Declaring Myself

I am back.

I am here with a specific intent.

I am here to declare my intention to participate in NaNoWriMo for 2011.

What is NaNoWriMo, you ask?

Well, mysterious voice in my head, it is National Novel Writing Month. The details are here.

Every year it rolls around and I toy with the idea of giving it a try, but always I find some excuse to not take part. This year I'm going to try. I may not complete a novel, but my writing needs a jump start and having a definite goal seems like a promising way to get that boost. So I'm dusting off an old story idea that I've never really gotten very far with and just writing. The polish and research can come later. The goal for now is to just write.

So, you may ask, how did the first day go? Well, I fell a little short of the 1,667 word daily goal I need to hit to reach 50,000 words by the end of the month. As of day one I am at 235 words. It's a start and it is 235 more words than I wrote yesterday. That is progress.

Oops!

So, I missed my self-imposed deadline for the next installment of my story. >Sigh< And I was doing such a good job of keeping up with it until then. Oh, well, I'll just call it a little break and plan to be back on schedule next Friday.

200 Words: "Timelapse" Part 11

Part 8
Part 9
Part 10

Jim left the bar and followed Carla to the table.

"Glad you decided to come," she said as they walked. "Thing Two's in kind of a funk tonight, so I can use the reinforcements."

"Sure," replied Jim, still distracted by his train of thought.

As they reached the table, Carla asked, "Oh, how's that story of yours coming?"

"What st-," Jim caught himself. "I mean, it's coming along fine. I actually wanted to talk to you about it." Acknowledging the other Jim, he added, "Hey, man."

Other Jim nodded glumly.

Jim leaned over to Carla and whispered, "What's with him?"

"He wouldn't tell me."

Jim really didn't remember much about Other Jim. Not surprising as they'd never been close.

"So," he said to Other Jim, "having a rough time of it, huh?"

Other Jim shot him a look that suggested that this was the stupidest question ever.

"Yep, bad times," Jim continued weakly.

"So," said Carla, "you wanted to talk about that story you were working on."

"Oh, um, we can talk about it later," Jim replied. "I'd hate to bore our friend here with it."

"Nonsense, Thing Two loves time travel stories."

"Time travel?" Other Jim asked, suddenly interested.

200 Words: "Timelapse" Part 10

Part 8
Part 9

She seemed interested, it could be possible, but that possibility posed a bit of a moral dilemma.

Dating hadn't worked out for Jim and Jenna, but they had managed to remain friends over the years. Just a few weeks before his trip through time he had received an e-mail from her which included pictures of her newborn son. Jim realized that anything he did to alter the trajectory of her life could cause that child to not be born. That was a frightening prospect.

Still, if this was his new present, didn't he have a right to live whatever life he chose? Did he have to be locked in to the same path he'd already taken? Or was the future he knew now just one of many possibilities, no more or less valid than any other? Jim couldn't begin to imagine how to answer those questions.

Fortunately, he didn't have to, at least not at that moment. Carla had arrived, and spotting Jim had made her way over to him.

"You came after all," Carla said. "C'mon, Thing Two's getting us a table."

"One sec," Jim replied, then turning toward Jenna said, "Well, it's been nice chatting with you."

"Yep," she said. "See you around."

200 Words: "Timelapse" Part 9

Part 8

"Crazy?" Jim smiled. "A little, but it works for you."

"Thanks, I think," Jenna said. "So, what'll you have, oh unnamed stranger?"

"Jim," he said, then quickly added, "That's my name, not my order. I'll just have whatever you've got on tap."

"So, Jim," Jenna said as she poured his beer, "you here alone? 'Cause they say that drinking alone is the first sign that you've got a problem."

Jim smiled. "No, I'm waiting on a friend."

"Waiting on a specific friend, or looking to meet someone?" She passed Jim his drink and took the bills he handed her.

"You're certainly a chatty bartender." Her curious nature was one of the things Jim had liked about Jenna, or would like in the future depending on your perspective.

"Bartending's a pretty boring job if you don't take an interest in the customers." She stepped away to serve two other customers.

"Glad you're back," Jim said when she returned. "I was afraid you'd lost interest in me."

"See," she replied, smiling, "now you're flirting."

"Oh, please," Jim laughed. "Don't pretend that you weren't." He couldn't help but wonder if things would end differently if they started dating now, two years early.

200 Words: "Timelapse" Part 8

Previously . . .

The sun went down on this strange day and Jim found himself wandering up Pearl Street. The bar was a little more upscale than the crowd inside. This was due, in large part, to the daytime clientele from the surrounding downtown business district. After work hours, most of the bar's business came from the University's overflow dorm (actually two floors of a neighboring hotel).

Jim scanned the establishment for Carla and the other Jim, but they didn't seem to be here yet. He did, however, spot a familiar face behind the bar.

"Jenna," he greeted the bartender as he took a stool at the bar. "I didn't know you worked here."

Jenna stared at him blankly. "Do I know you?"

