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What I Learned During Nanowrimo Part 2

Back to the things I learned by taking part in Nanowrimo. If you haven't read Part 1 make sure to check it out. And if you have let's see how things went on Week 2.

Week 2: Stay true to your characters

   Week two is usually when things become difficult. Your initial excitement isn’t carrying you and if you haven’t planned, you’re not quite sure where things are going.

   In week two I had three days where I made the progress of about 100 words. It was hard to see that word target getting away from me again. The nice thing about Nanowrimo though, is that it works out how many words a day you need to finish. Thankfully my required daily average wasn’t ridiculous.

   A day or two of dedication got that word count up in leaps and bounds. A lack of a plan meant my characters were guiding themselves. I think my favourite aspect of writing is creating characters. If you make characters that are interesting enough, people will follow them wherever you take them.

   Over the years I’ve learnt about plotting and character development and hopefully my projects are stronger because of that. The main character for my second novel (the one I was halfway through) has a much more satisfying journey than the one in my first.

   If you were to follow the traditional story structure, when the main character is called to help, they must go through an initial refusal. So when it came for David to ask Lara and Biggs for their help, something strange happened. Biggs was excited by the proposal but Lara didn’t want to leave her town.

   My two main characters, two best friends I had thought would go through the entire story together were separated. Biggs left with David and Lara stayed behind.

   Being where I am now with the story I can’t imagine it going any other way. It’s helped to strengthen the balance of the different plots. One side is Biggs and on the other is Lara. One has their adventures and the other has theirs. Also their separation meant I couldn’t just use “Biggs grows in to a giant wolf” as a solution to every problem (He can only do that with Lara's help).

   Over the course of the book, the characters have taken the lead, reacting to each situation in a way I hope to be true to them. So even if you’re the type to plan out every single detail, just let your characters roam free once in a while. You never know what they might find.

What I Learned During Nanowrimo Part1

   Just before leaving University I attended one of those “Where are you going with your life after this?” interviews. I told my tutor about the novel I was writing and she told me about a competition where you write a novel in a month.

   Afterwards I researched it and discovered it wouldn’t be happening for another few months. The next few years I either seemed to miss it or it didn’t feel like the right time. Finally on November 3rd 2012 I ended up on Twitter and spotted that familiar name “#Nanowrimo”.

   I went on the website and started thinking. I was on a year out in Canada and hadn’t found my next job yet. We’d done most of the touristy stuff and I seemed to have more than enough free time. It was an utter luxury and something that would probably never happen again. If I couldn’t do it this November then I never would.

   Two days had already gone and I was at the end of number three but there was plenty of time to make up for that. The only problem was what to write? I was currently half way through another novel and looking back I probably could have used November to finish it (I wasn’t fully aware of the rules). It seemed more sporting and even challenging if I were to start afresh.

   As it happened I had an idea floating around in my brain, something that had poked its head in when I was trying to write something else (isn’t it always the way). It was to be an homage to the Saturday morning kids shows about kids and their monsters. The twist would be that they were supposed to save the world when they were kids but it never happened. Half of them never got the message.

   So it would be set in a post-apocalypse world. The bad guys had won and the world had been destroyed in the process. The main characters would be a young woman named Lara and her Monster friend Biggs. I had a couple of other characters too.

   There would be David, someone who had lost his Monster because of how badly things had failed. Elsewhere would be a man and Monster pairing. They wouldn’t be my usual likeable, charisma filled males. They would be selfish and tough, characters that couldn’t care less about saving the world (but I still fell in love with them).

   The hardest part by far was diving in to this without a plan. If Nanowrimo is something you want to try or even if you want to write a novel without doing Nanowrimo, then the best piece of advice I can give is “research, plan, think.”

   When I was younger I would plough head first in to stories only for them to dwindle to nothing because I had no idea where to take them. Now I wouldn’t even think of starting to write my first chapter without giving an idea long enough to grow.

   Lack of planning turned out to be my biggest issue during the month of writing. During Nano you’re encouraged to shut out the “inner editor” whereas I usually had someone asking “So what happens next? Huh, don’t know? Guess you’re not writing today!”

It begins

   My first bit of writing only came to 500 words or so. I had just decided then and there to do it and wanted to get something down. The next day saw my first attempt to sit down and write the darn thing. The enthusiasm for the competition was enough to give me one of my most productive days. I’m sure this is the same for a lot of people. You’re excited and still think “fuck yeah, this is an awesome idea!” It’s only later things get tricky.

Week 1: Prioritise.

   The first week saw some decent progress. It was a little annoying to never quite make it to the target because I started late but I was confident I could make it up. I ended up with a lot of other work that week. I had gone from having nothing to do to suddenly having a resume to work on, jobs to hunt and an article I had offered to do for a booklet.

