Today, I have discovered widgets! Oh, that is nice! I wonder how I can make this 'sticky'
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Characters - Drew of the Stars
These are my planned characters:
Drew
The star of the story. The main character. The most valuable Life Support System Engineer. Based of Drew Barrymore.
Adam
The other main character. The love interest. The great fighter of the crew. Based on Adam Sandler.
Kevin
The main support character. A nerd. Good with computers. Based on Kevin James.
Denny
The fool. The idiot. The asshole. The guy who ruins it for everybody. Based on Rob Schneider.
Bob
Beware the power of BOB! A big gentle giant. Extremely strong, yet gentle. Based on Michael Clarke Duncan.
Leslie
The flame thrower guy. Secondary support character. Competent, yet sexist. Sexually Discriminating. Will not take order from a woman.
The captain
Unnamed captain "Dead in 5 Minutes" Famous actor cameo. I'm thinking Roy Scheider. Or maybe Richard Gere.
Drew
The star of the story. The main character. The most valuable Life Support System Engineer. Based of Drew Barrymore.
Adam
The other main character. The love interest. The great fighter of the crew. Based on Adam Sandler.
Kevin
The main support character. A nerd. Good with computers. Based on Kevin James.
Denny
The fool. The idiot. The asshole. The guy who ruins it for everybody. Based on Rob Schneider.
Bob
Beware the power of BOB! A big gentle giant. Extremely strong, yet gentle. Based on Michael Clarke Duncan.
Leslie
The flame thrower guy. Secondary support character. Competent, yet sexist. Sexually Discriminating. Will not take order from a woman.
The captain
Unnamed captain "Dead in 5 Minutes" Famous actor cameo. I'm thinking Roy Scheider. Or maybe Richard Gere.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Outline - Drew of the Stars
The working title is "Drew of the Stars".
This is the generic outline, basically simple chapter titles. I keep thinking that the length is rather short. It's not novel length. More like light novel length or maybe movie length. We'll see. It's not a problem as long as I can start a new story. I'm not too happy with the term "monsters". Well, there's always edit later...
1. Author's Note
2. Prologue: The Cold days of Space Travel is finally upon us, and it is cold and empty...
3. Chapter 1: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, our heroine mused
4. Chapter 1 cont: A plumbing problem, a conversation w/ captain, and a mission!
5. Chapter 2: Planetfall! The guys are down there
6. Chapter 3: Our heroine (let's call her Drew) is coming down to the rescue!
7. Chapter 4: Meet our hero (let's call him Adam)
8. Chapter 5: Meet the first monster (cute little monster)
9. Chapter 6: Meet the big monster: Drew dropped her gun!
10. Chapter 7: Meet another crew member: shell-shocked!
11. Chapter 8: Where is the captain? In the stomach of a monster
12. Chapter 9: Rescuing various crew.
13. Chapter 10: No guts, no glory! The idiocy of second mate
14: Chapter 11: The last building on the left is the Armory
15: Chapter 12: Beware the power of Bob!
16: Chapter 13: Reversing the Tide
17: Chapter 14: Setting a trap for monsters
18: Chapter 15: At the wrong end of the stick
19: Chapter 16: End of colony as we know it
20: Chapter 17: Big Decision: To stay or to leave?
21: Chapter 18: Ain't so easy trying to leave
22: Chapter 19: Took a wrong turn
23: Chapter 20: Hatching an escape plan
24: Chapter 21: The nest
25: Chapter 22: The big Mother
26: Chapter 23: The last run: to the ship!
27: Chapter 24: Pick a new captain?
28: Epilogue: Twinkle, twinkle Little Star, our heroine mused.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Word Padding
Oh, do you remember how you need to write 30 pages report on something, and your first draft ran out at page 8? Well, here's a little trick on how you can increase your word count.
Let's take this passage:
"The moored boat looked tired and sad. The paint has chipped and metals are rusty. The gentle waves rocks the boat as if it is a dog to be put to sleep."
A good passage illustrating a sleepy dock in a sleepy, small town. Now let's inflate the word count tremendously. Here's an example:
"The harsh, unforgiving, unrelenting sun beats down the little, rundown boat like a lion watching hungrily over a poor, desolate lamb that is yet to be his dinner. What incredible tragedy that will be! How true! How sad! How tragic! Now the little, rundown boat did nothing to prevent its fate from slow death. Look at how its paint chipped all over the place. The bow, the spirit, the deck, the masts! What glorious days it has experienced, it is nowhere to be seen today. Today, there is no glory, no fanfare trumpets, no parade. Today, there is just this little sad boat, moored to the rusty metal. The little sad boat took a sad shade of turquoise (reddish) due to all the rusty metals. Like an injured bleeding lamb in the eyes of a lion. The undulating waves slowly and gently rocks the sad little boat, as if rocking the cradle for the boat to sleep. To sleep the endless dreams, or perhaps, to sleep the dreamless end."
