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...

A Second Attempt

This blog is to document my writing journey and the failures and triumphs that come with it. I've always wanted to write a book but my first attempt was an utter flop! It was way too long and rather hastily written. Although I put hours upon hours into it, and took a year to write it, no amount of editing could save it. Maybe someday I'll take a crack at it again but for now, I want a fresh start.

I have tons of ideas swirling around in my head about other things I want to write, but my worst challenge is motivation. I want to use this blog as a way to keep me going and push me in the direction of writing something worth reading.

I'll be doing some planning in the next little bit on a story about suicide bombers so stick around if you want to listen to my rambles on that.

And if you want to hear even more of me... (not that I can see why anyone would) Check me out on twitter @EricaManconi