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[roxyrocketss]

So I Actually Finished

I meant to post this two days ago but I forgot, so lets do it now instead. 

I actually finished NaNoWriMo, which was a surprise to me. I only got into it so I’d get back into the habit of writing after exams were over, and I started working at the same time, and between that, social stuff, and getting minor surgery I wound up missing about 3 days worth of writing, so I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to do a full 50,000.

Then, about 3 hours before the 30th was over I actually calculated how many words I was short by (thanks go to my sister for asking) and I realised I was only 1700 words short. So I did a marathon in the last couple of hours and managed to actually meet the 50,000!

NaNoWriMo wasn’t particularly impressed since I started November with a novel 66,000 words long so it thought I was already finished, but I sure as hell was. I’ve been working on this I think since May or June this year, and at 116 thousand words... we are about a week and a half in. 

It started on a Wednesday, and it is now the following Friday, which is just constantly ridiculous to me. I have so much stuff planned and so many things to cover, and only a tiny number have even been introduced yet, much less resolved. I don’t think anything’s been resolved yet. Obviously this is going to take a lot of time and effort. But now that I’ve managed to contribute a whole NaNoWriMo to my story, my next mid-term goal is to do the same next year. If I’m still writing by then and I can do another 50,000 word November, I will be so proud of myself, and maybe I’ll start getting in touch with publishing people.

For now I guess time will tell.

[roxyrocketss]

Exposition!

Is, quite frankly, a pain in the ass. See, I used to have this issue when I was writing. The issue was that the first one to three pages were really easy, when I was inspired and shit, and after that writing just... sucked. It REALLY sucked. It was hard, it was annoying, it was time-consuming, and what I ended up with was honestly not all that good. The plot was always driven by events rather than characters, the dialogue was bland and almost completely exposition, with practically zero character or personality, and I really had no clue what I was doing wrong or how to fix it. Writing my latest story has been an interesting experience though. I’ve found dialogue a lot more natural and it’s also turned into opportunities to show the characters being themselves, you know, that thing that dialogue is SUPPOSED to do. As a result, it’s easier to write, easier to read when I’m editing, and I feel a lot better about the story as a whole instead of just being obsessed with everything unsatisfying about it, and it wasn’t until Monday that I realised why that might be. On Monday I was writing a scene between the protagonist Amber and one of her teachers and suddenly I was back in every story I’ve ever tried to write; it was slow, it was annoying, it was hard, and it was unsatisfying, and I think I know why. For some reason, when my dialogue includes multiple characters it works. When it’s just the main character and one other, it’s really fucking annoying. Why? I have honestly no idea. But it is. 

[roxyrocketss]

I wonder if I’m actually feeling the need to edit about a hundred things right now because (as per the NaNoWriMo rules) I’m not allowed to edit this month, or I’m only noticing how many things I want to edit specifically because I’m not allowed to edit them. Either way, the end result is that after this huge messy chunk of stuff that I’ve blurted out onto the page, there’s going to need to be an equally huge, hopefully less messy editing process. I’ll probably need to do an entire read-through for this one too, which means it’ll take FOREVER. Which, I guess, I can’t really feel upset about because I’d need to do full read-throughs anyway, but still. It’s gonna be about twice as long if not longer than it was last time I did one. And I feel like it’s fine to be a bit salty about that because damnit I’ve been good and I’ve been working hard and apparently the end result is just making things harder on myself. It’s like the saying goes, “the reward for work well done is more work”. I guess let’s just cross our fingers that it’s actually work well done and not a complete mess I’ve somehow tricked myself into feeling optimistic about.

[roxyrocketss]

So!

It has been a while. It has been a VERY while. But I got an email today about how this blog is now 5 years old and it suddenly reminded me that “hey! I have a writing blog!” And since I’m doing a writing, maybe it’s time to pick up the ol’ blog, hey? Blow off the dust, find something to get rid of the spiderwebs with, give it a spritz with some bleach to wipe away the mold, see if it still works.

So I guess that means it’s time for a (slightly overdue) update to my many adoring fan. (Speaking of which, sup sis how’s it going?) Anywhozle, I’m currently in the middle of writing a story set in the universe of Mage: the Ascension, which some may recognise as one of the old White Wolf RPGs. There’s plenty of short story collections from pretty much every game they made but to my knowledge there’s never been an actual full-length novel set in any of them so maybe breaking new ground here! Or maybe not. The fact is I really wanted to play this game (like Vampire: the Masquerade) but (like Vampire: the Masquerade) I have nobody to play with. So rather than just create character concepts that would never get used, my partner and I came up with character concepts and then thought “well shit, since we’re not gonna be able to play them, why don’t I just sit down and write a novel based around them?” So that’s what I did/am doing. I might add posts later with details about the plot, the characters, the more detailed aspects of the setting, etc, but for now this is just my blog creaking back into life I guess, so baby steps. The story is currently sitting at 112 pages and 70,000 words and I’m also doing NaNoWriMo, which means it’ll be a bit less than twice its starting length if I actually manage to finish NaNo, which is a bit crazy because it took like six months to get this long to begin with. It also means no editing for this month, which is a bit annoying, but I’ve got a note thing set up where I’m recording all the edits I want to make to I can get around to them when I’m done. So yeah. Am still alive and still writing. More updates to follow, unless they don’t.