Notice that I introduced several unrelated elements: weather, lion-lamb, slow death. When in doubt, introduce a new character. In this case, I introduce new elements.
There is also extra details: bow, deck, masts. These are unnecessary details. You know the whole boat is in dilapidated shape. In this case, you merely go on through the details. The trick is to vary the details so that it won't become boring. I can, for example, warble on about the deck, perhaps by referencing the now non-existent little children who at one time happily running along the deck. But that will come in editing later. For now, brainstorm and inflate the word count like there is no tomorrow!
In fact, the word "sleep" gets re-written several times, each time invoking a new image/vision. At the end, it references death. Yet, it isn't necessary to do so. If you do so too much, it risks alienating the reader.
Still, as far as inflating word count goes, it's a good solid technique. Remember: You can always edit later!
Let's take this passage:
"The moored boat looked tired and sad. The paint has chipped and metals are rusty. The gentle waves rocks the boat as if it is a dog to be put to sleep."
A good passage illustrating a sleepy dock in a sleepy, small town. Now let's inflate the word count tremendously. Here's an example:
"The harsh, unforgiving, unrelenting sun beats down the little, rundown boat like a lion watching hungrily over a poor, desolate lamb that is yet to be his dinner. What incredible tragedy that will be! How true! How sad! How tragic! Now the little, rundown boat did nothing to prevent its fate from slow death. Look at how its paint chipped all over the place. The bow, the spirit, the deck, the masts! What glorious days it has experienced, it is nowhere to be seen today. Today, there is no glory, no fanfare trumpets, no parade. Today, there is just this little sad boat, moored to the rusty metal. The little sad boat took a sad shade of turquoise (reddish) due to all the rusty metals. Like an injured bleeding lamb in the eyes of a lion. The undulating waves slowly and gently rocks the sad little boat, as if rocking the cradle for the boat to sleep. To sleep the endless dreams, or perhaps, to sleep the dreamless end."
Notice that I introduced several unrelated elements: weather, lion-lamb, slow death. When in doubt, introduce a new character. In this case, I introduce new elements.
There is also extra details: bow, deck, masts. These are unnecessary details. You know the whole boat is in dilapidated shape. In this case, you merely go on through the details. The trick is to vary the details so that it won't become boring. I can, for example, warble on about the deck, perhaps by referencing the now non-existent little children who at one time happily running along the deck. But that will come in editing later. For now, brainstorm and inflate the word count like there is no tomorrow!
In fact, the word "sleep" gets re-written several times, each time invoking a new image/vision. At the end, it references death. Yet, it isn't necessary to do so. If you do so too much, it risks alienating the reader.
Still, as far as inflating word count goes, it's a good solid technique. Remember: You can always edit later!
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Writing Technique
Writing tools are only part of the equation. The other part is YOU! The person who holds the pencil to write on the paper. Tools aren't good if the person isn't good. If the person is good, then the tools doesn't really matter.
What kind of techniques do I have in order to be successful in Nanowrimo?
1. Type fast. Type as fast as you can speak. Either do it with special keyboard (I use Apple Wireless Keyboard) or with a speech recognition software (I recommend Dragon Naturally Speaking) that works with your speech. The goal is to be able to reach the rate of 40 WPM or better.
2. Be able to type as you speak. This isn't as easy as it sounds, because like everything else, it requires practice. Plan to spend at least a few weeks learning this skill. It actually took me over 2 months before I get comfortable doing it. I couldn't believe how hard it is to type what I'm saying as I am saying it! Mind you, I'm the guy who type college paper the night before it was due. I can definitely type fast, but somehow, speaking while typing requires a whole new mental practice.
3. Be able to tell your story to a friend. Yup. This is the big secret! Your friend ask you how the story goes, and you say, "It was a dark and stormy night." And just go on and tell the story. When you couple this with technique number 2, then magic happens! You can type your story out very, very fast!
4. Know your story cold. The beginning, the development, the climax, and the ending. All the characters. All the location. There are planner, pantser, and percolator. I'm the percolator type. I ran the same story over and over, changing the details all the time. The major details stays the same, though, and I know then, that the story is good.
5. Be able to improvise. There is nothing wrong with being a pantser. What if you get stuck? An old trick is to introduce a new character that upsets the balance. The King of England suddenly develop interest in your character's "poodle haircut". You probably will have to edit the character later, but you see how your run-down character suddenly develop a royal persona in order to interact with the king? Edit it a little bit, and you have high-repute banker and some banter where your character tries to swindle an unsecured personal loan to solve his current girl-friend crisis. The skill of improvisation is a good thing to have.
