Congratulations! You made it to the last day of the challenge! Did you finish your draft? Did you get your 50,000 words? Either way, you still have today, and tomorrow, and all the days after that. Push hard today, but remember, this is only the beginning of the writing adventure. The adventure of finishing, editing and publishing your novel is still ahead.
Ben sat on the dock watching the sunset, finally at peace. The odd cloud formation over the mountain was growing at an alarming rate. Then the edge of the ship emerged. “Not again,” Ben yelled.
My interpretation:My main character has worked hard his whole life and has recently retired to enjoy the fruits of his labor. However, a strange object crosses his path which when he asks about it brings people into his life that threaten to take away the security he has created for himself and his family. He has always lived within societal norms, but he feels he must take justice into his own hands. He feels that he must take matters into his own hands and confront the people threatening his way of life. People see the changes he makes as failure, but he sees more value in strengthening his relationships and letting down his defenses.
I thought the mirror card, which represents why I’m writing this story, was exactly correct. I commented recently in a twitter writers’ chat, that my biggest fear as a writer is becoming destitute and homeless. However, the way to combat that fear is to write great stories; then to finish those stories, edit those stories and sell those stories.
Are you glad you followed the call to adventure?
What have you learned along your journey?
Do you feel you have changed from your experience?
For today’s prompt, write a “back in the day” poem. You might also call this a “good old days” poem or a “bad old days” poem. To me, back in the day is synonymous with history–but a kind of personal history (even if shared among a community).
Have your MC reminisce about the ordinary world from the beginning of your story. Does s/he recognize how much s/he has changed? Does s/he look longingly back to before the adventure or is s/he glad for the change and hopeful for this new life?
Why does it feel like a rich man’s scheme?
Work hard. Buy a house. Carve out your piece.
You were the cog. I was cheap grease.
Meet a girl in college. Get married. Have kids.
We built a better product while he made bets and bids.
Wasn’t that the human condition, what every red-blooded American did?
End with hope and forward momentum.
Set your timer for 10 minutes. Where is your character’s safe space. What specifically makes him or her feel safe in this space.
Trying desperately to finish her draft, Tatiana’s hand fluttered across the page. The flutter turned to a buzz, which became a blur. She never finished, but her story took flight.
Tie up lose ends. Shuffle and pull a card for each of your story questions (plot and subplots). This is your story solution card.
This exercise was good for me. I needed to map out all of my subplots and connections between my primary, secondary and tertiary characters. In the image above you can see the card I drew for my MC, my secondary characters’ story lines and my tertiary characters’ stories.
In what part of the world do you imagine being happiest?
What one thing do you hope people will remember about you?
Write a “how I’ll be remembered” poem. It’s an interesting question: How will I be remembered? My amazing looks? My incredible personality? My charitable nature? My goofy jokes? The cranky guy who’s always telling people to stay off his lawn? Dive into this introspection today.
I wrote it as my MC.
And someone who contributed to the betterment of the lives of others.
MC is a new person: gained skills, understanding and insight about the world. The MC uses this to enhance another character’s life.
Set your timer for 10 minutes. List all of your story points and sub-plots. How does each story arc end? Look for any plot holes or danglers. Brainstorm how to tie up all your lose ends.
Pick your favorite word crawl that you attempted this month. If you’re behind on your word-count, pick the one that made you write the most words.
#NaNoWriMo Day 27 and #CyberMonday Sale at #RedBubble!
Happy Cyber Monday! Are you one of those people who takes advantage of online sales to get a jump on your Christmas shopping? If so, you may want to take advantage of the 25% off sale of my art products at Red Bubble.
Use Code CYBER 25 for 25% off EVERYTHING!
It may be hard to believe, but these designs, like many of the images I’ve shared this month, are created from photographs. This year I’ve been working very hard to master bokeh shape photography. I have hand-cut many unique filters for my camera lens and use different light sources as my color pallet. The movement of the monsters and dragons above, is the result of shutter speed and slight movement of the camera while taking the picture. If you would like to know more about bokeh, this is an informative article: Bokeh for Beginners.
Meredith knew the elves in Santa’s workshop couldn’t compete with her eye for design, so the day after Christmas, to give them plenty of time, she started sending designs and patterns to the North Pole. Next year, her kids would be trend setters.
I may have passed the 50,000 word mark, but my draft is not finished. Today, I did a reading for my MC’s New World. He has risked his life and been betrayed by everyone he loves. Nothing will ever be the same. What will his New World be like?