   For the first time in a long while I had a bunch of stuff to do and I had to prioritise. Unfortunately my brain has this weird way of working. I stated to my boyfriend what I had to do and he suggested starting with the article as that was the only thing that would earn me money. What was the first thing I did? I went to the comic book store! (One of the things I will miss when I go back to the U.K.)

   I did come home obviously and put the resume and article aside for the day. I wrote up a list of what needed doing for when and for the most part got it all done.

  The strange thing about writing is that you really have to learn when to put other things aside. You might have to skip the odd yoga class or leave the dishes an extra day, all those things regular human beings manage to do. But sometimes you have to ignore that feeling of guilt and be selfish towards your writing otherwise you’ll never do it.

Check back again for what happened in Weeks 2, 3 and 4!

Taking a break

I'll be taking a break from my personal blog. I got offered a position over at MCM Buzz so most of my writing time will be for them.

On September 9th I leave my job at the shop for good and two weeks later I'll be heading to Canada. So it's going to take a while to reach a routine. It would be quite nice to carry on with this where I can write on a more personal level but we'll see how it goes.

Ciao for now!

S.H.I.E.L.Ds are up!

   Talks of a Marvel live action TV show have been going on for a couple of months now. I was intrigued obviously. Back in May it was announced a Hulk series was in the works and today it was announced that a series based around the organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. would go in to production for ABC. Or at least a pilot anyway.

   Joss Whedon will be writing the pilot along with collaborators Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancheroen (known for their credits on Dollhouse and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog).

   Now this I am really excited about. Any Joss Whedon led series is something to look forward to. Of course with the amount of work he will have on the movie side of the Marvel Universe, there’s every chance his part to play will be minimal. But if it’s Jed and Maurissa taking the reigns I don’t think there’s much to worry about.

   There will always be people that will want to see Nick Fury and Maria Hill, maybe even Black Widow and Hawkeye but I’m not too bothered about whether they will be present or not. Joss is excellent at creating loveable characters and Agent Coulson was proof that good characters didn’t have to be stolen from the comics.

   A S.H.I.E.L.D. tv series has the potential to create a nice blend of new, old and even obscure characters. Super-heroes and Nick Fury can get their cameos but as long as the characters are strong and the plots interesting, I don’t really care.

In other news, Warner Bros are looking to the Wachowski’s for directing duties on Justice League. Like before nothing has been confirmed. But if they do agree, there’s a chance that the film could work. The Matrix trilogy was a box office success and from the look of Cloud Atlas, they can create some really amazing visuals. (Seriously, check out the trailer, it looks pretty darn cool.)

The Long Over-due Comic-con Report

   Saturday the 21^st of July was the day of the MCM expo, Manchester’s very own comic-con. It’s only in its second year but already attracts huge crowds, so much so that I was glad for our early entry tickets. We had to wait in line but it’s worth noting that there was still a large queue when we left for lunch. So it's just the lesser of two evils I guess.

   The most famous event of this type has to be the San Diego comic-con. It’s now the place to be for big films or TV studios to make announcements, preview footage and hold signings for cast and crew.

   It’s a place for fans of anime, comics, movies, manga and TV. This year the cast of the much-loved Firefly re-gathered for the show’s tenth anniversary. Marvel announced their plans for “phase 2” of their cinematic universe and Peter Jackson came along with some cast and crew from the Hobbit.

   Sadly the MCM expo in Manchester isn’t quite on that scale. There were a few signings, a voice actor, the cast of “Young Dracula” and some sports personalities. Warwick Davis was down as a guest but I didn’t spot him, so I can’t be sure if he was absent or simply due to arrive later in the day.

   There was plenty of film promoting going on, more specifically a screen for showing trailers but no big announcements or anything like that. So it’s nowhere near the scale seen in San Diego or a number of other places. But to be fair to it, it is only a baby still.

  Set to one side was a battle arena for a Robot Wars style show. Whilst stood near it I overheard one of those comments one could only hear at an event like this. "I'm so bored of fighting robots". Clearly it was time for her to move on to something else.

   There is no doubt that the other people there were extremely glad just to have an event like the expo to go to. I know I was. For many people it was a chance to dress up and surround themselves with like-minded people. It made me regret worrying about money and not buying that Ms Marvel outfit. Though I did walk away with a lovely set of steampunk style goggles. (I've always wanted a piar of them).

   For my friends and I most of the fun was in spotting costumes for various characters from the well known to the more obscure. We were still talking about them than evening. My personal favourites were a very sweet Ponyo and a double team of Black Widow and Tony Stark, complete with Black Sabbath t-shirt. Then were was Sucker Punch’s Babydoll, a whole host of Finn’s from Adventure Time and a flock of Pikachus.

