To NaNo or Not to NaNo...
We're rapidly approaching National Novel Writing Month, more commonly known as November.
I've never done NaNo. Last year I was still first-drafting on W&F1. The year before that, Arion.
But NaNo never really appealed to me. Start a new novel? For goodness' sake, why? I've had been mid-way through any number of novels since I was in 8th grade. It never made sense to me to start a new one just to start a new one.
Er, until now.
The revision on Wings & Fangs: Bewitched is going pretty well. But I think it would go better (& I'd have less to do in draft 3) if I knew arc for the whole series. As I am incapable of outlining (I know this because W&F1 was supposed to be an entirely different book), the only way for me to figure out where the story goes is, well, to write the story.
Here's where NaNo comes in. IMO, it's as good an excuse as any to work on a SFD. I'll have a definite start/end date and a bunch of other people will be throwing down a first draft at the same time, so a lot of people will be discussing similar issues, etc.
I do have a few 'problems' though...
1) Per the rules of NaNo, this needs to be a totally new story. For 'totally new' I have to jump to book 3 (and even then, I'm not sure a couple scenes I've already written wouldn't go into that).
2) I really should give W&F1 my attention while it's going at a good pace.
3) I'm already involved in JoNoWriMo + 1.5. (My goals for that are to finish the revision and to write a few chapters of a new piece.)
Given where I am in my revision*, it would make more sense to stick with JoNo only and not jump into NaNo, too. But seeing all these people on LJ, FB and Twitter who are diving in does make it sound interesting. I write close to 33000 words/month anyway (average), so it would be a bit of a hike to 50000. But I don't think it would be an unmanageable one.
So I guess all this rambling here is to ask your opinion. NaNo or simply continue on with JoNo goals?
*I'm on Chapter 18 out of 40. Since I'm just about at the halfway mark, it seems reasonable to think another solid month of writing could finish it.
I've never done NaNo. Last year I was still first-drafting on W&F1. The year before that, Arion.
But NaNo never really appealed to me. Start a new novel? For goodness' sake, why? I've had been mid-way through any number of novels since I was in 8th grade. It never made sense to me to start a new one just to start a new one.
Er, until now.
The revision on Wings & Fangs: Bewitched is going pretty well. But I think it would go better (& I'd have less to do in draft 3) if I knew arc for the whole series. As I am incapable of outlining (I know this because W&F1 was supposed to be an entirely different book), the only way for me to figure out where the story goes is, well, to write the story.
Here's where NaNo comes in. IMO, it's as good an excuse as any to work on a SFD. I'll have a definite start/end date and a bunch of other people will be throwing down a first draft at the same time, so a lot of people will be discussing similar issues, etc.
I do have a few 'problems' though...
1) Per the rules of NaNo, this needs to be a totally new story. For 'totally new' I have to jump to book 3 (and even then, I'm not sure a couple scenes I've already written wouldn't go into that).
2) I really should give W&F1 my attention while it's going at a good pace.
3) I'm already involved in JoNoWriMo + 1.5. (My goals for that are to finish the revision and to write a few chapters of a new piece.)
Given where I am in my revision*, it would make more sense to stick with JoNo only and not jump into NaNo, too. But seeing all these people on LJ, FB and Twitter who are diving in does make it sound interesting. I write close to 33000 words/month anyway (average), so it would be a bit of a hike to 50000. But I don't think it would be an unmanageable one.
So I guess all this rambling here is to ask your opinion. NaNo or simply continue on with JoNo goals?
*I'm on Chapter 18 out of 40. Since I'm just about at the halfway mark, it seems reasonable to think another solid month of writing could finish it.