Happy Boxing Day!!

And Christmas and New Year all in one!

Picture courtesy of Mara Denardo
freerangestock.com

For me, Christmas is just about done. Still a good bit of holidays left but you know what? I am so ready to go back to college! Oh yes.
I know, yes, I'm one of those weird people who can only take about 3 days of holiday at a time and then can't take anymore. For some reason the less time I have the more I get done. I'm more likely to finish three novels in the midst of my studies than to finish one with a month of no work, school or anything else.

So without further ado, I am ready to call it now. Christmas is done for another year and, while it does pass surprisingly quickly, I can comfortably say that the next 364 days will take a while to go by. And I'm not bothered. :-)

On the other hand I think it's about time to get back to business. It's been a while since I posted some writing techniques so I'm going planning to do one for next week.

So far for Writing Techniques I've covered plotting and then shooting plot problems. Carrying on from that I was thinking I'd do something about writing the story and then about editing.

If anyone out there has wishes about what writing techniques or tips you'd like to hear about, then please leave a comment! :) I'd be happy to add anything from request.

But for now, I will keep this short and wish everyone a Happy Christmas and the rest of the holidays. May the new year be your most inspiring yet!

Monkey–out!

Inspiration Please!

Right, so everyone is settling into the Christmas spirit and the fact that holidays have/are starting. Time to relax and take a breather. You're probably looking forward to enjoying that game/movie/book/thing you've been meaning to play with/watch/read for weeks/months but have been kept from by work. Yes, I've got a (few) games I've been meaning to get to. However, I shan't be getting to them.

This holiday season for me is more about getting a break from college work so that I might have time to work on hobbies instead.
On my agenda for the next two weeks are the following:

• Edit Electrostatic Fantasy (preferably to completion).
• Finish writing Electrostatic Nightmare.
• Finish two tasks for my volunteering place.
• Finish reading about ten books or so.
• Oh yeah, and do some drawing.

There's probably more but I can't recall it right now. But actually, I'm really happy that I have a long list of stuff to do. Even though people at my college might think I'm bluffing, I've got quite a bit of trouble with laziness. The moment I know no one will be expecting me to show up on time, get up early or finish anything by X date, I turn into quite the lolling lazy chimpanzee, hanging out my monkey cave all day stinking of bananas and Fanta. Heh, well not quite that bad, but during holidays I might certainly not be the saint of hard work. And no matter how much I think I will be industrious during the holidays, I tend to be beset by the monster known as laziness.

Hence I am in need of inspiration. Not the "I'm out of ideas" kind of inspiration, but the "get off your butt and work now!" kind of inspiration. Otherwise I know, come January, I'll be completely out of the working mood and I will start off my assignments again with notable difficulty. The "I don't wanna work again" kind of difficulty. The "I don't wanna get up at 6 in the morning, me sleepy" kind of difficulty.
So this season shan't be the kicking back and relaxing all the way kind of season. It shall be the getting up at 6 anyway and working on hobbies kind of season!

Besides the above I've had some ideas for short stories. Now short story writing has been an area that has been a weak spot to me for a long time. I just seem to struggle to fit my plots and ideas into something as small as 3000-5000 words. But lately I've been reading short stories by Pu Songling and it's given me ideas on how to make this impossible task more possible. Still tinkering with thoughts but hoping to plot something down soonish.
Assuming I get any of my other tasks worked on, hah!

Wishing a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone out there!

Monkey_With_Fanta

Twilight Hour

So...

Nanowrimo is over, another year has passed victoriously and no deadlines (non-academic ones that is, *cough, cough*) are breathing down my neck. All is well, yes?

Well, no actually. Because this year was very different for me in many ways. This is the first time in many years I've been back in education. College is really opening my mind up to new ideas, and I feel like I just don't look at the world the same anymore. By no means am I saying that I've suddenly decided to drop writing and scrap it. No, the opposite: I've seen a life inside of my Electrostatic novels that I hadn't before.

EF is a story about mermaid-like beings

In 2009 I did NaNoWriMo and decided I would 'experiment' by working on a novel that I had no attachments to. None of 'my babies' would be put into the firing line, because I was too afraid that if I tried writing one of them brutally, shoving my 'inner editor' away and just typing, I would not be able to. I would break down, crumbling to my knees screaming "No! Don't kill my precious novel!" And the one-liner idea I had for a novel of some kind was to become Electrostatic Fantasy: my first complete novel draft.

Editing Electrostatic Fantasy (EF) and defining the characters up, I realised a few of them had a deeper history than I had time or chance to explore. So, true to my character, I dropped all other plans I'd been hatching for a November novel this year, and decided I would write a prequel for NaNo 2012. Electrostatic Nightmare (EN) has successfully been born and I am still writing to get the first draft done.
I had always intended for EF to be a stand-alone, strictly-no-sequels/prequels deal, but during November I realised I would probably end up writing a third book in the end no matter what I thought.

