NaNoWriMo 2013, and the Writing Process

NaNoWriMo is four days in now; alas, I am rather behind on my word count.  I had two big law school exams last week on consecutive days, and after the second one I was quite burned out, as it were, and in no mood to do anything other than have a marathon of the BBC’s “House of Cards” show.  That being the case, I did get words written yesterday, and I do plan to keep trying. Especially since it’s quite a fun story. It’s basically a spy novel involving Santa Claus. Also, my spy’s name is Jason Waterfalls. Yes, it’s a pun. And it’s only the beginning.

At any rate, I haven’t done a post on writing itself in a while, as I’ve mostly done stories and such. So, having a few free moments today, I thought I would explain just how exactly I go about doing this. So, first things first: where do the ideas come from?

I have no idea. Well, that’s not entirely true; I often rely on random writing prompts, such as the Trifecta challenge or whatnot. Then sometimes I’ll think of an interesting twist on a particular story. For instance, the Santa spy novel came about because of a classic Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, where Calvin hears the “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” song, and notes particularly the lyrics “He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake…” Calvin ponders whether Santa is a “kindly old elf, or CIA spook.”  I’d also always been interested in Christmas stories, like Tolkien’s Father Christmas letters, and so from there, I had the idea for a spy novel about Santa. 

Now, the fun thing about writing wacky random stories like I do is that you don’t really have to do that much research. Some, yes; I spent a good part of yesterday researching whether Westminster Palace has a helipad. But, for instance, many of the Catrina stories are set in a medieval 12th century England-like country. I’m not necessarily going to do an in-depth study of the 12th-century period, making sure the dialogue and the wardrobes and such are all pristine and accurate. This isn’t a straightforward period piece like Downton Abbey, after all. The story’s about fun, continuity errors, incongruous situations, and Shovels of Thor. I’m pretty sure Thor never had a shovel called Mlrning in the classic Norse mythology. But he does now. So, I guess I like to be semi-accurate, in that if Westminster doesn’t have a helipad, I’m not going to put that in there. But if they do, I’m not necessarily going to dig in and go for an in-depth and accurate description.

Another thing about writing is the audience you’re shooting for. I like to include references to Monty Python, Douglas Adams, and the like, because I hope that my readers will get it. But I might throw in a bit about “Friday” or “What Does the Fox Say”, because that’s a lot more popular and more people will get it.  There’s no fun in making obscure references to make people laugh, if no one understands them.

One final thing about writing, of course, is editing. And that is something I’m not terribly good with. Most of my stories, like the Catrina Chronicles, I tend to pour out in a rush, and then move on. I don’t often go back and pore over them for continuity errors and structure and whatnot (which is one reason why continuity is sort of a hit and miss thing with Catrina).  I also don’t think overmuch about symbolism or interpretation or What This All Means. There may be some deep symbolic resonance when Catrina, for instances, faces off against Cthulhu and gets him to play Rock-Paper-Scissors with a chupacabra; maybe it says something Meaningful about the Human Condition, or whatnot, like Moby Dick. (which, by the by, is a classic novel I just can’t stand. That man badly needed an editor).  But honestly, I just wrote that because it’s amusing. Cthulhu normally doesn’t play Rock-Paper-Scissors, he creeps about and makes people go mad from not comprehending him. It’s the incongruity of it all, I suppose.

Anyway. Back to writing! Only 26 days left! Eek!