The Spirit Of Christmas

So I know I originally only intended for this blog to be writing related, but let's face it, I haven't exactly been active and I'm not doing any writing right now and I finished NaNo and, well, yeah, this technically counts as writing, so yeah!

Anyway, I have a gripe. And it's a pretty big gripe. In fact, it's my biggest gripe in life, period.

The kids of today, and the lack of appreciation they have for the things they SHOULD be appreciating.

Now, I can admit to anyone who asks me that I haven't exactly been a perfect child/teenager. I've done some absolutely terrible things in my short time. Short of murder and rape, I've pretty much done it all. I'm by no means an innocent.

But honestly? I'm talking about the smaller things. The much smaller things.

Let me give you a bit of backstory;

When I was little, I lived in a little town in Lincolnshire called Grantham. To say I loved it is an understatement. I adored that town. I adored my home. I adored my school, my friends, my teachers, I had a perfect childhood. I loved my street, my park, everything. I loved everything. I loved how my bedroom had a huge bay window, I loved how the living room had an equally huge window looking out onto the garden, and I loved how our front room, despite being pretty much level with the pavement outside, had a perfectly sized window so that when we put our tree up at Christmastime, everyone seen it. It was perfect. I loved it. I can't say that enough, I loved it.

And one thing I loved more than anything, more than anything in the world, was Christmastime. I should point out that I'm not religious in the slightest, I do not and will never believe in a higher being, and I have my reasons for that. But I went to a Christian school. My junior school was literally about 20 yards away from the most beautiful church in the world - St Wulfram's Church. I used to look up at it from my classroom when I was in year 4. Every year, around about November time, we'd start rehearsing for the Nativity play. Every year, without fail. I was always in the choir, and I loved that. I didn't want to act, I wanted to sing.

The teachers back then put their heart and soul into helping us every year with the nativity and, even at 6/7 years old, we as kids could tell the teachers actually enjoyed teaching us. And we enjoyed being taught. And every year, just before Christmas, we'd all pile into that beautiful church and perform the Nativity play. And we enjoyed it, every single second of it, we put our heart and soul into it and we enjoyed it because we knew it was Christmas. The Nativity play and the songs WERE Christmas.

Again, I'll point out, I'm in no way religious. Neither was anyone that I knew back then either really. It was the music, the notes, not the words.

Back then, we were never rich or even remotely "in the money". My dad was working for his own, pretty much non-productive (at the time) company and my mum was working all the hours under the sun at a nursing home just to keep the roof over our heads. Christmas wasn't about the size or expense of the present. It was about being a community, being friends, and being a family unit. When I was 6, 15 years ago, we still had Christmas carollers and neighbours posting cards to each other and such forth. Can you imagine going to your neighbour's house now and belting out a song at them? They'd probably get the police on us.

I don't know if it's because I moved to Scotland that I'm so bitter. In Scotland, it's very much a case of you're either Protestant or Catholic. I don't know why they have Catholicism here instead of Christianity, it's essentially the same bloody thing, but that's not the gripe at hand here. What I will say though is that the Scottish school system seems to take all the fun and excitement out of the Nativity play, primarily because you're FORCED to do it. When I was in school in Grantham, it was a case of "If you want to do it, you can. If you don't want to do it, you don't have to". Up here, because you're in a strict Religious school, you have to do it. It's part of your education. That instantly takes the actual meaning out of it.

Secondly, children these days have absolutely no appreciation for the things that they should appreciate. By children, I mean anyone under the age of 18, basically. It's fair to say that I wasn't exactly brought up on operatic or choir music, it was more... Queen and Meatloaf, and yeah, that's pretty cool, but, because of my educational upbringing in school in Grantham, because of the environment I was brought up it, I have SUCH a HUGE appreciation of the musical arts. I literally could sit and listen to a beautiful soprano singer all day every day. Especially at Christmas time, because, well, classical music is naturally quite Christmassy, isn't it?

And do you know what I put this all down to? The advancements in technology.

