Category Archives: Writing – General
NaNoWriMo Check-in Day 23!
Just a little video to check in with all my fellow Nanos and see how everyone is doing.
Vision of Escaflowne
It’s an older anime from 1996. A great story, awesome Mecha designs and killer music from Yoko Kanno (who also did stellar music for Macros Plus). The first soundtrack disc that was released was titled “Over the Sky” It’s been a huge help for me in writing my Nano project.
If you’re an anime fan & haven’t seen this series, do yourself a favour & check it out!
Nanowrimo Day11 Update
So it’s now day 11 or Nanowrimo.
When I first mentioned I was going to be joining the insanity, I had quite a few doubts about being able to accomplish it. In fact, if I’m totally honest, I figured I’d be washed out before today. But guess what, I’m on track!
Today’s goal was to be at 18,333 words. I’m at 18,524. I know, not way ahead, but still, ahead. I’ve sat my butt in the chair and wrote new words every single day. Something I have never done before. And every single time I sat down, I had something in mind to write, so I didn’t spend hours staring at a blank screen and give up.
In fact, I’ve written more words on this work than I accomplished in the first four months of The Veil.
So I’m on track and feeling good. This book is going to be longer than 50,000 words, but I’ll have at least that before the end of Nanowrimo, I’m sure of it.
So that’s my quick check-in. I’ll do some more as I go. Wish me luck!
And if you’re doing Nanowrimo too, good luck to you 
Naming Characters
First off… Happy Halloween!
But that also means tomorrow is November 1st. Nanowrimo begins!
I’ve dubbed the month of October Nanoplamo – National Novel Planning Month. For the entire month I haven’t written any new words on a story, I have only laid out scenes and built character profiles. But I came across a large obstacle in my plans; Naming Characters.
This issue was odd to me. In the past, I’ve had a pretty easy time naming characters. Baby name sites are really handy in this regard. I typically search the site by name meaning and then choose the name that feels right.
I started my naming tasks the same way with this book. But no matter how many various sites I visited, I just couldn’t find anything that felt right. My story this time is a fantasy novel, and the names just felt too plain. Which, I suppose since they exist to name a kid in our modern world is kind of the point. But that left my usual source out, so I went searching for another way.
A Google search produced a list of random fantasy naming engines. Most are pretty simple, you just choose a sex for the character and let it rip. But I was never satisfied with the names. Most just felt like hollow names formed from a random arrangement of vowels and consonants (which I think is exactly how they work).
Not good enough. I like my names to have meaning.
So I started looking at names of different angels and deities. Meh, been there, done that. Nothing jumped out at me.
Then I seized upon a new idea. I Googled Online Translator. Naturally, Google presented its own version at http://translate.google.com/. But this worked surprisingly well.
I entered in English an attribute that I associated strongly with the character. Then I translated it into the 63 different languages available.
Here’s the cool thing. While the translator shows you the word written in that language’s native alphabet, you can click on a symbol at the bottom right that will show it spelled out phonetically in a Latin alphabet. A lot of the translations even offer a button that you can hear the word pronounced.
I’ve managed to name most of my characters this way. What I like is that it is still “fantasy” sounding, but it has meaning in our modern world. And that meaning is tied directly to the characters themselves.
If you’re stuck for a unique sounding name, I recommend giving it a try!
Letting Go of Reality…
While The Veil contains fantastical elements, it is set in our modern world. So I haven’t had to create physics or biology. I’ve had to keep a lot of the story rooted in reality so the reader can buy into it. But I realise this has created a problem.
My new work that I’m prepping for Nanowrimo is a fantasy set in another world. But I’m still thinking in terms of how machines work, how we fuel our vehicles, how our own history in Medieval society functioned. I realised last night that I’m severely limiting myself.
I don’t have a lot of experience in world-building. It’s also starting to dawn on me that I haven’t exercised my childhood imagination since, uh, childhood.
What a horrible thing we let go of. I watch my youngest son who is unhampered by my adult weight of bills, parenthood, social graces, etc. To him, no world is too far away, no imagining embarrassing or too outlandish. I really need to get back to that. I want this book to fill readers with a sense of wonder and joy. Actually, I think even more than that, I want it to make me feel that way.
I suspect that this is the only way to make this story work. And I am desperate to make it work. As much as The Veil felt like the right book to write, this one feels like the book I must write. But it’ll only happen if I let go.
Nano Project