Currently viewing the tag: "fall like rain"
I was finally wading through my backlog of entries in my RSS reader when I landed on this writing blog and saw that there are only 44 days left until National Novel Writing Month (Well, it’s 43 for us here in the Pacific). Forty four! Wow, wasn’t it just a little while when I was slaving panicking joyfully writing over Rain and her story (which I haven’t finished until now)?
But true, it is the middle of September and NaNoWriMo is just around the corner! My dad bought me a copy of No Plot? No Problem!
- There’s that science fiction/fantasy novel I’ve been planning to write for so long, based on this series I tried to write before called The Chosen Ones. But I’m not really good in fantasy/sci fi stuff and I can’t make them original. Then again, the story is based on a handful of other stories, so what do you expect?
- The spy novel I wanted to write because of all the Totally Spies episode I keep on watching when I was still unemployed. I initially envisioned a group of college girls who are actually spies and help out the PNP (of course it’s got to be local) in fighting crime but never show their faces to the police/people (hello, Sailormoon?!) and the police always end up messing up the crimes so they never really catch anyone. But it’s so girl-power-y and Sailormoon-y that I cringe at the thought.
- There’s part 2 of the Fall Like Rain thing, where I plan to focus on one of her friends, Faith (and will be entitled Keep the Faith). In this installment, Faith will be having marriage woes, Rain would be going back home and I plan to take the girls to caribbean cruises to spice things up. Oooh, so chicklit!
- Finally, there’s the Ibong Adarna remix I was planning. This was inspired by one of the NaNo novels I read last year, where the writer made a mix of Greek and Roman mythology in the characters. Anyway, this is a modern novel based on Ibong Adarna, where there would be no magic only lots of stars, glitz and glamour in finding Ada, the hottest young singer in the metro and the long lost foster daughter of Don Ferdinand. Figure it out. ;)
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So far that’s all the ideas I have. I’m personally leaning towards the last two, mostly because they’re familiar already, plus I have been sort of planning to write # 4 for Script Frenzy, only I opted out of the event. And November is going to be busy, with the out of the country trip at the first few days plus the big event near the end of the month (you’ll hear about it here soon!), so I should go for the easier one to write.
But then…comfort zone again! Maybe I should take up some challenges to make my writing interesting, don’t you think?
Or, I could always write about Faith, Rain and her friends joining the search for Ada, Don Ferdinand’s long lost daughter and hottest young singer who turns out to be a spy helping the police to get rid of crime and eventually fighting off magical creatures with people who call themselves The Chosen Ones. ;)
I finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows last night. And all I could say is Wow. Okay, and what a book. It left me breathless but satisfied at the end. Very worth my Php 1,450 (less 10% because of the promo). Proper post in the next few days as I collect my thoughts, plus so I won’t spoil it for the other people who are still reading it. :)
Now I’m reading The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde. And I’m liking it so far. And I still have about 7 books from Doulos and the Book Season last year that I haven’t even cracked open. Good luck to my reading. :P
My computer is empty. It’s hitting me, finally. I know I can rebuild my music collection, much thanks to my friends, and I guess I will rewrite Fall Like Rain if I can’t find a backup copy of it somewhere. I do want to make some changes to that…
Anyway, move on, Tina.
And here we go again! :) Current wordcount: 40,025 out of 50,000 words. Yeah! 10k words to go! I’m dreaming of finishing it by tomorrow, but let’s see. :)
So here we go, a fourth excerpt. No editing whatsoever done, so there’s still a lot of tweaking to be done. Here we go, click on the link below. :)
Because I felt like posting another one. :)
WORDCOUNT UPDATE: 31,917 out of 50,000 words. :) I’ll finish to 32,000+ by tonight before I sleep. Hopefully by this week I’ll get to 40,000 to 45,000. :) I can do this!
Work again tomorrow. I bet it’s going to be busy this week, so I better put in at least an hour of writing every night to be in the same pace.
Once again: this has gone through minimal editing, so don’t expect anything that stellar. This particular excerpt is taken from Chapter 7, as Rain was welcoming people into the reception of her brother’s wedding. Some revelations start here. :) Click on the Read the rest of the entry link. :)
Let me just say: I’M HALFWAY THROUGH 50,000 WORDS! Praise God! The next 25,000 words won’t be easy, but I can do this! :)
Okay, excerpt time again! :) This particular excerpt is from Chapter 5. :) Click the “Read the rest of the entry” link. Comments are open, but please bear in mind that most of the words here are due to the pressure of having a 50k word count by the end of the month. So forgive any run on sentences or whatever grammatical error there may be; I’ll deal with those after I’m done. And be gentle on the comments. :D
Hello. :) It’s been a while since I posted. Yes, I’m still alive and I’m procrastinating writing through blogging. Okay, I’m ahead of schedule, actually, but I still need to write because I want to finish early, but now I’m blogging. :P
Anyway, my story has lost its seemingly boring quality, but now I feel like I can’t convey my ideas right. Like I chose the wrong point of view, like I don’t have the proper “chicklit tone”, and all that. You know, those kinds of things. I feel like I’ve written seven chapters of crap, and that the story is too slow, like my grammar is all mixed up, that no one would ever read the drivel I am writing.