6. Edit later. Another big trick. Remember how you tell your story to a friend? You don't backspace over your speech, you amend it. Likewise, when you type your nanowrimo story, you don't backspace over words, you amend it. It's okay to fix spelling errors at the end of the typing sessions, but I will limit it to that. I will not edit for structure or diction or anything like that. I will type in several variations of words, such as "big, large, gargantuan, elephantine, (to be edited later)" or something like it.
7. Work constantly. Even if it's only 15 minutes, do it! You need to get into a habit of pushing it. Do better than yesterday. If you're busy, then coming up with one hour per day to work can be a challenge. Do it! If you fail, then at least you get 30 minutes of writing done. That's 1000 words in my case. Make it up on the weekend. It's a whole lot easier to come up with 4 hours on weekend, than trying to come up with 8 hours on weekend. So, there is really no excuse. You need to type every day! Better to overshoot your word count than to come up short by 1K!
8. Have an outline. Know what you want to say at all times. Write down nifty passages as they occur and put it in appropriate section of the outline. Therefore, you won't have to struggle to remember the nifty conversation you thought of days before the start of nanowrimo. I actually write down my outline with pen and paper. I do not use outliner program such as Scrivener. I can't. I use Kindle Fire HD to write. If you can use Scrivener, then good for you!
9. Decide on Genre. Put down on paper, what is your story about? Is it comedy? Tragedy? Horror? Sci-fi? Adventure? Romance? Different genre requires different characterization. Although not strictly necessary, this helps with your writing. Your writing talent does have a bearing on your story. For some reason, all my Fantasy story comes out as Alternative History genre. All my Tragedy stories comes out as Dark Comedy genre. I guess there is a limit to my writing skill after all. Doesn't matter. Stick with what I can do, and so should you.
And that's it! Practice typing while speaking, do it fast, following your outline, and have fun!
What kind of techniques do I have in order to be successful in Nanowrimo?
1. Type fast. Type as fast as you can speak. Either do it with special keyboard (I use Apple Wireless Keyboard) or with a speech recognition software (I recommend Dragon Naturally Speaking) that works with your speech. The goal is to be able to reach the rate of 40 WPM or better.
2. Be able to type as you speak. This isn't as easy as it sounds, because like everything else, it requires practice. Plan to spend at least a few weeks learning this skill. It actually took me over 2 months before I get comfortable doing it. I couldn't believe how hard it is to type what I'm saying as I am saying it! Mind you, I'm the guy who type college paper the night before it was due. I can definitely type fast, but somehow, speaking while typing requires a whole new mental practice.
3. Be able to tell your story to a friend. Yup. This is the big secret! Your friend ask you how the story goes, and you say, "It was a dark and stormy night." And just go on and tell the story. When you couple this with technique number 2, then magic happens! You can type your story out very, very fast!
4. Know your story cold. The beginning, the development, the climax, and the ending. All the characters. All the location. There are planner, pantser, and percolator. I'm the percolator type. I ran the same story over and over, changing the details all the time. The major details stays the same, though, and I know then, that the story is good.
5. Be able to improvise. There is nothing wrong with being a pantser. What if you get stuck? An old trick is to introduce a new character that upsets the balance. The King of England suddenly develop interest in your character's "poodle haircut". You probably will have to edit the character later, but you see how your run-down character suddenly develop a royal persona in order to interact with the king? Edit it a little bit, and you have high-repute banker and some banter where your character tries to swindle an unsecured personal loan to solve his current girl-friend crisis. The skill of improvisation is a good thing to have.
6. Edit later. Another big trick. Remember how you tell your story to a friend? You don't backspace over your speech, you amend it. Likewise, when you type your nanowrimo story, you don't backspace over words, you amend it. It's okay to fix spelling errors at the end of the typing sessions, but I will limit it to that. I will not edit for structure or diction or anything like that. I will type in several variations of words, such as "big, large, gargantuan, elephantine, (to be edited later)" or something like it.
7. Work constantly. Even if it's only 15 minutes, do it! You need to get into a habit of pushing it. Do better than yesterday. If you're busy, then coming up with one hour per day to work can be a challenge. Do it! If you fail, then at least you get 30 minutes of writing done. That's 1000 words in my case. Make it up on the weekend. It's a whole lot easier to come up with 4 hours on weekend, than trying to come up with 8 hours on weekend. So, there is really no excuse. You need to type every day! Better to overshoot your word count than to come up short by 1K!
8. Have an outline. Know what you want to say at all times. Write down nifty passages as they occur and put it in appropriate section of the outline. Therefore, you won't have to struggle to remember the nifty conversation you thought of days before the start of nanowrimo. I actually write down my outline with pen and paper. I do not use outliner program such as Scrivener. I can't. I use Kindle Fire HD to write. If you can use Scrivener, then good for you!
