A new kind of win.
This was actually something I wanted to do tomorrow, because I had figured I’d have enough of writing for one day. But considering I’ve finished much earlier than I anticipated, and because I can’t actually update yet, I figure I’d get this out of the way.
This book for me is a rather unique one. Why, you might ask? Because this is the first time I’m participating in NaNoWriMo’s Camp NaNoWriMo program. While I’m all about writing in November, I suppose because of the timing or it, or just me being stupid, I never considered it. (I think the first time they did it, I was in the middle of another story, and then last year, I was taking that unintentional hiatus). But when callisto-chan suggested that she was going to try it to write out the sequel to her NaNo ’15 story, I thought…hey, that’s great idea!
So I decided to go for it. I mean, this was something that had to happen anyway, right? It sort of helps to get a series done, although it’ll also put me way behind. I have two series that aren’t finished after all, and now I’m not 100% sure when I’ll actually finish them. I suppose we’ll see in the future, especially since I don’t really see WfS having a stand-alone sequel, if that makes any sense at all. ;P
One good thing about all of this is the fact that GE is actually easy for me to write. Even when I was struggling, I managed to get the chapter out fairly quickly. And for the most part, I’ve enjoyed what I’ve written. I do have a bit of a problem with the plot, but…yeah. It mostly stems from the fact that my characters weren’t reacting like I expected them to, so a lot of it is more meh them OMG!
And I think I felt meh for a lot of it because I didn’t have anything to really look forward to once I got through the middle of the book. Once I made the reveal about Takeshi, it sort of just went downhill for me. But that’s how it usually goes when I get to a part I was looking forward to, and typically, when doing non-NaNo writing, I’d take a few days off until I got excited about writing again. But I can’t do that in a NaNo month, so it took me a few chapters to get into it again.
The whole thing with Takeshi is sort of funny. I initially created his character back before I wrote GE, but because I already had an idea of what I wanted to do with that book, I couldn’t find a place for him. Since I only had a vague idea for GO and for GC, he managed to find his place. ;P But the idea was mostly, as you can imagine, what if Liam hadn’t died? And instead of it just being a misunderstanding, what if he actually had died, but William somehow managed to revive him secretly? And what if he was a space pirate?
Actually, I think I created the idea of the space pirate first, with the idea that they probably did exist in the universe I created, and then I turned him into Liam. I don’t know.
In any case, I had fun with his name. Basically, I looked up the meaning of William (strong-willed warrior), and found the Japanese equivalent, Takeshi (Military, Warrior). And then did the same for Wyatt (Battle), and Tataka (Japanese for battle). And I liked to imagine Liam pretty much did the same thing when he was creating his pseudoname, because, in all actuality, he’s a huge dork like his father and sister. ;P
And then I decided to make it weird and have Takeshi be a potential love interest for Bri - except not, since I don’t believe in love triangles for my work, and he’s her brother. But it was funny in my head, mostly because Damien had mistaken Bri’s interest in Ian as romantic as well.
As for Rachel, well, she was literally created two chapters before she was introduced. I was thinking of creating her for GC, but since Bri was in the prison anyway, I thought it would be a good place for them to meet. The idea came about a line in which Bri wondered if Sedgwick would be the type to sell out his own grandchildren, and I realized he would. I was going to introduce other experiments at some point, so this wasn’t too much of a stretch, anyway. And when I saw that Sedgwick had a granddaughter that was 12 (13 when Bri finally meets her), it just…clicked into place.
(Of course, the original idea of the grandchildren was the first two were supposed to be from the first daughter, the second two from the second, and the last one from the last, but…this worked out better, methinks. ;P)
I think the thing that annoyed me the most is the fact that Rebecca was supposed to be a major character, but then I decided to establish very early on that Bri wasn’t allowed in the Black household anymore, so her hanging out with Rebecca couldn’t happen anymore. And the whole thing with Rebecca having a crush on Damien didn’t go as planned, but since it lead exactly where it was supposed to, I’m okay with it. I’m also disappointed that the Riders didn’t show up as much as I’d like, but I’m hoping to shove them in more in GC. ^^;
Now the plot…well, a lot of the realizations that Bri discovers didn’t reveal themselves like I hoped. When I actually got to revealing them, the whole feeling I was getting was basically…so? I mean, I know I was trying to make her angry about them changing Rebecca, because I wanted to show that I wasn’t in support of people changing special needs children just to make them no longer special needs. But I only showed them changing a girl with a learning disability and confidence problem, and it did improve her life. And considering the people she’s around tend to use the half-wits for their own gains…
And then the idea that the Demetrians are genetically enhanced as well wasn’t as awe-inspiring, because…whatever. I was fun to delve into the history, and keep it as vague as possible, but…meh. It didn’t have the impact that I wanted. Hell, the reason why she wanted to go to Coelus was a little thin as well, since she could get all the information she needed on her tablet. But she had to go to Coelus to meet with the villain, and learn of his dastardly plan.
