A Healthy Dose of PMS ~#

[Psychotic Maniacal Sanity]

Yay!

It's not totally outlandish. I mean, I've written guys before, and I do have female main characters in this novel, it's just such a weird collection of things for me to be writing all at once.

If this goes well, though, and I like Leo, I could write spin-off novels that are purely-detective! Because before this novel, and before his wife when bat-s**t crazy, he was a pretty damn good detective.

Hmm... There's a marketable thought. : D  

[DesertRoseFallen]

Ooo marketable thoughts are fantastic! I like the idea of the detective spin off's, detective fictions are very popular!

 

[Psychotic Maniacal Sanity]

That's what I'm thinking! And it doesn't even have to have ANYTHING to do with this novel, because that's obviously set under water. If I wanted to spin off because I liked Leo, I could have general detective fiction in a dystopian future. =O I think there might be a market for that.

Bwaha, here's to hoping!  

[DesertRoseFallen]

It sounds very exciting! And the best thing is that its a marketable excitement!

 

[Psychotic Maniacal Sanity]

Yes! Whooo! I hope NaNo goes well, just so I can say I have a wealth of things to write afterwards. xd  

[Psychotic Maniacal Sanity]

~Monday 1st November, 2010.

And we're OFF!! Yeehaw! Already this year is going better than last year. So far I like my characters, my plot, and I'm having fun getting everything down onto the screen. Things aren't going as I planned, and I love it! So far today, Leo has tried to kill himself, failed, and ended up in the city of Glory. There he has tried to 'run away' from the hospital in which he's being kept, and been beaten to a pulp by a guy who is suspicious of his motives for being in Glory. XD Meanwhile, Jemima has been attacked by two thuggish gentlemen whom she has evaded and robbed of their gun.

Awesomesauce.

I also went to a write-in at the Norwich Millennium Library, which was good fun. It would have been better if I hadn't had to write on paper because my laptop decided to play silly buggers. However, I got a good thousand words written by hand, and won one of those awesome animal bracelets that springs back to shape whenever you take it off! I got one that's supposed to be a monkey in my survival pack at the weekend (doesn't look much like a monkey, but to hell with that!). Today, I got a purple kangaroo. One of the dares is, if you have trouble with your word count, to include the animal you have on your band. Well, we all know how much I like monkeys! (coughCHIZcough). So, we'll see how that goes!

Anyway, it's definitely time for bed. I have uni stuff to do tomorrow as well as writing. Ah, life is good.

Here's a little except:

Quote:

“Previous occupation?”

Leo held his breath, counting to ten in his head. He had been in worse situations than this when Lorraine was alive, but none too recently. He didn’t know how to answer. What if this information was already something he had? Was it worth it? “Shop assistant,” he lied. It had to be for the best; at least until he knew exactly what was going on.

“Mhmm,” Hopkins said, raising his dark eyebrows. “Shop assistant?”

“Senior,” Leo corrected. “Senior shop assistant. I was almost the manager.”

“Uh-huh.” The doctor leaned over, his starched collar digging into the pink flesh of his neck. “Is that right?”

“Yes.” Leo gritted his teeth, knowing that it was probably obvious that he wasn’t being truthful. He hadn’t been in a situation where lying was necessary in a long time. Come to think of it, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had such a length conversation with anybody but himself. “You could ask anybody. Why’s it so important?”

“Because, Mr. Crane, we take our business very seriously here and we don’t want anybody to jeopardise that. Do you understand?”

“Jesus,” Leo muttered. What was this, the mafia? “Who exactly do you think I am?”

“The point is, Mr. Crane, this is exactly what I intend to find out.”

There was a dead silence. Leo could hear nothing but the steady hum of Doctor Hopkin’s breathing as he stood over him, watching as though he was affraid that Leo might rip himself free of his ties at any moment.

“Look,” said Leo eventually. “What has any of this got to do with anything? I’m confused, and I don’t know what you want with me. If you check your records, you’ll see that I wasn’t exactly in a good state of mind when I did what I did. I didn’t intend to end up here, for sure. I don’t even know where here is. I’d appreciate you keeping your end of the bargain.”

“Bargain?” Hopkins wrinkled his forehead in a pseudo-surprised manner. “I wasn’t aware that this was a negotiation Mr. Crane. Was it?”

