Milestone 1

Something incredible has happened. Something monumental. Something so incredible it will blow your mind.
I have run out of printing ink.
And why have I run out of printing ink?

BECAUSE ELECTROSTATIC FANTASY IS DONE!!

Picture courtesy of Jared Davidson
freerangestock.com

That's right, my first manuscript is finally beta-ready. I tried to print the whole thing as the first copy but my printer disagreed with that.
After 3 years I've finally gotten to this stage. And it actually feels a bit weird.

What did I expect to feel? Untold enthusiasm; infinite excitement; incomparable success? Well, honestly I feel a bit sad. This project was something I had with me for three years. It was something comfortable and familiar, and now it's finally over. But I am glad, especially about how the ending is now solidified into something definite rather than being a vague mesh of concepts. I'm also happy that I finally know what happens to my characters, and that when I tell people 'I've finished my novel', I'm not lying. I'm not even telling an extended truth.

And there's plenty more where that came from!! The next mission lies in choosing which of my stories to finish and edit next.

Funny thing I found out is: the first time you write the final line of your novel (as a first draft that may still change) is the most satisfying time. Even when I edited a bit off mine, I still didn't feel nearly as much joy and achievement as when I first wrote it.

Funny that.

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.

Simian City News! BREAKTHROUGH!

We interrupt your regular monkey soap program to bring you an important news bulletin. Covered by your very own and loved...

SIMIAN CITY NEWS!!

Good evening. I'm M. Ad Baboon your news reader for this evening, and this lovely monkey on my right is my assistant Chimpy Chimpers Chimpette Chimp Chala Loala Lalalalala Chimpers-Zene Chimps Chimpara III.

Breakthrough.

Almost incredible reports lately sent to our news headquarters claim that the first version of Electrostatic Fantasy would be complete!

According to an e-mail we received yesterday from a very reliable source, around the end of last week some eye-witnesses claim to have seen the last sentence of the story finally put down.

*Chimpette turns her head.* But you said the source was Bob "The Bottle" Monkey who's always drunk around the corner. Is he really that 'reliable'?

*anchor monkey stares in silence for a moment* Silence my sweet, insignificant assistant.

*clears throat*

Many of you will know that since the famed NaNoWriMo 2009 event, in which the Writer Monkey made her escape from WannabeWriter Zoo, the last chapter of E.F. had yet to be completed. Two years have passed and seen little more than sad attempts at scribbling something of a first version for this ever important portion of the story. What would happen? Who would die? And it what order? And most crucially, what would be the answer to that eternal small talk topic of the authoring world: what is the last sentence of your novel?

But incredibly, through all odds and unlikelihood, the Writer Monkey has actually continued on her writing quest!

Fear not dear viewers, the shock comes as heavily upon the cast as it does on you.

*Chimpette turns her head toward anchor* Why are you being so dramatic? You always tell me news is about being serious and that its not a Shakespearian play.

*anchor* Silence assistant!

Ahem, where was I...?

We are told by the Monkey that we are unable to release the last sentences as they are very much likely to endure changes. Currently this story is under rigorous editing and is expected to either read or almost ready for Beta Reader stage in late October. More on this story as it develops.

Into the Future!

It's almost October, and this means it is time for writiers around the planet to begin gearing up for the most exciting and challenging event of the year. That's right, it's NANOWRIMO TIME! This means it's also upon us to begin thinking about which novels we shall be offering up to the altar of abuse come later autumn. In an interview earlier this weekend, our own Writer Monkey had this to say on the subject:

"Whether you keep your jobs or not is of no interest nor importance to me. There's no chance I'll pour out my creative aspirations at their most vulnerable stage for the sake of your journalist career. You lot eat my bananas, drink my Fanta and are misusing your rights to post on this blog by broadcasting these shows randomly. I am SO making you your own log on. I refuse to have you impersonating me any longer. When I want to reveal my diabolical plans for world domination to my dedicated disciples, I shall do so myself!

