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Drive-by NaNo update
Nov. 4th, 2015 09:01 pm7,000-odd words so far. If you ever find yourself thinking, "You know, for NaNo, I should write historical fiction whose main character is from a culture other than my own" ... well, it might actually work out for you.
The advantage of NaNo is that you don't have the luxury of sitting around being paralysed by all the things you don't know, and just writing helps narrow down the things you need to learn. And, for example, no matter how much you might want to print out a series of incredibly detailed maps of the Hoddle Grid c1910, then annotate them based on archives of The Argus until they're more or less current to 1924, those shenanigans will just have to wait until December.
Helpfully, my main character is no longer the nebulous blob of vague likability and stereotypical spunkiness she was when I first had this idea. I mean, she's still not what you'd call multi-dimensional, but this is Draft Zero, a chance to outline, get to know the characters and see where the plot takes them. (You could call it Outlining Via Pantsing.) She's getting there, and so am I.
*
Other updates:
- I've worked out that the terrible nerve pain I've been getting in my hands for the last few weeks is psychosomatic and stress related. I've turned into the Mrs Bennet of legal assistants.
I have a job interview on Friday, which I won't discuss in a public post except to say that, while it looks like an interesting role, the potential for dysfunction is quite high, so this is much about me interviewing the employer as vice versa.
- Aldi's $5 rosé is indeed excellent.
- Mary S. Lovell's book on the opium wars is informative and often entertaining, but also full of patently untrue statements, like "nobody in this day and age is still angry about British imperialism." Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ...
(I was going to say, has she even met Tumblr, but aside from the strong likelihood that the answer is no, I will never forget the post about Empress Dowager Cixi that said she was a terrible and problematic leader because she refused to let the British take control of China.)
- today I bought milk that was already sour, and cheese that was already going off, and earbuds that just plain didn't work. I am possibly cursed. Although I exchanged the earbuds with no dramas, so maybe it's just random bad luck that's mainly attributable to a probable overnight fridge failure.
The advantage of NaNo is that you don't have the luxury of sitting around being paralysed by all the things you don't know, and just writing helps narrow down the things you need to learn. And, for example, no matter how much you might want to print out a series of incredibly detailed maps of the Hoddle Grid c1910, then annotate them based on archives of The Argus until they're more or less current to 1924, those shenanigans will just have to wait until December.
Helpfully, my main character is no longer the nebulous blob of vague likability and stereotypical spunkiness she was when I first had this idea. I mean, she's still not what you'd call multi-dimensional, but this is Draft Zero, a chance to outline, get to know the characters and see where the plot takes them. (You could call it Outlining Via Pantsing.) She's getting there, and so am I.
*
Other updates:
- I've worked out that the terrible nerve pain I've been getting in my hands for the last few weeks is psychosomatic and stress related. I've turned into the Mrs Bennet of legal assistants.
I have a job interview on Friday, which I won't discuss in a public post except to say that, while it looks like an interesting role, the potential for dysfunction is quite high, so this is much about me interviewing the employer as vice versa.
- Aldi's $5 rosé is indeed excellent.
- Mary S. Lovell's book on the opium wars is informative and often entertaining, but also full of patently untrue statements, like "nobody in this day and age is still angry about British imperialism." Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ...
(I was going to say, has she even met Tumblr, but aside from the strong likelihood that the answer is no, I will never forget the post about Empress Dowager Cixi that said she was a terrible and problematic leader because she refused to let the British take control of China.)
- today I bought milk that was already sour, and cheese that was already going off, and earbuds that just plain didn't work. I am possibly cursed. Although I exchanged the earbuds with no dramas, so maybe it's just random bad luck that's mainly attributable to a probable overnight fridge failure.
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