do NaNoWriMo 2009

For an hour or so and I worked on my outline.

It’s a simple story. It takes place over the course of one night.

For the first time, I am writing a simple story for nano.

It makes me worried that perhaps it is too simple and I will not be able to write a whole novel about it. What if it runs out of story before the 50k is up… or really 80k, because 50k is too short for a novel.

But then, my previous novels all ended up being far over 100k. About 130k each. So maybe I really do need to simplify things.

I remember when I took playwriting, many many years ago, my professor told us that simple is better, especially for a first time playwright. The day all of us did our presentations for our outlines, they all had these elaborate stories, and when I went up it was like this:

The girl comes in and talks. The boy comes in and they make friends. The woman comes in and they are comforted. The man comes in and threatens everyone. The girl makes peace with everyone and sends them back where they belong.

And then I stood there blinking at the silence after my oh so short presentation, feeling like a lame butt. But the professor said it was very good. And you know what? I got an A on that play, even though he said first plays are never good.

My point with this jaunt to creative writing past? Sometimes simple is better. Sometimes we overcomplicate our stories because we get carried away with plot bunnies and new fancy ideas. Sometimes it’s okay to focus on a simple story, really get in there with the characters and the writing.

Or perhaps I’m just trying to keep myself from panicking about my too simple story.

Oh well, I guess I’ll do some more outlining… maybe write out some scenes. Only a few days to go until we can get into the writing. :)

The first year I did it, I wrote over 100k words by the end of November.

The second year, I wrote around 80k.

The third year, I managed 50k with 2 or 3 days to spare.

This year, I have even less time to myself. The boy has completely given up his nap and we’re staying with my mom and my step dad always has the tv on and the only time I have silence is after 8pm when the kids go to sleep and I’m usually too tired to do anything then.

To top it all off, there is the possiblity that our long delayed move to California could come at the end of November, so… if I’m not moving during November I will be packing.

Every year I’ve thought that I had the decks stacked against me. First I had a baby and was pregnant. Then I had a baby and a toddler. Then I had two toddlers and an art challenge. Now I have a preschooler, a toddler, and no space of my own and a possible move.

I’m going to give it a good go and see what happens, but I’m still nervous.

At least I’m dealing with my anemia before nano… it’s kind of hard to be creative when you are exhausted and your eyes feel like runny fried eggs in your head.

I decided to do nano again instead of spending the month revising my first nano novel. I need the fun.

I decided to do it a couple of days ago and signed up. I have an idea I’ve been kicking around and that’s the one I’m going for. Urban Fantasy is the genre. It’s remarkable how popular fantasy has become. I was considered quite the geek back in the day for being into fantasy and science fiction.

I’ve been working on a snowflake outline and trying to figure out my plot. I think this book is going to be far more adventure and exitement based than most of my books. I do a lot of internal story lines. All about character development. Now, there’s still internal character development, but there are going to be werewolves and battles to the death and chases … lots of action.

Hope I can do it. Never done action before.

Wish me luck.