A Novel A Month

Getting to the end

2009-11-30T01:28:30Z

I'll definitely finish NaNoWriMo this year. 800 words to go, and the novel may be at a good stopping point. The antagonist is on Mars and will die there, as he takes the lander back to the command ship in orbit. The MC is about to re-start training for the next Mars crew, where he'll have to compete with a crop of younger and better educated recruits. And he is comforting the heroine, who has just learned she is infected with HIV and has a son with cerebral palsey. There's more to this story, but I don't think I'll be able to wait until NaNo 2010 to write that story.

c_p_lew @ 2009-11-29T11:54:00

2009-11-29T04:54:33Z

A moment for a very beautiful sequence of photos from Hubble. These cosmic perspectives are what keep me writing science fiction. Daily life may be mired in crud, but the view of another star, galaxy or universe puts it all in its proper place.

Incoherence

2009-11-08T00:03:04Z

I'm not posting new NaNoWriMo chapters till the end of the week. Incoherence is striking earlier than usual, which I guess is what happens when the Internal Editor is scared away. Still writing, though work-related stuff and writing for that has had to take priority the past few days. The previous entry, although from a different time period from my novel, provided the background for a new character, so there's much to mine in that direction.

Bridget's Flame entry....

2009-11-07T12:50:08Z

This little fiction is about the years before the Cultural Revolution. I need to research more, but maybe this could be a slice of life moment of writers trying to come up with a fictionalized slice of life.

The sounds on the street grew loud enough to shake the building and then softened, but they never disappeared. Soldiers and youth marching together, the Red Guard and university students linking arms in a show of purification.

The members of the propaganda office sat in the dim light. Many were family men and the younger men were new graduates, suspect because of their university learning. All the men were united in the wish of staying outside politics but the outside world had come to them.

“What do you think of this?” The crash of glass coming from across the street made them all jump but the group of journalists all focused their attention on Xiong Lee. “The day I planted the rice, the sun ravaged the skin on my back. The water in the field soon started to boil. I continued to poke the tiny seedlings into the water, pitying them for the deadly environment. I imagined the skin peeling off my feet.”

Yuan Chou went to the window and opened the curtains enough to look across the street. “That was Aunty Peh’s tailoring shop.”

Lee placed the papers flat on the desk and with great effort, he continued to read. “After dark, I saw the fruits of the triumph of the proletariat, the soldiers of our vast army working together with the peasants. The work team of my army unit was just one of many and in solidarity, we had done the impossible – planted all the fields in the valley in one day.”

Xiao Peng sat with his head in his hands. “My oldest daughter is at the university. She hasn’t returned home for three days.”

Chou said in a muffled voice. “She must be making Big Letter Posters.”

After a long sigh, as if he were struggling to the surface of a bad dream to take a deep breath, Peng said, “I hope you’re right. I hope she is safe.” He wiped his eyes. “But she hated violence. If she is safe, that means she’s probably accusing her professors.”

The silence grew as dark as the dimly lit room. Lee cleared his throat and started again. “I sat by the side of the field and yelled at the sky. ‘Filthy imperialists! You can change the weather but you can not turn aside the determination of the Chinese people.”

“I hope that is good enough for them. What’s it called again?”

“The memo said,” Peng rummaged through the clutter on the desk, left over from the Red Guard’s search from the day before. “The document should be called The Diary of Lei Feng.”

“The language is good, it’s clear,” said Peng. “They wanted us to raise up the people, and this diary should do the trick.”

“Too bad it’s not true,” Chou said. “Lee, have you ever planted rice?”

Lee wondered for a moment if he should reveal the truth about himself, even to Chou, his fiancée. He said, “This experience is universal.” She turned away from him and he felt he had lost a chance for honesty.

The writers all returned to their work, blotting out the chanted slogans from the street while they wrote their fictions.

###

I picked a page at random from “The Search for Modern China,” by Jonathan D. Spence. In the early 1960’s, after the social and economic problems caused by the Great Leap Forward and the march into the Cultural Revolution. Writers who had started researching the hardships of the peasants were recruited to write propaganda to mobilize the army and came up with a fictionalized diary of an army soldier.

