In a mirror, dimly

The “national novel writing month” is coming up fast! The schedule looks a little like this:

Basically, about 6 pages of story every single day. My goal, however, is to push hard early in the month as I am preaching twice (Nov 23 and 30th) so I need some sermon preparation time. Thankfully the first few days are a weekend and I can reasonably expect to get a rocket boost on the words. All of the words, as they’re written along with a log of progress will be posted to my Nano progress website.

The author of the “Scrivener” writing tool has a really useful page detailing a bunch of other writing tools for both Mac and Windows. With Nanowrimo just around the corner something like that might just be worth a look.

I have a strange process when it comes to writing. I guess it’s a sort of “break it down and plan the blocks” process, but it involves wrangling a stack of index cards. These can contain anything from

• Character ideas
• Scene ideas
• Themes
• Activities
• Must-have plot points
• etc.

I generally pull out the list of plot points / scenes and then sort them into a semblance of order. Clearly there will be gaps so more cards get written and filed with the ideas or with the more concrete scenes. Since Nano is 30 days long I like to then use 1 - 30 month dividers so I have a small number (1 - 3) scenes each day that I need to write.

I guess the index cards are my way of “storyboarding” without the torture of drawing anything, these are word pictures and sketches. No software I know can replace the tactile feel of sitting on the floor with 50 index cards spread out randomly around me and the very, very basic organization of tossing them into piles, then organizing the piles. At least, no software that I know of.

Every year during the National Novel Writing Month they publish a weekly podcast called “WrimoRadio“. I have been consistently impressed with the quality and have thought to send in a small editorial piece to them but was too busy with other things (like writing a 50,000 word novel in a month). I am very tempted to send in the “plot bunnies” piece this year though.

I was on Facebook and noticed Chris Baty (founder of the National Novel Writing Month) changed his status to “Chris Baty needs a WrimoRadio producer so he doesn’t die in November.”

Podcast production is something I enjoy, I have the hardware investment and the previous experience. Should I ping him and offer? With everything else I am doing that would be one more reason I might not make 50,000 words. On the other hand I could put it on my resume - “podcast production for the National Novel Writing Month” - so it has its benefits too. Maybe I am oversimplifying what it would take … it wouldn’t be the first (or the last) time I’d done that!

A couple of news stories on the English “Daily Telegraph” news site caught my eye. First one that said:

Legal bid to stop CERN atom smasher from ‘destroying the world’

The world’s biggest and most expensive scientific experiment has been hit by a last minute legal challenge, amid claims that the research could bring about the end of the world.

James Gillies, spokesman for CERN, insisted that despite the huge amounts of energy the Large Hadron Collider will produce, it posed no risk to the safety of the planet.

He said: “The case before the European Court of Human Rights contains the same arguments that we have seen before and we have answered these in extensive safety reports.

The Large Hadron Collider will not be producing anything that does not already happen routinely in nature due to cosmic rays. If they were dangerous we would know about it already.

“We are now concentrating on firing the first beams around the collider and then on fine tuning it until we can get collisions, when the science will start.”

A spokesman for the European Court of Human Rights confirmed the lawsuit had been lodged and the petition to obtain an emergency injunction against CERN was rejected. She said: “There will therefore be no bar to CERN carrying out these experiments but the applicants can continue with this case here at the ECHR.”

and then, another story

JK Rowling ‘delighted’ at decision to ban Harry Potter encyclopaedia written by a fan

JK Rowling has spoken of her “delight” at winning her copyright battle against a fan who planned to publish a Harry Potter encyclopaedia.

She had described the Harry Potter Lexicon as “wholesale theft” of her work.

In court papers, Mr Vander Ark, 50, said he was a teacher and school librarian in Byron Centre, Michigan, before recently moving to London to begin a career as a writer.

He said he joined an adult online discussion group devoted to the Harry Potter books in 1999 before launching his own website as a hobby a year later.

Since then, neither Rowling nor her publisher had ever complained about anything on it, he said.

In his court statement, Mr Vander Ark said the Lexicon “enhances the pleasure of readers of the Potter novels, and deepens their appreciation of Ms Rowling’s achievement”.

Rowling, who has earned £560 million through the Potter books, told the judge she had not brought the case for the money, but because the Lexicon was “atrocious” and “sloppy” with “very little research”.

The seven Potter books, which ended last year with the final book in the series, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, have been published in 64 languages, sold more than 400 million copies and produced a film franchise that has pulled in 4.5 billion US dollars at the worldwide box office.

On the one hand Science and on the other Fiction. Totally me. Add to that the “geek” factor that I am running the new Google Chrome web browser (and loving it)!

I wonder, in the JK Rowling story, when it says “adult online discussion group devoted to the Harry Potter” if that means it was a group for grown ups, or whether the tone of the postings were “adult” in nature. If it’s the latter I can clearly see why Rowling would object - slashfic ought to have nothing to do with a kid’s genre book! Authors have a tenous (at best) relationship with fan fiction writers. Some encourage it (Rowling has said in the past that she was “flattered” that people wanted to write their own stories based on her characters), some tolerate it, others actively try to stamp it out (Anne Rice has consistently and aggressively prevented fan fiction based on any of her characters, as has Raymond E. Feist and Anne McCaffrey).

