The WriMo Wolf's Lair

[Deleted]

Yep, I'm doing this again this year. Made the pwnsome banner this morning. :]

[1:50am, 11/01/08] Song list from NaNo'7:
The Cranberries, Matchbox 20, the Goo Goo Dolls, Shawn Colvin, Lisa Loeb, Vanessa Carlton, REM, Coldplay


[Origins]

I've had the idea for this novel a long while, and it's been brewing for just as long if not longer. It began with the simple title, intriguing, with a bit of alliteration. From there came the idea of a book cover: A martini glass full of crystal-clear water with a single red drop of blood in it spreading outwards like dye, a mermaid hidden within it, and the glass' shadow shaped like a vampire.

Then came the idea for a story I called at the time Terra, Caelum, Aqua (or roughly Earth, Sky, Sea in English; literally, though, it's Land, Sky, Water, but...well, you'll see why I said otherwise in a moment). In that story, two groups of three beings each representing one of these three forces came to clash, though the exact cause of the clash was beyond me at the time.

Then came a sudden jolt of inspiration out of nowhere. I was rather idea-less for this NaNo and I'd told myself I'd just shoot for a goal of 50,000 words, no mater in what. But I wasn't really pleased with that (felt like a cop-out, honestly, whether one or not), so I went to an old file of old ideas and I came across the title, Blood, Water, Wine. Then I remembered Terra, Caelum, Aqua, and the two merged seamlessly into a complete idea. There is, of course, more to the story than this, but I'm keeping it under wraps for writing.

[1:25am 10/25/07]


[Characters]

For the time being, these are the characters I've envisioned:

- Mari Del Mar: primary protag. // sea // Latin - abl. mare: sea
- Vare Greene: secondary protag. // land // Latin - abl. vares: strength
- Alis Williams: first victim // sky // Latin - gen. ales: bird, omen
- Terribus: primary antag. // sky // Latin - from territus: terrified
- Eleutheria: secondary antag. // land // Latin - eleutheria: liberty
- Julius: the dead guy // sea // Latin - Iulius: meaning unknown [to me, at least]

- Ancillas: Terri's servant // Latin - acc.pl. ancilla: maid (but Ancillas is a man...)
- Clandestine: another of Terri's servants, the muscle man // from Latin clandestinus: secret
- Saria: Mari's friend // her name is actually from "Sarah," not the Legend of Zelda
- Caseo: Eleutheria's servant

[7:02pm 10/27/07]
[1:46am 10/31/07]
[1:44am 11/03/07]
[12:21am 11/4/07]

[Deleted]

Last year's NaNo thread was much more extravagant than this one is now, and since I do hope to at some point build this thread up as I did last year's, I'll need the reserved space here.

This time, however, I'll keep it to one extra post, not two. :]


[Progress]

Day 1: 564 words (forcible)
Day 2: 769 words (myrmidon)
Day 3: 1979 words (politic)
Day 4: 3593 words (sciolism)
Day 5: 2297 words (woolgathering)
Day 6: 9519 words (bete noire)
Day 7: 3231 words (fealty)
Day 8: 3241 words (ameliorate)
Day 9: 3033 words (polyglot)
Day 10: 3006 words (deleterious)
Day 11: 3720 words (mercurial)
Day 12: 2921 words (gesticulate)
Day 13: 4310 words (perfervid)
Day 14: 3373 words (flaneur)
Day 15: 2530 words (hector)
Day 16: 4102 words (aggrandize)
Day 17: 2690 words (restive)
Day 18: 3748 words (comport)
Day 19: 1923 words (flout)
Day 20: 3746 words (extirpate)
Day 21: 3523 words (wiseacre)
Day 22: 2653 words (deipnosophist)
Day 23: 2807 words (postprandial)
Day 24: 3155 words (somniferous)
Day 25: 5262 words (recumbent)
Day 26: 4416 words (foundling)
Day 27: 3753 words (kvetch)
Day 28: 3667 words (incongruous)
Day 29: 4846 words (hirsute)
Day 30: 10345 words (malapropos)

Total wordcount: 106,032 words (AS) 110,057 words (MS)

Words struck-out have not yet been used in my novel.


