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NanoWrimo Hell

I’m mapping out what I do during the day to see where I’m spending time that could be used to write. I already get up between 5 and 6 AM to write! (Admittedly, alot of that time has recently been spent surfing rather than writing, but I’ll happily give that up for a month.) But what about that time marked as “Distracting Lilly?” I don’t do ENOUGH of that already and I ain’t giving up what I’ve got. Poor kid’s learning to read at three years of age because her mother is too busy writing books to read them to her. Sigh. Sorry, I guess I needed to rant.

I did spend over an hour this morning with research….

Goal Setting Time!

Oooh, this could hurt.

It’s time to set goals for the next book. I’m so obsessed with the current novel, I haven’t worked as hard as I need to on my take of Wang Mang’s life. Still, I’m pretty sure I know where I’m focussing, so here go the goals:

1. I will know who my main characters are. (Minor characters can pop up as needed.)
2. I will know my basic plot. (Twists and complications can occur as needed.)
3. I will be ready to write by the end of October.

Right now, I’ve got one of the main characters and the events of his life are the driving force of the novel. But I need two other characters as love interest and antagonist. I know who they’ll be in his life (or I think I do), but I don’t have enough information on them yet. More research is required.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Chinese history, Wang Mang is vilified by some as regicide and murderer of children, to some he’s a self-sacrificing would-be empire salvationist. To me, he’s a fascinating personality. He lived about 180 years before my current story arc happened.

Where do you to find ideas/themes that hold you in their grip?

Thanks to Jeannie Lin for tonight’s blogging question. I’m researching for agents and future plots and not finding either. The agent is something I’ll have to workout for myself, but where do you go to find the notion that will not let you go?

The heroism and sacrifice of Romance of the Three Kingdoms cried out for a fantasy treatment. I couldn’t (still can’t) stop until it’s seen publication. But even though I’ve found several areas of Chinese history that I find intriguing, no other subplots, acts of love, heroism, etc have jumped out at me and shouted, “You must let me tell my story!” I will continue to look, but I’m interested in what other folks do at times like this.

Authors of Asian Novels Yahoo Group

Okay, I kept pining after some sort of research site made especially for writers who want to do stuff set in Asia. I finally decided I’d do it. The group website’s URL is in the title, if you’re interested in joining. Please come with your list of fiction and non-fiction books that you’d like posted. I did input all of those books that were listed here, plus many more. I haven’t had time to input anything in the music database. If there are other databases or if you’d like to post pictures, feel free. I do ask that we keep all material and language clean. 🙂

My poor fingernails

I’ve given my entire ms to a Chinese friend to read. Will he like it? Will he be completely bewildered? His opinion means more than I can say as I’ve tried so hard to make the setting as authentic as possible. He will also be the first male who has read the entire thing – assuming he makes it through. LOL. Iya! This will be a long month.