[KingMessi]

(Original post by Abiraleft)
Ooh, good luck with that!

Thanks a lot. I don't find out until September whether I've made the final twenty, so...

[KingMessi]

(Original post by greeneyedgirl)
The one I'm writing atm is my NaNo, I got to 50k a few days before end of NaNo then decided needed to focus on degree till summer holidays (unfortunately!) so only now getting round to finishing it. My current protagonist has no end of personality issues but luckily most of them stem from low self esteem so easy enough to portray.

I don't plan, I don't work well with planning at all. I get bored half way through, decide things don't work etc. etc. With my NaNo I literally only had the premise of 12 deaths with a rose left as a kind of calling card and I literally just wrote from there. My characters took on a life of their own and they dictated where the novel had to go...in fact at certain points I really didn't want to write what had to happen because deep down I wanted a happy ending, but I knew my characters could never have a happy ending.

Ah, fair enough. I suppose the degree does have to come first. Well, it's just not a good novel without a plethora of personality issues - that's why I like 'Lolita' and 'Wuthering Heights' so much.

Hmm, I ask because I'm the same - I plan the first few chapters in good detail, then get bored and just want to put words on the page, whilst feeling that no decent writer is that lackadaisical towards the intricacies of his plot. I know how I want the conclusion to be, so it's frustrating and dull to try and plot every chapter.

I'm sorry you couldn't contrive a happy ending for your characters...

[SebBrown]

Count me in.

[greeneyedgirl]

(Original post by KingMessi)
Ah, fair enough. I suppose the degree does have to come first. Well, it's just not a good novel without a plethora of personality issues - that's why I like 'Lolita' and 'Wuthering Heights' so much.

Hmm, I ask because I'm the same - I plan the first few chapters in good detail, then get bored and just want to put words on the page, whilst feeling that no decent writer is that lackadaisical towards the intricacies of his plot. I know how I want the conclusion to be, so it's frustrating and dull to try and plot every chapter.

I'm sorry you couldn't contrive a happy ending for your characters...

You can definitely see the influences of a lot of the books I've studied for my degree in my novel, personality issues, death, repressed feelings etc.

I think plotting every chapter does more harm than good, because as you're writing your characters evolve and things which you may have planned for them just don't work out and there's no point writing them if they don't fit

Thanks, I think my next novel may have a happy ending, worryingly I find sad stuff a lot easier to write than happy stuff.

[Evie B]

Sounds fabby - I would love to join!

[KingMessi]

(Original post by greeneyedgirl)
You can definitely see the influences of a lot of the books I've studied for my degree in my novel, personality issues, death, repressed feelings etc.

I think plotting every chapter does more harm than good, because as you're writing your characters evolve and things which you may have planned for them just don't work out and there's no point writing them if they don't fit

Thanks, I think my next novel may have a happy ending, worryingly I find sad stuff a lot easier to write than happy stuff.

I think that's one of the real positives of doing a Literature degree - being influenced by writers can only be a good thing, I believe. I think (and obviously I can't prove this) I've become a far better writer as a result of all the reading I've done this year.

I suppose you're right. I just have an annoying perfectionism... When I get home tonight I'll try and make some progress, I really want to finish both novels by the time I go to uni.

Hmm, but I think ambivalent or less-than-ideal endings are both somewhat more realistic and slightly more dififcult to write and leave the reader satisfied. That said, I'm pretty sure my current character will have a happy ending...

[Harry Callahan]

I'm two chapters into my new story. About to start chapter three.

[greeneyedgirl]

(Original post by SebBrown)
Count me in.

(Original post by Evie B)
Sounds fabby - I would love to join!

(Original post by KingMessi)
I think that's one of the real positives of doing a Literature degree - being influenced by writers can only be a good thing, I believe. I think (and obviously I can't prove this) I've become a far better writer as a result of all the reading I've done this year.

I suppose you're right. I just have an annoying perfectionism... When I get home tonight I'll try and make some progress, I really want to finish both novels by the time I go to uni.

Hmm, but I think ambivalent or less-than-ideal endings are both somewhat more realistic and slightly more dififcult to write and leave the reader satisfied. That said, I'm pretty sure my current character will have a happy ending...

Definitely, my writing has become a LOT darker

Everyone's a perfectionist. I edited a little during NaNo which is practically the same as murdering

Yeah they are more realistic. Ending of current novel leaves most characters dead though...perhaps not so realistic.

(Original post by Harry Callahan)
I'm two chapters into my new story. About to start chapter three.

What's it on?

[Harry Callahan]

(Original post by greeneyedgirl)



Definitely, my writing has become a LOT darker

Everyone's a perfectionist. I edited a little during NaNo which is practically the same as murdering

Yeah they are more realistic. Ending of current novel leaves most characters dead though...perhaps not so realistic.


What's it on?

It's a crime novel; I know that crime is an overdone genre but it's my favourite genre and so it seemed reasonable to write a crime story.

[greeneyedgirl]

(Original post by Harry Callahan)
It's a crime novel; I know that crime is an overdone genre but it's my favourite genre and so it seemed reasonable to write a crime story.

Best to write what you like!

[Harry Callahan]

(Original post by greeneyedgirl)
Best to write what you like!

