NaNoWriMo: Chapter 3

Just finished level 02/Chapter 3 for my Portal novelization.  I like it better than chapter 2 because stuff actually happens, kinda.  XD

Once again, I'd love crit on this chapter.  ^_^


Mom wants to watch TV, but I still need to write another chapter.  *flails*  I'm behind on my daily word count because of the short chapter.  T___T  Hopefully I can snatch some time later to work on this.

I'm getting worried again about the final word count, I don't know if the story will be 50,000 words long, all these early levels are so short, and I don't know if the longer ones can make up for that.  :<


Chapter notes:

02

- :|  Another short level, but at least it introduces the portal gun, which means portals and no more lugging around cubes by hand.  XD
-Although I have realized there is a problem once you get the other portal gun, how in the world do they make one gun?  XD
-Typo in the subtitles, they called the Grid a Grill.  XD
-Is the part with Chell checking her teeth too weird?  It felt weird to type, but it made sense in character.  :|
-I got my left and right mixed up at one point, I think I fixed everything, or at least I hope so.  XD
-Am I talking too much about Chell walking places?  It seems rather dull.   Do I need to speed up the action?
-I forgot to write about the board with the information, but there was nothing new on it and it's sort of off to the side and not really pointed out.  I went to write it back in, but decided against it.  I left it out, because I think Chell would be more focused on getting the gun, especially when the area appeared to be open and there were  no visible hazards.  As I play the game, I forget to pay attention to the boards as well, I start out looking at them, but then I slowly ignore them.  XD  If you think it'd make more sense for me to add it in, let me know, okay?  ^_^
-I have no idea how the stupid portal gun fires.  :|  I went to one of the levels where you can use both portals so I could get a look at it.  It seems like Chell pulls on the handhold in the back and it jumps a bit.  I don't know how you decide which portal to fire.  :|  This also causes more problems when you combine the two guns.  :|
-Ahhh, I hope Chell conjecturing that the thing GLaDOS was going to say was to not drop the gun isn't too far of a leap or out of character.  :<  I'm trying to show that she's intelligent.  I don't actually know if GLaDOS was going to say to not drop the gun, but it feels right.  If it seems out of place, please let me know.
-*flails*  I've gotta decide how the portal gun works.  Later, this is going to be important, for when the two parts combine.  ARGH.
-Oh, thank goodness.  I looked it up, and the second gun is an upgrade.  How it upgrades it, I have no idea.
-Apparently, I can't spell pedestal.  XD
-Ack!  I went back and described the way the gun moves when fired because I forgot at first, though it kinda sounds funky.  :|
-Looked at the wiki for the portal gun, they say GLaDOS clearly states to not take the gun out of the testing area, but she cuts off in mid sentence.  I'm gonna make a call and keep what I wrote.

-Outside Resources
http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Aperture_Science_Handheld_Portal_Device


( Step Through the Portal to Chapter 3 )

Chapter Word Count:  1,334
Total Word Count:  4,354

NaNoWriMo: Chapter 4

Well, level 03/Chapter for is complete for the Portal novelization.  Unfortunately, it's the shortest chapter yet.  T_____T  Even with me padding it out, it doesn't even hit 1,000 words.  *angst*

I'd love any crit/advice for this chapter!  ^_^

Next level has a button, so it'll be more complex and hopefully I can eke some more words out of it to make up for this travesty.  D:  Not sure if I'll do it tonight or tomorrow, I'm kinda frustrated that this one was so short.  *rawr*  I don't wanna lose out on the 50,000 word goal because the danged game has a ton of blinking short levels followed by ridiculously complex madness.  :|  From a gamer standpoint, it's fun, from a writing standpoint it's driving me out of my freaking brain.  I was messing around with a few of the later levels for perspective and stuff, and even some of them are sooo short, though there's one that's going to be maddening to write because there's all sorts of stuff going on and I have to figure out how the blinking portal gun upgrades itself.  ARFEAFPUIDOSFDIOSJFIDPAOJDFA

Chapter notes:

03

-*weeps*  This level was so short and had nothing of any consequence or interest to mention.  I'm now really getting worried about the total length of this story.  :<  *fret*
-Did I overuse the word "across"?  :|
-Did I talk too much about the cameras?  :<
-The description of the second gap feels all wrong.  :|
-My description of going from portal to portal seems awkward and repetitive.  :|
-Making a leap of faith and guessing that Chell doesn't have a daughter.  Even if she did, she's probably dead.  :|  Saying she doesn't have one is kinder.
-Is talking about the floor operation too boring?
- D:  I hope I didn't pad this chapter too much, I just wanted to make it a halfway decent length.
-Augh!  Even though I padded and blahblahblah, didn't even hit 1,000 words for this chapter.  *sob*  Why you do this to me, Portal, you are a harsh, harsh mistress.  50,000 words looks farther away than ever.  :<


( Chapter 4 is so Short it Almost Doesn't Need a Cut :| )

Chapter Word Count:  967  D:
Total Word Count:  5,321

Stuff and Portal

Today was pretty good.

