I’ve had better Wednesdays. Some kind of bug has crawled inside of me, encouraging me to spend too much of my morning in the bathroom. Now it appears the ol’ brain doesn’t seem to be functioning at its highest level. Before sitting down to type this, I drove a staple into the pad of my thumb. That’s the bad news. The good news is, my “broken” stapler appears to be working again.
(This is a photo from Frankenstein's Daughter. Not me, even if it's kind of how I feel right now.)
Last week, I wrote about NNWMo, and how I wouldn’t be participating in such madness. Glynn and I are in the middle of two long-term stories (the Third Brother and our mystery novel) and we weren’t going to NNWMo anything, much less our current babies. Then, as often happens during the holidays, Glynn had to step away from the keyboard to help earn our living. He asked me not to work on our current projects without him, but I have to do something. It didn’t take me long to think of what that “something” might be.
I’ve had a story title in mind for many, many months now. Glynn isn’t a fan of the title, even if it amuses him. He thinks it's silly, he knows I only want to write the story so that title exists in the world somewhere, and he'd prefer if we focused on our current projects. After all, we still have the last Brothers to plot and write, then a new mystery series to start. "It's not as if we don't have enough on our writing plate," he actually told me, not so long ago, and that's as true as it is awkwardly-stated. But, with my partner distracted for the entirety of December and for at least the first half of January, this is the perfect opportunity to do something with that title. Something quick, something different, just to see what happens. A writing project that would take… oh, approximately a month.
If you’re thinking the NNWMo folks can count me among their number, don’t. This wouldn’t be a novel, it would be a novella. 15,000 words, tops. Very doable in thirty or forty days, I think, unless life gets in the way. (Life has been getting in the way a lot lately.) I do have one problem. My novella may have a title, but it lacks a storyline. This particular title would seem to require a unique storyline, and I’m coming up empty.
Fortunately for me, Christine Frazier has come to my rescue.
CF is quite likely a Girl Genius, and she created a bestseller-inspired point-by-point outline for the use of anyone who wants to pound out a novel quickly. (It was directed toward her audience of NNWMO fans, but I don’t see what I shouldn’t use it. If you’re curious, you’ll find it here.) I’d tell you more, if Christine Frazier had replied to the email I sent her a couple of days ago. She didn’t – Girl Geniuses can be very busy – so we’ll have to go on without her.
I glanced at her outline, thought it would be a weird challenge for any writer, and did nothing with it. Glynn says he didn't see how it would work with a mail order bride story, I say you never know until you try. Now I think (maybe) I’m ready. Over the next seven days, I’m going to see if I can fill in some kind of plot to fit her parameters. There are thirty steps and I intend to squeeze my tale into each and every one of them.
Starting tomorrow. Today, I’m going back to bed.
(This is a photo from Frankenstein's Daughter. Not me, even if it's kind of how I feel right now.)
Last week, I wrote about NNWMo, and how I wouldn’t be participating in such madness. Glynn and I are in the middle of two long-term stories (the Third Brother and our mystery novel) and we weren’t going to NNWMo anything, much less our current babies. Then, as often happens during the holidays, Glynn had to step away from the keyboard to help earn our living. He asked me not to work on our current projects without him, but I have to do something. It didn’t take me long to think of what that “something” might be.
I’ve had a story title in mind for many, many months now. Glynn isn’t a fan of the title, even if it amuses him. He thinks it's silly, he knows I only want to write the story so that title exists in the world somewhere, and he'd prefer if we focused on our current projects. After all, we still have the last Brothers to plot and write, then a new mystery series to start. "It's not as if we don't have enough on our writing plate," he actually told me, not so long ago, and that's as true as it is awkwardly-stated. But, with my partner distracted for the entirety of December and for at least the first half of January, this is the perfect opportunity to do something with that title. Something quick, something different, just to see what happens. A writing project that would take… oh, approximately a month.
If you’re thinking the NNWMo folks can count me among their number, don’t. This wouldn’t be a novel, it would be a novella. 15,000 words, tops. Very doable in thirty or forty days, I think, unless life gets in the way. (Life has been getting in the way a lot lately.) I do have one problem. My novella may have a title, but it lacks a storyline. This particular title would seem to require a unique storyline, and I’m coming up empty.
Fortunately for me, Christine Frazier has come to my rescue.
CF is quite likely a Girl Genius, and she created a bestseller-inspired point-by-point outline for the use of anyone who wants to pound out a novel quickly. (It was directed toward her audience of NNWMO fans, but I don’t see what I shouldn’t use it. If you’re curious, you’ll find it here.) I’d tell you more, if Christine Frazier had replied to the email I sent her a couple of days ago. She didn’t – Girl Geniuses can be very busy – so we’ll have to go on without her.
I glanced at her outline, thought it would be a weird challenge for any writer, and did nothing with it. Glynn says he didn't see how it would work with a mail order bride story, I say you never know until you try. Now I think (maybe) I’m ready. Over the next seven days, I’m going to see if I can fill in some kind of plot to fit her parameters. There are thirty steps and I intend to squeeze my tale into each and every one of them.
Starting tomorrow. Today, I’m going back to bed.
RSS Feed
