I am not even joking

I finished the last word of my novel, "sleep," at 11:59 p.m. I am that good.

Or that bad, I suppose, depending on how you look at it.

So, as of right now, my final word count is (and yes, I know, I broke the rules and am also probably crazy and sick and sleep-deprived and totally just hallucinated a spider on my hand): 54,847 words.

54, 847 words!!!! That's so much! I don't think I've ever written this much, and certainly never in a 30 day stretch. But I'm done.

Wait, I just have to write that again: I am DONE.

My shoulders are cramped, my fingers are exhausted, my contacts are glued to my eyeballs, but I am DONE. It's a magical feeling.

Look!



I don't know exactly how I ended up going over 4,847 words, but I think it mostly has to do with how the climax of my novel spiraled wildly out of control. It's such a clusterfuck. Also, I have WAY too many characters, many of whom get neglected for most of the novel only to pop up at random times. Also, I had to wrap up the end of my novel WAY too quickly (time constraints, y'know). But all can be fixed in the eventual editing process.

Now, it's time to concentrate on getting better, doing my job, and drawing again. I may even draw some pictures of these characters. Who knows??

Anyways, it's been quite an interesting month. I may have some more reflections tomorrow, but right now, my brain just put up a GONE FISHING sign (brain, have you learned NOTHING from my novel or "End of the Line"??) but when it gets back, we'll see what it has to say.

Thank you to all of you who followed my blog, and especially those of you who commented. It's nice to know that someone out there cares.

MantoWriMo is over. I can have my life back.

Uh Oh

So, um, I'm breaking some rules. My novel is going to be more than 50,000 words. How do I know this? Because today, Tuesday, June 30, at 7:07 p.m., I broke through the 50,000 word ceiling of the chocolate factory. And this glass elevator is just going to keep going, because as it turns out, I still have more plot left in me.

By which I mean I had trouble pacing this thing all along, so here I find myself at 50,000 words mid-way through a climax (and yes, I'm aware that sounds dirty) certainly with an end in sight, but one that's a few miles out to sea and only dimly visible through the marine layer. But, I can't help it. Really, if I were to just write "The End" right now, my book would be incomplete, nothing would be resolved, and one of the crucial mysteries would never be uncovered. So, onwards and upwards I go. I am mixing so many metaphors here.

Here's a picture of my word count as of several minutes ago:



Check back later tonight for the final update. I will finish by midnight, mark my words.

New Favorite Animal

So I met this giant river otter today at the Zoo. It makes the most ridiculous noises. You can hear one here.

Also

For some mysterious reason I am now following my own blog....what?

That's so lame--like laughing at your own jokes. Why BLOGGER, why?

47,452 words, 2 days to go

We're getting close now. And plot is happening! Probably TOO MUCH PLOT! But whatever. Today I was a writing fiend. I literally holed up in my room for like, 9 hours and wrote, with minimal breaks. The nice thing about being sick is that you don't even want to eat so I didn't even really have to stop for snackity-snacks (unless you count lime popsicles, which I consumed in a big way.)

I'm really excited for this to be over, but suddenly afraid of the big gaping hole that will be left in my life when my noveling efforts are over. Any suggestions on what I should replace noveling with? Bead-making, perhaps?


BEES??

Seal

I love how when you look up "seal" on google, this is the first thing that comes up:



My mom and sister saw him at the airport once.


But I can see seals every day at the zoo. So...there.

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a....

It's the most badass stingray ever, out-leaping an orca whale.




Of course, after this picture was taken, it probably still got eaten, but whatever.

Aaaaaaggggghhhhhhh

I have developed writer's shoulder. It's so painful. Also my stupid sister got me sick (I love you Diana). I am roughly 9,000 words away, so...still behind. It's been tricky, what with friends and bureaucracy and zoo and other things.

This weekend is going to suck. But I can see the end. Finally.

8 followers, 6 days to go

I was so thrilled to see that my readership had grown by not one but TWO whole followers the last time I checked my blog. Yay!

And then I failed to uphold my end of the bargain by actually posting anything. Sorry.

I have excuses though. Or one really good excuse. My internet is broken. Right now, I'm stealing internet from someone else that I can only get through my sister's computer.

Also, I'm way behind. Life just keeps getting in the way.

