#NaNoWriMo19 – Let the Plantsing Begin!

So, it’s been awhile since I started my current WIP (work-in-progress, for those of you not insane enough to take on the blessedly annoying and exhilarating process of writing a novel). When I started the idea, I loved it.

And then I hated it. Like, with a passion hated it.

Let me explain.

See, my original idea was to do something very similar to what I did with Don’t Ask Me to Leave. I was going to write a modern retelling of a Biblical story, and the one that kept pursuing my conscious was the story of David and Bathsheba.

[image error] I was just really curious about what their relationship dynamic would have been like, especially after they lost their baby. I mean, what a life she led. Her husband dies in war, she’s seduced (or I guess violated, depending upon your interpretation of the story) by a king, her baby dies…that’s a lot to happen to a woman. I took to the keyboard to tell the story of The Soldier’s Wife.

I got about 12,500 words in and I wasn’t liking the story all that much, because David was kind of coming off a skunk. I was having trouble seeing how I could have him be both the seductor and the guy you root for in the end.

With the rise of the #metoo movement, I lost hope in the story. I just didn’t see any way to write it without potential readers picking it up and going “Euwwww!”

The good thing about time off, though, is it gives you plenty of time to ruminate about your plot. Every time I thought I was done with the idea, there it came again, tapping me on the shoulder and asking for another opportunity to rustle around in my brain again.

I think I finally hit on a way to tell the story I want to tell and still use the basic inspiration of David and Bathsheba’s story, but it’s a completely different novel than I originally planned.

My new idea is to write the story as a suspense novel, and man, am I excited! I’m excited enough that I am committing to do this thing for NaNoWriMo 2019. I hope you’ll help root me on as I attempt to hammer this thing out in the month of November.

I’ll be “plantsing” it–planning some of the plot and doing the rest of it purely by the seat of my pants. Wish me luck!