Play That Funky Music

If a picture paints a thousand words, music paints a thousand pictures.   Laura Whitcomb

 

By:Stacey Purcell

 

Good Morning Muse Trackers! I’m on my third day of NaNo and am far too caffeinated for my own good.

If you’re not familiar with NaNo, there is a minimum word count that you are supposed to hit every day of around 1700 words. That is no small feat! I’m a slow writer by nature so pushing myself like that is very difficult. So far, I’ve hit above the word count and am on cloud nine.

Yesterday, I threw out a question on the NaNoers FB page and was surprised by the number of passionate responses that popped up.

What do you listen to while you write?

Some swore by classical, others claimed silence was their auditory muse. A few liked Korn, and jazz mixed with blues filled the air with the rest of the responses. Wow- what an eclectic mix!

Laura Whitcomb wrote Novel Shortcuts and covered this topic in her wonderful book on the craft of writing. (If you haven’t read it yet, treat yourself.) She puts together actual soundtracks for her novels. It’s a collection of music that captures the mood and action of her storytelling. It’s important for her to find musical pieces that “speak directly to the real emotion driving the novel”.

This would be an interesting technique to try on my next novel. Perhaps if I had a specific soundtrack, the music might help me blast past the walls I run into that stop me dead in the water! Sounds good. I’m too far into this novel and NaNo is pushing me forward with an insistent call of the word count, so it will have to wait.

Pandora is a wonderful thing and a quick way of putting on types of music. www.pandora.com I’ve created several different types of music stations that fit either my mood or the mood of the scene I’m writing. My Robin Trower (a blues/rock guitarist who’s been compared Jimi Hendricks) station got me through an emotional push and pull between my two main characters  yesterday. This faded into my Josh Groban station when she described the death of her father. Whew! Talk about a stretch in one day.

Laura Whitcomb ends her chapter with a recommended list of music. I’ll pass that on to you. Good luck with your writing today! Let me know what you like to listen to when you commune with your keyboard.

Laura’s List:

The Others by Alejandro Amenbar- strange, dangerous, and anguished

Ladies in Lavender by Nigel Hess- romantic, pure, and charming

Kingdom of Heaven by Harry Gregson-Williams- stark, passionate, and enchanted

Hamlet by Patrick Doyle- honorable, aching, and pensive

Gladiator by Hans Zimmer- Celtic, rueful, and heroic

The Lord of the Rings by Howard Shore- ethereal, nostalgic, and ominous

Carnivale by Jeff Beal- bleak, desolate, tender, and eerie

Titanic by James Horner- haunting, sweet, and grand

Henry V by Patrick Doyle- courtly, noble, and pastoral

Munich by John Williams- ancient, holy, and heartbreaking

Want Adventure? Try NaNo!

And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise.  The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.  ~Sylvia Plath

By: Stacey Purcell

It’s that time of the year again. Sure the weather is changing, we’re getting ready for Thanksgiving, and Christmas is right around the corner- but that’s not what I’m talking about. It’s NaNoWriMo time!

 If you’ve never heard of it, then you need to slide on over to http://www.nanowrimo.org and check out what all the hype is about. Chris Baty began this writing adventure (because that’s what it truly is) in San Francisco July 1, 1999. There were only twenty one people registered to participate. It’s grown slightly over the years and in 2010, there were over two hundred thousand signed in to write their little hearts out from around the world. So far NaNoers have contributed 2.8 billion words throughout the years.

In 2000, with one hundred and forty people ready to write, he moved it to the month of November in order to take full advantage of the miserable weather that time of year on the Bay. He had some home grown help from friends, but it was mostly done manually and took a lot of man hours. Finally some automated help came to the rescue, however it wasn’t the end of their problems. Almost as soon as they had stuff online, writers would try to upload their word count for the day only to find the system had been hacked. Pornographic images blared across the screen along with the, ever so clever, words “YOU SUCK!” Sigh. It was a long row to hoe. They persevered and it is now streamlined and easy to register.

The goal is to write fifty thousand words in a month. Simple, right?

Well it is..if you do some preparation beforehand. I’m a true pantster and chuckle at myself when I’m shocked by what just happened on the page. Who knew the characters would do that? I certainly didn’t. I’m also a procrastinator and get easily side tracked. This year I have two tools I’m going to try while jumping in with both feet. On September 8^th, 2011, I wrote an article here on the Pomodoro Method of productivity. (If you haven’t read it, I think it will help most writers- All You Need Is A Tomato To Solve Your Problems) This will help me keep on track and make the most of my time.

The other tool I have is a card given to me by Michael Hauge this summer in New York. He is a master teacher and full of wonderful ideas to adapt screen writing techniques for novelists. Screen writers have to have turning points happen at specific times in a movie to keep the audience from getting up and leaving. He’s translated this structure into a lay out for a book.

Stage I(The Set Up) 0-10% ,

Stage II(New Situation) 10-25%,

Stage III(Progress) 25-50%,

Stage IV(Complications And Higher Stakes) 50-75%,

Stage V(Final Push) 75-90/99%,

Stage VI(Aftermath) 90/99-100%.