What a way to put down myself, eh?
But because this is NaNoWriMo, and its spirit is to just write…I will write. No matter how blah my story might sound (see, I can’t even write proper blogs anymore). I need to stop myself from re-reading and sometimes editing the scene I wrote before I start writing…that just makes me feel even more that what I wrote is crap.
I’ll survive. :P I’ll finish this. I’m almost halfway! :)
On other news, work this week was a whole lot busier than the last few weeks. Monday left me with my head aching, but the rest of the week went better, with free lunch, a seminar and some other things. I bet I’m going to have more work to do by next week, and I still have to fix some other things there. Haha. I’m okay. I’m getting used to it. Wait…scratch that. I get my strength from Him, the One who enables me.
Wohoo.
Forgive me for my lack of explanations and scattered thoughts; my brain is focused on Rain and other people in my story. I should stop from going online and just write. I have some new chicklit books here to read in between breaks (thank you so much Marvs!) so I could get the feel of the way I want to write my novel. :P
Excerpt coming tomorrow, or later, when I feel like posting something again. :P
Well. I’m doing much better than the last time. :) I’ve got a lot of sporks, woobies, hugs and chocolates from these people, a lot more ideas and my inner editor has been buried deep in the abyss. :P
Aaaand, here’s a first taste of my NaNo 2006 Novel, Fall Like Rain. :P This is taken from the third chapter. Click the “Read the rest of the entry” link. Comments are open, but please bear in mind that most of the words here are due to the pressure of having a 50k word count by the end of the month. So forgive any run on sentences or whatever grammatical error there may be; I’ll deal with those after I’m done. And be gentle on the comments. :D
It’s the last Thursday before November starts, and in connection to last week‘s Thursday Thirteen, this week will still be my upcoming NaNo. :) I’m actually having a hard time deciding on the major plot point among all the plot ideas I want to put into the story. :-s Maybe you guys have some suggestions? :)
Anyway…
Thirteen Things about my NaNoWriMo 2006 Novel
- The main theme of the novel is based on the story of Jacob. I got the idea from one of the chicklit authors interview I read, where they based their novel on Job. I was emailing with my friend Chris (which reminds me, it’s his birthday today! Happy Birthday Chris!) once and he explained to me Jacob’s story and I researched it and I knew then that Jacob’s story would be the theme of my novel. To make the long story short, the point of Jacob’s entire story is that God often has to break us to make way for His plan in our lives.
- My initial idea for the novel is that Rain (my MC) would quit her job to look for a better one, one that she dreams of having. Now is it possible for someone to be so near promotion but wants to get out of her job only she doesn’t because it’s already comfortable for her? It is, right? If so…then I have one plot point. Yay! Now the question would be…when should she quit? Is it good to start it in the novel or should it be somewhere in the middle? Hmmm.
- Rain is not close to her cousins…but she wants to get to know them ever since she saw them again in RJ’s wedding. A chance for her comes when her younger cousin Lissa moves in with Rain because of her call center shift. Rain plans all kinds of things for them to do but Lissa doesn’t seem to like what her cousin has planned. Also, Lissa would do everything Rain doesn’t like: leave a mess, bake haphazardly, bring guests in the condo without asking permission and mostly, play mainstream music (which Rain absolutely hates) out loud all day when she’s home at the condo. I’m thinking that Lissa really likes Rain only she is jealous of how well off her cousin is…only that seems kind of shallow. Or is it?
- And again, more on cousins: the cousin get together. I’m choosing between two options: Rain decided for herself to plan a cousin get together for their entire clan or Rain ends up having to plan a cousin get-together for all of them, as suggested by one of their relatives. I’m not sure which would fit for now since Rain is supposed to be a control freak, and she likes well thought out plans…so should she volunteer or should she be forced? Hmmm. Then again if I’m following the story of Jacob…I think it would be better for her to volunteer, thinking everything would be smooth sailing.
- Aha! And there’s the love life angle that everyone loves to read about! Rain’s male best friend Mark was her most recent love interest, who unfortunately, doesn’t have interest in her. As always. Mark disappears in Rain’s life…or rather, Rain disappears from his life when he got a girlfriend, masking the hurt she felt in her work. Mark shows up again with some sort of tragic news (his girlfriend dies from a car crash that Rain didn’t hear about) and becomes more visible in Rain’s life again. Is this typical or not?
