NaNoWrapUp or, Winner!

So, my word count has been verified and I am a 2012 NaNoWriMo winner 😀 yes indeed, I wrote 50,000 words (and then some) in the fine month of November, and as we go into the last day, I hope anyone reading this who’s making that last push towards the finish line accepts my best wishes and cheerleading efforts, and a huge well done for when you cross that line and hit that target! For those who’ve already done it, congratulations! For those who didn’t quite manage – if you’ve got even the barest bones of a novel as a result of doing NaNoWriMo, you’re a winner in my book!

So how did my NaNo go? Well, it’s an interesting one. Originally, I had another idea for a story that was going to be my main NaNo, but a few days before it started, an idea came into my head. An already established character in Christopher Maine’s series, during her time at the Terra Firma Fleet Academy. A character I have an affinity for, because she’s based on me, essentially going through the upheaval I’ve been going through recently – leaving home, moving in with new people I’d never met before, making friends, going to new classes and learning new things. Those are the bare bones of the plot; I’ll leave the rest for you guys to uncover when you read it, hint hint 😉

So this was just going to be a little side story – my main NaNovel would be this idea I had a while ago, the one I’d been planning for and had even written a little bit of it (don’t worry, that bit wasn’t going to get used for NaNoWriMo, before I get accused of cheating!), and then when I needed a break from that plot and a little bit of light relief, I’d write about this character’s antics in the Academy.

How did that one work out? …. not like I’d planned it, let’s put it that way.

The original plans got shelved when I started writing this story, tentatively titled “Blue”, and realized that I loved it. Starting with an already-established character (and the blessing of her original creator, Christopher Maine, who gave me permission to create the origins story for her) really did help, because I already had the centre of my little universe – all I needed to do was build up that universe around her. At first I expected it to be difficult, but when it started, it came easily. Characters started appearing in my heads – some of them are ones you’ll recognize from the Christopher Maine books, as you should have all read them, I’ve pestered you guys enough! Others are ones who are entirely my creation – for example, two of her close friends were minor characters, both appearing just a couple of times in the main series. In mine, they’re main characters. However, her two best friends are completely mine, and they both have fairly well-rounded personalities and I’m really pleased with that, because characterization is something I usually struggle with a lot.

Another issue I’ve had this time is attempting not to Mary-Sue, but not with the main character – she has plenty of flaws, the real challenge is finding the good bits about her! (I’m totally kidding, she’s a lovely character but she definitely has her flaws) – it’s her best friend, who at the beginning was just a lovely guy and… yeah. Really vanilla, everything nice and sweet and kind about the world. I needed to find a fault for him, but instead of just throwing in a random one like being really nice and sweet and kind but having a random murderous streak, I looked at his positive aspects and figured out which ones could become negative. He’s loyal to a fault, doesn’t see when people are taking advantage of his kindness and his loyalty is often misplaced. I considered giving him a temper, but a) my main character already has plenty of that, as highlighted by the fight scenes I’ve put her in over the last few days, and b) that’s just not his personality at all. I’ve let the characters run away with themselves, developing their own personalities until actually, I find it hard to talk about them as characters – they’re more like people. I’m not saying they’re imaginary friends, I’m not in danger of having tea parties with them yet, but it’s been really useful because it means they write the stories, they decide what happens – I just have to get it all typed out before they go off on another tangent.

Usually, being ill during NaNoWriMo is a godsend – extra time for writing, yay! However, I’m ill at the moment and it’s not too shiny – I’m sure my wordcount would actually be even higher than the not-too-shabby number it currently stands at, which will stand as my NaNoWriMo final count unless I get any more done today (and manage to validate it in time). I’ve really just felt too ill to write at times, wanting nothing more than to curl up under my duvet and sleep it all away. I think for the last two NaNoWriMos, I’d stay up until stupid o’clock in the morning writing, but sleep has become a precious commodity at uni, so I’ve not been nighttime NaNovelling either (I’m on a bit of an alliterative kick at the moment, can you tell?).

So, what next? It turns out that there is life after NaNoWriMo, although it can seem pretty hard to believe when you emerge from that heady fog thinking “I just wrote 50,000+ words!…. now what?”. Well, there’s always NaNoEdMo – National Novel Editing Month, although for me I believe it’ll be NaNoFinMo, as I attempt to mould this novel into something publishable by June 2013 (I fully intend to take advantage of that CreateSpace offer I get for winning!). Once it’s finished, THEN the editing can begin! In short, this could keep me occupied for a long time.

When I started uni, I was worried I wouldn’t have much time for writing. I’ve found instead that actually, I have more time for writing than ever, because I actively make time for it. I don’t have homework – I set aside a little bit of time each day to work on my pieces for assessment, but once that’s over, apart from eating and sleeping, I can write all the time. Having the privacy of my own space is great, but so is being able to go into the lounge and socialize when I get bored of my imaginary friends and want to speak to some real ones for once 😉

So, onwards into December. If NaNoFinMo/EdMo isn’t your thing, it’s nearly Christmas! Oh, and there’s something called a life – I suppose it wouldn’t hurt any of us to get one, now that we’re not spending each day furiously scribbling/typing away, trying to hammer out these words. Now then, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to have high tea with some of my characters, they’re waiting quite impatiently for me.

