The Story

I was so excited about being at work all day yesterday that I forgot
to write this entry.

The story is going to be set in the north of Medieval England. I
haven't quite decided on an exact time yet, but it will be during the
peak of the Crusades.

The lead character, Owain (the only one with a name so far) is a
Lord. His parents are dead, his Father naturally, passing the title
on to Owain, and his Mother in childbirth when Owain was a youngster.
Owain has a younger brother who was a baby when their Mother died.

Owain is very devout, as was his Mother, and is training and
preparing to take the cross and go on to Crusade. His is a large,
strong man, a champion among knights. His brother will take control
of the land in Owain's absence. Owain is guided and driven by the
family priest, who has served for many years and was close to Owain's
Mother.

The story will start with Owain and the priest dealing with a young
local woman accused of witchcraft and the rise of a dark force in the
land (how very melodramatic).

I do have most of the plot worked out in my mind, but I shall save it
up. Next, I will introduce a few of the characters in more depth.

There will also be a dog.

NaNo 2005 Plans

A long time ago, possibly even before I first discovered NaNo, I had
an idea to use as the basis of a story. I would take the titles of
every track by an artist, arrange chronologically by album and track
order and use them as chapter headings.

So, looking for ideas for NaNo, I considered this again and duly
typed up a list of all 147 Yes studio tracks (including the ABWH
album, fact fans). I then sat and looked at them and worked on a
story.

As my plans developed, it didn't seem quite right. My idea wasn't
quite fitting into the feel of Yes. Quite by chance, I listened to
Black Sabbath by, umm, Black Sabbath and it struck me that the Sab
were the answer. So I made a list of Black Sabbath tracks and have
started to frantically track down copies of all of the studio albums
that I don't own (just one to find, Cross Purposes).

It does seem a silly idea, but I can see some advantages to it.
First, if I get stuck at a particular point, it is easy for me to go
and write something a bit later on in the tale and not get lost.
Second, to some extent, my route is already planned which should keep
me on track. Third, I have ready made inspiration if I run out of
ideas. Fourth, and perhaps most importantly of all, I have fifty
thousand words split up into chunks of three or four hundred.
Writing four hundred words is easy.

Tomorrow, as I have the post planned already and this will keep me
posting, I will start to outline my actual ideas for the story
itself.

After saying that cricket would stay out of the blog, Somerset won
the Twenty20, yay!

Planning For November

I have decided to streamline my bloging a bit more. I shall write
really only about things that directly relate to me and one or two
more carefully considered and serious articles (I have a couple
brewing). I can't imagine that anyone really wants to know my
opinion on cricket when there are many more considerably better
informed sources of information out there.

So, what, every year, takes up vast amounts of my time and energy?
Yep, NaNoWriMo. Nation Novel Writing Month. Write a fifty thousand
word novel in November. A bunch of nutters. But rather a lot of
them.

This year will be my third attempt, so a brief recap of my previous
tries.

2003, the story of Paul. I wrote around 26,000 words in November but
ground to a halt. In the last couple of months I have come back to
the story and have final found out what happens, how it finishes and
what it is about. I have even written some more of it, although my
enthusiasm for that has waned a little again.

2004, the animals. 10,000 words in November. I knew roughly what
was happening in advance this time, but it didn't really get
anywhere. I have plans to heavily cut it down, but it will
ultimately form the basis of a story.

This year, things will be different. For some while, possibly even
years, I have had a plan to launch a story. I have taken it up and
started to develop my ideas for November. A couple of nights ago I
thought my way through virtually the entire plot. Characters are
developing. Settings are forming in my mind. I now have three
months to research (I have taken a book out from the library
already), consider and make notes. This time I can do it, I am sure.
I will also lose my enthusiasm in a few weeks, but redevelop it in
time for November with suitable added caution, which is far better
than starting on a massive high and then crashing two weeks in.

I will post my ideas in a later entry as this one is already longer
than I planned.

Lack of posts

As I am sure you have all noticed, I haven't posted much recently.
This is largely due to being away for a fortnight or so and then not
getting back into the habit. I shall try.

Recent updates from me:

I go full time on Monday.
I went to the gym tonight for the first time in ages. Ow.
I have a new phone.
And new shoes.
I can't think of much else to write at the moment.

Ooo, the Rock 'N' Roll Suicides took the King of the Clans belt from
Rouge Elephant. We rock!

/me hugs everyone

Post Drought

As you will have noticed, I haven't posted much recently. It isn't
that I haven't had anything to say or that nothing has happened to
me, just that I seem to have just no done it.

A brief recap of recent events:

Moved house, spent too much money, eaten too much, not done enough
exercise, not done enough work, written more of novel, had an amazing
Ben Lairig trip in the Cheviots, set off Sports Centre fire alarm.

Forthcoming events:

NASMA conference, holiday, working full time, work on website, loads
of photos.

I shall write some entries while at the conference and try and slip
back into a routine.

There are some new pictures on my flickr site though.