyhow, as it is 11/11/11, there are two potential National Novel Writing Month Challenge Options: write for 11 hours today (no WAY will I be able to do that), or write 11,111 words today. Since I can't sit still and write for 11 hours straight (not that I have tried, because I can barely do 1-2 hours, AND I am feeling lousy, so that makes me even more distractable than normal), I am trying the 11,111 word challenge.
Although I am already ahead on my word count, I want to get to a point where I can actually get to a reasonable plot development, instead of having a bunch of minor plot developments. I need to get myself to the first Super Epic Plot Development. If I do that, then I will for sure finish the novel in a month, because I will be fully interested in what is going on. Because things of an important nature will be occuring. Huzzah!
Yeah, I am not doing a lot of homework today. I thought I would, but I am not. I AM out of bed and dressed and showered and I have fed myself twice today, which is an accomplishment. I have also written about 1400 words, which is also a good accomplishment. So it is a good day in most respects.
Obviously, I am going to have to take a break from writing a TON tomorrow and Sunday because I will have procrastinated so much on homework and such, but if I make the 11,111 words today, then I will be able to afford to go easy tomorrow and Sunday.
Week three is going to be the hardest of the month, though. That is because Week Three is the only week in November in which I do not have any additional days off of school. Which is annoying. Also, I do not know how far I am going to get today, and my progress today will determine a lot of my progress for week three. I will either be forcing myself to write and only be getting like 1,000 words a day, or I will be finding every spare moment to write because I am fully interested in the novel, because things of an important nature are happening, which is exciting.
Okay, time to stop procrastinating and start getting a purple ink stain on my finger and writer's cramp in my wrist. Farewell!
Oh, yeah. Fall formal last night? It was awesome. Finally, a GOOD year. Huzzah! Except for my shoes. I am still debating whether my shoes were a win or a fail - they were 3.5 inch stiletto-type shoes, and they were bright orange and slightly painful. I enjoyed being 5'10", but my toes did not enjoy it.
Okay, really. I am done procrastinating.
Goodbye.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Day 10: in which I am on a reasonable track and worrying about the musical
Current Page: 57
Pages Written Today: 1.5
Target Page: 61
Pages To Go: 4
Location In Story: Iago plans to send orcs after Romeo (he doesn't know that Demetrius and Puck are alive and he doesn't know that Belarius is with them). He intends for the orcs to take Romeo by force and then bring her back to the palace; he plans on torturing her and then tempting her to come to the dark side (maybe he'll bribe her with cookies); if she refuses, she dies. He's sent out the orcs, and now he's just waiting for them to come back. Romeo's father, Hamlet (who's NOT, emotionally unstable, nor is Ophelia), isn't happy about both the torturing and potential death thing, AND the fact that none of Romeo's family will be able to see her or meet her before she's subjected to things of an extremely unpleasant nature. Now, BACK TO DEMETRIUS AND ROMEO AND PUCK AND MORGAN/ BELARIUS! (that's the bit that I haven't written yet). Also, Demetrius and Romeo... they aren't exactly friends, and they haven't bonded at ALL, but they've reached a truce. And they both agree to honor the truce. Which is a very good thing, I guess. Once Romeo gets more control over her words, they will be doing that sort of argue/ banter type of thing that some people do when they may or may not be flirting (or are masking their flirting by arguing, or are arguing because they don't think they are flirting because they don't like the other person. It's the third one that Romeo and Demetrius will be doing when I get to that bit).
I think I'm reasonably on track for my personal word count. I only have about 1200 more words to go until I hit my personal daily word count, which is exciting. I should be writing right now, because fall formal is tonight, but I can write during my third free block today. Besides, the dance starts really late tonight, so I can write some this afternoon as well, since today is basically a Friday, since there's no school tomorrow.
Anyway, in other news, cast lists for the musical have NOT gone up yet, which is annoying me very much. The director said they'll be posted next block, but the chorus room is in the basement, and for the next two blocks after this I have classes on the third floor, so I can't go down in between classes because then I'll be late to class (both of which are AP and, although an AP grade is weighted, I don't want to flub more than I have to on them), and neither of the next two teachers I have are the sort of teachers who condone lateness. This means I have to wait until 3:15 at the earliest before I can see what part I got (or if I even got a part, or whether I'm in the ensemble or whether I'm one of those nameless ninjas who plays all of the important supporting people who nevertheless has all of zero lines, like I was last year). I wouldn't mind being one of those nameless ninjas who do everything, but I want to know whether I'm actually a ninjas or whether I am someone important. Or whether I'm someone unimportant. All of the above are very viable options.
I just really want to know.
GAAH!!!
As you can tell, I'm very bad at handling suspense. Especially when it's something that I actually think I did well on. In theory (and mostly in fact), that's always the case - I thought I did well on it, and I want to know whether the people who were supposed to be judging me think so. I don't care about how much everyone else is judging me, but if I disappoint the directors, then I'm screwed. Which is not fun.
And I'm getting myself to the point where I am too nervous to write well.
Despite the fact that writing well is not a criteria for succeeding in NaNoWriMo.
There's a difference between writing well and writing coherently. Writing well means that you understand it and it sounds cool. Writing coherently means you can understand it. Right now, I can't do either.
I think I did well on the call back, but what I've noticed is that I'm the sort of person who is an infallible optimist. I hope for the best, and I think I did well, but then it turns out that I didn't do well at ALL (or at least not as well as I thought I did), and then I'm all annoyed and disappointed. Which is really depressing. Literally.
Okay, I am going to sign off now. Hopefully I got a good part. And hopefully there will be something for me to kick if I am not entirely happy with my part.
GRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pages Written Today: 1.5
Target Page: 61
Pages To Go: 4
Location In Story: Iago plans to send orcs after Romeo (he doesn't know that Demetrius and Puck are alive and he doesn't know that Belarius is with them). He intends for the orcs to take Romeo by force and then bring her back to the palace; he plans on torturing her and then tempting her to come to the dark side (maybe he'll bribe her with cookies); if she refuses, she dies. He's sent out the orcs, and now he's just waiting for them to come back. Romeo's father, Hamlet (who's NOT, emotionally unstable, nor is Ophelia), isn't happy about both the torturing and potential death thing, AND the fact that none of Romeo's family will be able to see her or meet her before she's subjected to things of an extremely unpleasant nature. Now, BACK TO DEMETRIUS AND ROMEO AND PUCK AND MORGAN/ BELARIUS! (that's the bit that I haven't written yet). Also, Demetrius and Romeo... they aren't exactly friends, and they haven't bonded at ALL, but they've reached a truce. And they both agree to honor the truce. Which is a very good thing, I guess. Once Romeo gets more control over her words, they will be doing that sort of argue/ banter type of thing that some people do when they may or may not be flirting (or are masking their flirting by arguing, or are arguing because they don't think they are flirting because they don't like the other person. It's the third one that Romeo and Demetrius will be doing when I get to that bit).
I think I'm reasonably on track for my personal word count. I only have about 1200 more words to go until I hit my personal daily word count, which is exciting. I should be writing right now, because fall formal is tonight, but I can write during my third free block today. Besides, the dance starts really late tonight, so I can write some this afternoon as well, since today is basically a Friday, since there's no school tomorrow.
