The evening's writing has concluded. I'm at just shy of 7000 words. Not bad for the end of the third day.
If there's one thing my experiences at Camp NaNoWriMo have taught me, it's that I enjoy writing a lot more when I don't outline the hell out of things before hand and leave myself plenty of wiggle room.
I'd planned to follow that sentence up with some profound words of wisdom regarding creativity and trusting yourself to come up with good ideas on the fly but I'm just too tired at the moment. I did figure out what's sleeping beneath the surface of Lake Marder and what went down twenty years ago that has the locals looking over their shoulders to this day.
Tomorrow's writing should be the introduction of Sister Mary Hatchet. Friday's will likely be the introduction of some campers so I'll have some lives to put into jeopardy later.
That's it for me. Let's see if I can go to bed at a reasonable hour for a change.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Camp NaNoWriMo - Day 3: Getting Started
I don't know about everyone else but getting started is always the hardest part for me. It's hard to sit down and focus on writing when everything else in the world is easier. Anyway, I've been at it for fifteen minutes and it hasn't killed me yet. In fact, I wrote something that entertained me that I want to share.
Horace looked at Jason and shook his head. "Nobody likes a smart ass, Fink."
Back to it. The Burnfield PD sure isn't going to crack this case without me.
"How the hell do you identify a corpse when the head is missing?" Horace asked as he followed the coroner's van back to Burnfield.
"I think it's Rick Stone. He was a friend of the Cox girl and the height and weight seem about right to me," Jason said, staring out the window.
"By God, Fink, how did you figure that out? More of that criminology you're always yapping about?"
"Partly criminology but mostly the wallet I found in the pocket of his shorts while you and Ernie were busy talking about how to keep things quiet."
Horace looked at Jason and shook his head. "Nobody likes a smart ass, Fink."
Back to it. The Burnfield PD sure isn't going to crack this case without me.
Camp NaNoWriMo - Day 3
Today's been pretty busy but I managed to jot down some notes for tonight's writing. I remembered I forgot to have the cops pick up the bloody clothes last night but I figure I can gloss over that tonight or make a quick change to chapter 2. I decided to have a priest talk to Horace after speaking with Lightning. The unassuming nun with him will be the one who calls the Sisters of the Most Precious Chainsaw and gets Sister Mary Hatchet into the mix. I like when the story tells itself to me as I write.
No one else ate lunch in the cafeteria so I was able to finish the book I've been reading, Dirty Money by Richard Stark. It's the last Parker book Stark wrote before he died a couple years ago. After 24 books, there's going to be something of a void on my crime fiction shelf. I guess I'll resume my progress on Andrew Vachss's Burke series and Robert Crais's Elvis Cole series until something else comes along to fill the hole.
No one else ate lunch in the cafeteria so I was able to finish the book I've been reading, Dirty Money by Richard Stark. It's the last Parker book Stark wrote before he died a couple years ago. After 24 books, there's going to be something of a void on my crime fiction shelf. I guess I'll resume my progress on Andrew Vachss's Burke series and Robert Crais's Elvis Cole series until something else comes along to fill the hole.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Camp NaNoWriMo - Day 2: Confession Time
As you may have divined from the title, I have a confession to make. On the way home from work, I contemplated chucking Murder Lake Massacre and starting Spider Girls in Heat. I had no urge whatsoever to work on MLM and questioned my sanity at choosing it for my primary August book.
Fast forward a couple hours. Fate seemed to be conspiring against me. My brother called as soon as I sat down to write and talked for half an hour. It was almost seven when I reluctantly started writing.
It's now 8:17 and I've just finished the second chapter of Murder Lake Massacre. 2369 words in less than an hour and a half and I'm actually fairly proud of it. I came up with Sheriff Horace Nelson and Deputy Jason "Fink" Finkel on the way home and they practically wrote themselves while investigating the gruesome murder from chapter 1.
Tomorrow's writing should be Ernie the Coroner telling the sheriff of his findings and letting him know he called the Gateway City PD for assistance, which will bring in Detective Pope from the last book, who will bring in Sister Mary Hatchet. I'm beginning to get excited about Murder Lake Massacre after all.
Time to walk the dog and do some reading before bed. I may be slightly over-caffeinated.
Fast forward a couple hours. Fate seemed to be conspiring against me. My brother called as soon as I sat down to write and talked for half an hour. It was almost seven when I reluctantly started writing.
