Begin Again

So, the time has come for NaNoWriMo again. Last year I finally made it to 50,000, after three years of trying. This year I, like the lovely Whit, feel the pressure of Broadside bearing down on my usual time allotment for novel writing. Not to mention the rest of my work and orgs. However, I'm aiming to make it again. It seems crazy, but I am determined to make another go at it.

It's three days into NaNoWriMo and I must admit, ashamedly, that I am already behind. Though there are no excuse, I do have somewhat of an excuse. Half way through the first page I came to the realization that my main character, who was dodging an exploded asteroid shell, was a useless idiot. So I decided to kill him off. Needless to say, the situation he was in made it extremely easy, and nothing bloats word count like senseless violence (with the exception, so I'm told, of random sex scenes) so it didn't turn out too badly. I put in a new main character, created a magic mineral used for fuel named (pitifully) petroid (I am really really bad at making up names) and figured out the novel's central conflict. Or at least, the central conflict for now. I'm sure that something else will come along.

I abandoned my original novel idea, because, while a cool concept, it had no people. Literally. The idea involved a post-apocalyptic world where mankind had mutated into brainless demon monsters and were kept in check by a fleet of robots that were coordinated by some central mind thingie. It was a cool idea, but I did the list from the No Plot, No Problem and realized that robots don't really have complex political plots nor backstab. It goes without saying that brainless demons don't either. Since I like both those things, I nixed the idea and just started writing instead. Not really sure where we're going from here, but I do know it will involve a split in political powers, some sort of race for minerals and location, and… I don't know… aliens?

 

Also, on a completely random note, just in case this post looks as if it was formatted by a illiterate, for the first time I am attempting to post to blogger using Word 2007's Blog Publishing mode. Go figure. This will be its field test!

 

Because I'm a wrathful person, I will now force you to read an excerpt from the unholy crapshoot that is my insta-novel. I swear to god, I normally write with a level of skill… really!

"Sir, I heard that the Empire has switched their focus? That they don't think there is anything worth having out here. I heard they sent sleeper ships out across the Velokahn Expanse to the next spiral arm. Is there any way I can get on one of those?"

"Son," the Pastor began. "Your Emperor has placed you out here for a reason, that reason is still true and valid, otherwise the emperor would have recalled you. Do you not believe this is true?"

"Well yes, but," Eirin replied with a stutter.

"Then your god has given you a decree and it would be presumptuous to think that you can do better."