Anyway, in other news, cast lists for the musical have NOT gone up yet, which is annoying me very much. The director said they'll be posted next block, but the chorus room is in the basement, and for the next two blocks after this I have classes on the third floor, so I can't go down in between classes because then I'll be late to class (both of which are AP and, although an AP grade is weighted, I don't want to flub more than I have to on them), and neither of the next two teachers I have are the sort of teachers who condone lateness. This means I have to wait until 3:15 at the earliest before I can see what part I got (or if I even got a part, or whether I'm in the ensemble or whether I'm one of those nameless ninjas who plays all of the important supporting people who nevertheless has all of zero lines, like I was last year). I wouldn't mind being one of those nameless ninjas who do everything, but I want to know whether I'm actually a ninjas or whether I am someone important. Or whether I'm someone unimportant. All of the above are very viable options.
I just really want to know.
GAAH!!!
As you can tell, I'm very bad at handling suspense. Especially when it's something that I actually think I did well on. In theory (and mostly in fact), that's always the case - I thought I did well on it, and I want to know whether the people who were supposed to be judging me think so. I don't care about how much everyone else is judging me, but if I disappoint the directors, then I'm screwed. Which is not fun.
And I'm getting myself to the point where I am too nervous to write well.
Despite the fact that writing well is not a criteria for succeeding in NaNoWriMo.
There's a difference between writing well and writing coherently. Writing well means that you understand it and it sounds cool. Writing coherently means you can understand it. Right now, I can't do either.
I think I did well on the call back, but what I've noticed is that I'm the sort of person who is an infallible optimist. I hope for the best, and I think I did well, but then it turns out that I didn't do well at ALL (or at least not as well as I thought I did), and then I'm all annoyed and disappointed. Which is really depressing. Literally.
Okay, I am going to sign off now. Hopefully I got a good part. And hopefully there will be something for me to kick if I am not entirely happy with my part.
GRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Day 9: In Which I Get Lagged
Current Page: 51
Target Page: 55
Pages Written Today: About 1
Pages Until Completion: 4
Location In Story: Demetrius + Romeo = friends? No, I don't know, either. I haven't written that part. (I'm about to, however, and it something that I should be doing sooner rather than later, so I can pad my word count for today). Also, Puck + Morgan = love? Not sure about that either. In the train of thought that is commonly maintained by people of a creepy nature, Puck and Morgan are in each other's trousers right now. However, I control the pen, which means they're not getting into each other's trousers until I say they're getting into each other's trousers. (I don't even know whether they're ACTUALLY going to get together or whether it's just me and the creepers having wishful thinking. That also remains to be seen, along with the whole relationship with Romeo and Demetrius. Oh, speculation. Thou annoyest me greatly. Grr.)
Anyhoo, I need to stop blogging and start writing, like, NOW. I KNOW that I am ahead of the necessary daily word count, but I am not of the necessary ME word count (read: I want to be able to type during Thanksgiving break, so I need to be writing the rest of the story pronto. AKA now).
But the one thing that has been holding me back and messing me up is the fact that I had a day off yesterday and I have another one off on Friday. It is completely throwing me off because I have school, and then I do not, and then I do again, and then I do not, and then I do! GAAAHHH! Theoretically, the spare time is brilliant for writing, but I am such a world-class procrastinator (like I am *ahem* not doing now) that it has been hitherto completely lost on me (also, homework has been hitherto lost on me. I am vacillating between comprehension and insanity when it comes to calculus).
Another thing: fall formal is tomorrow. I am the only one of my group of close friends group who is going to fall formal. This is rather depressing. I, unlike many of my friends, actually reasonably ENJOY these things. Sometimes, though, I wish I was not the only one, even (maybe even 'especially') since it is the last year that I can go to fall formal - so why not go?
Whatever. If worst comes to worst, I will make myself find a way to shove my National Novel Writing Mont journal into my bag before I leave (a feat that is doubtless going to prove difficult, as the bag is miniscule and the journal is a regular-sized composition book), but I hope that will not have to happen. Mostly because I cannot write with loud music pumping into my head from all sides. But maybe I can send the characters to a high school dance or something, and then things would fit perfectly in the situation. WOOHOO! (okay, that is not going to happen. First of all, Romeo would rather physically punch Demetrius in the face than let him see her in a dress at this point in time. Second of all, everyone except Romeo would be freaked out by the manner of dancing exhibited at school dances, at least the ones at the school I go to).
Also, I had callbacks today for the musical. I think I did reasonably well, except my accent was horrible. It barely existed. But, all in all, I think I performed well. I could have had more character when I was reading for Ado Annie, but the decision is no longer in my hands; I will be perfectly fine with doing ensemble. Okay, I will be SORT of pissed if I get ensemble, since I got this far in the audition process and I liked how I performed, generally. But I will have to deal with it if I get ensemble, because that is the way life is. Even if life sucks, life still has to go on.
Right. On to writing!
(and, thankfully, not calculus homework today. I do not have to go to another calculus again until Monday (hallelujah!), though I DO plan on doing my homework on Friday. Really.)
Right. Time to go forth and conjure characters from places hitherto unknown by me!
Correction: make the characters do stuff that is hitherto unspecified, since they have already deviated enough in past nine days that I cannot afford to force them back on track now.
Target Page: 55
Pages Written Today: About 1
Pages Until Completion: 4
Location In Story: Demetrius + Romeo = friends? No, I don't know, either. I haven't written that part. (I'm about to, however, and it something that I should be doing sooner rather than later, so I can pad my word count for today). Also, Puck + Morgan = love? Not sure about that either. In the train of thought that is commonly maintained by people of a creepy nature, Puck and Morgan are in each other's trousers right now. However, I control the pen, which means they're not getting into each other's trousers until I say they're getting into each other's trousers. (I don't even know whether they're ACTUALLY going to get together or whether it's just me and the creepers having wishful thinking. That also remains to be seen, along with the whole relationship with Romeo and Demetrius. Oh, speculation. Thou annoyest me greatly. Grr.)
Anyhoo, I need to stop blogging and start writing, like, NOW. I KNOW that I am ahead of the necessary daily word count, but I am not of the necessary ME word count (read: I want to be able to type during Thanksgiving break, so I need to be writing the rest of the story pronto. AKA now).
But the one thing that has been holding me back and messing me up is the fact that I had a day off yesterday and I have another one off on Friday. It is completely throwing me off because I have school, and then I do not, and then I do again, and then I do not, and then I do! GAAAHHH! Theoretically, the spare time is brilliant for writing, but I am such a world-class procrastinator (like I am *ahem* not doing now) that it has been hitherto completely lost on me (also, homework has been hitherto lost on me. I am vacillating between comprehension and insanity when it comes to calculus).
Another thing: fall formal is tomorrow. I am the only one of my group of close friends group who is going to fall formal. This is rather depressing. I, unlike many of my friends, actually reasonably ENJOY these things. Sometimes, though, I wish I was not the only one, even (maybe even 'especially') since it is the last year that I can go to fall formal - so why not go?
Whatever. If worst comes to worst, I will make myself find a way to shove my National Novel Writing Mont journal into my bag before I leave (a feat that is doubtless going to prove difficult, as the bag is miniscule and the journal is a regular-sized composition book), but I hope that will not have to happen. Mostly because I cannot write with loud music pumping into my head from all sides. But maybe I can send the characters to a high school dance or something, and then things would fit perfectly in the situation. WOOHOO! (okay, that is not going to happen. First of all, Romeo would rather physically punch Demetrius in the face than let him see her in a dress at this point in time. Second of all, everyone except Romeo would be freaked out by the manner of dancing exhibited at school dances, at least the ones at the school I go to).
