Diving into NaNoWriMo

So this year, I decided to involve myself in the NaNoWriMo community. So much is said about the camaraderie in the forums, so I thought I'd give it a try.

So far I've gotten amazing complements on my synopsis, my title, and my ideas. I've been able to help out others with names and critiques and as a happy little surprise one amazing artist drew a character sketch of Rose for me.

This sketch was done only from the brief description I gave of her in the first chapter. (Which is posted as an excerpt.) I was really impressed by how close it was to my imagination of her.

I'm also being interviewed for a blog spotlighting NaNoWriMo writers. I'll post the link to that when it's up.

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"Ab ovo" versus "In medias res"

"From the beginning" versus "In the midst of things" I have heard two very different schools of thought on where to start a story. It is such a contested subject that there are words for both methods. Ab ovo: From the beginning. Followers of this method argue that a reader cannot car about a story if they do not first care about the character. In this method the story starts with the main characters day to day life and gives you an opportunity to get to know them and care about them. This does not necessarily mean you see the them from birth, you just see their normal life before the inciting incident (the event that happens to the protagonist to change their life from the norm and sparks the action of the story). For example: We see Dorothy in Kansas before she goes to OZ. We see Katniss in District 12 before the reaping. We see Harry with the Dursleys before the owls start to show up. There are many who start their stories in the most lo...

Emails, and freak outs, and swords! Oh my!

So I was supposed to send my manuscript to the editor April 11th. Today I received a surprise email, she had finished a project and could take my MS early. Yep, I totally freaked out. You can ask my co-workers. "Is my face red? I feel like my face is red. Oh god, I'm not supposed to be this scared am I? That can't be normal. Oh god." I was so excited, so scared, so nervous, all at once. It is amazing that one person can feel some many emotions together. I don't know anything to compare it to. So, I came home, gave it a once over, made sure the format was correct to Taryn's specifications, and then I did the scariest thing I've done in my writing career. I sent my MS, my 10 year journey, my 4 month old baby, to an almost complete stranger. Taryn said she should be done by this weekend, but life happens so it may be longer. Until then I am supposed to stay occupied. Shouldn't be hard as I have a stac...

Rejection

Rejection is part of the creative process, any author/artist/creator will tell you that. Does its commonality make it easier? No. Many great people faced rejection before success. 12 publishers rejected JK Rowling. Stephen King's Carrie was rejected 30 times. Beatrix Potter had to self publish. Do these facts make rejection easier? Nope. Today I officially received my first rejection. I will admit, I cried and was sick. Its hard to hear that someone isn't interested in your work. Its not just something you whipped together in a matter of hours and plopped down for the world to see. Its years of hard work, scarified free time and social life, and deep soul searching. Its not an easy to thing to let someone see it. Its the most vulnerable I've ever been in my life. All that being said, I have to say that my first rejection was probably one of the most kind rejections anyone has ever received. The agent didn't say it wasn't good, or even that it was flawed. She si...

Word Imperfect

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