 

Signing out (and watching the smoke rising from the keyboard as it breathes a sigh of relief),

Maddy x

(P.S – Want a better idea of what my novel is about? Buy Christopher Maine’s “Tales From The Terra Firma Fleet” series so far on your Kindle, tablet, smartphone or anything else with the Kindle app on it)

Dragon Flight: Renegade – http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dragon-Flight-Renegade-Tales-ebook/dp/B007B3CZF2/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1354267570&sr=8-5

Dragon Flight : Wrath – http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dragon-Flight-Wrath-Tales-ebook/dp/B0089CLIT8/ref=pd_sim_kinc_1

Dragon Flight: EndGame – http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dragon-Flight-EndGame-Tales-ebook/dp/B00A9HSQ8W/ref=pd_sim_kinc_2

(P.P.S – He also has a blog! www.christophermaine.wordpress.com )

(P.P.P.S – Thanks for reading!).

The Fifty Shades Of Grey dilemma – (WARNING – Strong language and scenes of a sexual nature)

I’m very firmly of the belief that you shouldn’t knock it unless you’ve tried it. New foods, new ideas, new books – especially books, because when I was six and was given a book for Christmas, I didn’t think I’d like it. Still, my parents got me to try it – and they turned out to be the Harry Potter books; the series which I credit for making me such a good reader and giving me a good start with my writing too. Even if I don’t think I’ll like that genre, I’ll generally try it. But there is one trilogy that I am trying to weigh up whether it might be beneficial to go back on my promise and never read, because I don’t know if it’ll even be worth the £3 per book to get it on my Kindle.

From reading extracts and reviews, I’ve concluded that 50 Shades Of Grey is my idea of a nightmare book for a number of reasons.

1. It’s been described as “Mummy porn”. I’m not a mother and I have no interest in porn, so why would I want to read it?
2. The whole concept of erotica fiction just seems a little weird. I mean, there’s so much porn on the internet, there’s so many videos and pictures… some people seem to think that porn is dirty, unless you read it. Why? Watching it doesn’t make you a bad person and reading it doesn’t make you some great intellectual person.
3. It started off as a Twilight fanfiction. Twilight isn’t exactly well-written, and every Twilight fanfiction I’ve read seems to try and emulate Stephenie Meyer’s style, so I think that alone would be enough to put me off. I’ve heard enough about the errors and poor writing style in 50SOG to put me off – yeah, maybe I’m a snob, but a bad writing style really annoys me and I’d end up throwing it out the window.
4. There are so many better fanfiction writers out there! There are some who have written Harry Potter fanfiction who could easily have best-sellers published, and from the excerpts of the book I’ve read online, the HP fanfiction authors are so much better.
5. What the hell is an inner goddess and why does she talk about it so much? I’ve only read a few excerpts and yet it’s all over the place.  Also, what is “there”, what is “kinky fuckery”, what is a “considerable length”…? Seriously, if you’re going to write porn, at least be brave enough to use the actual words.
6. Jeez. Holy cow. Biting lips. 50 Shades of Repetitive! Oh, and apparently “Oh my!” is used 79 times in the book, and not once in reference to lions, tigers and bears. Not amused. I mean, who is she? George Takei??
7. Anastasia Steele should have been called Mary Sue (or Bella Swan). Flawless and innocent and virtuous other than being a teensy bit clumsy. I can’t be the only person who automatically despises these characters and longs for their eventual gory, messy, painful death. Oh, and Christian Grey is Edward Cullen.
8. Some of the sex just sounds disturbing. And hello? Have you ever heard of UTIs, Ms James? They exist, and they’re painful. And some of the other bits… no. Just, no.
9. BDSM and abuse are not the same thing, and one of the major off-putting things about this fanfiction is that reviewers have said that it confuses the two things. Oh, and since when have women been incapable of being dominant? Way to set us all back 100 years… I hope that in the future kids will read The Hunger Games, not 50SOG, and see what a real female protagonist should be like.

So, for the record, I’m not judging the people who read it. Heck, I may even read it at one point, so I can put my money where my mouth is. If I enjoy it, or I’m wrong in any of the points I just made, I’ll hold my hands up and admit it. However, people are spouting the figures of book sales like it’s a good thing… but how many of them are reading the book for a laugh, or have read it and immediately posted reviews of how terrible it is (answer = a lot)?

I mean, I’m glad it’s getting people reading, because that’s always a good thing, I just wish people would open themselves up (no pun intended) to the better works of fiction that are out there – the classics, and if not the classics, then at least good modern fiction such as The Hunger Games, Harry Potter (I’ve also heard rave reviews for the A Song of Ice and Fire series), or even chick lit – at least those tend to be novels, rather than glorified fanfiction.

A Tiring Week!

I am now the proud owner of a onesie! Yes, like footsie pyjamas without any feet. At first I was skeptical of the craze but I realize now exactly why they are so popular; they’re SO comfortable! Mine is a cow onesie with a hood that has little ears on it! It’s so warm and lovely that I think I could quite easily live in onesies from now on (but I won’t, because I’m not.. how do I put this… a chav!).

