CHALLENGES

It was an unusually strange and stormy night when Alexander was conceived. His parents found solace in cuddling together in the velvet dark of the storm's first electrical outage. And the storm and the cuddles led to Alexander.

The passing spirit that seized the opportunity would not have been anywhere nearby had it not been for the storm. It was a strange and terrible spirit, hated even by other spirits. His name when spoken was not heard; rather, in the moment of its recitation, all sound ceased.

The spirit that now inhabited the fertilized egg that would be Alexander chuckled; its was not an appealing chuckle. It took an immediate dislike to Alexander's parents and determined to separate them as quickly as possible. Working on one at a time would be much easier and probably far more effective. He began to plan how he could manage it so that they would do the work for him.

As Alexander became a fetus and the fetus began to develop, its genes were uncomfortable. Something was wrong; something was getting in the way of Alexander's developing according to their DNA...

©MMC2007

MIG,

What a wonderful job! Is this a part of your novel?

I hope others out there will try this.

I intend to put up another challenge, maybe later or tomorrow.

Corina

NEW CHALLENGE

NOVEMBER 6th

Write a character that speaks only a foreign language. Others will have to translate (great for word count). Or perhaps you can leave it untranslated for a touch of mystery?

~Corina

I'm going to use this one... But the character won't appear for a few more chapters yet.

Great idea, Corina!

Still on for tonight in Novato? I hope so. I am planning on being there. I'll have my laptop and a dazed and confused look (I haven't been able to sleep the last couple of nights). TUESDAY, Nov 6

Corina

AAarrgghhhh!!!! Talk about challenges! My G and H keys went on strike tonight! Had to think of a lot of words that didn't use H or G. Finally they came back. Could they have been overheated?
Robin

That's awful! But its also kind of funny.

Glad to have met you!
Rebecca

For fun, use any of the following words or locations in your novel then come back and share the sentence in which you used it.

Why? Because it's fun. Because the words sound funny or interesting. Because we have to give the local area free press? I don't know. You decide why YOU use them!

Remember that the place doesn't have to be your setting. You can use, for example, Golden Gate Bridge in a sentence such as: "She hated sitting in the waiting room. There was nothing to distract her from her anxiety. She picked up a magazine and leafed through it, noticing a picture of the Golden Gate bridge and remembering how he had always promised to take her to San Franciso."

OKAY, THE WORDS:
persnickety
debacle
discombobulated
cyber_____
clairvoyant
calliope

AND THE PLACES:
Russian River
Calistoga
Golden Gate Bridge
Berkeley
Mt. Tamalpais
Petaluma

Thanks, Corina. Nope, not part of my novel, at least not this novel. ; ) I'd been playing with Alexander's spirit for a short story before November began. Pearl, protagonist of the novel I have chosen for this Nanowrimo, won out. You can see the beginning of Pearl's story at my profile, if you can get there (I haven't figgered that one out yet--how to get to other folks' profiles....).

I forgot to go to Borders last night--I'm having fun with writing but am behind! I was extremely busy on deadline throughout October and didn't get to plan as much as I'd have liked--plot kinda got lost. It's making its way toward sunlight now though, slowly, like a plant breaking ground a bit at a time. Surprising me. And then I'll bog down again trying to get from here to there until another tendril breaks ground and everything flows for a few hundred words. ; )

You're doing a fabulous job as Liaison. So organized, full of enthusiasm and warmth. I look forward to meeting you, maybe next Wednesday.

Peace & cheer,
Mig (Margot)

Think of using a character’s diary/journal/phone conversation to re-iterate details about something you’ve already had your character experience. It will boost your word count and give you “treading time” during which you can think about what you might write next or maybe you’ll think of something you left out previously that you can write in. If you’d like, post your results in this thread.

Describe unusual elements of the setting in your scene.
Add an unexpected prop.

Wherever you are in your word count, challenge YOURSELF to break your word count for your most productive day. For example, if on November 5 you wrote 2,139 words and that was the most you wrote in any one day, then challenge yourself to pass that. Maybe challenge yourself to get to 2,500 on one day. After all, you know you’ve done 2,139 and 2,500 isn’t that far off. Challenge YOURSELF.

Write! Find just 45 minutes away from the family and the food and write. Then come here and let us know how many words you were able to write in the 45 minutes. I dare you!

Corina

Push yourself to the finish line this week!

For Fun, try doing one of these:
1. Incorporate a character that "gives thanks" for something.
2. Include any wine reference (mention the name of a wine or a winery or something related to wine).
3. Have a character give us a recap in the form of a memory or a journal entry or perhaps he/she is relaying memories to someone. This is a nice chance to build your word count if you are stuck. Just recap what you've already written.
4. Have a character that reads a book and give us the title of it.
5. Have a character that makes a reference to being a writer or wanting to be a writer.

Okay, here's wishing all of you much luck in getting your word count up! WE CAN DO IT!!!