Turning points are like sling shots to propel your reader to the next stage and they must occur in between each one. By the time you reach Turning Point 3 located between Stage III and Stage IV, your character is at the point of no return- she/he must continue on the quest. This keeps your material fresh and exciting.

As I’ve already stated, I’m not a plotter, but this year I’m doing a general outline of major events so I stay on task and don’t wander off into la-la land with my story. Pacing is so important and I’m hoping this will keep my writing tight and very tense.

If you haven’t tried NaNo, I highly recommend it! Countdown has begun and I’m sure the Pomodoro and Michael Hauge will keep me going!                                                                                                                                     

NANO: My Top Ten Lists

Song of the Day: All Over Now by Great White

It’s over. Thank the gods of all and sundry, NANOWRIMO is over.

At the beginning of this madness which started back on November 1^st, I determined my goal was not the customary 50K words. How completely ludicrous to even entertain the idea that with a 14 month old, a 9 year old, the holidays, and all the responsibilities that I shoulder, I purge out  so many new words. So, I set my goal lower. 25K. That seemed reasonable. Of course, I wasn’t thinking that last week with 9,000+ words to go and Thanksgiving breathing down my neck.

But I did it! And let me tell you, once I hit the magic number, I stopped cold. Right in the middle of a chapter, right in the middle of a scene. I did, however, force myself to finish the friggin’ sentence.

And so, with this experience behind me, I will bestow upon you my NANO Top Ten List.

Top Ten List Why I hate NANO

10 – Explaining why I participate in the stress-inducing madness to non-writers.

9 – No time to blog, twitter, or updating my Facebook status.

8 – Sheer panic watching my minimum word count skyrocket because I failed to keep up.

7 – The “you owe me” look DH gives when he makes dinner for the 4^th night in a row.

6 – Watching your writing buddies write circles around you – dweebs.

5 – Wasting time wondering what happens next. NANO is not for pantsters.

4 – Wrinkles! I didn’t have them prior to, say, November 5^th.

3 – Cranky, snappish, crying jags, defeatism, opting to have hot pokers seared into my eyes, wanting to give up, and a general overall bad attitude.

2 – Burnout. The refusal to write just one more word, even a terribly abbreviated signature on my child’s progress report.

1 – Whose idea was it to have NANOWRIMO in November? For the love of Pete, it’s the holiday season! Why not February? It’s too cold and dreary to do anything else anyway. Sheesh!

Top Ten List Why I Love NANO

10 – Camaraderie. The world over, people just like me are participating and most don’t need a straightjacket.

9 – The mid-month writing sprint. Hordes of authors get together and write as if their lives depend upon it.

8 – Progression. Whether 50 words or 50, 000 words, it is still a forward motion and that’s got to be good.

7 – The fact that my computer counts Chapter 9 as two words. It’s the little things that make me happy.

6 – Passing your writing buddies in your total word count. (insert evil cackling)

5 – Watching the charts and graphs grow closer to my goal.

4 – The rush of when I can’t type that mind-blowing scene fast enough. Pure genius.

3 – The excitement of my masterpiece unfolding. Really, I’m on the edge of my seat. I can’t wait to find out what happens next.

2 – Realizing that I can move mountains. I can meet a deadline. I am up to the challenge.

1 – The horn-tooting, confetti throwing, glitter ball dropping, lords a’leapin’, incredible feeling of finishing. What an accomplishment!!!

How about you? Did you participate in NANO this year? How’d you do? I’d love to hear from you.

NANO: A discovery

Song of the day: Comedown by Bush

Here we are 10 days into NANOWRIMO. Ten days of chugging along spouting brilliant words of lyrical, breathtaking, action packed scenes and snappy dialogue. Right? Right?

By now all of us Nano-ers should be about 30% through with our NANO masterpieces. Myself, I’m running a smidgen over 25%. Sounds good, but keep in mind my goal is not 50,000 words.

Let’s be realistic. I have a 14 month old baby. The only time I can get cranking and write is when she is napping. And I don’t crank. I more or less, turn a handle one rotation and stare out the window wishing for some brilliant flash of genius to tell me what happens next in the story. Yep.  Bona fide pantster, here.

But I’m making the most out of my measly time. I found out something amazing in my quest for making the daily word quota. While my little one is strapped in her car seat and I’m sitting in the truck waiting for my older daughter to be released from school, I write. I write MORE than I do in my study during naptime. Since becoming a writer, I have always used this time in the carpool lane to my advantage, but usually I’m editing, judging contests, or writing for this blog.

So, why this sudden volcanic rush of words? Is it the drive to catch up from another pitiful naptime creativity dribble? Is it the change of scenery? Is it simply a sprint? Is it my anal-retentive brain working with blinders on? Probably a little of all of the above.

It got me to thinking. Maybe now that the weather is turning milder, I could load up the kiddo for naptime and drive to the park, sit in the lot, sip my energy drink, and crank, crank, crank.

Do you have a favorite place that you seem to be able to be more productive than normal? Let me hear from you.

Would it be wrong to apply today’s blog to my daily word count?