NaNo 2009 - my plot kernel and cast of characters as children

2009-11-01T05:08:14Z

I just didn't have any ideas coming into NaNoWriMo this year. Well, I went back over my Musemuggers stories and picked out a few that I could expand upon, particularly the Vietnamese Wizard story. I thought I could do a fictionalized memoir based on events in my travels and in Laos during the month.

So yesterday, I went to the fifth year birthday party for the son of a friend. Their house is small (according to the Lao proverb - "Small house, Big heart") with my friend's family (her and her husband and two kids) living in one bedroom and her mother with some of the older grandchildren in another room, and one of her brothers and his family in another bedroom, so probably 12 people in this tiny house. The front room was maybe 15 feet long and 10 feet wide and was just filled with their families and children. I told my friend, there weren't enough children in the room and it took her a moment to realize that it was a joke. She had been cooking all day and trying to run after the children. "I think I'm a little tired of children," she admitted.

In the middle of all the action, one pregnant woman and her son entered the room. The son must have been about four and he clung to his mother. He looked very sad and only brightened a bit when his mother gave him some balloons. One of the older boys teased him and he banged the balloons on the boy's head which got everyone laughing, including our friend. In the corner, three older girls were gossiping and I started watching one of them, who seemed kind. Well, we've got a ready made love triangle now. And combined with another Musemuggers story nugget, I think I've got a plot.

We'll see how the month plays out. So far, so good. I was telling myself that I do have to exercise at least five miles of walking/ day which is pretty easy and beautiful in Xieng Khouang. Today, I've been particularly inspired so I've been pretty much writing since the morning. I missed the first hour of NaNo here as after I returned from the birthday party, I just crashed.

Here are a couple of my images from the party:

Our hero, Daeng, whose real name is Thoummy Vongprasert. He is very attached to his mother and has trouble being separated from her for even short periods of time when he is young. This makes her irritated and she pushes him away, which makes him even more insecure. Then one day, he suffers the ultimate rejection from her...

Our heroine, Boua, is on the left. Her full name is Bouavan Silamphanh. She is two years, and two grades older, than Daeng and becomes his protector in school. In spite of resistance from her family, she does well in school and receives a scholarship to study.

And our antagonist, Vongsamay Vilaysouk. He's a goof-off and as he grows up, he becomes a bully by accident as some of his pranks go wrong. His father is the village chief and many of his relatives are well-off business people and government officials.

Some ideas

2009-10-04T06:20:48Z

1. Science fiction story, set in near future, when Earth has exhausted its resources to send rockets into space. All of a sudden, people have to adjust that there is no way out via the stars. The secret is kept to prevent riots and despair. Real bummer of a story.

2. Expatriate who has lived in Asia for twenty years, returns to the US to find that she's absolutely culture-shocked and although she plans to return 'home' as soon as possible, her trip is delayed when she is diagnosed with a fatal disease.

3. A continuation of the story 'The Violin' about a concert violinist who gets stranded in a distant city on Pluto when her own dome is blown up by a group wanting independence for miners. She is not only cut off from her life in music, she also can not get off the planet to join the Earth Symphony orchestra.

4. 'Anger' - story about a Vietnamese sorcerer who can not control her powers because of her anger. She returns to her home village in time to be on the road for "Tet 1968"

5. An alien is living on Earth with parents who have been programmed to believe that she is theirs. Her key to communication with her home work is a plastic baby doll - but it has lost its AI and they are both in peril.

6. A family on another planet adopts two Earth children. This planet had defeated Earth in a war, leaving many orphans, most of whom live on the street. The family considers the adoptions to be one way of seeking redemption for their planet's agression and providing opportunities for these young children who would have no hope for the future otherwise. However, the children's own trauma stories and needs lead to conflicts with their adoptive parents as they search for their families and their own identities in the rubble.

Preparing for NaNoWriMo 2009

2009-10-04T06:00:36Z

Well, it's starting to be the fun time of the year. Well, NaNo-writing wise. Thinking of all sorts of delicious plot ideas during Oct. Which one to choose? Of course, by the end of the first week, I'm grasping at straws and ended up not finishing last year.

My challenges this year - a home office visit during the last half of the month and a delegation visiting our project the first part of the month. How come they have to descend on us during November? Shouldn't they be at home, working on their own NaNo-projects?

