Campfire Stories: In Which There Are Lurkers In the Woods and Tips on Tackling New Genres

Our Municipal Liaisons volunteer every November to run in-person write-ins, encourage the writers in their local regions, and generally be conductors of creative energy. This past April, several of them joined in on Camp NaNoWriMo to bring their special brand of imagination fuel. Today, Lisa Raney, one of the MLs for Hawaii, shares how she tackled a brand new genre:

I headed off to Camp NaNoWriMo with my backpack full of good intentions, my novel rolled up in my sleeping bag, and ready to meet my fellow campers. Unlike my NaNo experiences with in-person write-ins, my Camp experience was vastly different. My cabin mates were scattered around the country so interactions were solely through our cabin messages.

My first day at Camp gave me déjà vu, reminding me of childhood experiences of going off to camp, the shy girl suddenly faced with a group of strangers with a common goal. Not to worry. My fellow cabin mates were welcoming and equally excited to tackle their Camp NaNo goals. Each day, I looked forward to checking in at my cabin and seeing what messages awaited me and my fellow campers, and to give feedback and support as the month wore on.

Most of my cabin mates were working on new projects with ambitious word-count goals. I was determined to use my time at Camp to do some major editing of my November novel, then hammer out the ending to the story, which had been stuck in limbo since the conclusion of NaNoWriMo.

In editing alone I gained 10,000 words, yet when it came time to start adding new material my effort began to lag. I turned to my cabin mates for inspiration but found a sudden lack of activity on our message board. For a moment I thought perhaps I was the last camper left as others were quietly picked off by the scary lurker in the woods. I posted a message of encouragement. The crickets chirped ominously in reply. Then, in the final hours, there was life. I wasn’t alone at Camp, and I wasn’t the only one falling short of my goal.

As April rolled over into May, and I carried my s’more-sticky, campfire-scented backpack home, I realized that, despite not hitting my word count goal, I was buoyed by all that I’d accomplished.

Perhaps my stumbling block has to do with this being my first attempt at a new genre. It seemed quite daunting when I sat down to type out the first words. I knew how I wanted my story to play out—the tempo, the feel—but had no idea how to successfully pull it off.

I found that when tackling a new project or genre as a writer, you can pull from your experience as a reader. What are the elements your favorite authors use to bring that style to life? I would think of stories where my genre was successful, then try to apply those same key components to my own writing. It seems to be working thus far. In fact I am now looking forward to taking up my tale once more, and this time following it to its conclusion. Perhaps I will head off to Camp again this June.

Lisa is a 41-year-old wife, mother, and grandmother who has a generally upbeat view of life and the world around me. She started participating in NaNoWriMo with the encouragement of her teenage daughter who had successfully won three NaNo’s in a row. She is now one of the MLs for the state of Hawaii.

Top photo by Flickr user tslaks82.