"What do you mean? It's . . .," Jim trailed off as a realization hit him. She didn't know him, at least not yet. They weren't due to meet for another two years.

"I mean," Jenna replied, "I don't recognize you. Have we met?" She thought for a moment and added, "Was it Jeremy's party last week? 'Cause I was completely out of it that night."

"Uh, yeah. Party. That's it," said Jim, covering.

"Ah. Hope I didn't act too crazy," she said.

200 Words on Vacation

My 200 Words project is taking the week off. Last week's installment was the end of the first part/chapter/act of the story, so it seems like a good time for a short break. I'll be back next week with the beginning of the next part/chapter/act.

200 Words: "Timelapse" Part 7

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

It was early afternoon by the time Jim was ready to mail his completed letter. He dropped the letter in a mailbox across the street from the library and he waited.

Jim wasn't exactly sure what he was waiting for, but wait he did.

He waited. And waited. And waited. After two hours, Jim had nothing to show for his waiting aside from loose change tossed at him by passersby. Had the future been changed? Would at least some of the events he had listed be averted? Apparently he'd have to wait and find out along with everyone else. That realization left Jim with one question: What now?

He was still ten years in his own past with no clear purpose and no way to get back. That meant he was going to have to live this part of his life over again. This was not good news.

It's not that this was a bad time in his life, he'd just done it all before. Beyond that, there was the problem of memory. He remembered general things about this time of his life, but many of the details had been washed away by the intervening decade. He needed a guide.

200 Words: "Timelapse" Part 6

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

"Think big?" Jim asked. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well," Carla replied, "you said your character is ten years in the past, so think about disasters or atrocities that have happened in the last ten years."

"Oh," said Jim, becoming very serious.

Carla continued, "So, he could try to warn people about one or more of them."

"How?" Jim asked. "Would anyone believe him?"

"There's your story," Carla said smiling. "Answer that question and the thing'll write itself.

Carla noted that Jim's mind seemed to have moved elsewhere as he was now staring off into space.

"Well," she said, "I really should be getting back to work. Thing Two and I were going to check out that bar on Pearl tonight, wanna come?"

"Huh," Jim replied distractedly, "uh, no, I've got too much to work on." As an afterthought he added, "Maybe some other time."

"Oh, okay." Disappointed, Carla disappeared into the bookshelves.

Jim sat down at a table and pulled out paper and pen from his bag. He wrote:

To Whom It May Concern:

I know this sounds unbelievable, but I have advance knowledge of the next ten years. The following events will occur on or around the following dates:

200 Words: "Timelapse" Part 5

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

"Hey," Carla said, don't get snippy with me just because you've crafted a shoddy narrative."

Jim sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose. "Okay," he said, "let's just put the how and why of it aside for a moment. We've got this guy who finds himself in the past. What should he do?"

"Well, does he remember any good lottery numbers or stocks? Is there anything in his past that he wants to change?"

"Could he change anything? The past is the past, isn't it?"

"That's really up to you, boss," Carla replied with a smile. "It's your universe, isn't it?"

"Um, sure," Jim said. "But I want to, um, ground my story in reality."

"Reality. A story about time travel. Uh-huh."

"C'mon," Jim pleaded. "Do you think you can help me without picking at every little thing?"

"Oh, I suppose," Carla sighed. "Well, what would you do if you woke up in the past?"

"If I knew that, I wouldn't be asking you," Jim replied.

"It's your story." Carla was getting frustrated. "I can't write it for you."

They stared at each other silently for a moment.

"Oh fine," Carla relented. "How about thinking big."

200 Words: "Timelapse" Part 4

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

"Time Travel?" Carla asked. "That's a weird thing to ask. Is this for Professor Eisenstein's class?"

"Uh, yeah," Jim answered uncertainly. "I figure you're the biggest nerd I know," he added, smiling mischeviously, "so I figured you'd be the person to ask."

"Charming," she deadpanned. "What precisely do you want to know? What's your story about?"

"Uh, time travel?"

"Right. I got that," Carla said. "You know, Eisenstein hates sci-fi."

"Yeah, yeah." Jim waved his hand dismissively.

"For that matter," she continued, "I thought you did, too. You always end up with some more of that moody, pretensious bullshit you're always writing." Then, she added sheepishly, "Um, no offense."

Jim had to stifle a laugh. He had been a moody, pretensious bastard in college and he knew it. Far from being offended, he was reminded of what he'd always liked most about Carla, that she never held back.

"Anyway," Jim said, "what if this guy woke up and it's ten years ago? What . . ."

Carla interrupted, "Wait. He just wakes up in the past? Why? What happened?"

"I don't know. Look . . ."

"You don't know? Shouldn't you? If you don't know, who does?"

"Look," Jim replied, impatiently. "Would you let me finish?"

200 Words: "Timelapse" Part 3

Part 1
Part 2

The library was pretty dead at 8 AM. That made it perfect for Jim's purposes. He was headed for a table in the back when he was stopped by a familiar voice.

