Outline

Working title: Harvest time

It's September, and time to harvest the grapes. It's casual work, so David Blake and his brother Colin aren't over enthused at finding themselves driving to the vineyard through an ever thickening fog.

Over the next few weeks David finds himself over hearing the stories of many of the other itinerant workers. Stories that ultimately make him wonder if he's living in the same reality as they are.

---
So there you have it. Okay, so it's not a 30 page outline ... unless you whack up the point size, and give it a humongous line spacing. But I'm happy. As a sandboy: As Larry: As ... well, as me, actually.

Good luck to anyone else who's giving it a go. May your Gods be with you ... and your Muse. Mine is looking way cool for the off. He persuaded me to let him go shopping, and got a special NaNo outfit. I keep telling him he's a figment of my imagination, but he won't have it. He won't give me the credit card back, either.

Ah well. Laters.

milling by the tape.

Happy Halloween, y'all. Which means mere hours to go until the start of the 2007 NaNoWrMo.

I have my mate Kapitano to thank for helping sort out what I'm going to write.
[quote]I suspect these few weeks aren't a dry spot of inspiration, so much as a dry spot of inspiration for novelistic ideas.
So...maybe write something that isn't a novel, like a short story, with an eye on the story later becoming the first chapter of something big.[/quote]

Not that Kap's entirely to blame; though he planted the seed. The idea of plotting a novel is daunting, and I couldn't get my head around it. So instead, I'm going to write a linked series of short stories ....
Five or six short stories in a month sounds much more do-able ... even if I am going to 'pants' it. :)

Remember milling about at the start of a cross country run?

Plot

Still no closer to the 30 page outline that some of us are supposed to have *glowers at Sandy*. Still, another pantser isn't going to do me any harm, and who knows ... I could still come up with a solid plot before the off. Hmm.

In other news: there isn't any.

Umm

Yes, well. Knee almost better now, so Muse can worry less about mobility and more about plot. Get it, you stupid airy fairy Muse, you.

Not that I'm in anyway panicking. After all, there is still ten days to go.

Sunny days - of which this is one - means cold. I don't like cold unless I have a roaring fire. Fire means wood. I don't have any. Life throws these things at us. Perhaps it's a test? But if it's a test, that pre-supposes a tester, which means God, or an alien entity is real .... Another quandary.

TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) seems very complicated. I thought it was an easy thing to do. I'm much mistaken. Not that this is anything new. Poor Kap :(

Silly Muse

I had a great idea, but it evaporated ... and I keep having all these ideas for plot, yet none of them have solidified into anything worth noting. I'm not even sure of the genre I'm going for, though I doubt that whatever I write will end up becoming a door stop. Unlike some I could mention, who reached 50,000 words in the first eleven days. Pah, I say. And poo.

I want to be organised! I want a well written, and logically laid out outline! I want to be able to refer to comprehensively drawn character notes on neat cards in an smart index box ... I want all these things!!! Want ... WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

*slaps self*

I'm sure there's a Buddhist saying to cover my 'problem'. I'll ask M in the morning. The bottom line is: I'm a pantser, and proud! Perhaps I'll start P.A. Except I've already outed myself. Damn.

More Daimoku required.

Nano server overload

So popular is NaNoWriMo now, that their server can't cope. Still, that doesn't stop the creative process, just one of the excuses as to why I haven't written anything.

Sandy (Dio) and Sinbad have both declared, so at least there are three to bounce off against, and I'm hoping Kitty takes part too.

Hmm.

Being determined, as I am, to come up with an outline worthy of a pulitzer, I decided to let my muse do the work. Consequently: I haven't overtly thought of anything even vaguely plotish, for the last twenty fours hours ... and it's worked. I have a stonkingly good idea, and some rather interesting characters.

Now I have to write them down.

I might change my mind ... but that's my prerogative. Obviously. Duh.

Idea time

I have until the end of the month to come up with a sterling, nay, spiffing plot, and write an outline, too. I'm still going to 'pants' it, but 'pants' it with decorum. With some semblance of order ... but I'm not there yet, so I'm in the early stages of panic.

I'm hoping - fingers crossed - that two, or maybe even three friends might write along for the ride. It would be even more fun if they did, and fun is what life is all about. That's my theory, anyway.

Begin Again

So.

Another year, another NaNoWriMo.

In 2006 I scraped just over 50,000 words out of my head, and I did it by the seat of my pants: by the skin of my teeth: by the hair on my chiny chin chin. Which is not to say I didn't have fun. I did. Lots of it.

This year, come hell or high water, I will be doing it again, but with organisation! See the difference? Fair enough, you don't. But it's there as an underlying worse'name. I'm a 'Pantser' and proud of it. But for once I think I'd like a little direction.

During October I'm going to be plotting - yeah right. Okay, honestly: during October I'm going to be trying to plot, and then ...!