why i quit nanowrimo for this year

“A garden to walk in and immensity to dream in--what more could he ask? A few flowers at his feet and above him, the stars.”
Victor Hugo

 if you know me any way at all online (or maybe not) you probably knew how pumped i was for nano this year.  however, at some point within my novel, I realized a fact that had not been something I had expected. 

january jenkins and her story does not like to be rushed, nor crammed into a 30 day speed write. 

it was a kinda hard decision to make, to take the arrival of january at a slower pace than i had wanted, but overall...i think it best fits the style i'm trying for in this novel. 

thats not to say that i am anywhere near finished with this novel. i have had this idea in my head for a year (or perhaps a bit more) now,  and january is very dear to me, as are the others. its not fair to only harp on jan when channer, ayla, and rio are just as splendid.  this is one of my only novels actually set in my corner of the united states, its a poem in my heart, and january is a part of me that i dont show to people at all.  

so never fear, ye who have encouraged me this november! 

january has an arrival still to happen,

and i still need to see this novel completed just as badly as my beta team do 

(mainly: lisa needs to see it completed. poor girl)

so, that is why i did not finish nanowrimo. 

i swear, it was, by no means, because i got lazy and then decided to just give up.

(ok, so maybe it helped my decision come along that i had already slacked so terribly, but..i didnt say it, ok?)

as i think my dear girl would say, 

"januarys cannot possible fit into such a short time and be expected to bloom"

it makes no sense, but january jenkins says it does.

"how soon until its break time?"

this is literally my creed/motto for this NaNo.

dont get me wrong, I'm loving writing TAOJ, but I'm still having to go on a very strict reward system.  Every so many words, I can watch a tv episode. Every so many words I can listen to music that isn't in my novel's playlist.  And trust me, that last one is the one I look forward the most.  My novel has a beautiful playlist, but listen to anything long enough and you'd want to throw it out the window.

So yes. I may need to stop taking so many breaks, since I'm rewarding myself probably far too many times (like how 'write a thousand words and you can watch a ouat episode' turned into 'write a thousand words and you can watch three ouat episodes' and it kinda ate up an afternoon. what can i say. there were cliffhangers) and I'm falling behind on my word count which isn't a good thing. Mind you, its not too bad. its only like...4K behind....wait...when I say it like that...

maybe I shouldn't be writing this blog post...I think I'm just trying to procrastinate. 
hmm.

Ok darlings, have some snippets while I go and attempt to not not write.

 

"January was born on a December night, five days before christmas, and as pale as the stars above.  She’d blinked her eyes, and never once cried, even though the midwife said she needed to.

She was the child that tucked herself into corners, or fell asleep nestled among the antiques in the attic.  Any ordinary house might have forgotten a second child was a  dweller under its roof, but not this house.

The house always knew exactly where she was, and made sure her steps never made creaks, and you could say that January was the child that the house loved."

"Happiness wasn’t something that was ever complete itself, was it?"

"Channer turned, and found Rio grinning at him with a frightening intensity over the edge of his coffee cup.  “what the heck?” Channer laughed, and Rio shrugged, the smile not dissipating. “Nothing, nothing at all except Holly Richards just tried to ask you to ask her out” 

“Can I plant thistles in the yard?”

“No,” Channer glanced over his shoulder at the kitchen, was she cooking something still? “if we had thistles in the yard, it would make going out to the mailbox a pain” 

nanowrimo 2014 ::: The Arrival of January

 Not really linking up, because I'm a late daisy, but these questions came from Sky and Cait's new blog linky uppy thingy...do check them out: Beautiful Books.



Q: What came first: characters or plot idea? 
 A: the characters, by far. I really had to think hard about what sort of plot to spin around the spirits I had created, and so it's been an interesting experience. To my knowledge, I can't remember creating characters so greatly and having 0 plot ideas whatsoever.

Q: Are you a plotter or a pantser?
A: a little bit of both.  I like to have a skeleton idea for my novel's plot, but I tend to fill in details as I go and sometimes, my skeleton is abandoned for ideas I came up with on the spot.


Q: Do you have a title and/or a “back-cover-blurb”?
A: I do! My title came about the same time as the characters (so yes, I had a title and a cast of characters before even knowing what this book was even going to be about). 'The Arrival of January' has always seemed like an extremely important title, before knowing exactly what January was arriving upon, and why she needed to arrive.  Its very interesting, really, how well this book fit its pieces together.
As for blurb...
eh.
its a rough one, and when written down on hand, took up a full page.  I can't do this blurb thing. help.

Q: What wordcount are you aiming for when your novel is finished?
A: um. I have literally no idea. hopefully more than 50K, because I would like to finish NaNo, but I can't see this particularly novel being incredibly long winded. 

Q: Sum up your novel in 3 sentences.
A: one beautiful tragedy.

Q: Sum up your characters in one word each.
A: Channer: Loyal
January: fairytale
Rio: prince
Ayla: bright

Q: Which character are you most excited to write? Tell us about them!
A: Oh definitely January! I really do love all four of them, but Janaury has a special pop that really clicks somewhere deep down inside me, like a sister in the house of joseph (raise your hand if you get that reference, btw).  January Jenkins is...remarkably unusual. After the death of her parents, she took to submersing herself into a fantasy world, and despite various therapists and medication, she remained determined to ignore reality, causing her brother, Channer, to realize that his sister's condition was self induced as a way she had chosen to cope with the world.
Years forward into her and Channer's adulthood, she's still just as reclusive and whimsy as before, and Channer has learned to accept his sister's decision to live half in, and half out, of the real world, and in fact, he could be given fault at encouraging.
What I love about January, is that at any time she could choose to wisen up and accept the world, but she's decided to see things differently, and even while being a young woman, she looks for fairies behind every flower and fern, and has a sort of childlike innocence that is so uncorrupted by reality.  January is a very competent young woman, but she only insists on staying happy in her own fantasy rather then let her heart be broken by the world. She's refreshing to me.