Also, I had callbacks today for the musical. I think I did reasonably well, except my accent was horrible. It barely existed. But, all in all, I think I performed well. I could have had more character when I was reading for Ado Annie, but the decision is no longer in my hands; I will be perfectly fine with doing ensemble. Okay, I will be SORT of pissed if I get ensemble, since I got this far in the audition process and I liked how I performed, generally. But I will have to deal with it if I get ensemble, because that is the way life is. Even if life sucks, life still has to go on.
Right. On to writing!
(and, thankfully, not calculus homework today. I do not have to go to another calculus again until Monday (hallelujah!), though I DO plan on doing my homework on Friday. Really.)
Right. Time to go forth and conjure characters from places hitherto unknown by me!
Correction: make the characters do stuff that is hitherto unspecified, since they have already deviated enough in past nine days that I cannot afford to force them back on track now.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Day 8: In Which I Realize That I'm Farther Than I Thought
Pages Written Today: 1.5-ish
Current Page: 45
Target Page: 49
Pages In Between: 4.5
Location In Story: Romeo and Demetrius and Puck now know WHY they are in Mercanova and WHY Morgan sent them there. It's now the next morning, when nothing of consequence is scheduled to occur. Huzzah! (okay, not really huzzah. When nothing's scheduled to occur, it means I have to clean my room, do homework, and stall for 2,000 words until something important happens).
I have now thought of a long and extremely complicated back story for how the Prophecy came to be said/ how they figured out it was going to happen SOON/ why Romeo and Puck and Demetrius are the people mentioned in the prophecy. However, I don't want to go into that right now, because it's rather confusing and I don't remember a lot of it, so I'm not going to say it. But it DOES involve Romeo's father being called Hamlet, and Iago acting just like Iago does to Othello (except not at all like how Iago actually acts. He IS the misunderstood guy who gets passed over for a boon, but he doesn't kill Hamlet or Ophelia. He just deposes Hamlet. And in this Hamlet-Ophelia relationship, stuff works out and nobody dies), and Demetrius's parents being Othello and Desdemona (and Othello kills Desdemona because he thinks that Demetrius is an illegitimate child and blah blah blah, and then Demetrius is sent off to live elsewhere and Othello kills himself because of someone telling him that his son was legit and his wife was legit, and then Othello becomes suicidal and dies). And Romeo finds out that she DOES have a twin brother, and the way she was able to not be killed by Iago is by her parents telling Iago that they had two boys and one of them died. And they named her Romeo to back up the story.
Soooo yeah. That's where I am right now.
I did a word count calculation for some of the earlier pages in the novel (the ones that I had already gotten words-per-line counts on), and it turns out that my word count average is WAY above what I thought it was, so I do not have to be on page 50-something by the end of today. I have to be on page 49 (and I don't at the end of page 49, either. I only have to be about halfway down on page 49, which means I can spend time doing things that my mother would yell at me if I didn't do. Like homework).
What a way to spend a day off.
Right, well, I have to go forth and clean my room.
Farewell.
Oh, yes, one last thing: last night, I think I had the most brilliant line/ joke/ writing revelation ever. And I wrote it. (I don't remember whether I posted about it or not; if I did, post, ignore this).
Last night, the reason Demetrius stopped being a completely tease-Romeo-to-annoy-her-and-for-no-other-reason type of annoying butthead was because Romeo threatened (in a very serious manner) to use her word power to shrink his genetalia if he bugged her.
And she said it with a straight face.
And then he backed off.
HAHAHAHAAAAA!
Okay, I am going to go clean my room and do my homework now. Goodbye. I'll hopefully post later today, when I am actually caught up on my word count and stuff.
Farewell.
Current Page: 45
Target Page: 49
Pages In Between: 4.5
Location In Story: Romeo and Demetrius and Puck now know WHY they are in Mercanova and WHY Morgan sent them there. It's now the next morning, when nothing of consequence is scheduled to occur. Huzzah! (okay, not really huzzah. When nothing's scheduled to occur, it means I have to clean my room, do homework, and stall for 2,000 words until something important happens).
I have now thought of a long and extremely complicated back story for how the Prophecy came to be said/ how they figured out it was going to happen SOON/ why Romeo and Puck and Demetrius are the people mentioned in the prophecy. However, I don't want to go into that right now, because it's rather confusing and I don't remember a lot of it, so I'm not going to say it. But it DOES involve Romeo's father being called Hamlet, and Iago acting just like Iago does to Othello (except not at all like how Iago actually acts. He IS the misunderstood guy who gets passed over for a boon, but he doesn't kill Hamlet or Ophelia. He just deposes Hamlet. And in this Hamlet-Ophelia relationship, stuff works out and nobody dies), and Demetrius's parents being Othello and Desdemona (and Othello kills Desdemona because he thinks that Demetrius is an illegitimate child and blah blah blah, and then Demetrius is sent off to live elsewhere and Othello kills himself because of someone telling him that his son was legit and his wife was legit, and then Othello becomes suicidal and dies). And Romeo finds out that she DOES have a twin brother, and the way she was able to not be killed by Iago is by her parents telling Iago that they had two boys and one of them died. And they named her Romeo to back up the story.
Soooo yeah. That's where I am right now.
I did a word count calculation for some of the earlier pages in the novel (the ones that I had already gotten words-per-line counts on), and it turns out that my word count average is WAY above what I thought it was, so I do not have to be on page 50-something by the end of today. I have to be on page 49 (and I don't at the end of page 49, either. I only have to be about halfway down on page 49, which means I can spend time doing things that my mother would yell at me if I didn't do. Like homework).
What a way to spend a day off.
Right, well, I have to go forth and clean my room.
Farewell.
Oh, yes, one last thing: last night, I think I had the most brilliant line/ joke/ writing revelation ever. And I wrote it. (I don't remember whether I posted about it or not; if I did, post, ignore this).
Last night, the reason Demetrius stopped being a completely tease-Romeo-to-annoy-her-and-for-no-other-reason type of annoying butthead was because Romeo threatened (in a very serious manner) to use her word power to shrink his genetalia if he bugged her.
And she said it with a straight face.
And then he backed off.
HAHAHAHAAAAA!
Okay, I am going to go clean my room and do my homework now. Goodbye. I'll hopefully post later today, when I am actually caught up on my word count and stuff.
Farewell.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Day 7: In Which I Write More
Current Page: 38
Target Page: I thought I got rid of this... Oh, whatever. Approximate-ish target page: 44
Pages In Between: six-ish
Location in Story: Morgan/ Belarius is around and explaining how Puck and Demetrius and Romeo have all come to Mercanova. And WHY they've come to Mercanova. And everyone got mad at each other (well, Puck just started asking questions. Romeo and Demetrius got mad at each other). And Romeo has succeeded in slinging two more Shakespearean Insults (this time from 'Hamlet') at Demetrius. Right now, Demetrius is now on the planned character course of 'annoying source of irritation for a variety of reasons,' including his sexism and his constant arguing with Romeo. But at least he's not.... wait, yeah, he's still a butt head. Alas. But at least he's now a general butt head who gives Romeo someone to argue with, rather than just someone who gets on my nerves.
Anyhow, Romeo has so far informed Demetrius that he's dirt and asked if he took her for a sponge. Why those two insults? I have no idea whatsoever. I liked them, so I put them in. And because they seem to fit the situation. I have an entire book of Shakespearean Insults to provide the arsenal of Romeo's Insults. I might as well use the arsenal when I can.