I'm almost at 40,000 words, but I should be at almost 42. I suck. Also, I know you guys are clamoring for excerpts but I currently have so many doubts about my writing, I just don't know. Ask me in a week.

Fun fact: River otters are iridescent. It's way cool.

And you're going to hate me for posting this picture but whatever. I'm used to it:


Come on. Don't you want one? Or five?

Oh and P.S. I met someone yesterday who genuinely was on the verge of becoming a shark behaviorist after graduating with a marine bio major. How sweet is that???


Hey! At least this one isn't some lame animal picture. It's a sharkity-shark. Nothing lame about that.

No, I'm not procrastinating--why would you say that?

In 5 minutes begins my final week of MantoWriMo.

I'm at 33,000ish words so far tonight, despite a True Blood and frozen yogurt break earlier. I will keep going, but I do have work tomorrow, and I'm starting a digital photography class tomorrow night. And then my sister and I are going to start attending this crazy Cardio Barre class. And then my dad and I are going to go see a documentary about over-fishing called "End of the Line." It's going to be hard to catch up to the 35,000 mark I should have been at. Whatever. I WILL finish this novel by June 30.

I'd just like to take a moment to thank my 6 blog followers. I'm not even sure if you are reading anything I write, but just seeing your tiny little profile pictures just makes me happy. You know what would make me even happier?

7 blog followers.

Um

I really want to move to Hawaii. I just realized this.

So right now, my top 3 post-graduation destinations are as follows:
1) Portland, Oregon
2) Hawaii
3) Monterey, CA

Sounds good to me.

On a somewhat unrelated note: want to hear some humpback songs? They are pretty catchy.

Also

I suck. I'm a day behind, trying to catch up. Yesterday I danced for old folks, and got to look all official and stuff with a walkie talkie at the LA Zoo's Beastly Ball. Today was Father's Day and my dad (tried) to teach me to drive a stick shift. I was decent at shifting out of first to second gear, but stop signs were my downfall. Everyone in my Orthodox Jewish neighborhood must HATE me now. I don't even know how many times I stalled out the car and/or squealed around a corner. AND the battery died midway through. My dad says the battery wasn't my fault. I mostly believe him, since he spent the entire time laughing at me anyways, so I have a feeling that if I had actually killed the car, he would have had no qualms letting me know. Nonetheless, he kept telling me to "listen to the car" (kind of like Patrick Swayze telling Baby to "feel the music" in Dirty Dancing, except without dancing and you know, Patrick Swayze), that it would tell me what to do. In the movie version of my life, this would have been a series quick cuts of me stalling the car and the car jerking around a corner (kind of like the montage when Baby is trying to get the lifts right but just keeps falling in the lake) interspersed with me making apologetic faces and shrugging my shoulders at passing cars and dogwalkers; but it would have ended with me listening to the car and executing a perfect shift to first gear from a complete stop.

This did not happen.

It's official: my life is not a movie. And in other news, Clay Aiken is gay.

You know what else did not happen? Novel-writing. And there's another episode of "True Blood" tonight! But alas, it will have to wait. I have almost 4,000 words to tackle. Get your towels ready! It's about to go down!!

Also: is this not the most fantastic thing? It walks on its toes! I hung out with it at the Zoo.

Cool legislature!

Hawaii is awesome. Here is why.

31,710 words!

And it's not even 4:00. And I'm not falling asleep and waking up with keyboard imprints on my face several hours later! Huzzah! And Katie will, eventually, appreciate the homage I paid her novel in my story.

I hope.

EXPLODING WHALE!

I accidentally came across this while searching for other fun facts about whales:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TtA_SgmDQc

It's really unintentionally funny. And gross. Watch it.

It's sort of kinda vaguely pertaining to the general theme of marine life as characterizes this here blog

Sexy!

For those of you who for some reason didn't hear about this already, I saw Bill Pullman the other day. In fact, I sat in the very same seat as his ass!

But Manta, how is this related to sea creatures, you may ask? You, being the "movie elitist" you are and all, should know better than anyone that Bill Pullman has been in movies about aliens, movies about space (and did you know that more people have been to space than have been to the deep sea??), movies about a man-eating crocodile loose in a lake, and movies about newsboys on strike, but never in a movie about sea creatures.

Well, we need to do something about that. Tessa has a solution to what is clearly a great big gaping hole in Bill Pullman's resume. Go look at her blog, mostly because it's awesome, but especially because this post and its follow-up are hilarious.

