NaNoWriMo 2009

My goal for the next few posts is to write a greater explanation for each one of the writing projects I am working on this month.

First up is NaNoWriMo. I've participated in it two previous years, 2005 and 2006. I did sign up in 2007 but decided that the novel I started was something that meant too much to me to try and rush it.

This year, like all other years, I don't expect to write an entire novel in one month. 50,000 words isn't a novel and I'm not even sure I'll get that many words done.

In 2005 I had over 40,000 words by the end of the month and in 2006 I was just shy of the 30,000 word mark. In both cases it took me several months longer to finish the actual story.

And I'll admit that both of those novels were awful, but it was cool to say that I wrote a novel. I was no longer the person 'writing a novel' or with 'an idea for a really cool novel.' I was a novel writer even if it sucked.

Both of those years I had strict outlines and new exactly where I was going and what I had to do. I think a lot of the reason the novels didn't turn out so well was that I forced my story from one point on the outline to the next.

This year I'm doing things a little differently. I started with an idea. Just a scene that is kind of a vision I had one day. And I'm going to try and make it up as I go along.

I have a few ideas in my head of where it's going but what's going to happen and how it all ends is a mystery to even me. The only thing I know for sure is that it's a horror story.

Maybe it will be good. Maybe it will be bad. Either way the goal is to average 1667 words a day. It's day one and I've written 1499.