[Dares]
So much fun of the NaNoWriMo experience is taking dares--a lot of them. They keep the creativity fresh. So, here are those I've taken upon (and, in time, those I've accomplished).


From Killix:
Dare: Use this conversation somewhere in your story
  character1 (trying to act tough): "I OWN this town!"
  character2: "You bought the town!??"
Bonus points: if the character actually DID buy the town.
Double points: if that ends the plot.
This happened between two characters, but they were talking about the one who bought the town.

Dare: Mention Chet Flash in your story.
Bonus Point: If Chet Flash "wuz here"
Yep, "Chet Flash wuz here," on the wall of Alis' cell.

From Mariko's brother:
Dare: Include the line "No soap. Radio." in your story.
Bonus Points: If the line makes actual sense.
Yep, and yep; it just so happens they were looking through the house to see what provisions they had, hence, "No soap. Radio?"

From Omni:
Dare: Have a character use the term 'shinies'.
Bonus points: If the character refers to currency as 'shinies'.
Double total points: If the name of the (or a) currency IS 'shinies'.
His name is Margo Rossi (been watchin' too much Criminal Minds, methinks), and he's the unfortunate first victim and servant of the Sewer King. Therefore, he rambles a lot and says Vare smells like shinies (i.e., coins), because...well, now saying that would spoil it. :}

From...somebody (me?):
To use a word-of-the-day each day. (I will be using the word of the day from dictionary.com.)
Yep, I used them all. Even the difficult ones. (Look at the quotes below. XD)


[Quotes]

1. “She’s rather skilled in table talk, too, isn’t she? Say, what’d you call a person like that, anyways?”
“A deipnosophist,” Ancillas said, “but I disagree.”
“You do?” Clandestine looked down and raised his eyebrows.
“I do. Eleutheria…is not proficient in table talk.”
Clandestine chuckled. “She was in what she was feeding me last night.”

2. But then there was something else, a rising din in the distance, something strong and stunning, a rolling thunder, like a postprandial growl of lingering hunger, the somniferous snore of a beast lying down for winter as the summer warmth was stolen away.

3. Terri nodded and felt the breath slip from his lungs. He didn’t have the one he loved, and he didn’t love the one he had. The world was cruel; it killed him to his core.

[Dice]

I can't wait to see what the complete story is The title is great.

[Deleted]

Thanks, Pyro. ^_^

The best part of last year was that I knew I was writing with all my friends. :)

[Dice]

I think that'll be part of the fun for me this year, too, as well as a motivation. It's so much more fun to do something that a lot of your friends are doing as well.

...okay, so motivation is going to be mostly the leftover Halloween candy, but...

[Deleted]

It's been so long since I posted here. To think I have a journal-like biography of the first week I've been meaning to post for days, lol.

And I'm writing on my AlphaSmart too much, I think. I get on this computer and unconsciously move my hands to where there aren't any useful keys, trying to write as if I were still on my Neo. XD

[Deleted]

I think it's hilarious how I was able to use "deipnosophist" (one who excels in table talk) without a problem, but can't even begin to imagine a way to work in "postprandial" (after a meal) and "somniferous" (inducing sleep). My mom said the latter two sum up Thanksgivings with ease, which they do, but I can't use them quite like that in this novel.

And...hey...I'm only 7000 words away from my goal!

It felt like so much more yesterday, but, really, I'll be able to reach it without a problem. In fact, I'm more confident now than ever before that this story will go beyond 80k, even if I thought so when I first started out, too. See, I've still got a lot of conflicts to create (and resolve), and I'm very, very excited to keep going on. ^_^

I also have an idea how to work in that last dare of mine, and it's just great. See, I had an idea for this character earlier, but the story sailed on without him, though now I'm envisioning a scene in the sewers coming up, and he'll fit in just perfectly there....

[Kat]

[shadow=purple,left,300]Awesome idea, Wolf. ^_^ And once again, let me say that you're a NaNo FREAK. XDDDDDD

Poor Kat still has 8k to go till she hits 50k. XD[/shadow]

[Deleted]

Thanks, Kat! ^_^ I'm sure you'll get your 8k, I know you'll be able to do it!

And 8k looks like some kind of wicked smilie...

Oh, and I figured out how to use postprandial and somniferous!