And then, if you want to read something sad because you are laughing so hard at Number 1: Pen, Number 2: Thoughts, go read Katie's blog and have a good cry at the (hopefully temporary) demise of Olgando. And then, if well-lit photos of guitars get you hot, go read Alex's blog. And if you want to read about adventures in France, check out Shannon's blog.

Ok, that's enough shout-outs for now.

Oh, also: 30,031 words! I am more than halfway through.

Oh, and this one's for Tessa:

Also

Here are some really cool pictures I have found in the course of my internet surfing.



It's a cloud....that looks like a sharkity-shark!

And this is just crazy: it's a bioluminescent wave!

Some things

In lieu of writing my last 400ish words for today, I will tell you some things about these past two and a half weeks (since Katie asked me to). Then I will stay up late and continue writing.

What I'm Listening To:
I'm currently writing to a motley playlist of some variously aquatic-themed music. A random selection includes:
"I'm on a Boat" (because, well...you know)
"Heroes" (mostly because it's a good song, but also because of that line about dolphins)
"Rock Lobster" (duh)
"Volcanoes" (by Islands--who I haven't listened to in forevah)
"Islands" (by Cat Power)
"Seal Tubilee" (a weird song by Bat for Lashes)
"Underwater" (Architecture in Helsinki)
"Girl and the Sea" (which is kinda techno-y, and I think best fits the feeling I hope to evoke with my story)

Plus a bunch more, some for their title only, others for their mood. Oh and also, "Everyday I Write the Book" by Elvis Costello (at the suggestion of Tessa, for obvious reasons)

Where I'm Writing:
Currently on the magically comfortable couch in my dad's living room, but most of this month, in the little nest I've created for myself in my bed in my room at my mom's.

What I'm Drinking:
Really gross coffee. Usually tea, though (obviously.)

What I'm Wearing:
Nothing.

No I'm joking. Pants. Also, a shark tooth necklace that I frankensteined out of a really ugly necklace that happened to have a shark tooth on it, and a chain I already had.

What is going on in my story:
What is going on in my story? I don't know. Like I've moaned and groaned about in the past few posts, I think I've been pacing this novel like it was much longer than 50,000 words, which might bode well for future noveling efforts, but for this one, will probably result in a rather rushed, super-plotty last 20,000 words. Right now, I'm only just getting around to writing the first time the not-so-super eco-heroes--Ray, Finn, Eli, Brad Right, Otto and more! (I say "and more!" because there are like, 12 of them, and the number is likely to change, as are their names, since I seem to be using at most 5 of these characters at any given time)--are given the chance to flex their superhero muscle. They're going to rescue some beached whales! And there's a mad scientist! And Olivia is still terrified of water! And there might be pirates! And maybe a romance! I don't know yet. I have like 15 things I'd like to fit in in this last stretch of writing, but I sort of put in a lot of backstory, and not quite as much story up until now. Also, I have a lot of characters. Also, like 5 days have passed in 30,000 words. As my dad pointed out, though, lots of stories are about nothing at all. Right? Right??

So, there are some things.

28,500 and counting

Well, Manta is still on track...sorta. I'm coming up on 28,500 words, and while I don't feel like quitting, I'm just concerned with, I don't know, everything about my book. It's not particularly funny, but also not serious. I don't know if anyone but me would want to read it. Heck, I don't know if even I will want to read it, when I'm done. I've been exceptionally busy. I've been having problems with my internet. Also, I seem to be really adept at describing relatively nothing at all.

Let's see if I can get ahead on my word count today, since Saturday is definitely off-limits. Also, don't expect a lot of updates, since...well, internet.

Week 3 Began (yesterday)

I really have not been doing stellar on my novel. Sunday, you know, when I had ALL DAY to write, I instead spent dancing, watching the series finale of "Pushing Daisies" (and weeping bitter tears) and watching the season premiere of "True Blood" (watching people get NAKED and bite each other)--once again doing everything in my power not to write. I basically hated my novel. I've been perpetually a day behind in my word count. My plot still feels like it's never going to arrive.

I finally caught up last night. 25,015 words. I am halfway through my novel-writing experiment. I'd like to say it feels good, but right now I'm still worried about where my story is going. Evidently, I suck at pacing. I know everything I want to happen but I'm concerned 25,000 words won't be enough.

