NaNoWriMo Begun (In My Own Way)
So, this will be a shorter blog post, but I wanted to let people know that I’ve have begun NaNoWriMo as I said that I would.
Year of the Shadow–Novel
What I did last Saturday night was to take my idea for a novel and simply sit down and break it up into a chapter-by-chapter outline. This is the first time I’ve ever been able to sit down and write out my ideas from Chapter 1 to Chapter 25 (the final chapter). Now, do I now if the book will have 25 chapters? No, of course not–this is just a skeletal outline of what I hope the book will be. I only have a protagonist and an antagonist. I’ve not even begun to think about other secondary characters that I will need to populate the novel. I have an idea for the first chapter (a really cool setting and set-up), but not for chapter 2 or following. I don’t even know old Tana (my protagonist from “Ship of Shadows”) is at the time of the story. I know she’s the captain of the ship (The Outrider) and has been so for a while, but that’s all I know at the moment.
Now What?
My next goal is to 1) do this same work for the Graphic Novel that I’m working on with “Ship of Shadows.” Without knowing where I’m going, it is so very difficult for me to actually get through the writing of the piece, but if I have a plan, then the writing just “works” (for the most part). 2) The second thing I want to do is to take my chapter-by-chapter outline and write up a half-page up to a page “rough” draft of the chapters. It will probably be half a page, maybe even less. My goal for November is simply to get a strong “rough draft” by the end of the month. With a “rough draft,” I hope that I can then start (in December) to just come up with a 1st draft of each of the chapters (with some dialogue, characterization, world-building, etc.) with the goal of 50,000 words by November 2020 (which is the NaNoWriMo goal).
Doing What Works for Me
So again, I simply can’t do NaNoWriMo properly in the field of education–there’s just too much to do (grading, class prep, reading, papers, etc.) that have to be done during the month of November. However, what I can do is plan. This is something that I’ve been guilty of not doing in previous years. So I can’t devote time during this month–I can, at least, work out a “game plan” and then work on it during the rest of the year. Even if it is NaNoWriMo 2020 (or not at all, if the rules don’t allow writing done during the year which I think they might not), I’ll still have 50,000 words down towards my goal of writing a novel. Getting the first draft down is the hardest part for me (the “rough draft” is the easiest and most fun), but once I have that down, as I’ve mentioned before on the blog, I very rarely abandon a project.
So, slight pat on the back to me for starting on the chapter outline, but I can’t get complacent–I’ve still got miles and miles to go.
Sidney
Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:
Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora WolfRead Childe Roland for Free at Electric Spec
Purchase HawkeMoon on Amazon.com (Paperback) or eBookPurchase Dragonhawk on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase WarLight on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase Ship of Shadows on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase Faerie Knight on Amazon.com (Paperback) or Kindle
The Independent (Sci-Fi Short-Story)–
3rd Draft of 3 Drafts
Drafting Section 2 (of 3)
Mythic Mag. Deadline = January 31, 2020I, Mage (Fantasy Short Story)
Pre-Production Phase (Planning)
Pre-Writing on Rough Draft & Character Sketch
Mythic Mag. Deadline = July 31, 2020Current Longer Work-in-Progress: Ship of Shadows Graphic Novel
(Sci-Fi) Issue # 2, Currently on Script Page 32
Personal Deadline = December 30, 2019
