A Late Post...

This is big. I have some wonderful character-- expect character sketches soon! I have nearly complete conflict outlines-- just need the end of Allegra's and Lucinda's stories, which currently sound rather lame.

And, though the SAT is closer than ever and though today I epically failed and read "median" as "mean" (two COMPLETELY different mathematical terms, which when confused on a multiple choice question, are GUARANTEED to provide headaches and bad self-confidence), I am confident that I'll get a good score. On the real thing. Not the one I just did-- that one's going to suck to no end. Honestly. I'll post the scores later.

Scrivener 2 is out... and my favorite things about it are, so far: 

•  Fullscreen backdrop: this is the best. Feature. Ever. Scrivener 1.x had fullscreen, but I can't stand a solid color-- I need something to admire. Cue stopping and minimizing every other window on the computer. I'm ecstatic that that is no longer necessary. 
•  Simpler font/color/highlight change: Part of the reason I was outlining in Pages beforehand was 'cause I needed a 'master' outline-- since I'll be without Scrivener access for a while, I won't be able to use index cards. Being able to change the font from the main editing screen will be wonderful. 
• Templates: I get CHARACTER TEMPLATES, people. Tell me one reason why that's NOT good. Yup. I couldn't find one either.

  Okay, so, in other notes, all three books now have titles: _, REVENGE AND GREY CHINA, and SECRETS AND GREEN EYES.

Revenge and Grey China, of course, is the most popular title yet. ... is this a good time to mention I'm participating in MilWordy? I have two versions so far: November 1st, 101 to October 31st, 2011 Year 2011 My goal is to not only write a million words in each challenge (the word counts overlap, by the way), but also to get them readable. This means editing, in general, and will definitely allow me to upload SOMETHING to WEBook. Which, by the way, needs uploads badly. A couple of plot bunnies have already emerged. One is about Andive, a princess who doesn't want to marry a prince and thus goes off into the woods to unenchant a prince and marry HIM instead. Simply by writing this sentence I've got even MORE ideas, and a couple of them aren't even related to Andive.

One of these days I'm going to honestly sit down and mind-map EVERYTHING that I think of, novel-wise. Then I'm going to sit back and admire my handy-work.

I need to better organize my memory stick: I'm hoping that my parents agree to letting me stay up late on Halloween-- I've planned going to bed early Saturday AND Monday night if necessary. I can organize it then. December will be spent making quick outlines for January/February, but December/January will be TERRIBLE writing months, probably throwing me back by AGES, word-count wise. I will probably be emailing myself stories and mind maps, as well as using TONS of online sources.

I totally need to sit down and do my SAT, but writing this all down is terribly calming. My NaNoWriMo signature needs a better layout. I'll be inputting a couple of important dates (WON!) into it, as well as a fast cover for the trilogy. When it's done, I'll post it here as well.

There is so much more to write: today I finally sat down and just literally planned for half an hour. I should have had more, but I got caught up in Photoshop. SaGE is finally at about the same level as everything else, and it is very encouraging. I knew, of course, what happened with Kathy, Robert, Allegra, Osken, Daniel, and Lucinda (and even Fluffles, the ickle boddy-kins). But now, at least, Kathy and Allegra's bit is written out. Next, Fluffles and Lucinda, and then I can sit down and fix the Alle/ Dan (Danalle?) bits in the middle-- bits written circa October 11th and now heavily outdated.

Speaking of which, the plot wall has now been rendered obsolete thanks to my brain coping better. I still like adding things to it, but it will be used more as a mind map than anything else.

RIA

PS. This was written October 27th, but I never had time to upload it. I also will never complete that MilWordy... about 550/1000k in 2011.

This is getting more and more complicated...

I have somehow managed to transform Revenge and Grey China into a Trilogy. Oh, the book is still going to be exactly the same, but Kathy's story needs an actual beginning and an end, so here it is.

I'm aiming for at least 90,000 words in each book, which means about 270,000 words.

I did the math last night and calculated how much time it would take me to write the book if I extended the challenge to December 15th.

Here's the math for Version 1: (November 1st to November 30th)

Word goal per day: 9,000

A Measure of Conflict

It's been done.

I have all the conflicts in the novel planned out. That's right. All of Kathy's, Allegra's, and even... *dadadaaaa* Lucinda's problems are mapped out. Daniel, Robert, and even "Osken" are featured as well, so that the entire novel will actually have a plot and fundamental characters with small quirks-- something none of my other novels have. (It feels nice knowing I'll be able to sit down and edit this one without trembling for fear of falling into a plot hole.)

Of course, now I have to flesh the conflicts out into scenes, but that's simple. I've already got two conflicts into about four scenes, which DEFINITELY means that my book may be overlong... but that's good.

A rather bad part about all this planning is that I have ideas not only for THIS book, but also the prequel and the sequel to it. You see, Kathy Summers has a bit of a history.

My health? Well, typing hasn't started hurting my wrists yet. Much. I'm looking up dares faithfully, finding romantic lines, opening lines, funny lines... basically getting ready to insert as much hilarity and silliness into the book as possible.

I am enjoying myself famously.

NaNoWriMo Approaching!

Yes, I know I'm supposed to be focusing solely on the SAT in November, but my brain (aided and abetted by my head, obviously), is refusing to concentrate on the SAT and is instead darting towards the novel I'll be writing.

It's called Revenge and Grey China, and will, no doubt, be one of the silliest bits of fiction ever written.

The book's synopsis, as featured on NaNoWriMo, is the following:

Kathy Summers, known as Katherine to her mother, has just been dumped. But this isn't just any kind of dumping. This is the kind of dumping when your fiancé of two years suddenly decides he can't handle marrying a member of the Villain Society.

After bawling her eyes out, Kathy decides to exact revenge.

She's got a basic idea: kill off the girlfriend, key the car, blow up the house, punch his face again... but the jig is up when her plans backfire, one by one: first the mega-punch ray malfunctions and starts slapping instead, then the dynamite gets soggy, and lastly, her villain mentor, Lucinda, receives a cat from a secret admirer.

But worst of all, her best friend Allegra is being followed by a love-sick millionaire, who's convinced that he and Allegra are soul mates, no matter how much Allegra hates him.

And we swear on the ex-fiancé's puffy left eye: the lovesickness has NOTHING to do with being hit on the head with Allegra's grey china teapot.

I'm proud to say it's gone through three edits already, most of them for vocabulary and wording. XD

Anyway, the book is divided up mostly between Kathy's story and Allegra's.

I still, of course, have to decide what POV I'll be using, (will it be Kathy or Allegra telling the story? Lucinda, maybe? And... first or third person?)

The REALLY terrible bit, though, is the fact that I am supposed to be outlining the entire thing in preparation for November, and I have no idea how I want the ending to end..

Ah well, that's for later, isn't it?