2 weeks to go.

Help!

I need some suggestions for backstory for my main character, Olivia. Here's what I know about her so far:

- she's aquaphobic
- she has a pet pig, named after the musician Moby, rather than the white whale (so I guess maybe she likes electronica? I haven't delved into her music tastes really)
- she has a best friend named Lou (who I also haven't fleshed out, character-wise--all I know is that she's small, blonde, and - possibly a surfer? or a lifeguard? I don't know)
- she was into Aquaman when she was younger
- she was not unpopular in high school
- she had a boyfriend the last year of grad school, whom she is no longer with for reasons I have yet to disclose
- she watches Law & Order (as far as other genres of movies/tv, I don't know)
- she's not much of a self-starter

But apart from all this, she needs some hobbies, some interests, some quirks--some things that have nothing to do with water, or marine biology. What did she do for fun in undergrad? Is she a drinker? Not? What does she do for fun now? Does she take a kickboxing class? A spin class? Is she into sports? Does she read? Does she write? I've tried to put as little of myself into her as possible, because this character is decidedly not me. Hence, I've been trying to stay away from the things I like to do: taking pictures, drawing pictures, dancing, etc.

So, I'd appreciate any of your help, wonderful readers. Nothing is too weird, too obscure, or too quirky. And if I like your suggestions, you may just see them find a way into my novel!

Seriously, people.

Can I please just have like, 2 hours a day to myself? Pretty please? Ugh, another day of no words...although let's see if I can stay up a little longer and not fall asleep at my computer.

So, my sister graduated today. That was like, an all day event. Although, I suppose as far as graduations go, an art school graduation is probably the best you could ask for--complete with live musical, dramatic, and dance performances, weirdly self-promotional speeches from school board higher-ups, and a charming story told by a city councilman (something about a good wolf and a bad wolf that live inside you--except that he kept mispronouncing "wolf" as "woof," and I was trying so hard not to laugh that I missed the moral). But then, after graduation was over, we went to eat classy Japanese food up at Yamashiro, which has pretty much the best view of Los Angeles you can find (and apparently also movie nights, a disproportionate amount of which feature movies starring Harrison Ford...hmm). And then, when dinner was over, we went back to my grandparents' house to eat this cake that my NorCal cousins had sent down for my grandpa's bday (and which my grandma claimed was "an albatross around her neck"--oh yeah, I have NOT been able to get that image out of my brain.)

But yeah, so I just got home. Wah. I want to write, but I'm now feeling unsuccessful and thus uninspired, and my novel isn't terribly fun at the moment. I just hope this feeling passes. I wish this next week were going to get easier, but I have like 5 dances to choreograph for some fathers' day old folks' home belly dance thing I agreed (read: was forced on pain of death...plus $100) to do AND I'm volunteering at the LA Zoo's Beastly Ball next weekend, and I'm hanging out with Shannon, and my cousin, and maybe Tessa, and and AND....

So really, is it too much to ask that I just get 2 hours alone, with my novel, to myself?

Right on track with 18,574 words

Poseidon, look at me! I'm up to 18,574 words which, if I look at my MantoWriMo schedule ...means I am exactly where I need to be by Day 11 (in fact, 237 words ahead). Huzzah! Seriously, though: today was a slog. I was already a day behind since this week was the tail end of the family visiting, and work Monday through Wednesday, where I've also been doing things of the writing variety, except with the emphasis on less words, not more. But Wednesday is where things kinda fell apart.

The story of Wednesday: basically, on Wednesday, rather than writing in the morning before heading off to the the Zoo, I watched "Life in Cold Blood" the David Attenborough reptiles and amphibians doc series, which was awesome! I learned so many fun facts! Like how when a python is swallowing a big prey item, it actually extends its wind-pipe out of its mouth because otherwise it would suffocate! So cool! Then at work, I didn't have time for a long lunch break (and BRAINSTORMING) because I was running around interviewing animals! Then after work, I saw Shannon! We had Menchie's! It was magical! And then I went to dinner! By the time I got home, I was exhausted but determined to at least write something. What I wrote was this:

Just as quickly as she'd agreed, Olivia was suddenly annoyed at herself for complying so easily with their demands. She was the one sitting cold in a cave, in her pajamas, with a bunch of complete strangers, when she could have been at home, watching reruns of "Gilligan's Island" with Moby.

