NaNoWriMo 2016

Another year and another novel. Or well, similar world of a previous attempt but still different novel. I am revisiting the world from the epic year of 2012. Then I managed to get 160,000 words in the month on a novel that ended up just under 180,000 for the first draft. The novel will be split into two when I finally get to the rewrite as it's too long without much worldbuilding or description. In order to develop some of the plot for the series and the world, I've decided this year to do a novel following a different character.

The series that I've written thus far focuses on Aeon. He is a young mage student who struggles in his studies because of a past attack that affected his memory. There are many things he doesn't remember or know, including his own full identity.

Yes, it's a little done before with the secret prince/princess but that's where the story went. And what brings in the new novel is that he has someone who protects him. That person went through intensive training and has to be fully dedicated to the point of putting his own life on the line if necessary.

That character is Xan and now he's getting his own novel.

While most of the time I don't care for when a novel comes out afterwards that actually goes before book 1 in the series but mine aren't published. So, we are going to find out what it takes to become Aeon's protector.


Hoping to get at least 100,000 words with the first 50k done within the first week. I will update on here for sure, along with a few other topics. End of the year, 2016 blog posting come back. Woot. Plus, it's almost midnight and I can't wait to write.


Are you writing for NaNoWriMo?
What is your novel about?

Fiction Writer's Experience at KROQ Weenie Roast Music Festival

I love music but have rarely had the chance to see any live performances. I have been to a few small country fair concerts and one bigger one that was held at Cheyenne Frontier Days, but other than that, no concerts or music festivals for me until I went to LA. My sister does some music blogging and was able to get us into a music festival where it was groups that I actually listen to, for the most part, and overall it was a cool experience.

I must admit that when it comes to bands and music, I tend to recognize the song more than the people performing it. Aside from listening to the radio, I am big on creating playlists. Many of the novels I have in progress or plan to write in the near future have a playlist with at least 10 songs. I also have different playlists for running as I go more by time than distance when I'm training. So, I love making playlists and listening to music even if I don't pay as much attention to the people involved.

Still, it was a great experience seeing groups perform live and I hope to see more in the future. For fun, this post is a little review of the festival that I attended along with details on who performed and some of the songs I have in my current novel playlists.


KROQ Weenie Roast @ Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre

The event was a 24 year tradition in Orange County with this being the last year they would host in that particular venue. The station = http://kroq.cbslocal.com/

The lineup and my thoughts on the performances:

Budlight Party Stage

DJ Jeremiah Red
Bear Hands
Bishop Briggs
Nothing But Thieves
The Strumbellas
Lukas Graham

We didn't catch the first few since I didn't know some of them. The first ones we went over to the smaller stage to check out was Nothing But Thieves as the radio station up in Portland has played their song Trip Switch before (94.7 fm, Alternative Portland). I had also heard of the Strumbellas from listening to that station too. Had a good view of Nothing But Thieves with the exception of some tall people as it was standing room type of situation and well, I'm short. The Strumbellas were on the other stage, so I couldn't see them very well.

I really enjoyed Nothing But Thieves, who are from the UK.  They had good energy and it was easy to see how much the members of the band put themselves into their performance. If you haven't heard them before, I recommend checking them out. Trip Switch is a great song but others are enjoyable too. I don't have many of their songs attached to novels yet, but the one is going with Renegade and Quarantine for sure.

From the Strumbellas, I do like Spirits. It's a good song in general. I don't have any of their songs on playlists at this time but suspect that will change in the future.

Had no idea who Lukas Graham was but the women standing near me were very excited to see him. Very excited. Made for an interesting experience in the topic of fangirl-dom.



Main Stage

DJ Jeremiah Red
Miike Snow
Fitz and the Tantrums
Cold War Kids
Garbage
The Lumineers
Panic! at the Disco
(not on playlist) Blink-182
Empire of the Sun
Weezer
(Did not perform, hospital situation) Red Hot Chili Peppers


I actually knew all of the bands, though had to hear a song or two in order to remember a couple because I pay more attention to songs than who plays them. Most are ones that get played on the radio station I listen to but I've also heard many of them for years. And yes, I have songs from some of them on novel playlists.