That's when I realised: the Electrostatic books have taken on a life of their own. A life that has taken its own reigns up and I can't stop it. What began as a 'sacrifice' has become something close to my heart that is demanding to be born in the world fully and completely. And even still, I've been talking about EF for too long. Now is go-time.

EF isn't far off from being ready for beta readers. It's prequel isn't quite up to that yet, but hopefully come NaNoEdMo I will be ready to push EN to the same finish line.

But Christmas is coming once again. Winter and autumn always make me feel like something is ending. Like something familiar is becoming something new. And maybe that is a good thing, changes can be very positive. But at the same time it also makes me kind of nostalgic. And that is the most perfect of writing moods!

Now, I know I've been really bad with updating this blog. Every time I've thought of a schedule it's come down because of how busy things are with college, volunteering, work and writing. But I think I have the perfect solution: Wednesdays! This is my goal: begin updating on Wednesday evenings. I know I have been really bad so please bare with me.

Thanks to all my readers! And I hope your Christmas preparations are going well and take it easy. :)

Monkey, out.

Magical Month of Mayhem

That time has come. That magical month of October when through my masses of other work loads, NaNo plotting still prevails. And also that fun month when comes the "best" part of the issue: 'what do I write about this year?'

Ultimately, it makes no difference at all what decisions on this point I've made throughout the year; they all get tossed aside at this point.

I thought about finally writing the story that got ousted last year at the last minute: Angel City. But having started my computing course in college, I realised I've more or less decided to wait and make a platform game of it. So that idea was out.

Then there was always the idea I had 'firmly' decided on in August, which was to write the second book of Arkanos. But that had rested on the assumption that the first book would be finished by now. Sure, ok there is basically only a couple chapters to go but almost doesn't count. So that would have to wait.

But then I could pick up either of the stories that had gotten off to a rocky start and sort of straggled and choked off at the shallows; namely Through Glass or SkAI Butterfly. But that was just it: they were stuck in the shallows. They're struggling for air, a hairs breadth from drowning. Arkanos One had been like that, it had gotten into a lot of trouble. The only reason it got salvaged in time was because I said I was not quitting on my 'baby'. Taking on a project that would come pre-installed with problems was not a good idea, not during the real thing.
So, that was a no-go.

But then if all my options were exhausted, what was I going to write?? Surely 'The Wild Adventures of Ninja Bacon' was hardly interesting, not to mention it wouldn't make it past 10k. There had to be another way.

Then it hit me. It was just a one-liner idea, just like the beginning of EF (Electrostatic Fantasy) had been. There is a side character in the main story, who I had realised to have a much deeper history than his original role warranted, or the story even allowed. Deep enough to be the root of another story. I remember fleetingly thinking that his story could make for an interesting prequel.

So I decided I would undertake his idea and see where it leads me.
And hence, this year's NaNo novel title is decided: Electrostatic Nightmare.

And writing will definitely be interesting this time around: I have coursework due, and a whole stack of it!! v_v

If I Had Time For Anything That Would Make Life Boring

Blogging: verb, 1)A way of writing ideas about oneself, one's chosen subject or one's thoughts to an audience much larger than you would ever encounter otherwise.
2)The one activity which will be immediately neglected when life kicks in.

I have a very bad habit, and that habit is to go overboard with anything I consider worthwhile for going overboard with. For example, it would make no sense whatsoever to minimise distractions in order to concentrate on something like college or writing. No. That would be completely foolish. Instead the intelligent thing to do is to acquire two jobs, overtime AND a myriad of hobbies and projects to complete alongside said activities so that there is physically more time left to spend. Yes, that would amply demonstrate wisdom beyond one's years.

So, currently I'm participating in the August Camp NaNoWriMo and competing with my rival. A rival who I have permitted to overtake me! And even thought JulNoWriMo was a resounding failure with myself giving up at only 10,000 words, I'm still overjoyed currently. Since 2010, Arkanos (Book One) is finally nearing draft completion!! Although it will most likely exceed my predicted 100K mark. It's really true that one of the greatest feelings that a writer will encounter. It's almost like waiting for a new arrival to the family :3 Although, I suppose that it doesn't help the fact that I'm about to lose a dare to my rival, which will involve having to write a silly poem and to share it on Facebook. :-p

In other news getting back into the academic swing after 3 years of absence is the major word. As far as I remember, math did used to make some kind of sense before at some point. I'm not sure, but likely I'm not alone in my struggles with numbers and essay writing. Shockingly I can write a fiction story that could make a stranger cry, but my essays would only make a lecturer cry. But for a very different reason. It's like a science by itself. I swear a few years from now people will be able to take a BcS degree in essay writing. Or at least they should.

Well, I suppose now the time has come to slink back into my bat cave and forge onward on the rocky road of literary abandon. Thus his monkey will bid fair eventide with a bow.

Time to go kill more brain cells with painful plot concepts...

Deadlines!!

I hate and love them!