Q: What about your villain? Who is he, what is his goal?
A: actually, this is the first novel I have where there isn't a villain. If I had to say there was a 'villain', it would be an idea, not a man or a person.  Though, January and Channer's aunt is definitely evil too. 

Q: What is your protagonist’s goal? And what stands in the way?
 A: January's goal is happiness for Channer, she wants her brother to go on and grow wings and not be shackled down by her 'disability'.  But of course, her reluctance to let go of her fantasy/reality complex is forever going to stand in the way of Channer ever chasing his own dreams and desires for his life, because to him, his little sister always comes first.

Q: What inciting incident begins your protagonist’s journey?
A: meeting Rio is the beginning of January's 'arrival'. Meeting Rio and Ayla makes January realize that reality and the world, while sometimes terrible, must be experienced in order to be happy.  hurting is just as much a part of life as loving.

Q: Where is your novel set?
A: somewhere in the south. I'm thinking perhaps Alabama or Georgia?  I need sweet tea, cicada noise, lemonade, and peaches.

Q: What are three big scenes in your novel that change the game completely?
A: January being introduced to Rio,  Ayla and Channer's first date, and a scene towards the end that I can't disclose because, spoilers sweetie.

Q: What is the most dynamic relationship your character has? Who else do they come in contact with or become close to during the story?
A: January and Channer's relationship as a family is definitely the strongest. It shows a love that you can't get from anyone else but your close family.  As orphans that only had each other, they became each other's worlds, and tied themselves to each other so closely that it isn't at all surprising that later on, their dedication to one another became destructive towards their own happiness in life.

Q: How does your protagonist change by the end of the novel?
A:  she has opened up a lot to the world, to being hurt, and hurting others when its best for them in the long run.  She is less selfish with herself, and...she's finally willing to let free the person she had chained to her out of fear of losing that person.

Q: Do you have an ending in mind, or do you plan to see what happens?
A: oh yes I do.

Q: What are your hopes and dreams for your book? What impressions are you hoping this novel will leave on your readers and yourself? (This is your mission statement, one you can look back on when the road gets tough.)
A: is it shallow if I say I want to bring my readers to the highest pinnacle of grief, and then smash their hearts brutally on a rock with a flint hammer and sit back smiling?
hopes and dreams, I just want to break hearts.
sounds about right.
good lord I need a life.

Want to add me as a buddy on the NaNo site?  do so -->here<-- are="" buddy.="" i="" just="" know="" let="" me="" might="" nbsp="" not="" otherwise="" request="" return="" send="" the="" when="" who="" you="">

May the odds be ever in our favor this november!

Also, if you are interested, the pinterest board to TAoJ is open to any viewers who want a visual slice of the novel

I could use something poetic here, but its basically just a bunch of photography to hopefully convey what I've been doing lately

welcome to december in fl folks

ha. HA. finally got a few pictures of these two, who always enjoy being elusive when it comes to getting pictures of them.

taken in the governor's office indeed

dont ask

look! you get a picture of me!

so, between the mixes of these pictures, there is me reading William Shakespeare's Star Wars (given to me by this person. she's practically perfect in every which way), some random images I took at a Christmas Party my Dad's boss hosted (why yes, I was taking pictures instead of mingling and talking) and my family being tourists in our own state.

in case you were wondering, I did not suceed in winning NaNo. but, I'm not bummed about that.
I've been having far too much fun writing in my other novels (the ones I missed), particularly The 100 Year Queen, to be bummed about it.

Guys, this novel may be it.

I'm on chapter twelve, and 30K in. I write big chapters.
These cast of characters are some of my absolute favorites, and I really love pretty much everything about T100YQ. 
Particularly my Antagonist.
I think you are probably not supposed to love your bad guy figure, but its hard for me to not love Taj Roku, with his damaged soul, love for reptiles, and blue hair.
(i did just say blue hair. blue hair on a baddie. go bby)
Sometimes I think I might be losing touch with Taj's villainous side (probably the fault of the same beautiful person who gave my the Shakespeare star wars book who has become insisted an changing the 'bad and forever bad' view of him because she loves him more than the protagonist...) but then I think, "Really, Taj is only twenty-four. He hasn't had a whole life time to perfect being evil. And he doesn't think he is either. He thinks he is merely carrying on a political change while also seeking revenge for his brother's killer. He is still young, still mostly undefined. He is a villain that does not know a that he is the  antagonist of this story, and in truth, he is a villain that you could easily see yourself siding with because he is only so faintly bad"

and I guess I'm probably doing something right in the end after all. 

Taj won't be the next Voldemort, Darth Sidius, Galbatorix, or Morgoth. 

He is far too lukewarm and like able and human for that. 

Taj falls in love, Taj fails in love, Taj is a little boy who sasses his elders, and a young man with too much depending on his inexperienced shoulders. 

That is my Taj.

hold on while I grab some tissues.

back.

But I also love my hero (who behaves more like an anti-hero. I don't think I actually write real heroes. just anti-heroes), and my royal heroine. It's a lovely novel, I think, and I enjoy it immensely.

I've also been remembering to make sure I show my characters eating as well, and all writer's know the difficultly of being sure your characters aren't just...not eating and still being healthy, thriving people.

so, yes.
that is all.

(btw keep an eye out. I have something fun in the works)