Now, there's no doubt it was going to happen. Technology was always going to and is always going to find it's own evil ways to advance. But because of advancements in technology, kids just aren't taking any interest in anything of substance these days.

Hey, mum on the street, why are you buying your 8 year old an XBox 360 for Christmas? Shouldn't your 8 year old be out catching tadpoles with his friends? No, because catching tadpoles is boring and it involves actually moving, why should he move when he can just sit in front of the TV and be brainwashed into thinking that shooting up Afghan's in Call Of Duty is cool?

Hey, dad in Argos, why does your 10 year old need an iPod? What exactly are they going to listen to, Dora's directions to the bathroom? I suppose they came home and told you that one of the big boys had one and well, that was you, hook, line and sinker, no?

Hey, parents in PC World, why in the name of hell does your little kid need a laptop? Can't they use the family computer to play Barbie's Princess Adventures?

No, and this is exactly they problem. Two problems, in fact.

1. Parents are getting FAR too protective these days. They'll hit you with the "Murders! Rapists!" bullshit - what, you think there weren't any murdered and rapists around when you were a kid, or what I was a kid? The only difference is that, these days, they get far more media coverage because the media likes you to buy into this little thing they like to call "Mass hysteria" where-in they will, eventually, make you a nervous wreck unable to leave your own front door because there WILL be someone waiting there to mug you.

Oh dear. I've gone off on a bit of a tangent.

Look, the point is, Christmas isn't the same any more because everyone is pretty much so set on buying their kid's affection with big fancy presents that, quite frankly, they will never need, that the REAL spirit of Christmas, the Nativity, the choirs, the hymns, the carols, the cards, the Christmas trees, they all get forgotten about.

It's not only that of course, it's not all down the kids and parents. We've all adopted such atrociously vigorous work ethics these days that, where once before families would have put Christmas day with their family before work, nowadays, it's very much a case of "If I'm working, I'm working". 20-30 years ago, for a start, a company generally would never have asked anyone to work Christmas because it was such a family-orientated holiday. And it was exactly that - a holiday. Nowadays, Christmas is literally just a day, then it's all back to normal. That's not how I remember it. That's not how Christmas should be.

And it's saddening. It's really saddening.

The other day, my nephew got "made" to perform in the Sunday School nativity, and when he came home, boy was he pissed at having to be a shepherd. I wanted to scream at him, "These are the best days of your life! These are the days you should cherish! You should love these moments!", but of course, I can't. Because that's not my place. It's my opinion, but not my place.

The same nephew, two Christmases ago, at age 10, got a present. He got a whole multitude of presents, but there was this one present, and my beloved captured it perfectly on camera and everything. He opened this present, looked at it, chucked it to one said and said, "I didn't want this one, I wanted the other one!"

At 10 years old, to me, ANY present was a joy! I didn't whinge about presents, I didn't through my teens either, and I wouldn't DREAM of it now! And you know what that is a perfect example of? It's a perfect example of how kids are being brought up with the wrong idea about Christmas these days.

I'll reiterate one last time, I am in no way religious. But I would take kids believing Christmas is about jesus over kids believing Christmas is about presents any day. Presents are just a nice side point, the REAL point is FAMILY. FRIENDS. COMMUNITY. That's the real point of Christmas!

But nowadays you have kids who get up, open their presents, then go and sit in their room the rest of the day playing on their brand new console/computer/gadget-type thing. THAT'S NOT CHRISTMAS!

And it's absolutely, terrifyingly horrible. And I hate it. And it's not going to change because, well, times have changed and technology is everything now. Technology, and greed. Yes, everyone has some amount of greed in them to some extent. I know I do, and I know you do too. But to the point of chucking a present aside because it's not exactly what you wanted?

Pur-lease.

Next year, for Christmas 2012, round about November time, I'm going to start a campaign called "BRING CHRISTMAS BACK".

It's late and I've successfully depressed myself now.

I'm going to bed.

My 'Things To Do Really Soon' List

Hey guys,

So... I haven't really been here very much, and to be honest, I don't really know why. I've been seriously lazy with my novel. I'm still working on it, haven't given up yet, I've got 30k down so it's not all doom and gloom, but I just can't seem to write if I'm not at a write-in =/

I'll get there though.

