Alright well, I'm not sure if this has already been done, but on the car forums I frequent there's always a vent thread for when you want to drive it off a cliff. This is my first NaNo, but I've been writing for ages, and there have been plenty of times where I felt like personifying my story somehow and hurling abuse at it. Thus the vent thread. So feel free to yell, in the form of utter nonsense, anything and everything bothering you about your story! Please note though, this thread isn't for constructive advice, merely for releasing some emotion!
I'll start...
GODDAMNIT!! Why can't time mind its own damn business? If I go slow, its boring, if I go fast it sounds stupid. FSHHSGHH!! *kicks*
So come on, who's got some built up rage? XD
----------
If you're reading this, you're procrastinating.
My first NaNo - Sanctuary in the Void (2007)
43,432 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2007 - 19 55
I'm annoyed that someone else is flirting with my main character. There's not meant to be any love interest yet, and so far two people have been flirting with her.
----------I mean, she's just lost her partner, so a bit of respect please.
I'm sure my character will give them the brush off, but its rather annoying. They are meant to be trying to resettle a planet, striving to avoid starvation, yet some people obviously have other things on their mind.
Oh well. I'll see what happens tonight when I get home from work.
Pervert's Paradise- 2007
120,478 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2007 - 21 32
What a good idea. I like to get annoyed at things :)
LOL
Right now I'm pissed off because I can't really get started and when I do get going I never remember what I want to write. Me and my story currently have a love - hate relationship. We love to hate each other.
Plus I'm in the middle of exams right now. Once they're finally over, I'm going to just focus on writing my story because everything else will be done :)
ahhh, there we go, I feel better already!
Nice work Eli :D
xx
25,353 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2007 - 21 37
I hate having to be at work which totally saps away all my creative jucies for the day.
51,212 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2007 - 21 49
I have a sort of love-hate relationship with my thing at the moment.
a) I have to get it done by the 19th, preferably the 18th, for my best friend's birthday (she wants to read me unedited. argh argh argh DEAR GOD NO, but I am abiding by her wishes), so that's why the current speed. On that note - dear novel, please stop making me pull my hair out in frustration. if I develop trichilliomania, it will be your fault. love, Lindra.
b) I have plot threads! and things! and I need them to hang together in a particular way, and I'm not exactly sure what they even are, so I'm just hoping for the best and enjoying it as it comes out. But it can be very frustrating.
c) my uncertain relationship with scene length vs wordcount. I don't know. It's irritating.
I'm still having fun, though. Just slapping my forehead a lot of the time.
----------Novel 2007: Dystopian Futures Suck Balls When The Inquisition Comes To Investigate Your Tax Return
... Yes, I think that sums it up quite nicely.
43,432 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2007 - 22 59
If you can get away with having just a plain word or text document open on your computer screen that from a distance looks like it might be work, its amazing what you can get away with.
Otherwise, I have a notebook I use to write in when I'm lacking a computer and I have a spare 5 minutes. Today I got two pages handwritten at lunch (if I sit at my desk people give me work to do). Note pads in meetings also make you look like you're taking an interest in the subject, even if it is all nano.
The other thing that is great to do, and you can tell me this is disgusting if you want, I don't care, is I put my PDA (mobile phone that connects to a computer or a small notepad also works) in my pocket and go and hide in the toilet for a while. Yes, people might be suspecting I have a really bad case of gastro, but no one tends to question toilet trips, and if they do, just rub your stomach, and make comments about curry or seafood.
----------Pervert's Paradise- 2007
32,584 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2007 - 09 08
Good work everyone, I'm glad you've all taken to it :)
----------I have no real vents tonight, having resolved my rut of boredom I'm loving it. Give it a few days and I'll be back :P
Oh and lol @ chooky's "just make comments about curry or seafood"
If you're reading this, you're procrastinating.
My first NaNo - Sanctuary in the Void (2007)
51,082 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2007 - 14 57
This is my vent. My computer died.
Not my novel writing computer, my everything else computer. Which shouldn't interfere with my writing, except I just spent the last 6 hours unplugging and plugging, removing and reapplying thermal paste to the CPU and GPU, swapping components around, and yes I've tried turning it off and on. Followed, of course, by comparing pricelists and researching new components.
I need a new motherboard. Which means I also need a new CPU, RAM and graphics card to go with it. I can't access email. I can't watch any TV shows I've recorded. My filesharing is down. Even with a new motherboard I'm not going to be able to plug in all my hard drives because no one uses IDE anymore. Not to mention the reinstallation of everything and configuring to just the way I like it, which typically takes me 2-3 days.
