Haha

AHH! CHENGDAO'S TEACHER SOUNDS LIKE A PEDOBEAR! I must fix this...but after Envirothon meeting (which I studied for, yep, that's right, of course. .......)

Am done with first chapter; is not bad not bad if I do say so myself. Fact-checking probably needs be done, and I kinda changed ideas as to the time period of the first scene in the middle of writing it so...some tweaking should be done. I think it's a good first expose on Zhengbu and her influences though :D
(...and this is where I get it edited by someone else and find out it's crap. HA.)

Time for Chengdao's introduction. Am realizing that...of the parts from the first draft that I saved...er...a lot of it is repeats. As in, I'm going to just rewrite those things pretty much from scratch anyway. So...uh...haha...hahahahahaaaa (oh god)...here we go.

Currently at about 23,500 words, which, by NaNoWriMo standards, is utter FAIL. But hopefully the content has improved...

Dang

Writing the first scene and dang...boy does Wang An sound like a real totalitarian beep.

Spring Cleaning

I'm in school right now, and am just posting a quick update as to what went down yesterday.

So basically...I deleted everything I wrote during NaNoWriMo. Damn straight. The time period will be shortened now, down to just the two of them during their college years, and maybe even shorter than that (i.e. college 3rd and 4th year and a little more, maybe). 

The most important scenes will be brought back by flashbacks and, in the instance of the ren character episode, recurring dreams. Since the core of my idea is still how one's family, friends, environment, etc. mold a person, I'll try to get the past to "echo" through as the characters go about their business in the "present." 

This removes a lot of the awkwardness of like, hm, they are not going to meet each other for ten years, how should I make this sound like this is actually one story?

I think I'm going to have the first scene be one with Zhengbu in it, despite my brief but effective talk with Rohan/Charlotte about whether it's ok to have a non-main-main but still main character in the first scene (i.e. Chengdao). The tone should be set for the plot, not the "theme" I guess, and the plot is...er...well...it has something to do with the two of them finding their purpose in life and making something useful out of themselves. And figuring that out. But I still have to tie that into the "actual plot" of their imminent separation. Ye-ah. ...

I need to figure out what gym classes were like back then...(you will see why!)

YES!!! YES!!!

VICTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I HAVE A PLOT!!!!
I HAVE A PLOT!!!!

Or rather, I can now improve my plot. Thank goodness for historians! *historian love*

So the "plot" idea I had before was to have Zhengbu and Chengdao torn by mixed emotions on the verge of going down very different paths in life. Zhengbu was to pursue her study of Japanese language and culture in Japan; she'd gotten an opportunity to be really useful (for lack of better words) and could not miss it. Chengdao is very supportive of this, and they plan to continue their relationship overseas as he continued his study of physics.
BUT THEN BUT THEN!
Chengdao receives an opportunity to go to America on a fellowship (of the ring! ...) and in a fit of excitement, exhorts Zhengbu to go with him. She is extremely affronted by this, thinking he wants her to give up her dream.

See, this is where I improve things.

So according to The Search for Modern China by Jonathan D. Spence, with China newly opened to international relations in order to bring China up to level of the big powerful countries at the time in terms of modern technology, they had this thing going for college students:

"During 1978 a preliminary group of 480 able Chinese students was dispatched to twenty-eight countries to study; as the 'normalization' talks with the United States moved into high gear in late 1978, the Chinese presented a much larger list of requests for higher technical training to the American Committee on Scholarly Communication with the People's Republic of China. Though not all these requests could be immediately met, the list is indicative of the priority placed in the post-Maoist era on technical training." (The Search for Modern China, pg. 656)

Do you see what I'm getting at now?


Chengdao would be recruited to go to the U.S. (or some other country, *whatever*) to study physics. Now, this is a HUGE deal for him. Having come from a rustic family and being the first in GENERATIONS to go to college, to have the honor of serving his country in such an elite group of students...can you imagine?

And Zhengbu, who so prides, so prides herself in putting achievements before emotions, must struggle with duty vs. self...she knows it would be right for him to leave her and study and be of use to their country. She would probably do the same without a heartbeat if she was in his case. In fact, her middle school had assigned students to learn Japanese or English because foreign relations were opening up and she had even gave tours of the school to visiting Japanese teachers!

