Fast Fiction

Okay, maybe I’m feeling a little cocky. I said to myself that I’d been behind before. In fact, I’ve been behind every year.

Well, I did a little looking. Last year, on this day I had 10,271 words. In 2001, when I was sick and had to pick my mother up at the airport for her week-long visit I had 7,699.

Of course the day’s not over yet.

I found it! There’s this quote I’ve been looking for, and apparently I was looking for it once before and I found it and I put it in my drafts folder of my email. Well, I was looking for something else and there it was.

And here it is:

A poet’?s object is not to tell what actually happened but what could or would happen either probably or inevitably…. For this reason poetry is something more scientific and serious than history, because poetry tends to give general truths while history gives particular facts.
Aristotle (Poetics)

Basically, it’s what I tell people who are writing autobiographies or historical novels. The fiction writer’s job is to correct history. To put things in the proper order and mode so that they make sense, so that perhaps we learn from them. I know somewhere along the way someone else said something to the effect of “A playwrights job is to correct history.” But I can’t find that so the venerable Aristotle will have to do.

Yes, I’ve got only 4,009 words on my novel and I’m sure if someone (not me!) went through this blog you’d find more than 4,000 words.

I haven’t written in days. I plan to write for a few hours tonight and hopefully most of the day tomorrow. I’m not looking forward to looking back and seeing that I did the novel in probably five days ... that would make me feel really weird to see that a whole novel only takes one day a week or so.

Tonight I think I’ll hit the Silverlake Coffee Company again tonight.

I went over to The Coffee Table this evening after work.

I had:
1 Bowl of Potato Leek Soup & Grilled Bread
1 Pot of Rooibos Tea

The good part was that I started like gangbusters.

Start Time: 7:30
time…..tally….words…words/minute
7:45…..3868…..580…..38.67
8:00…..4009…..141…..09.40

The bad part is that somewhere in the second fifteen minutes I got a single drop of tea on my keyboard. The J key, to be specific. And this little spot of tea got under the key and shorted something out. I pulled the keys off and dried it out, but it seemed to make little difference. The J wanted to be insert itself everywhere. Even when I hit the delete key it seemed to come up Js.

So, I packed it in. I pried the keys up and I stuck them in my pocket and I headed home. Not an hour had passed since I left and I came home fully defeated.

I used the last breath of pressurized air to blow out the last bits of moisture and things seem to be working fine now, but I was sure as hell annoyed earlier.

It just wasn’t supposed to be my night.

I’ll get more done tomorrow maybe. Or Saturday.

Wordcount for the evening ... 733.

I’m horribly distressed. I’m a little bit disheartened by the tone of my story at the moment and not looking forward to working on the more depressing aspects of it. But I’m really surprised at the lack of support I’m getting from everyone.

Yeah, it’s not my best effort. I know what it is in my head, and sure the beginning isn’t great, but that’s really my problem. Sorry, I’m not really looking for a critique now because NaNoWriMo is about plowing ahead. I’ve had this iead of putting these two stories together for years and I don’t think it’s a bad impulse.

And whatever I pick as the topic for my novel is really only my business and I should learn to keep my fool mouth shut. At first I thought I wasn’t describing it properly but it turns out that everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) thinks it’s a bad idea. Maybe I’m just bad at telling what the novel is about and I’ll get it right when I write it?

It’s supposed to be a catharsis, not just the novel itself, but the process. Maybe it’s too personal. So, from now on, the blog will only talk about antiseptic word counts and what I ate and drank and where I type and how I feel about it. No content whatsoever. If you want to read the novel, it’s over there and you can have a look. But that’s for you to look at, for you to see that I’m doing it. I’m not looking for any work-in-progress feedback, because I don’t think I can handle another opinion right now.

Yes, I know I only mentioned it briefly in yesterday’s post, but I started over. I was only 850 words in and I decided that I packed too much into those words and that I had to loosen up the story a bit, or else I’d run out of plot before 50,000 words.

I’m still on track, but I don’t expect to write today or tomorrow. Maybe Wednesday after work I can get a few thousand words in.

The big trouble is that the story is very sad. I know, I know, it opens with a funeral, what did I expect? But it just seems dismal at the moment and I can’t figure how I’m going to get it out of that mood smoothly. Hell, I guess for NaNoWriMo it doesn’t have to be smooth.

The other nagging question is brining in the other storyline that I was going to alternate. Should I just start a new chapter and go for it? Should I try to introduce it into the current story, like make the Jester/Minstrel tell it to the travelers?

I suppose I have a few days to think about it. Then again, I may get the house put back together tonight and maybe I’ll be able to write for an hour or so.

I went out to do some errands this morning and then headed out to write. I figured I’d stop at Espresso Mi Cultura but after two passes, I couldn’t find a spot. And my motto is, “If there are no parking spaces, there are no tables.” So I moved on, heading up Franklin to Psychobabble. I pulled into the parking lot behind it and there were no spots to be had. I turned around and continued down Franklin to Silverlake and didn’t even slow down for The Coffee Table - I could see the line out the door all the way from Hyperion.