Anyway, I have a list of things that I really need to do. Life things, not just novel things or writing things. Some things I want to do before the end of 2011, some things that just aren't attainable before next year.

Either way, I'm going to make a list of them here and hopefully, I'll stick to them. :)


Things To Do before 2012

• Finish my Novel
• Edit my Novel
• Get my novel sent off to Createspace
• Cut down smoking
• Plan out a second novel
• Stop wasting so much money
• Get a job

Things To Do in 2012

• Move out of my parents/Doug's parents house into my own flat
• Get a new-ish car
• Stop smoking
• Write a second novel
• Edit second novel
• Think about contacting publishers (?)
• Go on holiday with Liger
• Give my parents back the money I owe them
• Pay off credit cards
• Pay off Phone bills
• Pay off EVERYTHING
• Be debt free, basically

Okay so, there we go. There's my list.

I suppose I should keep this slightly novel-related, so... I hit 30k last night :) I'm running out of steam though... I'm going to have to re-write my remaining chapter outlines and add a few things in because I don't think there 20k left in my ideas. =/

How's everyone else getting on? :)

xPandax

Progress!

I have procrastinated ALL day. I haven't written a SINGLE word today.

I feel bad for it, but I'm also horrendously tired and honestly? I can't be bothered.

Which is annoying because last night, before I conked out in bed, I was desperate to write more more more, even though I was SO tired, but it was like 5am and that's pushing the boundaries, even for me. :(

But I'm still a good 6k ahead of the target, so I'm not falling behind. Yet.

NaNoWriMo - Day 4

I say day 4 - for me technically, it's still day 3, as I haven't been to sleep yet and it's only 00:47, but in the technicalities of the world, which tends to overrule my own technicalities, it is now the 4th of November, which makes it the 4th day of NaNo :)


SO!


How are we all getting on?


I will admit - I'm starting to doubt my abilities/my novel.


I guess it's because I'm 10k words in and I'm only JUST getting to something actually happening =/


I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing, I'm honestly just waiting it out, I'm going to stick at it because I'm genuinely enjoying it, and I'm going to see where it takes me. :)


So how's everyone else doing? Are we all hitting our daily targets? I sure hope so!


I really want the NaNo site to bring out the word counter widgets, really soon :( I'm getting impatient now... so for now, I'm going to use a different widget from Writertopia.

I quite like it. Hehe. You can change the moods and stuff. :) It's quite cute! I still want the official one though, and for signatures to be working in the forums!


I attended the first write-in and I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed it! Such nice people there, I can't wait to go to the next one on Sunday :) I got 6k written in 4 hours at the first write-in - I'm hoping the others will be as productive! I've got targets of 4k per write-in so, here's hoping :)


Anyway! Let me know how you're getting on! I'll try not to neglect my blog as much :)


Love you guys!
<3

8 days and 6 hours. ARGHHH.

What the hell, where did the days go?! It only feels like I posted like... 2 days ago, but in my last post I said there was 21 days? So where the hell have I lost nearly 2 weeks?!

*le crie*

I can't really tell you right now how much I love Catherine Noble (@Catherine_Noble - Go follow her, she's awesome). Reading through her few latest blogs, I (well, Catherine, obviously) stumbled across this beauty;

This is part of J K Rowling's plans for 'The Order Of The Phoenix'. I honestly wish my plan looked like that.
Now, I'll be the first to admit - I don't like Harry Potter. I'll be truthful, I got bored after the 2nd book. That doesn't take away from the fact that she's an incredible writer. She came from a one-bedroom apartment with next to no prospects in life, and she made herself a multi-millionaire through her own imagination. That's incredible, isn't it? Perhaps that gives us a bit of hope in the long run - you don't have to already be a somebody to become a somebody.

Back on track though, that is (supposedly) part of Rowling's plans for The Order Of The Phoenix. Pretty impressive, huh? To know your characters and plot inside out and back to front, just like that, must be such a rewarding, calming, easing feeling.

