Procrastinating
Nov. 6th, 2011 11:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altogetherisi is exactly what I am doing right now. By making this post, instead of writing for Nano.
I knew this would happen. This always happens - I get all excited, then it's anti-climactic, and I feel sad that I am not as awesome as I had hoped. I expect actually this happens to lots of people. Self, you are living through a montage the slow way. The awesome comes later. After you have worked to get there. Don't be disheartened, self.
Anyway, so far I have not written very much for Nano. Today, I am going to change tactics. I was trying to fill in chapter gaps, because atm what I have is mainly a string of scenes from Part 1, and hardly any Part 2 written at all. And most people doing Nano seem to start at the beginning and write forwards. But that just doesn't work for me, it's never worked for me, not creatively nor even writing essays or anything. My mind, she does not like being made to go forwards in a straight line. So. The new strategy is to continue to ignore the gaps in Part 1, unless I am actually inspired and passionate about writing them, and otherwise get stuck into writing as much of Part 2 as I possibly can.
Part 2 is more fun anyway. There is more magic, and running around, and sexual tension. (There is a lot of sitting around worrying and feeling uncomfortable with various things in Part 1. Gripping, I know.) The only problem is, right so. This story, The Misfit Witch, is told from two perspectives - we follow Tawn one chapter, and then Merticus, and then back to Tawn. But when I first planned it, Part 1, which is the first fifteen chapters, was going to be a first book, and now it isn't planned that way. Which, ha ha, means I now have Chapter 15 and Chapter 16 are both meant to be Tawn chapters, and I don't know whether I should find a way to switch two chapters over at some stage just to keep the pattern.
I nearly decide to do Part 2 flicking between Burg and Imlie instead of Tawn and Mert, but then after like an entire day of wondering if I could make that work I decided that no, actually, that was a completely stupid idea. Still tempted to throw in a couple of Lyrien following chapters at some point though. If only for the makeouts...
So. As soon as I finish this post, I'll get right on that...
The other thing about Nano is, I'm wondering about going to a local write in. I nearly went last week, but then I chickened out. I don't have social phobias the way some of my friends do, but I have been feeling a little more anxious and vulnerable about meeting new people at this point in my life, when it's kinda difficult to explain myself without telling them lots of quite personal information. Equally though, I think I could really use more reasons to get out of the house and speak to people face to face, so many of my friends are far away now. And also, I think I really do want to join in more with the community aspect of Nano, esp since that's what really sets it apart from just general fandom writers writing times. Also, my local is in an ice cream parlour I rather like, so that's a bonus :)
***
I finished the second ASOIAF book, A Clash of Kings - not sure yet whether I'll do a full review write up yet. Basically, I really enjoyed it, and was properly shocked at one death in particular. Favourite characters have shuffled slightly, so top three is now Arya, Tyrion and Sansa, but still much much love for, well, practically everyone except Joffrey basically, who I really want to stab. And I went through so many emotions with Theon, oh my gosh, his story this book was composed so well, I swung from disdain through disapproval and hate and pity and hope and bleak misery and sadness. I actually like Jaime and Cersai more now, I think because they weren't sneaking around anymore. I was losing interest in Dany a bit though, beyond laughing so much at the other characters talking about magic and the existence of dragons a lot. I hope something more interesting happens with her next book.
Next book, which I am going to get soon. Um, once I've hit 20K in my Nano. Yep.
***
I went to see The Help. I thought it was a good film, funny and fraught and a bit harrowing and breath taking at times.
I was a bit uncomfortable though because I didn't feel it was made clear which bits were fiction (ie, the vast majority) and what was real (ie, the backdrop and scenario) and also because I felt the white protag was using the black characters more to help herself than to help their situation. Which is obvious a very sensitive area, what you can do to help, what a single female individual could really do. What they were doing was presented as being so dangerously transgressive anyway. I can't really tell whether I'm frustrated that the film didn't go further as an artistic complaint, or whether what I'm really expressing here is a general frustration with the speed of civil rights progress. IDK.
But, as a film, it was well made, great acting. Apart from the primary story of the black/white racism and segregation, there was also quite a lot of male/female and middle class/working class barriers to examine, though again it was a little artificial and neat I suppose. It was also funnier than I had expected in parts. And, haha, at the beginning some of the Southern US accents were a little tricky to understand until you'd eased into it a bit. I mainly went for Emma Stone though, and on that front, I certainly wasn't disappointed. ILU Emma Stone.