9. Decide on Genre. Put down on paper, what is your story about? Is it comedy? Tragedy? Horror? Sci-fi? Adventure? Romance? Different genre requires different characterization. Although not strictly necessary, this helps with your writing. Your writing talent does have a bearing on your story. For some reason, all my Fantasy story comes out as Alternative History genre. All my Tragedy stories comes out as Dark Comedy genre. I guess there is a limit to my writing skill after all. Doesn't matter. Stick with what I can do, and so should you.
And that's it! Practice typing while speaking, do it fast, following your outline, and have fun!
Friday, October 26, 2012
Writing Tools
Here is this year's set up that I'm using. I arrive at this set up after numerous failures in the past. Let me go through my experimentation in chronological order:
PALM PILOT
My first set up involved a Palm Pilot/Handspring device. I think that Jeff Hawkins made an excellent device. I still do. I'd do it there if I can. Too bad the keyboard is hard to set up. It does have excellent ToDo program, and even though the Notepad is limited to only 4K at a time, it doesn't really bother me. I used to type during laundry washing. The problem is the keyboard, and although it types fast, it requires a stable surface, making it a rather limited option.
Laptop computer.
I'm still using my old laptop running Windows XP. I think there will be a time where the laptop will die, though. The lower right corner has separated, and it is only a matter of time that foreign materials will enter the computer casing and cause premature death due to short-circuit. As far as using laptop is concerned, I think it's great. You can use Scrivener or WriteWay. Excellent programs. The downside is that on my old computer, the old WinXP took over 20 minutes to boot. That's way too long. Hibernate mode is faster, but still not fast enough. It's okay to use for heavy-duty writing at home (ideal condition), but not for rough and tumble life I'm living.
Digital Voice recorder
I had this brilliant idea of just recording my materials into a digital voice recorder. It works well enough on the voice recorder. I can listen well to the voice. The drawback is that I could not type fast enough to keep up with my speech. This despite the fact that it has adjustable speed setting. I set it up to half-speed, and still I cannot keep up. So, I have this idea of using Dragon Naturally Speaking. It didn't work. It just plain did not recognize my speech. So, I had to give up on the idea.
Netbook computer
Oh, dear. It seems that I have a tendency to spend money. I bought a Netbook computer despite already having a laptop! Over all, though, it boots incredibly fast, and I'm happy with the purchase. Unfortunately, the OS is Linux, and the keyboard and screen are rather small. What's worse, I don't carry it everywhere with me. So, that's not an option. I do carry it to enough places to know that it is a viable alternative to Neo Keyboard. If you think of using Neo, but afraid to spend the money for lack of screen, then seriously try doing it with Netbook computer.
Manual Typewriter
Yes, I do this in between Netbook computer and iPod Touch. Guess what? It didn't work. I really love working on the old manual typewriter. And if I have more time, I'd probably do it that way. I don't have time. I tried Optical Character Recognition, and it didn't work. So, I'd have to retype it by hand, and I don't have time for that. I have to give it up, which is a pity. I really enjoy typing up on the old manual typewriter, especially the desktop model, even though it loses speed compared to the short throw of the portable version.
Ipod Touch
Yes, I have an iPod Touch. I do not have an iPad. I also have portable keyboard. Actually, any bluetooth keyboard will work just fine. I have 2 bluetooth keyboards. One is foldable and fits in a pocket. The other is the Apple Wireless keyboard. The folding keyboard is unfortunately rather flimsy, so I don't use it much. Apple Wireless keyboard is excellent. I can type 80 wpm on it! Unfortunately, it doesn't come with keyboard carrier. Therefore it's rather inconvenient to carry. Also iPod Touch has a tendency to lose charge real quick. I would really love to have this combo work sometime in the future because it has some good software to write on. Script text editor, for example, exists on iOS, but not Android. I will have to visit this again in the future.
Kindle Fire HD
I have the Kindle keyboard, and Kindle Fire. I love both. The only complain that I have is that Kindle Fire does not have bluetooth keyboard interface. Well, Kindle Fire HD does have bluetooth interface, so I bought it. I have yet to regret my decision. I also bought Logitech Android keyboard. It works well enough to not require any surface. I do keep it in computer bag that I carry everywhere. So, it helps. The keyboard seems to eat batteries like crazy. If this is a problem, then I may resort to rechargeables. This is my current set-up.
That's years of experimentation. I hope you can do it quicker than me! Dragon Naturally Speaking is rumored to be better on version 12, so I may revisit the idea. Then again, I can now type as fast as I speak, so probably not. Practice makes perfect! It is really nice to be able to type as fast as I speak!
PALM PILOT
My first set up involved a Palm Pilot/Handspring device. I think that Jeff Hawkins made an excellent device. I still do. I'd do it there if I can. Too bad the keyboard is hard to set up. It does have excellent ToDo program, and even though the Notepad is limited to only 4K at a time, it doesn't really bother me. I used to type during laundry washing. The problem is the keyboard, and although it types fast, it requires a stable surface, making it a rather limited option.
