I Finally Found 'the One' by Jessica Ball

(twisted physics)

I’ll just out and say this, right here right now, at the start of this guest blog post; This is my first year doing NaNoWriMo. Yes, I’m a new author. A newbie. A n00b. Whatever you want to call me. I may not be new to writing, but I most certainly am new to the NaNo way of life, and let me tell you something; I’m scared.

But I know I’m not alone.

There is a plethora of new writers joining NaNo for the first time this year, and they’re scared too. Hell, even writers who have been doing this for 5 years get scared when November is only a turn on the calendar away. The point is, it’s okay to be scared. It’s good to be scared! If I wasn’t scared, I wouldn’t have found “The One”.

What’s that sorry? My partner? God no! Why are you talking about them?! No, no no no. “The One” is my story. My “winning idea”. The one that stuck out in my head and yelled at me to write 50,000 words on it.

That’s scary, isn’t it? 50,000 words in 30 days. And of course, the magic number is 1,666. That’s the amount of words, minimum, that you have to write each day if you want to reach 50,000 words by the end of November. If you’re a family person not wanting to write on weekends, you need to write a minimum of 2,400 words a day. That’s scary.

That’s the point of writing, of embarking on a new adventure; it’s scary.

As authors, we can plan our little hearts out. We can write each detail, both significant and insignificant, about each character meticulously. We can describe settings right down to the tiniest snowflake on the smallest kitten. We can plan plan plan until we can’t plan anymore, but we never truly know our stories or novels. Not before we’ve started them, at least.

Writing a novel is a learning curve for an author. We never TRULY know our characters or our plots or anything like that. Why? Because out characters take us there. Not us, we don’t decide how a story is going to go, we’re just the trained computer monkeys who bow to the incessant urge to write down what the tiny little people in our heads are doing. That’s by no means at all an insult; it’s very much a compliment. We have the ability to do something that non-writers can’t do; harness our imagination. We can listen to and heed what the little people are saying because we write it down. And that’s the beauty of writing.

Back to my original point though, I found “The One”. My plot might not be original, it may not be one of those “never done before” ideas, but it IS mine. No plot is original in the long run, pretty much everything has been done before; the key to making it something worth reading is making it YOURS. Nobody else’s, YOURS.

My plot revolves around a psychopath. It involves abuse, drugs, alcohol, murder, rape, torture – but it’s not what you think. It’s not just going to be a bloody, brutal massacre of the English language, so to speak. It’s a psychological thriller, essentially. My synopsis is pretty good, if I do say so myself. You can read that on my blog.

But what makes it MY plot is the fact that I’ve entailed my own ideas and twists. Psychological thrillers have been done over and over, both in books and movies. But it’s still one of the most popular subjects to read/watch because it’s such an open-ended topic. And that’s what you want to be looking for. That gap in the market where one tiny little detail in your novel will make it different from the rest.

I’m by no means a professional author. I’m not even close. But I do know one thing; you have to enjoy what you’re writing. It WILL show through your words. If you’re bored of the topic, that’ll show too. Just make your novel your own. Let it take you somewhere awesome.

Don’t be scared to just let your imagination fly.


Have you found 'the one' yet? Are you ready to stick with it for the duration?

Panda (@pandrawr) is a strange 21 year old student from the UK. She goes by this name because she doesn’t like her real name, not even a tiny bit. She began writing at the tender age of 6, writing short silly stories for her father. She went on to write a ton of poetry, but has now decided that there is a deep, dark novel in her, waiting to be blasted out for all the world to see. She enjoys music, driving and spending time with her boyfriend, but most of all, because she is a Panda, she (naturally) enjoys sleeping for long periods of time mostly. You can also find her tweeting, blogging, and NaNo-ing her heart out.

Freshman at NaNo Academy by Kenon Thompson

(source: team altman)

Here I am. A full time college senior, with a full time job in a restaurant, who owns his own business, preparing for a graduate school interview, and is in some way a part of at least 5 or more clubs on campus. Now I dare add to this hectic day to day schedule, to write a 50,000 word novel in one month.

Crazy right?

For me it's normal. Writing and I have been in love since I was a 1st grader who decided that writing in cursive made me seem older than I was. I must admit though, I am pretty nervous about the moment when November 1st will be on the lower right hand of my computer screen.

So what are my goals for NaNo?

1) Go above the average word count per day in order to assure I hit 50,000 words on 30 days.

· 50,000 words total / 30 days = 1,666.66666666 words. Okay so it's obvious that everything after 1,666 words is irrelevant... Unless I just consider the .66 etc., as a word not yet complete... For example, "and in the best of times the compl... (full word being complete)" counts for .66 etc of a word.

2) Create characters that are similar to my life, without actually telling my real life story.

· Here is the part that keeps me up at night during my outlining sessions. I am currently working on my autobiography and although this may not be released for quite some time, what if my novel is pretty amazing and in the near future actually gets published? My life is pretty amazing at this point, and I want my main character to have similar qualities of me, yet have his own identity.

3) Shoot original photos for the book.