And then, I fell asleep! And then I woke up at 2:00 in the morning when my laptop fell off my knees, where it had been precariously perched! And I wonder why my laptop is clearly on its last legs (come on baby, let's just get through June.)

So long story short, is that I didn't actually get my 1,667 words written on Wednesday.

But today, I had no work, no obligations, and I had two days' worth of words to write and for some reason, I just couldn't get into my novel. Maybe I was distracted or something, maybe it was because I knew I had this big explainy scene to write, maybe I just wanted to watch "Life in Cold Blood" instead of looking fun sea creature facts up on wikipedia, but today just wasn't happening.

Also, I've been having a debate with myself about writing with music or without--as I just wrote to Tessa, I haven't found the write soundtrack (then had to correct it to *right). Also, sometimes music helps me get into a zone, and sometimes it just prevents me from hearing my characters' voices. It's tricky, this writing stuff. If I bought into that whole "muse" thing, I'd say mine's pretty finicky--everything has to be juuust right. But like I said, I don't buy that whole muse business. Anyways, supposedly, Week 2 is supposed to be the hardest week, so I'm right on track for that, too.

So eventually, after feeding the parrots, and taking a bath, and making multiple cups of tea, and laying on the floor, and having my mom buy me one of those pretty cookies from gelson's, and re-watching an episode of "Chuck," I was finally able to hole up in my room, in bed (which apparently is the only place I can get writing done), and actually, you know, write. And at first it was like eking out one word at a time, and I couldn't get anyone's voices down, and I'm still not sure that the conversations I wrote actually flow or sound like real people, but 3,462 words later (give or take) I at last came to a natural stopping place.

Things are actually FINALLY going to start happening in my book. Also, at my dad's suggestion, there will be a volcano (funnily enough, he suggested this without knowing anything about my book, and I was like "VOLCANO!" and whipped out my notebook to write it down).

So, sorry for the long post, dear readers. If you want some actually entertaining posts, head over to Katie's blog. The scene at the Boo!-bie Mansion is hilarious and includes Martha Stewart craft references! Tim O'Shea is ridiculous, what with his foghorn noises and filming up girls' skirts. Also, Olgando is breaking my heart.

Week 2 begins

Phew! I was so worried the last few days that what with entertaining the Ohioans, I would fall so far behind in my writing that there would be no way to catch up. And I did fall behind--a whole two days worth of words! I even had an anxiety dream about it. But then I came home late last night from dinner at some fancy-schmancy wine tasting bar in Downtown LA with my uncles and had an unexpected burst of creativity, knocking out 1,500 words before bed. And then, this morning, I woke up and rather than going on a run (don't laugh--I run, people) I wrote another thousand words! But now I have to go to work. And despite the fact that relatively little has happened in my first 11,000 words of my novel, I think things are really going to pick up now. Like, for instance, today I typed the word "superheroes" for the first time. That's...something. Maybe, if you're lucky, I'll even post an excerpt soon.

Now, onto Week 2. My grandpa and uncles leave tomorrow but Shannon comes home, so a whole new distraction will replace the one of last week. But that's cool, because I've been lonely and friendless for a whole month. Yay! Shannon! Yay! MantoWriMo is back on track!

Day 7

So technically, I should be up to 11,669. I'm going to the Observatory today. I baked a pizza yesterday. I went to the Getty the day before. Needless to say, I'm nowhere near the word count I should be at. And to top it off, I can't seem to stay up past 11 o'clock, after all the fun family festivities are over and I get a second to myself.

Ah, nicknames...

...can't live with them, can't live without....well, actually you could live without them.

As most of you know, I have in my recent years become saddled with a number of nicknames, when I went a good 18 years of life with a mere 2 (plus a couple nonspecific--cookie, angel, honey--ones). Most of them are listed here in my profile. 

So anyways, I wanted my character Olivia to have some nicknames given to her by friends and family, because I think it's always fascinating to follow the meandering, random road to any given nickname. Mine, for example, comes from the first of the bunch, Mangela. However, rather than retaining the "angela" part of the name, it was "Man" that fostered the next generation of nicknames. Odd. 

The flash of inspiration that resulted in the title of my novel, Landlocked, was actually the first thing that inspired me to commit to writing a story about an aquaphobic marine biologist. Because not only did I have a title that fit the general theme of the story, but it gave me my character's last name: Locke. Not only that, but it gave me a built in series of nicknames: Locke Ness monster, Ness, Nessie, and, to her best friend, Monster. And that was enough to go on. 

