National Novel Writing Month

Sian

Life is better than death, I believe, if only because it is less boring, and because it has fresh peaches in it. - Alice Walker

Quote of the Day/Week/Millenium:

I would rather have a nod from an American, than a snuff-box from an emperor. ~Lord Byron

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.

About me

Name: Sian
I paint, write, and dance. Also cook vegetarian food.

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Friday, 14 October 2005

National Novel Writing Month

I've started working on the background for the novel I'm allegedly going to write next month. The research, the outline, the character's histories and backgrounds. Don't worry. I'm not breaking any rules; I can do as much as I want, but I can't put any of it directly into the finished project.

I've decided to write a thriller. 50,000 thrilling words in one month... A monumentally stupid idea, but what can I say? I need a cheap distraction.

And as usual, I'm having an impossible time choosing names for these imaginary people. At least, the important ones. I came up with seven names for seven corpses in about fifteen minutes, but name the serial killer? Impossible. Also, having trouble coming up with the protagonist's name. After all, a dead body is a page and a half, a murderer is forever. I'm sure that eventually, I have to name them. This would be one of the reasons that I should never, ever, have children. Children last a lot longer than a month, and I can't even name someone who doesn't exist, and who I only have to deal with for a month.

I'm working on an outline. It's a Write a Novel in a Month outline, which more or less involves dividing the story into 30 parts so that I can focus on just one part of it each day of the month. I think I've come up with about four plot points. So, just twenty six of them to go.

The difference between a thriller and a mystery, though is very clear in my mind. A thriller begins where the mystery quits being a mystery. Once you know who's doing the killing, you can either arrest him and call it the end, or you can let him wander around for thirty days and call it a novel.