Anyhow, that is where I am. And that's what I am doing. And... yeah.
Currently, I'm doing nothing of consequence. I SHOULD be working on the 2,000 words I've left to complete today, but I'm not. Though I will be. At some point. Very soon. Most likely.
For example, I can write tomorrow. I have the day off from school tomorrow, because it's a teacher work day and election day and stuff. I'm going to write a LOT tomorrow because of this. And also clean my room and maybe hang out with some friends.
But mostly, I'll be writing. If you want to find me, I'll be locked in my room (or in my house, or at Starbucks). I'm the one with the composition book and the purple pen who is scribbling as if their life depends on it. Even though my life does NOT depend on it.
Yes, I'll also be doing homework tomorrow. For example, I'll be doing calculus homework tomorrow (or maybe today; I don't know yet). And I'll be studying for a Government test next week (even though I AM ahead on this, I still need to work on it). And I'll for sure be reading "Othello" (YAY SHAKESPEARE!) for English. And I could work on an Earth-Space research-y thing, but that can wait. It's not due on Wednesday.
Mostly I'm going to plan on writing a LOT and meet my word count and not fail at NaNoWriMo, because failing at NaNoWriMo would make me VERY sad. And it would also mean that I'd disappoint a LOT of people, including myself, which is never a good thing. Especially if I get really super mad at myself and try and do something stupid.
But whatever. ON TO OTHER THINGS!
I didn't get into districts for the FOURTH year in a row. To be fair, I DID score the highest I've ever scored (168 out of 200), but I was still 10 points away from getting in. I'd have gotten with that score in if I were a freshman (the freshman and sophomore girls have a different choir because so many girls audition for District Choir every year). But alas, I'm not a freshman. Well, actually, I don't know whether that is an 'alas' or 'hooray,' the fact that I'm not a freshman.
ON TO WRITING MORE, AND MAKING DEMETRIUS NO LONGER BE A BUTT HEAD! (and other stuff... like plot... and conflict... and exposition... and character introduction... and moving the story along... and other stuff of an important nature).
Farewell for now.
I will see you again when I have a better word count than I do now.
Target Page: I thought I got rid of this... Oh, whatever. Approximate-ish target page: 44
Pages In Between: six-ish
Location in Story: Morgan/ Belarius is around and explaining how Puck and Demetrius and Romeo have all come to Mercanova. And WHY they've come to Mercanova. And everyone got mad at each other (well, Puck just started asking questions. Romeo and Demetrius got mad at each other). And Romeo has succeeded in slinging two more Shakespearean Insults (this time from 'Hamlet') at Demetrius. Right now, Demetrius is now on the planned character course of 'annoying source of irritation for a variety of reasons,' including his sexism and his constant arguing with Romeo. But at least he's not.... wait, yeah, he's still a butt head. Alas. But at least he's now a general butt head who gives Romeo someone to argue with, rather than just someone who gets on my nerves.
Anyhow, Romeo has so far informed Demetrius that he's dirt and asked if he took her for a sponge. Why those two insults? I have no idea whatsoever. I liked them, so I put them in. And because they seem to fit the situation. I have an entire book of Shakespearean Insults to provide the arsenal of Romeo's Insults. I might as well use the arsenal when I can.
Anyhow, that is where I am. And that's what I am doing. And... yeah.
Currently, I'm doing nothing of consequence. I SHOULD be working on the 2,000 words I've left to complete today, but I'm not. Though I will be. At some point. Very soon. Most likely.
For example, I can write tomorrow. I have the day off from school tomorrow, because it's a teacher work day and election day and stuff. I'm going to write a LOT tomorrow because of this. And also clean my room and maybe hang out with some friends.
But mostly, I'll be writing. If you want to find me, I'll be locked in my room (or in my house, or at Starbucks). I'm the one with the composition book and the purple pen who is scribbling as if their life depends on it. Even though my life does NOT depend on it.
Yes, I'll also be doing homework tomorrow. For example, I'll be doing calculus homework tomorrow (or maybe today; I don't know yet). And I'll be studying for a Government test next week (even though I AM ahead on this, I still need to work on it). And I'll for sure be reading "Othello" (YAY SHAKESPEARE!) for English. And I could work on an Earth-Space research-y thing, but that can wait. It's not due on Wednesday.
Mostly I'm going to plan on writing a LOT and meet my word count and not fail at NaNoWriMo, because failing at NaNoWriMo would make me VERY sad. And it would also mean that I'd disappoint a LOT of people, including myself, which is never a good thing. Especially if I get really super mad at myself and try and do something stupid.
But whatever. ON TO OTHER THINGS!
I didn't get into districts for the FOURTH year in a row. To be fair, I DID score the highest I've ever scored (168 out of 200), but I was still 10 points away from getting in. I'd have gotten with that score in if I were a freshman (the freshman and sophomore girls have a different choir because so many girls audition for District Choir every year). But alas, I'm not a freshman. Well, actually, I don't know whether that is an 'alas' or 'hooray,' the fact that I'm not a freshman.
ON TO WRITING MORE, AND MAKING DEMETRIUS NO LONGER BE A BUTT HEAD! (and other stuff... like plot... and conflict... and exposition... and character introduction... and moving the story along... and other stuff of an important nature).
Farewell for now.
I will see you again when I have a better word count than I do now.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Day 6: In Which I Don't Write
So... yeah. I haven't written at all today. It's theoretically okay, because I'm still 98 words ahead of the necessary word count for today, and I THEORETICALLY could have used the time I would have used to write to work on calculus homework and government homework and cleaning my room and stuff, but to be honest, I've only done about five problems of calculus and I haven't done any government whatsoever. And I haven't done any writing, either, because I've been procrastinating on homework. Which really kind of sucks. I'm a horrible procrastinator and I need to stop.
Anyway, I plan on writing later today, when I actually have time to write. And after I've done calculus and government and straightened up my room. And after I've done other things of a productive nature.
Okay, going to go do stuff of a more productive nature now.
Farewell.
Anyway, I plan on writing later today, when I actually have time to write. And after I've done calculus and government and straightened up my room. And after I've done other things of a productive nature.
Okay, going to go do stuff of a more productive nature now.
Farewell.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Day Five Again: In which Demetrius Stops Being a Butthead
Current Page: 30
Target Page: um... something that isn't page 30. Maybe page 32? I don't know. Something later than page 30 that will have me at around 10,000 words. So... yeah. That would be around page 32.
Location in Story: Sebastian is narrating; he is telling what happened after Romeo saved Demetrius's life by calling off the gargoyles, who had been sent by Iago to try and halt the mission at all costs. (Romeo talked them down using the Words of Awesomeness; she told them to go back and SAY they had succeeded when they really had not and to not say that their quarries were still alive. Sebastian is narrating and telling the readers what Iago does and what the gargoyles are doing and stuff). I did not intend to introduce Sebastian into the story until a little bit later (okay, a LOT later. Like, five chapters from the climax later. This is like, fifteen or twenty or more chapters from the climax), but here he is, telling the next bit of the story. It will still be reasonably ambiguous WHY Sebastian is potentially somewhat important until Chapter Ten at the very least (and Chapter Ten is next chapter), so he can still be there without everyone knowing WHO he is and WHY he is important. At least for now.