Chengdao probably didn't even have a choice as to where he would go (yeaaaaaah the Chinese government has that effect on people doesn't it...); Zhengbu probably felt her own (maybe even fate-given) purpose was to serve her country through her study abroad in Japan. They would be destined to be apart, perhaps. Lovers have suffered lengthy times apart, certainly. But here Zhengbu is, caught in duty vs. self (an offshoot of conformity vs. identity, the struggle I was working with before)...

...Maybe she could still serve the greater good if she was to follow her love to the U.S.? Would that be betraying her country as well as herself-- all her life had been devoted to fighting against her physical weakness with her mental strength: in school, leadership positions were given to those who were good students. Though shy, she had been thrust into these positions and had emerged the better person for them.

And was she to give up everything now...for love? Isn't that exactly how all her favorite adventure stories ended-- the hero relinquishing his exciting, purposeful life, for his emotions.

Let it be known that...

...I HATE WRITING MY CHARACTERS CAN GO THROW THEMSELVES OFF THE CLIFF I CAN WRITE FOR THEM MY SETTING'S A PIECE OF [poop] AND I AM SICK OF MY OWN VOICE IN WRITING!!!

I HATE EDITING I HATE IT I HATE IT I HATE IT IT CAN GO DIE

...Ok I'm done.

FML TO THE MAX

So recently I realized (with help from John, Jenny and my new novel "bible") my setting is completely wrong for my novel. The characters are too modern and American, THERE IS NO PLOT (WHAT IN THE NAME OF...CELERY), ASD;O FIUASPODFI UWER;OI UW;LFI USDF I HATE MY STORY! IT NEEDS TO DIEEEEEE A DEAD DEATH A D;LFIUIO SDF

Yeah. I'm frustrated.

Ugh I dunno. I was going to write a couple of chapters in a *modern day* college setting in America. Chengdao and Zhengbu (or whatever they will be known as now...wow, weird thought) will be college students FROM THE GET-GO. Which...I dunno, could be interesting? It's just like...Bing...your initial idea WAS A HISTORICAL FICTION BASED ON YOUR PARENTS! WAY TO [mess] THINGS UP, YOU [idiot]!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

.............................................

I wish I knew my setting more/the issues of the time. Talking to the mum is vauguely helpful but like...I write better what I know, ya know? As long as I have the info and is able to like, internalize it, I can imagine myself in that situation and create the emotions from the heart. But...bah.

Right now, my "plot" is conformity vs. identity (NOTE TO SELF: THAT IS A [bad] PLOT. ADD SOME DETAILS OR GIVE UP OR SOMETHING. YEAH.)
As in, Zhengbu is forced to conform and...Chengdao is forced to be an individual? Or rather, both struggle with conformity. So in the end it's conformity vs. happiness/love/sugarspiceeverythingnice. Yeah. ...

I need a common plot for both. I mean, for the two, the setting's different, the...characters are obviously different...I need a common plot/drive to tie them together so it's not like *TWO NOVELS IN ONE! GET YER RECESSION-PROOF DOUBLE FEATURE HERE!* if you know what I mean.

Ugh.

On a roll

So it's Wednesday and I'm in school, waiting for G Block to end. I finally, finally forced myself to begin writing a lot for reals yesterday, adding chapters and...injecting a large and concentrated dose of PLOT. Mmm-mm-mmm.

(HI ABBY YOU'RE RIGHT NEXT TO ME RIGHT NOW)
(<3)

...And anyways, as long as I am working on the book, I can't do the paper! Haha!

OOH OOH OOH TIME FOR SUGGESTIONS Ok. So I finally decided that the main character, Chengdao, would have a good and loving relationship with his big sis instead of a crappy and traumatizing one. Good choice? Also, Xiuyu (the sister) begins to show like...manipulative traits when she's little, and these develop, etc.

Please give me suggestions of situations where she develops her faults...

Also, what sort of games do girls play when they're in 4th-6th grade? They don't play house, do they?
(I actually asked my 4th grade sister about this and she was totally weirded out xD

At last

Finally. I can lurk at home and divide my schedule up, however I want to!

Unfortunately, I ended up sleeping until 10 today as opposed to the self-recommended like, 7:30. How did the alarm clock ring and ring until then? My mom even came in to ask if I was going to school. I guess I thought it was too early.

Hm. According to the schedule (as I apparently replaced "work on paper" with "sleep"...) I should be calling people. Networking networking networking! I will reply to emails first; I've been getting answers to the questions I've been asking for my research paper, yes! Excellent.

So apparently, the first lesson of networking is...start with the people you know/your neighbors, then work outwards...