Felicia Denise's Blog, page 34
July 28, 2018
Happy Birthday, Beatrix Potter!
Helen Beatrix Potter ( 28 July 1866 – 22 December 1943) was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist best known for her children’s books featuring animals, such as those in The Tale of Peter Rabbit.
The Tale of Peter Rabbit. First Edition, 1902
From Wikipedia
July 27, 2018
Camp NaNo Update Day #26
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In a perfect world, we learn from our mistakes and do not repeat them.
This isn’t that world.
We make minor adjustments, or even worse, make no adjustments, and hope for a better outcome.
We’re shocked when that doesn’t happen.
Denial is more than just a river in Egypt.
But sometimes, we stumble across something that while it may not change the world, it makes our world a little brighter and easier to navigate.
In relation to July 2018 Camp NaNoWriMo, those things are:
Alexandra Sokoloff’s NaNoWriMo Prep. As I mentioned yesterday, it made a world of difference in my prep and planning, and is no doubt, a major factor in my completing my story during the challenge,
Blogging every day. This was more difficult than writing the story but it kept me focused and accountable to myself,
Reaching out to new people. This is never easy and not something I do regularly because honestly, people are strange. (And I do not exclude myself from that.) Not every connection made will be positive or lasting, but kissing a few frogs is worth it when you end up with people who become a regular part of your day, and even better, understand and share your writer’s journey.
I’m adding these items to the plus column and even if I don’t use them every day, November NaNoWriMo is just around the corner!
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Image from Pinterest
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Day 26 word count – 45,319
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©2018 Felicia Denise, All Rights Reserved
July 26, 2018
Camp NaNo Update Day #25
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This ain’t my first rodeo.
And while I’ve always roped the calf, this is the first time I’ve done it in record time!
HA!
Okay, no more rodeo references.
I validated my Camp NaNo word count on July 20th—which means I met my goal—but the book wasn’t done.
Guess what?
July 2018 Camp NaNoWriMo is the first time I’ve COMPLETED THE BOOK DURING THE CHALLENGE!
Check out the scene board!
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Very jazzed about this.
As a pantser, it hasn’t been easy finding an outline/planning method that worked for me. I’ve tried several, and while they all had their good points, I disconnected with some aspect of each of them which hindered the process.
Story-boarding is not a new concept but for this challenge, I followed a planning tool from Alexandra Sokoloff’s Screenwriting Tricks for Authors, specifically, the post on NaNoWriMo Prep: The Index Card Method and Structure Grid.
SUCCESS!
At first glance, the method looked involved and like more work than I wanted to be bothered with.
I was wrong. Once I knew my early scenes, the method actually helped me map out the rest.
I started out with index cards but soon realized before I finished with the set-up; it was labor-intensive.
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I prefer using Post-It Notes because it’s faster and… this is very important…. You can move scenes around! This was a time-saver. Making adjustments on the board to get the right flow meant less time spent writing and re-writing.
Sokoloff’s method also helps with chronology and continuity.
Like many writers, I don’t write chronologically, but seeing the story in-sequence while writing helps me not lose focus and or be redundant. Or lose entire scenes altogether because… it’s happened.
If you’re searching for a prep method, give this one a try. You’ve got nothing to lose and you may even score a win like me. Twice.
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Day 25 word count – 43,402
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©2018 Felicia Denise, All Rights Reserved
Happy Birthday, George Bernard Shaw!
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George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist, and political activist. His influence on Western theater, culture and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond. He wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as Man and Superman (1902), Pygmalion (1912) and Saint Joan (1923). With a range incorporating both contemporary satire and historical allegory, Shaw became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
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From Google and Wikipedia
July 25, 2018
Camp NaNo Update Day #24
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Writers often joke about being introverts or having social anxiety. We squirrel ourselves away in writing caves and libraries, or our favorite coffee shops. We keep our heads down, avoiding eye contact.
Some do experience anxiety and avoid interaction with other living breathing humans, but most of us are focused on the stream of consciousness in our heads—collaborating… and compromising with fictional characters. We fine tune plots and build worlds; consider book covers and promotional teasers and are usually fighting off the urge to begin that next book.
However, no matter how deep we dig in, it is necessary we raise our heads and invite the real world in.
Earlier this month I mentioned building a support network—finding your tribe, and the best thing about Camp NaNoWriMo/NaNoWriMo is it comes with a tribe built in ready to help make your writing challenge a success.
From the websites to every social media site/app, NaNo is there with writing sprints, virtual write-ins, and pep talks from counselors. There are videos on YouTube and Instagram. You’ll find a calendar of events for the month prominently posted on the website, as well as the mighty NaNo forums. You can stop by Facebook for updates and current news, Twitter to participate in a writing sprint or follow NaNo on Pinterest.
With resources and support like this, it’s obvious NaNo wants writers to succeed, especially with it all being free of charge!
