Researching for Nanowrimo

How tall would a wall have to be to break Humpty-Dumpty?

It's not easy. You've got to sit down an think about all the vague exploits and hijinks that will happen, character details that you often forget to pay attention to, and all the while, you're sure that there's something that you haven't remembered.

Wikipedia's always a good place to start, but it's not a story-solver. After that, there's the Reference Desk on the Nano forums. People are more than willing to share their wisdom. Only problem is pretty much every other person on Nanowrimo is asking questions too. At that point, you might try wading through the different forum posts, which very often does turn up useful information.

Of course, if you've some VERY specific inquiries to make, you have to take on the Google beast or the labyrinth of your library. This is not for the faint of heart. In 2008, I was writing about a woman who had sustained a severe traumatic brain injury. I wanted to know what her chances of recovery were from different specific scenarios. It wasn't easy. A lot of the information I needed was locked away on websites that required $800+ dollars a year for access to their articles. So I spent the first half of October piecing together the information for myself using diagrams of brains and TBI patient resource sites.

You can make an inquiry with a specialist, or perhaps someone on Nano, but usually you're in a hurry. Come November, you realize what it was you really needed to research back in October. You're falling behind on word count, and no one's answering your Reference Desk post. None of scientific/medical lingo really makes any sense to your literary mind anyway.

In the end, you might even find you wind up leaving this information out all together. Your story might no longer make sense, but that's what revision's for, right?

Of course, when you do get the information you need, it can put your story together or break it to pieces. But even then, it's hard to be completely sure your story is believable.

It must have been a writer deluged in this sort of exhaustive research who first said: "Write what you know."

Not that, I think, anyone ever takes this advice for more than five minutes together.

Get a Grip

Currently Listening: Crystal Clear by Jaci Velasquez

Since ScriptFrenzy is over and was a success at 101 pages. I'm wanting my Nano but know I have to get The Restored done. At 18,000 words currently and summer ahead, I think I'll be able to do it.
Today I was informed via tweet if I wanted to generate more blog traffic, I must post more. It was one of those Duh! moments, but I really don't have much of interest to talk about.

The one topic I can thinking of (that's not smart quotes vs plain quotes) is character development. I made a lot of progress in that way yesterday. Might as well share some of my revelations.

I was really trying to get a handle on my character Lindsai. Lindsai, I'm thinking, is relying far too much on herself. She thinks she has to be a support for everyone else to the point of neglecting her own feelings and emotions.


My character Brenneth is a cynic. This was quite a shock to me. I hadn't a clue. In fact, he was on the the brink of insubordinance yesterday. Also, not expected. I love it when my characters surprise me though because now he's a much stronger character.


Oh, and I got to introduce my character Emerelda too. Goodness, that girl reminds me of my sister, except her threats aren't empty--they got a pitchfork behind 'em. I was half-afraid she was going to shishkebab Will before the the story was a third way through. I know, however, that it's just a front. Em is half-human, half-woyd. That means the humans are actively seeking to kill her and the Macians shun her. She's not going to be friendly to anyone she suspects might turn her in. Once she trusts Will, she'll improve.


That's about it for me. I must get to the actual writing now,
S.D.

Story Artwork

I love drawing character art for my stories. As of late, I've been drawing the characters for the novel I'm trying to finish, The Restored.

Oh, and I got my mom signed up and on deviantArt, so if you're on there, go look up M2S4J2.

Art for my Characters:

Lindsaille

Will




Bhari



Emerelda



Cherapha

I had best get to writing now :D Catch Ya Later! S.D.

POV Troubles

I don't really like first person anymore. At least when I'm struggling with the character. See, my character Meredith and I are having problems. I'm ready to blame it all on her, but I'll be bigger and admit it's partially my fault her character is not coming across on paper well.

It could have something to do with the fact I'm writing longhand. It's all kind of messy on binder paper, so I feel disorganized. Anyway, I just can't find a voice for her. It's very annoying. I think I'll give it a go on the computer if I can ever get the time. It's tempting to stop writing S.T. and work on Meredith instead (on the computer), but I can't let myself do that.

Off to face the sludge, S.D.