Plum tree

2008-12-29T04:51:51Z

The plum trees are starting to blossom. A few flowers are out in this picture on 28 December. I'll keep taking pictures over the next few days as the buds open.

NaNo 2008

2008-12-29T02:44:13Z

I kinda crumped this year. I've always been exciting about NaNoWriMo, both with the actual writing as well as the forums. But this year was just too frustrating - a lot of stuff at work, too much stress which destroyed my imagination. I finally decided I had to let it go, the writing that is.

I think all of the above will be under control in 2009. The work situation will be changing and I hope I can carve out more time for myself.

Right now, the training activity we're doing now is under control and there's a patch of sunlight in the back yard that I'd like to sit in for a bit.

c_p_lew @ 2008-10-27T22:23:00

2008-10-27T15:24:01Z

What I saw this morning

Inspiring.

What happened in 2007

2008-10-26T22:55:11Z

Last year's NaNo was a total blur. I had a lot of work, traveling from South to North. I had a lot of opportunities to scope out the location of my novel - but it was quite a blur. The aliens landed in northern section of my country, along the route of Route 7, near Salaphoukhoun. My protagonist went to visit her family, but also to try to find her friend who had disappeared. She was afraid that her friend had followed her husband, who had a minor wife, and was going to do something dreadful. The husband appeared, a changed man but he had not seen Bao. Suddenly, Laura learns that many people who had been troublemakers and not very nice people had suddenly changed and they were good people now.

So she sets out to XK with a doctor who's organizing immunizations. Their truck breaks down, and they have to spend time with the villagers, in the damp haze, beyond which, something is lurking.

At that point, people started walking back and forth aimlessly. The aliens never quite appeared, or people thought they were ghosts. Then they disappeared and the fog went away. There's only the burnt grass, pulverized rocks, and some strange artifacts left behind. When they go through the material, they realize that the aliens had left their garbage. "There's only one thing we can do now," Laura said. "We have to figure out how to follow them."

Well, that won't be the plot for this year's book.

I'm thinking of a story that occurred about five years ago. A man was out hunting and discovered a cave with many Buddha images. I'm moving the story to a neighboring country, where the images were hidden in 1970 so the KR could not find them. The protagonist is not a good or a bad man, but at the time of the story, in the late 90's, he is struggling with his past while trying to make a living. Hmm. This could be interesting.

Going for a walk, to contemplate what I'm going to do.

The first half hour of NaNo

2007-10-31T17:39:06Z

Well, it's after midnight here, and I've started and am now 535 words into a story that I have not planned out at all. It's kinda a combination of the various ideas that I've been thinking about. In five words it's about:

Aliens invade poor developing country.

By that, I mean all kinds of aliens. Right now I have Laura (who's Lao) and Bao (who's Hmong) staggering up to Bao's house in Fresno, California. The door is open a crack. What happens next?

Yawn, I think about it tomorrow.

thunderclouds on Mekong River

2007-10-14T23:59:19Z

thunderclouds on Mekong River
Originally uploaded by c_p_lew

The storm clouds are forming for the change of seasons here in Lao PDR. At the same time, thunderclouds are forming in my brain, igniting plot bunnies with strange energy to jump around, recombine and generate new story ideas.

It's just a few days before NaNo and I have no idea what I'm going to write.

Sound familiar? I just hope the plot bunnies don't eat me out of house and home and that they don't scare the cats too much.

Finished!

2006-11-30T10:30:49Z

Strange but true - I finished my NaNoNovel, Rate of Exchange. Some sections, especially towards the beginning, weren't so bad. But since I had many non-writing days in the middle of the month, I had to scramble by writing 5000 words/ day for the past seven days. Worked out all right though - finally word count was 50,007 words. I still have to unscrambled parts of the last five chapters before I dare to post them here - drek is one thing, but there is a limit to what one can put up on El Jay.

Next week is the monthyly BIW, or Book in a Week challenge so I signed up for my usual 100 pages. There are some sections of ROE that I could really get into, expanding on the cultural issues on Sovan (my planet of choice for the book), and more about the political situation, relationship between Anicca and Bounthavy and more about the student leaders.