The BBC Website reported

Distinctively odd
For the past 30 years, the Bookseller magazine has awarded a prize to the oddest book title it can find. The first ever winner was Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice

Mind-boggling as that is, it is far from the strangest. Now the top prize has been won by the 1996 magnum opus Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers, published by the Hellenic Philatelic Society and edited by Derek Willan.

They finished by saying:

We want to give listeners a chance to construct their own stories, inspired by the titles which have won every year.

The Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year

• 1978: Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice
  (University of Tokyo Press)
• 1979: The Madam as Entrepreneur: Career Management in House Prostitution
  (Transaction Press)
• 1980: The Joy of Chickens
  (Prentice Hall)
• 1981: Last Chance at Love: Terminal Romances
• 1982: Population and Other Problems
  (China National Publications)
• 1983: The Theory of Lengthwise Rolling
  (MIR)
• 1984: The Book of Marmalade: Its Antecedents, Its History and Its Role in the World Today
  (Constable)
• 1985: Natural Bust Enlargement with Total Power: How to Increase the Other 90% of Your Mind to Increase the Size of Your Breasts
  (Westwood Publishing Co)
• 1986: Oral Sadism and the Vegetarian Personality
  (Brunner/Mazel)
• 1987: No Award
• 1988: Versailles: The View From Sweden
  (University of Chicago Press)
• 1989: How to Shit in the Woods: An Environmentally Sound Approach to a Lost Art
  (Ten Speed Press)
• 1990: Lesbian Sadomasochism Safety Manual
  (Lace Publications)
• 1991: No Award
• 1992: How to Avoid Huge Ships
  (Cornwell Maritime Press)
• 1993: American Bottom Archaeology
  (University of Illinois Press)
• 1994: Highlights in the History of Concrete
  (British Cement Association)
• 1995: Reusing Old Graves
  (Shaw & Son)
• 1996: Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers
  (Hellenic Philatelic Society)
• 1997: The Joy of Sex: Pocket Edition
  (Mitchell Beazley)
• 1998: Development in Dairy Cow Breeding and Management: and New Opportunities to Widen the Uses of Straw
  (Nuffield Farming Scholarship Trust)
• 1999: Weeds in a Changing World
  (British Crop Protection Council)
• 2000: High Performance Stiffened Structures
  (Professional Engineering Publishing)
• 2001: Butterworths Corporate Manslaughter Service
  (Butterworths)
• 2002: Living With Crazy Buttocks
  (Kaz Cooke - Penguin)
• 2003: The Big Book of Lesbian Horse Stories
  (Kensington Publishing)
• 2004: Bombproof Your Horse
  (J A Allen)
• 2005: People Who Don’t Know They’re Dead: How They Attach Themselves to Unsuspecting Bystanders and What to Do About It
  (Gary Leon Hill - Red Wheel/Weiser Books)
• 2006: The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification
  (Harry N Abrams)
• 2007: If You Want Closure In Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs
  (Simon & Schuster US)

If that doesn’t make for a fun writing prompt, I don’t know what would!

One … two … three … four … We declare a thumb word war

I only discovered the concept of a thumb war a few years ago. (one consequence of growing up in another country) The concept of a word war is even newer on me. I’d heard about them 3 years ago. I’d shaken my head when people had participated … I thought myself above that sort of silly nonsense … and then I tried it last night. Oh how the mighty have fallen. I guess I need to eat my words (pun intended). They are fun!

The official definition goes something like this:

A word war is when two or more people decide on a time to start writing, write for a certain amount of time, then compare wordcounts.

Simple really. The official Nanowrimo forum has discussion threads for word wars of different durations. The 10-minute word war was my downfall.

My usual level of output during Nanorimo is (roughly) 1000 words an hour. Not huge. It means about 2 hours or so every day through the month of November and I’ll hit the 50,000 word goal. Ten minutes would be roughly 160 words at that pace. I had a measure, and I smoked it: 275 words in 10 minutes. It feels good to beat a personal goal. That said I knew exactly where my character would be and what she’d be doing.

So, yeah, I’ll be entering Nano this year with a more combative and competitive stance. One … two … three … four … I declare a word war! GO!

There’s a lot all in one place, all in the one diagram. Basically, though, this is a handy one-size-fits-all guide to both the pacing of a Nano-novel, and a roadmap of where you ought to be based on an even writing pace through the whole month.

Hope it helps.

