So after a couple months of trying to decide–in my off moments that should have been spent on all my deadline-y stuff–what to do for NaNo, I had decided to write the third in my epic trilogy of magic, gay and win, Hiro’s Quest (yes, it’ll be renamed.) I really want to write it, you see. The first two books are amazing and I want to know how it ends!
Only that’s a problem. I don’t know how it ends. Not knowing where I’m going on a story is a lot of fun, and not something that makes me avoid them normally, but NaNo is different. With NaNo, I need a goal in mind, or I spend so much time trying to come up with the target, the writing gets muddled up and won’t come out.
But I REALLY wanted to write Hiro. So I spent a month flailing about (still in my off-moments when I should have been working) trying to find my plot. And realizing as I did that I don’t actually know how the second book turned out, despite its being “done.” I put that in quotes because In the Forests of the Night is at most a third of how long it needs to be to properly tell the story. I wrote it in NaNo year before last, you see, and for some reason I tore through and finished it in…I think seventeen days? Anyway, beginning to end, 50,000 words but a lot missing in between. And somewhere in that “lot” lie the seeds I need to make What Immortal as incredibly awesome as it SIMPLY MUST BE. (If you’re wondering just how bad that draft can be, it’s all here on the blog somewhere. I wrote IFN for NaNo the year I decided to post my NaNovel as I wrote it. It’s password protected, but the instructions for figuring out the password are there too.)
In the last month, around my editing and my Turtleduck Press work and my job and everything else, I was getting stressed because NaNo was coming and I did not have a plot and I could not, heaven help me, screw up Hiro because that story is AMAZING. I toyed with endings. I pondered canning the last half of IFN to make WI a little easier to write. I considered kicking myself for even thinking of letting that happen to the book I love so much.
Eventually I came to a decision and therefore, sadface. Briefly. I decided that writing Hiro for NaNo this year would be a tragic mistake leading to misery, woe, and an arson-worthy manuscript. I won’t do that to Hiro or me. We deserve better.
Instead I will be writing a second Flame story, which should make for an awesome NaNo. Flame makes me laugh. I love sending her and Ryahled butting heads. I love when the skinny little elf (but not) woman bullies everyone. And I don’t have to figure out how Flame grows, because it’s a series and she’s not supposed to grow (much).
She’s such a blast. I probably should just make her my NaNo event universe, but that wouldn’t be as much fun as the yearly flail of what the hell am I going to do.
So. NaNo. There will be desert nomads, water thieves, trickery, deceit, epic swordfights, swashbuckle-ry, and perhaps profligate use of slot canyons.
I’m in the same boat. I have a few stories that I’ve been plotting in my head for NaNo. The story that I’ve chosen may end up being wonderful, or going horribly wrong. For me, there’s usually not much in between! 🙂
This year, I’m going to try to write my very first horror story. I know my characters. I know where the story takes place. I know some of the events. I know who my killer is. I’m still fuzzy on the title, which concerns me. I usually pick the title as I plot the story. This time, I guess I’ll just start writing, and hope that the title is revealed to me during the process. It may seem silly, but not having a name picked out almost feels like a bad sign, maybe that’s just me.
I’m also nervous as to whether or not I can pull this off. It’s a different kind of genre than I’ve played with in the past. I’ve played at romance stories and some young adult stuff, but I’ve never been able to stick with them long enough to tell the story the way that I want to. I started to write vampire stories, and that’s been loads of fun. My vampires DON’T sparkle! He! He! That’s why I thought I might try my hand at horror. I wanted to write something a bit darker that my usual stuff. Do I have 50,000 words in me? I did last year. This time…I just don’t know!
*nods* Part of the reason I have so much faith in Mutelight (even though it’s taking me forever…) is because I /do/ have an ending for it. Still working out how they get there, but having a goal in mind makes a huge difference. I think. I hope. >.>
*totally did not find anything innuendo-y in that last sentence, nope* >.> *adjusts halo*
@Juli–I can understand being worried about a name if you usually have one! It would seem like a Bad Sign to me too. That’s awesome that you’re trying for something darker. If you want my advice–revel in it. NaNo goes so much better for me when I indulge myself!
@Kay–AHAHAHAHAA!!