Is Korea inspiring your novel in anyway? Is it set there? Are you writing about expats? Or does the cityscape influence your imaginary cityscapes? Or are you trying to go as far away from Korea as possible, and creating a world where cheese rains from the sky, and all the apartment buildings are required by law to look different from their neighbors? :D
I'm interested to know how Korea is making its way into your writing--especially for the new ones here, like me.
My novel is incorporating urban elements... but I have yet to discover exactly how it is going to work. Still, I think Korea will sneak its way in there.
----------
----
32,848 / 50,000
Oct 8, 2009 - 19 42
I was thinking about that, as I was planning to write a sequel to a previous NaNo story set here. Now, though, I think I'm going to write something very different. There will be some Korean influences though.
----------Seoul Writers
Korea NaNo Group on Facebook
44,026 / 50,000
Oct 8, 2009 - 20 10
It's not affecting this one much. This one has been in the works for a long time though, and I just finally had an explosion of idea for what to do with it.
However, some of the appearance in the distopian novel I'm planning for next year are Korean - the look of the apartments for instance is something I'm taking, and the no shower/no bathtub thing. At least. The rest I'm not sure about for next year.
39,165 / 50,000
Oct 8, 2009 - 23 45
Hey,
I'm actually thinking of writing the second half of my Nano from last year, which hsa some strong Korean influences in the sense that it has a closed kingdom next door which my characters have to infiltrate, escape.
It's going to be interesting to see how Spain will influence the story now...
71,010 / 50,000
Oct 9, 2009 - 01 50
No. A hundred thousand words last year and a good ten k from the year before that says I'm done nanoing about the land of the morning calm for the time being!
My YA is set in Australia and my thriller/crime is set in Japan. For my YA one I was vaguely contemplating putting a Korean character in it but after watching Gran Turino this week I think I'm going to make them something which will require a little more research. Hmong sounds like a good option.
hahaha. Cheese rains from the sky. Mmm. Jarlsburg.
...sniffle. Why, cheese gods, have you forsaken this land??
36,060 / 50,000
Oct 9, 2009 - 16 31
I can live without good cheese---grudgingly, but I can. I wish it would rain 12 grain whole wheat bread! Everything from Paris Baguette or Tous Les Jours tastes like pure sugar. :(
Korea's influencing my novel in the sense that I miss my old job so much that I'm writing about our favorite topic of conversation...zombies! But absence makes the heart grow fonder; I'm sure NEXT November I'll miss the Land of the Morning Calm so much I'll set my story in a dystopic cyberpunk Seoul, hah.
42,068 / 50,000
Oct 9, 2009 - 21 11
hahaha, yeah that's true. :D Every time.
Dude I found hearty bread at a friend's house the other day... she said she got it at Kims Mart. Just like a regular grocery store?
--------------
40,202 / 50,000
Oct 10, 2009 - 19 13
Directly, no.
I'm on a bit of a mental tape delay in terms of what turns into a novel. The stuff I'm writing about now happened two years ago (I tried to write it a year ago, but I don't think enough time had passed). So it's likely that two years from now, I'll sit down and write a novel about waegook teachers in a strange land. I've already got some preliminary notes on it. It'll likely be literary fiction, since that's all I can seem to write. I can never seem to write effectively about personal things as they're happening.
If it's a fire or a car crash or whatever (I was a newspaper reporter for four years), I was always so in the moment I couldn't think about anything else. However, I find that personal reflection is always muddied by the immediacy of events.
Indirectly, yes. Teaching English to high school students has given me a new perspective on language usage and an appreciation for linguistic simplicity and coherence. I'm noticing it's starting to imbue my writing with a strange new feel, which is cool, I think. My style pre-RoK felt flat, and I feel a little easier now, a little more confident.
The biggest single difference has to be sentence length. Before, everything had to be short and colorless. Now, when I go long, I know to do it for a reason, and how to change the structure of the sentence so it best conveys the meaning of what I'm shooting at. I'm also a better editor than I used to be.
Of course, my pronunciation has suffered, but whatever. To read makes my speaking English good.
Cheers,
----------B.
____
Sasquatch hunting should never be undertaken professionally.
42,068 / 50,000
Oct 10, 2009 - 19 16
That's really interesting... I was thinking that maybe the way I spoke in class would change how I would write. I've always had a problem with really, really long flowery sentences, and I think the simplicity that I need to speak with here will help with that. I've also noticed, though, that certain words work their way into your vocabulary--like ajumma. I mean, unless you're in Korea, the word "ajumma" doesn't strike an image in your head. But we all know what it is, haha, and it doesn't need explaining.
--------------
36,060 / 50,000
Oct 10, 2009 - 19 52
Oh yeah, the niche vocabulary I've picked up is...not colorful, per se, but I feel like my English has been enriched somehow. English may be a language rich with synonyms but sometimes it lacks a certain specificity.
Also my spelling is TERRIBLE now. And I find myself mixing up words that I don't get to use in everyday Konglish conversations (yesterday I incorrectly used the word "abdicate," for example).
42,068 / 50,000
Oct 10, 2009 - 20 20
hahaha, that's great. Hey I have a friend up in Uijeongbu! Cool. :D
--------------
42,522 / 50,000
Oct 17, 2009 - 22 42
So far, no, but I haven't got too deep into the planning stages yet.
----------2008 (won): The Kimchi Conspiracy
http://www.happenchance.net --> Useful stuff for creative people
0 / 50,000
Oct 28, 2009 - 21 52
My novel is an eastern culture inspired fantasy/liberation drama, so being in Korea has really informed large parts of it. I'm continuing a novel I alrady go fairly far into before for NaNo, but I rewrote large sections due to having an actual expereince of Korea and Japan, whereas some of it before came from my own idealized notions of asian culture. It's amazing the details ypu can pick up from expereince that help your story. I wrote a scene before where my character goes into the mountains to deliver a birch bark scroll to the army garrison there and he met some old women on the way, but after Solnar, I rewrote it that these old women were going into the mountains to put rice cakes, fruit and rice wine on the graves of their husbands fro a ficticious solnar inspired holiday I called Nashima.
I'm collecting experiences over here to tweak, alter and sometimes amalgamate into my novel. It's the details that strengthen the atmosphere and give it its tangibility, so the more the better.
54,069 / 50,000
Oct 29, 2009 - 19 45
I was going to write about a small independant Hakwon last year, but I chickened out.
This year, I'm going for it though. The only tough part is which group do I want to piss of more? The expats, or the korean students, bosses and mothers...
It's a toughie and I won't be able to answer it until I finish.
----------42,068 / 50,000
Oct 30, 2009 - 01 23
hahaha a good satire pisses off everyone, and makes everyone laugh! :D
--------------
