Beautiful People - Holiday Edition

I think that this month, since it's the first "real" book that I've ever written by myself, I'll focus on writing about my NaNo book so the questions will be focused on that. :)
My main character's name is Lainey.

1. What kind of holidays do they celebrate, if any?
I almost always have the Christmas season in my books. If there's not Christmas, there's usually one of the other major holidays, such as Easter or Fourth of July. There always has to be some sort-of holiday in my book because it just adds spice to the book.

In Lainey's book, there is a Christmas season, and a couple of birthdays that are celebrated.

2. What are they most thankful for?

I think that Lainey is most thankful for the family and friends that she has been blessed with. She knows that she couldn't live without them & that they were given to her for a reason.

3. Do they have any family traditions?

Hmmm....well, her family gets together on Christmas day to exchange gifts and have a large lunch together. In the story, her brother, Kent and his wife Kaelyn, had just had a baby, so it was something fun to add to the story - having a baby around at Christmastime.

4. What is their most memorable holiday memory?

Mostly just having the time to spend with her family & being able to be with them during the season.

5. What is the most memorable gift they have ever received?

Lainey would say it was her guitar. She doesn't play it much - but when she gets the chance, she loves to. And toward the end of the book, she picks back up her guitar and starts strumming again, finding her love for it once again.

6. Do they consider it important to be with family during celebrations?

For sure! Lainey doesn't have an amazing relationship with her family, but she does think that it's important to be with them. She doesn't get along with her family a lot, but she does love them.

7. Do they usually wait till the last minute to purchase gifts, or do they buy them ridiculously early?

No, Lainey is definitely a planner. I think it's because I mostly based her off of me. She's so much like me, actually, that sometimes I even get surprised by some of the things that she does! I'm thinking 'um...am I gonna do that sometime?' Well, anyway, the point was, she's a planner and she always buys her gifts early.

8. Favorite Christmas song? For fantasy authors, is music a part of their celebration?

I'd have to say that it's a toss-up between Hark the Harold Angels Sing & Silent Night.

9. Do they celebrate for religious reasons?

As Christians, yes.

10. How do they celebrate the beginning of the new year?

Huh, I didn't even think about bringing in the new year in the story. Maybe I'll have to add that in a second draft. Gives me some ideas!

NaNo is AWESOME

So, wow. I wasn't sure what to expect when I started writing my NaNo story. I couldn't believe it when I wrote 20K in the first two days.

It definitely slowed down from there but I didn't stop writing all together because I knew more than anything that I wanted to finish NaNo and do it well, and as quickly as I could.

My story slowly started coming together and my characters became real to me. Especially when I found people that I could use for my main characters. Truthfully, I just found my main girl character yesterday, after watching Monte Carlo with Selena Gomez and Katie Cassidy. Well, after watching it, I knew that Katie Cassidy was my main girl character in the story. Her name is Lainey, and they just reminded me so much of each other - in looks. For whatever reason, the picture won't move from the top center of this post, that's why it's there and not here.

I reached 50K on November 16th - the day after my 18th birthday, so it was an awesome birthday present. I couldn't believe when I actually reached my goal. It was kind-of bittersweet though, but NaNo has seriously helped me get myself to write, and now that I'm finished with it, I want to keep writing.

Today, November 19th, I finished my story. Well, sort-of. I have a lot of things to add and subtract but the basic story is written. And I'm really excited about it.

NaNo made me want to write all the time. I have a million other plot ideas written in a notebook that I'm excited to get started on. Not that I don't already have a ton of stories that are already started that need writing.

There is one that I'm working on right now that I can't wait to get more writing done in. It was probably my best written 20-pages-in-a-notebook-story, but after that far, I didn't know where to go with it. I may have to start over and figure out a better plot, but I can't wait to get started on it and actually follow through.

I've gotten to a point where I know that the first draft of a story doesn't have to be perfect. Because it's not going to be. The first draft has to be just that...the first draft. It can be written sloppily and even stupidly, and the second time around can we fixed. That's the point. And I can't wait to write some more.

Because writing is fun.

And I love it.

~ashley

Week One = Finished

NaNoWriMo.

I didn't know what to expect when I started it. I was a little intimidated by it, to be honest. I didn't know if I'd be able to make it to the end of the 50K in the 30 days that I was allowed to finish it in.
I was scared, too. I had my plot down, but not very well - just the chapter summary, and a little about the characters. Not really enough to truly start a story and actually keep it going.

But when I started writing, I really got into the story. My characters came to life right away - the main character, Lainey, was really easy to get into (she's very much like me),and my best friend character, Taite, is very interesting in her own ways.

My plot is eh. I like it, but it's not coming along the way that I necessarily wanted it to. What I've learned about NaNo is that the point isn't for the story to be perfect, but for writers to get themselves writing. To actually sit down and write like crazy and not stop for any reason except to eat and maybe sleep?

At any rate, I'm loving it. Within the first two days, I had 20K but I'm starting to slow down some.

Total Word Count: 29,827

If you're a NaNo-er, comment and let me know what you're word count is, and how NaNo is going for YOU this year.

Also, if you'd like to find me on the NaNoWriMo website - my username is AshleyStraws

NaNoWriMo

So last year when NaNo came around, I had a small plot and some ideas, but nothing really set in stone. I kind-of failed. Pretty badly.

It could also be because Novembers are really busy with my birthday, Thanksgiving and stuff like that.

But no excuses this year! I plan to beat my record and get more than 30K this year! I know that I can do it - I just have to set my mind to it.

So a couple of months ago, I had a dream, and that's where my plot is coming from. I don't want to go into details, but maybe as I'm writing, I'll try to let you know that's going on in my plot and how well I'm doing. :)

As for right now, I have the story plotted out and put into a chapter summary. I also have my character sketches. Right now I'm trying to work on familiarize myself with the characters and their differences.

That right there might be the hardest part. I can easily write a character sketch, but trying to make every character different is something that's difficult for me.

If I do write the 50K book in November, it will be the second book that I've finished with more than 50K in it. And the first one was not really...good, I guess. I don't even know how I wrote 50,000 in it - because it's like...bad.

Okay, okay, the plot is good enough. But the story itself is just bad.

So I'm shooting for something better this time around.

Wish me luck!

Beautiful People: NaNoWriMo Edition

1. Sum up your novel in five words or less.
   Girl. Work. Guy.
   
2. Novel title?
   None as of yet. I still need to think about this one.
   
3. Sum up your main character(s) in one word each.
   Lainey - Outgoing
   Trent - Workaholic
   Taite (girl) - Romantic
   
4. Advice for newbies in three words?
   Don't stress - write.
   
5. Tell us about your secondary characters, how do they affect the story?
   Taite (Lainey's best friend) is the one that keeps her going through everything. She gives her great advice and keeps the story moving. I also picture her witty and funny.
   
6. Do you plan to stay up till midnight on the 31st?
   Haha, no. I don't think that I could swing that with my parents, or myself. :)
   
7. How many years have you done NaNo?
   Haaa...I tried this last year, and failed miserably - only got to about 30,000 words. But this year I'm hoping to get farther. Whether or not I hit 50K doesn't really matter as long as I get more than I did last year.
   
8. What came first, characters, or plot idea?
   Ooh...both are important, but I think that the plot comes first for me. Not a full plot, but I have to have a rough outline before I can just make up characters (names and such), when I don't have a situation to put them into.
   
9. How much prep do you do before November?
   I still haven't done near enough, so I need to get working on the rest of my plot, and get my characters done before I start writing on the first.
   
10. Now be honest, how do you really feel about NaNo?
    It intimidates me. But this year, I hope to beat it.