Ah, but The Silverlake Coffee Company, they were just right. I pulled into their large lot and had my choice of nearly a dozen spaces. Nice roomy spaces that meant that I wouldn’t have any trouble getting out.

I ordered:
1 Large Non-Fat Latte with a Double Shot
1 Pecan Bar - heated
1 Vegetarian Sandwich (cheddar & Swiss on wheat with cucumbers, lettuce, red onions and avocado).

I picked a set of tables - one wobbled, so I sat in the outside seat facing the door (because ya never want yer back to the door!) and unpacked my laptop. I had a full battery so I didn’t plug in. By the time my sandwich came I was booted and had my playlist going and my earbuds in.

Playlist - a mixture of Enya, The Cranberries, Afro-Celt Sound System, Deep Forest, something called Celtic Air, and The Prayer Cycle by Jonathan Elias. I’m thinking of also picking up some Enigma. I’m not that fond of them in general, but it might help with the mood. Heck, maybe some of that Gregorian Chant stuff, too.

And then to writing. I didn’t even bother to open yesterday’s file. I just started over with a fresh, blank slate.

I’ll post my status spreadsheet and work so far later on this evening, but here’s how the afternoon went (yes, I log my wordcount in fifteen minute increments).

Start Time: 12:30
time…..tally….words….words/minute
12:45…...301…..301…..20.07
1:00…....711…..410…..27.33
1:15…..1,213…..502…..33.47
1:30…..1,589…..376…..25.07
1:45…..1,833…..244…..16.27
2:00…..2,167…..334…..22.27
2:15…..2,492…..325…..21.67
2:30…..2,810…..318…..21.20
2:45…..3,050…..240…..16.00
3:00…..3,276…..226…..15.07

Somewhere around 2:00 I got a refill of coffee.

Are you wondering if I’m going to keep this tally going for the whole month? Are you wondering why I’d do such a thing in the first place? And then share it with you?

I’m trying to find the perfect writing moment - the moment where the words just pour out. Maybe by noting the conditions in which I do my writing and analyzing them I can somehow figure it out. Like it looks like somewhere between one and two I was really blazing away. I had finished my sandwich and was into new territory and the music was pretty good.

I guess I’m going to go back to The Silverlake Coffee Company. It’s worth a shot.

A little after ten this morning my neighbor Robin and her girlfriend Amy stopped by. They wanted to see my new floor. Hard not to see it since pieces of it are in the front yard. I told them they could see it installed in the house too.

Robin started her novel this morning. She already has 1,500 words. I’ve been trying to get her signed up for several years. I found out about NaNoWriMo at her birthday party back in ‘01 - one of her guests mentioned that there was this thing were you write a novel in a month. Several months later there was an article in the LA Times that confirmed this, so I signed up. Somehow I thought she would, too. Then last year she took off to travel around Europe for a year. Something she calls Slow Motion Tourism. Anyway, apparently traveling around Europe without a job is too time consuming to write a novel. So, when she got back a few months ago I started bugging her. Obviously a year of traveling means that you HAVE TO write a novel.

Turns out that the desire to write the novel that she didn’t even know she wanted to write was too much and she’s in. 1,500 words in.

Oh, and she’s also considering getting the bamboo floors too ...

Well, when it started, pretty much anywhere in the world, I was asleep.

I went to bed last night at 10:30 PM. And I got up at 8:00 AM. It’s almost nine and I still haven’t written anything yet. Well, this.

I’m not ready. I just realized how unprepared I am. I don’t have some new headphones for my laptop to listen to music. I ripped some music, but I haven’t created playlists yet. I’ve got things to do today! I’ve got more workers coming to the house and an appointment to get my hair cut (I can only figure I scheduled it for today because I knew that I wouldn’t do it later in the month.)

I don’t have little treats hidden away in my laptop case. Ginger Altoids, a Luna bar, some Advil, that topical anti-inflammatory cream that makes my hands feel better when I’ve been typing in the damp cold. My desk is literally piled with crap (the piles are literal, the crap is just an all-encompassing word for stuff that I’m not fond of).

And here I am rambling about this. I could just be writing.

Oh, I have no coffee, and no milk. And even if I did, I don’t know where I put the coffee maker yesterday. Maybe they’ll give me coffee at the salon ... do you think they’d fill my travel mug for me before I go?

Maybe I should start with a shower.

After a mad dash outside to put all the things that shouldn’t get wet into the carport, I’m sitting on the floor of the living room waiting. The neighborhood kids seem to think I have candy, and it turns out I do. Though not much. I really shouldn’t have opened the bag earlier in the day. I don’t even like tootsie rolls that much.

