The Eve of NaNoWriMo!

Well guys, the time has finally come! NaNoWriMo officially begins tonight at 12:00am. AHHH! Thus, commences 30 days of hardship, sobriety, and creativity. I feel like I'm about to enter the arena in the "Hunger Games" even though I have never been more mentally prepared for a NaNoWriMo before than I am this year. Cinna, give me a Mockingjay pin for protection please. Katniss don't need yo help, Lenny! As you can leave, I've already lost my mind... more on that in a few weeks...

In order to prepare for this NaNoWriMo this year, I have gone through everything I have ever written about my novel and re-read it. I have started new outlines. I charted out the plots with more detail than ever before. I actually know the ending to each book and the ending to the series. I know where each character starts and where each character ends. And folks, you better prepare yourself for one crazy ride.

One of the greatest influences on my novel is "A Song of Ice and Fire" by George R.R. Martin. If you haven't read it or don't know what it is than I don't know what you are doing here or if we can be friends. If I said, "Winter is Coming" or "A Lannister Always Pays His Debts," you better damn well know what I am talking about!

While reading Book 3, A Storm of Swords, I threw my book across the room and screamed when I came across a certain scene I will just call the "RW." Damn you, George R.R. Martin!!! Seven hells!

George creates a vast world called Westeros and inhabits it with a multitude of interesting and complex characters! Everyone has both good and bad qualities and no character easily falls into any cliches or boring normalities. The novels are written from the POVs of the main characters. My novel (which is tentatively titled "Buoyancy" at the moment) follows this same procedure. I tell the story from the perspectives of 8 very different characters in one very unique city called Annonay. Through the forced 3rd person limited perspectives of each character, so much creative storytelling has been opened up to me.

Jon Snow: You know nothing

Daenerys Targaryen: Mother of Dragons

Jaime Lannister: A handful

But, enough babbling, I will share more and more with you about my characters and my world as the month continues on... Check out my page on NaNoWriMo.

Now, I must decide if I am going out for one last hurrah on Halloween, or if I really am just going to buckle up and start this bitch... My knuckles are cracked. My fall "cold" is in full swing! My eyeglasses are scratched!

Lessss'go! 11 hours remain!

-ben josé