From the beginning.

NaNoWriMo day 5.

Words flying and story progressing. But how is it different this year? Some years I've gone for the total pantser approach and began with literally one or two characters and a starting point. Some years I've planned meticulously. Mostly I've had a rough idea and just let it develop organically. This year is none of those. I have Sage, who I've been writing about for about two years now, and I have several files of work on her and her adventures. I have scenes, bits of dialogue, descriptions and notes. I have a rough outline of what I want to happen. I even have an idea of how I want to release her stories. Yes, it's a series, probably.

This year I have a set of notes to work through, a list of characters and a timeline. Certain things need to happen in order to place Sage where she needs to be for the bits I've already written.

Add to that, I need to kick this story in the butt to get it moving and get part of it finished so I can get it edited and released for you lot to read in full.

A short piece from NaNo Day One – the very beginning of Sage's story.

[image error]The blue fiesta lay on its roof, smoking gently in the dark, lights dead and engine not running although there was that distinctive pinging sound that accompanied cooling metal. The driver's door was shoved partially open but not enough for anyone to escape from the wreck. Sage slumped upside down, resting against the roof with her legs tangled in the steering wheel. Her eyes were almost closed, only a thin line of white showing under the lids, and she didn't move.

The new moon slid room behind thin clouds but didn't cast much light. The farm, too far away to have heard or seen anything, nestled in a dip in the gently rolling moorland. Neither the slumbering occupants in the farmhouse, nor the animals in the fields and barn, nor Sage, still unmoving in the battered fiesta, saw the craft ease through the air and come to rest in the field near the upturned car.

To those of you reading along and offering encouragement, thank you, it's always much appreciated. To those of you writing frantically beside me, keep going, you can do it. Just one word after another, after another. Grab another coffee, just do another hundred words before you go shopping, before you go to bed. Fit those smaller chunks in wherever you can and you'll be there at 50,000 words before you know it.

There are those who, like me, have done NaNo for several years. It doesn't get easier. In many ways it gets harder, because you know what to expect and the pressure to succeed, again, is huge. Even if it's just your own pressure.

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