We went to eat at Arby's, yay!  :D  Had a Beef n' Cheddar sandwich, potato cakes, and a chocolate turnover.  :D  The potato cakes tasted kinda funky, but everything else was good.  ^_^

We got some stuff together to take to Best Buy sometime.  We've got the craptop to get rid of (the CD drive died and I couldn't reinstall Windows ME after formatting it) and we might get a new hard drive for my old laptop so we can drag it places and not worry too much if something happens to it.

Grey kitty came by early this afternoon, and I spent a while outside petting it.  ^_^  She was really sweet, and when I put some food out for her, she seemed a bit hungry and ate right away.

Looked out later tonight, and there was a different cat on the patio.  XD  It was a browny-greyey and had darker stripes.  Me and it looked at each other, and then it headed  to the back and sat on the fence for a bit.  XD


I think NaNoWriMo is going to drive me to madness.  I just can't get enough words out of Portal.  D:  All the levels so far are crazy short and this last one didn't even get me 1,000 words.  D:  The more I play, the more I'm certain that my original estimate was close to right, I think the behind the scenes stuff after level 19 takes up close to half the game's length.  :|  I hope I have 25,000 words by then (more would be so, so, so much better) and that I can manage 25,000 more.  Or I'm gonna fall hard.  I want more words, I really do.  But short of padding each chapter with loads of blahblahblah that doesn't really fit in, I can't do any more, it doesn't help the story, it only makes it worse.  *rage*  I want the story to be the best it can be, and throwing unnecessary words around doesn't help.  My goal is to write the durned thing, 50,000 words would have been nice, but it may just not be possible and that is upsetting.  I don't want to fail, I don't.  But I want to write this story the way it was meant to be and if I fail NaNo because I didn't add extensive fluff, then it's just going to have to be that way.  *sob*  I wanted 3,000 words per chapter, I can't even get 1,000 per chapter.  I want to prove that I can beat NaNo and win, but Portal may be too short to accomplish that goal.  If I can't get my 50,000 words, my Sister will probably never let me live it down, she already acted like she didn't think I could do it and hated my goal of making Portal a novel.  *so frustrated*

I...I've got a few tricks up my sleeve that I haven't used yet to add some words to the story and depth to the game.  It hasn't been time yet.  I can stall and I think I've got a good bit I can use for the first flinging level.  If need be, maybe I can go back to the older chapters and expand descriptions and add more.  I don't know.  I don't know what's to come, I can't control a blasted thing storywise and it's frustrating.

I also don't know if I'm doing a good job with writing it.  I mean, I guess I'm okay at writing, but after I have a short chapter, I feel so awful about not hitting word counts that I can't judge the quality, because all I'm doing is going, "It's too shorrrrtttttt *whine*".  I'm doing the best I can, I don't know if it's good enough.  D:

And I'm pretty certain everybody is going to hate me after I write the Companion Cube level.  Everybody loves Companion Cube and they seem to expect Chell to love it as well.  But I think she doesn't care at all.  It's a useful tool, and she wants out and to get her cake, so she'll toss it in the incinerator as easy as you please, with maybe a raised eyebrow at the sudden change in tone, though the Ratman Den did warn her of angst to come.  She's too smart to get attached to it, it's just like the other cubes, but with hearts slapped on it and it talked about incessantly.  To quote the achievement, she does what it takes to survive.  And I just can't see the character I'm building to be easily seduced by a 3-foot tall metal cube with hearts.  I like Companion Cube.  I have my Companion Cube plushie close to me when I'm writing this story, it's next-ish to me now.  But Chell is a different person, and the real Companion Cube is huge.  *sigh*  I just don't want to disappoint people or let them down.

Also, I feel like the Xzibit meme.  I'm playing Portal and taking screenshots, then writing and looking at the screenshots, and playing the level again to see stuff I missed or how things sound.  I am playing Portal twice in one go.  XD  Yo dawg, I heard you liked Portal, so now you can play Portal while you play Portal.  *headdesk*

I love the game, I really do, it's a lot of fun to play.  To write it is a different story.  Ha ha, pun not intended.

I was thinking about trying to write another chapter, but I think I'm just going to RP or do something fun, because this stupid thing is so frustrating.  Arrrrr.

Watching my nanowrimo tag this month will probably a window in watching an already crazy person go more insane.  XD

Wrote 2 terribly short chapters tonight.
Chapter 3
Chapter fail 4


Looking forward to going to convention on Friday, hopefully it'll let me chill and get my mind off of the failboat I'm cruising at full speed on.  *toot toot*