The subplot that I liked the best concerned one student who felt extreme guilty after his friend was beaten to death so volunteers to do an unspecified assignment in the mines. He learns a lot more than he bargained for. I'm going to have to do a little research on deep mining before I rewrite that section.

Chapter Twenty-two: 3087 words

2006-11-27T17:32:36Z

Manivanh was frantic. Messages were coming in from around the globe – news services both globally and off-planet were contacting them for impressions and interviews, families of miners – some irate, some pleading – called to find out what the administration was going to do. Heads of state called to offer condolences.

The Corporation did not call them. As soon as the news hit, the Corporation had organized a news conference, assuring the families that they would do everything they could to rescue their relatives and to find the person or group that had caused this horrible deed. And they further blamed the current administration for impeding the Corporations safety improvement measures by bogging them down in needless hearings on corruption and human rights abuses.

Phosavath Innervong appeared on the screen. "Poverty and lack of resources are the ultimate abuses. Now families have lost their chief bread-winners. They may have been killed or permanently disabled. What are these families to do? Can the administration help? No. But the Corporation will do its utmost to provide for the security of everyone involved."

Anicca and her cabinet members finally turned off the holo. "It doesn't look good, does it?" Anicca asked. "How many do they estimate were in the mine at the time?"

"At least five thousand. It was the most active mine."

Anicca sat silently. She knew that her mother had found some structural issues with the mines, but she did not know what. Could it have been enough that even a small charge or vibration could have brought the whole mine down? The pictures were horrifying – a section of the landscape had sunk an average of two hundred meters. The tunnels extended for kilometers below that even, trapping the miners who were working in tunnels that had no second exit.

She could not image the feeling, the darkness, the claustrophobic feeling of tons of dirt and rock above her with no way out. Looking around the room, all the cabinet members were pale and looked at the floor. There were all imaging the same thing.

"Have we sent soldiers down there yet?"

"We've been moving out as many troops as we can as fast as we can. But there's just one problem."

"What's that?"

"Thousands are taking to the streets to protest your, uh, our administration for not doing enough fast enough. There may not be enough support to protect us, if things get out of hand."

She looked around at her colleagues. "It seems to me that we don't have a choice. Protecting ourselves at the expense of saving even a few more lives would be wrong. I think that if we should we're doing what we can, people will calm down."

Manivanh said, "I don't know. There have been some people who have been stirring up people's anger."

"They are nobodies. Eventually, they'll run out of air."

Manivanh looked around the room. "One of them is your sister."

"This is Sarita, reporting for the Free Corporation Information Service. I'm standing near the City Pillar and there's quite a crowd here, an angry crowd." The float-cam panned the faces of the crowd, the nearer people seeing the cam and raising their hands.

"Down with the administration." "They don't care." "They want the Corporation out so they get the profits."

"As you can see, people are angry and affected by the deaths of their fathers, brothers, aunts, sisters in the mines. And the administration is doing nothing. However, the Corporation is right on the scene. In a moment, we'll interview the executives who are down there, opening soup kitchens and emergency shelters." She looked off camera and called out, "Excuse me sir, may I talk to you?"

A rough looking man in a tattered suit joined Sarita in the field of the holo-image. "What is your name?" she asked.

"Elmer Boutsavanh."

"Why are you here today?"

He talked as if he were in shock – or his flat toned words were from reading a prepared script. "I used to work in the mines, like my father and his father's father before him. The Corporation has been good to us, and we want the administration to honor Sovan's commitments to the Corporation. I am here because it is the right thing to do, to practice my right guaranteed by the Corporation to make my voice heard."

"Thank you so much, Elmer. I hope that your relatives in the mines are saved and that you all enjoy good health and prosperity in the future."

"Enough?" Manivanh said. Anicca nodded. The holo disappeared and Manivanh turned the lights up.

"How long has she been?" Anicca swallowed. Her mouth was dry and she felt dizzy. "What would you call it – an investigative reporter?"

"We tracked her back for several months. First, her own journal which has risen in popularity over the past two months."

"Basically, giving the people all the dirt they could endure about your dark side."

Anicca held her head between her hands. "Like what?"

"How you want to turn your mother into a machine."

She looked up at Manivanh with eyes widened by amazement. She stood up and walked to the window. A few blocks over, she could see the edge of the crowd near the City Pillar. She turned around abruptly. "I can't deal with this now."