It's now 8:17 and I've just finished the second chapter of Murder Lake Massacre. 2369 words in less than an hour and a half and I'm actually fairly proud of it. I came up with Sheriff Horace Nelson and Deputy Jason "Fink" Finkel on the way home and they practically wrote themselves while investigating the gruesome murder from chapter 1.
Tomorrow's writing should be Ernie the Coroner telling the sheriff of his findings and letting him know he called the Gateway City PD for assistance, which will bring in Detective Pope from the last book, who will bring in Sister Mary Hatchet. I'm beginning to get excited about Murder Lake Massacre after all.
Time to walk the dog and do some reading before bed. I may be slightly over-caffeinated.
Camp NaNoWriMo - Day 2
Nothing like not having time to do some stealthy writing at work to make you want to rush home and do some writing. I'm hoping I can wrap up this project in the next few days so I could possibly get some writing done in my slow times at work.
I've determined that the sheriff's deputy that Sister Mary Hatchet gets stuck with is a pulp magazine collector and a tremendous geek. That should give me an interesting character to interact with Hatchet while they search for Sister Mary Slaughterhouse and try to figure out while she's mowing down campers, seemingly at random. I haven't quite figured out who has the Macronomicon yet and what they're trying to do with it. I do think something's sleeping at the bottom of Marder Lake. That's why the Marder family bought up all the land around it in the 1920's.
I've toyed with bringing back Webcap from Sweating Bullets to be the bad guy. After all, Hatchet did cut his junk off and leave him for dead. If he somehow lived, he's certainly not happy with her.
I've determined that the sheriff's deputy that Sister Mary Hatchet gets stuck with is a pulp magazine collector and a tremendous geek. That should give me an interesting character to interact with Hatchet while they search for Sister Mary Slaughterhouse and try to figure out while she's mowing down campers, seemingly at random. I haven't quite figured out who has the Macronomicon yet and what they're trying to do with it. I do think something's sleeping at the bottom of Marder Lake. That's why the Marder family bought up all the land around it in the 1920's.
I've toyed with bringing back Webcap from Sweating Bullets to be the bad guy. After all, Hatchet did cut his junk off and leave him for dead. If he somehow lived, he's certainly not happy with her.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Camp NaNoWriMo - Day 1: Maybe August isn't going to suck as much as I thought
I sat down around 6:30 and busted out 2k in less than 90 minutes. I'm feeling better about back to back NaNoWriMos now. Murder Lake Massacre is up and running.
The opening scene went pretty well. I think I'll continue the practice of outlining the night's writing while I'm taking a break at work.
I'm still not sure if MLM is going to go 50k. It's going to take a bit to get Sister Mary Hatchet to Marder Lake to investigate. After that, I guess it just depends on how many campers Sister Mary Slaughterhouse is able to kill and how long it takes Hatchet to figure out what's going on.
Tomorrow, I'll have to figure out the names of the hick sheriff and the douchebag resort owner, as well as figure out who's going to be Hatchet's counterpart in the investigation. Should be fun.
Time to get some reading in before bed.
The opening scene went pretty well. I think I'll continue the practice of outlining the night's writing while I'm taking a break at work.
I'm still not sure if MLM is going to go 50k. It's going to take a bit to get Sister Mary Hatchet to Marder Lake to investigate. After that, I guess it just depends on how many campers Sister Mary Slaughterhouse is able to kill and how long it takes Hatchet to figure out what's going on.
Tomorrow, I'll have to figure out the names of the hick sheriff and the douchebag resort owner, as well as figure out who's going to be Hatchet's counterpart in the investigation. Should be fun.
Time to get some reading in before bed.
Camp NaNoWriMo Day 1 - Didn't I just do this?
Here we are again, campers. Whose bright idea was it for me to go to camp in both July and August anyway?
That week off from psychotically frantic writing wasn't long enough but I'm getting back on the horse tonight regardless. I'll likely be too busy at work to steal a few moments for writing but I should definitely be able to find the time for a quick outline of the first chapter or two. Once I shake off the morning fog, that is.
That week off from psychotically frantic writing wasn't long enough but I'm getting back on the horse tonight regardless. I'll likely be too busy at work to steal a few moments for writing but I should definitely be able to find the time for a quick outline of the first chapter or two. Once I shake off the morning fog, that is.
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