When I jump into my writing, chaptered or short story; I always have a somewhat plan. I know what the story is about; I know relatively what will go into each chapter etc. Often the characters will decide to change things taking the story into new directions, but the main objective almost always remains the same and the general idea of what will go into each chapter is always there. And then there is my novel.
The idea, came to me…so long ago, I don’t even know when; I do believe I was still in High School, which means that it’s been at least ten years. I did not act on it too much, so many ideas coming into my head, characters forming, and changing…a lot. I would write little pieces of things down but they would never feel completely right.
In the last few months my Novel, or really I should say novels; as this has grown so big it will take at least three books to tell, has began to solidify. My characters have become a lot clearer, now with full names and a lot more personalities. The places there journeying will take them has become a little more clear as well, with societies, histories and new supporting characters to help and hinder my main characters adventures.
The main plot remains the same, but now the enemy is more then just the evil villain, there is a life behind him, a story and a great mystery. Meanwhile sub-plots are beginning to form, and build.
And yet with all this knowledge, I know nothing! In all my stories I always start at the beginning and I let my characters lead me one chapter at a time. But with my novel, all attempts to start at chapter one has ended poorly. I don’t know my characters well enough yet to start at the very emotional beginning. But then where do I start? The end? It’s a thought! But then, I only know tiny portion of the end, I can hardly close opened doors if I don’t know where the doors are or what is in them.
The challenge of NaNoWriMo is 50,000 words in the month of November. My own challenge will be to write as much of this story as I can, which means I need some kind of plan, right? Maybe not! With so many pieces of the puzzle that is this novel running ramped in my head perhaps I should just write. Everything currently in my head out onto my computer and backed up on my external hard drive. Then later I will just have to put the pieces together and keep writing.
So now that I know what I am going to do, I need to be ready if I am going to make the word count and win this challenge. I need to begin to focus on the main scenes that like to play and re-play in my head, begin to notice the details, and figure out why the things that are happening, are in fact happening. How did they get to this point? Maybe after this November Exercise is complete I will know my characters enough to be able to go back to the beginning and just write like I do all my stories.
My fingers are crossed.
I wish everyone participating in this years NaNoWriMo great luck, and I will see you on the other side!
Lauren
My NaNoWriMo Page
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