Yes, it's that phase of NaNoWriMo going on with me. I have managed to write over 15.000 words in November, and we have passed the 2/3 line, so I'm only some 15.000 words behind the schedule.
In spite of all my good plans and preparations, I'm stuck. I don't like my characters, and if I don't, who will?
It's really annoying, because I would LIKE to write books about all the things everyone else writes books at the moment; mythology, supernatural, superstitions, paranormal thingies... but I don't WANT to write about what everyone else is writing. :-(
It kind of doesn't cut it to say that "well, isn't there tons of romance novels too, and tons of fantasy, why not tons of novels of the paranormal, supernatural, mythical, magical and mystical?", it doesn't help telling myself that "It doesn't matter what anyone else writes, I'm the only one who can write what I write". I would LIKE to write something a little bit more original than that.
BTW; did you know that 10 years ago I didn't know there were romance novels about witches and vampires :-D I thought it was a novel thought, and that I might be able to write that. Perhaps, if I HAD written what I wanted to, 10 years ago. *sigh*
What was the 1st Paranormal Romance?
Isn't Dark Shadows and everything it bred a good candidate for that? How many of today's paranormal romance authors have actually seen and been influenced by the series? I think many...
Also, the curse of Mary Sue. I mean, we all write Mary Stus all the time, because we want to read about things that make us think about something else than our normal, boring lives, and we want to have a heroine who is smarter, prettier, more talented, more capable than everyday woman - especially me, who is not... well... I can't say "especially smart, because as far as I know and intelligence can be measured, I AM especially smart :-D Not that it's much help to me. If I am that smart, writing a book shouldn't be a big problem, don't you think? But obviously it is.
It really shouldn't, because I can whip up a character, interesting but not Mary Sue, at any moment, and create this character a whole family, and neighbors with families, inhabit whole villages with imaginary people.
I can write dialogue, and I think it sounds ok.
I have ideas about stories, histories, storylines, and what nots. I can invent ten things, give my characters goals, fears, hopes and needs, that lead from one point to another...
I can also easily write a synopsis. It might not be an interesting synopsis, but a synopsis that says with a couple of words what the story is all about. Maybe that's my problem...
I have read so many times "kill your darlings", "avoid Mary Sues", "avoid purple prose", "keep it simple, keep it short", "if you can say it with one word, why use two" and so on and so forth, so that I keep killing and simplifying and peeling and trying to say with one word everything, so in the end I have only a handful of words, that are enough to tell the whole story... but it's not a novel. It's a synopsis.
Maybe I should do the opposite... try to write purple prose, Mary Sues and revive my "darlings"...
It was a dark and stormy night...
1 comment:
Oh, darling, you have such harsh expectations of yourself - just write, don't THINK so much. 50k of purple prose and revived darlings are fine during NaNoWriMo, really. You are not writing for the approval of others or to prove anything to anyone but yourself. And the only thing you have to prove to yourself is that you CAN write 50k of fictional prose. Truly.
<3
H
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