Well, I didn’t “win” the Nano. Found out that trying to write more than one scene a day doesn’t work for me. For now at least. Not with all the other life concerns clogging both my schedule and my brain.
But I find that the 20,000 words I wrote are heading in the right direction. I like a lot about it. I love my heroine. Lily in Ancient Whispers is good but more of a sensible nurturing type.
My new heroine is more fun to write because she is not so sensible and curious about everything. Which makes it fun when she encounters a hero with such deep secrets.

Here is a good post for aspiring writing about genre and where your book fits at the bookstore,
from Scott Eagan

Ancient Whispers and the rest of the series is easy: it goes in the paranormal romance section!

Leaving you with a great song from NIN, inspiration for my current work Ancient Secrets.

by Marie-Claude Bourque

I find this whole process of trying to write a book in a month, or at least 50K out of 85K , quite interesting, and probably not in a good way.

I did struggle at the beginning, trying to squeeze in a good 2K a day, hoping to get 2 1hr-sessions in my day, two scenes  and I found myself writing flat. Really flat.

The best compliment I ever received is someone who commented on Barbara Vey’s blog at Publishing Weekly that I wrote with all my heart. And I’ve also had my writing called melodramatic by contest judges but that only made me smile. I was actually happy by the criticism.

I don’t mind being melodramatic, who knows maybe it’s because I’m French. The the truth is I don’t want, absolutely don’t want to write flat.

The problem I find with trying to fill the Nanowrimo quota is that, no my heart is not in it. It feels like I’m just writing a laundry list of she did this, then that. They went there and he did that.

I like to daydream between writing scene. I walk or take the bus everywhere, and before in RI I drove a lot. Always listening to music (NIN, lately Abney Park for the Steampunk story that shall be written) and images come to mind, just like scenes out of movies. Everything is always dramatic in my daydreams. Characters scream their pain, express dark and untold desires, gather unearthly powers to find their enemy in storms and deady winds.

I daydream the scene, then take the hour as I just woke up, still in the sleepy dreamy state, to write that scene I have been dreaming about for 24 hrs.

The problem wih Nano and pushing the work counts and that, one, I didn’t have enough time to daydream the scene of the day and two, I force myself to add settings and small details to get the high word counts, stuff I usually worry about on the second draft.

So my writing partner Jenn Bray Weber liberated me when she wrote her take on Nano in her “Nanowrimo lite” post at Musetracks.

I’m following her lead. No longer pressured the word count competiin, I am back to the constant dream state, attempting to write those bigger-than-life moment I see, hoping they’ll translate.

 But when the tears are near after those words are down, regardless on how many I wrote, I know I’m doing okay.

by Marie-Claude Bourque

I was blogging at Musetracks today! Here is what I had to say:

Career Track: Frantically writing away to finish Nanowrimo (hopes: career author!); Volonteering at the local high school (hopes: High School Math teacher!); catering and running after two little boys (reality: mom!)

Let’s Brainstorm! So here we are all of us Candi, Jenn and I attempting to write 50,000 words in 30 days during the National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo). It is my first and if I am not wrong it is also a first for both Candi and Jenn (although every month is Nano month for our very prolific Candi it seems!)

To prepare for the month, I spend last week brainstorming. And even though I am a very analytical (polite way of saying anal) plotter, my brainstorming is anything but organized. I crank up the music (Nine Inch Nails and Tool work real well for me), walk around Seattle and daydream!

And I make lists, scene lists usually.

It is still a shock to me that I sold my fist manuscript but I have to say that if I hadn’t found THE brainstorming weapon, that manuscript mat have turned pretty flat. My favorite brainstorming tool is Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by agent Donald Maass. And I specify the workbook because that is what is most useful to me. Tons and tons of page full of questionnaire from how to make your character bigger then life to how he/she sees the settings and how to create more tension.

The workbook is also a great tool to define all your plot, plot layers and subplot. I never realized what all those meant until I read and work with this book.

So there I was last week, taking the path of least resistance and just answering question.

Last month, I wished I had more of those types of chart to fill out and, miracle, Mary Buckman and Dianna Love new book Break into Fiction came out. With a foreword from Sherrilynn Kenyon, I knew I couldn’t go wrong. I took some workshop with Mary (she is awesome!) and her workbook really didn’t deceived. I love it.

It starts with questionnaires on characters and conflict and move on to climax and turning point. I found it a great complement to the Donald Maass book. So if you are like me (slightly lazy) I do recommend starting with Breaking into Fiction, then moving on to Writing the Breakout Novel. It’s easy, it’s fun and you might get some real cool ideas!

SOME USEFUL READS FROM THE BLOGOSPHERE, LAST WEEK:

• On themes by agent Nathan Bradford
• Why agents ask only for 3 chapters by agent Scott Eagan
• How Unpublished Authors Can Build Name Recognition by editor Leah Hultenschmidt at Romance University
• How not to act by writer Susan Adrian

MUSETRACKERS NANO STATS – Nov 2th:

• Jenn (The Bruised Sky): 413 (Hey, she just had a baby!)
• Candi: (On Lupine Ridge): 4,227
• Marie-Claude (Ancient Secrets): 3,017

 By Marie-Claude Bourque

So I broke down this year and decided to do it for the first time. I am a Nanowrimoer! So this means that I am participating in the National Novel Writer Month (or Nanowrimo for short, or Nano for those of us in it and too busy to do anything but write.) For the whole month of November, I will attempt to produce 50,000 words. I little bit of a strech for me who feels comfortable doing about 1000 words a day (a scene a day really for me).

My writing stuff!

I had a bit of a writing slump this summer, mostly being burnt out from the American Title and also having the kids full time for school holiday. The idea of writing the sequel to Ancient Whispers just paralized me with fear (let’s be honest!).

But I wrote a Steampunk short story (which I plan to turn into a novel) and it was so much fun that I actually did find my groove again.

I still can’t believe that I had writer’s block, but yes, indeed I did. But all is fine now thanks to Margie Lawson awesome class notes “Defeat Self-Defeating Behaviours”.

It is so amazing to be back into writing again. I had missed it so much. That constant daydreaming, seing new scenes in my head, intense feeling emerging again (nearly cried today in my way home from a great scene that played in my mind… not kidding!), there is nothing like it for me.

So I am bracing the Nano. Mostly because this seems to be a good time for me before (hopefully) starting school again and I can’t wait to re-enter the world from Ancient Whispers with the sequel: Ancient Secrets. Meet my sorcerers again, feel the power, the rituals.

I’m psyched. I have my notebooks, my music (NIN of course!), my Donald Mass book to help with these pesky plot points and my laptop to log all these words onto the Nano website (…and of course, coffee! can’t do anything without coffee. Right!)

Wish my luck. I’m ready! I’m mcbourque on the Nano website. Buddy me