My Reasons For NaNo-ing In 2012

It's that time of year again. November. National Novel Writing Month. NaNo is to writers what Christmas is to kids. Exciting. Long anticipated. Over far too quickly.

At the beginning, thirty days seem like enough time. 1,666 words a day don't seem so difficult to manage. After all, the writing doesn't have to be at Shakespearean levels of greatness. Basically, we only need to put words on paper. Fifty thousand of them, not even the length of a standard novel. It's the first half of a first draft. In my case, a very rough first draft. No editing allowed, at least for me, otherwise I won't  make it to fifty thousand. 

Which is exactly what I need right now. I've gotten into this habit of editing while writing, which kills the famous Flow. Something to do with left-brain vs. right-brain activity: one side is active when being creative and actually writing down your story, the other is active while editing. Try doing both at the same time, and your brain-halves get deadlocked, creating the infamous Writer's Block. 

Obviously, I'm no brain-brainiac, but that's the gist of it. So I'm planning on using this year's NaNo to break this obstructive, perfectionistic habit of mine and just write. It's a great incentive, because I only have a couple of hours a day to write, max, and if I start editing during that time I won't manage even the 1,666 words per day. 

So from tomorrow on, that's my mission: A month of all writing, no editing.
All fun, no brakes. 


See you on the other side and may the Words be with you.

Chapter 2 Of Chamaeleon Chronicles: Shattered

In Chapter 2 of my current writing fun-project, The Chamaeleon Chronicles, Sam's dreams of a crime-free future are shattered for good. She must let Fang, her inner wolf, handle a precarious situation and finds an unexpected ally. Maybe.

Hope you enjoy it.

Again, feedback of any kind is welcome.

Chapter 1 Of The Chameleon Chronicles

I'm working on a story which I plan on posting in weekly chapters of approximately 2000 words each on this blog, The Chamaeleon Chronicles. It's about Samira, a space-traveling werewolf who ends up journeying with a crew of lowlives and misfits on a spaceship called Chamaeleon. Sort of Kate Daniels meets Firefly.

In chapter 1, Sam's trying to quit her criminal ways and go legit, which of course isn't as easy as it sounds, especially when an old enemy gets in the way.

This is just for fun, but I'd love your feedback (here or directly on the blog), if you have any to give. Hope you enjoy it.

Link to Blog

Forwarded: How To Become A Better Writer

Love this list by Rachelle Gardner on how to become a better writer. Creativity doesn't stem from writing itself, but from our experiences, our observation of the world around us, our curiosity in what makes others act and react, our own hopes and fears and dreams - our life.

They say write what you know. We don't know what we don't experience.

Analyzing Me and Writing (2) - How Reading Inspires Writing

Two posts ago, I listed four quotes that completely apply to me in terms of writing. Simply listing them here on the blog apparently wasn't enough for my feverish little brain, though. I kept thinking about them for days and nights and those life-preventing times called the working hours. So finally, I wrote my thoughts down, because that always helps me muddle through things.

Here are my thoughts on quote number two:

Reading usually precedes writing and the impulse to write is almost always fired by reading. Reading, the love of reading, is what makes you dream of becoming a writer.

Susan Sontag

It's true. I get inspired to write by reading other people's writing. If I'm really enjoying a story, the urge to write something of my own itches in my fingertips. Solutions to problems in a story I'm working on spring to mind as if they've always been there and only needed to be unlocked. By reading.

Yet this all happens on an unconscious level, because I'm completely immersed in the world and characters I'm reading about. I'm not consciously trying to work out my own story-problems, or fervently trying to come up with new ideas. They just suddenly pop into mind, nudged to the forefront by something in the book I'm reading. Sometimes I get all excited about the idea, but if the book is that good I keep reading and later have to dig deep in my memory to find that idea again.

Not all of them are useful, but even the useless ones often bump me onto the right path. Some of them are downright crazy, and these are my favorites because they tend to be different and fresh, even if they aren't always useful, either.

So, the bottom line for me is: Reading stories opens and unlocks your mind to the infinite possibilities in storytelling and I believe that's why it inspires people to write something of their own. 

Analyzing Me and Writing (1) - Pantsing It

In my last post, I listed four quotes that completely apply to me in terms of writing. Blogging about them apparently wasn't enough for my feverish little brain, though. I kept thinking about them for days and nights and those life-preventing times called the working hours. So finally, I tried to figure out why they are so true for me. I came to several conclusions, which I want to share here in this and the next three posts.

The first ended up being an explanation about why I'm a pantser, not a plotter.


For me, writing is exploration; and most of the time, I'm surprised where the journey takes me.
Jack Dann

It's true, at least for me. The adventures my characters have are my adventures, too. But I only feel this sense of adventure and surprise if I don't outline beforehand. I've become wary of even jotting down ideas on how the story should proceed or what should happen, even if they are only single keywords. Heading towards an already ordained point in the plot limits my imagination and drowns my adventurous spirit. I'm a pantser first and a plotter never.

I'm aware that most writing-savvy people say you need at least some kind of outline. It makes sense and, believe me, I've tried. I've written outlines to great stories (if I may say so myself), and enjoyed writing them. But as soon as an outline is finished, I'm not invested in the project enough anymore to actually type tens of thousands of words, first of all because I already know what's going to happen (no more exploration), and second of all because I have to rein myself in all the time, so as to not stray from the pre-ordained frame of events. Sure, there's nobody but myself to make me stay within my outline, but if I know I'm not going to keep to it after page two, why then should I invest all the work in it in the first place? A single word in one line of dialogue can be enough to veer the plot into a different direction than previously assumed. I don't know my characters well enough in the beginning to be certain as to how they will react and what they will do when confronted with certain things that will force them to act and make decisions.

Yes, I have an idea where the story is going, but no, I never write it down, because the idea can change from chapter to chapter, from scene to scene, from sentence to sentence even. That may sound random and arbitrary and rambling, but that's how it works for me. 

What I do make notes of are questions that arise while I write and which need to be answered by the end of the story - that demand 'pay-off', if you will. I frequently return to these questions and either mark them as 'paid' or contemplate whether I can use them to further the plot at the point I'm currently at. As I said, I never know beforehand when or how they will turn up again or be paid-off.

In the end, everything in the story must serve a purpose. If something turns out to be a dead end or isn't resolvable or important, it's fodder for the delete-button. Which is my best friend in reviewing / rewriting and sees a lot of use, I must admit. Plotters probably don't delete quite as much as this-here pantser does.

Now you might observe that I'm not a professional author, that I've not managed to publish any of my novels with this extreme anti-outline philosophy and you'd be right. But my answer would be that, by pantsing it, I've at least finished several novels - not just outlines.

And I've had a hell of a fun ride along the way.

Quotes on Writing

It’s been over a month since my last post. A lot of stuff has happened, just none of it new on the writing-front. My screenwriting-studies are going so-so (at the moment I’m still reading more about it than doing and handing in my tasks) and my latest novel is coming along at a good clip.




I recently found a website that lists hundreds of quotes on writing. I haven't gotten through even a fraction of them all, but I found a few I totally agree with or that apply to me as a writer. It's kind of good to know I'm not alone.


For me, writing is exploration; and most of the time, I'm surprised where the journey takes me.
Jack Dann


Reading usually precedes writing and the impulse to write is almost always fired by reading. Reading, the love of reading, is what makes you dream of becoming a writer.
Susan Sontag


Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don't feel I should be doing something else.
Gloria Steinem


I can’t help but to write, I have a inner need for it. If I’m not in the middle of some literary project, I’m utterly lost, unhappy and distressed. As soon as I get started, I calm down.
Kaari Utrio