My interpretation: This is an interesting reading for my upcoming scenes. Because of the betrayal my MC faces, to help his family, he may lose everything he worked so hard for all of his life. He may want to go it alone after all of the betrayal, but his family is what he cares about most. If he ran, he would have nothing left. To get to his New World of balanced relationships, he will have to resign himself to his new situation and though he will get back to working too hard, he has a new understanding of who he’s doing it for and why.
Do you have, or have you ever had any tattoos or piercings?
If you got a tattoo what would the image be and why?
What is that image or symbols special significance?
Free play- Make two list: A list of nouns and a list of verbs. Play with combining nouns and verbs that you don’t think you have ever combined before.
Set your timer for 10 minutes. Write a scene in which your character does something impossible.
Feel like you need a magic potion to finish NaNoWriMo on time? Try The Witch’s Brew Crawl.
Happy Reading, Writing and Shopping!
Today is an exciting day! I became a NaNoWriMo 2017 Winner yesterday, surpassing the 50,000 word mark in my novel. That makes today the first time I have continued NaNoWriMo after reaching my goal. I still have many scenes to go before this story comes to an end.
Please don’t feel discouraged if you have not finished. There is still plenty of time! Pick a prompt, a warm-up or a challenge and get those words on the page.
Today is also very exciting because-drum roll please-it is the cover reveal for Gator McBumpypants in Shelley Comes Out Of Her Shell. And here it is!
To celebrate, the kindle editions of the last two adventures, Gator McBumpypants Doesn’t Say Goodbye and Gator McBumpypants in Dee Dee Makes Three, are only 99 cents through the end of November!
Cathy hunted everywhere for the last piece. She dug through the carpet, searched under the bureau and was about to write a complaint to the manufacturer when her cat spit-up the half-chewed, missing piece. Instead of a complaint, she begged the manufacturer for a replacement, if at all possible. This was the third letter like this Petra had received this week.
Yesterday, we took our first look at the entire hero’s journey.
The Seven of Cups- This is an interesting theme card for my novel. It represents that what you desire has no relationship to your ability to actually get it and that temptation offers temporary pleasures that can bring permanent damage. This is an important theme seen through my antagonists, but also something to make clear to my protagonist. It sometimes takes the rug to be pulled out from under our feet in order to wake up and take stock of our lives before it is too late.
What is the main thing you and your partner or spouse argue about?
Why do your opinions on this issue differ so much?
Verb collecting: Pick one concrete noun. Perhaps the closest object to you. Now list all of the things it can do; all of its verbs.
Get creative. When you think you’re done, come up with five more.
Choose three different emotions. Pair each emotion with a different animal. Write three scenes. In each scene, use only attributes of the chosen animal to show your MC expressing the paired emotion.
Since I wander beyond 50k for my first time during NaNoWriMo, I thought I would attempt the Beyond 50k Word Crawl.
Henry realized his magic elixir was in his dictionary all along. However, as he wrote with confidence, he became the villain of his story and stole a boat. The return home would have to wait.
Today, I tried pulling only one card to see how my MC would respond to the revelations of family secrets in today’s scene.
A spread out the deck and drew The Seven of Pentacles- fear of failure and fear of success. This card makes sense for my MC today. He worked hard to cultivate healthy relationships, or so he thought and now he finds out it was never enough. He fears he has failed and he also fears what is to come. How will these fears manifest in action?
Fear of failure is a great card to contemplate, not just for my MC, but for myself as well. I got behind in my goals this week and have another deadline looming. However, I have just enough time left, so it’s time to re-double my efforts and get things done. Through hard work, this fear can be fugacious.
What event from the past had a strong effect on you?
Do you think an event from the past influenced your personality?
Did one of your relatives other than the ones who lived in your home have a profound impact on your life?
Synesthesia (blended feeling): Use the vocabulary of one sense to name something perceived with another sense. Example: sweet song, a bitter cold.
MC’s reward makes life better.
Pick an emotion, any emotion. Set your timer for 10 minutes. Write about a memory that emotion brings to mind.
In honor of everyone traveling home after Thanksgiving, I thought today would be a good day for a Road Trip Crawl.