Manivanh nodded. "So what do we do?"

They worked through the morning, sending out troop movement orders, requisitioning food supplies and all available transport. They would have to join the Corporation in transporting people living near the mines. For the moment, they would have them live in the university dormitories, in tents in the sport stadiums. They called for all patients in the hospitals with non-threatening conditions to go home, and mobilized medical students to provide treatment at the mines.

Although it probably was not enough, they put on a show of doing something.

Manivanh collapsed on to the floor of her office. There was not enough time to go home and she needed to get some sleep. Usually, the halls of the Presidential palace were silent at this time of the night, but Anicca was still having meetings with other world leaders and investigators.

As tired as she was, she could not sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she jumped away at every noise from the hallway. Finally she sat up. In the dark, she noticed the blinking of the message center of her holo.

"What could anyone want?" She moaned as she stood up, and checked the queue. Suddenly, she froze. Although the name of the sender, Zim, was unfamiliar, the subject line said, "Still sorry about your spider-cat Fido"

How would someone know about him? He had died over two years ago, and she had cried for several days over his loss. Bounleung had comforted her. At the time, she knew it was foolish, but the way that he had fussed over her had been nice and maybe she did play it up a little.

She opened the message and the holo appeared. Bounleung looked rougher and skinnier than before.

"I hope this message finds you well, dear Manivanh. I've been away. After that night you were in the cellar, I had to leave. I had to do something real. I've been working in the mines."

Manivanh sat down, holding her hand over her mouth, to keep from screaming.

"It's been difficult but it's what I've had to do. I want to tell you more about it, but I don't think I have time. But I think you'll remember how we joked about how we would meet the loves of our lives. We'd look everywhere and then look at each other and know we had found the fight person." He feel silent. "Please look for my words, they are the only clues. And I hope you remember my last birthday party. It meant so much to me."

The hologram disappeared but Manivanh had closed her eyes to weep before that. What was he talking about? He seemed deranged, the way he looked was so strange and his words.

They had known each other for all their lives and had grown up in the same town. When they went to university, Manivanh's mother told him to take care of her, but there was an undertone to her message that the two of them could not miss. Go off to university, but come back. And come back together.

Neither of them felt they could live in the same claustrophobic small town that they had grown up in. And although they saw each other nearly every day, they both agreed that they were too much like brother and sister to get involved with each other. Then one day, Manivanh had left a meeting hand in hand with Vanpheng. When she looked behind them, she met Bounleung's eyes. He looked wounded but he never spoke about it afterwards.

His humor started to get bitter. He would talk about not being able to meet anyone who lived up to his high standards for romance. Manivanh tried to interest him in going out with her friends but he would complain that one person was too skinny, the other was not interested in the same kind of music as he was. There was always something wrong.

He said he would probably meet the love of his life in a virtual reality dating room. She had blown up at him that time, accusing him of wanting her sympathy and that seemed to jolt him out of his funk. He stopped trying to get her attention but he also stopped going out with other women.

Suddenly, she wondered if there was a message, something he did not want someone to overhear. She turned on the encryption program and started looking for his trail on the web, starting with an on-line dating service. But there were so many. She pushed the chair away with irritation; how many people could use those things. Didn't anyone rely on meeting people in person any more?

She couldn't keep her eyes open any more and returned to her spot on the floor. She dozed, thinking about his last birthday party. They were all feeling good and happy from the alcohol. Although she and Vanpheng had broken up months before, they were all still good friends and the spirit of the party was friendly. They argued politics and broken into small groups or couples to talk about important issues, about art, environmental degradation, whether to get married and be forced to juggle time spent in the struggle with a husband and children. And then, Bounleung had cornered her.

"Manivanh, you're the love of my life. Can't you see that?"

Drunkenly, she laughed. "Go away. You're just my bratty younger brother." At other times, he would have laughed and made more jokes, but this time he looked serious. "Aw, come on Leu. We know each other too well, you know that. We can't get involved."

"What are you're feelings. Not what other people in the struggle expect from you, but look inside. What do you really feel about me?"

Then she became serious. "Look," she said softly. "I only feel friendship towards you. I'm sorry."

