We’re in summer, and I’ve started thinking again of potential story plots for the upcoming NaNoWriMo – since I’m going back to college, in a big city, and to study English on top of it, I’d like to do it again this year and lure some other students into the craze. We have nice places in the university areas to do collective writing sessions, really.

Well. Going back to NaNo means haunting the forums as well, and there I found myself posting a blurb about character names…

Does any of you have any noticeable naming patterns? Not in one novel only, but across your novels in general? And, pushing further, would such a pattern apply to other areas than novels/short stories ones (in roleplaying games, for instance)?

Time for another update, but not a happy one, I’m afraid.

One day, I’ll learn. Oh, yes, I swear it: one day, I’ll learn to make backups more regularly when it comes to my “unachieved” data, instead of stupidly dwelling in that odd pefectionism of mine that causes me to burn a CD/DVD only when I can fill it “for good”. Too bad if I end up with trash CDs, or CDs made unreadable by too much rewriting: from now on, I really need to change a couple things regarding all of this.

One of my hard disks has died two weeks ago. The big one, of course, where I stored all my unachieved designs, drawings and writings, and where I used to park the footage for my videos, during those periods I was into video editing. It had warned me, poor thing, through very disturbing noises, but what I didn’t know was that it’d die in my arms on the very moment I’d start performing the needed backup, after the mandatory realization of “uh-oh, this time it seems really sick”. Aye, Murphy rules this world. Nevertheless, for once, I’d have liked a little less chaos in what is called my existence.

To tell about my disgust is the least I can do. I don’t care much for the video footage, since I can extract it again, but the unachieved and now lost artworks are daggers repeatedly thrusted in my ego. Yes, yes, I had backups. Alright. Dating back to several weeks or even several months ago. What pains me in particular is the loss of the edited version of my NaNovel (given how I loved editing it, I won’t do THIS again soon * sighs *), the latest version of the Wall of Silence (the few changes in it, I can rewrite and am doing so, though), and the previous attempts for the latter story. No matter how many times I try to persuade myself that it’s a fresh start, without these leashes hindering my Inner Editor, this is still a blow dealt directly to my heart.

Not everything is lost: we’re trying to resurrect the HDD, for long enough, at least, to perform a hard copy… However, I prefer not nurture too many illusions here—the fall would only be harder.

Ah, yes. One day, I’ll learn…

Y Tags: reflections | writing

I cannot believe that it took me so long to post here again! Somehow, my mind had managed to convince itself that it had been only a couple weeks. It’s just like me to think “I’ll post an update later on today, when I have more time to think it through”, and to… just forget. Rotten memory of mine, as I was telling a friend not so long ago.

Therefore, I’m not coming up with some witful post about writing today, but with this simple update that got delayed for faaaaar too long. I sincerely apologize to those of you who worried. There was nothing to worry about, but of course, no news-good news isn’t that accurate when it comes to the world of Internet, where it’s so easy to lose track of someone and never see this person again. I should know of this by now. Someday, I swear I’ll learn!

What’s up, one might ask?

It’s not the first time I experience this, and everytime it’s like a new revelation: at some points when I’m planning a story (or rather, building its background), I come up at the weirdest moments with an idea that leaves me all excited, as well as wondering why the heck I hadn’t thought of it sooner.

Today, I was gifted with one of these. When looking at sports articles, no less. Go figure what triggers my imagination, because fitness pants aren’t exactly what I’d think of first. After this, all I could do was drive back home in haste and write the idea down before it flew away. I was lucky, it stuck, and it stuck even very well. Later on, I worked it into my story arc, replacing a certain plot that all of a sudden didn’t seem as strong as I had thought.

What’s amazing is how, this time, it unveiled an ocean of other possibilities for me, including a plan and plot for a possible “prequel novel” (I can’t call it otherwise). Not only does it strengthen the plot that goes across three volumes, but it even gives me more than that. I need to treasure this precise idea now.

And perhaps I need to go buy sports clothes more often, if they work that well in making my mind race!

Y Tags: ideas | inspiration | plot | writing

No, I’m not dead, I just haven’t been in the mood for blogging much these days. Coupled with being away the past week-end, fighting with scenes from my novel that wouldn’t go my way (see the “NaNo” blog for this), and falling sick (as usual every two months or so), life’s been full. Alright, to be realy honest, I need to blame Stepmania as well, though in a good way; I definitely needed to get back in shape, and doing mindless cardio on stationary bikes really isn’t my thing at all. I was looking at fun alternatives, and I remembered having tried DDR once… The fate of this author was sealed, and a dance mat went on its way to reach me.

Things are going well with the writing so far, in any case. In spite of my battle with scenes that will go to the unused basket, replaced as they are by more appropriate ones, the ball goes on rolling. Five chapters under my belt, it’s not that bad, and for a change, they’re planned ones, not written on the spur of the moment.

I’ll love this story as much as I’ve loved creating the universe it’s set in, which is an excellent thing.

Y Tags: blog | dancing | writing