30,000 Untoadish Words
17/11/2012 12:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
izmeinaThis serpent is amused when thinking of the rituals for this year’s nanowrimo adventure.
In order to save the hassle of shuffling twice, decided in early 2011 to kill two birds with one stone. So went and bought two 200 page spiral notebooks. One for 2011 and one for this year
So this cheapskate serpent shuffled one deck. 22 chapters and 4 cards per chapter with each group returned to the deck. Sometimes would work in batches of 3 in order to guarantee that the same cards would not turn up twice
In order to save time and effort in November when every minute is precious, had devoted two pages per card of the spiral notebook to the 88 randomly shuffled cards. The point of this exercise was to have somewhere to squiggle unplugged when out and about and away from a decent keyboard such as on the annual visit to the garden festival down south or at various nano write ins
But there was not one but two spiral notebooks. While the first was randomly drawn, the second was going to consist of exactly the same sequence but with a different deck. Aside from sheer laziness it would be an interesting experiment. A picture paints a thousand words so what sort of story would the Dark Grimoire deliver in comparison to the original Victorian Romantic deck (which was just perfect for a story about gardens and all sorts of green goodness)
After 8 weeks or so (this ritual being usually reserved for Thursdays and Fridays) had gotten through all 22 chapters. In both cases would take a quick glance of each set of four cards and find some story line to link them all together. Promptly put away the second set and forgot all about them until this September.
Without looking at the original inspiration this serpent started on the second ritual which proved to produce much better results than the first. Instead of trying to find connecting threads within each set of four cards would simply attempt to link each card with the one before and the one after as well as to the general theme of the chapter it found itself in. This worked wonders last year and is at the peak of its powers in late September/ Early October
The main advantage of producing this stash of 88 index cards with 3 possible scenes on each was that it solved the problem of What happens next? Writer’s block was now a thing of the distant past.
This year was able to use last year’s set of cards and just flip them over and write on the other side with different coloured ink.
So now we have the map. Let’s see how it compares to the territory.
It did not take long at all for some serious deviations. That’s what the serpent gets for bringing a certain character out of retirement. He got banished from last year’s nanowrimo for taking over the whole story in the previous year when he was meant to be merely a bit player. Figured that he is just the sort of person who would feel at home on the board of directors of a company where psychopathic traits are part of the selection criteria
He’s hardly two minutes on the board and he already wants to be Chairman and CEO. That would not be a problem but for the minor matter of a certain toadish creature being totally left out in the cold. She was supposed to be the star of this show. She was the inspiration in the first place. So what does this serpent find? In spite of this significant fact, she has made little more than a token entrance as some sad and pathetic bit player.
Got the tone of the company just perfect. After four years this serpent has no problem channeling these filthy stinking evil goblins. But poor old Dolores has a serious case of relevance deprivation
In real life this could be a good thing. Since the visit down south the goblin drama has become ancient history that no longer has the power to invoke emotions of murderous rage or despair. The old toad has officially become a persona non grata. Dear old Dr Richelieu Hegelreich seems to have become a sort of substitute and most suitable he is indeed. He is Mr Megatherion to the bone. The very incarnation of those ever so precious Megatherion values of respect and integrity and the rest that are best left not mentioned for obvious reasons ;)
Aside from the serious inspiration down south in the kitschiest cafe on the planet which clocked up a good 8,500 words in only two days, been plodding along steadily.
When inspiration fails, there is always the option of resorting to the dark abyss - the cards that did not have the odds in their favour - the ones that did not appear in the original random shuffle
Will just go through them one at a time in a separate chapter and write whatever comes to mind. This little ritual has so often kick started a spluttering story engine. Scored some 3,500 words so far and it has proven to be a veritable gold mine of ideas
Poor old Dolores. 16 days before she finally got her 15 minutes of fame. Would it surprise anyone to know that it was the Queen of Swords that provided the inspiration?
