Rogue Neko

I've been struggling with the name for my book so far.
The initial name for it was 'The Harpies' and here we are, towards the end, and we've yet to see why it'd be named that.
And as this is intending to be a series, I also want something that can go into a theme.

The Harpies would very much fit into a theme. Especially with how the books will progress.

What do you all think? Does that sound like a suitable name?
Do you have any suggestions?

Two nights ago, a friend I've made here in the Greenville region made a challenge with me. To see who could write the most (at least 500 words) within an hour. I pulled off nearly 2000 words and won the challenge.

This has led me to realize that I, oddly, do my best work when challenged. Even as a kid, if I had a big room to clean, I'd section part of it off and set a timer for a certain amount of time.

So here's a few of the self-challenges I'll be testing out over the course of November:
- Timed challenges. Write X amount of words as quick as possible / write as much as possible in X amount of time.
- Reward-based challenges. I can have a candy bar, soda, play a game etc, if I write X amount of words.
- Creativity/refreshing challenges. Write X amount of words, then I can knit, draw, etc.


What tactics do you use?

And here I am, still preparing the laptop. Phew.

So my idea started out about a faire that exists wherever the moon's rays are cast. Very cool, yes? And I had a few other elements factored in, but nothing panned out. Crap.

So then I thought of a SciFi one. But that became too epic and I realized it'd work better as a novel or a TV miniseries (just not on Fox). Frak.

So then I realized... Eurydice. I love that story. I've intended to write a comic book based on it, but why not a movie? A more modern-day (maybe Victorian, really. Sure, it's not modern, but it's more modern) telling of the myth.

So there we are. A re-telling of the Greek Mythology of Eurydice set in the Victorian era.


... I'm insane.

I need some Script Frenzy icons. I figure this journal might as well serve dual purpose for SF and NaNo.
Maybe I'll design some tomorrow. Particularly based around my script idea.

I'm going for a movie script. The name is Follow the Moon. It'll be an odd style for a movie: a collection of vignettes based around the central plot point.

Follow the Moon is about a traveling faire / flea market. It exists wherever the moon's rays are cast (very surreal fantasy). The scenes are going to revolve around the people that purposefully go and those that accidentally find themselves there, as well as those who are sellers and, in a sense, permanently a part of the Moon Faire. I'm thinking that there is at least one character that passes through everyone's lives: in a big or small way. We may see previous people cross over into other scenes, etc.

It's an odd approach. I've never written something without a flowing storyline that has a beginning, middle, and end. This has a static plot point and we see how that point affects the people around it.

I like a challenge.

Just so people are aware:
I've not abandoned the novel. I actually really quite love the concept and I know what's to occur (for the most part) in my mind.
However, between my trip and some things that have come up in my life... it will have to be finished outside of NaNo. You are all more than welcome to continue reading.

I may, however, begin friends locking the entries. I do want to publish this someday and I must be aware of the risk of people coming by and taking my work.
So if you're reading, but haven't friended the journal- I do suggest doing so.

Not much to say on this one. I got to Highland on Thursday, fully intending to just start chapter six, but apparantly chapter five still had more to be written. So here it is, just to keep things neat and clean.

( The rest of chapter 5... )

I'm not yet positive that this chapter is complete. I'm getting ready to go to a write-in and I may very well end up adding more to it. However, I'm fairly sure it is complete. We find out more about Spike (anyone remember that he spoke in chapter one? Huh?), some things become explained, and our heroine starts to break out of her shell a little.

Coming soon is more about the man, Jordan O'Shay, that sent Denali a letter and more about the murder!

14,061 / 50,000 (28.1%)

( Chapter Five )

I'm ankle-deep in chapter 5 (okay, about 500 words in) and something I was told today has me thinking. Are my characters too mysterious? I don't think so, because I feel I'm still in the introduction stages of the novel. I don't like going into detail about a character's background unless they're the ones telling it, or it comes up otherwise. You don't meet a random person on the street and know everything about them.

