10 posts tagged “novel”
My reaction? It's not bad. As I expected, it's messy. There are lots of narrative threads and characters that were abandoned, some that were added late in the story and need to be fleshed out.
Things I like...I like the main character, Sam. I suppose I'd need some male readers to tell me how believable he is. I like the relationship between him and his girl best friend Amanda. (One thing that worries me...I like the relationship between them so much that I'm afraid readers will wonder why he doesn't end up with her.) I like the way the momentum builds toward the end of the story.
Potential problems...well, I need to flesh out Sam's crush a lot more. Why does he like Julia? Why should he be with her? I also need to work on the tone/narrative voice. It's all over the place. I want Sam to be funnier. I want this to be a fun, lighthearted read. It can have angst, yes (I mean, it is about teenagers after all), but I need it to lighten up. It ends on a fun, light, Shakespearean comedy-esque note, and I think it needs more of that throughout.
Looking back at the beginning, and having rewatched the movie yesterday, I realize that I was trying to write Mean Girls. When I described the plot to Rand, he reminded me that it sounded a lot like Some Kind of Wonderful (which I saw, but only vaguely remember...). So there's that to deal with...not that I can expect to tell a completely unique story (I don't think there's any such thing), but how I can make it fresh, make it my own.
What it's lacking is a hook. What Rand calls a high concept. What the movie industry would call a crossroads. What makes it unique? What would make someone want to pick it up? What's the thing that, were I shopping this, would get it sold? Right now, nothing. Hrm.
Ah, I've been neglecting this little blog. Time for me to put some new goals down in writing, I think...
- Revise story for submission to WW
- Play around with another idea for WW story (partially written)
- Start wrestling NaNovel into shape
- Read The Right to Write, which I got as a Christmas gift
- Come up with article idea for March Absolute Blankl
- Write March AB ;)
:)
Well, I crawled my way just over 30k today. If I do 3000 words tomorrow, I'll be on track, so I'm not that far behind. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm a procrastinator at heart. I do my best work up against a deadline. ;) I won't be at all surprised if I do the last 10k in two days.
I found another possible market for short romantic fiction, which pays, though not nearly as well as WW. But then, who does? ;) I sent them a story today. *fingers crossed*
I just reached the halfway point this morning...I gave up last night just 500 words short. ;)
I posted a short excerpt on my NaNoWriMo page.
Whoo!
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Today was rough going for a while, but I had a few bursts of inspiration later in the day. I think I'm going to end up changing and expanding some of the stuff that happened earlier in my story, so for now, I'm not worrying so much about tying everything together neatly. I'll fix it later. :)
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Still on track...I was hoping to be a little bit ahead at this point, but I'll take it. :)
I want to do at least 2,000 words daily for the rest of the week, putting me at 18,000 before I leave for TO on Friday.
I can do it!
For some reason, the little counter thingy I was using isn't working...
But I made my personal goal of 4,500 (total) for day 2! Yay!
I've already got a bit of a stumbling block to get past...I'm writing in first person, with a 14-year-old main character. I haven't quite found her voice yet. I've been occasionally working short journal entries, and I think I've got her voice there...just not in the narrative for some reason.
Hmmm...
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I've had a pretty good day. :)
