Are You Ready to NaNo?

Posted on Posted in NaNoWriMo 4 Comments Tagged with , ,

nanowrimoIf you’re a writerly type who hangs out on the internet, you’ve probably noticed that it’s almost time for NaNoWriMo. This will be my fourth year participating and I’m super-excited. I’m also in super-frantic mode right now. Before I can start NaNoWriMo, I have to finish edits on Valley of the Shadow and ship it off to beta readers. I have precisely thirteen chapters left to edit, but they’re doozies.

I also have to submit a short story to a contest by November 1st. The story is written, but now I have to incorporate beta reader suggestions and come up with a better title. However, assuming I don’t kill myself from stress on the 31st, I should be raring to go Sunday morning.

This will be my first Nano where I have little to no plan. I’ll be first-drafting book three in the Desolate Empire Series: Hammer of the Gods, and I sort of know it will cover the first part of the Swedish involvement in the Thirty Years War, but that’s all I know right now. I just haven’t had time to plan anything and that’s okay. I’ve realized through trial and error that while an outline helps me with a general structure and gives me confidence that I do in fact have a plot somewhere, I don’t really need one.

After finishing one book and most of a second, I’ve learned that my best writing and best ideas happen when I just write and see what happens. So, I have a pile of POV characters again- either 7 or 8- and I’ll just start with one and see what happens. I’m going to try Dean Wesley Smith’s Writing Into the Dark method. It includes editing and outlining as you go, so I’m hoping I’ll end up with a cleaner first draft than my last two attempts.

I realize that editing as you go is anathema to a lot of NaNoWriMo folks, but I’m pretty confident at this point that I can write a book to the end, so I want to try something besides the crappy first draft method. Don’t get me wrong; that’s a GREAT way to start if you tend to get caught in the trap (as I did) of endlessly revising your first chapter. But I’m going to try for a non-crappy first draft this time, all while writing a LOT of words. I’d love to hit 100K, but we’ll see how it goes.

If you’re doing NaNoWriMo this year feel free to add me as buddy and I’ll add you back.

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4 Comments on “Are You Ready to NaNo?”

  2. You know, that’s why my friend from Australia and her author pals started boycotting NaNoWriMo. They didn’t like the push of quantity over quality. I think you just need to make it your own. You already know the ropes anyway. It’s just the idea of being accountable, right?

    Reply

    • Yeah, at this point it’s mostly about the community for me. I love it that so many people are all writing at the same time. I’m hoping to achieve both quantity and quality- we’ll see how it goes.

      Expect a rather large book in your email later today. 🙂

      Reply

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