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?