   Set up around the venue were lots of stalls selling merchandise for films and anime as well as a Japanese food stall. At the centre were rows of comic artists, sitting amongst their hard work. Some were okay and others were utterly amazing. I think this was my favourite aspect by far, a chance to discover something completely new.

Click here to head to the home of Widdershins

   One comic artist gave me a very good pitch of her comic “Widdershins”, so good in fact that I soon returned with cash to purchase a copy, (in case you were wondering, it was brilliant). She even offered to sign it for me and I felt happy knowing that I was giving a little support to an independent artist.

   All in all this Manchester Comic-con may be a let down for those used to something bigger but I certainly had a lot of fun. I really believe it’s the fans that make these things great and with the people there that day MCM expo can only get better as the years go on.

Extra Note: Missed the Manchester, Birmingham and London MCM? Head to the MCM Buzz website  here to tide you over until next year.

Seeing red...hair

   I think it’s fair to say Brave has been by far my favourite film of the Summer. Of course it’s always a treat when a Pixar film is sitting comfortably in the cinemas. I was just a little disappointed that the last time it happened it was a Cars sequel.

   As usual Pixar didn’t give too much away with Brave before its release. The teaser for it was just a single scene that rather than telling you the plot, showed you all you needed to know about the main heroine. She was strong, confident and good with a bow.

   The nice thing about Pixar’s advertising tactics is that I went in not knowing what the main “trial” for the character would be. In fact I wish this were the case for more films. When Hunger Games came out I went against my usual “read the book first” rule and I think I enjoyed it all the more.

   I definitely had fun with this film and from the looks of it so did the filmmakers. Every character gets their moments and having them all together always leads to chaos. Even a simple family dinner has to end with all the food on the floor and the triplets stealing the desserts.

   Pixar have certainly done their job to make the whole thing feel very “Scottish”. Opting for a (partially) Scottish cast rather than going for the crummy America style Shrek accent was definitely a good move. They want a king of Scotland? Well who better than Billy Connolly? And hopefully Scottish folks won’t bemoan the presence of a few English thesps.

   The look of the film is as lovely as you would expect from Pixar. And I would recommend going for the 2D option. I ended up seeing it in a screen where it wasn’t calibrated properly and it really ruined what were obviously nice visuals. Of course this won’t be the case for every screening but there wasn’t much good use of the 3D anyway.

   So the voices are in place, the humour hits the spot so what about heart? Yep it’s got that too. Brave puts its heroine in a spot that borders on the cliché (being faced with a marriage she doesn’t want) but ends up actually being about something else. Sort of.

   Okay so in order to talk about the story in more detail I’ll have to put up a flaming great “spoiler” sign. But I should probably offer up my final opinion first.

   Brave is funny, a little bit emotional and most of all a good, decent story. Forget Ice Age 4, show your kids what a good film is and take them to this instead.

Spoilers

   Here we go, spoiler territory. Where was I? Merida was faced with a marriage to promote peace between the different families of the kingdom. She makes a stand and enters a competition to win back her own hand. The mother, angry that she would show up their honoured guests and spit in the face of tradition, tells Merida to grow up and face her responsibilities.

   So far, so typical. But as supernatural elements start to enter the story we slowly learn what the film is actually about. This isn’t about a girl proving she’s too strong to be tied down by a man or a girl who’s fallen for the pauper. Men have nothing to do with this particular tale.

   Instead the tension comes from the relationship between mother and daughter. Merida is so angered with the way her mother treats her that she wishes for a way to change her. And with the help of a spell Queen Elinor is literally changed… in to a bear.

   I had seen hints at the whole bear thing but had never guessed that it would be the mother that would turn in to one. It’s quite unusual really when it’s typically the main character that this happens to.

   The whole idea really struck a chord with me and I think it will to kids and teens especially. Just think of how many fourteen year olds would want their mum turned in to a bear rather than be told yet again they're not allowed out Saturday night.

   I find it really interesting too that Merida instinctively asks for her mother to change rather than looking to herself to see if maybe she should be the one to make some changes. It's a very typical teenage reaction to a problem and obviously not the ideal way to look at something.

   There is so much about Brave that feels familiar, a spell with a time limit, a character turning in to an animal, a princess. And yet, there were things that genuinely felt fresh and new. It isn’t just Merida’s story it is Queen Elinor’s too as both learn their lesson.

   If Pixar make a sideline in Disney-esque fairy tales then I’m all for it. And by the look of Wreck-it Ralph it seems Disney have borrowed a few sensibilities from Pixar too. It’s a cultural exchange!