Laptop computer.
I'm still using my old laptop running Windows XP. I think there will be a time where the laptop will die, though. The lower right corner has separated, and it is only a matter of time that foreign materials will enter the computer casing and cause premature death due to short-circuit. As far as using laptop is concerned, I think it's great. You can use Scrivener or WriteWay. Excellent programs. The downside is that on my old computer, the old WinXP took over 20 minutes to boot. That's way too long. Hibernate mode is faster, but still not fast enough. It's okay to use for heavy-duty writing at home (ideal condition), but not for rough and tumble life I'm living.
Digital Voice recorder
I had this brilliant idea of just recording my materials into a digital voice recorder. It works well enough on the voice recorder. I can listen well to the voice. The drawback is that I could not type fast enough to keep up with my speech. This despite the fact that it has adjustable speed setting. I set it up to half-speed, and still I cannot keep up. So, I have this idea of using Dragon Naturally Speaking. It didn't work. It just plain did not recognize my speech. So, I had to give up on the idea.
Netbook computer
Oh, dear. It seems that I have a tendency to spend money. I bought a Netbook computer despite already having a laptop! Over all, though, it boots incredibly fast, and I'm happy with the purchase. Unfortunately, the OS is Linux, and the keyboard and screen are rather small. What's worse, I don't carry it everywhere with me. So, that's not an option. I do carry it to enough places to know that it is a viable alternative to Neo Keyboard. If you think of using Neo, but afraid to spend the money for lack of screen, then seriously try doing it with Netbook computer.
Manual Typewriter
Yes, I do this in between Netbook computer and iPod Touch. Guess what? It didn't work. I really love working on the old manual typewriter. And if I have more time, I'd probably do it that way. I don't have time. I tried Optical Character Recognition, and it didn't work. So, I'd have to retype it by hand, and I don't have time for that. I have to give it up, which is a pity. I really enjoy typing up on the old manual typewriter, especially the desktop model, even though it loses speed compared to the short throw of the portable version.
Ipod Touch
Yes, I have an iPod Touch. I do not have an iPad. I also have portable keyboard. Actually, any bluetooth keyboard will work just fine. I have 2 bluetooth keyboards. One is foldable and fits in a pocket. The other is the Apple Wireless keyboard. The folding keyboard is unfortunately rather flimsy, so I don't use it much. Apple Wireless keyboard is excellent. I can type 80 wpm on it! Unfortunately, it doesn't come with keyboard carrier. Therefore it's rather inconvenient to carry. Also iPod Touch has a tendency to lose charge real quick. I would really love to have this combo work sometime in the future because it has some good software to write on. Script text editor, for example, exists on iOS, but not Android. I will have to visit this again in the future.
Kindle Fire HD
I have the Kindle keyboard, and Kindle Fire. I love both. The only complain that I have is that Kindle Fire does not have bluetooth keyboard interface. Well, Kindle Fire HD does have bluetooth interface, so I bought it. I have yet to regret my decision. I also bought Logitech Android keyboard. It works well enough to not require any surface. I do keep it in computer bag that I carry everywhere. So, it helps. The keyboard seems to eat batteries like crazy. If this is a problem, then I may resort to rechargeables. This is my current set-up.
That's years of experimentation. I hope you can do it quicker than me! Dragon Naturally Speaking is rumored to be better on version 12, so I may revisit the idea. Then again, I can now type as fast as I speak, so probably not. Practice makes perfect! It is really nice to be able to type as fast as I speak!
Thursday, October 25, 2012
One Week Already?
I just received an e-mail from my Municipal Liason. It's one week to go! Wow. Has it been one week already? How time flies! I'm still working on that outline. Will Need To Do Better!
It has been a difficult week for me due to illness and lack of sleep and work. I'm trying to keep up, but there are just so many different issues that needs taken care of. I still need to work on the bills for this month. Not only that, I still need to keep up on the issues so I can vote. I'm not sure whether or not I can vote this year. I usually vote, though. This year? I just don't know.
It's interesting that technology is both a boon and a curse. With technology, I can keep up with the latest subject. I subscribe to several blogs, and news is just a download away. However, with technology, I also become outstretched and overworked. There are just too many interesting things to keep up with!
Mind you, I speed read, so it doesn't take all that much time for me to read stuff. However, the amount of interesting stuff just pile on, and so I am overwhelmed with various things to check out on the Internet.
But not this week. This week has been a disaster. Being sick is a terrible thing to happen. Being sick while working 12+ hours per day is just murder. It's a good thing I can do my work while sleeping, but I do wonder about the quality of my work. Probably not too good, and I won't realize it until it's too late!
That's not a good thing.