Definitely!

[KingMessi]

Written nearly one thousand words tonight....

[ByronicHero]

(Original post by KingMessi)
Written nearly one thousand words tonight....

Of....

[KingMessi]

(Original post by paddy__power)
Of....

Oh. My novel. I'm in a writing mood tonight, so can see myself doing the same again...

[greeneyedgirl]

(Original post by KingMessi)
Written nearly one thousand words tonight....

Well done

[ByronicHero]

(Original post by KingMessi)
Oh. My novel. I'm in a writing mood tonight, so can see myself doing the same again...

Good for you mate. I am only ever in that mood when drunk. My writing just lacks the scathing honesty I want it to have otherwise.

[KingMessi]

(Original post by greeneyedgirl)
Well done

Thank you.

(Original post by paddy__power)
Good for you mate. I am only ever in that mood when drunk. My writing just lacks the scathing honesty I want it to have otherwise.

Cheers. Is that mood often, then? And I seem to remember the claim that many artists only produced their best work when intoxicated...

I've just finished an entire chapter, but I want to do some reading so I'll call it there for tonight.

[KythingToWrite]

Hey! Anyone here doing Camp NaNoWriMo?

[Watch Key Phone]

(Original post by KythingToWrite)
Hey! Anyone here doing Camp NaNoWriMo?

I plan to!

[beastofburden]

Hope everybody's writing is going well! I haven't been able to write much lately as I've been finishing my final year at Uni but now that's over I can finally relax and work on my novel. It was the subject of my dissertation so I couldn't really post anything about it, and still can't since it hasn't finished being graded yet, but I've written some more since submission passed so I was hoping for some feedback on the writing in general?

It isn't the part I wouldn't chosen to post if I could, but I don't want to risk my dissertation work flagging plagiarism from my own post on here :P I've written three chapters now, working on the fourth at the moment. The two quotes i've posted below are from chapters 2 and 4 respectively.

If anyone likes it and wants to know more about the plot, feel free to ask

The house is bigger. That’s my initial observation. Not a great deal but enough that my bedroom is more spacious, which is good because I don’t bother to unpack anything when we arrive. I dump the boxes in the corner of the room, instead choosing to explore the massive woodland that surrounds Florence.
I slip out without Tom and Abigail noticing; something tells me they’d rather I stay and help unpack boxes but I couldn’t think of anything worse. The sun is beating outside and I’m not about to spend the day indoors.

A few blocks pass before I come across a path leading from the sidewalk into the edge of what looks to be a pretty expansive forest. Climbing over a bunch of overgrown bushes, I break through into the woods and begin to pace the track further into the trees. It’s much more peaceful than the road; since people can’t really drive now, everybody walks everywhere. Work, shopping for groceries, visiting friends or family: it’s all much harder now. The government have started shuttles in some places; that’s how we transferred from the airport. They’re electric-powered buses, but they’re only serving important routes like airports and hospitals.

The path soon turns into a steep incline, and beads of sweat begin to trickle down my forehead. Though it was sweltering, even in the shade of the trees, the steep climb wasn’t wearing me out. Another benefit of this condition, I guess, is that I don’t seem to tire easily.

As I near the top of the path, the ground levels out and the trees begin to break away into a clearing, though it doesn’t stretch far, cut short by a massive drop to a lake below.

“Woah,” I say, to no one in particular. The view is amazing.

“Impressive isn’t it?” a voice behind me agrees.

She’s beautiful. The first thing I notice is her hair, brunette though shining a brilliant red beneath the suns glow. It looks as though she’s come the same way I have from the road.

“Were you following me?” I say, eyeing her clothes. She’s wearing denim shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt with what looks like some kind of band logo on it. I wasn’t much of a music fan. Her legs look like they’ve taken a beating from the thorn bushes that shroud the path.

“Ha,” she says, walking past me to the cliff edge. She spins around energetically. “Well, maybe. Thought I’d see what you’re all about since we’re going to be neighbours now.”

Every street seems equally as quiet as I walk toward the centre of town. Twice I see a lone man or woman, too distant to make out, running. From what, I don't know. They're gone before they can hear my shouts. The sun has virtually disappeared behind the buildings on the western side of the city. The faint rumble of thunder threatens the onset of an evening storm, though there's barely a cloud in the sky. No, not thunder, the sound of a helicopter approaching from the same direction. Though the airport also lies over that way, it's unusual to hear anything leaving the runways anymore; bans on air travel were among the most recent of sanctions, not long after I left Portland. That came after the restrictions on car travel, and people are practically confined to their home towns now, short of walking or cycling on the highways. It was an eerie thought, empty highways stretching across the country with barely a vehicle on them; it sends a chill down my spine.

After walking for a while I reach the vast bridge that carries the Oregon Coast Highway over the Siuslaw River, which encircles the southern and western sides of the city. Weird. I squint ahead, blinded slightly by the setting sun that has broken past the few buildings at the city’s edge and can make out several vehicles sitting stationary at the entrance to the bridge. They’re the same military Humvees that took Rachel earlier, a few soldiers congregating in front of them. Then another engine approaches, this one behind me. I scan quickly for an escape route, some sort of cover, but the road is too wide. I know they've seen me already.