The air is turning cooler, the days grow shorter, as the fall season settles in around us. After the year that we are all experiencing it can seem like the day’s drone on, stretching into months, weeks feel like years, months like eons. This month will be a little different though. For many writers, October is the preface to a season of writing like few others, for when the clock strikes midnight on October 31st a thousand authors will launch their imaginations and their stories into the void. November will bring to us another NaNoWriMo, a challenge that will break a thousand stories to bits, while a thousand more sail to success. October is when we prepare. We store up our snacks and our good ideas for the season ahead. WriMo doesn’t start next month, the journey begins right now.
For those wondering just what the heck I am talking about, I am referring to the NaNoWriMo challenge which takes place every November. The creators of this challenge wanted to get people to stop talking about their novels and actually sit down and write them. Here’s how it works, you sign up at their website and set up a profile and brief bio of your book, then the moment November 1st begins you start writing. I don’t mean some weak 500 words blog post either. WriMo is an all out sprint, so write quick, write often, and write like you mean it! The finish line is just fifty thousand words away and you only have thirty days to do it!
I have come to love this approach to novel writing for a whole host of reasons. Many of my early attempts to write a novel ended in failure because I would pick over the same parts until I lost interest and never completed anything. You won’t have time for that in November. The speed at which you have to form your story means that it tests your story, and your world building and characters all at the same time. Your imagination will be stretched to capacity as you focus on getting your story out as quickly as possible. Many times I have had to stop partway through because something was broken internally with the story mechanics. This brings me to why October is so important, and why I think it is the key to having a successful November.
I write mostly fantasy novels and occasionally some science fiction, as a reader these are my favorite genres, I love adventures and magic. I love good characters and worlds more wonderous than the last. Writing lets me explore all of that from the comfort of home. This year I will be working on a new fantasy book that I am really excited about, Project Facet (this is not the title just the project name, I name them after they are done usually) will be a new story, a new world, and a different take on magic than my previous stories. Here’s the thing about fantasy worlds though, if you want to have a solid world and grounded characters then there is a whole trove of writing that will not make it onto the printed page. I have world histories, religious practices, internal monologues from my main character, and her love of puppies that might not make it into the book. That is ok, in fact that is the point! These little notes give me a sense of who the people of Facet are and what type of world they live in. Writing this down in October means that I can focus on writing my story and not building a world for that story to take place in.
This month I will be touching on each of the various facets of a story that shape and give life to our stories. We will touch on building characters that feel real, worlds that feel old and plot that feels organic, and finally how to inject a bit of mystery and wonder into the story. November will be a sprint, but it is one that you can certainly win with just a little preparedness. The path to success is being prepared!