...two fifteen-year-old girls sat in the rickety wooden seats of their high school's auditorium, discussing the swashbuckling pirate adventure on which they were about to embark. They called this adventure "Two Captains," (a working title that never seemed to find a proper replacement). At the time, they did not realize this "adventure" would claim seven years of their lives and extend over fifty-nine chapters and three hundred pages. Would they have written it, had they known?
Probably. They had very little else to do at the time.
Flash forward to the future!
The year: 2010. The month: November.
These same two girls, now a few years older (though arguably not much wiser), sat huddled over a binder of notes, the glow from their respective laptops casting an ethereal blue light on their furrowed brows. It was the first day of NaNoWriMo, and they were about to finally begin a project that had had its inception many years before, in the ill-planned piratical adventure. It was the Original Novel, and this was just the kick in the pants they needed.
But would fate see fit to give them victory? Would they be able to pound out a rough draft within the strictly structured confines of National Novel Writing Month's deadlines?
Honestly? No. Not by half. But they did manage to do something that was, in itself, quite amazing: they wrote a prologue. A fantastic prologue! A prologue that led the way to filling all the little (and massive) plot holes they had been fretting over during all those years of brainstorming and fanficcing. A prologue that brought hope and joy and light to the dark little closet of doubt they had been keeping their Original Novel in. A Prologue of Destiny!
And then November ended. Writing slowed to a standstill. The light hope had brought was growing faint. Life, held at bay for so long by the sheer power of their imaginations, slipped its tether and howled around their apartment door. The girls eyed their side-projects with growing interest and longing. What were they thinking? How could they have taken on such a huge project while they were still so unprepared? Would their feeble wordsmithing ever be able to do the story justice? What would they do now!?!?
Well. They're writing an alternate ending to the fanfiction they had thought finished, for one. It's for a good cause, promise - relief for the victims of the massive flooding and cyclone in Queensland, Australia. Brainstorming, for another. Last of all, they are blogging. This blog, to be specific.
Those girls are we. And we are Tulio and Miguel. Elise and Heather, respectively. We are writers. And someday... we will be AUTHORS! *cue dramatic orchestral interlude*
On a more serious note, we will be using this blog to discuss the joys and pitfalls of collaborative writing, the effect our outside lives have on our ability to write as a team, and, of course, to update you in vague detail on the progress of The Novel.
The blogs that you see listed in the sidebar are our individual journals, which will be used to discuss our side-projects, random musings and whatnot. They may or may not be updated regularly. Only time will tell.
Probably. They had very little else to do at the time.
Flash forward to the future!
The year: 2010. The month: November.
These same two girls, now a few years older (though arguably not much wiser), sat huddled over a binder of notes, the glow from their respective laptops casting an ethereal blue light on their furrowed brows. It was the first day of NaNoWriMo, and they were about to finally begin a project that had had its inception many years before, in the ill-planned piratical adventure. It was the Original Novel, and this was just the kick in the pants they needed.
But would fate see fit to give them victory? Would they be able to pound out a rough draft within the strictly structured confines of National Novel Writing Month's deadlines?
Honestly? No. Not by half. But they did manage to do something that was, in itself, quite amazing: they wrote a prologue. A fantastic prologue! A prologue that led the way to filling all the little (and massive) plot holes they had been fretting over during all those years of brainstorming and fanficcing. A prologue that brought hope and joy and light to the dark little closet of doubt they had been keeping their Original Novel in. A Prologue of Destiny!
And then November ended. Writing slowed to a standstill. The light hope had brought was growing faint. Life, held at bay for so long by the sheer power of their imaginations, slipped its tether and howled around their apartment door. The girls eyed their side-projects with growing interest and longing. What were they thinking? How could they have taken on such a huge project while they were still so unprepared? Would their feeble wordsmithing ever be able to do the story justice? What would they do now!?!?
Well. They're writing an alternate ending to the fanfiction they had thought finished, for one. It's for a good cause, promise - relief for the victims of the massive flooding and cyclone in Queensland, Australia. Brainstorming, for another. Last of all, they are blogging. This blog, to be specific.
Those girls are we. And we are Tulio and Miguel. Elise and Heather, respectively. We are writers. And someday... we will be AUTHORS! *cue dramatic orchestral interlude*
On a more serious note, we will be using this blog to discuss the joys and pitfalls of collaborative writing, the effect our outside lives have on our ability to write as a team, and, of course, to update you in vague detail on the progress of The Novel.
The blogs that you see listed in the sidebar are our individual journals, which will be used to discuss our side-projects, random musings and whatnot. They may or may not be updated regularly. Only time will tell.
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