Monsters Within aka Ghost Plantation or NaNoWriMo 2009 Tuesday, Dec 1 2009

I finally finished my latest opus! I know there are a few plot holes and I’m confused about whether I wrote a section or only dreamt it. Since I have not read over my own work, I have no idea if it’s any good. As far as I know, there hasn’t been anyone who has actually read any of it so far. I’m not whining, just letting anyone who does eventually read this why there may be some glaring problems with this manuscript/rough first draft.

As for the title, I finally settled on Monsters Within. Perhaps once people start reading it, someone will offer a better title.

To download the full manuscript, click on the cover image below.

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NaNoWriMo small update Tuesday, Nov 17 2009

Last night was shot for writing. I had a feeling breaking off when I did for two whole days may have been a mistake. I feel like I’ve lost some momentum. Part of the problem is how to make the discovery of Melissa’s body dramatic or tense without making it too cliche. I don’t know that I will succeed, but there it is. Here’s the rest of the last chapter from my last posting:

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NaNoWriMo: Day 11 Chapter 7 Thursday, Nov 12 2009

So I forgot my flash card with my WIP on it at work yesterday. I had to try and work from memory from where I thought might have left off. I actually did pretty well. I only forgot about one line that I was in the middle of when I left work yesterday. I am writing my third death scene ever. I almost forgot about last year’s NaNoWriMo novel and my first published short story. By published, I mean it was printed in my high school’s literary journal. Anyway, here is the next chapter.Click on the more link to read it.

I’d love to hear from anyone who may be reading this in full. I’ve kind of given up on having anyone read any of my novels from beginning to end. After all, they are extremely rough drafts, so I don’t blame my family for not wanting to read the stuff.

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NaNoWriMo Day 10 Tuesday, Nov 10 2009

NaNoWriMo is progressing fairly well. I am ahead of schedule at the moment by a day. My goal is to be two days ahead by Friday, so I can take the weekend off and work on some crochet projects I’ve got lined up for Christmas.

For any of you who are following this year’s story click on the more tab to read the rest of the story. Any of you interested in reading the first part click here.

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NaNoWriMo 2009! Monday, Nov 9 2009

I have been plugging away at my contribution for National Novel Writing Month since November 1, and just now I’m getting around to posting about it!

I doubt anyone is interested in actually reading this thing at this point, but I will add the text here nonetheless.

The working title is pretty lame, but it is only a place holder after all, Ghost Plantation. I haven’t come up with anything better yet, unfortunately. I’m sure something will come to me before too much longer. I am currently right on track even though I wanted to be two days ahead. Oh well, if I finish my word count for today, I will be at least one day ahead.

This year’s story is also based on a dream I had a while back. I don’t remember the dream too well only that there was a plantation and a mist and rich kids in danger. The story then that I came up with goes something like this:

Two siblings, Cameron and Alexia, rich New England types, travel to a South Carolina resort for two weeks vacation thanks their grandparents, except when they were nearly there they discovered their reservations had been moved. They are now staying at The Plantation Hotel. An old converted plantation. Their rich friends start arriving to spend the two weeks with them, Becca and Carrie, Alexia’s friends, Adrian and Frank, Cameron’s friends and Amanda, Cameron’s girlfriend. The sibs meet Susannah, the hotel owner’s daughter when they arrive. They’re trapped by a storm. There’s no concern until some of the guests start going missing in this dense unfathomable fog. Is there something out in the fog or is there a killer among the guests? I don’t know yet, maybe it’s both.

For those mildly interested click the more tab to read the first few chapters:

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Dreams and memories Friday, Jun 19 2009

Artist: Ralph I Steeds

Have you ever had a memory surface, and for the briefest of moments you could swear it was a real memory, or snippet from some book or movie you’d just enjoyed?  Once the moment is over, though, you realize the memory was actually from a dream.  This happens to me all the time.  Sometimes, my dreams are about people at work and everyday sort of things.  When they are that ordinary it takes a little time to realize that the events I so clearly remember never actually happened, I had only dreamed it.  The memories/dreams that bother me the most are those where I’ve had a fight with my husband but only in my dream.  I wake up very angry with him, and there’s nothing I can do about it.  After all, in the real world he had done nothing wrong.