Of course then I had to think of a first name, but that was just a matter of writing down every female name in the articles and Zoo donor lists I was proofreading at work, and mixing and matching them. Olivia won, because it sounds kind of brainy. 

As for the story itself, it is moving along rather pokily (as am I, especially when compared to Katie's impressive 10,000-something words). My story barely feels like it has gotten started. Hmph. Oh well. By the end of this weekend, I hope to get in some real action, work in the rest of my characters, and get this ball rolling. All that has happened thus far is an extensive internal monologue centering around Olivia's exploding dishwasher and her inside jokes with her brother. 

Also, I totally want her house (big surprise, right?) for numerous reasons, but one being that she has an octo-clock! It's like those creepy '50s cat clocks with the eyes and tail that move back and forth except...it's an octopus. And I made it up. And I want one!

So I decided...

My main character Olivia has a pet pig. And he will look like this. Since I didn't plan for this to happen, I still have to think of a name, but I'm not totally surprised that as I was writing, a pig just wandered into Olivia's kitchen, since the idea of having a pet pig is all my sister ever talks about.

Also, when I searched google images for 'pot-bellied pig,' in the midst of adorable pictures was this one. While I already knew this actor's connection to the pig world, it was nonetheless chuckle-worthy.

3,014 words and counting

I don't wanna go to bed!

But alas. I must. I feel like I could keep writing though, which is rare/unheard of when it comes to the way I turn out essays (like pulling teeth). Hey, I overshot my writing goal of 1,667 words today, so I'm kind of proud. I did, however, use up a good 2,000 or so words on the first chapter, and not a whole lot happened, though I feel like I did set up some key facts about the main character. We'll see how tomorrow goes.

Day 1

I feel so creative right now.

No, I haven't resumed writing yet, having just returned from work. I have, however, been entertaining all kinds of ideas today. While my work-work surely suffered somewhat from these interrupting strokes of genius, I now have many mini-notebook pages filled with random ideas that I need to somehow string together in a plot. Mostly right now I need to figure out how to pace this, probably using The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (because that's what I happen to be re-reading right now) and the TV show "Chuck" (approximately the kind of funny-with-a-dash-of-serious tone I'd like for my novel) for inspiration.

More to come.

815 words down, 49,185 to go!

Well, it's no 2,009 words, but it's something. I have to go interview animals in the morning, but I'll definitely get up to 2,000 by tomorrow afternoon.

Ever the procrastinator

Here it is: 11:08 p.m. on May 31. Mere minutes until I bite the bullet and just do this thing. I'm going to follow Katie's lead and get down at least a few words before I go to bed tonight, just to kick start these next four weeks. I've been mentally preparing myself for this moment for months, ever since vowing to flex my creative muscles in the form of a really abysmal novel, but now that it's so imminent, I'm freaking out just a little at what seems like a gargantuan prospect. Katie would tell me not to worry so much about it, but I can't help it: I'm a worrier. That's why my friends call me Whiskers.

Anyways, I feel like I should give you all a little bit of information going into this. To encourage us NaNoWriMo-ers to write what we like and not what we don't (sounds simple in theory, evidently is trickier in practice), the creator of NaNoWriMo suggests we make two lists, or Magna Cartas--one that answers the question, "What, to you, makes a good novel?" and one that answers the converse, "What are the things that you don't like in novels?"

So, without further ado, my Magna Cartas I & II, which I very well may add to/change as time goes by (play it again, Sam):

Magna Carta I

• Relatable characters (a must)
  
• Natural dialogue
• Surprise reveals
• Sympathetic villains (Captain Hook!)
  
• Unrequited love
• Not judging books by their covers (need I mention "Beauty and the Beast" is my favorite fairy tale/movie?)
  