"Hey, Thing One, what are you doing here so early?" The voice belonged to an old friend and classmate, Carla, who Jim hadn't thought about in years. They'd met freshmen year when the two of them and another student named Jim had been assigned to the same study group. Carla had immediately taken to calling the two Jims "Thing One" and "Thing Two."

"Um, hi. I just had some stuff to work on," said Jim. "Why are you here so early?"

Carla tapped the plastic name tag pinned to her shirt. "Work," she said. "What're you working on?"

"Oh, just some project," Jim answered uncomfortably. "I'd really better get to it."

"Oh, okay," she said, disappointment in her voice. "See you around then."

Jim hadn't meant to be so brusque with her, but he was nervous about trying to talk to people in the past. He was about to leave when he had an inspiration.

"Wait," he said. "What do you know about time travel?"

200 Words: "Timelapse" Part 2

Part 1

Jim, now with a bit of a headache, reached again for his glasses. He didn't think it felt like a dream anymore.

"Dude," the voice was a familiar one, "don't you have a class at 9:00?" It was Jim's old roomate, Will.

"Uh, yeah," Jim replied uncertainly. He really had no idea. It had been a long time, and Jim had had a hard enough time keeping up with his schedule back then. "I guess I do. Say," he said, annoyance obviouse in his tone, "what's with the dictionary?"

Will threw up his hands defensively as if to ward off blame. "Hey, man," he said, "you're the one who told me to make sure you got up."

"I did? Well, I'm pretty sure I didn't ask to have a book thrown at me."

Will rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Look, if you want a shower you'd better hurry, Zee'll be up in five minutes."

--

After a quick shower, Jim headed out. Not to class, he didn't even know what day it was, let alone what class to go to. Jim just wanted someplace quiet where he could sit and think. Jim stepped out of his building, not sure where to go.

200 Words: "Timelapse" Part 1

Jim was a little disoriented when he woke up that morning. It wasn't totally unprecedented for him to wake up in unfamiliar surroundings, but he usually had at least some shadow of a memory of how he got there.

"Where am I?" he groaned quietly, to himself. Instinctively, he reached out and his hand found his glasses on a desk by the bed.

His vision now clear, Jim took a good look around the room. It was a familiar room. He realized, suddenly, that he had lived in this room ten years ago. It made no sense; how could he be in his college dorm room? The building had been demolished in 2004. Stranger still, how did his stuff get back here?

"Must be dreaming," he thought. Jim hated these flashback dreams. They always ended in some inane twist like showing up for class naked or having to take an exam in a class he'd never attended. He wasn't in the mood for any of it, so he took his glasses off and settled back into bed.

THWAP! A battered paperback copy of Webster's New World Dictionary impacted with his head.

"Ow," he said, rubbing his head. "What the hell?"

200 Word Fiction Project

I fancy myself an amateur writer (amateur because no one has ever felt compelled to pay me for anything I've written). One of my biggest obstacles to ever getting anywhere with my writing is that I find trouble finishing things. I've got more unfinished ideas lying around than I know what to do with. I've decided to take one of these ideas and use it to set a challenge for myself (and help provide content for my blog). Starting tomorrow, and every Friday after that, I'm going to put up a 200 word chunk of a short story (why 200 words? I only wanted to put up small, bite-sized chunks to make it easier to keep up with consistently, 200 is just the arbitrary number I chose). I don't know how well I'll keep up with it (my record with the haiku of the day doesn't inspire a lot of confidence), but I'll at least try.

Collaborative Fiction

When I was a kid scouring back issue bins I came across a few issues of a series called DC Challenge. The idea was simple, each issue would end in a cliffhanger and the next issue a new creative team would come in and continue the story. The comic was about as bad as you'd imagine it would be, but there was still something appealing about it, there was a sense of fun to this creative hand-off that was irresistible to me. This was my first exposure to the idea of collaborative fiction.

This isn't, of course, a novel idea. Collaborative fiction existed before DC Challenge and continues to exist. Do a Google search and you can find a number of these projects around the web. And there are role playing games. In high school I had a group of friends who were in to RPGs and who drew me into their gaming sessions. It was the storytelling aspect of these games that appealed to me (because, lord knows, I couldn't be bothered to learn any of the rules) and looking back I really regret that it didn't occur to me to record those games in some way and then go back and write them up as stories.

Anyway,the point of this trip down memory lane is that I've gotten the idea of collaborative fiction on my mind. It popped into my head in the shower this morning (the shower, of course, is the place where all good ideas reside, waiting to reveal themselves). So, now I've got an itch to start a project of my own (because, as it turns out, I'm far too egotistical to merely contribute to one the the existing projects I referred to earlier). It would be easy enough to set up a website and establish the rules for contributing. The obstacle is that, unlike this or my haiku blog where it doesn't really matter if anyone actually visits, the collaborative part of collaborative fiction means that some web traffic would be a necessity. How can I drive traffic? It's a bit of a puzzle for one as shy and retiring as myself, one that I'll have to give some further thought.

Updates as they are warranted.