NaNo Insanity

This has been quite a November – I am trying to do too many things at one time and my writing has suffered. That is especially disappointing since November is the month I look forward to for NaNoWriMo.

Once again I powered through and achieved my goal, but nowhere near as quickly as I have in past years. My record so far is finishing in 8 days…this year it was nearly the full month. There were days that I didn't write a single word, and days when I wrote several thousand. But that's not what bothers me the most – what bothers me is that my story became absofreakingridiculous.

What started out as a really good idea – a "sub-story" based on a reference in another one of my books – turned into a ridiculous study on just how ridiculous I could make the story without it completely falling apart. This resulted in something that no one is ever going to read unless I pretty much completely re-do it. Ironically, I'm actually halfway pleased at how ridiculous the story is, but trying to translate that into something people will actually buy and read…that's a "whole nother story".

November has also been busy at work, but that's not what has really drawn me away – for that I blame Dragon Age: Origins.

It's my new game addiction – taking the place of Mass Effect 2, and Neverwinter Nights 2. Seriously I want to work as a writer for a gaming company some day in my fantasy life. The team of writers that put these epic adventures together…now that's the kind of writing I want to be able to do. Creating an entire world with rich characters whose lives intertwine in amazing ways; a choose your own adventure of sorts, where dialogue and reactions change as you make decisions in the plot. Frankly I don't know how they put something like that together.

But I'm sure enjoying playing it. And so again, my writing took a back seat, but I'm not sure I can honestly say that my writing has SUFFERED. If anything, I'm learning some interesting things about storytelling – from my game! I know that it's heavily influencing me because nearly every night I dream about my mage and his templar sharing an intimate moment in the camp before heading off to battle the next round of drakes, blood mages, and bandits.

Makes you wonder – should I try my hand at writing a sci-fi/fantasy erotica novel? Maybe an idea for next year's NaNoWriMo. But for now, let's just say that this year's book won't be showing up on the shelves any time soon .