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