It is coming up! National Novel Writing Month. In preparation, and because I wanted to for a while now, I created my own website kyleschewe.ca, where I will be putting up daily posts for NaNoWriMo. One more Winnipeger who is putting the pen to paper, or more like fingers to keys.

So I don’t actually sit on a stool seat, but I have not been in said writing seat for the past month. Back aches and and start of the new school year have kept me busy. What then do I have to say.

I finished it! A month ago. Have I shouted it to the world yet? I probably have. So when I say finished, that is the first draft. There are many more ahead, and I will push boldly on! But what else? Well the is what does boldly going on me? Boldly doing what? What that is, is editing. 200k+ words worth of novel to edit now. It is surprisingly difficult not to do sentence by sentence editing. I firmly have place in my mind the will not to do so, and after initial failures, I am sticking to. What also helps is writing other things other than the novel to make sure I get that fix out of the way so it does not try to creep in and make the novel bigger (that may still happen).

The process so far is much different than the writing process. What I am trying to pick out is the sequence of things, the general layout of a scene, and find the missing pieces, or take away the extra’s. If a sentence isn’t quite right, doesn’t matter as long as the basic idea is there. What matters is when I have completely failed to include the needed conclusion of a scene (there a few that trail off instead of ending the way they need to), or jump right in that it leaves the reader wondering if they have just been caught up in a whirlpool with no land in sight. Tricky stuff, but I think these larger corrections will go a long way in creating the story I want to tell, and make sure the reader is led by my words in a way they will enjoy, and not be frustrated by. I have read both those books. The latter has been tossed aside a couple chapters in. When it is bad, it is bad. When you get it right though, it can be so, so sweet.

So much of who we are can be simplified. But is it that simple? At night, when we are tired, we are less guarded, speaking more plainly without the intention to mislead, hide, or misrepresent ourselves. Perhaps you could say we are who we want to be, as we project that person at full awareness. And that is true. Doesn’t mean the person beneath the façade is false either. That is the complexity of a person; to have so many layers, and change.

The characters in a story can have layers. Depending on the story you want to tell, will have different layers of character. The genre of Noire is a perfect example where the main character often is more-or-less a static version of him or herself. Yet even with a rigid core of the character, you can play with bits of the personality, changes in loyalty, etc. Changes happening too dramatically of course, can leave the reader stunned. Reasons for this need to be believable, or have been  setup so the reader expects it, and it can be enjoyed more.

Layers. Night time. Go.

I have developed, or always had but never explored, the fact that I could write until I fell asleep. Reading before bed and falling asleep mid sentence, I am well familiar with. Saying the same while writing mid sentence is new for me. Something becomes untapped as I write, words flow, and it seems easier to write. Over thinking has gone, and some of my best ideas have come from writing just before dragging myself to bed. While not always the most grammatically sound, there is value in pursuing writing at this time of the day. I have been pleasantly surprised where it has led me, and wonderful story plot points and character developments, that once exposed to the light of day, I have given the stamp of approval to. Then again, sometimes they are rejected as trash. Of course, that happens to writing that can happen at ANY time of day.

Tap into that part of yourself that might be struggling for a creative voice and sit down as your eye lids are half closed, and see what your fingers type onto the screen. Perhaps you will find something out about yourself.