Most of my dreams tend toward the fantastical, though.  These are the dream memories I think are a part of a book or movie.  I tend to come to the realization that it was only a dream with a slight sense of loss.  The fact that it was only a usually means I will never be able to revisit that world or find out what happens.  Of course, if I had the luxury of sitting down and writing out my dreams the moment I wake up, I could maybe learn more about the world my subconscious has created.

For a long time now, I’ve been hoping to have another one of those dreams that would be interesting enough to perform a writing experiment.  I’ve tried to write up my dreams before in order to develop a story (for snippets you need only look through this blog’s previous posts) but I have a terrible time translating them to paper.  This is usually because I’ve left too long before I put pen to paper, but mostly because I try to force the dream to follow a linear narrative.  I want to try and write up my next dream the way I remember it with the twists and turns and changes in identity that is so common in dreams.

I’m curious if anyone else has had this or a similar experience.  I’d love to hear from you to reassure myself I’m not alone in this!

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International Diplomacy story Friday, Feb 27 2009

I had a dream recently that was really awesome.  I could picture this international political drama making a great movie especially with the renewed role that diplomacy has attained with the Obama Administration.  I am treating this post as a way to get my ideas down for later research and expansion into perhaps a novel.  I apologize in advance if this post seems disjointed as a consequence.

My story takes place at an international diplomats conference (don’t know if these things exist so obviously some research is needed) where my protag, a young Indian woman or perharps from somewhere in the Middle East, is a junior diplomat attending this conference perhaps for the first time.  She believes that diplomacy can make a difference with all the vigor of someone who is either very naive or very young or both.  She meets with an older diplomat, who has been discredited or at least is no longer listened to.  He (second protag) has an idea on how to solve a particular crisis in an imaginary country that is in turmoil from either a civil war or an invading country.  He believes he could trick on particular dictator by playing on his vanities or sense of irony into providing support in ending the conflict.  I remember my main protag (I need to research names!) trying to sell this idea to the senior members of her delegation with all this awesome diplomat speak.  I am so bummed that I cannot remember what it was she said.  Anyway, she manages to sell the idea.  They start to put the plan together and are executing it.  Phone calls are being made, information is being gathered.  My main protag is in her element, she is totally jazzed.  Unfortunately, this is when the alarm goes off.

I’m thinking there needs to be an expansion on these few scenes.  Right now it’s just a short story really.  I could get maybe 25k-30k words.  I’m thinking I can add a few hurdles and twists into the situation.  The main focus though will be on my two protags, one being redeemed the other growing up with the crisis as a back drop.  I will have to do a lot of research on this before I can even start.  I know nothing about the UN, diplomats, international crises, dictators or small African or Middle Eastern nations real or imagined.  I don’t know enough about how women are viewed in diplomatic circles, or how a woman from that region would reach the level of diplomat.  I have to admit I am daunted by the task in front of me, but I am a little thrilled with the idea.  Wish me luck!

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Waiting [update] Friday, Nov 28 2008

Waiting for my car right now. I know I promised I would post Eyes in the Dark yesterday but I have been stalling. I wanted to rewrite the battle scene and the ending is rather abrupt and maybe a little too open. I’m afraid there isn’t a sequel either. Once I’m done here I’ll go ahead and post as is. Maybe I will finally get some feedback and I’ll go from there.

Update: I posted Eyes in the Dark on my Books page along with my first novel.

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I Did It! Wednesday, Nov 26 2008

I finished my NaNoWriMo novel.  Just now. Not two minutes ago!

I am so freaking thrilled!

I will post the complete text tomorrow.

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Eyes in the Dark progress Sunday, Nov 23 2008

I will not be posting anymore progress segments of Eyes in the Dark. I am on the home stretch now, and am finding myself going back and inserting stuff in things I’ve already posted. So, in the interest of continuity, I will post the entire finished product under the Books page. I have about 9500+ words to go right now to finish NaNoWriMo. Hopefully, I can also finish the story within that number of words. I don’t know if that will be the case right now. I am sorry if anyone is trying to read it here, but won’t it be such a relief to have it all at once?

Anyway, I’m making great progress right now. My goal is to get as close to 50k as I can today, so next week I can concertrate on Thanksgiving and making Christmas gifts.

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