National Novel Writing Month is here! Check out my progress.
Source: Start!
Author: Kassandra Carrillo
Kassandra Carrillo received her B.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Houston. She enjoys writing dark paranormal fiction. However, she has dabbled in writing fantasy as well, science fiction, western, short stories, poetry, and scriptwriting, but she prefers writing novels. When she's not writing, Kassandra likes to crochet, practice her art, and stream video games.
Information about NaNoWriMo blog
First things first:
In order to go to my NaNoWriMo 2016 blog all you have to do is the click the link here. If you do happen to click the link, nothing has been posted yet. I will starting blogging on Tuesday.
To access my NaNoWriMo blog you can also go to the top of Dabbling in the Art of Writing and hover your cursor over NaNoWriMo. Two options will appear: NaNoWriMo (2014) and NaNoWriMo2016. Clicking on the latter one will take you to the NaNoWriMo 2016 blog. This link here will take you to the home page.
On a side note, I have included a count down calendar until November. 🙂
Updates for November
The last full week of October has finally arrived. I shouldn’t say finally because I think this month went by really fast. I’m not sure how I feel about that though. Without including today, there’s 3 days left before November 1st. I have a some important updates and some ‘changes’ are going to take place in the upcoming month.
A few things:
I will be blogging about my progess for NaNoWriMo on my other blog. I’m going to put up the information for that in the next few days.
On the NaNoWriMo blog, I will have daily updates on my word count and everything about my novel. I’m not sure how many posts I’ll have per day but I try to have my word count posted by the end of eachday.
I’m also thinking of adding screenshots of my word count meter that’s on the NaNoWriMo official page but I’m not sure yet.
Since I’ll be busy in November, I won’t be posting on this site but I’ll figure out a way to link the sites or something along those lines. I think I know how to do this but I’ll check the guide.
That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading.
The Romantic Subplot
I will never be able to write a romance novel. It won’t be for the lack of trying but I don’tthink that I can write it effectively. It involves deep characters, patience, planning, and so much more. I don’t mean to sound lazy but let’s just say that writing a romance novel is not in my near future. In part this has to do with the fact that I don’t think I can pull it off even with tons of revisions.
While I’m not going to write about “how to write a successful subplot”, I will throw my two cents in. In my humble opinion, subplots need to add depth and complexity to a story. They’re like the crew in a play. They work behind the scenes to make everything run smoothly.
Romantic subplots . . . I do tend to have these in my stories. Well, not all of them. Sometimes, the story doesn’t need it so why force it? But when I do, I use the subplot to show more of my character (their reaction, what kind of a person they are); it all has a purpose. Sure, I have some cute interactions between the characters but that cannot distract from the main plot. Sure an antogonist can use a love one to advance the plot but that turns into a cliche (IMHO).
There’s need to be a moderation. I like creating a line table of my main plot and subplots to not only keep track of them but also to have a plan of action and to see where the main and suplots intercept. Everyone has their own method of keeping track of things and planning out events.
Romance as a subplot all depends on the type of writer you are and the kind of story you’re. I believe it’s all about balance and staying true to the story you want to write.
NANOWRIMO characters
There’s a few weeks left before National Novel Writing Month starts and I’m already panicking. Kind of. I have the beginning of the story mapped out and I know how my lead will get involved into the developing plot. However, thinking about it, I don’t have a lot of characters. I have two as the lead and maybe five as supporting characters with moderate to little interaction between all of them.
As I think about the middle segment of the story, I have started to come up short. I have a few characters in mind to further develop the story but that’s about it. I don’tlike to create characters and not use them otherwise they’re dead weight. They clutter the story without doing anything. Maybe its the fact that my plot hasn’t been completely developed or maybe is the fact that I’m overthinking all of this and I’m forgetting the most important part (that I have mentioned before): creativity. I guess the fact that I can wing it, scares me. I don’t want to get writer’s block during November.
Looking at things now, I might have to plan out the story as I write. That’s not a bad thing, not really. It’s just that I have spent so much time editing and revising, I feel as if what I know about writing disappeared and I’m not confident anymore. Maybe I just need to get back in the game and practice. We’ll find out in November.
Dabbling in the Art of Writing 