He looked like he was going to cry and looked away from her. "Fine. I guess that's settled." He staggered back to the party and started laughing and joking with the others. She tried to talk to him later, while they were out recruiting for their network, but he never told her whether he still felt hurt or had gotten over it.

The love of my life. Other than being in the struggle, she did not know what that meant.

She found herself stirring her coffee for a long time. "Are you finished doing that?" Viengxay said. He did not look good, with dark circles around his eyes and his usual pale and smooth baby-like face looked ravaged from lack of sleep.

"Sorry. I'm bothered by something."

"Protests, death threats, riots. What else could you by bothered by?"

"The love of my life."

Viengxay put his head in his hands. "You gotta be kidding. Are you using that dating service?"

She giggled. "There's a dating service called 'the love of my life? How do you know about it?"

He looked offended. "Do you think any of us have time to waste in bars? It's the kind of site that the regular people use. I've met some very interesting, down to earth woman there."

"There wouldn't be miners using that service, would there."

"Oh, lots. The fees are low for the service. There are on-line journals which promote literacy and groups with a wide variety of interests. And the best thing is that the Corporation does not run it. It's part of a program sponsored by the university."

"That's interesting. I'll have to try it some time. Provided we survive this crisis."

"Yeah." He tried to smile but it made him look worse. "Maybe I'll meet you there."

She returned to her office and quickly assessed the site. Maybe he had kept a journal. For the user name, she typed in Bounleung's name and then thought. He mentioned his birthday so she typed that in. For the next hour, she played with combinations of things.

Anicca came in and made a face. Manivanh explained about Bounleung's message.

"Maybe you've got the user name wrong. If he was in love with you, maybe he would use your name." She tried in and entered the site. The image showed a corridor with heart shaped doors. "Images," "Interests," and "Journals."

Anicca said, "Try the journals." They found a list of oral entries and Manivanh downloaded them all. When she was finished, Anicca said, "Let's listen to the last one." Manivanh looked at her. "You want me to leave, don't you."

"If there's anything important, I'll call you, but I suspect this might be personal."

Anicca left and Manivanh started to listen to the recording. She jumped up and ran into Anicca's office. They sat down and listened to the recording again.

When they returned to the meeting room, the staff were gathered around another Corporation broadcast. "We have found the cause of the accident. The perpetrator was a former "Freedom for All" organizer named Bounelung Sudisavath. He had left the movement a year ago to work in the mine, during which time he had been hoarding explosives. A true master-mind, he knew how much it would take and where exactly to place the charges to get the most explosive damage."

The other people in the press coverage went wild. Hands flew up. "How did you get that information."

"Some of the people in his dormitory had noticed strange behavior and reported it."

"Behavior like what?"

"He did not spend much time with his fellow miners. And the day before the explosion, he had spent most of his money on new clothes and cleaning himself up. And in the worst kind of immoral night club."

"Can you explain further why this is suspicious behavior?"

"I'd like to ask our psychological expert to present his findings."

A tiny man, who barely reached the Corporation president's shoulder, got up. His suit was too big for him and the sleeves reached down passed his knuckles. He looked as if he had be dragged out of bed to make this presentation, which he read awkwardly from a handcomputer.

"Often when people are going to commit suicide, they say good bye in different ways. They often give away all their possessions, visit places where they have an emotional attachment, buy new clothing, spend all their money. This was all part of the subject's behaviors two days before the incident. Many of the people he worked with described him as humorless, afraid of women, and secretive. Yet, he went to a stripper and bondage bar just prior to the bombing."

"Can you elaborate on how you know he went to the bar?"

"This was an exhibitionist establishment," the Corporation president said. "There's holographic footage of what he had engaged in." The crowd murmur. Manivanh placed her face in her hands; Anicca sat next to her and put her arm around her shoulders.

"Would it be possible to obtain clips of this footage?"

"It's sealed away right now as state's evidence. When the case is settled, the networks can request permission to screen it. I just have to say, if this is what the Freedom for All party counts as their followers, I have to worry about the other members and leadership."

Anicca said, "Turn it off." The room went down.

Viengxay said, "I'm sorry to hear this. Bounleung was a little strange sometimes but he was a decent person. I can't believe that he would do such a thing."

