NaNoWriMo Nostalgia, part 2!

Drowning Sky 1 2007

Now, by this NaNo, I was in the middle of a writing frenzy. Nothing had come near to 50k, but I consistently writing over 20k, usually 30k. I was actually halfway through a 30k project when November came around, so it went on pause for NaNo. I had decided that this year, I was going to do something special, something that would kill me to abandon. I think every writer, maybe every person, has their novel baby.

It’s the idea that had been swirling in your head for years. Maybe so long that you’ve forgotten where it came from or even when it started taking up residence in your daydreams. It’s the story you want so badly to write, but you are so afraid to write it because you want it to be perfect. I hesitated on writing Drowning Sky for probably six years. I needed practice, I figured. I needed to know that I was good enough for it.

Now a lot about this particular NaNo is written in my exhaustive intro found in the tabs above, so I won’t go into detail. But I will say that I finished 50k that month and I realized that I wasn’t even half done with this story.

Drowning Sky 2 2008

By this year I had written a m/m romance novel called His Eyes, which capped off at 70k. And that one officially takes my novel virginity. So I wasn’t too worried for this NaNo, figured I was a pro. I also came to conclusion that if I finished the plot of Drowning Sky and hadn’t reached 50k, I would ramble or continue on into other books that would inhabit the same world. This strategy (though I ended up not employing it) is one the best for those who think they don’t have enough plot in one novel for 50k. You think your story is going to end at 40k? First, finish it, then just go on to some other story or ramble or write porn whatever. It gives me more drive to finish, even when I think there isn’t enough for 50k.

And I’ve never actually finished a novel during NaNo, so this idea is purely psychological to me.

Now, where is Drowning Sky? Completed at 120k, or so, I let it sit for a year. Then I went back and realized that it wasn’t near as complete as it deserved. I have in my Scrivener a binder of Drowning Sky, now a trilogy. It is incomplete in my head, though I’ve previously posted it as a full novel. This is one of the projects that I will probably attempt to finish next year.