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lobelia321 Today I wrote 6,157 words! I am not on track; I am over track. And I have finally cracked it. I said this at the beginning of November: every year during nano, I write furious nonsense for 2 weeks; I pile up words; I feel empty inside; it's all rubbish; I have no idea where it's going; I'm writing the same scene over and over again; I abandon the project and run after the new shiny; and then, on Day 15, I pivot.
Today is Day 15. And sure enough, I pivoted.
it actually happened yesterday. Or a bit the day before. I actually walked the dog WITHOUT my kindle in front of my nose so was forced to think, and what I thought was 'plot'. And again 'plot what plot, help'. And 'who are these people? What do they want? Where do they live?' And then I sat for three hours and faffed and doodled and thought, and then I pivoted.
Now I have people, and discovered a third new person to boot whose existence I had not suspected until this morning. And I know where they live. And I know their siblings and parents. Just got to fill in their love lives to date. I also have a firmer sense of where I'm heading.
Treading water for 14 days is me, it seems. Note to self: please remember this when next you fall into despondency over writing.
I also made the following discovery. I knew I had to create canon so that my orig could be fanon. What I hadn't realised was that orig genre IS a kind of canon, even a FANON, and I know how to riff off fanon! I felt burdened by tropes and plot premises and character arcs and whatnots, all of those fallbacks of orig, and I forgot that I knew all this. I know fandom tropes; I have written them; I have twisted them; I have subverted them. They izz me!
I have been reading genre orig for research since October and it's been sort of paralysing me. To wit: regency romance. To witter: m/m regency romance. To wittest: early 19th C. memoirs and novels in German, written about and during the Franzosenzeit, the (sort of??) equivalent of 'regency'.
But it needn't be paralysing. I realised that instead of 'learning' from these novels on 'how to' do it, I can rather imbibe All The Tropes and All The Clichés and All The Things That Annoy Me but are part and parcel of the genre just like Things That Annoy Me can be part and parcel of fandoms wot I have been in and who cares? I made them work for me.
I also, after having spent frustrating weeks seeking out the German equivalent of 'regency romance', finally discovered it. It is 'Fürsten-Krone' and 'Lore-Roman' and 'Die Welt der Hedwig Courths-Mahler'. You look baffled? Well you might. These are series of 'books' (by series, I mean that they may have 388 parts to them). They are not sold as books (with a stiff spine) but as pamphlets, stapled together, with a page layout in double columns, cheap paper and large font. The covers are all logo-identical, with the series font and a garland around a cheesy photo and the series title larger than the author. To that extent, they are the German equivalent of Avon / Mills & Boone / Harlequin (as those publishers were in the 1980s). They are called 'Heftroman' ('notebook novel'). They are not sold in bookstores but in supermarkets and newsagents'. These days they have migrated online and lost some of their wonderful cheesy lustre.
The series include medical, 'Bergroman' and 'Heimatroman' (set in the Alps and among folk costume-clad lasses and lads) and (supposedly for the 'blokes') Westerns (yes, the world of German Westerns is a realm unto itself) and science fiction (Perry Rhodan! longest-running SF series in the world) and 'Fürsten' which latter focuses on aristocratic lifestyles, with a preference for ugly duckling commoner marries fabled rich prince / baron / king / Fürst. Hedwig Courths-Mahler who wrote in the late 19th and early 20th C. was the queen of this. They are not set in any kind of 'regency' but in their cheesiness, love of costume, love of marriages, love of titles, love of secret baby / fake relationship / family honour / I love my brother's betrothed / and the whole kaboodle, these are totally the equivalent of regency.
Because regency is not about the regency (the actual historical period). It is about a fanon. With the historical period being the canon.
Total written in November: 35,166 words. Pivot happened at: 22,249 words. Note to future: it apparently takes me that many words to discover my stride.
I shall now walk the cavapoochon and then watch Northanger Abbey (2007) for some more regency fanon.