I should be writing. I just keep looking over at its lifeless body, occassionally trying to start it up, like that Ewok in Return of the Jedi who's buddy got shot down by an Imperial Scout and even thought it was the midst of battle, he couldn't go on. Yeah. Ewoks died. Search your memories, you know it to be true.
43,432 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2007 - 17 50
I sympathise with you on the computer wrestling. Although my primary PC is still running, I know it should be dead, or at least severally hobbled.
The last few years I've had overheating issues with my computer (actually with our whole house, but finally the landlord fixed our air-conditioner), and last summer I decided to wrestle with my PC, and take the CPU and fan off the board to try and clean out the squashed dust bunnies that were caught between the fan and the heat sink.
After a bit of trial and error, lever pulling, and tab depressing, I managed to get the fan off the heat sink, scrape out the compacted dust that was restricting any airflow then went to put the whole contraption back together and onto the mother board.
So with the CPU still attached to the heat sink I plugged it back in. Clipped in nicely. Attached the fan. Powered up the PC. No life. I heard something from inside the PC (did I mention I run my PC without the case on it) but thought it was just the fan settling back in after I played with it. It just wouldn't start.
So remove the power, pull it all apart again. Wrestled the fan/heat sink/CPU off. I had melted 6-8 pins on my CPU. They had fried because the CPU wasn't seated in properly, and had short circuited.
Understandably, many cuss words were used at this point.
I thought I couldn't do much more damage, so I may as well plug it all back in, see what happens. I disconnected my Hard drive, just in case it blew.
In the process of trying to carefully wriggle it back into place, my CPU came away from the heatsink, so I wiped off the thermal gel that was blackened from 4 years use, put the processor back in, put the heat sink on, and connected the fan on top of all of that.
Don't ask me how or why, but my computer powered up, started the boot process, and later when I re-connected my hard drive, it worked perfectly. And I've had no more problems with the computer overheating either.
I was envisioning power arcing from the CPU, more burning and frying of CPU and maybe other circuits, but nothing.
All I can say is, good luck with your computer.
----------Pervert's Paradise- 2007
87,121 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2007 - 18 20
My rant: My novel wants me to write it, but my pending exam is scary and is eating all the time I COULD be spending writing. WAH!
----------Proud member of EEEW
2006: Murder in the Dark (won!)
2007: The Allatricia
69,014 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2007 - 18 28
I can't write at work!!! And this isn't just a, I've gotta work so I'm not at home writing, type post. This is a, I have plenty of time during lunch breaks and slow periods when I don't have anything to do, and I'm perfectly entitled to do whatever I like, and I sit down to write and it won't come!!! I managed to squeeze a few words out early last week, but it was by far the worst paragraph I've written all Nano.
It's just damned frustrating, because then I spend time on the forums or on Facebook and don't get more of my novel done.
At home, on the other hand, I can just sit down and the words spill forth. I don't know what I'm doing wrong at work!!!
Maybe it's the absence of this stuffed bat that I keep next to my computer as my muse (because he a-muses me, ha ha) but something tells me that I'm not that fickle.
----------2006: Evil Ed's
2007: I Called Him Mine (WON!!!)
53,318 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2007 - 18 29
Ouch. Computer problems. I can relate :(
My main/"everything else" computer died a few weeks ago because I was trying to download the new photoshop, and managed to download a virus along with it. In less than an hour it'd basically corrupted my entire hard drive (and it was meant to be a 'minor' malware infection. Bullshit! Trend Micro LIES!) and now it just sits there.. all dead and refusing to open because our computer guy conveniently likes to ignore us at our most crucial hour.
Grrr. I know it's my fault, but I so badly wanted photoshop CS3!!
Hmmm.. on a nano-related wave, though, my MC is being a downright pain. I killed her brother off and now she's refusing to cooperate. And I'm starting to think killing him off was a bad move, but that could be because I skipped ahead to write the scene so the actual death looks and feels so disconnected from the rest of the novel. I think it will be alright once I filler because the scene IS like.. 40k ahead, so it's a huge gap.
=/ Doesn't make it any less frustrating though. Or any easier to write!
----------Christina
ML of Adelaide
All we can do is keep breathing...
43,432 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2007 - 19 06
Free technical support here.
