Arsenic & Aeronautical Instrumentation
Clockwork Heart Sequel, Boys' Love / Yaoi, NaNoWriMo
I had to take a short break on NaNoWriMo this week, you know, earn my salary, but last night I wrote another couple of pages and moved things another step forward. I can’t tell if my pacing is too fast or too slow! Sometimes I feel as though everyone is blah-blah-blah talking too much, and other times I fear that I’m throwing problems at the characters too quickly, at the expense of describing the setting and the support characters.
Last night’s scene required me to do some research on arsenic poisoning and aeronautical instrumentation. Information on poisoning symptoms and Victorian treatments wasn’t too difficult to find, but figuring out what kind of aeronautical instruments might have been used in the early to mid-1800s took some time, especially since I needed to understand their operation well enough to capture a certain gear-head’s enthusiasm for mechanical devices. I’m sure I’m missing something obvious, but that’s the beauty of NaNo. You have to keep heedlessly forging ahead, reassuring yourself that all those pacing and plotting and research problems will get resolved in revision — after November 30! I’ve crossed the 25% mark on my word count, but that just means I’m on track for the end of the first week. By this time next week I should have written another 12,500 words!
Unfortunately, as soon as I finish writing this I need to drive to the office to finish up the revisions on the hybridisation & gloBLisation boys’ love paper I’m writing — nothing like getting down to the deadline to inspire creative thought, eh? I’m supposed to email it back to the editor on Monday, and I’m wrestling with one or two parts that need more brilliance than I feel I can muster. However, with any luck I’ll have something reasonably non-stupid written by midday and can turn my attention back to Obstruction Currents. Tonight and Sunday I’d like to get another few thousand words written, although in addition to finishing my BL paper, I also need to watch four movies in order to choose scenes to show in my film theory class next week. …I don’t usually work so close to deadline, honest! It’s just been a very busy semester this time around….
drupagliassotti @ November 8, 2008