N*nowrimo

halspacejock posted a Nanowrimo reminder. That's National Novel Writing Month, where you're supposed to write a 50,000 word novel (or part thereof) in a month.

I've found 50K is a good size for a first draft & it's bloody good for generating momentum, so I've done it a few times now.

And last year I said, "No more!".

Last year was a hard one. After bugging me for months (and giving me a complete blow-by-blow account of what happens), the main character dug in his heels and refused to cooperate*. So I decided to take it easy and only do the 2000 words a day needed to complete the things by the end of the month. Then at the end of the first week, it got easier (I'd been referring to the MC by his first name, turns out he preferred me to use his surname) and I thought I could pick this up a bit and maybe finish in 15 days (my best time so far). Except I was going to Hobart later that week, so I'd have to get finish before then. At this stage, I'd only written 26K, just over half so I had to sit down and write the rest in 43 days. Which was... fun. I noticed I did 9000 one day. Exactly 9000, and not a word over ;)

Therein is the problem though. If I do it again, I feel I have to do as good, or better, than the previous year. (No. No. NO.) I'm also writing first drafts faster than I can rewrite/finish them. I don't want to do it again.

But I keep getting good, usable ideas :(

And it is a good motivator.




*It's an interesting novel though. I have my two about the sentient pirate ship, and a frigate turns up at a couple of points. I got to wondering about the disadvantages of a sentient frigate. They can't be separated from their captain, or they start to die, so no promotion for him. They don't react very well to being damaged, which makes them a bit useless in a combat situation. Also, is it possible for someone to control the ship through the captain (e.g. by torturing them)?

It ended up being a parallel novel to Windweaver, in that it takes place at the same time and the start & end are the same (same scene, different POV), as well as part of the middle. Which means it can't be sold/puiblished unless WW is, which is a bit frustrating.