I contemplated doing NaNo last year but was in the midst of a really intense round of edits on my book in progress and decided jumping into a new project wasn't a great idea.
This year however I managed to talk not only myself into it, but my sister as well. Since we live so far away from each other I thought this could be a great thing to bond over.
After signing up I had a minor panic attack...what was I going to write about? I've been so focused on THE STONE SLEEPERS for the past couple years that I haven't begun to think what other projects I could begin developing.
I remembered a few great instructions from my writing class this spring.
First develop your characters, learn about your protagonist, what do they want? Make sure it's not something easily obtainable. We should know what the conflict is by the end of the third chapter. Find ways to keep them from getting what they want.
It was surprisingly easy to come up with a rough idea of a potential novel and start sketching an outline for it. Last night I dreamed up a whole new cast of characters and I can't wait to start writing about them.
Have any thoughts on NaNoWriMo?
Join Canada:Alberta:Everywhere in the regions area. You just might find some other people in the area that write! My critique group started from that seed. I was in that group (still am) for two years.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads up. Since this is new to me I appretiate any and all advice!
ReplyDeleteI started getting nervous about the time constraint and my non plan so sat down and actually started outlining...something totally new to me. And guess what, I love the idea. Once November rolls around I can start pulling out my scene cards and going to town on my keyboard without worrying about screwing up my plot. So disregard my earlier comment about pantsing it, I'm packing up camp and moving over to OUTLINE, OUTLINE, OUTLINE!