Anyway, the hardwood floor guys came today. We’re having bamboo laminate floors put in. Actually, for Halloween, they’re bamBOO floors. So, the day was spent moving furniture around the house from the old floor onto the new floor. I don’t feel like uncovering the couch and sitting there, mostly because I’d then be facing the wall and have very little legroom. So I dragged a couple of floor pillows in and I’m sitting on the floor on one and the dog seems to have curled herself up into a ball on the other. She’s growling mostly, as the trick-or-treaters are always nearby.

You’re saying to yourself right now, why is she telling me this? It’s true, I haven’t been bloggy, I haven’t been typetive. But it’s late October and NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow and I have to ramp up my incessant rambling or else I’ll cramp up tomorrow.

Also, I’m cold and the laptop is warm.

I’m just waiting for October to be over. Maybe I’ll sit around and wait for the neighborhood kids to come by and beg for candy. Or maybe I’ll just go to bed early.

Or maybe, just maybe I’ll stay up until midnight and start then ... get a few thousand words up on the screen and outta my head.

I’m planning on spending the day moving furniture around the house (in an effort to stay ahead of the hardwood floor installers) and perhaps coming up with a first sentence for my novel. At the very least an idea of where I’m starting. I think it might go like this:

“Dymphna combed and braided her mother’s hair this one last time. When she stepped back, the nuns came forward and stripped her mother’s body and began the ritual funeral bathing.”

Or something like that.

Happy Halloween.

After months of not posting, here I am, three in one day. Of course this sentence is just here so that the following didn’t run into the little Celtic Knot gif. Of course this has nothing to do with my novel. But I like quizzes.

I don’t know if anyone has actually given voice to this before. But here goes:

I have this secret hope (well, it’s not much of a secret if I post it in my blog) that my novel will be great. I have this weird faith or delusion that my novel will turn out great. That my ramblings under a deadline will be a work of pure transcendental genius.

Maybe it’s because I’ve kind of being coasting along with my writing for a great many years. I don’t find writing or revising terribly difficult. Writing a play, for me at least, is not that hard. I just have to be very motivated by a rich idea and then do it. Does that make me talented? I don’t think so. I think that everyone is a writer inside, but they’ve put up barriers to letting ideas come out, or allow themselves to get distracted before the ideas come to fruition.

I just wonder if I’m going about this wrong. If I should be trying harder. Or maybe it’s the not trying but the doing that makes things what they are. (Do or do not, there is no try - Yoda)

Or maybe I’m just an egotistical elitist who believes that my slightest thought is valuable and should be shared the instant I have it.

I have a nemesis for November now. His name is Graham and he lives in the UK. You can visit his journal and see how he’s doing! Leave him a nice note in the comments. I even put him over on my Wrimo blogs list.

I know, some folks don’t like the term enemy or even nemesis. Maybe adversary? Oh, is that still too contentious? Let’s face it sometimes we need a little competition in order to complete a huge task. And that’s all NaNoWriMo is. Sure, it’s all huggy and supportive and whatnot, but sometimes you just need someone to kick your butt. And maybe it’s leading by example - Graham has a full-time job and maybe he’s able to do more words per day than I am, so I’ll just work a little harder to keep up with him.

And I suppose it’s going to work in reverse, too. I wouldn’t say I’m a role model, but I can certainly testify that it can be done and has been done by thousands of people and my life is pretty much an open book and I’m willing to talk about all the tricks I use to get through NaNoWriMo.

And they’re not even tricks. I’m not one for word-padding. I like to joke about it, but I don’t really indulge in using lyrics or quotes. I do, however, just go on incessantly. The “trick” if you can call it that, is to just keep typing. If you’re stuck, just move on. Go to a place that you know, skip to a spot in the story that you can tell. Leave a little asterisk or something there and go back later. It’s in all the books on writing, especially if you’re a disciple of Natalie Goldberg - you just have to go with it.

Sure, my novel will look something like a stream-of-consciousness version of a really wordy outline. But I can attest that it is readable in the most basic of ways. Anything beyond that is gravy, baby.

Well, I’ve been working on the look & feel of the site. So consider this fastfiction v 2.0.

I did a pretty much straight swap out of all the current graphics (just replaced them with other graphics of the same name on the server) which I was hoping would make it much easier to enact this changeover. I changed my archiving over to monthly instead of weekly. Since the blog has been going on for about two years, it was getting to be a long list. I also purged the links to other wrimo blogs list and got rid of the dead links. I posted links to my favorite entries at the top as well. I figured once I put in the larger images I had all the space, I may as well fill it up.

The graphics are all legal. The Celtic Crosses at the top are taken from photos of carved stone crosses from the sixth through eighth centuries. The elements at the left are taken from the Durrow Gospels and Lindisfarne Gospels (illuminated manuscripts) from the same period. I’ll probably add some other little elements in every once in a while.  I founds some cool elements from those illuminated manuscripts - things like lions and dragons and a great one of Jesus being arrested. But that’ll be for another time.

So, your comments? Something not working? Let me know.