Haha. That makes me feel slightly better. It makes it all seem less real! Okay, so it's not that I don't want NaNoWriMo to be real, of course I do, I'm super excited for it. I just want my plan to be a bit more... planned. That's all. But I can't find it in me to plan it all out meticulously because I'm not a planner. In the slightest. I live life one day at a time. I don't plan ahead. I can't. It's not in me to do so. And usually I'm cool with that. But this is the one time I wish I was a bit more organised.

Haha! I love memes. They make me so happy. I would honestly just flood my blog with random memes if I knew it wouldn't annoy the hell out of 99% of people who may ever stumble upon this.


But anyway, this is a pretty pointless post really, isn't it? There's nothing much constructive here ... I do have a constructive thing to post, but that'll need a completely new entry now that I've essentially wasted half an hour of my day making novel-related memes.

And since I'm a procrastinauthor, I'm not sure when that blog post will come. ^_^


-Panda

21 days to go (3 weeks)

21 days! :O

3 weeks! I've completely procrastinated for an entire week! Seems like only a few hours ago I was all like "Oh yeah mate I've got like 4 weeks to plan, it's cool". NO!


Arghhhhh.

Okay, so the first thing I wanted to say is that I'm doing NaNoWriMo postcards. If you're participating in NaNo this year and would like a postcard, e-mail me your address to Pandrawr[at]live[dot]com and I'll send you one out! Don't worry, I'm not a mad stalker, if I'm being completely honest, I am FAR too lazy to come and track you down, even if you lived 8 doors up from me I'd still think it a bit too far to walk just to stalk you :P I'm posting across the UK and internationally, anywhere in the world, America, Australia, New Zealand. Norway, wherever you're from, I'm posting there. I've got 5 postcards and a tiny little postcard sitting about doing nothing, so in total 6 people. Obviously if I get more, I can go buy more :)

Anyway. I'm still dilly dallying between 1st and 3rd person for my novel. One of my writing buddies (@Catherine_Noble on Twitter, go follow her, she's awesome!) linked me to a great article, but she also gave me the idea of writing my novel from a few different perspectives... So for instance, one chapter could be from the point of view of my MC, but the next chapter could be the point of view of another important character, for example, Jake's mother. That makes a lot of sense to me. I haven't completely trashed the idea of first/third/first/third yet though...

So yeah, postcards and what person to write my novel in, that's literally about all I have to update about. I think I sorted out pretty much all of my characters, but of course my boyfriend switched my laptop off so I'm kinda hoping that the Dramatica file saved. =/ I'm going to go check that right now. Haha.

-Panda-
x<3x

Just a quick update, I guess.

I let my mum and dad read my synopsis. My dad says it's "grim", but my mum likes it. :)

I have a quick question though; I already asked this on Twitter and I got one reply which gave me a bit of hope, but I'm kinda hoping to get a wee bit more insight on here (140 characters on Twitter doesn't leave much room for thought, eh?)

So, here's my questions;

1. Should I write my novel in 1st or 3rd person? With some aspects of it I can see it being better written in first person, but in other aspects, I see it being better written in third. Which you prefer?

2. Taking the above into account, how would other people feel about reading a novel where the first chapter is in 1st person, second chapter in 3rd, third chapter in 1st, fourth chapter in 3rd, and so on? Think about it for any kind of novel - not just mine (or not even mine, if you like). How would you, as a reader, feel about reading a novel set like that? Do you think it would be confusing, or would it add to the story?

So yeah, if any of you amazing guys could get back to me on that one, I'd much appreciate it :)

Thanks!

-Panda-
x<3x

The Loss of a Great Man, and Awful Dreams.

I'm just going to get straight to the point; when I heard Steve Jobs had died yesterday, I felt really, genuinely sad about it. I'm not overly sure why, I just felt incredibly saddened by the news of his death. I remember watching Apple conferences with my Dad (a huge Apple fan) and watching Steve Jobs wandering about the stage, talking about all of the new exciting pieces of technology being brought to the world in the next year or so.

