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!).

Freshers’ Fair!

As a student, I’m practically obliged to love freebies. I mean, you’re trying to balance your priorities between spending money on a good time and boring necessary things like food and groceries – if someone hands you free stuff, you’re not going to turn it down, are you? That’s why Freshers’ Fair is amazing! It was held in the sports hall and there were loads of clubs and societies there, as well as local organizations and groups who wanted to recruit us. I signed up for the Am-Dram society and the choir, and I think somewhere along the way I got distracted by freebies and also became a Christian, a Pagan, a bingo player and a Conservative, but I can’t be sure – I definitely have the freebies that would suggest so.

I also have pizza hut vouchers, subway vouchers – I’m wearing my “Zombies – Eat Flesh!” t-shirt today,which they seemed to like), vouchers for the shops in the shopping centre, notepads from various organizations, lollipops and sweets, I won a teddy bear!, and lots and lots and lots of leaflets and other cute little bits and pieces like lanyards, keyrings, pens etc, which are all now spread out on my desk so I can sort them out. Looks like free pizza for dinner tomorrow and Friday!

We also enrolled today, which was a long and tedious process, but on the bright side I now have my ID card – and the picture isn’t too bad – and I’m definitely enrolled on the course, which is always good! There’s no ifs or buts, tonight is definitely a night in for me – I’m exhausted. In a couple of hours I’m going to head down to McDonalds and have my first chips since I got here – yes, I have willpower! – and use their wifi to get a couple of books for my Kindle. Then tomorrow, I have my IT induction and course induction lecture, and after that, I’m done and just got to wait for lectures to start on Monday! It’s a really exciting, busy time but I’m trying to make sure I set some time aside to write this blog.

I went to Waterstones yesterday – I could spend all day in that shop! – and bought a fantastic book, which I’ll be reviewing when I get a chance. It’s called “If I Stay”, by Gayle Forman, and it really is very good! I’ve bought the sequel on Kindle, but don’t have wifi – only wired internet – at halls, so it’s a trip to McDonalds with their free wifi for me, to have something to eat and start reading. I could go to Starbucks, I guess, but I think going there and getting a caramel frappuccino (my favourite!) and whipping out my Kindle might seem a bit pretentious – only less so than writing my novel there and talking about it loudly for everyone to hear, a la that Family Guy sketch.

So, plenty to come – I’ll keep you all updated on how uni is going and I’ll get back into the swing of writing and reviewing things, starting off with that book. If you haven’t read it yet, I really do recommend it – it’s touching and sweet but quite upsetting at the same time. I hope the sequel lives up to expectations!

Review: Kindle Vs. Book

Now, before I got my Kindle, I would’ve said “book”, every time – and part of me still feels that way. Nothing compares to the feeling of opening a new book and experiencing the feel of the paper and the smell of the ink, and it is lovely – but my reading life has been revolutionized by the Amazon Kindle, and I absolutely love it.

I’m a fast reader – I can get through books very quickly, so of course, if I’m going on holiday somewhere and plan on doing a lot of reading, I want to take lots of books so I don’t run out of things to do if we’re stuck in the caravan with nothing to do (not very likely but I like to be prepared). In the past I’ve had to take a massive bag as well as my suitcase, jam-packed with books and very heavy, clogging up space in the room. This year, I won’t have that problem, because all the books I want to read are on my Kindle, as well as an internet browser and an MP3 player! As much as I love books, I also love the Kindle, and I think people put it down too much without actually experiencing it for themselves.

The battery life is amazing – if you read for one hour a day, without the Wi-Fi turned on, the battery should last for up to two months without needing to re-charge it. Personally, I’ve had the wi-fi on, reading for about an hour most days and I’m not even halfway through the battery, and the last time I charged it was two months ago! It’s very quick and easy to charge, too – it hardly takes any time. You can get them from £89, but I love my keyboard one, which was £111 last year – I have the set texts for my college work on there, and I can use the keyboard to make notes that are stored on the Kindle! It’s great and has come in handy.

I got a case for it really cheap so it looks nice and is protected, and it’s really light and easy to take anywhere – it goes to college with me most days for reading on the bus and in between lessons, and if ever I’m going on a long car journey or something like that, I take it with me too. I also love that you can put your own personal documents on there – a lot of my writing is on my Kindle, so I can read over it and make plans for editing, and also so that I can show other people who want to read my writing. The e-ink screen is amazing – no matter what the sunshine is like or what angle you hold it at, it feels like you’re reading it off paper because the screen is so crystal clear, and there is never the problem of the sun reflecting off the screen like you get with phones and computers and things like that.

There are a great variety of free books including a lot of the old classics, and you can also get free e-books from Project Gutenberg – I have the complete works of Shakespeare on my Kindle from Gutenberg, for free. Most paid e-books aren’t that expensive at all, and it’s a great way for unpublished, independent authors to get their work seen and to make a little bit of money but, more importantly, providing a platform for their work to be read and enjoyed.

All in all, the Kindle is wonderful, and if you enjoy reading and writing, I highly suggest you get one if you haven’t already. The Kindle doesn’t try to replace books – it complements your bookshelf and makes reading on the go just as easy as reading in the comfort of your own home.