Words written today: 8,110.
Total word count: 8,110.

Another update tomorrow. =D  

[DesertRoseFallen]

Ooo I loved that excerpt, kept me in suspense and I could see it happening. Good luck with NaNo, I'm sure you will be fine smile

 

[Psychotic Maniacal Sanity]

Yay! I just noticed a typo, but I fixed it. Ah, the joys of NaNo.  

[Psychotic Maniacal Sanity]

~Tuesday 2nd November, 2010.

Another update - whut? Yes. That's right. I'm not dead. Although my fingers might disagree there, and my poor brain. It's been a long day of writing. I started writing after my uni work at around 2pm, and finished for the day about half an hour ago. How much did I accomplish? Quite a lot. XD

I got it into my head to see if I could hit 20k today, and with a lot of word wars, I did it! I'm very proud of myself, especially because it doesn't feel too much like I'm forcing it. Not like last year. I've enjoyed writing every bit of the novel so far, even if some bits have been tougher than other, and some bits sound like a three year old wrote them. The best part is that the characters are pretty much writing it themselves! My subconscious is coming up with all of these plot twists and turns, and I'm not yet running out of ideas, which is brilliant. As long as it keeps up like this, I'll write as much as possible. 50k in five days is possible so long as I'm enjoying myself like I am right now.

But before I go to bed, I have some stuff to do, so I can't spend too long talking about how awesome I am. biggrin Unfortunately, I have more reading to do. So now, I'm going to do it. However, here's an excerpt from the crazy mass of words that poured forth today:

Quote:

Jemima started to sing. The verse of some song that Arabella hadn’t heard since her childhood filled the room, Jemima’s voice strangled and shaking. “Doo-doo-a-diddy. Doo-doo-”

“Jemima. Mimi! What’s the matter?”

She wouldn’t stop singing. Arabella lowered her onto the floor, leaning her back against the wall of the room, and then taking a deep breath, she stepped into the parlor. The smell, at once, was frighteningly strong. It was a mix of perfume, strong and bitter, and something else. Something metallic. At first Arabella couldn’t see anything at all. The only lights in the room were the ones in the corner that flickered on and off. Shattered glass was everywhere; she could see it glinting even in the dim light.

She could just about make out the shapes of the two large armchairs that Vincent had procured from a colleague after he was deported, and the outline of the fireplace that was so similar to her own. And then she saw it. Deep inside her chest something snapped. A cold, icy dread filled her pores, and suddenly she felt as though she might faint.

In the middle of the room there was a wooden chair from the matching kitchen set. Jeanette — for presumably it was she — hadn’t made it out of the apartment. Holding her breath, Arabella took a step closer, and then she saw it. Against the dim backdrop of the delicately adorned parlour, the deep gash in the side of the woman’s neck appeared like a grotesque monster. Dark blood the colour of wine stained the material of her dress, soaking the front and the pleats of the skirts. Her head lolled sadly to one side, and it sickened Arabella to even look. Bile rose in her throat. She swallowed hard and backed out of the room, shaking.

Jemima was still sitting on the floor, her hands over her face, rocking back and forth. She continued to hum, but more quietly now. Every few seconds she clapped her fingers over her ears, and then moved them back to her eyes. Back and forth, back and forth.

“Mimi, honey…” Arabella could hardly speak. The lump in her throat was the size of a golf ball, felt like it was suffocating her, but anything was better than going back in that room. “Mimi, we need to go. Mimi? Mimi, come on honey.”

Eventually the young girl looked up. The shock on her face was reflected in Arabella’s eyes, and she sadly opened her mouth in an ‘o’ shape. Then she started to hum again. She got to her feet, grabbed hold of Arabella’s hand, and began to tug her back out of the apartment. Arabella grabbed the spare clothes that Jemima had dropped in her terror, and they stepped out into the hallway outside without saying another word to each other.

Arabella couldn’t explain it, but the horror of what she had seen had been more than just absorbed by the both of them. She felt like this monstronsity was sitting inside of her, and she was unable to tame it. One second she imagined simply running, screaming, crying — and the next she couldn’t imagine doing any of those things, all she could see was the blood, the glazed look of panic that had been ingrained into Jeanette’s dying face. Her slack jaw, her wide frightened eyes. Just one look at Jemima told her that she could feel the same monster clawing inside of her.