After losing most of his friends and allies on his harrowing journey of discovery, the star in his pocket finally led him to the mermaids’ dimensional portal pool. They allowed him to capture their magic song, but warned him he could only return home with one of his rewards. He had to choose between fire to heat and light his whole village, the guiding star he carried in his pocket, or the mermaids’ magic song which he knew was the goal of his quest to save the world though he didn’t know what it did or how to use it. The hero never returned home.
This reading for Return With The Elixir feels appropriate for the day.
As I shuffled, Temperance upside-down came out and felt like it wanted to be part of this reading, so I put it over the Return With The Elixir Card. Temperance reversed can mean not learning from lessons and experiences that come your way. An interesting card to come up at this point.
Moment in The Sun: Six of Pentacle- success and achievement through willing to take a risk, being committed, trusting one’s own intuition and using clear communication.
My interpretation: My MC’s elixir is what he learns from his experience and a change of heart. He learns that what he believed was showing love- hard work to provide for physical needs like food, clothing and shelter, and showing strength- were perceived as being uncaring and aloof. His elixir, therefore, is learning how to form deep relationships with the people he loves. His moment in the sun is when he finds that the risks he has taken through his adventure have paid off. I think the new problem card refers to the body count in my story. My MC will find that his deeper relationships will include consoling loved ones through grief and providing more physical and emotional support than he did before. Though he has a new outlook, he will still find this challenging.
What physical activity to you try to avoid?
For today’s prompt, write an abundant poem. There are so many instances of abundance in the world: Abundant sunshine; abundant happiness; abundant evil; and in November, abundant poetry!
Use commas to set off nonrestrictive elements. Do not use commas to set off restrictive elements.
A restrictive element defines or limits the meaning of a nouns or pronoun and is therefore essential to the meaning of the sentence. Example: For camp the children needed clothes that were washable.
In this example, if you removed the restrictive element that were washable, it would change the meaning of the sentence.
A nonrestrictive element describes a noun or pronoun whose meaning has already been clearly defined or limited. Example: For camp the children needed sturdy shoes, which were expensive.
In this example, if you removed the nonrestrictive element which were expensive, it would not change the meaning of the sentence.
Spend some time writing sentences with restrictive and nonrestrictive elements. Try to identify examples of both while you read.
Give Thanks for your fabulous story. Enjoy your words.
Focus on the senses. Note down the smells, tastes sounds and textures throughout the day. Try to come up with many different ways to describe each smell, taste, texture and sound.
Patrick felt eyes on him, following him, as he connected his senses to the forest. He had listened to the wind through the branches, smelled the needles and loam, felt the rough texture of the bark and craned his neck to take in the trees’ majesty. It wasn’t shown on the educational sign, but there was one more sense to explore. He looked around to make sure no one was watching and stuck his tongue to the tree. The forest was watching.
This was a very productive reading for me; not because of the cards I pulled, but because, during the shuffle I thought about the scenes left to write and what was coming up in Act III. I wrote out a list of what needed to happen before the climax of my story and everything clicked. I think preparing for this reading produced my “eureka moment” for this draft.
My interpretation: Entering Act III, my MC feels he has lost everything. He has been betrayed by family and friends. Through theft and manipulation, he could lose his property, his security and his home. He feels like the world is against him, but he has to resist it. The root cause of his problems is he holds on too tightly to his burdens because he wants control over his environment, but soon he will be unburdened. He uses his basic instincts to face his problems because they have served him well in the past. His goal is to live peacefully when his fortunes change and all this has passed. A painful ending must occur in his near future for his growth and regeneration. I’m afraid somebody has to die. For the first time in his life, other people see him as the fool. He has to face the truth about his relationships-they are not and have not been the perfectly balanced, mutually rewarding relationships he thought they were-to take his new ideas and turn them into a successful plan for the future.
When The Hermit Reverses, it is time to come down from the mountain, time to come in from the cold. You have learnt all you need to at present by going within and it is now time to return to the land of the living and apply your new-found knowledge and wisdom and put it to the test.
Does that apply to me, or to the theme of my story, or both? Something to ponder.
For today’s prompt, write a “what I learned” poem. Funny thing about being human is that we’re constantly learning, whether the lessons are being taught in school, on the streets, or even in grocery store checkout lanes. This poem should focus on something learned, regardless of the arena.
While writing today, use some of these transitional devices to connect and expand ideas.
Show that the ordinary world is no longer ordinary.
Set your timer for 10 minutes. Describe the oddest coincidence you’ve ever encountered.