Ramblings of a Disorientated Mind

So, I’ve been thinking about what I want to write for NaNo this year… and I have no clue. It’s been ages since I wrote anything new and I’ve really got no ideas.

Actually, I have some ideas, but they are just concepts of past things I’ve tried to write and don’t really have anything backing them up.

Idea one: Something I’ve been planning for a while. Set in the MOW Files universe, it features Gurn getting blackmailed into stealing something from a MOW research facility with Asuka.

Idea two: Something I started a while ago in a title called ‘Thing 1′. The basic premise is there is a girl who use to be the dughter of some leader, only she was ‘lost’ at and early age and adopted and grew up knowing nothing of this past, except for strange dream. Then one day some guy tries to kidnap her and her past comes flooding back

Idea three: A vague idea based on taoist yin and yang. Two kids, twins, are born with the essential power from the yin-yang, only she is kidnapped for her safety, unknowing of her power. The boy doesn’t manage to escape and has his power ‘activated’ and so the world is unbalanced and monsters/ demons are coming though the imbalance. Boy and girl are re-united and set out to save the world. Anime as written word…

Idea four: Started as a neopets fanfic called dragonheart true. [I was young okay? I didn't know any better!] Very simmilar to wichblade. Girl is given a dragon torc and a book by a mysterious stranger, after having a strange dream about both artifacts. Girl knows in this one that she is an orphan/ adopted. takes book to an antique dealer, and is told that she’s mentioned in a phrophecy that she will save the world by harming the one she lives dearest. I didn’t have much more than that…

Idea five: Girl makes a encryption programe based on the serial codes of sanitary towels. finds it’s the simmilar to one used by MI6, and is chased. Very movie-esqu. I’ll probably not/ ever use this, beacuse I don’t know enough about encryption and it’s take too much research for Nano.

These are all pretty cool ideas I know, but the problem is, they are just ideas – concepts – and I’m not sure how to make them work. I sometimes feel as thought I didn’t actually spend 3 years doing my ICS course, beacuse I seem to have suddenly lost all I learnt from it…

Of course, knowing me, I expect any of them will just turn out to be a farce as much as the last one was…
Ah well, any one have any suggestions on which one to pick?

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In pretty much every genre forum, as well as ‘reaching 50k’ on the Nano boards there is a dare thread. Even though I’m planning for this novel to be serious I’ve decided to take a couple of dares, mainly beacuse I think they will help my plot.

Dare 1: Have a character make every decsion using a magic 8 ball. Bouns points if you use the magic 8 ball there and then to decide the outcome of the choice.
I’m planning on a scene where Asuka is trying to decide if she should search Gurn’s room to find out what he’s hiding from her, and I think her using a magic 8 ball to help her choose is a cool idea. It fits the ‘girly/ ditzy’ side of her personality quite well I think. I don’t think I want her to use it for every choice, but I think I’ll get her to use it a lot, in more sort of sedate situations, ie ‘should I go left?’. And it’s going to be a real 8 ball, not a fancy futerist version, like andy suggested.

Dare 2: Have a piece of tech in your novel have the acronim ‘IJW’ meaning, it just works.
I’m probably going to use this either in refference to the Narin’s propulsion system [except I think I might have already established it as an ion drive, or crystal neurologis] or as the thing the plans they have to steal are of.

EDIT: I found another one.
Dare 3: Have trays that automaticaly bus tables. Bounus points if they start going nuts and taking peoples food before they’ve eaten it.
I’m thinking of using this if I ever have Asuka and Gurn sit in a diner talking. I don’t think the tray will take their food away, but I think it will go a little nuts and keep bumping into the table or something.

I think these could be fun to do, but I’m still going to keep my eyes out for anything else that’s interesting

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So, rewards make the world go ’round and is positive re-enforcement right? This is an outlay of how I’m going to reward myself for various word-count goals reached.

