Last night I finished my 21-chapter outline of Far Out... The Journey To Oblivion. I'm so happy to have it done. I read the entire outline to my boyfriend, then to my fifteen-year-old daughter. They both liked it - especially my daughter. She probably liked it because the protagonist is a girl in her teens at the beginning of the novel... and by the end of the novel she's about 30.
As I often do, I'll be using variations of my boyfriend's name in the novel. There will be both a Paul Rayburn and and a Keith. I don't know why - I just like to honor him because he's the one that makes it possible for me to take time for novel writing, and he really doesn't mind. I have a main character named Raoli in one novel, and there's a Rabana in a mystery novel I wrote - named after him since he gave me the idea for the character.
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Sunday, October 24, 2004 ( 3:30 AM )
Happy Camp News
There's an article about my NaNoWriMo novel writing on the main page at Happy Camp News right now.
To get in the mood for my 1960's hippie psycho-drama government exposé thriller (?) Far Out... The Journey To Oblivion, I bought a psychedelic-colored notebook to make my plans. In there I've got a few notes about getting the idea, developing the premise, and choosing the theme of honesty. My main character, Elaine, will have a slight problem with that issue at times.
I've done some character development in my notebook. Rather than using the usual character sheets I decided to start by using the blog-inspired idea of writing 100 things about my character. Well, I got to fifty. Here's a sample:
Who Is Elaine Samantha Smith? 1. She loves Beatle music.
2. She has an older sister, Catherine.
3. She has a younger brother, Ronald.
4. The younger brother is injured in chapter one.
5. Her parents get divorced in chapter one.
6. Elaine has blonde hair that is long and straight.
7. Elaine wears glasses.
8. Elaine likes to cook.
9. She has a savings account with $55.23 in it.
10. Her favorite drinks are hot chocolate, red wine (marlot), and coffee.
11. Elaine dislikes spaghetti, potatoes, eggplant and meats.
12. Elaine writes backhand though she's right-handed.
13. Elaine doesn't know how to drive and is afraid to learn.
14. She plays the flute.
15. Her eyes are blue.
...well, you get the idea.
Also in my noveling notebook: A rough outline using Alicia Rasley's article, Outline Your Novel In Thirty Minutes... and a longer chapter-by-chapter outline up to chapter 12. I expect to have between 20 and 30 chapters and the novel will be between 100,000 and 150,000 words when complete (at least that's my goal). When I say I outline, I don't mean by using the traditional outline formula. My outline is just a page for ideas about what I'd like to see in each chapter, and what the focus for that chapter will be. Later I'll go back and write a more detailed scene list for each chapter.
More things in my notebook: definitions of some words I want to use in the text, and a list of sub-plot ideas.
One of my best friends here in this small town I live in has signed up for NaNoWriMo. I am so thrilled... especially since this is the first time anyone besides me in this town has shown an interest. Well, there's only about 1200 people here so it isn't like a huge group to find writers in. She's the community columnist for the Pioneer Press newspaper and I'm sure she'll do a great job on her novel. Here's Judy's NaNoWriMo Profile. Go Judy!! :)
We're having another writer's club meeting tomorrow. Maybe I can find more people who would want to sign up.
I'm planning to write another novel during National Novel Writing Month. Yesterday I came up with the premise... the first half will be about a group of teenagers in the sixties, and the second half will follow one of the teens throughout much of the rest of her life.
Today I thought up the title: "Far Out... The Journey To Oblivion".
No, it won't be autobiographical, but since I too was a teen in the sixties I think it will be easy to write about that time period. For NaNoWriMo I need to do a novel with no historical research requirements.
I just finished writing another story for my writer's club. We were supposed to write on the topic of "love". Rather than writing some sappy poem or a philosophial treatise on how grand love really is, I decided to write a short story with some of my favorite local-yokel characters, Hiram and his gold prospecting buddies. They are somewhat hilarious to write about. Anyhow, I just finished the first draft of my Hiram story about love entitled "A Sign of True Love" (2200 words). I plan to read it at the writer's club tomorrow.