And you make way too much noise with the cappuccino machine! How is a Monkey supposed to concentrate in all this hullabaloo?!"

*anchor speaks quietly to assistant* Hold on Chimpette, I thought this was the good interview? What happened to the tape?

*Chimpette whispers* Well I kind of ate the last cookie while I was over there so she...

* anchor, getting annoyed* She what?

*Chimpette* She kind of put the good tape into a blender and drank it along with her banana milkshake.

*anchor sighs*

More on the Monkey's plans to come.

Thank the flying monkeys it's time to say, that's all for tonight from...

SIMIAN CITY NEWS!

*Chimpette* But you said you were going to let me sing at the end of the show!

*anchor walks out muttering* I can't take this. I can't work with that monkey.

Simian City News -- Full Update

A good afternoon to all our viewers from Simian City News, your favourite update crew of crazy apes right here on the Monkey's Fanta World Blogspot channel!

Since our host, Monkey with Fanta, has been absent from the site for some time we are happy to announce that Simian News will be fulfilling necessary updates while the Monkey is away.

Today's broadcast will cover a full update with the Monkey's novels as well as what's scheduled for the future!

Tune in for exciting announcements about rising stars, salvaged survivors and new arrivals...as well as some sad news about a death in the Monkey's family of stories.

Let's begin!

Electrostatic Fantasy

The little first-born darling is darting fast through edits and is halfway to beta-reader stage. Nine out of the fourteen chapters have been edited to near-completion and the Monkey has recently been sighted randomly disturbing customers frequenting cafés, keeping the underwater adventure rolling! The target for completed edits on E.F. remains end of May, but our ape analysts remain sceptical as a previous estimate said the story would be completed in March. Stay tuned human friends, this promises to be a thrilling race to the finish.

Arkanos (Book One) Memorycatcher

...Has seen no progress whatsoever. However, a good few months of separation have definitely improved the relationship between this pesky story and our novice novelist and I am happy to announce that they are on speaking terms again. Our sources tell us that the Monkey won't undertake Arkanos while she's still working with E.F. (as this baby is 'quite a handful'), but once E.F. is complete the Arkanos project shall resume!

Through Glass

This particular story had to be rushed to the ER after a bout of high fever and a severe limp. We've been informed that the plot doctors are doing their very best to locate the source of the problem, but they are not expecting a rapid recovery. Our on-site reporter Craz E. Gibbon did his best to get an explanation out of them, but the only statement they gave was that it was something to do with lack of tension and the absence of an antagonist. Rest assured that the good monkeys at Simian City News will keep you updated on the situation as it develops.

The skAI Butterfly

We are sad to bring you the news that there has been a death in our literary family. It seems that this butterfly flew too close to the planet PANTS and had it's pretty little wings burned. We contacted the Monkey for a statement and she said,

"The pantser approach for me is more about beating writer's block and instilling inspiration that it is about creating a masterpiece. The day that a pantsied novel does not make the bin-and-rewrite list will likely never rise. The plot-problem monster attacked my house and swallowed my laptop whole. Now where's my latte?!"

Being the youngest addition to the team, The skAI Butterfly will have to wait a while to be addressed and as such will not be returning into our ranks soon. However, the funeral has not been arranged yet and the Monkey is reportedly working on an evil spell to rise it from the dead. This to be continued.

Tick Tock WonderWood

And just a week ago a story which was thought lost overseas was rescued and returned to its place in the random pile of budding novels. It's rumoured that this new story is centred around elves from the distant past, rebellion and the dangers surrounding revenge. The WonderWood won't be added to the site just yet. But the loyal Simian News gang will keep their eyes peeled and ensure you are right at the edge of the action.

There have been rumours floating about that the Monkey is thinking of adding another snippet from Electrostatic Fantasy to the Excerpts page in the near future, as well as E.F. art.

Thanks for watching and tune in again for more excitement from your favourite show...

