So it begins — NaNoWriMo starts today. All of the anticipation and preparation has lead to this very moment, where there’s nothing left to do but execute the game-plan and write. All of this preparation will have to suffice. I’m nowhere near where I had hoped to be at this point, but life happens, and as generals often say, “You go to war with the army you have, not the army you want.” I’ll have to go into November with a vague outline. That’s not to say that I’m unprepared or anything. I have been diligently outlining my NaNo-Novel all month, and I’ve made a lot of headway towards giving it structure with the proper cast of characters. I’ve created my NaNoWriMo project in Scrivener, where I have my NaNo-Novel structured into four-acts (Act1, Act 2a, Act 2b, Act 3), with each act divided into two segments. Each of these eight segments ends with a major story milestone (such as the inciting incident, the midpoint reversal or the beginning of the climactic confrontation). Each segment is divided into four scenes. These scenes include all the important story-elements that need to be included in that segment for that part of the story. I like working this way because it allows me to see my story as a balanced whole, and it gives me direction as I write my scenes to the next milestone marker. I don’t know much about the details of the scenes at this point, but I trust myself, I trust my Muse and I trust the creative process. I'm confident that my story will come to life once I actually start writing. I’ll talk more about my story-writing process in my next post…
That’s all for this ROW80 (Round 4) update.
Please visit the other writers in the ROW80 Community.
Keep the Fire Burning!
I like the army analogy! I start the month with no outline, just a thought in my mind. A seed. I love seeing another's writing process. Allbest in your goals ^_^
ReplyDeleteI like your "story seed" analogy. I'm a story-planner, but I get ALL my initial story-ideas through discovery-writing. Last year's NaNoWriMo was all about exploration and discovery. I had no outline, so I just decided to use that opportunity to brainstorm my "Sword & Sorcery" universe. My manuscript was essentially a world-building and story-development exercise. Through the freedom of discovery-writing, I was able to come up with over fifteen story-ideas, many of which I'll be further developing this year. I'll probably come up with another fifteen story-ideas this year again because my Muse never stays focused. If that happens, I'll be happy to just let her run wild. The more "story seeds" the better.
DeleteSound like you've got it all under control. Have you started writing yet? I'm taking a break to try and refresh my mind. I wanted to get a good head start and write more than the daily limit but I already feel exhausted... Meh.
ReplyDeleteGood luck! I'm sure you'll slay the word count!
Thanks for the encouragement, Abdeah. Just took a break after I accomplished my daily word-count. I'm gonna write more words next hour to try and get ahead on the weekends. I added you as a NaNo-Buddy. I can see you're off the a great start too. Keep it up!
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