I knew this would happen. This always happens - I get all excited, then it's anti-climactic, and I feel sad that I am not as awesome as I had hoped. I expect actually this happens to lots of people. Self, you are living through a montage the slow way. The awesome comes later. After you have worked to get there. Don't be disheartened, self.
Anyway, so far I have not written very much for Nano. Today, I am going to change tactics. I was trying to fill in chapter gaps, because atm what I have is mainly a string of scenes from Part 1, and hardly any Part 2 written at all. And most people doing Nano seem to start at the beginning and write forwards. But that just doesn't work for me, it's never worked for me, not creatively nor even writing essays or anything. My mind, she does not like being made to go forwards in a straight line. So. The new strategy is to continue to ignore the gaps in Part 1, unless I am actually inspired and passionate about writing them, and otherwise get stuck into writing as much of Part 2 as I possibly can.
Part 2 is more fun anyway. There is more magic, and running around, and sexual tension. (There is a lot of sitting around worrying and feeling uncomfortable with various things in Part 1. Gripping, I know.) The only problem is, right so. This story, The Misfit Witch, is told from two perspectives - we follow Tawn one chapter, and then Merticus, and then back to Tawn. But when I first planned it, Part 1, which is the first fifteen chapters, was going to be a first book, and now it isn't planned that way. Which, ha ha, means I now have Chapter 15 and Chapter 16 are both meant to be Tawn chapters, and I don't know whether I should find a way to switch two chapters over at some stage just to keep the pattern.
I nearly decide to do Part 2 flicking between Burg and Imlie instead of Tawn and Mert, but then after like an entire day of wondering if I could make that work I decided that no, actually, that was a completely stupid idea. Still tempted to throw in a couple of Lyrien following chapters at some point though. If only for the makeouts...
So. As soon as I finish this post, I'll get right on that...
The other thing about Nano is, I'm wondering about going to a local write in. I nearly went last week, but then I chickened out. I don't have social phobias the way some of my friends do, but I have been feeling a little more anxious and vulnerable about meeting new people at this point in my life, when it's kinda difficult to explain myself without telling them lots of quite personal information. Equally though, I think I could really use more reasons to get out of the house and speak to people face to face, so many of my friends are far away now. And also, I think I really do want to join in more with the community aspect of Nano, esp since that's what really sets it apart from just general fandom writers writing times. Also, my local is in an ice cream parlour I rather like, so that's a bonus :)
***
I finished the second ASOIAF book, A Clash of Kings - not sure yet whether I'll do a full review write up yet. Basically, I really enjoyed it, and was properly shocked at one death in particular. Favourite characters have shuffled slightly, so top three is now Arya, Tyrion and Sansa, but still much much love for, well, practically everyone except Joffrey basically, who I really want to stab. And I went through so many emotions with Theon, oh my gosh, his story this book was composed so well, I swung from disdain through disapproval and hate and pity and hope and bleak misery and sadness. I actually like Jaime and Cersai more now, I think because they weren't sneaking around anymore. I was losing interest in Dany a bit though, beyond laughing so much at the other characters talking about magic and the existence of dragons a lot. I hope something more interesting happens with her next book.
Next book, which I am going to get soon. Um, once I've hit 20K in my Nano. Yep.
***
I went to see The Help. I thought it was a good film, funny and fraught and a bit harrowing and breath taking at times.
I was a bit uncomfortable though because I didn't feel it was made clear which bits were fiction (ie, the vast majority) and what was real (ie, the backdrop and scenario) and also because I felt the white protag was using the black characters more to help herself than to help their situation. Which is obvious a very sensitive area, what you can do to help, what a single female individual could really do. What they were doing was presented as being so dangerously transgressive anyway. I can't really tell whether I'm frustrated that the film didn't go further as an artistic complaint, or whether what I'm really expressing here is a general frustration with the speed of civil rights progress. IDK.
But, as a film, it was well made, great acting. Apart from the primary story of the black/white racism and segregation, there was also quite a lot of male/female and middle class/working class barriers to examine, though again it was a little artificial and neat I suppose. It was also funnier than I had expected in parts. And, haha, at the beginning some of the Southern US accents were a little tricky to understand until you'd eased into it a bit. I mainly went for Emma Stone though, and on that front, I certainly wasn't disappointed. ILU Emma Stone.
