The bud, the blossom,
the petals falling like snow:
sakura’s three lives
National Poetry Month: Hanami (花見) I
Writing
Camp NaNo Poll: Best place for fanfiction?
This July I am participating in Camp Nano, with the goal of writing for 500 minutes. I’m doing okay so far with devoting time to writing, but I’ve only written two scenes! Ugh! I think this is because I didn’t have a strong outline like I usually do, so I’m kind of floundering. I’m a plotter, not a pantser!
I’ve started on a new project this month, and surprising to me, I’m back to writing fanfiction! I used to write a lot of Cardcaptor Sakura and Star Wars fanfics back in high school and college, but I haven’t done any in over 10 years now.
Consequently, I’m kind of out of the loop on where to post fanfiction online. I used to use fanfiction.net (my stuff is still there), but maybe that’s not as popular anymore? Of course, I do have this blog as well, but I don’t usually post my writing here, and I’m especially hesitant to post fanfics because of the dubious legalities.
So, fellow writers, what do you think?
Camp NaNo Win: An extra-exciting accomplishment
Last month I participated, as I have many times before, in Camp NaNo, which is kind of a spin-off of NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, in November. I like doing Camp because you can set your own goals instead of conforming to the “50,000 word in a month” paradigm of NaNoWriMo.
This April, my goal was to write 10 min a day, or 300 minutes total. Good news: I managed 400 minutes over the month. So, yay for winning!
Even better news: I finished a complete draft of a novel!
This novel, which I have been calling Ash and Team, is one that I have been working on since NaNoWriMo of 2013. Six long years. I started this as a practice novel, and I know that actually publishing it would require more research than I have time for currently, so while you will likely never see this story in print (or even in revisions), I still feel really proud of this accomplishment. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end; it has character development; it has some humor and a magic system; it even has some prose that I really enjoy reading.
The draft is about 44,000 words, which is quite short for a novel, but it is after all a fairy tale retelling. Also, I tend to severely underwrite in my initial drafts, so if I ever finished it I’m sure it would be a bit longer.
You can read some excerpts from Ash and Team here, and in honor of my first “completed” novel, here’s another brief excerpt from the very (happy) end of the story. Continue reading
National Poetry Month: My Fellow Goose
My Fellow Goose
for Jolee
With thanks to Mary Oliver
A lone goose is flying
across the sky.
He honks and honks and
then again,
calling to his family, somewhere.
I have seen no other geese.
I could honk, too, but
you are forever beyond hearing.
You will never again greet me
at the door
or sleep by my side.
Now, I am left to pray
for a goose
in the chill morning.
DIY MFA Book Club: My Storytelling Superpower
I’m participating in the DIY MFA Book Club this month, and one of our daily prompts asks us to consider our Storytelling Superpower.
I took the Storytelling Superpower quiz at the DIY MFA site, and after a few quick questions, it told me my result is The Protector.
“Your superpower is writing superheroes!”
This means my characters tend to be self-sacrificing and selfless (even to the point of martyrdom…). They have a strong sense of duty and “superhuman fortitude.” They strive to protect the people and things they love. It gives Scarlett O’Hara, James Bond, and Iron Man as examples.
I had never thought of my writing this way! For the result of a goofy little quiz, it does seem to fit my characters pretty well.
I love superheroes of all kinds. I see superhero comics as a kind of modern mythology, a reflection of cultural aspirations and values. Even though I’m drawn to grey characters, I don’t write a lot of them (at least not yet…). Most of my characters have a Lawful Good bent, which I think mostly goes along with the superhero concept.
My last NaNoWriMo project is a great example of this; it features a healer who’s trying to free the spirit of a goddess (while possibly losing herself in the process), and a gladiator-turned-personal bodyguard who gets sucked into her quest. They may have different reasons for doing what they do, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are both Protectors in their own way.
At first, I thought that another NaNoWriMo project, Ash and Team, threw a wrench in this scheme. However, although the titular characters Ash and Team don’t really fit this superhero mold, the narrator Meg does. Meg is Team’s older sister and a friend of Ash, a protector to them both. Way back when I started conceptualizing the retelling, it wasn’t until I looked through her perspective that the story really took shape. She’s really the heart of the story, despite not being the “main” character.
You can take the Storytelling Superpower quiz, too! Let me know what your result was 🙂 You can also join the DIY MFA book club here or get a copy of the book here.
Jedi by Knight 