Here’s hoping there will be a lot because poetic justice demands a word count of 66,666 words. Give or take that last 66 of course
The story has taken off in a wildly different direction to that dictated by the 270 something possibilities listed on the set of 88 index cards. But that does not really matter. They are meant merely as a map of last resort. If the territory turns out to be different then it means that the inner serpent has been hard at work delivering the goods
The only regret at this stage is not being able to conduct the experiment of writing a nano novel without the aid of those indispensable Devil’s decks
In order to save the hassle of shuffling twice, decided in early 2011 to kill two birds with one stone. So went and bought two 200 page spiral notebooks. One for 2011 and one for this year
So this cheapskate serpent shuffled one deck. 22 chapters and 4 cards per chapter with each group returned to the deck. Sometimes would work in batches of 3 in order to guarantee that the same cards would not turn up twice
In order to save time and effort in November when every minute is precious, had devoted two pages per card of the spiral notebook to the 88 randomly shuffled cards. The point of this exercise was to have somewhere to squiggle unplugged when out and about and away from a decent keyboard such as on the annual visit to the garden festival down south or at various nano write ins
But there was not one but two spiral notebooks. While the first was randomly drawn, the second was going to consist of exactly the same sequence but with a different deck. Aside from sheer laziness it would be an interesting experiment. A picture paints a thousand words so what sort of story would the Dark Grimoire deliver in comparison to the original Victorian Romantic deck (which was just perfect for a story about gardens and all sorts of green goodness)
After 8 weeks or so (this ritual being usually reserved for Thursdays and Fridays) had gotten through all 22 chapters. In both cases would take a quick glance of each set of four cards and find some story line to link them all together. Promptly put away the second set and forgot all about them until this September.
Without looking at the original inspiration this serpent started on the second ritual which proved to produce much better results than the first. Instead of trying to find connecting threads within each set of four cards would simply attempt to link each card with the one before and the one after as well as to the general theme of the chapter it found itself in. This worked wonders last year and is at the peak of its powers in late September/ Early October
The main advantage of producing this stash of 88 index cards with 3 possible scenes on each was that it solved the problem of What happens next? Writer’s block was now a thing of the distant past.
This year was able to use last year’s set of cards and just flip them over and write on the other side with different coloured ink.
So now we have the map. Let’s see how it compares to the territory.
It did not take long at all for some serious deviations. That’s what the serpent gets for bringing a certain character out of retirement. He got banished from last year’s nanowrimo for taking over the whole story in the previous year when he was meant to be merely a bit player. Figured that he is just the sort of person who would feel at home on the board of directors of a company where psychopathic traits are part of the selection criteria
He’s hardly two minutes on the board and he already wants to be Chairman and CEO. That would not be a problem but for the minor matter of a certain toadish creature being totally left out in the cold. She was supposed to be the star of this show. She was the inspiration in the first place. So what does this serpent find? In spite of this significant fact, she has made little more than a token entrance as some sad and pathetic bit player.
Got the tone of the company just perfect. After four years this serpent has no problem channeling these filthy stinking evil goblins. But poor old Dolores has a serious case of relevance deprivation
In real life this could be a good thing. Since the visit down south the goblin drama has become ancient history that no longer has the power to invoke emotions of murderous rage or despair. The old toad has officially become a persona non grata. Dear old Dr Richelieu Hegelreich seems to have become a sort of substitute and most suitable he is indeed. He is Mr Megatherion to the bone. The very incarnation of those ever so precious Megatherion values of respect and integrity and the rest that are best left not mentioned for obvious reasons ;)
Aside from the serious inspiration down south in the kitschiest cafe on the planet which clocked up a good 8,500 words in only two days, been plodding along steadily.
When inspiration fails, there is always the option of resorting to the dark abyss - the cards that did not have the odds in their favour - the ones that did not appear in the original random shuffle
Will just go through them one at a time in a separate chapter and write whatever comes to mind. This little ritual has so often kick started a spluttering story engine. Scored some 3,500 words so far and it has proven to be a veritable gold mine of ideas
Poor old Dolores. 16 days before she finally got her 15 minutes of fame. Would it surprise anyone to know that it was the Queen of Swords that provided the inspiration?
Here’s hoping there will be a lot because poetic justice demands a word count of 66,666 words. Give or take that last 66 of course
The story has taken off in a wildly different direction to that dictated by the 270 something possibilities listed on the set of 88 index cards. But that does not really matter. They are meant merely as a map of last resort. If the territory turns out to be different then it means that the inner serpent has been hard at work delivering the goods
The only regret at this stage is not being able to conduct the experiment of writing a nano novel without the aid of those indispensable Devil’s decks