Once they were out on the sidewalk they stopped. Jemima dropped to her knees and vomited, wretching so hard that she gave herself a slight nose bleed. Arabella picked her from the floor and wrapped her arms around her, unable to offer her any more comfort than this. Together they stood in silence for a long while, until the lights around them dimmed well into the evening, and they were left with nothing but a cold, pale glow.

Words written today: 12,012
Total word count: 20,124  

[DesertRoseFallen]

12,000 words today?! I think you need to go and recharge your batteries :O Loved the extract as usual biggrin

 

[Psychotic Maniacal Sanity]

12,000 yesterday. 2,000 so far today! I'm aiming for 10k, but I dunno if I'll hit it. You wouldn't believe how tired I am! xd Glad you liked the extract, though. It's not very well written, but I think you get the picture. XP  

[Psychotic Maniacal Sanity]

~ Wednesday 3rd November, 2010.

Clearly very tired. My seminar sucked it out of me today. I got some written, but not how much I had planned. Early to bed, early to rise, right? I've got a huge goal planned for tomorrow now, so I'd best go sleep. XP

Quote:

“How am I supposed to look after her if she won’t even come out of the damn bathroom?” she asked. She rubbed her hands over her eyes, and stood there for a moment with her fingers pressed against the bridge of her nose. “What am I supposed to do?”

Leo gazed into her face, realising for the first time how young she actually looked. She had high cheekbones that accentuated the dark depths of her almond shaped eyes. The sadness in her face only served to demonstrate the severe lines of her chin, exaggerate the shiny quality of her eyes. He smiled sadly and shook his head.

“I don’t know,” he whispered. “I never got this far in the parenting book.”

Without thinking, he drew her towards his chest, like he used to do with Lorraine when she couldn’t cry any more. She didn’t resist, although she didn’t exactly seem happy at this contact. Yet, he drew her in, wrapped his arms around her waist and let her head fall onto his shoulder.

She was taller than Lorraine had been, thinner. When he held her it felt like he could, easily, hold her tightly without having to worry that she would break in half, right down the middle. There was a kind of wiry strength within her that he had not expected. It was comfortable, surprisingly so, and they stayed there for a few minutes. Leo breathed in the smell of her hair, a kind of warm cinnamon smell, and tried to think what it was that he could do to help her.

Words written today: 7,237
Total word count: 27,364  

[DesertRoseFallen]

I repeat...you are a machine hahah!

 

[Psychotic Maniacal Sanity]

Haha. Yesterday wasn't quite so good! I stopped trying to make myself crazy. So, I wrote about 4.5k. Still good progress though!  

[Psychotic Maniacal Sanity]

~ Wednesday 1st December, 2010.

November is over, and so is NaNo. My novel is currently sitting at around 75,000 words, but isn't yet finished. I had so much work on in the last week of November that I couldn't even think about my novel. I was sleeping and working instead. Sadly, that work won't let up until well into December, so I might just have to give the novel a rest until then. I'm tempted to start up something new to keep me writing while I work - but I'm worried that if I start something new, something easy, maybe I won't go back to Glory. It's a tough decision.

I want to write fantasy, or maybe even some chick lit. *shot* I want to write something with romance, characters falling in love and possibly some big old manor houses. I want to go back to my writing roots, write what I used to love writing and see why. You know? I feel like I've lost something along the way as I've tried harder and harder to write fiction that will sell. Maybe by writing a novel like I used to write, I might have more drive to go back to Glory and finish it. I honestly don't know what to do.

All of this was sparked by an old movie I watched. I realised that it used to make me want to write more than anything in the world. Now I criticise the movie, the characters, and myself. I tell myself that I'll never be good enough so what's the point? I think if I can get back to basics (as I tried to do with Glory, and failed when things got complicated) I might be able to achieve something that is a little more than the sweat and blood and tears which seem to be growing from my work at the moment. X3

If inspiration a plot, character or setting strikes, then I'll do it. If not, over Christmas it'll be back to Glory. I guess we'll just see. I'm pretty open to anything right now. =D