Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Winners and NaNoWriMo so far...

The winner of Melina Marchetta's The Piper's Son is:

#7 Kristy from the UK

For those who didn't win... you can pre-order your copy of The Piper's Son from The Book Depository now - currently 25% off (US edition)
and the winner of $15 to spend @ The Book Depository is


Thanks everyone else for entering!








For those who have asked... nano... 

My current WIP is titled:

Some kind of Awesome

First line: "Since I found out my dad is the weather man on channel ten it hasn't stopped raining." *

It's meant to be all moody and deep and lingering and heartfelt (but not, please god, melodramatic). But for some reason, it keeps getting comical and absurd. I don't know what's going on but my MC is way too happy for someone with such a depressing life...

i've re-written my first chapter 5 times and i don't think that's the spirit of nano? i can't seem to get my groove. i have also written random scenes to appear later in the story. which is not my usual style. i much prefer to do the linear writing thing. am thinking of starting again even now... ugh, i've had this main character in my head for over a year and i still don't know the best way to go about sharing her story.

enough rambling... as for word count? since nano started i've written at least 15k - but then deleted most of it (maybe i was supposed to wait for the month to be over before deleting so those crap words would count for the word count, yeah? haha). so my document is 8.5k. but am thinking of starting from 0 again. :)

* have heard (numerous times) not to open with the weather. huh. it just happened like that.

28 comments:

  1. I really like your first line! I think the "don't open with weather" is more like... don't sit there describing weather for 5 paragraphs.

    And - NO DELETING! Just highlight it all a different color and move on.

    If your character is too happy, maybe just go with it and see what happens?

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  2. I agree, I love the first line. :D

    Congrats to the winners!

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  3. I ADORE that line. it's awesome. I think you should keep going with it and just see where it takes you. Let the words flow and pull you. When NaNo is over, then you can go back and write chapter one 20 times if you want :-)

    You're a brilliant writer. I've witnessed your work before. Just have fun. It's supposed to be fun and if it's not, is it really worth it?

    You know I love you girl and I believe in you! YOU CAN DO IT!!!!

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  4. I love your first line. Very intriguing and full of voice, methinks.

    And re: deleting -- it's totally not in the spirit of NaNo, but sometimes, you have to delete and rewrite to continue on. Even though I intend to treat my NaNo novel as a very rough draft, I can't write on if the first chapter isn't at least semi-right. So I understand the urge. :)

    Good luck!

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  5. I love your first line too and hey I was a finalist in nathan Bransford's first paragraph comp with a opening all about the weather. Of course he passed on the whole thing, but not because of the opening :)

    I think the spirit of NaNo is just to go with it. Like mine has suddenly become a two person narration, which I may not end up using, but at least I tried it and I'm hopefully learning something about the characters.

    Congrats to Kristy, it is a most excellent book!

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  6. Congrats to Kristy and Jess! Happy Reading!
    I , too, like your first line.I cannot offer you any advice on writing but best of luck! I am sure whatever you write will be great!

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  7. I'm glad your NaNo is going well! Interesting first line. First line with rain: Twilight. That's all that I'm thinking right now. :/ Hahahaha. Yeah, one thing I was having trouble with was voice. My character was meant to be pretty well off, but then BAM! She gets into an accident, that she doesn't know about, and she's meant to be clueless. I didn't know how to go about that without making her too annoying, or too clued-in so that the story could actually move along. Good luck! You've written heaps already. :) It's hard to get out of the editing phase... Can't help out with that, since I was stuck on the first few chapters... Keep going!

    Congrats to the winners!

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  8. Congrats to the winners of the giveaway!

    Nomes, I love the opening line. And I agree just go with it. We all love comical and absurd characters so the MC sounds great :)

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  10. Your first line is very intriguing! I wish I could read your book.

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  11. I know what you mean - sometimes I have the POVs voice in my head, and then when I start to write they don't speak to me the same way. But, from everyone who's been talking about NaNo, just go with whatever comes out and edit later. Good luck!!