I’m just glad that his plan to wipe out all the Demetrians at least had the right effect on the characters, even if his own reasoning’s sort of thin. But really, I see it more than he didn’t decide that, but rather the leaders of the group COSMOS belongs to, and he’s just following orders (so..spoiler?). But considering it’s Sedgwick and all…yeah, it’s gonna happen.
And it’s a good thing it did have the right impact, since that’s pretty much the entire plot of GC. >.O
And the ending is sort of funny, because I noticed that’s sort of a theme I have going in my stories. Not all of them, mind, and some of them have cause to do it, but it seems like I’m totally advocating teen marriage. Ryan got married at eighteen, Persey got married at 17, Buttercup got married (briefly) at 17, and now Bri’s getting married at 18. I’m terrible, I know, but oh well. Like the others, he gives a good reason to ask her despite their age.
But overall, I’ve very pleased with how this turned out. I somehow managed to make some of the things I was meh about work in the end, and you can see how one thing leads to another leads into the larger plot. The revelations might not be huge, but they lead into them finding out about the genocide, so…yeah. I might have had some chapters that I wasn’t feeling great about, but as always, looking back, I like what I ended up with. :D
Okay, now for the stats:
Genetic Experiment: 148,302 words
Genetic Origins: 145,556 words
This isn’t the first time that the subsequent books are actually shorter than the previous ones. This actually happen first with The Gatekeeper, which is probably for the best, what with it’s insane word count. ;P I was hoping to possibly get more, but since I wasn’t aiming for anything in particular, I’m still very happy with the results. :D
Okay, now to enter in that two month hiatus period, where I get to actually relax and not worry about writing all day. What will I do with myself, eep!
This book for me is a rather unique one. Why, you might ask? Because this is the first time I’m participating in NaNoWriMo’s Camp NaNoWriMo program. While I’m all about writing in November, I suppose because of the timing or it, or just me being stupid, I never considered it. (I think the first time they did it, I was in the middle of another story, and then last year, I was taking that unintentional hiatus). But when callisto-chan suggested that she was going to try it to write out the sequel to her NaNo ’15 story, I thought…hey, that’s great idea!
So I decided to go for it. I mean, this was something that had to happen anyway, right? It sort of helps to get a series done, although it’ll also put me way behind. I have two series that aren’t finished after all, and now I’m not 100% sure when I’ll actually finish them. I suppose we’ll see in the future, especially since I don’t really see WfS having a stand-alone sequel, if that makes any sense at all. ;P
One good thing about all of this is the fact that GE is actually easy for me to write. Even when I was struggling, I managed to get the chapter out fairly quickly. And for the most part, I’ve enjoyed what I’ve written. I do have a bit of a problem with the plot, but…yeah. It mostly stems from the fact that my characters weren’t reacting like I expected them to, so a lot of it is more meh them OMG!
And I think I felt meh for a lot of it because I didn’t have anything to really look forward to once I got through the middle of the book. Once I made the reveal about Takeshi, it sort of just went downhill for me. But that’s how it usually goes when I get to a part I was looking forward to, and typically, when doing non-NaNo writing, I’d take a few days off until I got excited about writing again. But I can’t do that in a NaNo month, so it took me a few chapters to get into it again.
The whole thing with Takeshi is sort of funny. I initially created his character back before I wrote GE, but because I already had an idea of what I wanted to do with that book, I couldn’t find a place for him. Since I only had a vague idea for GO and for GC, he managed to find his place. ;P But the idea was mostly, as you can imagine, what if Liam hadn’t died? And instead of it just being a misunderstanding, what if he actually had died, but William somehow managed to revive him secretly? And what if he was a space pirate?
Actually, I think I created the idea of the space pirate first, with the idea that they probably did exist in the universe I created, and then I turned him into Liam. I don’t know.