On Thursday, training properly started for the run. I couldn’t do very much because I wasn’t feeling great – I’d had an x ray in the morning which wasn’t an entirely pleasant experience – plus I didn’t warm up, but I did a four mile walk with a jog along the beach. I ended up with a nasty blister but it was a lovely walk and I felt really good when I got back, plus it made me a bit more comfortable about being able to do the run. I can start training to run and jog longer distances once I’ve strengthened up my knees and ankles a bit, so it’s all good. I’ve also started collecting sponsors (I’m doing it for Birmingham Children’s Hospital; the hospital that saved my life when I was a baby and who made my little brother’s last days comfortable), you can sponsor me at www.justgiving.com/Madison-Matthews , if you can give anything at all, please do – and even if you can’t, please share the link on your facebook/blog/twitter, I’d really appreciate it! You can tag me in it if you want – @lifeofamoomin (Twitter) – but please let as many people as possible know what I’m doing and why!

Also, don’t forget that Christopher Maine’s new book, Dragon Flight: Wrath is available on Amazon now for your Kindle or Kindle-enabled smartphone/tablet/iPad (all you need to do is download the free Kindle reading app). Search for it now on Amazon and please get yourself a copy, it’s great!

Hey you guys!

So, as you may recall (and I make no apologies for bugging you all about it; because that’s just how I roll), I am a big fan of Christopher Maine, a new sci-fi author who is publishing his novels via Kindle Direct Publishing. In fact, I would consider myself his number one fan and unofficial publicist (although how he feels about me taking that role, who knows?). I talk about him a lot because he is a really awesome author and I really want him to do well – I think his writing is brilliant and I want as wide an audience as possible to read it.

He recently released the second book in his series, “Dragon Flight – Wrath”, for the Kindle and Kindle reading app, and if anyone has a Kindle, or a smartphone/tablet/etc, I’d really appreciate it if you could buy and read this book (and the first in the series, “Renegade”), and support him! He has a blog – www.christophermaine.wordpress.com – where he talks about his characters, his novels and some of the other writing he does, as well as posting excerpts and small stories for the readers to enjoy.

The book isn’t expensive – just over £2 in the UK and $3 in the US – so please buy it and read it, it’s a brilliant way of supporting an author whose talents have, as yet, gone fairly unnoticed!

Thanks!

*puts on advertising hat*

I’ve taken it upon myself to take on the duty of being a publicist for Christopher Maine. Whether he approves of this (indeed, whether he even knows I’m doing it) remains to be seen, but I’m quite excited about his new series, and his blogs are great, so it’s time for….

*fanfare*

MADDY THE PUBLICIST!

Yes, so we have Tawni the writer and Maddy the publicist. I can live with that. So, if you have an Amazon Kindle (and if you don’t, I recommend one – they’re brilliant!), or any mobile device on which you can download the Kindle Reading App (I believe all smartphones, ipads, laptops and computers can), I would like to recommend this book –

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dragon-Flight-Renegade-Tales-ebook/dp/B007B3CZF2/ref=sr_1_7?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1329694430&sr=1-7

and this blog –

http://www.christophermaine.wordpress.com

The things he posts are quite similar to my writing blogs (although he posts rather less frequently, so far his pattern seems to be one a day, so if you subscribe he won’t be bombarding you with sporadic blog posts in the way I do), in that he discusses issues and factors he’s had to think about whilst writing. So, if you like blogs about creative writing or science fiction, I suggest you check it out and follow him 🙂

 

*removes advertising hat*

That is all.

 

 

For Now!

 

As for writing…

There’s still not much to report on the writing front. I hadn’t done anything much until last night, when being poorly meant I couldn’t sleep, so I ended up sitting up for a while and forcing out a few more words on the story. I don’t really like writing at night – it tires me out, but I’m always sitting there thinking, “Maybe I could be asleep right now if I’d tried a little bit harder” – and I wonder if maybe the quality of my writing would be a bit better. Last night, however, I felt so ill that there was no way I could’ve slept unless I wrote until the point of sheer exhaustion, so I managed to finish chapters one and two (I started them both at the same time and was writing them concurrently – never again! It was such an effort to get them finished!). Not going to start chapter three until I’ve got a bit more editing done – I really don’t want to get any more done until I’ve made progress on the editing front, and so far, I’ve got very little done on that front.

One update is how I write them – I still use a computer, but I now save everything to the cloud, using Google Docs – I love how it’s easy to edit documents, it saves them as it goes along and you can download them as a word file to your computer too. It means that, should your computer crash and your hard drive gets wiped, you’ve got a copy of it – kept securely, so there’s no need to worry about plagiarism – on the cloud, which you can access from any computer anywhere if you sign in by email.

Will probably update the writing section of the blog next when I actually HAVE made progress with anything of note, which is why the blog’s been so heavy on the non-writing-related stuff recently. Keep reading, folks, I really appreciate the reads/likes/comments/follows!