• Quirky people
• Scientific intrigue
• Magical realism
• Journal entries
• Nerds
• Well-written friendships
  
• Small-scale adventures
• People having weirdly specific fantasy lives
• Recurring jokes
  
• First person narration (maybe that's just because, as a journal-writer, it's the most comfortable medium for me)
  

Magna Carta II

• Dream sequences that bear little or no resemblance to actual dreams
• Villains without cause for villainy
• Love at first sight
• Dead parents
  
• Ugly guys who somehow end up with hot girls for no reason other than it's unexpected (or at least was, back before John Hughes ruined multiple generations with this trope)
  
• Unrealistic high school experiences (speaking of John Hughes)
  
• When the author reveals halfway through the novel that the main character has a mustache (or other such mental-picture-ruining physical feature)
  
• Happily ever afters (no really, maybe this sounds curmudgeonly, but I think it's a lot harder to end a novel, or any other vehicle for storytelling, on anything but a happy ending, but it's something I respond well to. For this, I always think of The Princess Bride--novel, not movie--which ends on a note of mixed relief at the characters' unlikely escape, and apprehension, as the hoofbeats of their pursuers' horses echo into the night. It allows for a kind of momentum that carries the novel past the last page, like leaving space in a frame for a photographed runner to run into)
  

I realize that to a certain extent, a lot of these things tend to fall more under the heading of things I do/don't like in movies/tv shows, but they obviously apply to novels as well.

So there you have them: my Magna Cartas. We'll see how well I stick to these guidelines in the next 30 days.

11:45 p.m. now
With 15 minutes to go until I whip out my giant scissors and cut the ribbon on this thing, maybe now is the time to tell you what my novel is going to be about. It has undergone a few iterations since I decided to commit to NaNoWriMo (or MantoWriMo, if you will)--and I had definitely for sure 100% decided to dedicate my 50,000 words to the novel version of my 3rd grade board game "Excavation!"--which would have been all about paleontologists doing it in the field (tee hee) but it soon became so bogged down by detailed character sketches, heavy backstory, and the daunting prospect of having to do all kinds of research that I decided to go with something of an entirely different nature.

So here goes. The one-liner for my novel, Landlocked, to be begun in 8 minutes, is as follows:

Aquaphobic marine biologist Olivia Locke serves as a scientific consultant to an inept group of newly-mutated wannabe aquatic superheroes.

Alrighty kids, follow me, Manta, as I take you on a not-quite-super adventure filled with average people, science, and more than a few sea creatures!

Also

How cute is my profile picture? Did you know manta rays can leap OUT OF THE WATER??? Well, now you do.

MantoWriMo begins....in like, 24 hours.

So, I'm way behind. Katie's had her National Novel Writing Month (from here on in, NaNoWriMo, because it's more fun to say, and not 4 words long) blog up and running for like, forever, and seeing as how our month-long extravaganza of noveling-it-up begins in a little over 24 hours, I feel like I should hop on this brain train. 

If you have no idea what I'm talking about (though, since it's probably just going to be my roommates reading this, there isn't much explanation necessary) here's the deal:

Starting Monday, June 1, I will be attempting to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. It will certainly be clichéd, it will probably be terrible, it might even be unreadable. But I'm going to write it. I swear. Even if the universe conspires against all my most valiant efforts (oh WAIT--it's already done that). Even if my laptop explodes (a distinct possibility). Even if my visiting Ohioan family monopolizes my time. Even if I get another job besides my current internship. 

I'm a frustrating writer, to myself and to my roommates, who have to hear me complain about the paper that's taking me 10 times longer to write than it should. And I don't do fiction. I've kept fairly regular journals since high school, but my last forays into the realm of my imagination occurred in 6th grade and resulted in two pieces of pleather-bound literary gems otherwise known as The Manticore on the Mountaintop--a riveting fantasy novella featuring a uniquely assorted cast of princesses, wizards, handsome forest-dwellers, and a dragon with little understanding of the nuances of human social interactions, in addition to a plot that was so original it was....Hamlet; and I Warned You--a haunting cautionary tale about the dangers of genetic engineering (and, not to completely spoil the ending for you, but: time goes backwards!). 

So basically, I'm a total beginner at this. And I'm just a little nervous. But at the same time, I'm also really excited, because I've already seen via Katie how fun this whole thing can be. Although I'll probably be in tears in a week. Maybe more like 3 days. We'll see. 

Anyways, I invite you to join me as I embark on my quest to become a novelist. I'll be keeping you updated on the goings-on in my mind, posts that will most likely be interspersed with fun animal facts, and maybe if you're lucky, some doodles! Who doesn't love doodles??** 

Manta

**Note: Since I am highly dubious about my novelist potential, no one gets the privilege of reading said 50,000 word novel until I say so. Maybe not even then.