Showing posts with label Nano. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nano. Show all posts
Thursday, 6 December 2012
Post Nano Post
Nanowrimo? More like NanowriNO. I got off to a good start, especially considering the second day was Sports day so a bunch of the free time I had went up in smoke. But my progress after the holidays was practically nonexistent.
However, a mate suggested instead of a word count, to write for at least 30 minutes a day. He's doing some sort of grueling exercise regime for 30 minutes a day, so if we both stick at it, it'll be great. Again, it's only early days, but it is working so far. I should go back and read what I've already written soon, I've already forgotten the name of one of the two main antagonists already, and who knows what else.
My friends who were also doing nano also have piss poor word counts yet again, so at least I can take refuge in that I'm not alone at having little progress over November.
That's enough whingeing for now, on to writing!
Thursday, 1 November 2012
Mindful Writing Day - Small Stones
Today is the 1st of November, the start of Nano (got a grand down, but I am happy with that), and also meant to be Mindful Writing Day - which is for writing small stones. Here's my couple from today. The second one isn't very classy, but they don't have to always be happy and uplifting. And be glad I didn't find a picture to go with it, like I usually do!
*
Simple fare cooked with love, tastes better than a banquet.
*
Ropey tendrils of dribbling, glistening yellow snot
A guilty pleasure, squeezing the hanky so they squish moistly
Caramel mucus that sticks to porcelain as if fighting for its life
Make the most of sickness - find fun where you can!
*
Thursday, 5 January 2012
Tokenistic New Year News
Paradoxically, I do less writing when I'm on holidays. Since the amount of leisure time is greater, I spend more of it with Tho - not a bad thing in my mind at all. A fair chunk of my writing I do in down time at work, when the kids are at PE or after they've gone home. Obviously, that gave me little chance of completing Nano, but that's OK, I knew it was going to be the case. I still plan on finishing the story, by doing about 2K a week or so on it, a modest, manageable goal. I'm also looking around for more flash fiction things to try my hand at too, so if you know any sing out. And I also intend on doing some more short pieces off my own bat, thinking of my own ideas rather than just flailing around waiting on others to give me topics. Finally, I've started using various software for making lists and writing down ideas. I used to think they were a load of bollocks, but after trying a few, I've found them to be pretty useful.
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
Scenes from a Stellar Skirmish
Well, the less said about Nano the better. November is a rough month for free time, what with it being prime wedding season here. That doesn’t mean my book is dead and buried, it just means it’ll take longer.
Alliteration, that’s the challenge for this week. I wasn’t sure if it was meant to be just the title, or the whole shebang, so I figured it was safer to go with lots of alliteration. I’ve always been a fan of epic poems, which often tend to have quite a bit of alliteration in them. They’re writing in hard mode, as they’re often translations, so it can be tricky to stay true to the idea being expressed and find the right word to represent it.
I decided to go with space for my short story - a titchy wee one, as there’s quite a bit of alliteration going on. I’m neither Virgil nor a skald, and they tended to limit themselves to three repetitive sounds on a line, mixing it up with normal words too.
And since it’s space a space theme, I might as well throw in a nice picture, which has a special place in my heart. In Star Control 2, this is the main image we’re presented of the race of aliens called the Spathi. One of their pilots is called Snelopy, a name I liked so much I added an extra l to and took it as my own.
As always, the attackers approached from Andromeda. Sweeping silently through space, shields set, the squadron started to intercept. Descending on the dreadnoughts, determined to dispatch them... Flying in formation, fighters at the fore, with the frigates following - the foe failed to flee. Commands were cried out, combat codes cleared: crews at the ready.
We waited, weighing up the odds for our exact time to engage the enemy. My units mission: maneuver in amongst their ships, seeking to snare one before it was blasted to bits. Force fields fell to phaser cannons and concussion charges.
Time! Twenty troops touched down, hacking into the hull, hewing hunks off. Gaining egress, guns up, eyes guarded, we blasted bulkheads until they buckled. Klaxons clanged, interspersed with the chittering and clicking that made up their speech.
Finally, we faced our foes in the foredeck, vulcan cannons and the vacuum giving them vacant eyes, tentacles twitching as they twisted round the levers and lights that comprised their control panel. Proud of our prize, we hauled it into our hold and headed home, hyperdrive humming.
Alliteration, that’s the challenge for this week. I wasn’t sure if it was meant to be just the title, or the whole shebang, so I figured it was safer to go with lots of alliteration. I’ve always been a fan of epic poems, which often tend to have quite a bit of alliteration in them. They’re writing in hard mode, as they’re often translations, so it can be tricky to stay true to the idea being expressed and find the right word to represent it.
I decided to go with space for my short story - a titchy wee one, as there’s quite a bit of alliteration going on. I’m neither Virgil nor a skald, and they tended to limit themselves to three repetitive sounds on a line, mixing it up with normal words too.
And since it’s space a space theme, I might as well throw in a nice picture, which has a special place in my heart. In Star Control 2, this is the main image we’re presented of the race of aliens called the Spathi. One of their pilots is called Snelopy, a name I liked so much I added an extra l to and took it as my own.
<Picture lifted from http://www.star-control.com/hosted/happycamper/gifs/spathi.gif they pinched it from Star Control II. He is supposed to animate, but he's not doing so at the moment, and I'm running out of time to fiddle with it>
Scenes from a Stellar Skirmish
As always, the attackers approached from Andromeda. Sweeping silently through space, shields set, the squadron started to intercept. Descending on the dreadnoughts, determined to dispatch them... Flying in formation, fighters at the fore, with the frigates following - the foe failed to flee. Commands were cried out, combat codes cleared: crews at the ready.
We waited, weighing up the odds for our exact time to engage the enemy. My units mission: maneuver in amongst their ships, seeking to snare one before it was blasted to bits. Force fields fell to phaser cannons and concussion charges.
Time! Twenty troops touched down, hacking into the hull, hewing hunks off. Gaining egress, guns up, eyes guarded, we blasted bulkheads until they buckled. Klaxons clanged, interspersed with the chittering and clicking that made up their speech.
Finally, we faced our foes in the foredeck, vulcan cannons and the vacuum giving them vacant eyes, tentacles twitching as they twisted round the levers and lights that comprised their control panel. Proud of our prize, we hauled it into our hold and headed home, hyperdrive humming.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)