· Okay, I understand this isn't a kids 5+ book project. Would you believe that I am a photographer as well? Well, it's true! I am a photographer! And instead of closing your eyes to vision what the characters and the various scenes look like in your head, I want you to actually see photos of the scene in the book.

4)  Keep a log of how much coffee I actually drink for the whole month.

· I admit, this is just an extra haha something I can look back at and laugh. I usually drink 8 cups of coffee a day on average. I genuinely love coffee! I don't drink to stay up all night. But it definitely is a great buddy to have on my side at 3:00 in the morning.

5) Try not to go insane!

·  Have you read the first paragraph of this post? I must add here that I am a freshman to NaNoWriMo! I've read about stories on the NaNoWriMo forums. I believe that writers have a completely different mindset when it pertains to "what’s right." Ever have that moment when you were writing story only to look 50+ pages into writing it and that inner critic says "hey, do you really think this can continue on "right" for the next 150+ pages?"

“Insanity likes company” indeed. I'm excited to write a great novel as well as make some new friends throughout this project!

What are YOUR goals for this year’s NaNo? Are you a freshman too or a senior?

In Kenon Thompson's words... I remember in the 1st grade when my teacher Mrs. Jordan first exposed me to cursive writing. I literally fell in love with it so much, that I stopped writing in print from that time on (unless it was necessary/mandatory). During my middle school and high school days, I began writing quotes that came to mind. Now, as a college kid, I have become way more versatile in my writing. My expertise is in the genres of food, journalism, and poetry. In coherence with my love for photography, what I love most about those genres is the room for creativity that I have. Currently I am working on a quote/poetry book, my first cookbook and my first [food] memoir. My plans as of right now are to have all of them self-published by me, unless some nice publishing company would love to publish them for me which I have no problem with at all haha! :) 

Success: Win Or Lose by Angie Richmond

(rylanclayne)

I’d like to say that the idea for my NaNo story came to me in some brilliant fashion. An epiphany that shone down upon my unsuspecting brain like a ray of light from the Heavens above. Time and space slowing, almost standing still, and a chorus of angels singing “Ahhhhh” around me.

Truthfully, I can’t remember how I came up with the idea. 

What I do know is that:

a)   It came to me many months ago.

b)   It probably has something to do with my…ummm… completely healthy and absolutely normal obsession with Britain.

c)   The story has been gnawing at me since.

Though I do recall, as I was blow-drying my hair one afternoon, part of the plot worked itself out. A ray of heat from above instead of light? Close enough!

 This story has been hounding me, begging me to start it. And why haven’t I started it? I’m glad you asked!

The plot is tricky. Well, tricky for me anyway. It spans hundreds of years. My focus will be on three specific centuries in British history: The 17^th century during the Plague, the 19^th century focusing on Jack the Ripper and the 20^th century focusing on WWII.

Oh and here’s the kicker. It takes place all in the same house and is based on actual facts. That’s right, I’m attempting to tie fact with fiction.  Scary, I know.

You see I am a stickler for facts. I enjoy historical fiction but I’m rather hard on the author. I once started reading a novel about Mary Queen of Scots and in her dialogue she used the word cool.

Okay, I admit I am no historian, but I can GUARNTEE Mary Queen of Scots was unlikely to say something was cool unless she was referring to the weather. And even then I’m not 100% sure.  Needless to say I never finished the book.

Note: If you have read anything by Diana Gabaldon you’ll understand she has ruined me for substandard historical fiction. And I love her for it!

So writing a historically accurate novel is, in fact my biggest challenge to date. It’s the reason I haven’t started it. I fret that I’ll become so bogged down in the facts that I’ll be paralyzed by them and unable to proceed.

But then I stumbled upon NaNoWriMo.

NaNo is perfect! I’ll have to keep writing no matter what to reach my 50,000-word target. There won’t be time to stop, stare off into space and ponder whether or not I’ve captured Just the facts Ma’am!

With that said, I’m not going in blind either. I’m doing my homework and researching as much as I can before I start. This way I can satisfy my internal critic just a little bit.

This will be my first NaNo. The first year I’m attempting to finish something in a month. Kind of a big first time goal. What have I got myself into?

Of course I hope to win. Complete all 50,000 words before the looming deadline approaches. Oh and did I mention I want to finish with time to spare? Yeah, I’m ambitious and perhaps a little insane.

Do I think I’ll succeed? Only time will tell. I’m a writer not a fortuneteller!

But even if the 50,000-word target escapes me, I’ll still be pleased. It’s the satisfaction of starting this long awaited story that I’m searching for.

Success, in my humble opinion.  

How do you measure success? Are you aiming for the win or just the fun of NaNo?

A 30-something part-time writer, full-time corporate droid born in the Great White North - a.k.a. Canada - living in a city known for its unpredictable weather. Angie Richmond (@write_Me_happy) grew up playing puppet master to her Barbie dolls, putting them in all sorts of terrible, life-threatening situations just for her own pleasure. As an adult, she realized it would be in her best interest to pack up the dolls and write. Her characters, like her dolls, have hard lives and terrible decisions to make. Her writing has been described as dark yet comical, which suits her just fine. She’s currently working on her second novel, The Reaper’s Bride.