People were really disappointed at the end when RHCP couldn't perform. Okay, more mad than disappointed. I didn't put down a lot of money so that might have influenced my lack of caring, plus all of the other performers did an awesome job. I still would like to see them perform, some day, live and hope things go better for the band with the hospital situation that caused the cancellation.

I enjoyed every performance. Panic! had to be one of the most dynamic performers out of the bunch though a few gave them a run for that title. Empire of the Sun was the most costume orientated and showy. Loved Garbage and despite a fall, she powered through, which shows great on her part as it can be hard to recover in the moment let alone turn it around that quickly the way she handled the situation. Also, a number of the bands have new albums and/or songs coming out this summer and performed some of them for the crowd along with the more popular ones.

Overall, a great experience and while I don't have all on playlists there are more to come in the future as I keep writing. And I may have gotten a novel title for an adult story from the new Fitz and the Tantrums song, maybe. ;-)

Novel Playlists with songs from bands that performed at Weenie Roast:

North West - Weezer (My Best Friend)
Snow - Panic! at the Disco (Ready to Go)
Under the Selfsame Sky - The Lumineers (Ho Hey)
Three Days of Rain - Garbage (I'm Only Happy When It Rains)


More to come. Have several novels that still need playlists. It's on the very long to do list for summer along with the youtube videos. Which, clips of the music festival will be up once I combine everything from my LA trip. Stay tuned for that.


What music groups have you seen live?
What is one song on your current novels playlist you enjoy the most right now?

Camp NaNo

Another NaNoWriMo topic only this time, it's the summer addition. Also known as Camp NaNo, there are usually 2 challenges each summer. For 2014 there was a camp in April and July, same as last year but the year before the months were different.

I like the idea. November can be a tricky month with the holidays, family obligations, crazy work schedules and/or classes. So, having an option to write during summer is handy. And one month a year just isn't enough.

Camp NaNo also has an extra bonus, though. It doesn't require 50,000 words as the goal. People pick the number of words they want to write during the month. And it doesn't have to be a new novel, so someone could take their 50,000 words if it isn't done yet and add an extra 30,000 during Camp NaNo and that would be okay.

I haven't had much luck in the past with Camp, however. I tried back in 2012 but forgot about it each time. Or the one I did some writing in, I only got a few thousand words. This year, however, has proven different. I made a goal of 30,000 words for the month and I reached my goal a few days ago. The novel was over 30,000 words when July started, so I brought my YA novel up to over 60,000 words and I'm getting closer to finally having a finished first draft on the one I started back in like 2011. This year, it was Yay for Camp NaNo.



Though I will admit, while Camp is fun... it still can't compete with November. I can't wait for NaNoWriMo 2014 and for the first time, I already know what I'm working on. A redo of 2010 where I wrote 50k in 15 days but didn't finish the novel. I'm reattempting the Epic Fantasy with the multiple viewpoints and elves. Woot!

The One

I could have swore I had a topic about this already. Proof why I really need to label my posts better so I can find what I've done before instead of having to read through them all to see. Then again, not sure what to label this post even now.


Many people over the years have mentioned "the one". And I don't mean the one they want to spend their lives with, per say. I mean that one novel, that first one that makes it to agents and editors desks/computers/etc.

For some, that book is easy to pick. Those are the ones that write only one story at a time, at least as far as I can tell. Not being one of them, this is only a guess. Sometimes it's the second, third or tenth one written, but they focus on one at a time. On the other hand, when there are 10 to pick from, how does one decide which will be the one?

I'm not sure.

But I think I've decided which are the ones (yes there are 2) for me. I am certain that the mutant novels will be the ones I sent out first. Granted, that doesn't mean they will be published first because they may never be picked up by anyone. But they are the ones I'm going with first.

Now to get back to editing them.


Do you have "the one" yet?
What is it?