I've hinted at some things. Like the fact that Denali hasn't lived in the area for very long and she's a shy enough person that she struggles to meet people and make friends. That she had a relationship that ended because her boyfriend left, but now he's said that it wasn't by his own will. What will that cause down the road? Will Denali go out and try to find Tom, to try to continue what they had? Or is she going to look to someone new?

Jordan O'Shay is meant to explain a lot of the more mysterious things (like the dreams). I don't want to go into Denali's mundane background much, because I'm trying to convey that this sort of thing could happen to anyone. Maybe we'll learn a bit more about who she was before she came to the Old World Company, but it's really not important. This novel is about how transient life is and how the past doesn't always stay in the past. She was just a normal, everyday girl, until history caught up with her.


I have a feeling I won't be done with the novel once November has ended. Here I am, on chapter 5, and I'm only really beginning to pull bits of plot together. And yet, chapter 6 (as I'm seeing it so far) is going to raise more questions.

Trust me, dear readers, I'm feeling as impatient as you. The major plot point that this entire novel is based upon (yes, that's what I begun with: one major plot scenario that I'm building around) is on the horizon. I want to get to it so badly, but I can't just jump into it. Certain things have to occur before it can happen. But I promise you that it will be well worth it. It's when our heroine will discover truly who and what she is.

I call this a 'bridge' chapter because it is used to explain a gap of time. Things have been, in that essence, a bit slow paced. I needed to span some time until the next chapter and this is how it worked out. Some may have been able to guess from the end of chapter three.

Unfortunately, I only got about 1k words written today. I need to get a day of 3-4k soon. V. soon.

11,182 / 50,000 (22.4%)

( Chapter Four )

I finally unearthed the NaNo journal. utoxin helped me find some good icons. Lovely!

10,471 / 50,000 (20.9%)

And now, you get a glimpse of what I have thus far. More or less. I shall be posting each chapter as it is written.
Enjoy!
( Chapters 1-3 )


Remember, it is a rough draft. NaNo is about getting it written, not getting it written right. All I edit for is grammar (in most cases. I imagine I've made some mistakes), spelling, and proper punctuation. Phrasing, how something sounds, is presented, etc... that's all for the editting stage the rest of the next year.

Now I go back to finishing chapter 4...

I finally started, as of about 12:30 PM today. I'm already 2000k (approx.) words behind where I should be. I hope I get a brilliant brainstorm some day this week and find myself typing furiously, not only catching up, but getting ahead. Ha! I wish.

Anyway, current word count: 403 / 50,000
Not bad, but not good either.

( Also, an excerpt: )

I know what I want to do for Nano this year. Amazing! I've not started yet:

0 / 50,000 (0.0%)

But I shall be starting soon. I need some new icons, methinks.
I'm going to do some splah writing first to get myself warmed up for writing. I don't think I can dive straight into it just yet.

2,451 / 50,000 (4.0%)

Well, I've near doubled my count. On week 2. This does not bode well. However, I did get a lot of the overshadowing in the first while explained... to some extent. Unfortunately, I've hit a block in that I have three characters and none want to go next. Rhine, of course, just went and she's done. Aine has nothing to do right now. And Essence.... he may have to go next.

I'm going to sleep on it, though. I could switch tracks for a bit and tell someone else's story for a little while. I think I want to, but who? They need to make themselves known. And quick.

1,782 / 50,000 (3.0%)

Only about 600 words tonight. I got off to a late start and I'm getting a bit too tired to write. There's things that need to be done before bed. :) However, I overcame a big issue in the story that was holding me back from continuing.

Rhine (the cat) has decided to assert herself as another main character. And we now meet the Cat Lady, a priestess (not quite, but that's the closest word I can assert right now) of Bast, who is using Rhine as an aid to keep an eye on Aine, our heroine.


To follow is an excerpt...

