NaNoWriMo

It's that time of year again, when 179,o00 enthusiasts embark on a new writing adventure called NaNoWriMo. This year I was a little reticent in participating until a friend posed the question after signing up herself. I really had not given it that much thought at that point and with tepid agreement, I hedged and said that if I could come up with an idea then I would.

A few weeks later after reading a couple novels and getting back into the rhythm of writing prose with my experimental short story Charm of Ivanhoe, I returned to this question. After a bit of brainstorming, I decided to write an urban fantasy in the vein of The Eyre Affair meets Back to the Future.

Living with the Cosby's

When a young boy immigrates to the land of opportunity, he discovers that life in America is fraught with greater moral peril than his native village in India. With no one to turn to for help, he escapes to TV Land only to discover he is now trapped living with the Cosby’s.

Unlike last year, I spent a few weeks outlining the story beats and then fleshing out the chapter outlines. This pre-work resulted in about a 40-page outline compared to Seasons of Conflict's 3-page outline. I'll let you know thirty-days from now whether extensive preparation served me well or not. So far, the first week has been productive, largely because I committed to a 5K Day One dash to build a sufficient cushion. I achieved that goal just barely, but I'm glad that I did. I don't feel as anxious if I decide to take an evening off here and there to be a normal person.

Here are my daily thoughts on the first week:

Nov 1: Pacing of Chapter 1 and 2 seems to be loose. I'm letting language and atmosphere take over rather than be overly concerned about reaching plot turns within 400-500 words. (5,045 words)

Nov 2: Had a really slow start in the morning, spending too much time re-reading passages written on Day 1. Worried about too much exposition in Chapter 2. Chapter 2 feels like it can easily stretch into twice the length given so much material to cover. This is turning into a 120,000-word novel at the rate of 3,000 words per chapter. (7,202 words)

Nov 3: Did a little bit better in the morning, but not strong enough IMO. Made up for it at lunchtime and felt good enough tonight to sprint to 10K. Still feeling good about the storyline and solved my “moral peril” issue and decided against writing about a meth lab in favor of euthanasia which feels more organic to the story. (10,020 words)

Nov 4: Seriously feeling like Chapter 4 is a little light on story. It needs to be more complex but I think it struggles because the action is too rushed and urgent. And the euthanasia argument needs to be recast in a more dynamic way. Maybe have him argue with his Uncle instead of doing research. (12,500 words)

Nov 5: Resolved it by making it into a philosophical debate. Now I need more action, maybe a physical confrontation to serve as a metaphor to convey the internal struggle he is facing. (13,400 words)

Punchlines

You know, I'm getting real frickin' tired of this. I mean, one, maybe two times I can give it a pass. It's just annoying. Then I mean. However, I really can't let this go this time without saying something. So let this be your final warning...

No hand-to-hand combat before breakfast and absolutely no decapitations until the back nine. Comprende?