National Novel Writing Month: THE PREP

NANOWRIMO IS NIGH 

It's that time of the year again: where I participate in a crazy annual tradition known as NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH. 

I started this tradition in my freshman year of college with a story about the children of astronauts stranded on an alien planet. Since then, I've done the challenge every year except during my semester abroad in the United Kingdom.

90% of the stories I plan for NaNoWriMo are just for practice. Only two that I've done in the six years I've participated in are worth revisiting and revising. One of them, Displaced, is currently being rewritten and re-visioned as a webcomic.

THIS YEAR'S SAGA 

I wasn't certain I'd be able to participate this year, given personal circumstances, however I decided to do it to get back in the groove of things. That's the most important thing for me to do right now, and I have a great idea!

Or, at least, I think it is.

This year's NaNoWriMo novel is called Scrumptious! A retired superhero decides to pen a food memoir, and notes how food has changed his life and his superhero career. This story will include silly food recipes that are not in any way edible (yet so good!). 

Also inspired by epic meal time:

Be sure to add me as a writing buddy if you're also doing NaNoWriMo!

Happy October!

Project Updates for October

It's hard to believe that it's already October! Once a month I want to take the time to do a sort of "State of the Union" address, with progress on my original creative projects. Eventually I'll install a progress bar on the side of my blog a la Brandon Sanderson because I like graphs and stuff.

September Short Story: Dust

In an effort to produce more writing, I'll be posting some short stories that I work on in between novels. September's story is "Dust," a short story about a student who studies magical terraforming--and of his final exam in a howling dust storm.

Fantasy Worldbuilding: Drinking Songs

THERE'S WHISKEY IN THE JAR

I have to admit: I'm a fan of drinking songs in fantasy and science fiction. And not just drinking songs, but folk songs in general as a form of world-building in the genres.

Take a Break from Writing

 Writing During a Personal Crisis

In one of last week's posts I talked about what to do when you're not writing--when you're exhausted or have writer's block. I'm in agreement with the majority of writers who advise new writers to write constantly. How else are you going to finish your book? Don't talk. Just do. 

Disability in Epic Fantasy

Disability in Fantasy: Questions to Consider

Disabilities aren't too common in many epic fantasies and science fiction, though I see them often in the form of characters losing limbs (hands seem to be a common theme...looking at you, Star Wars). Here are some things to think about when creating your characters.

Resources for Flintlock/Gunpowder Fantasy

Writing Historical Epic Fantasy? 

It's one thing to write about how to do research, but it's hard enough to build a research library of your own while writing! Here are some resources I've been using. They're split into two camps: actual research and fiction.

Naturally, you will tailor your research to your world.

The links below use affiliate links, and if you are uncomfortable clicking on them be sure to check out this same Flintlock Fantasy list on Goodreads!

As I continue to do research I'll update this list and keep it pinned to the sidebar for reference.

Cultural Diversity in Epic Fantasy

So you want to include diversity in your story? 

**The book links referenced in this section uses Amazon Affiliate Links. By clicking on these links you help this blog make monies**

Great! I'm really glad you do, so let's get started.

What to Do When You're Not Writing

Have Writer's Block?

I've been writing for a long time. Everything from newspaper articles, to magazine editorials, silly fanfiction--all of those works have contributed to my writing style. Like everything else in life, I find that I can't keep my marathon-writing at full speed.

MAGIC!! 

I'll admit: I'm not an expert when it comes to creating magic systems. How can I be, when I'm not a published novelist (yet)? However, having spent a few years exploring and building my own magic system has given me some insight into the creation process. But Hanna, you may say, what do you know that none of the other thousands of articles on the Internet have told me?

Flintlock Fantasy: Why You Should Read (and Write) It

Flintlock? What's That? 

Traditional fantasy encompasses the usual tribe--elves, dwarves, orcs, hobbits--with a not-quite-so-historically-accurate medieval flavor of sweeping robes, majestic dresses, and a plague or two. Sound familiar? I'm sure a few stories have popped into your head already.

No offense, Cersei.

April Book Update!

From what little I've experienced of being a writer (albeit on the side, and whenever I can) is that experience provides so much of the details that make the writing come alive. This means that sometimes I do crazy things to be sure that I know what I'm talking about, even if the character I'm writing doesn't.

Even with my primary genres being epic fantasy and science fiction, I feel like experience is even more important. Details ground readers in a fantastic world otherwise foreign to them, and those details can come from anywhere. 

For those who don't know, I'm currently in the editing  process for the first book of my epic fantasy trilogy, currently named The Hymns of Creation. While I have other writing projects, this is my main project that I've worked on since high school. Wow! Over seven years old and still going!

Some examples:

• Traveled for four months in the United Kingdom (though for school, I applied much of the experience to fiction, mainly for anything I wrote that was located in London). 
• Learned how to discover my location using the stars (astronomy class, for a character who needed to discover his location and had nothing else). 
• Learning how to cook: there's nothing that brings a fantasy world to life better than sensory details. Thinking about how much goes into food, and what ingredients are available, actually help build the world by forcing you to think about what is available in a character's environment. 

What I'd love to do:

• Get in better shape and start hiking. A lot of epic fantasy includes characters traveling over long distances. How long would it take to travel someplace by foot? Hard to know unless you do it yourself.
• Visit the rice terraces in the Philippines not only because they look cool, but because of certain elements in the epic fantasy trilogy I'm currently writing. 
• Visit a vineyard and really interview a winemaker. Thanks to Dad, I've written a character whose profession is a winemaker. I've gotten in touch with someone from Clos des Amis, a local winemaker, to participate in the bottling process. Just waiting for a bottling collaboration on the weekend! 

Finding the time and energy to edit this book has been exhausting. It was hard to find time before Dad passed away, and without him it's even harder. But even through the exhaustion, and even through everything that has happened, clarity has arisen. I see the superfluous text, and I eliminate it. I begin to see how all of my experiences, as short as my life has been, can create something that speaks to others.

I lend my characters my practical experience, dressing them just a little with words and details to make those experiences reality. And yet I also lend them my grief, which breathes life into them in a way I never thought possible. All these details, of hiking and baking and wine-making, don't mean much without the emotional details. And through this writing, through this editing process, I hope to pour out every tumultuous emotion I've felt over the past few months into these characters. It is this process that is making this book so difficult to revise, but I believe that it will make it stronger.