An Author’s Not-So-Random Musing: NaNoWriMo
It’s the beginning of a new month, and not just any month. It’s November! And that means National Novel Writing Month!
30 days. 50K words. What could possibly go wrong?
I will admit. This year is more out of habit than a pressing urge to get another novel onto the page. Let’s just call it a little hint of “normal” in a crazy, messed up world.
And while the first two days started brilliantly, I have already fallen behind. Life has already hit harder than I expected. Personal life demanded my attention and though I tried to squeeze in words when I could, I also needed sleep.
This year, I am attempting a fairy-tale retelling. I am setting it in my favorite time period, the Regency. I actually plotted this one out earlier this year. For some reason, this story just wouldn’t leave me alone until I had the outline on paper. I hoped this would help keep me on track this month, but it hasn’t worked so far.
For the first time, I am attempting two tell the story with alternating characters. Our first character is Alexander, the new steward at Berdwell Manor and cousin to the Earl of Berwell. He is a young man trying to find his place in the world, and our hero for this journey.
Our second character is Ellie, an orphan who has been raised by the servants at Meadowbrooke cottage. She is a sweet girl, who dreams of a life more than keeping the cottage from going to ruin.
Have you guessed the fairy-tale yet?
I’ve enjoyed retellings like this in the past and am excited to see what I can do with this one.
I’ll let you in on a little secret. This isn’t the first retelling I have done. Earlier this year, I wrote a short story for an anthology with the theme of Beauty and the Beast. Again, I set it in the Regency era and it was a ton of fun to write. The difficulty was trying to keep the story contained within ten thousand words. I will let you know when the anthology is released next year!
Are you participating in NaNoWriMo? What is your project? Are you planner? Pantser? Plantser?