Every 200 words: an XTZ mint or some chocolate
Every 500 words: posting on forums, checking rss feeds
Every 1000 words: movment of some kind
Every 1667 words [ie, daily wordcount]: Watching something for about an hour
Every 5k words: a can of Mountain Dew
10k words: Watch something for two hours
20k words: Watch something for three hours
30k words: Brag to everyone that I’m past what I did last year, even if they don’t really care
40k words: Take myself away from writing for a while and do something else, probably go for a walk or something.
50k words: I don’t know. It should be something big… If you have ideas let me know

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I saw thins on the NaNoWriMo forums and thought it seemed a good idea so I’m re-posting it here

What to do if you have a Friend NaNoing in November…

1. Be ready to simply nod your head when your “How are you doing?” is answered with “Well, my characters have quit talking to me and I can’t feel my fingertips and everything is a little gray but I discovered it’s because my monitor needed to be cleaned off and I’ve run out of Mountain Dew.” But still ask because that is the polite thing to do.

2. Don’t feel as if you need to know the characters and plot lines to give advice. Sometimes the best advice is simply “Have you tried killing someone off?” or “When was the last time you had an XTZ mint?” Feel free to say the first thing that comes into your head as long as it isn’t “So, what’s going on exactly?” because that is almost never helpful and results in the writer trying to come up with a concise explanation of the past 1667 words. Don’t make the writer go BACK in time. Force her FORWARD.

3. Remind your friend to drink water. It’s amazing what a hydrated writer will come up with on the way back from the sink. Be prepared to bring up this reminder often as the writer has most likely forgotten the glass of water on the counter in the kitchen.

4. Write down prompt ideas and have them ready for the inevitable “I don’t know what is next!” rants. These are as simple as the color of the bowl you had cereal out of (blue bowl with white lines at the rims) or what you saw on the way home from work (black dog taking a piss on the cool tree with the red leaves) or what you felt when you got your drivers license (fear and abject loathing for the car waiting for me in the driveway).

5. Don’t be afraid of silence. Feel free to say a word of greeting and see what happens next. Your friend may need a break.

6. Don’t, under any circumstances, bring up TV shows you may watch together unless your friend does it first. TV is usually one of the first things to be silenced during November. You’ll only hurt your friends head with too much information.

7. Do send music to your friend. Music is like flowers in the garden of the Muse. The more you can befriend the Muse, the better your friendship will be.

8. Send Mountain Dew! Well, maybe not. If you are able to, find the junk food of choice for your friend (mine is TESCO potatoe chips and relentless) and keep it on hand for emergencies. Of course, don’t taunt the writer with your happy eating if you are too far away to share. Cookies over the internet are funny but depressing in the wrong context.

9. Don’t ever ask your friend “What time did you go to bed last night?” It’s a pointless question that will only make the writer have to count backwards in time which might be too taxing. Instead, remember that sleep is what December is for.

10. Once again, be ready to nod your head and respond semi-coherently to the inevitable discussion about word counts. If possible, follow along with any counter that your friend may have up. And yes, he or she will have a counter. It’s inevitable. Your friend will get maniacal about said counter and will expect you to care, too.
[Written by Larinzia Hope, edited by dru to reflect her junk food tastes]

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Day 2 and things aren’t going as great as they did yesterday. I’ve almost reached the daily word count, but I’m struggling quite a lot to do it. I feel like I director who’s come to the end of the script and finds it’s stopped in the middle of a scene. I feel like I keep hitting invisible walls and just have no clue where to go, and it’s really annoying because now andy isn’t writing I don’t have anyone here all the time to bounce ideas of off and it’s absolutly freezing in my room. I was so cold this afternoon that I had on two jumpers a scarf and gloves…

But my writing hat looks quite dandy on me

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So about a week before November, I posted on the dorset thread of the NaNoWriMo forums that we should have a meet up. I vaugly made some plans about meeting at 7pm in the starbucks in Borders. Yesterday I posted reminding people of the event and asking who was going to turn up. A couple of people posted.

Andy and i where sat at the bus stop, and I was going through a tonne of horrible thoughts – no one would turn up, borders would have burnt to the ground, everyone would hate everyone else, no one would like coffee or hot chocolate or whatever, whatever. As it was, we were late and I forgot my sign but people seemed to enjoy themselves [as much as one can meeting up with a bunch of random strangers] and we had some good chatter and awckward silences and I kept appologising for venue and forgetting the sign and reminding everyone no to hold it against me if they had a sucky time beacse I’d never done anything like this before.

But I think it went okay. It went okay enough for someone to suggest we have a meet at the end of the month to see how everyone had done.

So yay. Fear my sort-of 1337 organising skills.

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