Every year, I go through the same process during this time of year:
- Realize that NaNoWriMo is coming up
- Decide that I should do NaNoWriMo
- Panic-outline a story idea, generally focusing way too much on the beginning and not at all on the ending
- Start NaNoWriMo strong
- Stall out at 20,000 words, because that’s when my outline ends and I’m pretty much a plotter
Not this year! maybe?
Okay, the first two steps are the same. And half of the third (the panic-outlining part). But this year, I outlined the whole gd book.
I’m using Kat from Katytastic’s 3 Act – 9 Block – 27 Chapter outlining method. I’ve vaguely attempted this method in the past, but I was mainly retrofitting an existing story idea in this sort of structure. This time I pretty much started from scratch and that definitely helps.
I’ve attempted NaNoWriMo several times in the past – according to my NaNoWriMo profile, I’ve been a member for over 10 years. how? The only time I’ve “won” NaNo was the time that I did have a pretty extensive outline, so theoretically having this sort of game plan will make winning much easier.
So what are you writing about, Ann? Here’s the synopsis I added to the NaNoWriMo site:
Stitch ’em up so they die another day. Such is the life of the staff of M*A*S*S 192. Until they are captured by the enemy and learn who they’ve been fighting…and who they’re keeping alive.
This novel is sci-fi, which is something I haven’t written in a very long time. It draws inspiration from Battlestar Galactica and M*A*S*H, as well as the Israel-Palestine conflict. These characters have been hanging out in my brain for a few years, but they’ve never really had a concrete story.
To track my progress between blog posts, you can check out my Google Sheet here:
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Let the writing commence (on Thursday)!