         0    -----------------    01    Ordinary World                -----------------
                      .                                                      .
                      .            02    Call To Adventure                   .
               WEEK 1 .            03    Refusal Of The Call                 .  ACT I
         "separation" .            04    Mentor                              .
                      .                                                      .
    12,500    -----------------    05    First Threshold               -----------------
                      .                                                      .
                      .            06    Tests, Allies And Enemies           .
               WEEK 2 .                                                      .
            "descent" .            07    Approach To The Inmost Cave         .
                      .                                                      .
    25,000    -----------------    08    Supreme Ordeal                      .  ACT II
                      .                                                      .
                      .                                                      .
               WEEK 3 .            09    Reward (Seizing The Sword)          .
         "initiation" .                                                      .
                      .                                                      .
    37,500    -----------------    10    The Road Back                 -----------------
                      .                                                      .
                      .            11    Resurrection                        .
               WEEK 4 .                                                      .  ACT III
             "return" .            12    Return With The Elixir              .
                      .                                                      .
    50,000    -----------------                                        -----------------

I thought I would look up the actual definition of “plot bunny” online. Google is good for that sort of thing, you just type

define: plot bunny

and back comes a wealth of definitions. Only they didn’t. I got a single, rather bland:

An idea for a story, usually referring to an author having more ideas than he or she can use

So it made me wonder if there might be space online for yet another definition of “plot bunny”.

See, bunnies are famous for certain things. Think about it:

1. They’re fluffy and cute
2. Bunnies naturally look disapproving
3. They breed at an impressive rate
4. What do bunnies do other than eat, sleep and poop?
5. They’re not obedient
6. Bunnies are skittish

1. Plot bunnies are fluffy and cute

All ideas for a story seem like good idea the time. When a plot bunny hops up unbidden (as they usually do) they seem so innocuous and safe. Its only when you start writing and incorporating the latest idea that you find the fluffy coat is full of burrs and tangles. In general plot bunnies should be welcomed and made to feel at home when they turn up. Be that 4-year-old blond baby girl who points and goes, “awww, soooo cute!” or before you know it, the flow of ideas might dry up.

2. Plot bunnies naturally look disapproving

New ideas arriving don’t necessarily mean that the ones you already have are bad. Changes in the flow, in the moment, are OK. Those cute little bunny faces naturally look disapproving, its nothing personal. Don’t get discouraged if new ideas arrive, just keep going. Remember: every plot bunny is cute and fluffy when you first encounter them. Take a moment to dwell on how good the idea was originally, even if new ideas seem to disapprove, or old ideas disapprove of newly arrived plot bunnies.

3. Plot bunnies breed at an impressive rate

Treat them well and your plot bunnies will breed. Ideas beget other ideas. Let the bunny hop around in your brain for a while and its amazing, you’ll return to the cute lil’ fella, and there will be others with him. One of the big down-sides of welcoming plot bunnies into your home, or more accurately, into your brain is that they breed. There will generally be more ideas than you have time to write. Don’t be discouraged. Just like baby bunnies, there are plenty of nice people who will adopt a story idea.

4. What do plot bunnies do other than eat, sleep and poop?

Its so utterly frustrating to be writing and notice a cute fluffy plot bunny arrived. You put down one train of thought to welcome the newcomer and before you know it, the creative juices have dried up. What’s worse is that the original bunny is hopping around, munching on clover, and acting like nothing happened. This is the moment when you realize, truly realize, that plot bunnies aren’t there to help you. Converting a great story/plot idea into the finished product is work. And while you’re working hard, the plot bunny that started the whole thing is happily hopping around a field somewhere in the middle of your cerebellum, and don’t even think that all that eating means they are open to bribery (even using fresh carrots)!

5. Plot bunnies are not obedient

I still remember the first writer who told me that a character did something that they didn’t want. I thought they were mad. Characters are your own creation. Ideas are sparked in your own brain. How can they possibly not be obedient to you? Well, that was before I wrote my first Nano novel where (a) my main character remained stubbornly dead for the first 10,000 words and (b) a secondary character stubbornly refused to stop drinking and was persistently too drunk to help the main character stop being dead. Bunnies are notoriously disobedient and hard to train. Don’t be surprised if you begin bribing characters to do what you want, arguing with them, or even killing them off/writing them out in sheer frustration at their unruly behaviour.

6. Plot bunnies are skittish

Plot bunnies may hop into your brain at any time. They might breed. They may hop around your cerebellum chewing on brain cells before you catch them, but they are also easy to frighten off too. Have a welcoming attitude when a bunny hops up. If you can’t make use of the idea, store it away for later. Unlike real bunnies, plot bunnies are quite happy to be consigned to notebooks, ignored for long periods and left unfed and unwatered. What they don’t appreciate, however, are loud dismissive tones. Remember plot bunnies are cute and fluffy creatures, and easily scared off, and you’ll be surprised at how many plot twists, interesting characters (with quirks!) and new story ideas will flow.

All of my fiction writing projects now have a “book cover” or “movie poster” and the fiction page on the site has had a make-over. In the process I reijigged some of the URLs. Apologies if that means some bookmarks are now broken.

I used the fabulous Celtx screenwriting software to participate in “Script Frenzy” last year. I also used it to write an original screenplay for a writing group that I’m part of. It takes a little work but it is actually possible to post the output from the application directly on a website like this. I’ll post step-by-step instructions later but suffice it to say, it means editing your site’s CSS to add screenplay related details, installing a Wordpress plugin and then some copy + paste effort for each screenplay you want to self-publish. Easy really.