Sharp Words

During April, there are at least two mass writing endeavours that you can take part in.

Script Frenzy is the little sister of National Novel Writing Month. The aim is to write 100 pages of a script of some sort – play, screenplay, radio play, graphic novel script. It can be done in collaboration, and you can adapt existing work.

The goal for National Poetry Writing Month is to write a poem a day – so a total of 30 poems. These can be kept private or posted on the forum for comments, compliments and critiques.

Considering my aim this year is to write a poem a week, and I’m sadly behind, it’s pretty clear which of these I’ll be having a go at. Scriptwriting isn’t really my thing, anyway – well, not that I’ve ever really tried it. I don’t have any special urge to though, at least not this year.

I tried the poem-a-day last April though, and got to about the 18th or 19th before I ran out of steam. I ran out of ideas for poems, really, plus I didn’t have the time to put in the sort of research I sometimes want to do. (Example: I have an idea for a poem about the crow family, which is currently just scribbles in my notebook because I haven’t made the time to look stuff up.)

This year, I’m going to use my trusty Writer’s Block for inspiration, and pick a different photo or word or idea each day to write off. I don’t think I’m going to post my poems publically though – over the past year, I’ve got more conscientious about actually rewriting bits of my poems before putting them for public consumption, and I’d like to stick with that.

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Well, my short story, For Society’s Sake, came 2nd in last week’s Daily Writing Tips competition.

I’m actually not dissatisfied with that at all! It means that there were about 20 people who liked it enough to give it a vote. And the story that came first had had about 20 votes before mine even got one (even though mine got its first pretty damn quick), so you know, whatever.

I was a bit disappointed that no-one commented on the story itself though (although thanks for the name-plug, Avid Reader!) – I was rather hoping for some feedback. Oh well, we can’t have everything in life…

Thank you to anyone who voted for my story though! Your support is very much appreciated.

I did quite enjoy the competition though; I’ve enjoyed reading the other stories (well, I’ve enjoyed reading some of them) and in doing so, I’ve had a good look with a hopefully unbiased eye at my own work.

But if you want to read what’s definitely an enjoyable short story by a talented writer, go check out this one, Rasp, by my dearest top commenter Ken.

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The bad: I’ve only written just over 2,000 words in 7 days, and to be honest, most of that is my outline/plot/synopsis. And my next task is to write character outlines, with brief bits of physical description, personality and background/history – and possibly their relationships with others – so that I can keep all my characters straight. Those will run to a few hundred words each though for my primary characters, so that’s adding on the words. (It’s a holdover from role playing that I like to have good character information written up, though I certainly don’t have a problem with my characters evolving with the story.)

The good: Even though I’ve written so little so far, and only a few hundred words has been actual story, I’m determined to keep going. I’ve managed to get myself into a little of the NaNoWriMo mindset, where I can look at the spreadsheet documenting the words I’ve completed and the words I have yet to write, and think ‘Well, I’m not doing great – but I can still get there’.

So I’m going to keep battling on. Because I’m continuing a story that already exists – and has been floating round my head for about 5 years now – it is hard to get really stuck in and write without expectations. I’m starting to really understand why NaNoWriMo recommends that you start something new rather than continuing an existing work.

But for the first time, I have a good, pretty tight plot (thanks Marion, for letting me bounce it off you), and I know what I want to do, how I want to do it, and how I’m going to get there.

And if I’m ‘cheating’ by including my outlines and character info in my target 50,000 words… I don’t care! They are all words that need to be written so that I can really get into the meat of the story.

I’m feeling optimistic, I’m feeling full of ideas, I really like my story… What can go wrong? 50,000 words, here I come!

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Way back in January, I submitted a story to the Daily Writing Tips open competition. They’ve been posting eight stories a week for the public to vote on, which of course has been throwing up some anomalous results, but that’s publicity campaigns for you.

Still, my story is finally up, so it’s time to start my own publicity drive! Please go and read it – it’s story #1, For Society’s Sake – and give it a vote if you find it worthy of one.

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I’ve realised that I’m boring myself with my own blog. And if I’m bored, what about you poor saps?

Not much got posted during February, and I certainly didn’t get round to writing any of my planned posts. Neither did I get much of my planned fiction-writing done.

So, I’m going to take some time off blogging here (though I’ll probably still stick a personal post up at Bloggo Ergo Sum every now and again, and no doubt I’ll end up posting here as procrastination), and instead, I’m going to try and do a personal Novel Writing Month (MyNoWriMo, if you like). Yes, I’m going to attempt to write 50,000 words during March, completely unsupported. (Although at least March has 31 days.) The word count will be posted over in the sidebar. Shout at me if I’m flagging.

See you ’round…

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Wolfblade, Jennifer Fallon. Library book, first read.
OK but not great fantasy – the first in a prequel series, for which I haven’t read the original, which left me a bit confused.

The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro. Library book, first read.
The first of the several Booker/Orange/Costa winners I want to read this year. It was a deserved win, I feel – the book is intelligent and touching and clever in its point-of-view writing.

The Time-Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger. Own copy.
Fantastic romantic sad intelligent novel.

Jo’s Boys, Louisa May Alcott. Own copy.
What Katy Did Next, Susan Coolidge. Own copy.
Lumping these two together, because they’re ones I found in my rummage in the book boxes kept in my parents’ attic. They’re both the final, ‘grown-up’ parts of series I loved as a child, and I think I got more out of reading them now than when I was younger – particularly Jo’s Boys, which has a lot about women’s suffrage which mostly went over my head then.

The Gargoyle, Andrew Davidson. Mum’s library book, first read.
My review

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