A New Way To Write

So as you might have realized I’m really bad at writing on a regular bases. And it's not just writing posts but my actually story is moving along at a snail's pace. So I've found a new way to do it. I just got an iPhone (it's pretty awesome) and in the notes part I will write just whenever I’m bored like on commercials or waiting for people. So I don't have to sit down and force myself to write at my computer, which is totally not working. And then I just e-mail myself to note and add it to my story when I get the chance. I know I should really be trying even harder to get some words down but at least it’s something!

Whiteboard Planning

I was planning the third part of my story today and I realized how weird I go about it.

I have this obsession with whiteboards. From study, to to-do lists, to story boarding it goes on the board.

These are just some of my very strange and vague pictures depicting a few scenes:

^ANGRY GUY IS ANGRY!

It's funny how these terribly drawn scribbles mean an entire story for me but are total nonsense to everyone else.

... I kind of feel like a spy with cryptic messages....

Three Things

1. SO... I was going to write today but then I was just like... "not gonna happen." No reason for this really, just not in the mood. But I don't have school tomorrow so I'll try to write at least something then.

2. I'm quite liking the way my story is playing out though. It's basically a bunch of short stories all on one event but from different perspectives and I've finished the first one. I think writing a story like this (a bunch of short ones) is good for me right now because I don't want to throw myself into something as long and complicated as my first attempt at a novel.

3. I have a lot of other things I want to write too. I have a zombie story swimming around in my brain and I can't wait to get that out on paper. I don't want to rush this current WIP though... so I'll have to try and hold off on that idea for now.

Excuses

I really expected that when I'd start this new story that I'd be really into it and stuff but my god... I have not been in the mood for writing. And it's not that I'm not liking the idea, it's just finding the motivation to actually type words is strongly lacking. Which is rather surprising because I've been SO bored these last few days. But my real excuse for not writing the last two days is because my back is killing me! I can't sit at my computer or anywhere for that matter. I lie on my back on the floor for ever reading. Not that that's too bad... the book I'm reading is really good! (Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry) But anyway... even though school is starting again on Monday I'm going to try and write 500 words a day. I know that's like nothing but it's something so whatever.

Music

As you can see, I added a word count meter to this blog. So go head and enjoy being a creepy stalker as you watch the meter crawl towards the end. I'm not really sure how long this story is going to be but I put in 50000 words as an estimate.

I like to listen to music when I write because the quiet is just creepy... *shivers*

Anyway... here's my problem:

I used to listen to classical when I wrote my first attempt at a book but I listened to it so much for that book it reminds me of that story. Yeah, I know it doesn't make much sense but either way I need something else to listen to. It can't have words because then I can't concentrate on what I'm writing. And I already tried Dubstep... that ended terribly. So if you have any recommendations for good instrumental music leave it in the comments.

Names

My go to point of view is definitely first person. I prefer the full train of thought thing better than an outside narrator. Well and maybe I just like avoiding names. Like seriously I am THE WORST at coming up with names. If I could get away with it in this story I'd leave all the characters unnamed but I don't think that would work. So unfortunately I've got to come up with names for like a dozen characters...

Reasons why I'm bad at this

1. I hate naming characters after people I know because I can never distance myself from the person I know.

2. I hate incredibly strange names that nobody can pronounce. And they sound like their parents must have been some famous person to want to name their child something so ridiculous.

3. Too plain and you don't remember the character.

Once in the book I wrote previously but gave up on, there was this one character that I could never come up with a name for. I needed a name just so it would make sense and I'd be able to keep track of him. He was kind of like the bad guy so as a stand in name I picked the name of someone I hated... I picked Justin (as in Justin Bieber) you know, as a joke, I was going to change it later. But after I finished I realized the character had kind of just grown into the name. It's like when you meet someone they might not look like their name but that's how you picture them and it just makes sense. Or like, if you saw someone for the first time with glasses on and years later they get contacts they don't seem like the same person. So needless to say the character became that name even if it didn't really suit him. And I think that's the problem, I can't just give my characters random names because although in the end, it might make sense to me for them to be called that, to the readers it is going to seem absolutely ridiculous.

4. That's another problem I have... I don't want the names to have too much meaning but I don't want them to have no meaning at all. Because, what are the odds the parents of the character would name their child something that meant like warrior and they go on to save the world in some epic battle. It just seems too perfect.

Anyway, that leaves me scrolling through lists of names going... "No, no, nope, no, no, how is that even a name?! no, no, definitely not! no, nope."

Settings?

Of course one should be familiar with their story's settings but that's the problem with living in Canada. Sure Canada's very similar to the US but I think in the minds of other people it still has that rural country side aspect to it that doesn't speak well with an audience when a story is strongly based in a city. So having a setting in Canada is out. Not that I have a problem with that, I think the US is pretty cool.

It would make the most sense to write a story about a suicide bomber on a bus in like New York, Washington DC or Chicago. But I find looking at all the books I've read or TV shows I've watched having one of those places as a setting comes across incredibly cliched! But at the same time I still need my story to take place in a big city. Sure there are tons of them but I think there's a fine line between having an overused setting and a place nobody has heard of.

I think I've settled on San Francisco. Its still a big city but I don't find it's one of those over used ones. If an author chooses a city in California its usually Los Angeles. Not that nobody ever writes about San Francisco but I've also been there before so I have a slight idea of what its like. If I can't pick the city I live in I think its probably the next best choice in terms of familiarity. I'll still need to do a lot a research sadly. I think that's my least favorite part of writing.

And its not just the San Francisco bus routes that I'll need to look up but how one goes about making a bomb... I sure hope there are no police officers monitoring my search history...