Today is Day 15. And sure enough, I pivoted.
it actually happened yesterday. Or a bit the day before. I actually walked the dog WITHOUT my kindle in front of my nose so was forced to think, and what I thought was 'plot'. And again 'plot what plot, help'. And 'who are these people? What do they want? Where do they live?' And then I sat for three hours and faffed and doodled and thought, and then I pivoted.
Now I have people, and discovered a third new person to boot whose existence I had not suspected until this morning. And I know where they live. And I know their siblings and parents. Just got to fill in their love lives to date. I also have a firmer sense of where I'm heading.
Treading water for 14 days is me, it seems. Note to self: please remember this when next you fall into despondency over writing.
I also made the following discovery. I knew I had to create canon so that my orig could be fanon. What I hadn't realised was that orig genre IS a kind of canon, even a FANON, and I know how to riff off fanon! I felt burdened by tropes and plot premises and character arcs and whatnots, all of those fallbacks of orig, and I forgot that I knew all this. I know fandom tropes; I have written them; I have twisted them; I have subverted them. They izz me!
I have been reading genre orig for research since October and it's been sort of paralysing me. To wit: regency romance. To witter: m/m regency romance. To wittest: early 19th C. memoirs and novels in German, written about and during the Franzosenzeit, the (sort of??) equivalent of 'regency'.
But it needn't be paralysing. I realised that instead of 'learning' from these novels on 'how to' do it, I can rather imbibe All The Tropes and All The Clichés and All The Things That Annoy Me but are part and parcel of the genre just like Things That Annoy Me can be part and parcel of fandoms wot I have been in and who cares? I made them work for me.
I also, after having spent frustrating weeks seeking out the German equivalent of 'regency romance', finally discovered it. It is 'Fürsten-Krone' and 'Lore-Roman' and 'Die Welt der Hedwig Courths-Mahler'. You look baffled? Well you might. These are series of 'books' (by series, I mean that they may have 388 parts to them). They are not sold as books (with a stiff spine) but as pamphlets, stapled together, with a page layout in double columns, cheap paper and large font. The covers are all logo-identical, with the series font and a garland around a cheesy photo and the series title larger than the author. To that extent, they are the German equivalent of Avon / Mills & Boone / Harlequin (as those publishers were in the 1980s). They are called 'Heftroman' ('notebook novel'). They are not sold in bookstores but in supermarkets and newsagents'. These days they have migrated online and lost some of their wonderful cheesy lustre.
The series include medical, 'Bergroman' and 'Heimatroman' (set in the Alps and among folk costume-clad lasses and lads) and (supposedly for the 'blokes') Westerns (yes, the world of German Westerns is a realm unto itself) and science fiction (Perry Rhodan! longest-running SF series in the world) and 'Fürsten' which latter focuses on aristocratic lifestyles, with a preference for ugly duckling commoner marries fabled rich prince / baron / king / Fürst. Hedwig Courths-Mahler who wrote in the late 19th and early 20th C. was the queen of this. They are not set in any kind of 'regency' but in their cheesiness, love of costume, love of marriages, love of titles, love of secret baby / fake relationship / family honour / I love my brother's betrothed / and the whole kaboodle, these are totally the equivalent of regency.
Because regency is not about the regency (the actual historical period). It is about a fanon. With the historical period being the canon.
Total written in November: 35,166 words. Pivot happened at: 22,249 words. Note to future: it apparently takes me that many words to discover my stride.
I shall now walk the cavapoochon and then watch Northanger Abbey (2007) for some more regency fanon.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-11-15 06:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-11-15 10:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-11-16 03:42 pm (UTC)Wishing you good luck with your work(s) :D
(no subject)
Date: 2025-11-17 09:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-12-10 08:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-11-18 06:34 pm (UTC)I find walking and swimming (and sometimes yoga / pilates) are great for plotting. Do not read! think!