Hello from Elizabeth

Elizabeth Kurz joins the team at Stranger Than Truth with an introduction that cuts straight to the point. Let’s all welcome Liz and her twisted NaNoWriMo 2010 plans!

Current obsessions: misplaced phone calls, elaborate dream sequences, doubles, technology, monsters, underworlds, visions, David Lynch, lost girls, blackouts, white noise, skyscrapers, mirrors, bridges, feral animals, secret lives, lesbians, black cats, creaking houses, miscarriages, secret places, toothless prostitutes. 

I haven’t written anything in ages but I’ve been thinking of some ideas for a while. My biggest inspirations at the moment are Haruki Murakami’s Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Twin Peaks, Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist, and Paul Auster’s City of Glass. Essentially I want to write an absolutely terrifying psychological thriller that makes people kill themselves. I also am reading Les Miserables right now and therefore think there should be more toothless prostitutes clawing at suited men in general.

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My Attempt at NaNoWriMo 2009, Part 5

Further we plunge into my failed attempt at NaNoWriMo last year, and we are approaching the halfway point! This chunk is much longer than the last, but I think it’s quite entertaining—Jeromy & Cam, many of whose dialogues are based on real conversations between myself and my good buddy Tim, are without a doubt the characters I fleshed out best.

Don’t forget about parts one, two, three and four.

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Massive Fuckjob

You read it here first. Well, you will, soon enough. And good thing, too, because I can’t imagine MASSIVE FUCKJOB is going to be a widely-released literary phenomenon.

First things first, my name is actually Cory McCallum, but I have more aliases than Carter’s got pills, so I have decided the NaNoWriMo moniker should be an old classic, Tasty Yumyum, fictional guitar player extraordinaire from Dank Resin, the best band ever to never play a note.

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My Attempt at NaNoWriMo 2009, Part 4

This part is short and sweet, introducing some important new characters (only one of whom I got to using, though I had very specific plans for the rest). The more I revisit this effort from last year, the more I think there is something worth salvaging here, and I play to give it a go after NaNoWriMo.

If you missed them, check out parts one, two and three first.

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A Bulko Introduction

By trade I work for Spacing, a Toronto magazine focusing on issues within the city’s public realm. While I don’t get tired of the lavish, opulent life of infrastructure, transit, local politics, and pedestrianism, NaNoWriMo is a chance for me to exercise my penchant for adventure, fantasy, and folk tales. This also provides an excuse for me to offload some previous, forgotten works, both published and un-. So grab your compass, +3 flaming battleaxe, and 10-foot-pole; the realm of swashbuckling and derring-do marches on NaNoWriMo.

While we await more from Mike, check out his take on Apple’s smart bike patent over at the Spacing Toronto blog.

Second try at NaNo

Hey everyone, I’m Ian.

I’m also gonna have a go at the NaNoWriMo this year. I tried it last year but didn’t get very far. To be fair though I don’t think I heard about it ’til about a week into November, and I couldn’t think of what to write about for another week after that. This year I’m getting my act together, and I have some themes that I really want to play around with. I’ll get into those later though.

I’m expecting to do a lot of writing on my phone this year. There are a number of reasons for this. Yes, the first is obvious—I’m a pretentious fuck and I’m obsessed with my iPhone. The more redeeming reason being that I actually do my best thinking and get most of my ideas while I’m out walking. Last year I was having to stop and pull out my notebook to take things down all the time so this will actually be a lot more convenient. All the writing I’ve done lately has been on my phone while I was out too, so we’ll see how much many words I actually write while I’m out and about.

…I’m downloading the WriteRoom app on my iPhone as we speak.

If you’re participating too, check out Ian’s NaNoWriMo profile: ianianianianian

My Attempt at NaNoWriMo 2009, Part 3

This is part three of my scruffy, unedited attempt at last year’s NaNoWriMo. It’s the longest chunk yet, and I wouldn’t blame you for skipping it, though it does kind of establish half the plot. Boy, this needs work.

If you are going to tackle it, don’t forget to read parts one and two first.

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Faceintheblue is giving it a try this year

Hello everyone,

My name’s Geoff Micks. I’ll be trying my hand at NaNoWriMo for the first time this year. My profile on NaNoWriMo is called Faceintheblue. My personal blog is faceintheblue.wordpress.com. You can also follow me on Twitter.

I’ve written a couple of manuscripts so far, and one of them is under review by a literary agency at the moment. I write historical fiction, but for the shorter and more spontaneous medium of NaNoWriMo I think I’d like to try something closer to Kurt Vonnegut’s style. I have an idea for a plot, and my hope is that it will prove to be an organic, stream-of-conscious narrative that will lend itself well to three or four thousand words a day. I’ll be sure to post updates here and on my own blog.

I look forward to sweating my way through November hunched over a keyboard. Cheers!

My Attempt at NaNoWriMo 2009, Part 2

I’ve got some really exciting ideas in mind for November, which I’ll be revealing soon. In the mean time, here’s the second chunk of my attempt at NaNoWriMo last year. If you missed the first bit, check it out first.

In this chunk we meet a few new primary characters, though truth be told I never ended up figuring out what to do with the first one. I was keeping him in my pocket, but I might remove him if I ever start trying to untangle this mess.

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My Attempt at NaNoWriMo 2009, Part 1

In preparation for NaNoWriMo 2010, I’ve been going back over my unfinished attempt at last year’s event. I got close to 18,000 words, and though that’s a far cry from the goal I think I began formulating some pretty good ideas in the semi-satirical, soon-to-be-sci-fi story I was writing.

So as November approaches I’ll be posting my 2009 work in chunks after I tidy them up a little bit, and I’d love to hear your feedback. I fear it will get a bit rambling at points, but I think it starts strong:

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