Nobody can deny that Steve Jobs changed the world. I mean, who goes out nowadays without saying something like "I can't go out without my iPod!"? Even those die-hard Windows fans can't deny that Steve Jobs did so much for technology (my boyfriend is having an affair with Windows 7 - and even he admits that Jobs did a lot for technology). I learnt last night that the Westboro Baptist Church intend on picketing at his funeral. I genuinely hope there are some die-hard Apple fans lingering about to give the WBC a good slap. The best thing is? The WBC updated this on twitter (or facebook.. I can't remember which), and under that update, clear as day, "Updated using iPhone" .... I'm clearly missing something, but I genuinely do hope that there are people attending his funeral that will batter the absolute living shit out of WBC if they decide to be retarded and picket. It's disgusting.

But that's another topic. In short; RIP Steve Jobs. He changed the world, and thanks to his creativity and innovation, Apple will continue to change and update technology in a far more sophisticated manner than Microsoft could dream of.

Anyway, back on subject, I had an absolutely horrific dream last night! I had a dream that I entered my NaNo plot synopsis into a school competition (despite the fact I'm 21, nearly 22, and have been out of school for 5 years..) and I won, I got an awesome certificate and my parents were clapping, tears in their eyes, and I felt awesome. Then November 1st came round and I eagerly started tappy tap tapping away on my keyboard, only to find.... I got completely stuck at a ridiculous 300 words.

Yes, 300 words.


And every single day in November, I opened that Word doc and stared at those 300 words and just could not do anything with it.

It was horrific. I woke up this morning seriously doubting my plot and characters, despite the fact I know they're strong. I now have the insurmountable task of attempting to gain as much faith in my synopsis, plot and characters as I had 7 hours ago before I went to sleep. :(

Anyone else ever had a NaNo dream that really threw them off course? Just out of curiosity..

-Panda-

Finally! A title, some characters, and a synopsis!

YES!!!


I got a title, my characters, and a brief synopsis FINALLY sorted out! :D


AND my NaNoWriMo forum sig banner!


The title is.... Only Human


Here is my NaNoWriMo Forum sig;

And my brief synopsis!

"Jake is a young man with a lot of problems, and even more anger at the world. Raised on a diet of abuse and neglect at the hands of his father, his view of the human race becomes twisted beyond repair. He longs to eliminate what he perceives to be the fundamental differences between genders; men abuse power, and women are weak, and he’s angry at both for being this way. When his mother moves him away after realising the detrimental effects his father is having on him, he refuses to make a new start. However, when his mother leaves him behind to go back to his father, he realises that his theories of men and women were right all along. Plagued by the heartbreak of his cheating ex-girlfriend and the nightmares of hearing his religious mother praying to God as his father took his drunken rage out on her, he embarks on a task he believes only he is capable of doing; completely rearranging the human race, and punishing them for their sins. Combining psychological torture with physical pain, completely lacking any emotion or compassion, Jake sets out to make each human being equal. Where many have failed before him, Jake fully intends to succeed, through any means necessary, regardless of the outcome."

I feel I can finally start getting somewhat excited about my novel. :D

Any thoughts/opinions...?

Panda

xxx

28 Days to Go

I finally wrote up the very basics of my main character! And I mean, the VERY basics. But at least I finally have a NAME for him! That makes me so incredibly happy.

So I've been browsing (read: lurking) the NaNoWriMo forums lately, especially the writing buddies/newbies topics, because I'm desperate to find other writers writing ANYTHING along the same lines as me (psychological, thriller, anything mental health related etc) but alas, I've yet to find a single person :( On the one hand, it sucks, because I don't really have anyone I can relate to right now, I don't have someone that can help me or critique. But on the other hand, that must mean that my idea is at least somewhat original and unique, I hope.

Well, nobody else is doing it.....

That's if my idea even all comes together before November 1st. I have my MC lined out and I know him, but I'm not even sure how many other characters I need in total. I haven't even began to think about individual chapter outlines yet.