[roxyrocketss]

I feel like I spend my time swinging back and forward between a relaxed cruising sort of feeling where, sure, I don’t know if I’m studying the right subject or getting the right grades, but I know that I’ll find myself a place eventually and then even my biggest worries of today will seem like funny memories on the one hand, and then on the other hand I’m consumed with abject terror and I feel like I’m stuck in a nightmare where I’ve been watching a play and about halfway through the lead actor died and the director just dragged me up onto the stage and stapled the costume onto me and everybody just carried on, and I have no idea what my lines are, where I am, how I got here, or where I’m supposed to be going, but I feel sure that everybody is just expecting me to know and I can’t screw up the lines or turn my back or they’ll see that I don’t know what I’m doing and that I’m not wearing my costume right and they’ll stone me to death or something, so I’m just desperately stumbling my way through the performance acting like I know what I’m doing and I can see people in the audience laughing or frowning or muttering to each other but I don’t know if it’s because they’re starting to realise how confused I am or because of something completely different but all the other actors seem to be doing a fantastic job and I just get more and more nervous but this damn play never freaking ends and I just CAN’T HANDLE IT

[roxyrocketss]

A little while ago, I had a realisation about KFC, and that realisation is that it's like chinese food. When you're there in the store it looks all delicious and enticing and you want to order everything in the store, but when you get home and start eating it only takes a little while for you to fill up and start feeling sick even looking at the stuff. That's what you have to do when you're ordering, you have to order less than you want because really it takes a lot less to satisfy you than you think. That, I now realise, is also true of sex. When you're in the mood you want to go for hours breaking out all the kinky stuff, loud enough for the neighbours to hear you and long enough that the police start knocking at your door wondering where you are. But when it comes down to actually HAVING sex, it's like "BAM, done, we're good now".

Basically I'm saying lower your expectations. You might think you can handle a mountain of sweet and sour pork, but three or four crunchy, greasy pieces later and you're lying in bed post-orgasm, naked and sweaty and feeling the need for a shower

[roxyrocketss]

My feelings about life are the same as my feelings about grocery shopping. I have no idea where I'm going or what I'm looking for, I'm just wandering the shelves, keeping out of the way of the people in a hurry and hoping to god I'll know when I find it

[roxyrocketss]

I like how, despite never having one understandable word of dialogue, R2D2 still gives the impression of being belligerent and sassy

[4gifs]

[meladoodle]

WHAT

[roxyrocketss]

Imagine that, though. Imagine waking up in the morning and just lying there thinking "... I can draw with my nose. I could draw with my nose. If I wanted to, I could get up and draw a sunflower or a smiley face or something. With my nose."

[rubudubu-deactivated20150209]

do you ever just start thinking about sex and zone out for a couple of seconds and stare into space and then you come back and you’re like ah shit i hope no one realised i was thinking about sex just now

[yellowcrayonwillow-archive]

#shout out to my vagina for not giving anything away

[princelyhoseok-deactivated20160]

xxxxxxxxbearded-glory:

#disappointed glare at my boner for giving everything away

[roxyrocketss]

Zoning out thinking about sex and then coming back and realising you're staring at some chick's chest

[roxyrocketss]

In the Avengers, when they're on the flying base and they realise that Loki is just trying to get Banner to Hulk out they should have just said "fine, you want the Hulk? Congrats, wish granted," and shoved him in the cage too.

[roxyrocketss]

Ever see an older person of the same gender looking at you in a weird way, like more intense or something, and idly wonder if they're you sent from the future to stop you doing something horrible?

[roxyrocketss]

Imagine if being raptured was just, like, a thing that happened. "Why's John so late?" "Oh, he got raptured. He's eating popsicles in heaven and we've got to find a new barista." "How was your date last night?" "Turns out I did have to pay 'coz he got raptured halfway through." "Where the hell is your brother?" "I'll give you two guesses."

[roxyrocketss]

So, I'm not at a five but I figured I should post anyway because today's the first time I've written in over a week. Life is crazy and hectic atm but at least I managed to do the whole 1000 words today. That's pretty much all, too tired to do much else. Night night

[roxyrocketss]

90,000 words

Bitches. And yes, you're probably aware that it's a few days overdue, but my excuse is still the same; I'm swamped with exams right now, and not always in the headspace for it. Especially lately, I've been sleeping a lot and sleeping well and for some reason, I'm really tired all of the time. I'm not sick, which is good, but I am exhausted. Plus my brain is full from doing law all the time. But I'm still making progress, which is the main thing.

[roxyrocketss]

I was actually surprised to discover it was update time

I mean, usually I'm vaguely aware of it as it looms on the horizon, but today it was just *looks at word count* "oh shit, I'm at 85,000. I suppose I'd better update." So, bearing that in mind, I don't have too much to say. I posted a chunk of the story to a place called "Booksie" at this link http://www.booksie.com/fantasy/novel/jackthecrow/james-hall-and-the-world-beneath/chapter/1 the upload screwed up so it finishes halfway through a sentece, and it says "chapter 1" but don't believe it, it isn't a chapter. I was kinda hoping for feedback or something, but nobody's commented yet. Not that I really expected them to - I did only put it up yesterday, after all - but it's there if you ever want to try and put a story to my ramblings here. I also added a new creature to the plants creatures and objects page. I always feel like I should mention that because I don't know if it posts a notification or not. So I did. It's up there. I'd recommend reading during the daytime. And, yeah, that's about it. Peace.

[roxyrocketss]

80,000 words!

So that's rather a lot. That's really rather a lot. I'm quite impressed actually. As should you be. Again, I think it might be a day or two behind schedule, but I hope the lore additions satisfy you as recompense. For those of you who get to see drafts, you're only 20,000 words off another one, so you've got something to look forward to. Also, I've been wondering if I should get in touch with a publisher. Not to submit anything (or probably not) but just to see what exactly I do. Get the ball rolling, get some professional advice. I don't know. Maybe. Anyway, stuff's still going on. It's only been four days in-story, but I get the feeling that when it turns back into weekdays we'll skip a few days, boring lectures, that kind of thing. Plant a few seeds for later. Maybe. Haven't really got it mapped out so much. Anyway, that's it. TTFN