HP and the Cartoon Prince #14

Scary and Freeing

I didn't expect to feel this scared during NaNo.

I've written a LOT in my lifetime. I've hit the 80,000 novel-length wordcount twice in the past three years. Output doesn't scare me.

But it's terrifying not to go back and constantly refine and edit and second guess...It's like hanging off the edge of a cliff.

And yet it's so freeing. I love being able to write and just let my characters live.

Don't get me wrong - it's not that I don't have a plot. I do. I've got a beginning, stuff that happens in the middle, and an end. I've got a first turning point...although I don't have my last free choice figured out. But I know where I'm going. I've got a theme.

So why am I scared?

Because my perfectionist side is screaming "LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! That paragraph isn't going to work! You've got to revise it!"

Oy.

That's my melancholic side. Melancholics don't do well with pure output. They like to plan and edit...and plan and edit...and write...and edit and plan. My melancholic-dominent friends would completely die trying to do NaNoWriMo. They'd have to work ten hours a day to achieve the output and not feel crazy.

That makes me feel guilty.

But hey. It's one month. I can tear this to pieces in December or January...and it WILL get torn to pieces if I ever am brave enough to show it to the three editors I'm going to be living with this winter...

*goes and hides under a rock*

Oh wait, my point was, I can tear it to pieces after November and polish it and make it perfect. I know I'm writing good stuff, and once it's out I can copy and paste and cut to my heart's delight. If it doesn't work, then it's only one month wasted (and being sick it's not like I have anything better to do) and if it DOES work then...well...

So much the better.

I guess the truth is I always freak out about whatever I'm writing, no matter how much time I take to write it. Only in normal cases it's better edited so I can actually show it to people and get enough positive feedback to keep going. That's not possible in this case, so I just have to be brave and stick it out.

A Merry Game of Words

Sometimees called MAD LIBS, I wrote out this story for our last party on the Fairy Tale Novel Forum. The Party was Shakespeare theme, so I wrote up a short version of Romeo and Juliet, pulled out key words, and then asked forum members to give me the types I needed (verbs, places, names, etc), and filled in the blanks exactly as I was given. The members had no idea what story I was telling, so the result was one of much hilarity!

If you're in need of a smile, take a look at it. :)

In the old city of Corioles there were two families, the Capulets and the Shylocks. They had been fighting each other for as long as anyone could remember, and often sparred in the marketplace with their fairies and daggers.

The son of the Shylocks was named Valentine, and he was hopelessly in love with young Rosalind. Her crimson hair and gold as soft as sunlight eyes inspired him to write dozens of loons in her honor. He would wander around Egypt all day dreaming about her.

Now Valentine's mother and father were worried about him, so they sent his cousin Benvolio out to discover why he was dancing all day. Benvolio convinced Valentine that he should meet other young ladies, so they decided to crash the Capulet's bachelor party that night.

They went to the party wearing tams and were unrecognized by all except the fair Capulet, Tybalt. Tybalt wanted to gnaw them, but his uncle detered him. Meanwhile, Valentine set eyes upon the prettiest girl he had ever seen...the Capulet's daughter, Virgilia.

It was love at first sight, though neither knew who the other was. When Virgilia discovered that Valentine was a Shylock, she was confuzzled. She ran up to her computer room and began monologuing her woes, wishing that Valentine's name was anything other than Shylock.

Now Valentine had dashed around the house just so that he could find Virgilia, and he heard her speaking. “What light from yonder window breaks?” he asked, comparing Virgilia to a candle.

When Virgilia heard him she was filled with sorrow and tried to send him away, but he told her that he loved her. He asked her to meet him in Antarctica the next day so that they might be married. Virgilia agreed, and after many more minutes of love-speeches, they separated.

The next day Virgilia arrived at their appointed meeting place and Friar Tuck married them in secret. However, not long after this, Valentine swooned in the marketplace by Virgilia's cousin Tybalt. Valentine tried to avoid a fight, but Tybalt drew his sword. Valentine's friend, Mercutio, drew his jelly gun and jumped in to protect Valentine. However he quickly flitted by Tybalt.

Valentine was full of dreamy-eyed love and drew his whip, hurrying forwards to cry upon Tybalt. However, just as Tybalt reveled, the Prince of Corioles appeared, and declared that in retribution for his evil deed, Valentine would be banished from NeverNever Land.

When Virgilia heard the news, she was heartbroken. She and Valentine bade each other trecherous farewells, and he hurried off before daybreak.

Lord Capulet then summoned Virgilia to the Grand Ballroom to inform her that she was to marry her suitor Constantinople. Virgilia was horrified. She couldn't tell her father that she was already married, so she did the only thing she could think of. She went to Friar Tuck for help.

Friar Tuck told her that she must drink liquid mercury that would put her into an insane sleep, convincing her parents that she was dead. Virgilia, though terrified, agreed. That night she drank the liquid and fell asleep...

The next morning her poisoner arrived and screamed upon realizing that Virgilia was dead. The whole family was afraid and prepared Virgilia's body for burial.

The news traveled quickly throughout the countryside. Valentine, who was in Illyria, heard the news and realized that he could not sing with out his roun d Virgilia. He rushed to a confectionary and begged for a poison that would end his mischevious life.

That night Valentine crept into Virgilia's book and found her seemingly lifeless. He drank his potion and immediately leapt. As he fell into his eternal sleep, Virgilia poked him. When she realized that her merry Valentine was dead, she pulled out his Volscian and stabbed herself.

That morning their parents arrived at the basilisk and were overjoyed to discover that their children were in a swoon. They decided to raise a feisty glove in memory of the two intelligent people and their love.

HP and the Cartoon Prince #13

Now Officially Appearing Every MONDAY, WEDNESDAY and FRIDAY.

(unless it rains.)

November "Ink and Fairydust"

We had some conversion issues with the text in this issue. However, if you are on our mailing list, you will have recieved the full glory .pdf.

Either that coffee is actually decaf or...

...or I was just up REALLY late last night! It's only 10:11 and I'm tired.

I spent two more hours writing today and got my total NaNo WordCount up to 4224 words.

To get my family into the game I made up a "NaNo Thermometer" Poster. It's marked off in 1000 word increments, and every time I write, I use a blue highlighter to fill it up to the corresponding level. Now my family doesn't even have to use words to get engaged in this - they can just glance at my door and see how I'm doing!

Plus it's just fun to fill in the "temperature."

NaNoWriMo Begins!

It's here! It's here and we're writing!

I counted down the minutes as I made coffee, read a few chapters of "Vienna Prelude" to my sister (because I love reading aloud to her even though she's more than capable of reading herself) and puttered around my room making sure that all the lights were just right.

Less than a half hour before Midnight I realized that my iPod was out of battery. Horrors! And I hadn't set up iTunes on my new laptop and the charging wasn't working very smoothly -

I just narrowly avoided a panic.

But minutes before the clock ticked over to 12:00, I managed to get lovely music streaming through my speakers and then - joy of joys - the NaNoWriMo website WORD COUNTER finally ACTIVATED!

(I think part of me honestly thought it wouldn't happen)

I pulled open my files, glanced over the chapter and a half I had already written....then forged ahead full-steam into the tale of young Vivian Hedlund...