Hi everyone

I had an email earlier today from a fellow nano-er, also my friend, with this as a general layout plan. The numers at the start signify the rough estimate on how many words you should try put into that particular section, not the total word count as I originally thought.

Anyway, I'm having to update my novel synopsis. My main character has run away and sadly, she hasn't come back. Also, on Friday around lunchtime, my computer crashed and had to be formatted. Those 30 pages of work on my novel ideas and characters? poof! Up in smoke, completely lost. All the information I'd spent july and august gathering, thats gone too. So with just 17 days to go, I'm working on where to go from here.

I really need to think about reinstalling word. I havn't gotten around to it yet, and the disk is staring at me, but i keep ignoring it. Productive... yeah right!

Anyway, I need to go come up with some pretty good characters to fix my gaping plot hole of not having a main character.

Until later, Viola Curtis

Hi all!

I've been crazy working on my planning and research the last couple days. Would you belive I've written about 10,000 words more or less in planning alone? It's mental!

Right about now, I've got a very clear beginning, clear-ish middle-start, clear middle-end but my ending is very misty and dull. I figure I've got a long time to fix this. I know sort of what's happening but the truth is, I'm not entirely sure how its going to work out at the end. I'm hoping the characters will allow me to work it to a more happy than not ending.

I've got one character photo manipulated into a pretty definate stage. I'm so please with it in fact that I've published the picture ontomy deviant art account which can be found at http://neogeisha665.deviantart.com/ 

I'm hopefully going to have a good idea of the remaining characters later this week. I've still got to find an appropriate model for the male characters however, as well as my main antagonist. She provides me a lot of suffering, mainly because she's partly decomosed. I just feel guilty putting the decomposing flesh and bones onto the wonderfully pretty models. Still, maybe I'll find one who i think is right for her but isn't so pretty so I won't feel guilty... Okay I won't but still.

I'm off now to work on the next picture, which hopefully will be of the vampire guy, or of his couterpart being. 

Love and hugs to you all, Viola Kurtis.

Hi all!

Firstly, thanks for joining me in my countdown to Nano! It makes it all worth it knowing you guys are right there with me, watching my efforts to date. Secondly, I hope you will be joining in Nano. Its great fun and gets your creativity really pumping. Whether its just for fun, or if you're trying to get published, its a great experience.

Basically, my aim is to get the planning stages done by the end of August. This includes naming, drawing, and crating bio's for all the main characters, figuring out the fantasy world, figuring out the plot, gathering information on relevant subjects and sorting good from bad information. Good information will be posted here to be kept safe, and then, you can see for yourselves the type of information that I will be using. Of course, websites and books used will be properly cited.

I intend to write 100,000 words for my novel this year, instead of the regulated 50,000. This has two reasons. Firstly, it make the novel a full sized novel and thus would be good for publishing should I decide in the future to take this route. Secondly, it provides me a bigger challenge. Last year, the 50,000 words was reached and it didn't feel as big as an achievement as I'd have liked. It felt, to my personal thoughts, too short. So, after that one was deleted (It was appalling and awfully planned), I started thinking about the new year.

So, as today is the 2nd week of planning, I'm sure you're interested in finding out what it is that I've come up with so far. Well, honestly, its not that much at all. In fact, its hardly anything. I just know a few of the characters I'm intending to use, a basic plot outline, and have started researching various elements that would be relevant. Unfortunately some of these are very sensitive issues so they won't be listed. I just want to take this opportunity to thank those who are helping me in their spare time, even if it is hard for them to talk to me. These people WILL be included in the thanks at the start of the novel.

Anyway, I'm going back to starting my planning now, and I will try to update again some point later this week.

Peace and creativity to you all, 
Viola Kurtis