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  12. Now that's a great first line. Sucked me right in!

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  13. I think in your case, the weather is a fine place to start.
    Good luck!

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  14. I love that opening line!

    And I definitely think you can have a heartfelt/deep book be funny - Melina Marchetta is the queen of that in Aussie YA!

    I've stalled on my NaNo project simply because I haven't had time to write! Uni exams are ending this week so hopefully I'll squeeze out a few more words.

    Oh! The PRESSUE!!!

    Good luck :)

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  15. * PRESSURE

    ... see what it's doing to me? I can't even spell!

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  16. ok, now i don't have the best writing ethic, but maybe just go with it and see how it develops. because you clearly like the character, perhaps the story will just fall in to place around her/him.
    i don't know. my novel efforts got to 11000 and i got stumped. it's been sitting there since first or second term.

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  17. I love that first line! It really makes me want to read on. Don't forget that 'funny' can be a mask for 'sad', and whoever said don't open with the weather was not thinking of a funny line like yours.

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  18. Congratulations winners! :)

    Your first line is really intruiging! I'm curious as to what is going on, what her father working at channel 10 has to do with it... Is it going to have an Australian feel to it?
    But stick with it! I know how you feel with just wanting to start all over again (I'm not doing NaNo, but I have done that exact thing before). Just push forward, and remember, this is for first drafts. They're supposed to be messy, they're not always supposed to make sense and you don't have to feel like they're perfect. That's for later. For now? Write like there's no tomorrow.
    :)

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  19. Yay, thank you! I've been wanting to get my hands on The Piper's Son for ages and have been very jealous of those of you in Oz who already have it.

    Your first line definitely doesn't count as being about the weather - I love it, keep going (doesn't matter how you get there as long as you get there)!

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  20. Sounds to me like you are your own worst critic. Stop that! Your first sentence works, I know I want to read more.

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  21. ahh, thank you so much everyone for the encouragement! I should print out these comments and put them above my computer as motivation,

    and maybe I can't help being a little bit funny even when my MC's situation isn't funny at all :) It just seems to happen...

    can't believe how kind and awesome you guys are!

    (well, I should believe it, really...)

    thanks again!

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  22. Love the first line! Makes me love your MC even though it's just one line. You really get the voice across.

    Also, I love how you describe your WiP (cool title btw), sounds quirky-ish, which I love.

    Don't give up on it. I really hope you don't. It'll be great, once you're done. Seriously.

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  23. This first line is a wonderful hook. It seems you are on your way. Thanks for posting a sample of your story :)

    Mad Scientist
    http://madsteampunkery.blogspot.com

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  24. Love the first line!!!!!!!!!!!! It does come out a bit humorous, but like someone said, even sad things can be humorous. And it is a great hook. As for the deleting, well, that's not so good. You're really supposed to just keep plugging on with it, but what do I know? I've never NaNoed!! 15K is very respectable too. Keep going with it.

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  25. Omgsh your WIP sounds so good! It seems like something I would really want to read. And the first line? I love it. :)

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  26. Congrats to Kristy, the lucky thing! Least she'll get to read a great Aussie author.

    Great going with your Some kind of Awesome. Love the title. Ha for the comical and absurb. Slap that MC down!

    I posted a few days ago about writing in scenes.I'm doing it for NaNo this year and it's working well as i'm too disorganised to write chapters. The story's leading me by the nose and I'm happy where it's going. Plenty of time for chapters later!

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  27. Stick with your first line. I quite like it. Besides, everyone talks about the weather. Good luck!

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  28. Okay, this is interesting because teh *exact* same thing happens to me when I try to write moody and serious. You know what? I can do lighthearted comical okay, but any attempt at deep... still comical. If you work out how to solve this, let me know! Although I suspect maybe that's just your voice, and you should go with it? And a lot of people joke their way through sad situations, so it probably works. Oh, and I like the first line. And I'd keep reading. Good luck!

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Thanks for the commenty love :)