Anicca said, "He uploaded audio recordings into a journal. He was forced to do what he did. At the end, he was running away from them but got trapped."

Manivanh was crying. "He had no money. He couldn't get a rocket to return home, and he tried to call me. If he had…" The room was totally silent except for her sobs.

"What should we do now?"

"Can we make these tapes public?"

"We'll have to eventually. But I don't think anyone would listen to them."

"We've got to get them someplace secure. Where did he upload them?"

Anicca was about to answer but Manivanh cut her off. "Someplace secure."

The discussion continued until Boutsamy fell asleep, just like that, sitting in a chair with his head leaning back and his mouth open. They all looked at him with amazement as he snored.

Anicca said, "We're all tired. We'll need to get some sleep if we're going to function at all."

Manivanh followed Anicca into her office. "What about your friend from Sangkhom?"

"What about him?"

"Could you transfer the tapes to him?"

"Good idea." She set up the computer and laid her head on the desk.

"Good morning," Bounthavy said loudly enough to wake her. "You look awful."

"Well, you know what the situation is here. I don't think anyone could look chipper and happy in these circumstances."

His face looked serious. "I know. I'm worried about you."

She made a hand movement as if brushing him away. "I've got to ask you another favor. I've got some important tapes and documents to send to you. Can you back them up and take care of them."

His excited smile told her yes. "Here they are, then." She pressed the button.

For some comic relief...

2006-11-26T12:22:00Z

My new house in Salavan: 10 Nov 06
Originally uploaded by c_p_lew.

This is where I'm writing from, Salavan Lao PDR. The house is off the main road, next to the ancient airport where planes no longer land. Thought I'd post a picture so this blog is not all words.

Progress

2006-11-01T07:33:13Z

NaNo has started in my time zone!

2006-11-01T00:00:16Z

I couldn't keep my eyes open till midnight here, so I woke up at 5 and started. The first chapter turned out being difficult to get started but its there. Just writing helped me to figure out what happens next, and I got a few themes out - the relationship between the sisters, the political conflict is hinted at, the scaring of the planet from the mining exploitation, the sense of some problem by the scene taking place in a hospital. Anyway, it's written and flocked - and very rough. I'll have to look at it later today. In the meantime, I'm going for a run by the river.

Preparation for NaNo 2006 - background

2006-10-06T12:36:31Z

I've updated my info on the NaNo board and have said "Hi" in a few of the forums. Laurie, in "Mad Challenge" has been posting some warm-up drills. November is on the way.

I actually have an idea this year. Recently, I read the obituary of the woman who had been convicted of being "Tokyo Rose", spent a few years in prison before being released without a comment and finally pardoned by Gerald Ford. Iva Toguri D'Aquino had gotten dragged into this position when she had returned to Japan to take care of her aunt and could not return to the US (she was an American citizen) after the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor. Because she knew English, she found work in a news agency - originally doing research but then recruited as one of the many women known as Tokyo Rose, although she used the name Orphan Ann. She married another expatriate Japanese (hence the Portugese name). At the end of the war, correspondents had been fascinated with her and she apparently bragged that she was Tokyo Rose probably to try to make money. Instead she was arrested and returned to the US, tried and convicted of treason. When she was released six years later, her husband had disappeared and she was constantly under threat of deportation.

Insteresting story. A second story is that of Aung Sang Suu Kyi, who also had returned to her home, Burma, to take care of her mother and had gotten swept up in the pro-Democracy struggle. She went on to lead an opposition party which won the elections in 1988 but was not allowed to take power. The Junta which had ruled the country since the late 40's, declared martial law, arrested the leaders and placed Aung Sang Suu Kyi under house arrest for most of the last 18 years. They have offered to let her leave but she has refused, knowing that they would never let her return. During her time in exile in her own country, she has been a beacon of hope in the region.

The idea for my story - two sisters return to the home planet of Savanh to take care of their aging mother as she prepares to terminate. While they are there, they renew old friendships. The older sister, Anicca, is a university professor and meets with her former colleagues and students; the younger sister, Sarita, tries to set up several businesses which all fail. There is a coup and both sisters are trapped on their homeworld, which becomes suddenly alien to them.

So, like last year, I'll post my chapters, on friends lock, as I write them. Anyone wants to be added, just leave a comment on this post.

