NaNoWriMo 2002

[galdrin]

I saw an announcement on the THWC List that the annual NaNoWriMo is getting cranked up to begin again and many of my friends there plan to dive in head-first yet again.

I have had an idea for a story bouncing around for a little over 2 years now. Many thanks are owed to long-time friend John Adcox. It was he that brought to light the original article from a Florida newspaper from which the idea came. Intriguing enough to set me to researching many of the key players.

Still - 50,000 words is an awful lot - and with Peoplesoft classes and Fit-Gap meetings, how would I ever find the time?

Still further - mayhap it was meant to be, finally, that I strike out into the unknown and try to write something significant, as my sweetheart has been urging me to do for well on 9 years now. She misses my tales.

And yet - How can I do this and not have it come out just like any of the authors whose works I follow so loyally? How do I make this my tale and not a 'clone' of someone else's ideas? That fine line between originality and even a hint of plagarism scares me off the entire project.

Although - I have always held to one maxim in my writing. I always write just for me, to please just myself, and the rest of the world be damned. That a handful of close friends have found my work worthy of compliment surprises me. Perhaps I shall bite the bullet this year - put forth the effort irregardless of the 50K goal. Just to say I did it. Just to see where this idea, calling me for so long, will lead.

It bears further thought

Comments

[malinaldarose.livejournal.com]

You don't need to do it "officially". You could do it for yourself, then, if it does turn out too much like something else, at least you'll have written the words, and you can change it from there later.

[galdrin.livejournal.com]

You know what I mean though? I've read just about everything I could get my hands on from Charles and Terri W. and Neil G. and Emma B. - I've been eating that stuff up since I stumbled across _Moonheart_ so long ago. How am I to know what's 'me' and what's one of them? Very scary.

[malinaldarose.livejournal.com]

I do know what you mean. I even did it myself when I wrote my masters project. My character was to be initiated as a, well, let's just say druid, and when I finished the scene, I realized that it was almost precisely like an initiation scene from one of Patricia Kennealy-Morrison's books. So I had to go back and change it.

Marion Zimmer Bradley observed fairly often that "there's nothing new under the sun". I think you should go for it and not worry too much about where your ideas are coming from.

So there. :-P

[bellacrow.livejournal.com]

Wasnt it John Clancy who wrote on the subway to and from work?

I'm tempted, but I'm focusing on poetry lately.

[galdrin.livejournal.com]

Per Clancy - I couldn't tell you.

I've tried to do something other than poetry a few times, but I always come back to it.

Funny thing, too. The one and only short story I ever wrote was submitted to my college literary magazine along with 4-5 poems I'd written. The short story was the only thing that got picked for publication. Even more amazing, it was also one selected by the Art Dept. to have a special piece done to accompany it - a shadowy form seated at a desk reading. That was my senior year - the year it seemed that I could do no wrong and reaped the rewards of 4 years worth of hard work. I was, and am still, justifiably proud of that - as much as I was/am in achieving a degree.

But my poetry has always been my primary creative outlet. Most of them have been - maybe - a page in length or shorter although I've done some that would along for pages and pages. I still have one unfinished - "The 23rd Street Spindizzy" - that was going to be a long-damn piece. But circumstances conspired to halt it in its tracks and I've never returned to it. The inspiration for it is now long gon

[bellacrow.livejournal.com]

Isnt inspiration interesting? Mercurial and fleeting sometimes?

I've tried something new this year. "Poem seeds" I'll get the idea and some of the words and feel and write it down and leave it alone to generate. I have yet to come back to them (no time yet) to see if I can recapture things.

I hope I can.

The story incident sounds great!

[phantom_wolfboy]

I have had an idea for a story bouncing around for a little over 2 years now. Many thanks are owed to long-time friend John Adcox. It was he that brought to light the original article from a Florida newspaper from which the idea came. Intriguing enough to set me to researching
many of the key players.

Was that the Bloody Mary piece?

I did NaNoWriMo last year, but never finished the piece. I think I should do that before I try again.

[galdrin.livejournal.com]

That is the very piece. I have preserved a copy of it ever since John shared it with us, and have spent an unusual amount of time studying and researching in support of the inspiration it generated - even this long down the road.

[sage-and-sea.livejournal.com]

I think you are an amazing and insightful writer already. If this is based on the Miami article, I would love nothing more than to see your take on it. I have no gift for writing, but the story fascinates me.

[galdrin.livejournal.com]

As I mentioned above, that is the very article. It has so intrigued me that I even downloaded a copy of it to my Visor so I can review it and tack notes on various passages to remind me of what came/comes to mind as I read and re-read it. I just love the possibilities hidden within this article.

[teapot-farm.livejournal.com]

I think you should do it! You write very well as far as email-type storytelling, I'd love to see something longer that you'd written (not that you should show me, I just mean it'd be good)...
As far as both length and originality go - perhaps you could just use NaNoWriMo to get over the "but I can't possibly do THAT" hurdle - just do it, without needing the result to be perfect...
I would add that I've seen very, very few models that don't remind me of *anything* else - I've read enough now that most SF reminds me of some previous author to some extent - that's the nature of literary traditions, authors build upon previous authors. As long as there's originality in there, whether it's ideas or delivery, don't worry too much about similarities with other authors... Plus, you can deal with some of that in the rewrite stage...

[galdrin.livejournal.com]

Why is it that I cannot place you? You obviously know me if you're familiar with my email 'stories'.

Anyway ... I agree with you. The whole NaNoWriMo thing emphasizes that it doesn't have to be perfect, and many don't achieve the 50K goal. Perhaps it doesn't require 50K to tell this story - who knows?

The re-write part is gong to be the most difficult part - I never go back and re-write anything. A bad habit no doubt, but the fierceness that went into the work originally dies down once it is down on paper. I will definitely have to adjust my thinking in the regard, I can tell.

One final point, and I beg everyone's pardon ahead of time me for saying this, but I am very much concerned about turning into (gods forgive me) another Tim O'Laughlin with a _Phoenix_Fire_ to wave around. That is a truly evil thing to say - after all, his work was actually published, and Charles *did* endorse it as best anyone can determine. But enough is enough. I would rather hope that I'd become more of a John Adcox, _The_Widening_Gyre_ type than a TO'L. Am I a horrible person for still feeling that way all these months later? It's not jealously, just ... how many times are we to be reminded? I always felt that a great writer had a certain humbleness about themselves and their work. But this fellow has always rubbed me the wrong way, esp. with regard to P'Fire. Sorry, y'all

[sage-and-sea.livejournal.com]

I don't think you've got any worry in that regard, Rob. You're a very fine man, and the fact that you are concerned about it means you'd watch yourself carefully.

I am really looking forward to seeing what comes of this...I've kept a copy of that story too, and re-read it around this time each year. Haunting.