Wednesday, October 13, 2010

In Which I'm So Excited!

But I'm not so scared. Ha! - just a little Saved By The Bell humor for those nerds who watched the show (I'm looking at you Teebore and Joan)

Who is so frickin pumped for NaNo? Because I am.



I spent last Friday working on my idea. I use the first 5 steps of the snowflake method. Then I write a query and then a scene list and it's time to go!

I've gotten through the query, but haven't done the scene list yet. I think I'll hold off a bit on that until closer to NaNo start.

Does anyone else write a query before they write the first draft? (I think Elana says she does...)

Here's mine, full of choppy and rough draft edges:



In a country where one member of each household must serve the navy in the war effort, sixteen year old Pier Arvin is doomed to spend his life as an "exotic" kelp farmer. Lame.

When Pier finds an orphaned sea serpent he decides to keep it as a pet. Everyone knows a serpent will eat a man faster than he can blink so surely the serpent, Rule, will add some excitement to his life.

Joint swims around the reef and close calls with sharks show Pier you don't have to wear a naval uniform to find action or catch the eyes of pretty girls. But when Rule accidentally injures Pier's younger sister and then attracts the attention of the enemy navy, Pier realizes the idea of war is completely different than the real thing.

Now he has to make a choice, surrender Rule and his town to the enemy, or risk his life in an attempt to free them all.




That's what I have entered in my Novel Info page.

Speaking of which, I need more of you to write about your novel ideas in there.
How can I successfully stalk you guys on NaNo if you have no novel info yet? It's hard. So do stalker me a favor and add some info so I can get all excited for you.

Also, when are they going to add word count widgets for 2010? I want one right now!

Are you excited? Or Scared? (or hopped up on "caffeine pills"?)

23 comments:

Lola Sharp said...

I think the widgets are there...under Fun Stuff.

I'd be excited if I wasn't so deep in revisions my brains might explode.
Also, I have no novel info up because...duh, I have NO CLUE what I'll be writing about. I couldn't even give you a genre if you put a gun to my head. That's stuff I'll worry about on Nov. 1st. (I'm the pantsiest pantser in all the land. I've accepted who I am. And, how this leads to the helliest of Revision Hells.)

Also, when I see her (Elizabeth) all I can think about is that she showed her vaj (and grinds it all over Kyle MacLachlan-who wore the WORST haircut). It was an awful movie, but I'll sure say she was committed. She went the distance.

Okay, I'm hunkering back down in my cave...

Lindsay said...

Yay for widgets. And yay for your NaNo story.

I'm taking part in my first NaNo this year (bites nails). I'd better get plotting. :)

Hannah said...

I'm so excited! I'm so excited! I'm so scared! Seriously, I'll never get into Stanford.

I've been going through some Snowflake and also just some pre-plotting work I've collected from various resources. I've got a lot going on this one and I want to get it close to almost right the first time around but I'm sure it will be a hot mess. I can't wait! I will post pictures one of these days of my nano folder. I'm getting organized.

About my info, well, you can suck it! Lol! Kidding. I'll work on it.

Sarah Ahiers said...

Lola - i checked yesterday and they have a note up saying the widgets are coming. sigh. And are you so pantsy that maybe, *gasp* you don't wear any...?

Lindsay - YAY! It's going to awesome!

Hannah - yeah you'd better work on it. You'd better or else...

Anonymous said...

I wish you all good luck!
Take care,
Boonie

Austin Gorton said...

Before I can query, I have to figure out what the hell is going to happen...

Working on it.

Sarah Ahiers said...

Boonie - thanks!

Teebore - yeah you should get on that. You've got like 15 days

Hart Johnson said...

I am PROBABLy going with my Player Down one, as I've been plotting, and that one is much closer to coherent than any of my other plans, but as I am still not QUITE decided between that and the microbrewery one, I just have that it's a mystery.

I've never started with the query. I have my MC, her sidekick, a victim and a list of suspects thus far (plus motives for the suspects). I think i will story board it. That seems to be effective with mystery.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

No, I've never written the query before the book - although that would certainly reveal if the idea was lame.

Proud to say I've never watched Saved by the Bell!

KodasTotems said...

Sarah, I've never done Nano. But EVERY year I say I will. And EVERY year there's some distraction which prevents my pansy ass from actually doing it. This year's distraction is that I'm writing so much for my Master's program that I tell myself I couldn't possibly have time to write fiction. But that's b.s. isn't it. I mean, isn't the whole point of Nano to just immerse yourself in the process no matter how shitty your product is? You've gotta start somewhere, right?

Southpaw said...

I love sea serpents! You are so brave to enter the NaNo. It will be a wild and crazy month. Maybe next year for me - maybe.

DEZMOND said...

I watched SAVED BY THE BELL a few times as well :) Tiffany Amber Thiesen was super cute as was the blond guy too.

Austin Gorton said...

@Lola: It was an awful movie, but I'll sure say she was committed. She went the distance.

If it had been Kelly in that movie instead of Jesse, I don't think I'd ever watch anything else ever again. ;)

Matthew MacNish said...

Your story sounds awesome.

Anonymous said...

Classic, classic Saved by the Bell. You are awesome.

Good luck with NaNoWriMo! You have an intriguing premise to work with.

yokohamamama said...

I've been reading about NaNoWriMo (first had to figure out what it was:)), here and over at Dreamz of a YA Writer.

*Wow* you guys--a novel in a month? I'm strictly non-fiction(not a self-imposed rule--I just suck at writing fiction:{ Props to all of you who actually write a novel in a month! And--I have to ask-- after November, is it possible to read the submissions? Does the contest publish/post online some of the work (like, winners maybe)?

Gambatte, Sarah! (that means "Never say die" in Japanese:))

Maria Zannini said...

No Nano for me this year.

But I do start my drafts with a blurb and a bare bones outline.

Good luck!

Joan Crawford said...

Woot! Yay! I got a shout-out! A Nerdly One but hell, I'll take what I can get ;)

...I'm...I'm so scared, Zack!

Caffeine pills! LOL! How very 14 years old. "Hey, man. I got some caffeine pills, wanna take like 3 and get buzzed before algebra?"

*starts breaking sticks over her knee*

Sarah Ahiers said...

Hart - that was my favorite of your list

Alex - me neither, on the SBTB front

Kodas - this is very true. BUT, to be fair, i held off on doing it until i was in a more stable position so i know how it is

Holly - you should totes do it next year! It's so fun

Dezmond - i typically only watched it if there was nothing else on

Teebore - HAH!

Matthew - thanks! Of course, everything sounds awesome in the beginning. We'll see how it turns out

Kelly - oh it is so classic, it practically shines

Yokohama - see it's the opposite of me. I am TERRIBLE at non fiction. So bad. And nope, they don't post any of the winners novels due to copyright

Maria - ooh, how does the blurb work for you? And yeah, my "outline/scene list" is super bare bones.

Joan - LMAO!!! and to think i almost forgot about the stick breaking. Almost...

Talli Roland said...

Good luck with NaNo!

Yeah, I write query first too. I always helps focus my thoughts.

Anonymous said...

I'm back to let you know that your general greatness deserves another award. There's one waiting for you at my blog.

Sarah Ahiers said...

Talli - i'm surprised more people don't write a pre-draft query

Kelly - aww! Thanks!

Unknown said...

Hey, I would love to write down info so that you can stalk me on NaNo, but I've been having a hard time deciding what story to go with. I actually had like 13 ideas, got it down to seven, and now there's just 2 1/2. I wrote query type things for each of them to help me decide. It was fun, and gave me a better idea about what I wanted to do.

I'm excited!! :D *dances*

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