Second Round

2005-12-13T15:20:01Z

After thinking about the plot and its holes, I'm going to start a first pass edit, mainly changing all the dorky first person POV into the POV of the three MC's. And I think I'll write a synopsis, but not tonight.

The next few weeks are going to be pretty eventful. I'll be going to Vietnam for a meeting, return for the week after Christmas, before returning to Vietnam again in January for a consultancy.

Finished... at least with NaNo, Grand Total - 50911 words

2005-11-26T09:53:54Z

In spite of everything, I finished my 50,000 words. The thing is not finished and some new plot twists popped up. I read the whole thing through - it's still very rough, but one thing that's different from last year - I could not bear to read that and editing was painful (other than deleting everything).

So I wear this icon proudly - may everyone else doing NaNo this year have one of their own before long!

It's kinda nice - might make a good tatoo.

More notes to myself

2005-11-22T15:07:37Z

10. Have to remember that there are two life modules housing the humans. The leaders of the "Revolution" have to travel between them. Or it could contribute to factions - maybe the other faction doesn't want to go along with Urghah.
11. Subplot of mental problems and seeing ghosts - forgot about that entirely.
12. More progression of C's personality - had been spying on Darina. She changes as she becomes disillusioned.
13. Have to do more world building around the Tendrils.

Notes to myself

2005-11-21T13:03:01Z

On the eight hour trip from Phonsavanh to Vientiane, I had time to contemplate all the fourth dimensional plot holes and inconsistencies. So I'm starting to make a list of what I have to do for this thing. Other than the typos which make the text pretty incomprehensible (but which often offer other lines of investigation, especially when I can't figure out what I meant in the first place).

So my hole-ly list:
1. Introduce Darina's family early in part I, maybe just after the encounter with Erak in the tunnel, thereby quickly adding new layers of aggravation.
2. Keep Erak around a few more days, to bother Darina, before he disappears.
3. Lengthen part I in general - right now I'm filling in some of the details, but they are all flashbacks. Some flashbacks are good where they are, like some of the memories of the past, before the start of the story (haven't posted those yet). Some, like Erak's transition, should be in the core of the story.
4. Change most of the names. Chanfong is the name of someone who works with me, and I used her name as a aid to remind me of her personality.
5. More about the background of the wars, and difficulties for the refugees.
6. More scenes with Urghah earlier on - it really did not occur to me in the beginning about how important he would be in the later part of the book.
7. Some people and concepts that I had introduced, I dropped - Control, Chahall, the other two refugee groups in the low and high grav sectors.
8. Writing in first person narrative for 3 people has been interesting. I'll have to see how other people have done it (I have a copy of The Love Wife by Gish Jen, in which there are the MC's tell their stories in big blocks of first person. It's also been interesting cause it's helped me to see what 1st person narrative can do, and how 3rd person has to be altered to do 1st person POV. I've certainly gotten into the heads of my characters. However, when I do the rewrite, it will go into 3rd person POVs. I think telling a story (not this one) with different narrative voices would be OK if I were doing big chunks of narrative, but changing every two or three chapters probably is more confusing. It might work in that manor if I were to make each of the voices more distinctive and use different terminologies for the environment. Maybe I'll try that in the next few chapters. And I was just thinking that I should do a chapter or two in the 1st persons of Mikhol and the Wicked Mother. That would be very schizophrenic - therefore, gotta try it.
9. I think I figured out what to do in the end. Yah!

Any other suggestions are welcomed - though I imagine that everyone is working on their stuff.

Happy NaNo-ing to all!

Progress

2005-11-20T11:33:54Z

I've been writing along, but haven't been able to post much. Bad phone connections in N. Laos so I'll be posting up to Chapter 31 once I get back to Vientiane and broadband!

I'm at 43099 words right now. Was planning to spend the day writing - but my friends had other plans. SL went to the market and came back with loads of food. Next thing, we're barbequeing fish in the back yard and then people just started to come over, and then continued to come over.

That's life.

Monday

2005-11-14T01:14:39Z

If there's anyone out there reading this - I'm heading up to Houaphan province this week. The phone system has been down so I probably won't be posting anything till Saturday. Will still be nanoing though!