Write Like You Mean It

You know that feeling of having about three or four of them breathing down your neck thinking the same darn thing: "tick-tock"? Well, that's my life in a box right now.

Of course there are positive sides to this. I only have 8 chapters left from a 14 chapter manuscript go go over. I have just over a month to do that. I have about 4 pictures drawn from final target of 40-60. I have about a month and a half for that.
And of course there's Camp NaNoWriMo coming up. Of course I've lost my plot notes for my novel.

Deadlines seem like one of those Marmite kinds of things, you have to hate or love them, there is no middle ground. But I wonder what it's like for other writers.
I don't seem to be able to get much done without a deadline. I say I will go to the library to write, or the café on wealthier days, and then I find a funny video on YouTube and off we are. Next I look at the clock, it's six and everywhere is closed.

X Days, Y Hours and Z Minutes
Until You're DOOMED!

Now if there is a deadline pressing on me, it's a bit different.
I think about wasting away on YouTube and suddenly it's like this angry old lady appears over my shoulder and screams, "What!! Don't you realise you've only got X days Y hours and Z minutes before you're DOOMED!?"
And like magic I find that extra bit of motivation to actually go to the library.

Then again there is also the evil side. Like when that old lady tells you that you only have so many days, and you realise that a week factually isn't long enough to paint a perfect replica of the Mona Lisa while blindfolded. Yet you can't very well do nothing.
So begins what can only be adequately described as the death trek of the "next best thing". That commendable yet inevitably slightly sad effort to save yourself which results in staying up until 3 AM almost every night and excessive consumption of coffee.

Then, about three days before the deadline, you take a look at what you have and get a reassuring sense of confidence. You are almost there. Even with only so much time you will certainly make it. You relax a little, take some well deserved time off to recharge.When you go back to your project, feeling refreshed reassures you that little R&R was definitely justified.

One day before your deadline, you take a look at what you have and want to chew your own arm off. You're not even close. You'll never make it. In fact the half-finished piece of junk that you will most likely be forced to turn in has the semblance of the brilliant idea you had when you started. An idea which you could have finished if only you'd not taken that R&R time a few days earlier. This phase is called 'regret the R&R' also known as 'panic'. This is the night you stay up as long as humanly possible, if indeed you choose to sleep at all, using every precious minute to complete your project.

The moment of presentation draws close. You're nervous, near terror. In truth if you ran right now and moved far away somewhere nice like India or Hawaii, and changed your name, surely things would be made right. Then the moment comes, and you stand in front of actual people and actually show your actual work, and suddenly come to realise, it's not quite as catastrophic as you first thought. Considering you spent only 7 days on it, it really does have the semblance of a masterpiece.
People hum and nod and after the day is over, you go home, much more relieved, with much fewer brain cells and higher blood pressure, and acknowledge that indeed it was work you'd never have done that fast if it wasn't for the deadline.

Although I'm not exactly hoping it will turn out like this, somehow it always tends to with me.

Sound familiar?

Simian City News! A Rare Species Spotted

'About time we heard
something from this Writer Monkey'

And now it's time for the latest news from your favourite...

SIMIAN CITY NEWS!

I'm your host, Fun. E. Chimp.

   Today there has been an incredibly rare sighting of the Writer Monkey said to have lived in the cave just south of our jungle broadcasting station. Eyewitnesses have confirmed from this that the Writer Monkey is in fact not dead and has neither been abducted by chocolate. Our on site news reporter Monkey Gone Wild is with professor What's His Name as we speak who has offered to comment on this event. Over to you Monkey.

   ~Well thank you Fun. Yes right now I'm here at the professor's study enjoying a cooling banana smoothie and speaking with him about what exactly can make a Writer Monkey disappear besides easily suspected chocolate abductions. Professor, what exactly is your opinion?

   >Well Monkey, as I see it the thing which young writer monkeys are easily prone to suffer from but which isn't as easily obvious to the casual observer are laziness attacks, the I-Can't-Think-Of-What-To-Say Syndrome and a very infectious disease known in layman's terms as "But The Game Is Just So Fun." Once contracted this horrible infection almost forces the potential writer to re-focus all of his or her attention onto a video game or other similar activity, denying them the time to focus on their writing. It's really quite tragic.

   ~And you believe the Writer Monkey might have contracted this illness?

   >I really can't say, but so far I've only found one cure for the condition, and let's just say it involves a pair of pliers, barbed wire, a sack of feathers, a rocking horse and super glue.

   ~I can't honestly say I want to hear you put all that together, professor.

   >That's strange. A lot of people say that...

   ~Anyway, now back to the studio.

   In related news there is evidence that Electrostatic Fantasy is in fact nearing completion. These statements, although deemed incredulous by some, bear out in the sense that nearly half of the novel now stands in a final form of editing.

   Our efforts to contact the Monkey have also *cough*finally*cough cough* succeeded and there is news of upcoming regular updates and an updating schedule.

   Please stay tuned for the next broadcast of SIMIAN CITY NEWS!!