Brace Yourselves - NaNoWriMo is coming~!

Yes, in just two days time (more like 1 day really) NaNoWriMo will officially begin! What is NaNoWriMo? Well, it stands for "National Novel Writing Month." Through the website, you can sign up, post a quick snippet of the novel you will be working on and track your progress! The hope is to write 50,000 words in one month and essentially complete a novel! As you all know by now, I've been trying to write a novel since forever and I'm going to try to push myself so that I'm actually writing and producing some content (even if I end up editing half of it out by the end). The idea is to get ideas flowing and start writing it down on paper - y'know actual scenes that move the plot forward instead of just world building - so yeah.

At the moment, I have a rough outline of what will hopefully come to be "Genma" the first part in the series I am planning. Needless to say, the first part will largely follow the exploits of Genma who is a loud, rambunctious 19-year-old who is as lost as you or I when it comes to where he is going in his life. In terms of appearance, Genma is has long strands of straight black hair that hang over his eyes and hug the nape of his neck. He's approximately 5'8" with bright silver eyes (yes, you caught that right, silverish eyes, although from a certain angle they look more blue rather than silver. He likes to say they're silver - adds an air of mystery, he says) and tan skin. He makes inappropriate comments and gets himself into all sorts of trouble. It's his knack for troublemaking that opens the stage to "Genma" and will hopefully he will lead you on an interesting journey, if not a wild goose chase.

Novel Bits: Japanese Theater Soundtracks and their Effects on World Building and Character Development

Cover of "SPECTER"

I've said before in like a post waaaayyyy back when that I didn't really want to divulge too much information about the novel I have (still forming) in my head. I mentioned that I have tons of world building completed but there's still so much more that continues to form in my head. I love what I already have fully developed and it definitely helps fuel me toward wanting to develop the other aspects of this world just as much. I'm pretty sure that I've mentioned working with different soundtracks when developing a character or when world building. One of the first soundtracks I ever spoke about was the soundtrack for the Japanese play, Lilium. It's a spectacular play and I would love to say, "oh, here's a link to buy the soundtrack" but I can't. The only way to get the soundtrack is to buy the DVD. Although I would totally recommend buying the DVD because again, it's an amazing play, but 1. it's entirely in Japanese without subtitles and 2. It's quite pricey. But regardless, I do own the DVD and therefore, also own the soundtrack. This is a good thing, a very good thing because it has provided me with countless inspiration.

Ok, so why are we talking about Japanese theater and my novel? Well because some of the best and most elaborate world building I have done has come about from my listening to soundtracks from plays made by Suemitsu, the man who wrote and directed Lilium. By itself, Lilium is amazing - sad,  scary and mind twisting all at once. But, paired with its predecessor TRUMP, Lilium becomes the second installment in a world where the truth is muddied by the perceptions of each individual character. TRUMP makes it clear that Lilium is not only sad - it's tragic; it's not only scary - it's terrifying. I have not watched TRUMP in its entirety because I plan to watch it all once I buy the DVD. I will admit to watching the first 15 minutes (which are up on Youtube) a good 30 or so times. I understand basically everything going on and I can't wait to watch the rest of it for sure. But just the music played in those first 15 minutes has helped me detail a setting and visualize a character and his/her character traits. It was just recently that I learned a third installment had been released and that all together, about 6 or so plays are meant to be released in the series. The third installment is SPECTER and it's just my luck that I happened upon a preview of the soundtrack on Youtube. And basically: IT'S AMAZING. Go ahead, click on the soundtrack and give it a listen, I'll wait :)

Novel Bits: New Inspiration

Hello! As stated in my last Novel Bits post, I'm going to focus on posting new Novel Bits updates at least once a month from now on. In terms of my writing, lately I've grown to really develop the world where my novel is set. It doesn't really have a name, at its inhabitants consider it to be "the" world, but I've shaped different peoples and cultures by tying them strongly to their environments. It has been a slow process because I really want to develop this world throughly, but I'm quite happy with what I have so far. I've included changes in speech patterns and hope to begin to note differences in word usage or meaning amongst the peoples of this world.