You've got a virus, so I'm assuming that your using a PC and not a Mac (cos even the virus writers don't support Macs! Hehe)
----------Anyway, this is a long shot, but if you computer lets you, you can try booting into Safe mode (press F8 at the start up and choose safe mode) and try loading Windows through there.
Hopefully you'll be able to remove the offending Photoshop files, maybe even run a virus scan to clean it further.
Depending on the level of deadness, and now bad the infection is, you might be able to get it working.
Pervert's Paradise- 2007
53,318 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2007 - 22 58
Yes, I was told to do that, it won't go into Safe Mode either now. =/
Thanks anyway, Chooky :) I'm just gonna have to put more pressure on my computer guy when I get a hold of him.
----------Christina
ML of Adelaide
All we can do is keep breathing...
69,014 / 50,000
Nov 11, 2007 - 15 45
Talk about built-up rage.
I got over halfway through my story, thought everything was going along great. I then let Chooky read it, and she pointed out to me that she was getting really confused because the names of my two main characters (Ethan and Mason) were too damned similar. So I start reading back, and it seems that even I've got a bit confused with who the characters were in places - if you check my excerpt, there's even a place where I've called Ethan Mason in there! So, kicking and screaming, I abandoned the name Ethan in favour of Christopher (Chris) and had to do a Find/Replace on all names.
He is not happy about it.
Neither am I.
----------2006: Evil Ed's
2007: I Called Him Mine (WON!!!)
120,478 / 50,000
Nov 11, 2007 - 18 50
I still can't get anything down onto paper how I want it!
You know how you watch a movie and everything just happens and flows and is great? Well I can see that in my head, but when I go to write something, it's impossible.
Mine's turning into a bullshit story with lots of talk about pie and lots of dreams that are unrelated to anything else that's happening. And yes, there are even ninjas!
xx
43,432 / 50,000
Nov 11, 2007 - 21 04
I was finding one Saturday that I was having trouble writing too. Sunday I used pen and paper and the words just flowed.
So maybe you just need to find your happy writing tool, be it butchers paper and large markers, notebooks and pen with tinkling bell that makes noise as you write, or a computer written in Wing Dings font.
You may find you get more done this way, and spending an hour or so every evening re-typing to your computer than staring at your screen and the words not coming.
And if all else fails, start up a Ninja or Plot suggestion thread. I'm sure many here will be happy to supply crazy ideas.
----------Pervert's Paradise- 2007
111,797 / 50,000
Nov 12, 2007 - 03 00
*spanks you*... naughty, naughty girl!
Write, write, write at all costs! You can worry about who is whom later. This is just a trick of the evil anti-wordcount-ninjas trying to sabotage your Nano!
Don't let them win!
Fight them in the trenches! Fight them in the keyboards! Fight them in the Monitors! Fight them in the hard drives!
For we, we shall never surrender!
Ahem....
*composes self and goes back to reading the forums*
Red, the Trench warfare dragon
“If you hold on to the handle, she said, it's easier to maintain the illusion of control. But it's more fun if you just let the wind carry you." ~ Brian Andreas
----------“If you hold on to the handle, she said, it's easier to maintain the illusion of control. But it's more fun if you just let the wind carry you." ~ Brian Andreas
23,687 / 50,000
Nov 12, 2007 - 04 28
I have ninjas. They're from an organisation called CNN - Congo Nationalist Ninjas.
My main whinge is that when I get time to write - weekends, etc - I can't write. There are distractions, sure, but the big issue is that the words just don't come. I know what wants to happen, and I let the character (yes, he's once again alone) do whatever he likes.
----------"Methought I was,--and methought I had,--but man is but a Patched Fool, if he will offer to say what methought I had..."
- William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream
120,478 / 50,000
Nov 12, 2007 - 05 35
yeah, okay, so this isn't much of a vent, but I'm posting it here anyway!
I now know exactly what's going to happen to my MC every step of the way and in what order. All I can say is I hope she's ready for a bumpy ride, but she sure does deserve it.
Not even the ninjas can save her now!
xx
32,584 / 50,000
Nov 12, 2007 - 07 14
Ahh yes, knowing where you're heading helps a LOT. And a bumpy ride is good, much better than a bland story about an unspectacular MC.
Paul your CNN sounds pretty interesting, do tell :P
My vent tonight is completely at myself. I have done stuff all work for the last three days, the first time so far that I've actually slacked off. Tonight I had an excuse because I just went to the gig of my LIFE, but tomorrow I'd better pull my head in.