And guess what!?!? DEMETRIUS STOPPED BEING A BLATANTLY SEXIST BUTT HEAD!! WOOHOO!!!! This is EXCITING. REALLY EXCITING! I am super excited. Though he still deserves a punch in the face (even more than Iago, sometimes) for saying sexist things, he is still, at least for now, no longer blatant and annoying. He is just kind of annoying. And self-righteous. And kind of arrogant as well. But he will get over it. I think. Maybe. Hopefully.
Okay, he's still kind of sexist and he's still SORT OF a butthead, but at least he isn't horribly blatant about being rather sexist, and he's not horribly blatant about being a butthead. He keeps the sexism to himself, at the very least.
On the other hand, the whole being a butthead thing... it's hard NOT to blatantly be a butthead sometimes, even if you're normally not a butthead. But it's especially hard not to be a blatant butthead on very frequent occasions when your name is Demetrius Orsyn (and if your name is actually Demetrius Orsyn... I apologize. You're also a character in my novel, and he's the being I was referring to).
But at least Demetrius is no longer blatantly sexist. He isn't going to APOLOGIZE for stating to Romeo's face that girls are dumb and powerless, even after she saved his neck smartly and powerfully and not idiotically, and without killing him or the gargoyles, but he won't even TRY and change his views about girls, even though Romeo's exceedingly competent. Well, the view isn't changing yet. But I (and Romeo) still have some stuff to say about that, so that SHALL happen later.
Anyhow, I'm now well ahead on my word count, though not as ahead as I would like. I only have about 300 more words to go until I hit my personal word count goal for today. I'll be doing some writing after dinner, and maybe be watching some Star Trek as well.
Speaking of "Star Trek," I'm way behind. I haven't watched for the last few weekends, and I need to catch up if I want to see all of TOS in a reasonable amount of time (read: before I leave for college). But that's what school breaks and summer vacations are for. And also Saturday nights when I should be writing and doing other things of a productive nature. But whatever.
Now, I'm going to go and do stuff now. Like write. And knit. And write. And ask when dinner is. And write. And knit. And consider watching TV. And doing some other stuff. Maybe.
Anyway, I am off. Farewell.
Also, another thing I need to do: find out more Shakespeare quotes. I went to the library today, but they didn't have "Midsummer Night's Dream" OR "Romeo and Juliet," and those were the ones that I wanted to quote out of most. I'll just have to find some other stuff to quote until then.
And then watch "Star Trek" on Netflix after Dad has his TV time if I hit 10,000 words or more by the time Dad's done on the TV. Because "Star Trek" is awesome and might actually give me ideas. The ideas might not be GOOD ideas, but they'll still be IDEAS. And I'll be able to catch up on "Star Trek" episodes in the process.
YAY FOR INCENTIVE STUFF!
Huzzah!
Okay, going now.
Target Page: um... something that isn't page 30. Maybe page 32? I don't know. Something later than page 30 that will have me at around 10,000 words. So... yeah. That would be around page 32.
Location in Story: Sebastian is narrating; he is telling what happened after Romeo saved Demetrius's life by calling off the gargoyles, who had been sent by Iago to try and halt the mission at all costs. (Romeo talked them down using the Words of Awesomeness; she told them to go back and SAY they had succeeded when they really had not and to not say that their quarries were still alive. Sebastian is narrating and telling the readers what Iago does and what the gargoyles are doing and stuff). I did not intend to introduce Sebastian into the story until a little bit later (okay, a LOT later. Like, five chapters from the climax later. This is like, fifteen or twenty or more chapters from the climax), but here he is, telling the next bit of the story. It will still be reasonably ambiguous WHY Sebastian is potentially somewhat important until Chapter Ten at the very least (and Chapter Ten is next chapter), so he can still be there without everyone knowing WHO he is and WHY he is important. At least for now.
And guess what!?!? DEMETRIUS STOPPED BEING A BLATANTLY SEXIST BUTT HEAD!! WOOHOO!!!! This is EXCITING. REALLY EXCITING! I am super excited. Though he still deserves a punch in the face (even more than Iago, sometimes) for saying sexist things, he is still, at least for now, no longer blatant and annoying. He is just kind of annoying. And self-righteous. And kind of arrogant as well. But he will get over it. I think. Maybe. Hopefully.
Okay, he's still kind of sexist and he's still SORT OF a butthead, but at least he isn't horribly blatant about being rather sexist, and he's not horribly blatant about being a butthead. He keeps the sexism to himself, at the very least.
On the other hand, the whole being a butthead thing... it's hard NOT to blatantly be a butthead sometimes, even if you're normally not a butthead. But it's especially hard not to be a blatant butthead on very frequent occasions when your name is Demetrius Orsyn (and if your name is actually Demetrius Orsyn... I apologize. You're also a character in my novel, and he's the being I was referring to).
But at least Demetrius is no longer blatantly sexist. He isn't going to APOLOGIZE for stating to Romeo's face that girls are dumb and powerless, even after she saved his neck smartly and powerfully and not idiotically, and without killing him or the gargoyles, but he won't even TRY and change his views about girls, even though Romeo's exceedingly competent. Well, the view isn't changing yet. But I (and Romeo) still have some stuff to say about that, so that SHALL happen later.
Anyhow, I'm now well ahead on my word count, though not as ahead as I would like. I only have about 300 more words to go until I hit my personal word count goal for today. I'll be doing some writing after dinner, and maybe be watching some Star Trek as well.
Speaking of "Star Trek," I'm way behind. I haven't watched for the last few weekends, and I need to catch up if I want to see all of TOS in a reasonable amount of time (read: before I leave for college). But that's what school breaks and summer vacations are for. And also Saturday nights when I should be writing and doing other things of a productive nature. But whatever.
Now, I'm going to go and do stuff now. Like write. And knit. And write. And ask when dinner is. And write. And knit. And consider watching TV. And doing some other stuff. Maybe.
Anyway, I am off. Farewell.
Also, another thing I need to do: find out more Shakespeare quotes. I went to the library today, but they didn't have "Midsummer Night's Dream" OR "Romeo and Juliet," and those were the ones that I wanted to quote out of most. I'll just have to find some other stuff to quote until then.
And then watch "Star Trek" on Netflix after Dad has his TV time if I hit 10,000 words or more by the time Dad's done on the TV. Because "Star Trek" is awesome and might actually give me ideas. The ideas might not be GOOD ideas, but they'll still be IDEAS. And I'll be able to catch up on "Star Trek" episodes in the process.
YAY FOR INCENTIVE STUFF!
Huzzah!
Okay, going now.
Day 5: in which I barely write
Current Page: 27
Target Page: a page that is farther along than page 27
Location In Story: Puck is officially gay. HUZZAH! Apparently, he used to have a female BFF who died about a week prior to Puck meeting Romeo (she was a lesbian, so there was no potential romance there), and Romeo reminds him a lot of Imogen. Imogen apparently had a knife that's exactly like the one Romeo found tied to her belt when she landed on Mercanova. This whole knife thing is very strange to Romeo, to Puck, and to me. I'm about 8100 words in, and my characters have not officially formed a group and I know more about Puck than I do about Romeo. This isn't a good thing. Moreover, Romeo hasn't had a chance to use any more Shakespeare on anyone, which is sad. Not even Shakespearean compliments. Or Shakespearean statements. Or Shakespearean insults. Or Shakespearean love sonnets. Nothing at all written by, like, or about William Shakespeare has been imitated by Romeo since she ditched Demetrius. Morgan/ Belarius has not shown up at all yet, and Demetrius has not re-entered the picture (he may soon do so, however). So that's where I am.