On a related note, in part of my research, apparently Dragon Naturally Speaking has tweaked their algorithm to allow accented speaker to enter speech into the computer. I do notice that Google speech recognition has relatively good performance, even though it's still not perfect. I should try out at least Dragon version 12 and see if it can read my speech well. Because if so, then I'll just get one of those digital voice recorder and dictate my story that way! At night, just punch it into the computer for transcribe and be done!
The thing is, you need to get the story in there somehow, and you don't need to edit until December, and it can go on until October where you need to finish up and start on your outline for next challenge.
Oh, well, I guess I'd better go and start working on my outline. I also have a couple post regarding my set up for the challenge.
Typing time: 10 minutes. No edit.
It has been a difficult week for me due to illness and lack of sleep and work. I'm trying to keep up, but there are just so many different issues that needs taken care of. I still need to work on the bills for this month. Not only that, I still need to keep up on the issues so I can vote. I'm not sure whether or not I can vote this year. I usually vote, though. This year? I just don't know.
It's interesting that technology is both a boon and a curse. With technology, I can keep up with the latest subject. I subscribe to several blogs, and news is just a download away. However, with technology, I also become outstretched and overworked. There are just too many interesting things to keep up with!
Mind you, I speed read, so it doesn't take all that much time for me to read stuff. However, the amount of interesting stuff just pile on, and so I am overwhelmed with various things to check out on the Internet.
But not this week. This week has been a disaster. Being sick is a terrible thing to happen. Being sick while working 12+ hours per day is just murder. It's a good thing I can do my work while sleeping, but I do wonder about the quality of my work. Probably not too good, and I won't realize it until it's too late!
That's not a good thing.
On a related note, in part of my research, apparently Dragon Naturally Speaking has tweaked their algorithm to allow accented speaker to enter speech into the computer. I do notice that Google speech recognition has relatively good performance, even though it's still not perfect. I should try out at least Dragon version 12 and see if it can read my speech well. Because if so, then I'll just get one of those digital voice recorder and dictate my story that way! At night, just punch it into the computer for transcribe and be done!
The thing is, you need to get the story in there somehow, and you don't need to edit until December, and it can go on until October where you need to finish up and start on your outline for next challenge.
Oh, well, I guess I'd better go and start working on my outline. I also have a couple post regarding my set up for the challenge.
Typing time: 10 minutes. No edit.
Friday, October 19, 2012
1000 Words 1 Hour ( 1K1HR )
How to write 1000 words per hour
You are probably wondering how anybody, let alone you, can write upwards 1000 words per hour. This is actually a common question. Some people are seemingly born with innate talent that they can type endless materials and never at loss for words. Well, I am here to tell you that you, too, can do it. Not a big trouble at that.
The first trick you need to learn is to type fast. You need to type 40 wpm or better. Yes, that means you need to practice. Learn touch typing. It will do you wonders on how to do this. Most people should be able to type a sustained 40 wpm. I am personally able to type 50 wpm for a long time. With newer and better keyboard, my typing rate inches upward, approaching with 80 wpm with Apple Wireless Keyboard. Even with lesser keyboard, I can now type 60-70 wpm easy. Now, if you're talking about good old manual typewriter, then my typing speed will drop down to 40 wpm. Tough. That's just how life is. Deal with it.
The second trick you need to learn is actually at the heart of writing: Have something to say! Simple, isn't it? Have something to say. If you have something to say, then you will be able to type the words easily. Words will just come flowing out of your mouth that people will start to wonder whether or not they should label you blabber mouth. The thing is, if you don't have anything to say, no matter what other talents you may possess, the writing will stop because you have a writer's block. So, have something to say. The trick is to be able to say it in such a way that doesn't bore your readers.
The third trick is to write an outline. There are different outlines out there that other people have written. Learn from them! My favorite outline is something that I learn from High School. It goes like this:
Title
1. Subject matter
1.1 Intro sentence
1.2 Supporting sentence 1
1.3 Supporting sentence 2
1.4 Supporting sentence 3
1.5 Ending/Transition sentence
2. Supporting Sentence 1
2.1 Supporting sentence 1
2.2 Supporting evidence 1
2.3 Supporting evidence 2
2.4 Supporting evidence 3
2.5 Ending/Transition sentence
3. Supporting Sentence 2
3.1 Supporting sentence 2
3.2 Supporting evidence 1
3.3 Supporting evidence 2
3.4 Supporting evidence 3
3.5 Ending/Transition sentence
4. Supporting Sentence 3
4.1 Supporting sentence 3
4.2 Supporting evidence 1
4.3 Supporting evidence 2
4.4 Supporting evidence 3
4.5 Ending/Transition sentence
5. Conclusion
5.1 Concluding Sentence
5.2 Summary 1
5.3 Summary 2
5.4 Summary 3
5.5 Ending sentence/call to action
And that's the pattern. It has served me well throughout the years. I guess you can say that my essay writing skill hasn't progressed all that much from high school.