----------If you're reading this, you're procrastinating.
My first NaNo - Sanctuary in the Void (2007)
73,377 / 50,000
Nov 12, 2007 - 08 19
I've finally realised what my immediate next step is in my story but I have to study for my exam. I've been studying well too so I don't want to break that and write for a while, lest I lose my studying groove.
----------Mel / Calliopes.Sin
ML of Adelaide, Australia
Moderator: Character & Plot Realism Q&A and Chick Lit.
69,014 / 50,000
Nov 12, 2007 - 16 03
Sorry, Red...
It won't happen again.
(Grabs keyboard and opens word document...)
----------2006: Evil Ed's
2007: I Called Him Mine (WON!!!)
120,478 / 50,000
Nov 15, 2007 - 05 22
Nothing to vent people!
I'm showing off now. I love my story so much that I'm tempted to make out with it.
xx
69,014 / 50,000
Nov 16, 2007 - 05 30
Sorry Red...
It did happen again.
I was home sick today (in case anyone worries, I'm feeling better now, probably just had sunstroke) and I was NaNoing on the couch under our newly working airconditioner, when I looked down at the junk mail beside me and realised why my character was so resisting being called Chris. It's because I'm in Christopher Pyne's electorate, and poor old character Chris doesn't want to have any relation to Federal Politics. Once I realised that, though, I just had to change his name again.
Poor guy is back to being Ethan for the time being. I think he'll stick with it. He really likes being an Ethan, you see.
Ducks for cover now...
----------2006: Evil Ed's
2007: I Called Him Mine (WON!!!)
111,797 / 50,000
Nov 16, 2007 - 06 20
It did happen again.
... I looked down at the junk mail beside me and realised why my character was so resisting being called Chris. It's because I'm in Christopher Pyne's electorate, and poor old character Chris doesn't want to have any relation to Federal Politics. Once I realised that, though, I just had to change his name again.
LOL.. don't you know, naming your character after a Political figure is instant death to a storyline? On these grounds you are exempted from the Dragon's 'do not edit while writing' rule....hence you are exhonorated and shall no longer be shot at dawn after being forced to eat cheap take-away as a last meal... *nods nods nods*
You may live.... ;)
“If you hold on to the handle, she said, it's easier to maintain the illusion of control. But it's more fun if you just let the wind carry you." ~ Brian Andreas
----------“If you hold on to the handle, she said, it's easier to maintain the illusion of control. But it's more fun if you just let the wind carry you." ~ Brian Andreas
7,000 / 50,000
Nov 18, 2007 - 20 43
Basically, I suck. :(
------------
http://www.notebookinhand.com - Come for the creativity. Stay for the insanity.
Proud member of EEEW
87,121 / 50,000
Nov 20, 2007 - 17 43
Speaking of Christopher Pyne, I drove past Penfolds on my way back from my exam today and someone had typed "WANKER" onto a piece of paper and stuck it onto a sign so instead of "Christopher Pyne, Liberal, Sturt" it read "Christopher Pyne, WANKER, Sturt". ----------
Proud member of EEEW
2006: Murder in the Dark (won!)
2007: The Allatricia
69,014 / 50,000
Nov 20, 2007 - 18 01
I shouldn't be killing myself laughing over that, but I am...
Aah political posters and the things people do to them. Someone's hijacked a Pyne poster, written slogans on the back of it, and hung it over the bridge on top of the Klemzig interchange. In our area, someone's gone around and devil-horned the Greens candidate as well.
Not that I'm in any way advocating that kind of behaviour...
Although, have you seen the Bob Day for Makin ones? People don't need to do anything to them to make them funny. I think the writing on the shirt's just in a really bad place...
----------2006: Evil Ed's
2007: I Called Him Mine (WON!!!)
25,353 / 50,000
Nov 20, 2007 - 18 07
The One Nation ones in the Goodwood/Pasadena area have been defaced as well, with Swastika's and devil horns etc.
The best one I've seen is for what's her name for Adelaide (the Liberal one) with her name changed to the word MILF.
69,014 / 50,000
Nov 20, 2007 - 18 39
I'll have to look out for that one!
Honestly, though, I think the system is much better in Victoria. There, you're not allowed to put up posters etc advertising a political party or candidate on public property (including stobie poles).
----------2006: Evil Ed's
2007: I Called Him Mine (WON!!!)