So far, I'm not sure how my novel is going to end up, or even how it's going to go for the rest of the story. Why? Well, the main reason is that NOTHING IS GOING THE WAY I INTENDED IT.
Romeo is getting along better with Puck than she did with Demetrius (okay, this is actually not that horrible, and it's sort of planned, and it's not going to hurt anything that much), but Demetrius hasn't re-entered the picture, so he and Romeo cannot argue or fall in love or anything.
And I haven't introduced Morgan/ Belarius yet, so I cannot have him and Puck potentially have a relationship until he's introduced.
And I can't determine whether Morgan/ Belarius is gay, straight, or "above/ against having a relationship during the course of the story" until he's introduced. Which, as a matter of course, means that I probably should be going and getting the story on the road, because I'm WAY behind on my personal word count. I have about 200 more words until I reach the mandatory word count, but I'm going to have to write about 2000 more words to get to my personal word count goal, just so I can have padding for more days like this.
I had district chorus auditions today. I killed the sight reading, and I was only okay with the song. It was kind of annoying, but whatever. The thing that bugged me was that sight reading was before the song, which is the first time that has happened in the four years that I have auditioned for District Chorus.
But my suckiness didn't really bother me a WHOLE ton. I mean, it did, kind of, but I won't be horribly distracted by it later on when I actually start working on my novel today. See, I didn't really rehearse much for the audition, and I'm not expecting to get in. Part of the reason I did it at all this year was because it was mandatory for Women's Camerata. And also because I wanted to see whether I could actually get in. I'll find out the results of the audition on Monday, most likely.
Soooooooooooooooooooooooo yeah. Time to go and write a novel and such.
Farewell.
Hopefully, there will be more Shakespearean.
And more Demetrius.
And I will meet my word count.
And Morgan.
And hopefully I will figure out this whole Imogen thing.
I am not entirely sure why I called her Imogen, by the way (Puck's former BFF). I just liked the name, I guess.
Whatever.
Going now.
Target Page: a page that is farther along than page 27
Location In Story: Puck is officially gay. HUZZAH! Apparently, he used to have a female BFF who died about a week prior to Puck meeting Romeo (she was a lesbian, so there was no potential romance there), and Romeo reminds him a lot of Imogen. Imogen apparently had a knife that's exactly like the one Romeo found tied to her belt when she landed on Mercanova. This whole knife thing is very strange to Romeo, to Puck, and to me. I'm about 8100 words in, and my characters have not officially formed a group and I know more about Puck than I do about Romeo. This isn't a good thing. Moreover, Romeo hasn't had a chance to use any more Shakespeare on anyone, which is sad. Not even Shakespearean compliments. Or Shakespearean statements. Or Shakespearean insults. Or Shakespearean love sonnets. Nothing at all written by, like, or about William Shakespeare has been imitated by Romeo since she ditched Demetrius. Morgan/ Belarius has not shown up at all yet, and Demetrius has not re-entered the picture (he may soon do so, however). So that's where I am.
So far, I'm not sure how my novel is going to end up, or even how it's going to go for the rest of the story. Why? Well, the main reason is that NOTHING IS GOING THE WAY I INTENDED IT.
Romeo is getting along better with Puck than she did with Demetrius (okay, this is actually not that horrible, and it's sort of planned, and it's not going to hurt anything that much), but Demetrius hasn't re-entered the picture, so he and Romeo cannot argue or fall in love or anything.
And I haven't introduced Morgan/ Belarius yet, so I cannot have him and Puck potentially have a relationship until he's introduced.
And I can't determine whether Morgan/ Belarius is gay, straight, or "above/ against having a relationship during the course of the story" until he's introduced. Which, as a matter of course, means that I probably should be going and getting the story on the road, because I'm WAY behind on my personal word count. I have about 200 more words until I reach the mandatory word count, but I'm going to have to write about 2000 more words to get to my personal word count goal, just so I can have padding for more days like this.
I had district chorus auditions today. I killed the sight reading, and I was only okay with the song. It was kind of annoying, but whatever. The thing that bugged me was that sight reading was before the song, which is the first time that has happened in the four years that I have auditioned for District Chorus.
But my suckiness didn't really bother me a WHOLE ton. I mean, it did, kind of, but I won't be horribly distracted by it later on when I actually start working on my novel today. See, I didn't really rehearse much for the audition, and I'm not expecting to get in. Part of the reason I did it at all this year was because it was mandatory for Women's Camerata. And also because I wanted to see whether I could actually get in. I'll find out the results of the audition on Monday, most likely.
Soooooooooooooooooooooooo yeah. Time to go and write a novel and such.
Farewell.
Hopefully, there will be more Shakespearean.
And more Demetrius.
And I will meet my word count.
And Morgan.
And hopefully I will figure out this whole Imogen thing.
I am not entirely sure why I called her Imogen, by the way (Puck's former BFF). I just liked the name, I guess.
Whatever.
Going now.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Day 4: blah but not
Current Page: 24
Target Page: ditching this part of the challenge. I don't really know what my target page should be, first of all, since I never really did an official word-count-per-page thing, and I'll start editing if I go back and start counting now. My guesstimate is around 300 - 305 per page, with fluctuations in my handwriting and chapter breaks and stuff. But whatever. More on this later.
Approximate Words: 7300-ish.
Location in Story: Demetrius has turned out to be a sexist jerk and I REALLY don't like him. Neither does Romeo. Anyhow, she's just met Puck, who's currently telling her how he came to be there. And Romeo may or may not be starting to like him. (I don't know yet. I'm still in Puck's point of view).
If Romeo starts to like Puck, that's a very BAD thing. There's a reasonably good chance that Puck is gay, first of all. Secondly, even if he were straight, he's not going to break her heart, run away from her or the mission in order to do something for himself, or even dare to fall in love with Hero. If this were any other situation (and if Puck was for sure straight), I would be yelling at Romeo to not even DARE to like Demetrius because Puck is a wonderful being and he is probably going to be the greatest fictional boyfriend ever for anyone, because he is ridiculously awesome, reasonably loyal, and there is going to be mutual respect in the relationship, even if Puck and Romeo only wind up being friends (which is perfectly fine by me). And also because he's a faerie. And a pirate. And he's really nice. And he isn't sexist (which is EXTREMELY important. This is a quality that Demetrius, unfortunately, doesn't possess. Currently, anyway. He may eventually understand that girly girls MAY not be entirely competent *cough*Hero*cough*. I'm not saying ANYTHING against girls who embrace their girlishness, I'm just saying, Demetrius's dream girl is a girl who embraces girlishness because she has nothing better to do. Which is totally annoying. But Romeo MAY change his assumption that ALL girls are like that.)
But when even I start to hate the love interest (even if he's only been around for a few pages, and even if he's not in the current scene), that's bad. That's very, very bad. Because Demetrius is sexist, and Romeo is extremely non-sexist and non-girly, this relationship is doomed.
I mean, Demetrius DOES have the entire novel to redeem himself, but still. His first impression did NOT go down well OR as I had intended it to go down, so that's very, very bad as well. Romeo might not "forgive and forget" his extreme sexism in their first meeting, which will make her willing to just turn up her nose if Hero decides to ditch Demetrius. But this isn't likely to happen, so Romeo and Demetrius will just have to deal with it.
Anyone got any ideas about how to make this bad situation better? Anyone?