I feel I'm a little behind, NaNoers. A slight cause for concern, but I'm not going to get too flitzy ditzy about it all just yet....

well this is a new experience.

This is a completely new experience for me.

I'm using Dragon NaturallySpeaking to update my blog. I'm not typing anything, I'm just using voice commands and speech to update.

Has anybody ever thought about writing and will purely through speech, instead of actually writing?

This is something that might actually be of interest to me this year, as I'd be able to do it in the car instead of having to type everything I think of and having to constantly think about how I'm going to word something. This could be a very handy tool for the novel writing process. It provides plenty of opportunity to speak what the mind is really thinking, instead of having to think about what you're writing and then typing it down.

Has anyone else ever thought of actually speaking their novel, instead of typing gets into a Word document or actually writing it?

I think it does have one downfall. Sometimes with novels, especially the kind of novel that I'm writing, there is a lot of things involved that you don't necessarily want to say out loud, even if nobody is around to hear you speaking. It just seems quite awkward talking about some of the things I want to write about in my novel, even if there is nobody about to hear it.

let me know what you think.

By the way, I haven't really figured out all of the command yet, so please excuse any grammar mistakes or rogue punctuation (or lack thereof) LOL.

(How cute is that? It knows LOL!)

-Panda-

30 Days to Go

30 Days to go. 30.

That's........... 768 hours.

I still have not done ANY character outlines. ANY plot outline. Nothing.

I feel like I am seriously behind.

But I have some pretty good ideas.

Today I went out and bought Sharpies

and A6 coloured pieces of card.

Bright card.

The idea is to type up everything. from character outlines to plots to chapter outlines and everything else,

then write the basics for each and every different thing on different pieces of card

and stick them up on my wall in front of my bed where I write.

That way, it's bright, so it's easy to see

and it keeps me on top of things.

I'm also super excited.

The Glasgow Municipal Liason e-mailed me the recent e-mail for all West of Scotland Nanoers.

There's a kick-off meet-up on the 27th October in Glasgow.

I'm super nervous, but really excited.

Also, I told her I'm extremely enthusiastic to help out with fundraising, NaNo awareness and PR & media. I don't have any experience in the latter, but I've written a ton of promotional articles for other companies, so I don't know if that's any use.... we'll see!

But I really am extremely enthusiastic and eager to get involved ASAP.

Anyone else getting involved with "behind the scenes" NaNo this year?

No luck yet

I say up pretty much all night trying to find the perfect name for my Mr. Evil, my antagonist, my MC.

I looked through baby names books, name meanings online, I wrote them down, mixed them up, changed them, joined different names together to make new ones - nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Does anyone else have this problem? Finding it INCREDIBLY difficult to name your characters?

Sad fact is, I don't even know how many characters I'm supposed to be naming yet. I know I have an antagonist, but that's it. I don't even know if I have a protagonist yet. How depressing is that? :(

Where do you all find the time?

I want to know; where do you all find the time to write?

I'm not saying I'm by any means a busy person - in fact, I lead quite a lazy life right now. I don't work (often - I'm self-employed), I'm only in college 2 days a week right now, I don't have children or other people to look after, I don't go to groups or anything like that - I just never can seem to find the time to write these days. And I don't know why. Because I do nothing.

From about November onwards (Just as NaNo starts... great) I'm going to be in college 2 days a week and a college placement 2 days a week. The thought TERRIFIES me. I really want to succeed at NaNo and I'm scared by two days more of extra "doing stuff". It's stupid! There are people doing NaNo, and even best-selling authors, who hold down a full time job, look after the kids, make dinners left right and centre, tidy the house daily, attend a night class, and STILL find the time to bang out a cracking amount of words a day. How do you do it?

Between sleeping, eating, occasional college work and showering, I just can't seem to find the time.

Maybe it has something to do with my other half.

You see, I have a problem. I spend a LOT of time with my other half, at his house. Well, technically speaking, his parents' house.

I cannot, for any amount of money, write a single sentence when there are other people in the room. Yes, even someone I trust and love as much as my other half. He's my everything, my rock, my baba, but I just cannot write with him about.