- There’s the best friends plot point. Rain’s two best girl friends, Meah and Faith comes back to Manila. First, is Meah’s issue. After staying for two years in the US, she manages to stays thin, which makes Rain marvel at her discipline. However, Meah seems to be too aware of her nonexistent weight gain everytime they eat. I plan to give Meah an eating disorder, specifically Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (EDNOS)…how they resolve that, I’m still working on it.
- Faith‘s issue comes from her boyfriend who the three of them knows back in college. Martin, the guy is someone they all knew back in college who they admired and sometimes made fun of because of his devotion and how funny he can be as the head of the a big Catholic Singles group that they are not a part of but help in. Faith and Martin end up in the same mission area, and became a couple in the span of two years they served together. The thing is, Martin’s status would affect Faith’s thinking once they are back in Manila.
- And since Rain quits her job, she has decided to look for The Ultimate Job that she dreamed of ever since she graduated. The thing is…what is that job?
- Rain’s parents, who live in another country, urge her to try looking for a job in the US, where they are staying already. Rain refuses to listen to their offers because she likes living in the Philippines…but what if her parents are right? Hmmm.
- Of course, with all these events (and some more, I hope?), it would drive control-freak Rain up the wall. She would be hurt, broken and all that…but obviously in the end it would all work out.
- And finally, there’s the entire raining issue. Rain dislikes rain…and for all unhappy events that happen in the story, I want it to rain. The entire part about rain being a cleansing thing will come at the end though. Is that too much?
- I think I’m having difficulty here because this is the first novel that I didn’t base on any of the events that happened in my life. I need to make my imagination work. Work work work! Hmmm.
- Now for the last number in this list…which plot point sounds like the best one to expand and tackle for the novel? Can I just play with the theme and stick all the ideas there or should I focus on one big plot point and tie the subplots in?! Help!
Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
It’s two and a half weeks before NaNoWriMo 2006 starts, and to be honest, I haven’t done much preparing. ^^; So to practice and to provide something intresting for this week’s Thursday Thirteen…here’s…
Thirteen Things about my NaNoWriMo 2006 Main Character
- My main character’s name is Anna Rain De Castro. She uses the nickname Rain because there were five other Anna/Ana’s in her old school and someone else already claimed use for it.
- She was named Rain because her mother likes rain and she was born on an unusually rainy April day. Ironically though, she doesn’t like rain — she thinks it makes the day sad.
- Rain is a 24-year-old systems analyst/programmer/technical writer for a business process outsourcing company in Makati City, the business center of the Philippines (comparable to NYC in the US :D). She’s on call 24/7, in case some of the systems they implemented for their clients go down.
- She lives with her older brother in a condominium in Ortigas (the next business/mall district in the Philippines), near her brother’s workplace. Rain’s parents moved to the US after she graduated from college. Their family is pretty well-to-do, which is why Rain basically grew up getting what she wants.
- Rain is a neat freak, coming close to slightly obssessive-compulsive and is very much of a control freak in her own life. She doesn’t like it if things suddenly get thrown off her schedule. Consequently, this attitude of hers shows in her love to bake, where things are pretty much controlled.
- Rain is a devout Catholic, with a strict 6:00am prayer time. She has a fixed routine for her quiet time: listen to at least three worship songs, read the Bible and her devotionals and then pray silently. During Saturdays, she does her own morning worship by singing along the songs. She also has a “song for the day”, which basically speaks of God’s message for her that day.
- Rain’s is really close to her older brother RJ and his oldest best friend, Raymond. Her other best friends are Meah, who went to the US for graduate school; Faith, who became a full time missionary for their singles group and was on mission for 2 years somewhere in South America; and Mark, her only other male best friend who semi-disappeared from her life when he got a girlfriend.
- Rain likes long drives (alone or with someone) in her red Honda City she named Betty.
- Rain’s favorite comfort foods are vanilla ice cream with bananas and Nutella, toasted wheat bread with thick cream cheese spread.
- Rain dislikes mainstream and secular music, for she only listens to Contemporary Christian/Christian Alternative/Christian Rock and Praise/Worship songs.
- Rain is not close to her cousins unlike her older brother, because she was too immersed with her work to socialize with them during family gatherings. Whenever she is free, she usually ends up resting or sleeping or just silent on the corner, observing people around her.
- Rain likes her work, but she also wishes to be a magazine editor, a web designer and even a manager for a band.
- And finally…Rain is a not so proud member of the No Boyfriend Since Birth club. She doesn’t mind, really, until lately, of course. :P
Note that these are still quite rough, and I’m still in the process of creating Rain’s personality and character. :) If you have any suggestions, I’d like to hear them. :D
And for the record, although Rain has some of my characteristics…she’s not me. :P Haha. I made sure of that. :)
Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
