Challenges

On the nanowrimo forums, there are threads to help people get to 50,000 words.  Some of these are challenges, and the concept of these challenges inspired me to do my own in the Walker series.  Three novels of the five have a challenges in them.  But it all started with Novel 1.

The challenge for Novel 1 was to see how often I could get my male main character, Walker, naked.  (And recently I just thought of another place for this to occur.)  Why?  I think because I started out with him naked, and I thought, "cool, why not?"

The Prequel, or Novel 0 (I really have to rethink my numbering scheme), has a minor challenge:  a greeting.  Basically, if possible, whenever Walker and the vampire meet, Walker flips the vampire Valor, straddles him, and threatens him in some way.  Why this?  Because I had an image when thinking up this novel of Walker doing this after a long time apart and saying something funny about how they keep end up meeting this way.  I really don't think I can have Walker do this more than a couple times in the novel, but we'll see.

The final challenge came to me recently upon thinking why I am turned off by much of current fantasy fiction:  The ubiquitous romance subplot.  Well, I can't write romance--every time I do, it ends up bad, and instead of happy endings, I like killing people off (at best) or making them have ulterior motives (at worst), or both.   So that lead me to thinking of something related to the ubiquitous romances, but in tv/movie media:  The rampant, pointless sex scene.  Now that I could work with.  So, in Novel 3, the challenge is rampant sex, with bonus points for making it pointless.  Why that novel?  Because I already am using sex a couple times, one time to make a plot point and another time for humor.  So why not?  Oh, and don't worry, it's not erotica.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, but that would be a major upset in tone for this series.

As of yet, Novel 2 and Novel 4 do not have any challenges.  Probably because they are more serious, and the other novels have a stronger sense of humor running through them.  But anyway, that's what I'm doing in this series:  Challenges.  Don't ask me why, I think it's fun :-)  And I can't see traditionally published novels doing this.  :-)  And I get bored easy.

So what about you--are there any challenges you can add to your novels?

Posting and Writing

Tomorrow swiftly approaches.  I have printed out my outlines and record sheet.  I have a plan of how to write and edit.  And I have a goal of having everything ready to publish on the three main sites, Smashwords, B&N's Pubit, and Amazon's Kindle by the end of September.  So, what is left to print out and prepare?  What I will post this blog and how I will post it, that's what. 

Two Challenges: 2011 Ideas for Year 2011 and A Story a Month

Dean Wesley Smith's self-challenge to write and publish (electronically) 100 stories in 2011 has inspired a challenge in me.  To create a list of 2011 ideas for stories in 2011.  These ideas range from a simple idea of "magic bees needed to pollinate plants" to something a little more full-fledged with plot or characters.  Now from these ideas, I want to write and produce a publishable story or novella every month (i.e., e-publish it) in addition to any novels planned. 

By doing this, I hope to learn to write good works at speed, and a great deal many of them, and to make a career out of selling them as ebooks.  That part of the idea also came from a D.W. Smith post concerning the time it takes to write a novel while having a day job and another post on speed as necessity for e-self-publishers. 

KPP3 and a Snippet Challenge

I am making good progress on KPP3, about halfway through it.  However, it is far easier to write when you have been making progress several days in a row than it is to write coming from a standstill.  For that reason, I need to make sure I keep writing five days a week.

I am starting a writer's challenge in which I post small sections of my work to my blog on a frequent basis.  The rules would be that I must snippet something every other weekday.  It must be of snippetable quality.  And it must come from recent content, dating no earlier than a week ago.  My only excuse would be when I post the next section of the novel.  In that case, the section posting would replace the snippet posting entirely for that day.

Well, them's the rules.  Let's see if I can keep to 'em.

Short Fantasy Novels

Not too long ago on Query Shark, literary agent Janet Reid wrote that "VERY fast paced high octane crime novels clock in at 55,000 words. Science fiction, and the requisite world building usually start at double that."  I assume she would say the same for fantasy. 

Part and parcel of that desire to "take a calculated risk" as outlined in my last post is the consideration of such information from prominent sources like Ms. Reid.  Seeing as how my goal is to write shorter novels whenever possible, I have some unique challenges in store for me.

However, I do admit to a contrary spirit whenever someone says something like this.  Usually that spirit results in a self-dare.  But I have enough on my to-write list as it is.  In fact, an entire multiverse, of which Walker Universe is one node, that is threatening to expand everyday.  I guess my ornery side will have to make do with Walker Novel 2, which I am actively working on to keep under 69k words.  Make do, for now that is.