Where Have the NovelBits Gone?

I know, I know what you're thinking. Hey, wasn't this blog supposed to chronicle how a girl has started writing her first novel? There hasn't been an update since June! What is with the anime/manga reviews? Well my friends, it has been a while - 7 months to be exact. To tell you the truth, I spent a good 3 or so of those months completely stuck on my storyline. To be quite honest, I still am, but I have come a lot farther than I was 7 months ago. I really needed to step back from the plot line and start building my world from scratch. Since the last update the following has happened: major character names have changed, relationships have been redefined, settings and appearances have been decided (I did a lot of drawing to get to the point where I liked the character designs), backstories have been developed and a prologue as well as 1 chapter has been written. Slow start? I know, but hear me out. Every time I work on each chapter, I only get so far until I realize I need more description here, find this sentence or that sentence awkward, etc. To sum up my slow progress: I can't seem to kick the habit of editing as I write. This was exactly why I originally wrote all my ideas in a leather notebook but now I have so much written there, that I figure it's time I start typing some of it and making sense of it. This has been a challenge because it means reading and rereading what I have, sometimes, already written sloppily.

Some Believe It To Be A Legend

As I have progressed, little by little, writing out scenes in my journal, I reached another point where I feel I have to stop altogether once again and rethink plot lines, story layout, etc. To be quite honest, I haven't given much thought to the finer points of my novel because I'm currently at the "word vomit" stage; the stage where I simply write whatever pops into my mind. I had a very terrible incident of a particularly interesting scene popping into my mind right before church. Needless to say, I did not listen to the sermon at all, as I was too busy developing the original short dialogue into a scene in my mind. By the time I got the scene to paper, I feel like I missed some aspects that I had originally intended to include, but I am overall satisfied with the scene. I believe that if it's used, it will provide great character development.

Lilium

Over the past few weeks, I have been able to develop a daily routine where I write something once a day. It's not always great, but I have been working on simply getting all the words in my mind out. I have also switched from typing my ideas on One Note, to writing them out longhand. I've realized that this helps my creative process. I seem to get more ideas when I'm not hitting the keys on my computer.

On that note, through internet browsing yesterday, I was able to find the following:

This is a preview of the soundtrack for the stage play "Lilium, Shoujo Junketsu Kageki", a Japanese play that is currently being performed. The reason I know of this play is tied to:

       1. My being a fan of the girls that perform in this play (they're from a girl group in Japan) and

       2. Having watched the play Stacy's earlier this year, a play which I struggled to like at first, but after the first 30 or so minutes, fell completely in love with. The members of this same girl group also took on major roles in Stacy's.

It Started With A Dream

It started with a dream.
A real, legitimate dream, the kind that creates images in your mind's eye, grasping at the edges of your imagination.
There were water spiders and three kids.
There was a dystopian world and so many unanswered questions.

It was a Sunday.
I woke up and immediately began getting ready for church.
I finished early, just so I could sit at my computer and start typing.
I didn't finish then of course, there was too much to write.
On the way there, I wrote everything down in a notepad and on the ride back, I completed it.
As I typed everything, more ideas popped into my head and the storyline expanded.

---

It continued as a spark of inspiration.
It was late at night, and I wanted to write. So, I started to write.
I thought I was writing a story based on my dream.
But when I finished the passage, new names had appeared.
Thinking it over the following days, I realized it was based on the dream.
I realized that the dream was just a moment, a part of something greater.
Characters began to form in my head.
Ideas rushed forward, words typed, and short dialogues created.
However, there are still many details to consider.

It started with a dream.
I thought the main characters were a boy and a girl.
Now, it seems to be a boy.
The story of a boy.
I hope it ends as a novel.

If it is completed, this is how it would start:
"Annabel screamed when she found the body floating in the water."

Join me on my journey as I seek out the meaning behind the water spider.