BellaOnline Forums Career Fiction Writing The Mad Hatter's Tea Party

I know writers like to procrastinate and hang out in forums when they're supposed to be writing...

So I thought I'd create a space where we can have a break, rant about our characters or spouses or both, plot to kill them off (the characters, not the spouse), and even go a bit off topic if we want.

Occasionally someone will wander through and kick our butts back to work (probably me, but I'm not good at kicking my own butt).

Falling asleep in the teapot is permitted.


So, to start the ball rolling -

For those of us not doing Nano this year, what are your writing/reading plans or goals for November and December?

November and December are hard months for me to write in. I am going to college and the writing for my classes start to get intense as we have projects and assignments to finish before the semester ends on December 14.

After that I will have a couple of weeks to do some intense writing around my obligations here at Bella and before the winter semester begins in January, so I will try to knock out as much as I can on my novel then. In March or April, the winter semester ends and I will not go back to school until the following end of August and will be free to concentrate on my novel then a lot more.

I am participating in NaNo. I'm just not sure what to write about. I am one of those people - tons of ideas, but when it comes to putting pen to paper, I draw a blank. One goal I had was to write a continuing series about the life of a person. Not in one book. In other words, the character and the reader grow together.

That is a really good idea Bubbles. Will it be a series from, say, childhood to college or just in childhood stages to the teen years?

How will you go about this?

Yep. I'm thinking childhood through adult. That way, the reader can walk through the life of this one person. When I read a really good novel, I always find myself wanting to know the person more intimately. I want to know more about their life and what shapes the decisions they are making now. I think if I can craft it well, I think it will be a good idea. But ya know how that goes - too scared to put it down. Got all in the noggin'!

I think one of the purposes of Nano is to provide a way for you to just get that sort of story out onto paper without it being a big deal. Think of it as just a challenge to put what's in your head on paper and, if, at the end of the month, you need to scrap the whole thing then so be it. You might be surprised at what you can get rolling when it "doesn't matter".

Last year my community college that I attend sponsored the NaNo there and they encouraged people to come in everyday in November and write their novels in the Academic Support Center. I haven't seen any flyers this year yet about it so I don't think they will be doing it this year.

They wanted people to bring in their own laptops or thumb drives to use their computers and write for a few hours a day. They would have refreshments and stuff there too.

I don't really know what NaNo is , vaguely I think it's something like everyone writes a novel in a month- I'm not in. I'm just finishing the second textbook in a three textbook deal for a local publisher and then I was going to take a break from science and finish my hyena novel BUT it looks like that may be problematic NOW- thanks to you guys! (Not really complaining, you likely saved me!) I haven't written a novel for awhile and I was really looking forward to it. My plan was to have everything finished by the new year.... boo hoo!!

Bubbles, I'm just like you- I hate when good characters disappear from my life when I close the covers of the book. I think your idea sounds great.

Writing and reading plans for November/December? Mainly trying to get my newest website (Ornate Bird Garden) filled with content. I have done more writing this year on these websites than ever before!

As far as reading goes, I'm still struggling through some prize-winners for my book review site (Impatient Reader). I've been trying to get through this year's Hugo Award winner for Science Fiction (Rainbow's End by Vernor Vinge) for weeks. I'm not sure why it's such a slog for me because everyone else seemed to like it (the Hugo is voted on by the fans).

I'm with you, Elle. The Nano-novel thing seems like something I wouldn't do either unless I were already far into the writing of a novel or at least could visualize a strong idea beginning to end. Otherwise, I think I'd just be spinning my wheels. Which is not to say it might not work fine for other people!

It's funny about those award winners. Maybe I'm just getting impatient in my old age. I really hated The Sea by John Banville, and I read your comment about not enjoying The Inheritance of Loss. A few years ago I decided it would be a good idea to read all the Booker Prize winners to see what prize winning writing is made of. I'm afraid I am rather disappointed so far.

You would think that an award voted on by fans, like the Hugo, would be a better bet then. But then I'm reminded of things like Idol and Big Brother, and I realise I probably won't agree with the "majority" either.

Mmm, will have to think of another way of deciding what to read next...