Living the Fictional Dream

I guess I have NaNo on the brain right now. Understandably so… My writing group dubbed October “NaNo Prep Month,” so Steph, VA, and I have been trying to come up with exercises that we can do during our lunch meetings that will help the group prepare for the upcoming madness. Not all of us are outliners, so planning for something like NaNo is a stretch.

I won my first year writing by the seat of my pants. And, yet, I never finished the novel. It languishes to this day at about 56K. I put it down after winning NaNo for a “break,” and never felt like going back to it. At this point, I don’t know if I ever will. We all have dead manuscripts like that laying about don’t we?

I won my second year with a brief outline. It was helpful to have something to go back to if I forgot what was to come next. I never write with outlines, so it was a new experience for me. Sadly, I realized halfway in (when it was too late to change for NaNo purposes) that I should have used 1st person POV instead of my preferred 3rd person. To get anything out of that novel requires a full rewrite, which I just haven’t been able to make as much progress on as I should have. I don’t know why… I’ve just been more into short fiction recently, and sometimes I think that revisions suck my creativity right out of me.

Last year, I had a fairly detailed outline, and I totally failed at NaNo. The outlined story had my interest intellectually, but I never really felt the story. I think that’s why it failed. It was too much like work, not enough like that creative spark that carries you away. The characters never took on a life of their own — I was forcing it. So, a few days in, I switched to another idea that I’d been pondering, but had not prepped for. I got a couple of chapters in and realized I’d made a huge mistake in Chapter 1. Sadly, that mistake was the premise for the whole plot thus far. I couldn’t face starting over again, so I gave up on NaNo and wrote short stories for the rest of the month.

I think I’ve decided that during our planning month, I’m going to noodle around with the urban fantasy novel idea. If I get something workable, I’ll go for that. But, if it never comes together, then I’ll focus NaNo on novel revisions. Possibly on the rewrite of my novel from 2006 (mentioned above — the 3rd to 1st person rewrite). I call it my Siren novel, because the main character is, in fact, a Siren.

Or, alternatively, I’ll work on the rewrite of the novel that I wrote in high school. It’s about a young group of sorcerers who have to save the world. I wrote the whole thing in high school, so the style and plotting are not up to snuff. It needs a total rewrite now that I actually have more skills on how to do those things. But I love those characters and their story, so I really want t finish it. This was the novel that first stole my heart and will always be my favorite pet project.

So, the possibilities are out there. I will see where NaNo Prep Month leads me!

And, not related to NaNo, I have to say, if you haven’t read “Outlast the Stars” over at Every Day Fiction today, you should. It’s great!

Fall has come to Texas. Today, the wind is blowing briskly through the streets of downtown, and I’d much rather be outside than stuck in my small office. Most days, I don’t mind not having a window — in the pecking order, I’m lucky enough to have an office at all, window or no window — but today, I wish I had one so I could watch the trees dancing.

It feels as if the fall breezes are bringing me ideas from muses that have been on vacation for most of September. I suddenly had an idea for a novel that I could write during NaNo… a novel set in my urban fantasy world (the same one as my story, “Alpha,” up at Electric Spec, and my story “Packless,” which is currently making the rounds).

I’d been planning to use NaNo for rather hefty revision (think total rewrite) of one of my two novels-in-progress, but now this new idea tempts me into new territories. I have a few weeks left before November first. Perhaps I will tinker with an outline and see what happens.

I also had a couple of ideas for short stories come in with the wind. Now I just need time to sit down and write them. The weeks (and weekends!) have been so busy lately. I’m no longer in school and I don’t have children, so I’m not dealing with the school there, either, but it still seems as if the gearing up of a new semester always affects my schedule. And, it’s also the dreaded busy season at work, so there is much to do.

But, perhaps, soon I will find time to sit down and put these breezy musings to paper (or to Word document, more accurately). It wouldn’t do to waste fall’s gifts!