Monday, October 29, 2007

No quite as highly anticipated...

Two days 'til NaNoWriMo.

Strange how I am not as stoked as I was a couple of weeks ago. I am still excited to begin my story, but not really sure that I will have the drive that I did last year. Still, I can't wait to see where the Boy Named Sue ends up travelling with the Infamous Space Pilot Ace Pedona and his Techno Idiot-Savant Sidekick The Tinker...

I am thinking that this book will encompass both Sci-Fi and Fantasy worlds, since I was reading some fantasy stuff the other day that really sounded like fun. Not the kind of fantasy that takes itself WAY too seriously, nor the kind that you must be a genius like Tolkien to write. More like the Myth Inc. type of stuff. Fantasy that allows characters to cast spells and travel through dimensions, but not so stuffy that you get bored reading the descriptions of the incantations.
To use a Sci-Fi phrase that I picked during NaNo last year: Hand-Wavium. The most powerful element in the literary universe. You don't describe every detail about how that anti-grav propulsion unit works, neither do you divulge the history of magical inter-dimensional doorways. You just "wave your hand" and it works. I get bored reading (and writing) overly detailed explanations. I just want to get on with the story.
So don't look for anything like that in my stories. I explain enough to make it somewhat plausible, place it far enough in the future (or far enough away from reality) that you can't really question it, and run with it.
I guess this is a lesson I learned from writing a novel by the seat of my pants and worrying more about wordcount than quality. Writing a story for me is more about discovering a new story that I have never read before than it is following a set path. Although I do take some pains to create an outline, once November 1st hits, I rarely if ever stick with it. It just kind of takes off and I follow it. Hopefully it tells a story that is at least fifty-thousand words long before I get bored with it. This has happened for the past two years, but the first year more than last year.


OK, speaking of getting bored; I am bored with my NaNo ramblings. So I will call it quits for today. But I will be back, just after midnight on October 31st, to post my opening paragraph.
I know... you are on pins and needles. (If anyone is actually reading this, you just might catch a faint whiff of sarcasm there...)

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