In any case, I had fun with his name. Basically, I looked up the meaning of William (strong-willed warrior), and found the Japanese equivalent, Takeshi (Military, Warrior). And then did the same for Wyatt (Battle), and Tataka (Japanese for battle). And I liked to imagine Liam pretty much did the same thing when he was creating his pseudoname, because, in all actuality, he’s a huge dork like his father and sister. ;P
And then I decided to make it weird and have Takeshi be a potential love interest for Bri - except not, since I don’t believe in love triangles for my work, and he’s her brother. But it was funny in my head, mostly because Damien had mistaken Bri’s interest in Ian as romantic as well.
As for Rachel, well, she was literally created two chapters before she was introduced. I was thinking of creating her for GC, but since Bri was in the prison anyway, I thought it would be a good place for them to meet. The idea came about a line in which Bri wondered if Sedgwick would be the type to sell out his own grandchildren, and I realized he would. I was going to introduce other experiments at some point, so this wasn’t too much of a stretch, anyway. And when I saw that Sedgwick had a granddaughter that was 12 (13 when Bri finally meets her), it just…clicked into place.
(Of course, the original idea of the grandchildren was the first two were supposed to be from the first daughter, the second two from the second, and the last one from the last, but…this worked out better, methinks. ;P)
I think the thing that annoyed me the most is the fact that Rebecca was supposed to be a major character, but then I decided to establish very early on that Bri wasn’t allowed in the Black household anymore, so her hanging out with Rebecca couldn’t happen anymore. And the whole thing with Rebecca having a crush on Damien didn’t go as planned, but since it lead exactly where it was supposed to, I’m okay with it. I’m also disappointed that the Riders didn’t show up as much as I’d like, but I’m hoping to shove them in more in GC. ^^;
Now the plot…well, a lot of the realizations that Bri discovers didn’t reveal themselves like I hoped. When I actually got to revealing them, the whole feeling I was getting was basically…so? I mean, I know I was trying to make her angry about them changing Rebecca, because I wanted to show that I wasn’t in support of people changing special needs children just to make them no longer special needs. But I only showed them changing a girl with a learning disability and confidence problem, and it did improve her life. And considering the people she’s around tend to use the half-wits for their own gains…
And then the idea that the Demetrians are genetically enhanced as well wasn’t as awe-inspiring, because…whatever. I was fun to delve into the history, and keep it as vague as possible, but…meh. It didn’t have the impact that I wanted. Hell, the reason why she wanted to go to Coelus was a little thin as well, since she could get all the information she needed on her tablet. But she had to go to Coelus to meet with the villain, and learn of his dastardly plan.
I’m just glad that his plan to wipe out all the Demetrians at least had the right effect on the characters, even if his own reasoning’s sort of thin. But really, I see it more than he didn’t decide that, but rather the leaders of the group COSMOS belongs to, and he’s just following orders (so..spoiler?). But considering it’s Sedgwick and all…yeah, it’s gonna happen.
And it’s a good thing it did have the right impact, since that’s pretty much the entire plot of GC. >.O
And the ending is sort of funny, because I noticed that’s sort of a theme I have going in my stories. Not all of them, mind, and some of them have cause to do it, but it seems like I’m totally advocating teen marriage. Ryan got married at eighteen, Persey got married at 17, Buttercup got married (briefly) at 17, and now Bri’s getting married at 18. I’m terrible, I know, but oh well. Like the others, he gives a good reason to ask her despite their age.
But overall, I’ve very pleased with how this turned out. I somehow managed to make some of the things I was meh about work in the end, and you can see how one thing leads to another leads into the larger plot. The revelations might not be huge, but they lead into them finding out about the genocide, so…yeah. I might have had some chapters that I wasn’t feeling great about, but as always, looking back, I like what I ended up with. :D
Okay, now for the stats:
Genetic Experiment: 148,302 words
Genetic Origins: 145,556 words
This isn’t the first time that the subsequent books are actually shorter than the previous ones. This actually happen first with The Gatekeeper, which is probably for the best, what with it’s insane word count. ;P I was hoping to possibly get more, but since I wasn’t aiming for anything in particular, I’m still very happy with the results. :D
Okay, now to enter in that two month hiatus period, where I get to actually relax and not worry about writing all day. What will I do with myself, eep!