Hmm

I haven't had the time to blog lately... Did I mention my mom was being stingy about computer time? No? Well, she is. All of two hours to pound out fiction and blog seriously about it? Hah!

Anyway, I've migrated back to my superhero stories. I wrote Miki before... I think I got to almost fourth draft/version of it actually. Skipped what was supposed to be the second book, Maddie, and then got to work on Ruth, a story which has always pulled my attention away from Maddie and finishing Miki where it should be.

The idea is that, about three years after when the book Maddie occurs, Lorrie Mehlan's* niece, Ruth Barynes comes to live with her as her mother has died several years before and all she has left is an abusive stepfather, her real (superhero) father having died years before (years after her parents' divorce).

Now, Ruth's not supposed to be able to have powers. Her father's exposure to the radiation that eventually led to his death through cancer was supposed to have inhibited that. So therefore, she was never told anything about this until she was nearly seventeen and Lorrie did so.

Anyway, the doctors were wrong of course. I think they are a lot, so it's not a hard stretch for me to say that. Ruth does in fact have powers. Huge, enormous powers in their potential. But that's okay. She's pretty decent and Lorrie's helping her learn how to use them once Ruth tells her (that is, she waits to after she realizes she has them).

But there's another threat lurking, waiting to strike....


*****SPOILER ALERT******




And it's Ruth's own sister, who ranaway when Ruth was eleven. She's mad at the world, gone pyschotic, with the resources and power capacity to strike out at superheroes and everyone else.
Rachel really gets to me, which I always enjoy in a villian. Especially supervillains.

*****SPOILER OVER******

*Now, from the previous stories, you automatically know that Lorrie is a Mission Deployer for the ISA (International Superhero Affiliation.... kind of corny, but it was what popped in my head).
Lorrie's superpower makes her especially adept for the job, as she never sleeps, having an unlimited amount of energy. Of course, I still say it as not everyone reads the previous books in a series.

Anyway, I've been working on this story instead of the ones I should be; I am comfortable with my oddities now, as I have an entire novel to qualify me as a writer, even if it's not published... I really need that proof copy. Anyway, soon the only people who will mock my insanity are my siblings, and that's really kind of their jobs, even if they're the real whack jobs.


Year 16 (I turn 16 in March) is promising! And I'm coping with my cynicism. Searching out exceptions in the world has helped. So I sound unusually optimistic right now. It's a high. I'll come back down to earth, but what can I say? I was born to fly!

Distancing Myself & the Evolution of a Story.

So I've finished the first draft of my novel. I now have to emotionally detach myself so I can make painful edits need be.
So I'm writing something else. Or rather, transcribing it mostly. At least on the computer. It's called The Restored. And I'd like to talk about it right now.
The Restored was originally a tale of two half-sisters/cousins cast into the world of their mothers. They are connected to our world via a chat window on a laptop. It was then changed into cousins, then second cousins. It also went through phases of character details.

Em/Emerelda/Will:

• was orginally a nerdy, half-human, reclusive girl
• then she became a future Queen
• I made her father a horrible man
  
• and I gave her a stutter and made her more run-of-the-mill
• then I made her a nineteen year old pregnant widow
• then I nixed the pregnancy. I used that in another story.
• I got rid of the father. She was now completely woyd.
  
• After a couple rewrites, Em became a boy named Will.
• And I replaced the gold necklace with golden hair as the birthright somewhere in there
  
• There is now another character named Emerelda, a half-human girl who lives in Macia.
• Worth noting, I kept the stutter, though it's not as bad.

Lindsai/Lindsaiana/Lindsaille:

• Was orginally a loose teen who was destroying herself.
• I made her a more grounded teen
• At the same time, I made her blind
• I then wondered why she was blind
  
• I worked on that for a couple versions, but eventually I discovered she was the Justice of Tayrrhea and all Macia
• And I changed her name from Lindsaiana to Lindsaille
• Made her actaully born in Macia
  

Aly/Alylina/Cher/Cherapha

• Has alway been a centuar
• I changed her name to Cherapha bc I had another character named Alyssa caleld Aly.

There is other stuff I changed to, but these are the most interesting evolutions to me. I am now dealing with a twenty-one year old blind woman and an eighteen year old boy. They are second cousins. And this feels Right. I have finally understood what was going on.