SUBJECT CHANGE! Now is the time when I discuss target page count, and how it's probably going to go away this year. I don't really like it, because I haven't done an official words-per-page count for the novel this year (that's a really lame reason for not doing a target page count, I know). I know how to do a word count per page for this, but it's annoying to have to go back and estimate and factor in all the page breaks for the chapters and stuff. So I'm just going to write like crazy and hope I get in enough words to finish by the end of the month.
Which is very likely, considering my current pace.
Well, not the pace I've set for today. The pace I've set for today is one of extreme slowness. I've barely written at all today. Which isn't good. I HAVE written, but not much. I'm still ahead of the word count needed, but still. For me, I'm behind. And that's not good.
But I'll figure something out. It IS Friday, after all. Which means I can write kind of late if I want to, because I can sort of sleep tomorrow morning.
But I can't sleep too late, because tomorrow is District Choir auditions. I'm ridiculously under-prepared because I missed the voice lesson in which I was planning on practicing a LOT for Districts, because I was auditioning for the musical and I got a really late number for the singing auditions. GAAAHHH!
Well, since my dad is probably going to be late picking me up tomorrow, I can just do the writing catch up then, I guess.
Anyway, speaking of the musical, call back lists went up today, and I GOT A CALL BACK! WOOHOO! This is the first time in which I've gotten a call back for the musical, and it's exciting. Call backs are Wednesday, which means I MAY have to miss voice AGAIN. But I will figure that out when I get there. Hopefully I'll get out a bit early so I won't miss the lesson AGAIN.
Okay, I should go write now.
Farewell.
Target Page: ditching this part of the challenge. I don't really know what my target page should be, first of all, since I never really did an official word-count-per-page thing, and I'll start editing if I go back and start counting now. My guesstimate is around 300 - 305 per page, with fluctuations in my handwriting and chapter breaks and stuff. But whatever. More on this later.
Approximate Words: 7300-ish.
Location in Story: Demetrius has turned out to be a sexist jerk and I REALLY don't like him. Neither does Romeo. Anyhow, she's just met Puck, who's currently telling her how he came to be there. And Romeo may or may not be starting to like him. (I don't know yet. I'm still in Puck's point of view).
If Romeo starts to like Puck, that's a very BAD thing. There's a reasonably good chance that Puck is gay, first of all. Secondly, even if he were straight, he's not going to break her heart, run away from her or the mission in order to do something for himself, or even dare to fall in love with Hero. If this were any other situation (and if Puck was for sure straight), I would be yelling at Romeo to not even DARE to like Demetrius because Puck is a wonderful being and he is probably going to be the greatest fictional boyfriend ever for anyone, because he is ridiculously awesome, reasonably loyal, and there is going to be mutual respect in the relationship, even if Puck and Romeo only wind up being friends (which is perfectly fine by me). And also because he's a faerie. And a pirate. And he's really nice. And he isn't sexist (which is EXTREMELY important. This is a quality that Demetrius, unfortunately, doesn't possess. Currently, anyway. He may eventually understand that girly girls MAY not be entirely competent *cough*Hero*cough*. I'm not saying ANYTHING against girls who embrace their girlishness, I'm just saying, Demetrius's dream girl is a girl who embraces girlishness because she has nothing better to do. Which is totally annoying. But Romeo MAY change his assumption that ALL girls are like that.)
But when even I start to hate the love interest (even if he's only been around for a few pages, and even if he's not in the current scene), that's bad. That's very, very bad. Because Demetrius is sexist, and Romeo is extremely non-sexist and non-girly, this relationship is doomed.
I mean, Demetrius DOES have the entire novel to redeem himself, but still. His first impression did NOT go down well OR as I had intended it to go down, so that's very, very bad as well. Romeo might not "forgive and forget" his extreme sexism in their first meeting, which will make her willing to just turn up her nose if Hero decides to ditch Demetrius. But this isn't likely to happen, so Romeo and Demetrius will just have to deal with it.
Anyone got any ideas about how to make this bad situation better? Anyone?
SUBJECT CHANGE! Now is the time when I discuss target page count, and how it's probably going to go away this year. I don't really like it, because I haven't done an official words-per-page count for the novel this year (that's a really lame reason for not doing a target page count, I know). I know how to do a word count per page for this, but it's annoying to have to go back and estimate and factor in all the page breaks for the chapters and stuff. So I'm just going to write like crazy and hope I get in enough words to finish by the end of the month.
Which is very likely, considering my current pace.
Well, not the pace I've set for today. The pace I've set for today is one of extreme slowness. I've barely written at all today. Which isn't good. I HAVE written, but not much. I'm still ahead of the word count needed, but still. For me, I'm behind. And that's not good.
But I'll figure something out. It IS Friday, after all. Which means I can write kind of late if I want to, because I can sort of sleep tomorrow morning.
But I can't sleep too late, because tomorrow is District Choir auditions. I'm ridiculously under-prepared because I missed the voice lesson in which I was planning on practicing a LOT for Districts, because I was auditioning for the musical and I got a really late number for the singing auditions. GAAAHHH!
Well, since my dad is probably going to be late picking me up tomorrow, I can just do the writing catch up then, I guess.
Anyway, speaking of the musical, call back lists went up today, and I GOT A CALL BACK! WOOHOO! This is the first time in which I've gotten a call back for the musical, and it's exciting. Call backs are Wednesday, which means I MAY have to miss voice AGAIN. But I will figure that out when I get there. Hopefully I'll get out a bit early so I won't miss the lesson AGAIN.
Okay, I should go write now.
Farewell.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Day 3: close but far
Current Page: 18
Target Page: 24
Pages In Between: 6
What People Have Been Doing: ROMEO HAS MET DEMETRIUS! Finally! It is about time. Really. Anyhow, the good thing is that they have met. YAY! The BAD thing is that Romeo is STILL not as bold as she is supposed to be, but there is time to fix that. Hopefully. Actually, NOT hopefully. YES. THERE IS STILL TIME TO GIVE ROMEO MORE GUTS. I STILL HAVE 27 MORE DAYS, AND SHE STILL HAS TIME TO HAVE A CHARACTER ARC.
Oh, yeah. And Demetrius has never heard of William Shakespeare. And that is a problem, according to Romeo. For me, it is just an excuse to have them hang out and start liking each other. Romeo HAS had the guts to get mad at him for not having heard of William Shakespeare. YAY FOR ROMEO! And she has also told him that he is annoying.
Well, she did not actually tell him that he was ANNOYING, exactly. She DID insult him, though. In Shakespearean. It was exciting. I quite enjoyed it.
What happened was that Romeo quoted Puck/ Robin Goodfellow in Act 3, Scene 2 of Midsummer Night's Dream ("Lord what fools these mortals be") after Demetrius said that he had never heard of Shakespeare and that there are no books where he comes from. But his lack of awareness of books makes sense, once you think about it. Demetrius comes from a highly technological society, and all the writing he does is ship's logs, because fiction and poetry are foreign concepts to him.
The reason Romeo chose that line is because I do not have my book of Shakespearean Insults with me, and I made a list in my NaNoWriMo plotting journal of all the insults I could use, but I only wrote down the numbers and not what the insults actually were, because that is against the NaNoWriMo rules.
But Demetrius's lack of knowledge of books... that is going to be fixed. Because now ROMEO IS HERE! And she will teach him RHYMING and IAMBIC PENTAMETER and LANGUAGE and SONNETS and INTERACTIONS and FICTION and LOVE POEMS and SHAKESPEAREAN INSULTS! (I am really excited for that scene. Can you tell at all?).
