So it's November and time for me to participate in both the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month).  I was pleased in terms of NaNoWriMo last year because I hit 50,000, however I was unable to upload my work by the deadline to have it verified so I could get credit because apparently the app kept crashing from everyone doing the same thing at 9pm on November 30th.

I think I can come up with a more saleable manuscript. this year also. 

The original novel I will be working on is going to focus on the Heir to the throne of Gollumidas-the wise, easygoing and capable Star Princess Diana. I had planned a series of short stories about her.  I am going to fold them into one novel.  I'll still work on the other aforementioned projects  (the Angry Gondals, Gollumdas Monogatari, the reloaded Blanche and Rose-last year's piece and fun to write but tough to edit only because editing is tough).  I've enjoyed the 'Angry Gondals' in that the more story I lay down, the more things I find.  I especially liked the 'epiphany' I had about the relationship between Wellington, his current Queen Consort Mary Percy and his sons.  I also liked bridging both Gondal and Angria through events and characters in a way I think they could have been bridged if Charlotte had stayed with it as long as Emily and had her insight. 

So I will make more of an effort to post my progress on this.  Daily posting was not possible last year,but I can manage 'regular progress reports'.  Well, It's November, which is National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoM0) and National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

The keys to succeeding at both are finding time and being disciplined. Not easy to do in our ADD-instant result expectant-crisis management kind of world.

This year's NaBloPoMo will also serve to help jumpstart my blogging, which I have left so by the wayside. I will also be blogging not only at this site, but also at my regular blog at Blogger.com, and at my social action blog, which documents causes and nonprofits issues that interest me. For kicks, I'll have my opinions at my soap fan blog also.

The roster:

NaNoWriMo:
http://www.nanowrimo.org/
 

NaBloPoMo:
http://nablopomo.ning.com


 

This year's NaBloPoMo roster is:

More Explore
http://www.moreexplore.blogspot.com/

My Writing Exploration
http://ladydayelle.livejournal.com/

My Social Awareness and Action Blog
http://kitlat.wordpress.com/

Soap Fan Sound-Off
http://soapfansoundoff.blogspot.com/

My Page at NaBloPoMo
http://nablopomo.ning.com/profile/KITLAT
 

In a February entry I mentioned that Stephen King savaged Stephanie March in a critique of her 'Twilight' series.  I found it interesting since I thought that Stephen was more charitable to writers especially considering that some of his is not always accessible.  I suppose each person has their own taste.

I personally am vampired-out.  Many people are shocked to know that I haven't read 'Twilight,' or kept up with 'True Blood' or even 'Angel.'  I've kept up with 'Buffy' because there are more characters than vampires in the 'Season 8' comic series and the focus on females doing something and not always hopelessly falling in love and having their hearts broken and I am tired of tortured heroes and redemption.

The 'Twilight' series appeals to a demographic that I aged out of long ago.  Also, I suppose the film (well the promos for the film) have also influenced my decision not to be a champion of the series.  I guess I'll care when the protagonists are pretty Caucasians who apparently are the only ones who can have interesting lives.

Stephen King doesn't completely fare that much better in the use of non Caucasians.  One might point to "The Green Mile," however the main non Caucasian character is executed in the end and to look at the movie, there is more of a focus on the Tom Hanks character.  Another character that appears in "IT", which was both the book and the tv minseries (played by Tim Reid), acts as more of a Magical Negro.

I do find it interesting that I currently don't read anything by either author.  The books I am currently reading are Frances Ellen Watkins Harper's "Iola Leroy" and Alexander Dumas'  "The Three Musketeers."

Lots of interest on my part concerning Angria.  I've focused on a character that not only is involved with the Wellingtons, but who is related to a lot of the underground.  I quite like her and admit that it is so hard not to make her one of those Mary Zou Sou (my take on the Mary Sue where a character is not only very gifted and like Mighty Mouse 'comes to save the day', but also is so unbelievable good and cheery that Mother Teresa would have popped her one.)  

I decided sometime ago that she would maintain a diary of things that have taken place and as I went along, it has turned into both a record of their activities and the sort of diary that a young woman might keep.  One of the more interesting things that came out was her writing about meeting this young man who was handsome and whom she liked very much (so much daydreaming about him dominates some entries) and then in the same breath she wonders if he is using her to infiltrate their group and bring them down.

The backstory of Arthur Wellington and his wives I found interesting as I reread the original that Charlotte Bronte wrote.  Essentially you have Arthur Wellington who marries his rival's daughter Mary Percy and has two sons by her-Victor and Julius Wallace and he punishes all of them because Mary Percy (long suffering and so very good) for not being the late Marian Hume, his first consort and for being the daughter of his rival.  

I decided that the aforementioned young woman's parents were friends of Mary Percy and she in turn is a friend to her sons as well as being a comfort to Mary Percy.

I hope to really flesh out the Wellington/Percy rivalry as well as introduce the rivals from Gondal. 

I still see a place for it in everyday life.  Directions still need to be read and communicated.  Stories still need to be told in a way that we can  understand.  The way that this happens is through the use of good grammar.
 

• Being able sum up a story and/or a novel in one sentence
• Following the guidelines so that you are giving the editor what they are looking for
• Working at it until you get it write
• Watching that grammar

I reread the older post, which was entitled 'Changin; stuff and writing' and saw that I spoke about the same topics.  I changed the blog skin back to my pixie Goth, which I always thought was cool. 

My Angry Gondals...well oddly enough I covered the bit where the attempted coup takes place and Brenzaida is taken down.  AGA survives and mounts a counterattack and then ascends as the Empress in fact vs. the Imperial consort. I liked having Blanche Sirona, her daughter by Alfred Sirona play more of a heroic role since AGA had largely wrote off all of her children.

As the past entry attests, clearly the Angrian women aren't as interesting as many of them are types.  I wrote more about the sons of Arthur Wellington and Alexander Perce and perhaps about the sister of a Gondal character, Lord Eldred than any of the main women.  I had not been as motivated to write a story centering on any of them.

I wonder sometimes if that's the difference between Emily and Charlotte?  Granted, we only have the bare hints of what the Gondals were like vs. the Angrians whose tale leaves no strand unexplored.  I always found a fascinating strength behind Emily's characters.  While Charlotte's characters could be strong and could threaten, I never found many of them as fascinating.  Except of course Jane Eyre and maybe Frances Henri.