Carrie's Nano <3

[Avery]

Nano is still 3 1/2 hours away and I'm already quite panicked. I realized that, well... with me, certain stories work and certain ones don't. The ones that do aren't related, necessarily, but the tones are similar; and then I have the tendency to write stories in a different kind of tone that NEVER works (bad explanation, but yeah). And I can already tell, this story is going to be in the 'Not Work' category. And I'm freaked. D: Gah.

[Avery]

An hour into Nano and I have 1,000 words. Good, you say-- right?

Well, not really.

I don't like what I'm writing. I don't like my characters, I'm iffy about the plot. I know, Nano should be about writing for the heck of writing, but for me, it's never been like that. I don't want to write if I'm not liking what I'm writing; I never have. So I think I'm gonna try and start something different, maybe.

We'll see.

[Avery]

Got a new idea. 'Tis going well so far. I'll write up a summary when it's not 4am. XD

[Avery]

3835 words. I'm having a few troubles, but nothing I can't handle, and I do like the story quite a bit. ^_^ The plot is actually a mutant version of a plot I wrote and then failed with a few months ago-- the reason I failed was because I didn't figure out the plot until like 15k in, and at that point, it was hard to scrabble everything together. But now that I have it from the get-go, I know what I'm doing. If that makes sense. XD Obviously, I'm not just COPYING that story-- it's new characters, new aspects, just a similar premise. Really, it's a mishmash of several dead stories I've had over the years, with aspects from many of them. Including one I posted here a few years ago until it died.

I'm having a very hard time writing a good, polished summary, so here's my crappy one.

Pretty much...
When my MC, Emma, was six, her older sister Zoie died when the kayak she was riding in overturned. Her body was quickly dredged from the lake, and though the whole thing was awful, it was always seen as a pretty obvious death: her life jacket wasn't secure, she wasn't the strongest swimmer, it was just a terrible accident.

Then, on the tenth anniversary of Zoie's death, Emma is walking down the street when up ahead, she sees a girl who she KNOWS is Zoie. Just knows. She's aware that the whole thing is ridiculous and impossible, but she doesn't care. Sure enough, it is Zoie-- but just as soon as Zoie talks to her, the girls are approached by a man who Zoie calls Leon. When Leon finds out that Emma is Zoie's sister, he goes a bit mad and tries to take Emma with him. Zoie fights him, tells Emma to run, she does.

That's where I am now, but pretty much the rest of the plot: turns out in some otherworldly dimension (which I'm naming Eden), there's a lot of turmoil. The king is worried about the safety of his heirs, so he's decided to make an... insurance policy, I guess, in case all of them are killed. So he forces a subject who works at an Earth fertility lab to implant an embryo that belongs to him and his wife in unsuspecting human couple in case of the death of several of his heirs who are growing up in Eden. He doesn't actually expect to need to reel in this kid, but then the heirs in Eden... yep, they get killed. Unfortunately, the kid on Earth is very young at the time, but King feels very vulnerable with her out of his control, so he takes her by staging her death on Earth (using some clone type thing because he knows magic and stuff. Yeah. >_>). (And yes, if you haven't figured it out, the kid is Zoie. XD)

Welll Zoie is sort of a rebel kid and frequently takes forbidden jaunts to Earth, where one day she stumbles upon Emma. From there, she begins watching Emma, until the day when Emma sees her, and everything goes to the crapper. See, after implanting the embryos in the unsuspecting Earth parents, the conspirator in the lab was supposed to destroy the rest, so there's no unauthorized heirs loping about. But he didn't. And a few years after Zoie's birth, the Earth parents wanted more kids and went back to the clinic, and thinking the embryos were theirs, they got pregnant with Emma. But Eden people never knew about Emma. And now that they do... they want her. Very badly.

So yeah. XD It's better, I hope, than it sounds, because that makes it sound like mad scientist stuff, and it's not-- it's more a dark fantasy. Only problems I'm having:

1) I know Zoie's name should have a ¨thingy in it. But over the o or i? *can't figure it out*
2) Why the heck would these magical Eden people not find out about Emma until Zoie accidentally leads her to them?

Yayy.

[Avery]

I'm at 9,000 something words (I think like 9700 or something like that) which is awesome, but my sleeping habits are so messed up right now, and my wrist hurts from all the typing. At least I'm ahead? >_>

... though when my story itself is concerned, I have no idea what's going on with it, really. XD; I like my IDEA, the words are flowing, but it's such a mess. A real, real mess. Probably one of the most disorganized, fundamentally bad Nanos I've ever written barring a few years at the beginning when I was really young. :/

[Avery]

It wouldn't be Nano if I didn't delete large portions of my story. Nowhere near the I-deleted-12k thing of last year, but I just axed around 2700 words. XD; Decided to go a different route, because I was at the point where I hated the direction the story had taken so much that I almost wanted to delete the whole darn thing. Which would not be good.