Anyhow, I have to go to English in three minutes. YES I DID MY HOMEWORK. NO, IT DOES NOT SUCK. (it does not suck a whole ton, anyway. There is no denying that it is bad, because it was me who wrote it).
Target Page: 24
Pages In Between: 6
What People Have Been Doing: ROMEO HAS MET DEMETRIUS! Finally! It is about time. Really. Anyhow, the good thing is that they have met. YAY! The BAD thing is that Romeo is STILL not as bold as she is supposed to be, but there is time to fix that. Hopefully. Actually, NOT hopefully. YES. THERE IS STILL TIME TO GIVE ROMEO MORE GUTS. I STILL HAVE 27 MORE DAYS, AND SHE STILL HAS TIME TO HAVE A CHARACTER ARC.
Oh, yeah. And Demetrius has never heard of William Shakespeare. And that is a problem, according to Romeo. For me, it is just an excuse to have them hang out and start liking each other. Romeo HAS had the guts to get mad at him for not having heard of William Shakespeare. YAY FOR ROMEO! And she has also told him that he is annoying.
Well, she did not actually tell him that he was ANNOYING, exactly. She DID insult him, though. In Shakespearean. It was exciting. I quite enjoyed it.
What happened was that Romeo quoted Puck/ Robin Goodfellow in Act 3, Scene 2 of Midsummer Night's Dream ("Lord what fools these mortals be") after Demetrius said that he had never heard of Shakespeare and that there are no books where he comes from. But his lack of awareness of books makes sense, once you think about it. Demetrius comes from a highly technological society, and all the writing he does is ship's logs, because fiction and poetry are foreign concepts to him.
The reason Romeo chose that line is because I do not have my book of Shakespearean Insults with me, and I made a list in my NaNoWriMo plotting journal of all the insults I could use, but I only wrote down the numbers and not what the insults actually were, because that is against the NaNoWriMo rules.
But Demetrius's lack of knowledge of books... that is going to be fixed. Because now ROMEO IS HERE! And she will teach him RHYMING and IAMBIC PENTAMETER and LANGUAGE and SONNETS and INTERACTIONS and FICTION and LOVE POEMS and SHAKESPEAREAN INSULTS! (I am really excited for that scene. Can you tell at all?).
Anyhow, I have to go to English in three minutes. YES I DID MY HOMEWORK. NO, IT DOES NOT SUCK. (it does not suck a whole ton, anyway. There is no denying that it is bad, because it was me who wrote it).
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Day Two Again: Am I Overestimating?
Current Page: 12
Target Page: 16
Pages In Between: 4
Approximate Word Count: 3340
Location In Story: Demetrius Has Arrived! Now Romeo just needs to get her guts together and... you know... go forth, INTO THE CLEARING FROM WHENCE SHE HAS JUST COME, and actually TALK to him. Like, say hi and everything.
Yeah. Romeo is turning out a lot shyer than I thought she would. I thought she'd be kind of feisty, but actually, she's the sort of person who will NOT introduce herself to people unless she's in a situation (like her Shakespeare summer camp) where she's otherwise fine with stuff. Well, to be fair, she HAS had a pretty rough morning. She came home, thought her parents were baby-making in the car but it was actually gargoyles eating them, then she hid in the closet under the stairs, and THEN she dived into this blue orb of weirdness that confiscated her phone and iPod and gave her a knife instead. THEN a reasonably attractive Han-Solo-type lands in the clearing she has just exited, even though the planet she is on is really like Endor more than Cloud City or Coresant (not sure if that is how you spell it), so she's all confused.
Yes, I AM a Star Wars nerd. Thank you for asking.
Romeo should have been a Star Wars dork. That might have made life a lot easier. Now I may never know. Though she could turn out to have Star-Wars-Dork qualities... I LIKE THIS IDEA!
But whatever. Shakespeare is awesome too.
Anyhow, she's now mustering herself to go and talk to him. She's talking herself out of her shyness by making all of these analogies to Shakespeare - he won't kill her because they're not doomed lovers like Romeo and Juliet; he won't kill her because his friends haven't talked him out of liking her like in Othello; again, like Othello, the jealous friend might not actually EXIST, and even if he DID, Romeo wouldn't be shot straight away because the guy would have to wait a while because he is making sure he can be jealous of Demetrius for Romeo's affections.
For the record, Iago in this story does NOT know Demetrius until a LOT later. Like, in one of those villain-taunting-a-hero-character-because-he's-a-meany-butt type scenes. That's the first time they meet. Maybe. I don't know. I'm not that far in yet.
Anyhow, I have to sign off and go write and do homework and other things of a productive, non-procrastinative nature. I'll post tomorrow. Most likely. Actually, YES I WILL. Because I CAN! And also because I HAVE TO!
Yeah. Okay. I'm going now.
Goodbye.
Until tomorrow.
Hopefully by then Romeo will have actually talked to Demetrius. And then my plot will no longer be stalled. It'll actually be doing something! Because they know each other now! Huzzah!
Target Page: 16
Pages In Between: 4
Approximate Word Count: 3340
Location In Story: Demetrius Has Arrived! Now Romeo just needs to get her guts together and... you know... go forth, INTO THE CLEARING FROM WHENCE SHE HAS JUST COME, and actually TALK to him. Like, say hi and everything.
Yeah. Romeo is turning out a lot shyer than I thought she would. I thought she'd be kind of feisty, but actually, she's the sort of person who will NOT introduce herself to people unless she's in a situation (like her Shakespeare summer camp) where she's otherwise fine with stuff. Well, to be fair, she HAS had a pretty rough morning. She came home, thought her parents were baby-making in the car but it was actually gargoyles eating them, then she hid in the closet under the stairs, and THEN she dived into this blue orb of weirdness that confiscated her phone and iPod and gave her a knife instead. THEN a reasonably attractive Han-Solo-type lands in the clearing she has just exited, even though the planet she is on is really like Endor more than Cloud City or Coresant (not sure if that is how you spell it), so she's all confused.
Yes, I AM a Star Wars nerd. Thank you for asking.
Romeo should have been a Star Wars dork. That might have made life a lot easier. Now I may never know. Though she could turn out to have Star-Wars-Dork qualities... I LIKE THIS IDEA!
But whatever. Shakespeare is awesome too.
Anyhow, she's now mustering herself to go and talk to him. She's talking herself out of her shyness by making all of these analogies to Shakespeare - he won't kill her because they're not doomed lovers like Romeo and Juliet; he won't kill her because his friends haven't talked him out of liking her like in Othello; again, like Othello, the jealous friend might not actually EXIST, and even if he DID, Romeo wouldn't be shot straight away because the guy would have to wait a while because he is making sure he can be jealous of Demetrius for Romeo's affections.
For the record, Iago in this story does NOT know Demetrius until a LOT later. Like, in one of those villain-taunting-a-hero-character-because-he's-a-meany-butt type scenes. That's the first time they meet. Maybe. I don't know. I'm not that far in yet.
Anyhow, I have to sign off and go write and do homework and other things of a productive, non-procrastinative nature. I'll post tomorrow. Most likely. Actually, YES I WILL. Because I CAN! And also because I HAVE TO!
Yeah. Okay. I'm going now.
Goodbye.
Until tomorrow.
Hopefully by then Romeo will have actually talked to Demetrius. And then my plot will no longer be stalled. It'll actually be doing something! Because they know each other now! Huzzah!
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