Prepping for NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo is nearly upon us, good people of earth. For the confused, National Novel Writing Month is a month long "event" where the goal is to write a 50,000 word novel... in thirty days. Many have tried (including myself) and many probably don't make it all the way (including myself). Despite the fact that I have a job, I really want to try again. I've got an idea that my mind spawned a few nights ago and I've been slowly adding to it throughout the days. My hope is to have a decent idea of the characters I want in the story as well as the general direction I'll take it in.

Of course the biggest problem is the day-to-day labor of actually writing the damn thing. If you were to continue until the very last day, you'd have to write 1667 words per day. That may not seem like much, but motivating yourself to continue is tough. This is especially true when you've gotten stuck for whatever reason. This happens to me most when I can't figure out where else to take the story. I've hit some sort of snag and the story has stalled out. My hope is that I can flesh out this idea enough that I won't have that problem.

No way to tell though until I try (again). Only one more day! Geronimo! 

Thoughts on Dexter, Homeland, and Warehouse 13 *Spoilers*

It says it in the title, but I'll say it again here. There are *SPOILERS BELOW* enter at your own risk.

The fall season has begun! While there are still a few shows that haven't premiered quite yet (by the end of October, all the fall season shows should be on the air), most of the biggest shows have begun. At the same time many summer shows are coming to a close. I just wanted to post my thoughts on three of them and see what you guys thought as well.

The first I'll touch on is Dexter. Fun fact, I didn't watch the fifth season at all. Say what you will about it quality wise, but I don't have Showtime and that's the reason I didn't get to watch it. Now, I have a friend who has Showtime and we're watching the new season together. Thankfully because I don't care about spoilers all that much, I knew most of the big details going into season six.

I enjoyed the premiere quite a bit, simply because it's good to have Dexter back. I love Dexter's thought process and his views on things. I'm not afraid to say that sometimes they match my own. But in the sense of story, I'm enjoying the direction so far. I'm a big Edward James Olmos fan from Battlestar Galactica, and to see him play the big bad on Dexter this season is something I'm really looking forward to.

Deb and Quinn though... Really? I mean, I knew it had happened in the last season, but she really needs to stop dating coworkers. Or just dating at all haha. It's never gonna work out for her. I suppose they have nothing better for her character to do right now though... except maybe find out that Dexter is a serial killer?....

I also hope that this season doesn't wind up being Dexter's fault. Now I can't speak to last season (though from what I read I don't think this applies), but almost all of the problems that arise for Dexter are his own fault. I'd like the villain to stand separately from Dexter, instead of say, Dexter letting them live so he can learn from them. If I'm not making any sense I apologize, it's a weird thing to try to and put into words.

If the coming attractions are anything to go by it does look like this villain will be working on a larger scale than the others have before (aside from Season 5 of course). Granted, while Jordan Sparks used his speaking to drive people to do his villainy for him, it was always private. I wonder if Olmos' plan is a more... public sort of villainy (for lack of a better phrase)? What do you guys think?

Speaking of Showtime shows, I finally watched the pilot for Homeland. The premise is definitely interesting and the pilot itself is well done. The question I have is how do they keep the tension going? How do give enough info to the audience while keeping the main character in the dark and not have them seem stupid or foolish? It's a hard thing to balance. I also wonder how they will keep the show going after the first season. The concept definitely seems better suited for a miniseries so far. We'll see though. I'm definitely going to keep an eye on it.

So, I'm a big Warehouse 13 fan. I know that it's not the best show ever, let alone of the Syfy channel (that honor goes to Eureka so far). I still enjoy the characters though and occasionally the plot holds together well enough to make an overall enjoyable episode.

That is, until the third season finale. This is what a TV finale should be. First off, it was two hours. All TV finales should be longer than a normal episode. It gives the last episode seem more epic and more important in the eyes of the audience. LOST understood this, Battlestar understood this, etc etc. It's a great way to end a season.

Second, the finale changed a lot. While I don't know how much of this will stick in season 4, it's at least trying. Change is one of the most important things a finale can do for a show. A lot of big stuff happened though, with Steve, H.G. Wells, and Mrs. Fredrick dying and the warehouse exploding. It was well... shocking in a really good way. Of course Artie has that damn watch and I'm afraid they'll just rewind time and fix everything immediately. That... would be awful. There's nothing worse than a TV show doing something amazing and impactful, only to reverse it because they were afraid of how the audience would react. For now, I'm still happy that they're at least giving it a shot. I think the writers are going to use this time in between seasons to figure out how people are reacting and write their opener from there. If people react well, I imagine they will build upon last season. If not, I expect a retcon of massive proportions.

I have no idea how many (if any) of you are Warehouse 13 fans, but if you are what did you think of the finale?

And for the rest of you, what did you think of any of these shows? What are your thoughts on where Dexter is headed? Thoughts on Homeland so far?