Simian City News!

Yikes, I Lied.

Okay, so the blogging everyday since the first of the month didn't exactly take off. Ha ha. And indeed I have not written a single word until today. But I spent nearly the whole darn day today at the library and the café and boy did I get some writing done! Just shy of 4,000 words, and it only took 7 hours! :)

And surprisingly enough, it was mostly on a story which I'm pantsying. I've always planned everything out to the point where I've more or less known exactly what would happen. But this story isn't going so badly, even though I'm just coming up with everything more or less as I go. This story is currently called The Sky Butterfly, but I don't know if I'll change that name too. Personally I think it sounds like a funny title which is both exciting and boring simultaneously. I'd really need one which is just exciting, but I haven't sat down and thought one up yet, so this'll have to do for now.

Anyways, from here on I promise to (hopefully) post something here of some length and form everyday, whether it be sane or not. Whether it makes any sense or not. Whether it's written in a human language or coded in binary. I will post something everyday!

Or at least I hope I will. ^__^ He he!

I Said I'd Do It And I Did

Well, there it is. 50,180 words of Arkanos typed out and verified by the original, notorious word-eating NaNoWriMo word count validator, believe it! :D (Incredibly, this year it gave me 3 words. My yWriter counter says I've got 50,177 words :P But meh, can't argue with the machine ^.^)

Arkanos is by no means finished. Heck I haven't even spotted the midway point on the horizon yet. I'll be participating in NaNoFiMo and batting out some more words on it, hoping to at least hit halfway home. I know if I drop off for a long time and only pick this up to continue say next July, I know my mind will have zoned-out of the setting to such a degree I won't really remember what's happened. Especially those mid-Write or Die session epiphanies that sound great but maybe aren't which you never bother to note down anywhere, but not like you'd have time to anyway. Those will be in risk of vanishing into the realm of not-coming-back if I just drop everything now as is.

I remember end of '09 NaNo I somehow felt so exhausted and like I just couldn't drag it out of myself to continue with Electrostatic Fantasy. It was missing two, three chapters and in dire need of editing. I told myself I should keep going, to get editing and finish up by the new year. Heck no, I was exhausted and slightly exasperated with the thing (and perhaps I'm not the only NaNoer who gets this). So I decided to take a short break, enjoy the holidays and get back to it later. Mistake. "Later" turned out to be three months later, then another break and then again a bit of editing in July. And by that time I'd "relaxed" so well and truly I couldn't remember the finer points anymore. My concept of my own story was, "oh yeah, there's that mermaid guy and he goes around and they do this kinda stuff don't they? And, oh yeah! There was that one character there, wasn't it?" I felt like walking up to someone else and asking what had happened!

Thank heavens it was pretty much completely written (okay, save for the final chapter which I haven't first-drafted to this day ^v^;;)

But I am nevertheless a NaNoWriMo 2010 winner!! XD

I can't get enough of that. And I've probably 24 hours worth of sleep dept to show for it too. :) I wanted that pretty certificate on my wall and I got it. Yeah, you heard correctly. My main reason for doing all of this was to get a certificate that had the number "2010" on it and which I knew I'd earned fair and square.

Today I took a day off of everything I've been working on: the greetings card making, the novel plotting, the novel writing (oh God yes!)... just everything. I slept until 4 PM and since then have been playing Valkyrie Profile 2. Then a nip into the sauna and voila! I feel like I've had a day at the spa. ^_^

And tomorrow I'm gonna start on a project I'm quite excited about: plots the next novel which I'm planning to write during JanNoWriMo. The current name is Through the Looking Glass, and you guessed it, it's also fantasy. Wha? No it's not an Alice in Wonderland spin-off or anything (although I love doing those!) Ironically the story bears no similarity to Lewis Carroll's work at all. I'll write more on it in another post and I'll probably be updating the My Novels page eventually about it too.

Until then...still basking in this moment that comes only once per a noveling November! ^_^