A possibly very geeky idea here... someone mentioned future technologies I'm thinking VR, beyong the stage where one would need a special room, enormous equipment and lots of cables.

All it would take would be a pair of gloves and glasses. You enter the VR library, browse among books - feeling them in your hands - pick up one and read. Some trick can probably avoid the eye getting tired from focusing too close all the time.

I've read a couple articles about special glasses used in conjonction with a portable phone, so it isn't too far fetched and would solve both questions - comfy reading support, and keeping the "feel" of the book as an object.

Athanasia

On the creation of a Nano place on this board, etc - great idea And thanks to the mods for being willing to host it.

I'm practically all set to go but the waiting has proved interesting. It got me to do preparations, I don't usually prepare. It also got me to read a couple books on writing recommended in another thread. I'm not sure I'll remember all the "do's & don'ts" (and I don't agree with all of them - but if there were only one good receipt, all writing would taste almost the same). Having some of them in mind will be an improvement though

My NaNo ID is Babylonia. The boards are so busy I'm sticking to my regional one so far and it's not English speaking for the most part. But I'll write the novel in English. I've become used to doing all my creative writing in English and that's the only language any friend who cares has in common with me.

Athanasia

First I have to say that I hardly dare call myself a "writer", so I'm basically just throwing in my two cents for the sake of the discussion.

I have two writing modes - relaxed and dedicated, in which I'll handle character creation very differently.

The "relaxed mode" is where I'll write hundred of pages a year around certain storylines I've used for... ugh, two decades already? Anyway, it is my brand of daydreaming. It is  also where I work out some ideas that surface later in my second mode.

It's ok there for me not to define characters at the start, because I can just decide to rewrite certain key points... or be content with the fact I know they should have happened another way, and take it from there. Nobody's going to read it.

The "dedicated mode" is the one I need for sure  in PBEM RPGs. (interactive writing, 1000-2000 words per post, a couple times a week. No three liners). Other people are going to read and hopefully enjoy the result of my efforts, sometimes depend on it, and they will also use my character to an extent. I need to establish a distinctive char that I can stay with in the long run, and remain consistent with it. Otherwise plenty of annoying side effects ensue for all.

The short story is, in "dedicated mode" I spend a lot of time defining a character at the top, after which I'm very careful about sticking with this biography and watching how they grow over time.

Now, about NaNo proper I'm not a trained long distance runner and this is my first attempt at such a large format. In relaxed mode, the 50k would only be an extended outline needing a lot of rewrites. It would end up in the trash can with me discouraged once again... But  I really mean to do this, so I switched to "dedicated".

I struggled for a week with my idea for the NaNo. My main char was rather bland and the story lacked an edge because of it. Last night I went working on "dedicated mode" and realized that this char embodies a concept that can't be revealed before the last third of the story. Doh! Meanwhile, the real main char, the one whose point of view will guide the reader, is the one I originally envisaged as a sidekick... (After that revelation,  the outline just flowed from top to finish, yay!). Am I glad I found out now, because if I had just gone for my "relaxed mode" technique, I was toast. LOL

In any case, putting down all this in words helped me see a few things, among which that I have a couple strengths I should make good use of. I'm going to write bios (*)  for these characters so the old training kicks in and I don't lose my way mid November!

I hope you'll find something interesting in all this, Tersa - I certainly thank you for starting this thread, and all that contributed. It helped

Athanasia

(*) Any lurker I dragged here who ever heard me say I'd most definitely not write another bio this year had better stop sniggering NOW. *eg*

I can see the point. Definitely. On the other hand, we are lucky to come at a time when sci fi has had decades of books published and read. Unless one wants to depict totally outlandish people in totally outlandish settings (some great writers became cult writers for doing it), one can easily rely on the tools of the genre.

Just for the sake of it I will throw in an argument. Is it really easier to drag your reader into your world if the settings are contemporary and ordinary? Won't you need to work that much more to have them suspend their disbelief and transcend this ordinary place into one of wonder - than if you deliberately set your story 5 centuries hence on a planet of the Alliance?

<<Feel free to kill me - it's easy, nobody wears a personal armour to run their errands, at least not on the central planets. They'll just grow another clone (hopefully I remembered to pay my insurance) and infuse it with my latest memory backup (all hail to Kanri technology, although it's more of a religion to them). Technically, the Alliance laws won't even consider it like murder... more like damaged property. As for me, what can possibly go wrong. >>*L*

I'd say any writer can afford short cuts now because so much has been written. What would bug me would be to create a whole "outlandish" background just for one story, even novel-sized

My two cents,

Athanasia