Storyboard Success! (But I have new questions)

SUCCESS!! I present to you the storyboard I promised in my last blog post on “How Do You Organize.” I believe the stakes were that if I didn’t present you with a fully developed story pinboard, that you all had permission to email me pictures of scary clowns.

Nothing motivates me like the looming threat of exposure to scary clown pictures.

So I created this story pinboard for an undisclosed romance project. I can’t tell you what it’s about, so we’ll just call it “Passions Under Development.” I created character sketches, wrote out index cards for each chapter, highlighted the heroine’s major issues and the romantic conflict. I even posted pictures of visual references to help me plan out the people, geography, architecture and clothing style of the world I was building. And in the middle, I pinned the “BIG QUESTION” as posed by the brilliant Nancy Holder during her seminar at the RT Booklovers Convention in Kansas City – “How can I make my character’s life even more complicated?”

(Well, OK, I put it in a less classy, slightly more obscene, way, but the essential question still holds.)

Whenever a writer is stuck or confused about what should come next, Ms. Holder said we should refer back to the Big Question, and it will show us the way – because complications and obstacles will be what makes the story compelling and interesting.

So, I’m all set, right?

Well…

Here’s the problem. Due to other contracted projects, I can only give myself until the end of June to finish Passions Under Development. I have about 20,000 words written, which gives me a solid start. But for all intents and purposes, I am holding my own personal NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). And I’ve never participated in NaNoWriMo, because I find the concept intimidating and slightly scary. But, I’m going to try my best to have a rough draft on June 30.

So, my question for you is:

What is the fastest you have ever completed a full manuscript? And what was your experience like?

PS No clown pictures!