I went back and forth as to whether or not to keep the same task numbers for this but decided in the end to just keep the numbers. We are starting something sort of new here. All this year we have been working on one manuscript. We spent the first part of the year blocking it out in short tasks and getting all of our research together. We then did our writing, our initial read throughs and edits and now we have reached the point (hopefully) where we are sending it out to our first readers. Then there is another round of editing as we take their comments on board.
However I find that when I am waiting for someone to read my manuscript and get back to me, it is better to have something else to focus on.
So what are we focusing on? Another manuscript of course.
Many of you I am certain have heard of The National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo or just Nano for short). It happens every November. The links will get you to the official NANOWRIMO organization. I enjoy the process but am not officially affiliated in any way. I do occasionally like to participate.
What is it we are participating in?
It is writing a full 50K word manuscript in thirty days (November). That boils down to 1667 words per day throughout the month. If interested I highly recommend going to the official site for more information. They have small groups all over the country with write ins where writers gather to write together and it can be a lot of fun to join a group. Or you can do it on your own. It is nice to have the option to be with people on occasion.
Now to be able to write a complete draft of a manuscript in thirty days does require some prep work. So while waiting for readers to get back to us and possibly even doing some editing, we will go through daily tasks from now until the end of October to prepare for Nano. It is still planning a novel so I kept it with the same task numbers but this is essentially a new challenge and a different way to look at planning a novel. The basics are the same but we are condensing it which lets us look at planning a novel from a little different perspective. And sometimes seeing things from a different viewpoint helps. So… Let’s prepare for Nano.
Task #167 (Nano #1): Briefly write about your story idea.
It can be a sentence or even a paragraph but try not to go too long. Because of the length of time we have to write (thirty days) focus on something that has one main plot and not a story with multiple intertwining plots.
If you do have something with multiple intertwining plot lines or something written from different character perspectives, I generally find it better to do a separate break out of each plot line or character story, take one of them for November’s writing (even if you break out the others at the same time) and then after November is through pick another month and do another round writing the other (s). I should also point out that with the exception of my novellas, most of my manuscripts end up being around 100K so this really requires I reign things in.
As always, happy writing.
Ten til Midnight 