Monday, October 24, 2011

Nanowrimo, anyone?

by C.L. Phillips

Even in Central Texas, there's a whiff of autumn in the air.  I can't imagine how beautiful it must be in Pittsburgh with the colorful trees bidding adieu to their leaves in preparation for ...NANOWRIMO, National Write a Novel in  Month.

Who's in with me?

In my quest for the perfect system to quickly write books, I'm doing something new this year.  I'm starting with the title, my template, and two days of pre-planning (October 30 and 31).  Then it's "heads-down" for the rest of November.

My goal :  to cover the ground from Once upon a Night to THE END, namely a completed first draft.  I did this over the last six weeks on another project, so I thought I'd report what I've learned.

Getting down the bones of the story takes between 55,000 and 60,000 words.  Going back and adding in the details of additional scenes, cool research on undeveloped ideas adds another 10,000 words.  Fine tuning the character development, conflict, and setting adds another 15,000 words, bringing the total to 80-85,000.  Buff and polishing subtracts another 5,000 words.

So my plan for NANOWRIMO?  Create the core 55-60,000 words.

Who is in with me?

6 comments:

Joyce Tremel said...

I had thoughts of doing NaNo this year, but I'm working on yet another revision. Maybe next year!

Good luck!

Annette said...

Good luck, Cindy! Keep us posted on your progress. If you have time!

Ramona said...

I can never do NaNo because it is in November, and Thanksgiving is my mother-in-law's yearly visit, which I love.

However, I am taking Susan Meier's NaNo prep course through Pennwriters. If it had a recommend button, I'd be hitting it now.

Ramona said...

I hit send too soon.

Good luck, Cindy!

Jenna said...

Not me. I can write 50K in a month - I did it in August - but I don't handle the pressure well. That said, I do have to write at least 40K in November. I have until February 1 to deliver a completed, polished manuscript of the first SFR to my new editor, and with the holidays coming up, November's gonna be crunch time. I'll be writing right along with you.

C.L. Phillips said...

I promise to keep you posted on the progress.

Prep working starting...now.

Take care,

C.L.