Does anyone else have this problem?

So, MY problem is that I spend too much time with my other half to find the time to write. Sure, easy to solve, just stop spending so much time together, right? WRONG. I'm quite happy to spend time apart, but my other half, he constantly wants me to be with him. And I don't mind that, I really don't. But if I so much as hint at going home for the night to do some work, the huff that ensues just... isn't worth dealing with 90% of the time.

Is it time I just suck it up and let him get on with his little huff-puffs?

I'm going to have to if I want any chance at succeeding with NaNo.

Advice please? :(

Naming Characters

There is something, when it comes to writing a story or a novel, which is constantly a massive deal for me. Plot and story lines are fine; I have my imagination for that. Scenes and settings, fine, imagination comes to the rescue once again.

But character names? Nuh-uh. They just don't work for me. I can't do it. I'm rubbish at it. That's all there is to it. I'm completely rubbish at it.

The thing is, I don't want a character's name to sound like I chose it for that particular character. Does that make sense?

Take your average antagonist, for example. My antagonist for my NaNo is EXTREMELY evil. Disgustingly evil. And there are names around that have been linked with evil characters for years; Vincent, Drake, Claudius, Eli, they're all "evil" names. So I don't want a name like that, because.. well.. it's cliche really, isn't it?

That said, I don't want a normal name for my character, despite the fact he is just... a human being. Named by some unsuspecting parents. Therefore, something like... David, or Darren, or Tom, or James would be perfect. But they don't sound very evil, do they?

And that's the problem I face. I don't want an evil sounding name, but I do. What the hell? There has to be some kind of compromise, surely?

But now I think about it, maybe a "normal" name is exactly what he needs. After all, like I said, he was at some point just a normal happy baby, named by his parents, and they'd choose a relatively normal name, wouldn't they? Also, having a "normal" name may make him seem even scarier - for instance, if he was called David, and you read all the horrific things he does, that might make you think "I guess any person is capable of these things then". When you've got an "evil" name, it's expected that you're evil, isn't it?

You see, in my mind, protagonists can be called anything. You can give them a name like Robert and it seems right because they're not evil, you know? They're just a normal person. But an antagonist is never a normal person, are they?

It's so confusing. I'm forever amazed by my inability to just choose a name.

I suppose I have bigger things to worry about right now, such as... What the hell is my story actually going to be about? I have a general idea, but I don't have a climax, a clash, a conflict. And conflict is what makes a novel, a novel. And I don't have a conflict right now, therefore I don't have a novel. So I should probably be working on that.

But here I am. Procrastinating on my blog. Fabulous.

35 Days To Go

This blog is pretty much dedicated to NaNoWriMo 2011 :)

I originally made a Tumblr blog, but it seems the vast majority of people partaking in NaNo have a blogspot blog, so I decided to come over here instead in order to keep up with how other people are doing!

Okay so... With just over a month left to prepare, this is the extent of my planning so far;

I have a list of possible titles, and a list of possible character names.

Yep. That's it. No outline, no character descriptions, no definitive plot, nothing. So, I should probably get my ass into gear, for lack of better words.

I am, what most would call, a "pantser". I really do write by the seat of my pants. I'm the most disorganised person I've ever met.

But for my first NaNo, I want to organise it. I want to organise SOMETHING in my life, for once. I want everything to have it's own designated piece of paper, it's own thorough outline as to what is supposed to happen, when, why, and how.

But that's easier said than done. Like my blog title says; I'm just your average procrastinating author...

I would love to find some buddies to cheer me on. Of course, I'll do the same back. That's the whole point of this blog; to keep up with other people and how they're coming along, and for them to (hopefully) return the favour.

I was given a good piece of advice last night though on Twitter; "Don't use the blog as a reason to procrastinate, because in the last week or so of NaNo, you will want to find any reason at all not to write another 2000 words a day".

I'm determined not to do that.

So yeah, I'm going to go find people I can add to my list of followers on here.

If anyone has Twitter, my name is @Pandrawr

Take care! <3