So, you're probably wondering what form would evidence /supporting sentence look like? I think that the book "A Rulebook for Argument" by Anthony Weston is an excellent scribe on the subject. I heartily recommend everybody to read it. Those who haven’t read the book think that my writings are somewhat lengthy. All right. They think I'm a blabbermouth who needs to shut up. There. Happy? Hey, it's not my fault they cannot write more than a paragraph worth of ideas.
The fourth trick is to practice, practice, practice! Simple. In any endeavor, you need to train your muscles to prepare for the oncoming action. That's why athletes practice. They practice every day, spending countless hours to hone their skills. You should, too. Perhaps you think that you do not need to practice, because you already know how to type. Yes, you already know how to type, but can you think and type at the same time? I couldn't do it. Not until I spent several weeks practicing the skills. Or how about this: Why do I write the essay on the last night before it was due? Why risk it? The answer is, I didn't. You see, I practiced writing the essay before I actually sit down and do it, that by the time I actually sit down and do it, it already has become second nature.
So practice is the key to writing well. Not the only key, however. After all, you still need to have something to say, and to know how to say it well enough to entertain your readers. The tricks I outlined there aren’t written in stone. You can modify it to suit. What if your outline consists of these points:
1. Who
2. What
3. Where
4. When
5. Why
6. How
7. So What?
Well, that's okay, too. You may be wondering about the "So What?" question. It basically answers the WIIFM questions for the readers. What's In It For Me? Why Should I Care. Do I need to finish reading the essay or can I just cut to the chase and read the conclusion?
And there you go. Idea-Outline-Implementation. Simple.
Typing Time: 25 minutes
Edit Time: 3 minutes
Word Count: 850
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Blog and Stream of Consciousness
I have been following Kindle blogs, the ones that requires subscription, and available only on Kindle reader, not Fire. I guess the new Kindle Fire is sophisticated enough to follow on the blog directly. Of course, it does mean that the bandwidth will be greater, and not as convenient, since I have to actually link the pages on to some kind of favorite list. I guess I need to come up with a page of favorite links so I can do just that.
Still, the idea is intriguing enough that I want to try it out. Perhaps I can make something out of it.
On another front, I wonder if it is wise that I open up the blog, by which I mean this blog, to public. After all, I will be typing the content of Nanowrimo into this blog. That means first draft. It has been said that you should never put out first draft, or second, or third, or any other version, except the final most complete, most polished draft. On one hand, that is a good idea. On the other hand, I do not believe that I want to set up yet another blog or cloud directory just to store my materials. So, I decided that in the meantime, by which I mean the foreseeable future, I will post first draft out to the public, and we'll go from there.
I also wonder whether or not I should put adult warning on this blog. I'm thinking maybe I should. I do not foresee putting anything more intense than PG 13 equivalent. However, this being a first draft endeavor, some adult situation will no doubt leaks through. Since I believe in no offense, even accidentally, I'm thinking that I should just put out the adult warning up front.
Not that this means it will be all smut and gore. That's not my style. My style is that of relationship, preferably generational. There was an incident where one of the PSN game was marked adult. Looking into the game, it turns out that the game was "Shadow of Colossus". Adult material, yes, but that adult definition is that of wisdom required, instead of sex and gore. That is to say, adulthood sense of spiritual sense, instead of physiological sense. That is the definition of adulthood that I'm referring to.
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Stream of Consciousness (SOC) is a technique that allows you to type what you're thinking. There was a famous author who did such an exercise. I forgot his name just now, but that is what stream of consciousness gives you. You do not have the luxury to go and research material. You do note that you will need to research the material later. Anyway, what he did was to take a roll of paper and type it on a typewriter. The interesting is, he didn't do any breaks. I'm not sure if he does some paragraph breaks or not, but definitely no chapter break. Very interesting technique, that.
I suppose that is SOC technique taken to an extreme, but if it works, then great. Use what techniques are available to you. Bruce Lee is fond of saying "Absorb what is useful. Discard the rest." I think you should do that. The problem is that in order to really keep what is useful, you need to experiment with a lot of different techniques. Just because somebody so and so uses that technique and be very successful, does not mean you can apply the same technique and be just as successful. We are all built differently. The best teachers know this, and so they acquire so many different techniques and are able to impart their skills tailored to a particular student. Bad teacher will focus only on one super technique, which means that the student may not do well just because the student teacher relationship hinge on talent mismatch.
