November 1st is the official start of Nation Novel Writing Month. To follow is a crazy month of writing and late night awesomeness. Last year I wrote The Beast of The Ruin, the first book in the Chronicles of Odde series. This year I am working on book too, The Lost Prince. I have to admit that I was a bit of a recluse for the month and my sister, who has promised to participate with me this year, made me promise not to be the smelly, computer obsessed writer I was last year. She said I only came out to eat and use the bathroom, and truthfully I usually took my food back into my room with me. She wouldn't agree to be my writing buddy until I promised and so I gave in and promised her to shower and take time out of writing so she could see me with her own eyeballs.
II have to admit that I'm a bit of an over achiever. Always had been. I aim for between two to three thousand words a day, which dramatically reduce the days needed to reach the site goal of fifty thousand words. I, of course, surpassed that number and finished the complete rough draft of my novel in a little over two weeks. Yes, this is part bragging and partially an explanation for my siblings concern. This year has similar goals, but a lot more distractions and responsibilities. Right now I am also working on this blog, which I don't believe anyone but me is reading. It's more a lesson in self-discipline than anything else. I am proving something to myself, that I can stick to something for an extended period of time. I can fulfill my goal of writing every day, and perhaps amuse someone else along the way.
Switching gears, I wanted to talk a bit about my writing processes. With the first book my process was very "fly by the seat of my pants," meaning I didn't really plan anything. The first day I wrote an outline and even brainstormed a bit for the series as a whole, but I didn't plan anything out in detail. In fact, a lot of the story's plot was developed as I worked at my part-time job. In the middle of cleaning, mostly during the monotony of vacuuming, I'd think about the next plot point and come up with the tasks my heroine would be facing. This year is a bit different.
Since this is the second book in a series I am thinking more about connecting the novels, what character will reappear, what themes tie the novels together, and building the world of Odde! I'm also more interested in character development than I was before. I have several outlines and have been brainstorming for weeks before the month started. Overall, I am more organized and have more written down ahead of time, but there are still things that will be worked out during the writing processes. That's when the magic happens!!
I love how things unfold as I write. I start out knowing that my character has to get from point a to point b, but the how or the why sometimes surprises even me.
Good luck to my fellow Wrimos! Write on!
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