[Zylaa]

Your ability to axe words and win amazes and impresses me. <3

[Avery]

Graaah. I'm so frustrated right now, and not just because I had like four hours of homework and absolutely no time to write today. :/

See, yesterday I hated this 2.7k section I wrote, so I deleted it and rewrote it. Then I realised something: the majority of what I rewrote makes NO SENSE. Literally. It makes zero sense, both in the context of the story and in any context. It's just not logical. It makes the rest of the story super messed up. So now I have no idea what to do because I have no other ideas and I'm all stuck and my story is a mess and... D:

[Avery]

This year is just.. not going well. Wordcount wise, I'm fine (for now) but... I just don't like the story. So I keep deleting parts, writing new parts in their place, trying to salvage it, but that works for about five minutes and then I hate it all again. And I keep getting stuck. Constantly.

*sighs* D: I wish I could start over with a new idea-- and I would, happily-- but the problem is, I have no idea to start over with in the first place.

[Avery]

Things I have realized in the past few days, about my Nano habits and stuff:

1) I have won Nano six times. My earliest finish was about the 14th, my latest around the 25th.
2) My most successful Nanos, in terms of finish date, were 2005 and 2007; but I include 2009 in there also, as I began it more than a week into the month and still finished somewhere around the 21st or so.
3) My least successful Nanos, in terms of finish date but not counting my monstrosity of 2004 (written when I was a wee 11-years-old... yeah XD), were those written in 2006 and 2008.
4) The Nanos I have classed as "successful" are those that I like at the time of writing; have quickish moving plots; and, most strangely, have shifting perspectives. 2005 and 2007 were third person omniscient, 2009 was a mixture of first person limited and third person limited (mixed POV between MC and antagonist). But all of these stories followed different people at different times, not limited to the experiences of one character.
5) The Nanos I have classed as "less successful" had very limited POVs. 2006 was first person limited, 2008 was third person limited. Meaning no shifting perspectives. I also struggled with them at the time of writing, often doubting them and having a crapload of plot problems, hence later finish dates. Incidentally, the only times I have EVER been behind during Nano (at least I think) were during these two years.

Enter 2010. It is written in first person limited. No shifting perspective. I am having a crapload of problems. I hate it. It follows EVERY SINGLE TREND of the past Nanos I've also had issues with (including, I've realized for some weird reason, the sound of the MC's name. XD MC in 2006 was Joanna, 2008 was Jessica, 2010 is Emma-- all end with the 'uh' sound. Whereas 2005was Jory, 2007 was Elli, and 2009 was Maddy. SO WEIRD. Probably related to nothing. But still weird.)

... so I think what I'm learned is that I have a super hard time writing stories that don't jump around, perspective wise. I find it hard following just one character.

And I still want to start over, but still I have no ideas. D: *sighs*And I'm super busy the next few weeks, so if I do it, I have to do it like, now.

[Stephanie (swordlilly)]

*pats* :3 You can do it!

I admire you for having won NaNo six times. That's a pretty strong track record.

[Avery]

So I got an inkling of a new idea and went with it. So far I've got 5,170 words; I'd write more but I needta sleep since I have to get up tomorrow. I daresay, it's going well to this point. I hope it doesn't end up fizzling, because then I genuinely am screwed. xD I'm hoping that tomorrow night I'll be able to take it up to quota. I'm busy Saturday and pretty busy next week, as well, but... once I hit normal quota, I just need the normal 1.67k a day, and I can do that. I think. >_>

Summary type thing(warning: it's 2:30am and I am not writing/thinking clearly ):

SPOILER: Click to show

17-year-old Bailey [Lastname not decided] has been able to see Reapers for as long as she can remember. In her childhood they tormented her, so struck by the strange little girl who could see them that they virtually stalked her, terrorizing her until they grew bored. For the longest time Bailey thought these cloak-wearing people whom only she could see were imaginary friends-- until one day when she was eight and she witnessed firsthand their true purpose: ferrying off the souls of the newly dead.

As she grew older, Bailey learned to avoid the Reapers, and so they ignored her. Then one day she's riding the train home from work when she accidentally catches the attention of a newly minuted Reaper called Dylan. Dylan is the same age as her, and he reveals to Bailey things she never knew about the cloaked people who haunt her-- once upon a time all Reapers were just humans, and induction into the profession isn't necessarily voluntary. It's something that's foisted upon select members of the newly dead, often teenagers, without any chance to say no.

As Bailey and Dylan grow closer, the two discover things about Reapers that no one was ever supposed to know. For example, the car accident that Dylan can't remember-- the one that his "mentor", Ben, says killed him-- was never reported. In fact, Bailey and Dylan can find no mention of his death at all. And why is Ben so eager to have young Dylan out in the field, when most mentors keep their proteges under wraps for years?

... I'm too tired to write anymore now, but yeah. I need to figure out a bunch of crap still, but I hope it goes better than my last idea. >_>

[Zylaa]

... I am intrigued! <3

[Avery]

So I reached quota for the 5th, of course right before it turn over to the 6th so now I'm behind again, but yeah. XD I've got 8,705 words and may write a little bit more before bed, or maybe not. I dunno. I'm super busy tomorrow so hopefully I'll have time to reach quota again. Do not want to be like 3k behind come the 7th. >_>; I have never been a fan of playing Nano catchup.

[Avery]

At quota-- barely-- for today. I oughta write more so I don't have to play catchup again tomorrow but mreeh. *doesn't feel like it*