Take a look at this exercise. I'm typing freely. This you know because I mentioned Stream of Consciousness exercise. But do you know that I'm typing this while resting on my bed with my eyes closed? Bet you didn't know that! The trouble is that I do have my eyes closed. So when I accidentally hit the CAPSLOCK button, I didn't know that and ALL MY WORDS CAME OUT IN ALL CAPS. A few paragraphs down, I look at the text, and well, I have to type it all over again. Also, it does happen from time to time that my fingers have shifted from the original position and so the words came out ;olr yjod ejrtr s;; yjr ;ryyrtd str sts,b;rf/ That was supposed to say "words came out jumbled where all the letters are scrambled."
And so it goes. Just like anything, you need to start out slow. So, I'm doing Nanowrimo? I need to start out slow. Typing this exercise routine is but one way where I'm conditioning my mental faculty to type fast in order to complete Nanowrimo successfully. I suppose next time, I will need to write an outline, and all the characters that are involved in the story. Also, I need to do more than one outline since it is possible that I end the story prematurely.
What I usually do is to start at the end, the conclusion, the climatic ending. Then I would go back and build up to the scene. I do this because of the lesson Stephen King taught me. No, we never met. He did write an excellent book On Writing. In it, he mention about the exercise where he sold book through email, and serialized it. Unfortunately, he ran out of ideas somewhere in the middle, which he admitted happened more often than he like. Well, that happens to me, too. Since I already have the ending in mind, however, it is a simple matter for me to end it there. So, instead of this long epic novel, I'd get a novella. Not as good result, perhaps, but still an acceptable outcome. Better that than half completed manuscript that will never get finished.
It is now half an hour and it's time for me to edit the material and post it to the web. Word count: 1102. After edit: 1043.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
How to do nanowrimo and get 50,000 words in a month
How to do Nanowrimo and get 50,000 words in a month
Learn how to touch type
If you type 10 words per minute, you can get about one page per hour, or 500 words per hour. That means in order to get 2000 words per day, you'll need to spend about 4 hours per day. That's a tall order. If you can type 40 words per minute, then it will only take you one hour to type those words. Not too difficult to do. Therefore, the best way to win Nanowrimo challenge is to learn how to touch type at 40 wpm.
Type quickly
Suppose that you can type, but not quickly enough. Here's a quick tip that you can use to increase the typing speed. SKIP VOWELS. If y typ wrds wtht vwl, u cn dbl ur typng spd. Which reads "If you type words without vowel, you can double your typing speed". Get it? It's too difficult to do if you're a touch typist, but for the rest of us mortal, it's a viable method to double your typing rate. Of course, you can use tweeters shorthand as well. It makes editing a nightmare, but first, your goal is to write your novel, so write it!
Type incomplete word
It is best if you can type at the same speed as you talk. This way, you don't to worry about anything. Just talk and type at the same time. You can cheat and use either Dragon Naturally speaking, or IBM Via Voice. For those of you who cannot use such program, here's a little trick that you can use. Type incomplete words. How about this? If you can only type the first five lette of the words, then just type the first five lette of the words and worry about complet the words later. You do not need to finis the typin , just enoug to unders the meani so you can just keep goin.
If all else fails, type nonsense
What if, despite all that you did, you still fall behind? Then, as a last resort, do this: asdflkj as;ldkjf alkjdf ;al kdsfj;lkas dflkaj dflka jsd;lk a;sldkf j;laskj f;lska djf;lask djf;laks ;lsk df;lask fl;kas jdf;lask jf;lask j;lks d;lkasjf;lks jfd;laks ;l kjas;ld k;laks djs;j; adl;kja ;flalk. Oh, you can type 100 words per minute easy. Imagine that. That's like 6000 words per hour. You can easily finish the whole Nanowrimo in ten hours. That's one weekend of mad typing. Easy does it. Of course, editing then becomes absolute nightmare, but hey, you're a Nanowrimo winner!
Keep a routine
Type for one hour everyday, or 2 half-hour session everyday. That's not too hard. In fact, it's very easy to do. Now, f you're talking about typing 4 hours everyday, then it's near impossible to do. So first learn how to type, and then spend the time doing it. One hour per day. 25 days. Easy. That's 4 pages per day. That's Stephen King rate. If you do that, congratulations, you're a writer!
Edit later
I find it difficult to leave editing for later. Invariably, there will be spelling errors. Fix those at the end of the day. Fix those and move on. Otherwise, I find myself puzzling about it, and that'll slow me down. But that's just me. It's best if you can just edit later. In fact, the best way to do it is doing what is called Stream-of-consciousness. Like this: It was a dark and stormy night, oh but that is so cliché, but what can I write in place of that? How about it was a bright and sunny morning? Where's the drama in hat oh mistype that well will fix it later. I bet cyou cannot type it three times fast.
First Post
I am making this blog in order to participate in Nanowrimo. In case you don't know, nanowrimo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It is a month long activity in which you write a 50,000 words novel in a month. I plan to blog my attempt. My first attempt fizzled half-way. Hopefully, by posting all for the world to see, I will be more disciplined in my approach.
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