Thinking about Nano

Nano is a little ways off.  But I thought it'd be good to start thinking about it.  So... I am.


What happened last time I tried Nano?

1) I loved it

2) The story got really weird by the time I was hitting the end, and that made me stall.

3) I chose something off of my main world, and as such, I think the characters had even more control than usual.

So what am I thinking of doing differently?

Rewriting an old story.  Ten years ago I finished the rough draft of my first novel.  While the writing and storyline eventually led the thing to live on a shelf, I've kind of built up a history for Don-Yin.  Recently, that history has changed. I see it as one long story--something that each book, series, short story and vignette plays a part in exploring.

When one element changes along the way, I hit dominoes through the preset timeline.  It breathes new life into old ideas, and lets a story that went stale 10 years ago return as something completely different.

So I think I'm going to let Arrelle have another try at it. I will certainly plan thin gs out this time. Though, to be fair, much of it already is.

Her story and my current WIP is headed for a collision course, so I don't think working on both at the same time will be too much.

Remembering What I Once Understood

When I was 13, I decided to spend a whole year world building. Well, all right, I didn't "decide" I just sorta ended up coming up with everything...I have always believed in Cause and Affect. I have always been inquisitive. So the combination resulted in Don-Yin.

Through high school, I tried to write a rough draft. But I was torn in too many directions! The world(s) I had built were too complicated and I was never satisfied with what I was producing. So I never completed a draft.

Then when I was 17, I decided I would. I would put nose to the grind stone and just do it. And I did. It was bad. After revising, rewriting, editing... I shelved it. I finished 3 more rough drafts, each full length manuscripts, before I finally transferred to a University. Life hit..

And with Nanowrimo, I remember... really remember...a few things.

1) I am obsessive when in a writing phase.
2) If anything distracts me, my distraction becomes a new obsession
3) I am fully capable of placing my butt on the couch and writing
4) I don't believe I'm fully capable of placing my butt on the couch and writing
5) I am my own worst enemy
6) I gotta ignore my inner skeptic, and just DO IT
7) A boyfriend who nags me to complete self-set goals is a blessing I should never take for granted.
8) I need people around me who encourage me and believe in me, because sometimes believing in myself seems harder than it should be.
9) I'm lucky to have people around me who encourage, pester, and believe in me.
10)I think, even if I still have to complete my project, Nanowrimo was the perfect cure to my off-and-on dry spell.

Blaming Life is wrong. It is my decision to do or not. It is my decision to manage my time, or let it slip from me. It is my responsibility to listen to the advice I give myself. After all, I set the goals and tell myself what to do, because once upon a time when I was a bit more brash I discovered these truths. I was stubborn and perhaps not as knowledgeable about how to build characters and plot, or pull together a story. But I knew how to force myself to achieve self-ascribed goals.

Nanowrimo reminded me of what I once understood.

Derailed...Kinda Sorta

I love outlines. I think...I set everything up, I know the characters, and then...voila! I'll know how it goes.

But, it never happens that way. I just reached chapter 5 for my NaNoWriMo project. The characters started subverting my carefully set plans two chapters ago. I think they're laughing at me... somewhere... thinking "Su-cker!"

I certainly feel like it. The story will still reach the climax I anticipated...but not under the same conditions I'd expected. And for the next two to three chapters I have no idea what's about to happen.

But I know where it's headed. So there's that.

Back to work :P

NaNoWriMo

I did it. I signed up. I have been shifting back and forth between my epic fantasy and urban fantasy...with little progress on either. But because the latter has a simpler plot, I'm choosing it for my NaNoWriMo project.

No More False Starts

I've seriously had plenty of these in the last year. but over the course of the past week, I've begun gearing up. After all, in order to make a novel-in-a-month possible, there's a lot of prep work to do. Because I've chosen something I've been kicking around, I have relatively less world building than normal.

What I'm Doing Differently

I generally spend time thinking of characters. I go through false starts, world-building short stories that end up in various of incompletion, but advance my knowledge of world/characters and the many players in the plot.

Right now, I'm composing written character outlines/backgrounds. Usually this bit evolves with the writing process. But in attacking a novel in a month, I have to have all my cards out. If feels like I'm composing a cheat sheet. When the whole novel comes together over the next few weeks, it'll be more akin to arranging puzzle pieces than my usual creative flow. Feels a lot more practical, I'll give it that :P

If you want to see the character cheat sheets, I can post them :) Let me know if you're curious.

Who else is doing NaNoWriMo? If so...how is the novel prep process for the event different from your usual prep experience?