Well, it’s the 1st of November and to a lot of writers and would-be writers, that only means one thing. Nope, not that the inevitable post-Halloween sugar-induced hangover has kicked in.
NaNoWriMo is here.
NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month for those unfamiliar with the term. (Na = National, No = Novel, Wri – Writing, Mo = Mo. Catchy, no?) It’s the traditional* time of year for knuckling down and trying to get out at least 50,000 words of a novel.
(*Traditional in that while you can do it again in July for Camp NaNoWriMo, November is the original and some would argue best campaign.)
I’ve participated in NaNoWriMo four times, and have exceeded the 50,000 word goal three of those four times. The year I didn’t, I was trying to force myself to write something to fit a brief set by someone else (a publisher hosting a competition for a specifically themed novel for anyone interested) and the attempt fell flat. I learnt then that the only way I can achieve NaNoWriMo is to work on a story I really want to tell.
This year, I’m attempting it again, and thought ‘hey, I have a blog now, why not update it as an extra kick-up-the-bum on those days when the words just aren’t flowing’. Sorry, that means anyone reading this gets stuck with my writer-y babble for a month.
My project this year goes under the working name of LWL2. It’s the second story in a planned quartet, the first of which I finished in the July of this year. I’m looking forward to writing it, but have to admit it’s the fourth and final story in the series I’m looking forward to most. Oops. We’ll just have to wait and see how that turns out.
As of today, I’ve written 1492 words.
I’ve so far established the lead character of this particular story, Elle, and have tried to introduce her in a way that means anyone who reads it won’t necessary need to read the first in the series in order to know who she is while at the same time not rehashing everything readers of the first book already know. It means painting her in a new light almost, delving a little bit deeper into who she is and what makes her tick. It’s been fun.
Let’s hope it continues for the rest of November!
Alexa Preece 