Nano Prep Post #1

[scribblemyname]

This entry is part 1 of 1 in the series NaNoWriMo 2014

Reminder to thecatisacritic: I'd advise you not to read these posts.

I've decided to take a fandom approach to my Nano novel. En brief: I'm remixing the material I have and narrowing perspectives and picking an ending to work toward to narrow my focus.

There was quite a chunk of accidental sprawl in creating this novel that was involved in figuring out where said story should go (this is the problem with a premise-only approach to a novel-length work), and then there were multiple characters and the original characters that inspired the story got almost buried under the compelling ones that came along for the ride, so...

Here are my steps for preparing for Nano:

1. Determine dealbreaker inclusions for the fic
2. Determine dealbreaker exclusions for the fic
3. Pick my foci for the section I'm working on, which I suspect will hit that 50,000 no problem
4. Plan out the highlights I want to hit along the writing way
5. Know where I'm headed and from whence I'm headed

I'm taking the entire thing from the perspective of the women, all three of them, with absolutely no deviation allowed. I've written fic like this, and it's a wonderful way to bring in my focus. I have a few key knots to work through to get from point A to point B and it took me a while to dig through knots in "Dowse and Bleed." That's work I'd like to get done before I dive in for this November.

I have a beginning, and I have an ending, and they aren't for the same portion of the plot. I'll be learning plot this November, whereas there are others who have grasped this all-important concept at a level I haven't because I generally write around a story and let plot handle itself, but this book has a plot and it's the  plot that's ran away with the story left in the dust. I'm picking this book for Nano because 1) huge priority and 2) because if there's one thing I can do if I think in a ficcing mindset it's pick up a story and dust it off and make it shine out around the plot.

Time to start unknotting.

Download article as PDF

Originally published at Liana Mir. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[in-the-blue.livejournal.com]

Good luck with it all! I'm going to start plotting my NaNo novel today. I'm getting excited about it.

[scribblemyname]

thank you and good luck!

[in-the-blue.livejournal.com]

In the process of outlining, I realized that this is Marien's story. I am so in love with that idea, you can't possibly imagine. I'm so happy right now. That means Denny & the usual characters get to make appearances too. Pop me into a world I'm familiar with and the whole thing falls neatly into place.

Now I'm excited.

[scribblemyname]

Now I'M excited!

[alphaflyer.livejournal.com]

No way I'll ever do NaNo, but I wish you all the very best!

[scribblemyname]

Thank you!

(I don't blame you. For a long time, it held no interest for me.)

[alphaflyer.livejournal.com]

The whole idea of write-on-command,and for quantity, holds very little appeal to me -- I have a hard enough time sometimes finishing the little exchanges I sign up for! (Not to mention the big ones like Marvel_bang, and I had MONTHS for that ...)

[scribblemyname]

I write best to externally mandated deadlines, but I'm also thoroughly aware that I'm outside the norm in that. I can't even write to internally imposed deadlines well! It helps me a lot to know someone's waiting on it, which is why I do so many exchanges anymore.

Speaking of which, I'm aiming to roll my unfinished promptathon pieces into Yuletide/Secret Santa for timeline.

Congrats on accomplishing a Marvel Bang even in months. I've dropped out of every big bang I've tried because long novels haven't been my thing despite trying for years now, so I admire and respect those who can write sprawling works like that and finish them.

[alphaflyer.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :-) Putting the finishing touches on it now -- coming in at 31k+ words. Posting on Sunday -- yay!

But isn't NaNo about producing a 60k novel? Or just 60k words?

[scribblemyname]

50K on a single book, preferably done.

Did I mention trying for a while? This is my 3rd Nano attempt and it's built on the premise that in the 1st and 2nd, I couldn't focus on one project (a problem I'm notorious for), and in the 2nd, my personal life also blew up with serious illness and a death in the family.

I've written novels before, but not 50K+ in any reasonable amount of time (and first novels being what they are, the one I finished in something like 3 years shall never, ever, EVER see the light of day) and not because I didn't have ideas that sprawled that large but because that lost interest/inspiration that comes when I can't wrap the story on paper shortly after I wrap it in my head.

This time, I'm hitting most of the issues that bogged down previous attempts and working out strategies in advance, including dealing with my lack of a love relationshp (read, downright ambivalence) toward intellectual plot-wrangling. I do plots but usually as they emerge naturally. This works great for me in shorts and stops working in a dramatic way in novels, alas. Then there's that this novel is a collab that totally tangented on us because we figured out where we were going as we went there and we sprawl in different ways and got the worst ends of BOTH of our sprawls instead of just the best of both our skillsets. This is a focused, remix it like a fanfic, bat clean-up on my half.

In short, this is doable. I used to write chaptered fic well but lost the feel of it for a while because of all the shorts I was writing. I've spent the last two years trying to get that back.

Which is a long way of saying that Nano is all about novelling, and I want to be all about novelling, and so we're a match made not in heaven, but in boot camp. Third time's the charm, right?