INMON: Ailing Mind :: Really?

OMG!!! IT’S AN INMON PIECE!!!!

REALLY?!!

Yes, I’m back. Though not as frequently 😛 Here’s this week’s attempt:

My hands shake and I can’t stop them. I don’t want to stop them either.

“It’s not my fault. Everyone’s so scary! “

Everyday is like this. Everyone’s shadows look sinister and demanding. Somehow it’s the demanding part that scares me the most.

“What do you want from me?”

I ask this question daily too. Usually I’m met with strange looks, as though I don’t know what I’m talking about. That’s the really infuriating part.

“Leave me alone!”

I need to curl up into a ball and hug my knees to my chest. Gran taught me how to do it when I was little and I’ve been doing it ever since. It’s the only thing that calms me down.

“It’s okay.”

Slowly, people pass by my forced blockade and slowly I enter my own world. Here, everything is clean. I’m alone, but it’s not scary. I can’t hurt myself after all. No one can hurt me. I’m not afraid of snipers and spies and terrorists on top of it all. It’s peaceful; like falling asleep.

“Why are you doing that?”

I’m already out of my happy place.

“It’s nice.”

“REALLY?”

Maybe we’re all the same.

Lovely\\ She’s got that ring to it

Lovely. It has that ring to it. A roll of the tongue. Like a liar’s lisp, it coaxes you in,  lures you into a sense of security. It is a neutral word. No bias attached to it, no unnecessary thoughts. It is a good word. Whoever says it means it-why they said it is another reason entirely.

I watch the stalker slinking around my living room, unable to move. I frown. I scowl. He notices these expressions, and a lewd grin spreads over his face.

“Well, aren’t you lovely?”

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Well, I don’t usually do this, but Voice Week really, really was great for me. Another massive thank you to Stephanie at BeKindRewrite for putting it together! It had been a long time since I’ve written, and definitely the most traffic I’ve gotten in a few months 😛 But seriously, this challenge was different even from InMon in that I got to really interact with the readers/commenters/fellow bloggers while writing the story. (P.S read my entries here!)

My favorite reactions were those from the first post in which a lot of people thought the bookstore manager was a man, while I had always envisioned a mousy female. At first this was a little disappointing, I thought I had failed in my portrail of her, but as time went on I realized that people enjoy subtley in a story because it keeps them guessing. Even if they are wrong!

A lot of the guesses actually would have made GREAT stories had I been going in that direction-and that was the most exciting thing of all! It goes back to something I read for an English class(who knew you could learn stuff in school?) that basically said it’s more important what the reader thinks than what the writer meant!

All in all, this is my long winded way to thank you all for your advice, support and reactions! I’ll definitely read all your entries too-and I bet they’re awesome.

What I’ve learned about my writing and Camp Nano exploits

Image by randomcuriosity via Flickr

This month I’ve been giving Nanowrimo a third try. Well, that’s not really true seeing as I’m attempting the brand new CAMP NANOWRIMO, which is like the original Nanowrimo but in July and a separate one in August. And it has a whole summer camp theme.

Things I’ve learned about my writing from previous Nanowrimo years is that:

1. Writing a novel is a LOT harder than writing a short story.

2. I’m better at short stories

3. Seat-of-my-pants writing lends VERY bad results from my brain.

My first Nanowrimo novel was suitably horrendous. A seat-of-my-pants romance novel that had no plot and only one clearly defined character which I abandoned after 10 000 words. Which reminds me of another thing I learned.

4. I am very, VERY bad at writing romance. I haven’t attempted it since.

Although, to be fair I only discovered Nano two days before the final day. So I didn’t have that much time.

My next try at Nanowrimo resulted in 5 000 words during the month. Much worse than the first time, but it lent better quality writing. I actually continued working on it afterwards and it is about a third to three-quarters done. Not counting all the strings that hold it together, which I most likely haven’t written yet. I learned something else from this.

5. A novel, unlike a short story, needs to have a clearly defined path from point A to B, or you’ll end up with rubbish.

So, that novel’s going to need a lot of editing and rewriting once I actually finish writing it. Maybe.

Finally, the novel I’m working on now. It’s coming along better than the others, I’m about half way done. Unfortunately, I lost motivation last week and am now 10 000 words behind. It has a defined route, but I need to work out the stepping blocks. Some of the characters are just hanging around and I need to figure out the details of that brilliant climax! I’m really hope I end up finishing this one, because if I don’t finish it by the end of this month, I doubt I’ll work on it again for at least a year. Yikes.

I’ll post a synopsis for the novel once I’ve written one I’m happy with. Wish me luck! I’ll need it 🙂