NaNoEdMo progress - 03/03

[wordwhacker]

Editing. More like, "re-working from the ground up". But that's a form of editing, right?

... Right?

I did an hour of editing work today, though I didn't touch my original prose. Instead, I took a long, hard look at the aliens and all of the plot holes that sprouted up around them.

I've lovingly referred to them as my "Random Aliens". They were great for NaNoWriMo. Need a plot point? Throw in an alien! But in the end they felt empty; they didn't have a well-defined purpose, or organizational structure, or clear intelligence. They were just... random aliens. They weren't very menacing, as a result, which made the "suspense" of the story flop.

So they've been re-worked (though they need a bit more attention before I'll be completely happy with them). My next project is a related one - to come up with some rhyme and reason to their technology and how it works (in relation to their physiology, which has changed slightly in the re-vamp), and how their mothership is laid out. That'll give me a better idea of how the stow-aways manage to dodge detection, and how to handle the "oh no! Paul is captive!" situation. (Yay, I get to make lame layout drawings!)


Progress: 01:00 / 50:00


I'm settling in for an hour of editing... with any luck I'll update again before the night's out. If I, y'know, actually edit any.

Comments

[half-double.livejournal.com]

::snicker:: That is a very NaNo thing. "Oh, no! I'm stuck. Oooh...aliens..." Good luck with the reworking.

"Random Aliens" would be a good band name.

[cassaclyzm.livejournal.com]

You know, now that I've said it, I'm going to have to have Casey have a line of dialogue at some point where she says something like, "I don't know, it was a... a... random alien!"

I mean, heck, I'm writing kids' SF, so I'm not too worried about the hard science merit of my Random Aliens and their mysterious ways. But, um, they do have to make SOME sort of sense - which, at the moment, they sort of, um, don't. (Actually, the worst thing is the fact that the only reason they don't *catch* my 12-year-olds is that I don't write it happening.)

[storyfish.livejournal.com]

ooh! Cass is writing kids' scifi! That makes me want to say "eee!" and jump around, even though my roomies will think I'm nuts. Crapit, I'll do it anyway. ;-)

A chapter a week is due for my novel workshop from now till the end of the semester. I've got 24 pages written so far and 50-70 pages of plotting and characerization done. Eeek! I shoulda done NaNo, then I wouldn't be so dreadfully almost-behind all the time now. ;-) Heehee, naaah, I'll just procrastinate and sketch more illustration layouts.

[cassaclyzm.livejournal.com]

A chapter a week, eh? (Almost typed "weak". Can we tell I'm thinking about my own writing? ;-) How long will it be by the end, word count wise?

I'm having soooo much fun with this silly story. The narrative is a bit bouncy at the moment and seems to be acting like a somewhat biased omniscient 3rd person. I don't know how much more grounded it will get by the time I'm done, but I like to think that kids have mushy, playdough-like brains that are begging to be moulded, so I might stick with something a bit less traditional than normal. ;-)

It probably helps that I originally thought up this story when I was 13, eh? I never, ever thought I'd pick it up and finish it 8 years later!

[storyfish.livejournal.com]

You know, I have no clue. It'll be done when it's done. But seeing as it's my first novel, I doubt it'll be much more than 150-200 pages. ;-)

And biased 3rd person omniscient is SO AWESOME!! Can we say Lemony Snicket? Hell yeah!

Heehee, my story might as well be written by a thirteen year old...but I just came up with the idea this year. More like, it evolved out of something completely different. But that's the best way... Except, of course, writing a story idea you thought up at 13. Which is a sure winner because you KNOW it'll appeal to a younger audience. ;-)