Before 2018 ends, NaNoWriMo will launch its new website to provide their amazing writer support year-round.
So, as writers build personal networks, NaNoWriMo will be there to give support and let us know while writing is a solitary endeavor, we’re never alone.
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Day 24 word count – 41,674
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©2018 Felicia Denise, All Rights Reserved
July 24, 2018
Camp NaNo Update Day #23
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Two days ago, I was drowning in confusion and doubt.
Okay. That’s not an unusual thing for me, but in this instance, it was over the direction of my Camp NaNo project, Sins of the Mother.
One day, I’m clipping right along meeting new characters and twisting plots, and the next I’m staring at my monitor screaming, “Who are you people?”
I switch up this morning and now I’m staring at my scene board.
I move Post-its Notes around, trying to get a better flow and I hummed.
Normal for me.
Then I started singing.
Still not out of character.
But, it’s what I’m singing that makes me laugh out loud… after I finish, of course.
Just what makes that little old ant
Thinks he can move that rubber tree plant?
Anyone knows an ant can’t
Move a rubber tree plant.
But he’s got high hopes
He’s got high hopes
He’s got high-in-the-sky apple pie hopes
So any time you’re feeling low instead of letting go
Just remember that ant
Oops, there goes another rubber tree plant
Oops, there goes another rubber tree plant.
After a good laugh at myself, I sat down and wrote seventeen-hundred words.
Thanks, Laverne & Shirley!
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Day 23 word count – 39,257
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©2018 Felicia Denise, All Rights Reserved
Happy Birthday, Alexandre Dumas!
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Alexandre Dumas 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (French for ‘father’), was a French writer. His works have been translated into many languages, and he is one of the most widely read French authors. Many of his historical novels of high adventure were originally published as serials, including The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte de Bragelonne: Ten Years Later. His novels have been adapted since the early twentieth century for nearly 200 films
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From Google and Wikipedia.
July 23, 2018
Camp NaNo Update Day #22
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What are acceptable book lengths? Answers can vary depending on who you ask, but in general:
Flash fiction: 500 words or less.
Short Story: 5,000–10,000 words.
Novella: 10,000–40,000 words.
Novel: Anything over 40,000 words,
Some writers only write one length, meaning everything they write is always over 40K, or less than 10K, etc. It can also depend on genre and content.
But, that’s if you’re planning a certain type of book.
What if you set out to write 75, 000 words but only get to 36,000, did you fail?
Not necessarily.
Perhaps you were overzealous in estimating book length, or, you haven’t gone deep to flesh out and develop characters or plot.
I have a Camp NaNo buddy who’s having a meltdown as we begin counting down the last week of Camp NaNoWriMo.
She pledged to write a book 65K in length, but she’s written all of her planned twenty-six scenes/chapters and has only reached 48K.
The beauty of Camp NaNo is you can adjust your words/pages/hours. When I suggested she do this, her meltdown intensified. So, I took the opposite approach and told her to get busy writing because the missing 17K wasn’t going to write itself.
She insists she’s told the story she intended to tell.
So. What’s the problem here?
Focus.
Books are the products of imagination and research but they’re not rocket science.
We’ve all read the book we wished was longer, just as we’ve read that book which went on and on and because laborious.
Editing can solve most of these problems if writers allow it. If an editor advises cutting out characters/scenes/chapters and the writer balks, there isn’t much the editor can do. There is no literary death match between writers and editors.
Writers must be ready to kill their darlings to publish the best book possible, and sometimes that also means adjusting our mindsets… and word counts.
Because everyone knows the first draft is crap anyway.
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Day 20 word count – 37,511
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©2018 Felicia Denise, All Rights Reserved
Happy Birthday, Raymond Chandler!
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Raymond Thornton Chandler July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Great Depression. His first short story, Blackmailers Don’t Shoot, was published in 1933 in Black Mask, a popular pulp magazine. His first novel, The Big Sleep, was published in 1939. In addition to his short stories, Chandler published seven novels during his lifetime (an eighth, in progress at the time of his death, was completed by Robert B. Parker). All but Playback have been made into motion pictures, some more than once. In the year before his death, he was elected president of the Mystery Writers of America. He died on March 26, 1959, in La Jolla, California.
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From Google and Wikipedia
July 22, 2018
#52weeks52stories “The Sweetest Days, Part 2”
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I said I’d post the conclusion of The Sweetest Days this week. I lied. Not intentionally! I don’t like serial pieces because I have no OFF button, but between my great-aunt duties, Camp NaNo, and my finger hovering over the publish button on another piece, my brain is like a bowl of oatmeal… and I hate oatmeal.
However, I did update it! And, finishing it is at the top of my to-do list for the week. Well, maybe not at the top, probably closer to the middle. Okay, it’s ON the to-do list. How about that? 