But then there was something else, a rising din in the distance, something strong and stunning, a rolling thunder, like a postprandial growl of lingering hunger, the somniferous snore of a beast lying down for winter as the summer warmth was stolen away.

[Dice]

Nice sentence.

Aahhhh your character names are in LATIN! *steals them* I think Iulius comes from mythology...whether it's derived from one of Zeus's names or from someone else I'm not sure...it has to be important, it's the name of a month. Actually, I think my Latin teacher mentioned it. Hmm. *goes to look it up*

EDIT: I didn't find it, but...there's a LATIN Wikipedia?

[Deleted]

Woah, there really IS a Latin Wikipedia! I love it already. ^_^

Yep, and in addition to those names, there's one more coming up, for the self-proclaimed King of the Sewers! (Yes, he is a real character, happens to have injected himself with vampire venom, too, and now he can control people by his thought alone. Alas, poor Vare. ;_;) His name's going to be either Rex Nugarum or Rex Vilis, though I think I'm leaning towards the latter. (Gosh, I love my Latin dictionary. ^_^) Say, though, could you help me out with imperative verbs? I haven't gotten that far in my own study yet, but I'm eager (perhaps too eager...) to learn, and since there's this one saying I want to translate into Latin... (though with it, I must decide if the verbs being said are used as infinities, "[to] verb...[to] verb," or as imperatives, "[you] verb...[you] verb"--it could very well be either, depending on the context), so....

EDIT: Oh, and it's also just the important characters that have Latin names, like the six Keepers (those who bear the powers of land, sea, and sky), Terri's servant and brother (Ancillas and Clandestine), Draco Dormiens and the Sewer King, whose roles, despite being rather short, are of the utmost importance.

Hehehe. =]

I thought the name of the month came from the name Iulius, as in Iulius Caesar, Roman Emperor. My dictionary only says "Roman family name (esp Caesar); (month) July." Of course, directly above that there's Iuleus, which is similar, and means "of Iulus; of Caesar; of July." Then, looking at Iulus, it says "son of Aeneas, Ascanius," which is also cool, I think, since Aeneas was a prominent soldier (miles ^_^ I learned it today) in the Trojan War, yes? As per the name Iulius, though, behindthename.com says it might be from the Greek "ioulos," downy-bearded, or perhaps a variant of Iupiter, which you said yourself. And, for some reason, I think I find this analysing of Latin nouns almost too much fun. Ah, no matter. ^_^

Anyways, I have to finish quickly so my brother can get on while I finish the dishes.

Just...wow...I really think this story might hit 100k before it's over. That would be SO awesome. ^_^

Thanks for all your support, guys (erm, gals)--it's really keeping me going strong. ^_^ I'm just sorry I haven't been able to keep up with your threads here, too.

[Tashni]

You are CRAZY. I just hit 41k and I'm happy with it. XD

[Dice]

OMG I REMEMBERED WHERE IULIUS CAME FROM!

....right after I read your post My Latin teacher said that Iulius came from Iulus as in Aeneas's son. Because Aeneas is the main guy in the Aeneid, a.k.a. the 'founder of Rome' (yeah, they kind of ignored Romulus and Remus in the Aeneid). So, that's why the Caesar line was 'Iulius', because they could claim that they were directly descended from Iulus, hence directly descended from the guy who created Rome. In mythology, at least XD

Sure, I'll lend a hand with the imperatives/infinitives, just ask away ^_^ I love my Latin dictionary too. It's where I get all my name ideas. I used to take FOREVER to think of character names...ah, back in the day before I discovered Latin...

[Deleted]

Hehe, I am crazy. Is it really that obvious? Thanks, Tashni. ^_^

Pyro, that's awesome. :) And...well...I'll take the rest to PMs. :snickers:

Then, well, I've passed 85k...I now definitely think I'll reach 100k before it's over.

[Deleted]

This is perhaps my single favorite quote in all my novel yet. I just have to share it.

Terri nodded and felt the breath slip from his lungs. He didn’t have the one he loved, and he didn’t love the one he had. The world was cruel; it killed him to his core.

It's so simple and concise, and yet, it's so true as well. I love it.

EDIT :: I've also a list of quotes from Blood, Water, Wine to the second post, for those interested.