Two More Days! ACK!!!!!!!

Two more days to NaNoWriMo and my stomach is twisting and turning in fear and anticipation.

I think I have everything together, enough to get started and run with it anyways. Main characters, secondary characters, plot, where I want plot to go, acceptance if plot goes in a different direction, setting, locations, mood....all that stuff. I have been trying to silence a character I created many years ago who does not fit into this story, but it's kinda hard. Heh. She's, well.....dominant.

I also find my mind running a few other stories, and I'm hoping they kinda stay to the side for the month. I'll let them out after Nov 30. I hope they listen to me.

I have not managed to finish all the knitting projects I had hoped to get done prior to the start of November, but now I'm looking at them this way...meditative knitting. The ones left on the needles are pretty simple and straightforward, no fancy lace or cable or intarsia. So I can, when blocked on the writing front, settle down with the yarn and sticks and as the yarn turns into a garment, I'll let my mind relax and find it's creative zone again.

Well, that's the plan anyway.

I'm still a little hungover from the wedding I went to on Saturday. I'm afraid to slip back in time and figure out how much I drank, but it was several big glasses of very tasty white wine, and I had a fantastic time. The bride and groom looked so very happy. It was in what we think is usually a gallery of some kind, right downtown. Small, funky and elegant. Congrats K & C and have a wonderful life together! (and I didn't bawl my eyes out unlike in September when my little brother got married.)

Six Days

I think I'm all better now. Just been a wee bit giddy the last few days (although Wicked has indeed given me a fine idea for a comedic short story someday, see the comment he left in the Seven Days post!).

I'm almost ready to start this thing, yesh, almost ready. Debating if I should house Drake in a 19th century building in Old Town Toronto or in one of the garish new condos they've slammed up along a portion of the waterfront. A 19th century building, or even one of the 18th century or Georgian era buildings in the area around Yonge and Front would be deliciously Gothic, and suitable for a dark, seductive and mysterious vampire of unknown origin, but he's also a very modern guy despite being about 400 years old, so a streamlined condo in the sky with a view of the Toronto Islands from the plate glass window wall of his minimalisticly decorated living room would suit him too.

Especially since he takes care of certain 'business' at home. The uber modern setting might be a nice backdrop for that. Contrast and all. Would also piss off the Condo Owners Association for the building....lol.

Kellie's home setting is Kensington Market, this tiny little quaint neighbourhood bordered by Chinatown and Little Italy. Originally this place was a Jewish neighbourhood, and the original synagouge (sp?) still exists and is still in use. From Jewish it became Irish, Italian, Chinese, and so on and now it's very much an artist's and student's paradise. I love me some Kensington Market!

All in all my fingers are itching, and I'm trying to resist the urge to whip out some scenes that occur later in the tale, I want to start from the start and let things unfold, which honestly would be a very new process for me....lol.

Oh yeah, and note to self. Look into cost of new computer tower. Mine is slowly dying a slow and painful death and it would fair kill me if it crashed permanently during the month of Novemeber!

Seven Days

Still can't get that "Vicious gang of Keep Left Signs" out of my head. Yes, I watch far too much Monty Python, right now I'm giggling non-stop over the idea of putting in a gang of wayward grannies.

Short entry today as I have a large amount of work at the office today. Shall update this eve!

You watch too much Monty Python when......

So I was musing over a mentioned character in my tale, one who is already dead, much like the Leafs tonight. I had been thinking that prior to his death, he was like the enforcer for Drake, this big tough guy.

So I was sitting there, knitting a hat, ignoring the (at the time) 3-0 Ottawa score on the Leafs game and writing sentences in my head that would be used to describe him, and this popped in and WILL NOT LEAVE.

"Kent was a massive giant of a man, infamous for his own violence in addition to using the resources at his disposal within the vicious gang of keep left signs."

Eight Days

So I think I got the word out about this blog to everyone. Note to self, Daddy and Daddy-in-Law will be reading, try to keep it PG. Well, as PG as I can given the plot of the story anyway....aw hell, ya'll know I'll be swearing.

I had emailed my friend Celeste yesterday with a rough outline of the plot I'm going to work with, she liked it muchly. So it's not a total loser plot afterall....Gods but I can be harsh on myself.

At any rate, I'm setting it right here in Toronto, because a) write what you know and b) I don't recall ever reading a novel set here. Well, apparently there's a graphic novel series set here, with much of the action centring around The Dance Cave, a nightclub in the Annex, but I've never gotten my hands on those.

Anyway, here's the rough plot:

Toronto's underground criminal element is under the iron grip of Drake, a mysterious 400 year old vampire who's origins no one is sure of. As well as Toronto proper, he has control of the GTA, most of Southern Ontario, and strong ties with Montreal and portions of New York State. The simple fact that organized crime is under the control of supernatural creatures such as vampires in most of the world, various governments have come together and set up a group of witches, psycics and other people with supernatural powers who work hand in hand with, and sometimes over, official organizations such as the FBI, Scotland Yard and CSIS, as well as local police. This is God's Gate.

Despite Drake's total control over his realm, a Japanese vampire who created the Yakuza (I'll change the name of this criminal group), wants to move in and take over like he did Vancouver.

Fearing a major and very public war between the two sides, God's Gate sends in Kellie Haas, a powerful witch, to go undercover within Drake's organization in an attempt to difuse the situation, or barring that, at least provide the necessary information to remove the key players...permanently. But she ends up in over her head, falling for Drake, and he her.

Hmmmmm....thinking on it now, and given the large Chinatown that Toronto has, perhaps I should switch from a Japanese style gang to the Chinese style Triad? Might make more sense, plus I get to use all that cool stuff one usually associates with mysterious Chinese groups.

I also have this horrible yet delicious temptation to set a key moment at the Air Canada Centre while a hockey game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens is going on......oh but that's so tempting! Hell, it's starting to form in my head. Perhaps I should research the layout of the ACC, since I've never had the privilage of going there.....

Nine Days

It is the final countdown. 9 Days to the start of NaNoWriMo 2006. The first time I have ever attempted such a thing, 50,000 words in 30 days.

I have a working plot, provided I don't go chicken out of it before hand. I *think* it's alright as far as plots go, well, today I do anyway. It's got vampires, organized crime, supernatural crime fighters, love, hate, jealousy, lust, greed. You know, the best of human kind really.

I'm alternating between wanting to vomit from fear and bouncingly eager to get started (is bouncingly even a word? Or did I just make up a word? Note to self, use bouncingly in ordinary conversation, see what happens).

If you must know what NaNoWriMo is all about, check out the main website, http://www.nanowrimo.org and see who else besides me is insane.

I set up this blog on purpose, see, I need one place where I can just dump it all, the esctatic highs, the depressing lows, the breakthroughs, the brick walls, the post count. Blogger blog = attempts to drink the hemlock laced drink.

Note to self. Put blogger url into NaNoWriMo user profile.

Note to self. Tell friends about this blog, or end up talking to yourself.

That is all.

I think.