Week Two

This is the crucial hour of NaNoWriMo;. Not for the faint of heart. And here I am procrastinating. Don't worry, I'll get my word count in today. But I have decided that my SC is pregnant with twins, which her mother (who is VERY controlling) has offered to adopt. My MC no longer had to die. We've worked that out. Still looking to see where this thing will take me.
Anyway, if I don't come out alive, I hope they burn my stuff and permanently delete my writing. Don't want to be like Emily Dickinson, Especially since most of my stuff isn't finished

The Grand Hijack

So my characters have done it again: Insisted on their own way. Ria wasn't suppose to be an important character, then next thing I know she's a playing character, and HINTING AT A SEQUEL ABOUT HER! Not only that, but there is strong evidence suggesting that my beloved MC, Annelie, will not come out of this story alive. She's been insisting on this, but I have dismissed this depression previously. Not to mention that yesterday Ellen revealed herself as an antagonist. Perhaps not the Main one, but still it is a brutal betrayal. I don't know what to do. I have a reputation in my family for my dead characters, butI have defended myself by never killing my protagonist. Now it looks like I may have to. The Voices are demanding it.

Annelie the Protagonist

Finding the Protagonist:
I first met Annelie.... Well I can't remember when and where. I may have been washing dishes. But that doesn't really matter because suddenly I was sitting in a apartment. I was her. Sort of. Rather, she had pulled me in. I knew the apartment was in Paris. It was light and airy. The TV was playing, but nothing more than a white noise to her.

I immediately knew I connected with her. She was so sad, broken, alone, and lifeless. Something had happened.

Her daughter had been murdered. She nearly was. And she woke up from coma.

This story was mine to tell. It had to be.

She deserved it.

And her name was Annelie.

Naming the Protagonist:
Annelie. Yeah that's the name of my protagonist. At least what she goes by. Her full name is Nadine Annelie Rivers. The last name is subject to change, but I've yet to come up with.... Hey what about DeMarco? I like it. All right her name is Nadine Annelie DeMarco. And Nadine may now change to Sabine. We'll see. You know what? Sabine works now. Nadine Marcus can be an assumed name. Or maybe Sabine Marcus is her assumed name and Nadine is her real name. Hey wait... myabe DeMarco is the assumed name and Marcus is the real one. Sabine Marcus. Annelie Marcus. Sabine Annelie Marcus- It lacks pizazz. I like it. It's a name that works. One you might find in the telephone. Inflicted by an imaginative mother or grandmother and a mundanely surnamed father. It also has reference to the fact that Annelie was supposed to be first. Mother always loved that name from childhood. father insisted that that be her middle name so she didn't have to carry around something so unusual. But the daughter preferred Annelie to Sabine. Figures.

Oh and how does N.D. Rivers sounds as a pen name? I think it will work for now.

Let's just work with "Annelie" for now. And you pronounce it an-nuh-lee, so yeah.

Giving the Protagonist a Face:
Even with no actual illustrations or overly descriptive passages, Annelie had a face. She had a style (or lack thereof) She was so high and weighed so much. She had habits and speaking patterns. I didn't invent theses things. They were already there. They came with her. It was up to me to get that face down on paper and fill in the rest.

Giving the Protagonist a Life:
This was the hard part. The part she was reluctant to reveal. The part she wanted to forget. As she tells her brother: "My life died without me."
I knew this from the start. And I accepted the challenge.
I know now that Annelie is a best-selling writer and an investigative reporter. She adopted a toddler from Ukraine. A little girl called Niki. Who was dead.
But why?
A shadow of a stranger passed over the window. A loud noise came followed immediately by a shattering sensation in her head...
Obviously a GSW. To the brain.
Yet still, why?
The only clue either of us has is the title page. Only she's not giving me a clear answer on what it says. It's a love-hate relationship. As far as communications go.

Giving the Protagonist a Purpose:
Obviously she has to do something in the novel. What? Well, she's an investigative journalist. The murder case is cold. So what does she do? She investigates.
But that can't be it. She's a TBI patient. Her life and her brain is shattered.
So putting together the pieces and moving on is the Idea. Grounding her again is The Thing.