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Blog of a Writer on the Go and Barely Here.
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Monday, November 28, 2011

The End is Near

November is nearly over and with it the end of NaNoWriMo.  How many of you were able to reach the necessary 50,000 words?  How many of you now have a completed novel?

Personally, I have hit the 50,000 word mark and 'won' NaNo.  The end of the novel, however, is still very far away.


To everyone still going, you still have three days!  Go get writing!

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Contest for YA novelists

Wanted to share this with any of you working on or finished writing a YA novel.  I think it's worth a look.  ;-)

http://www.writingclasses.com/ContestPages/YAPitch.php

Monday, November 14, 2011

Game Time!

We're getting close to the halfway point of NaNo.  I'm sure some of you are starting to get tired and some of you probably don't want to hear 'NaNo' ever again.  So, instead of me cheering you all on, I thought we'd play a game.  (Me being sick for the last week has nothing to do with this choice.  Ok, maybe it does.)

Word association time!  I'll give you a word, you all leave the first word that comes to mind in the comments.  Feel free to do more than one and respond to other people's words as you see fit.  And yes, this is partially to get everyone's creative juices flowing.  Ready?  Here we go:

BACON

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

"Tell me a Story..."

The first week of NaNo is officially over and I am all caught up with my word count.  This statement could very easily change by tonight, as my family is in the midst of unpacking in our new residence.  It's taking some time for us all to adjust to this new change, but the commute to work is infinitely better.  Seven minutes versus an hour and fifteen minutes?  I'll take it!

My address isn't the only thing that's changed this November.  As I slog away on my NaNo project, I've realized my storytelling technique has also undergone some renovations.  12,000 words or so into this new venture and I noticed most of the novel was being told through character dialogue.  Most of my work before has been told mainly through narration.  Long passages of descriptions and back story sprinkled generously throughout the actions and speech of my characters.  This time, everything the reader needs to know about what is going on is told to them by the characters.

This revelation about my own writing makes me wonder which way most readers prefer to learn about the world they're being immersed into.  Do you want to be told in the narration what is going on, or do you like it when the characters hold intelligent conversations to share the information with you?