1,126 / 50,000 (2.0%)

Have more work to do, but may be getting dinner now. Yes, 2 AM. Shhh. Finally have the heroine (ha!)'s name. Aine. And her cat is named Rhine. I have no idea what Rhine looks like and it's still up in the air whether Rhine is just the usual cat annoyance at the beginning of the story, or if she holds value later. She's wanted to be both so far.

And Essence is quiet again, though I fear someone new will be appearing... I believe a Seer of sorts. We'll see shortly...

I finally began. Frustrated at myself for not getting more done, but there were problems with evening and it was my first day of work, afterall. I think I've got a good start and it's decided to settle itself into being a novel of first-hand, past-tense accounts, by two people thusfar. Our heroine is as of yet unnamed, and our other character thus far only wishes to be known as "Essence".

518 / 50,000 (1.0%)

We've been a-go for fourteen hours now. And as of yet, I've written nothing. Last night I was busy dealing with laundry and matters of the house too much and so far today, I've been busy with that starting-new-job type stuff.

I hope to get a lot written to catch up tonight, however. Here's crossing fingers.

Not quite yet to "go", but we're getting there.

I think I may have a concept in mind for my novel. Mind, it's so loose that I have trouble even thinking of it in my head. I do hope that it's just waiting for me to open that Word file for the first time before it spills out from my fingertips.

Anyway, I think perhaps my idea is that there's this ghost (or some other entity that is human-esque, but not of this world entirely) and he befriends/rescues/similar a young girl. He stays by her side throughout most of her life, but as she begins to grow up and loses that childlike innocence, she stops needing him as much and he begins to fade away more and more. However, once he's gone, she realizes she'd fallen in love with him (he doesn't change, so as she grows closer in age to he...) and sets out on a journey to find him again.

Likely, it'd be a journey that steps from our modern-day world into that of magic and the unknown. I've this adoration for setting things in modern times with a twist. Or merging both ancient and futuristic worlds into one (as is seen in my somewhat-WIP novel, The Untouchables).

Anyway, I think in the next couple days, I'll begin constructing a playlist for my novel-writing.

Well, I appear to have made quite the mistake. You see, I packed my iPod's box already (it's a cute little box and still has some of it's stuff within it), but this has been a problem. Because, see, I've got various audiobooks and MP3s on my computer that I'd very much like to have added to it and now can't, because the USB cable is in the box (I have yet to install Firewire on my system).

This also means I can't yet put a playlist for NaNo onto it. Mind, I could build said playlist, but the lack of cable led me to realize that I really don't have the time to sit down for an hour or two playing with music.

My goal is to have the playlist(s) ready by next Wednesday (a week from now).

Greetings, one and all. This will be one of the few un-friends-locked posts in this journal. Largely for the reason that it is, afterall, an introduction, and it'd be very difficult for people to decide whether they do or don't wish to join without an introduction, mm?

Anyway, I am Leigh and this here is my writing journal. Rogue Neko is about my second-most used name online these days. The Rogue Cat- fitting, no? Tadiera is my most used and I do have a journal by that name, but you see, it'd spam it all the more to use it for my writing.

So here we are.

I still have to prepare for NaNoWriMo (if you want more information, click here) in many ways and I do so wish I had an inkling of a concept. Well, I do, but none strong enough to really wish to do them. As I get ideas over the next week, I'll post them here for your consideration.

I also need to build a pair of playlists for NaNoWriMo. As per the suggestion of bardiphouka, I'll have music that I listen to ONLY for writing. And I've decided to make two playlists: one of music that I feel fits the tone of the book and another of randomly chosen songs, to see which does the best.

Though, I have been struck with one conundrum: how large to make each playlist? I don't want so many that when I remove them from my non-novel music, I have too little to listen to with any regularity, but I don't want so few that I'm sick of them in under a month. I was thinking perhaps around 30 songs- what do you all think?