This year I'm once again participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).
I love it because it's the one time of year that, not only do I get to write for fun but I actually get to write for fun every night!
The goal is to write a novel in November. The rules are that you have to start from scratch with the words (outlining and character development are allowed) and you have to reach 50,000 words by Nov. 30 (whether your novel is complete or not).
I "won" NaNo the past two years by reaching the goal. Those first two novels are ... well, Hemingway said it best, "The first draft of anything is shit." That does sum it up. And, although my intentions were good last year, I never took the time to edit my novel to make it anything better than a first draft.
This year, my genre is teen mystery/girl detective. Imagine Trixie Belden (or if you never heard of her Nancy Drew but slightly younger).
To prepare for NaNo I've been reading girl detective mysteries - that alone would be fun. But then I developed my outline and characters in October and found that actually creating characters and a plot was a lot of fun.
I'm now halfway through my novel at 25,000 words (which is right on target), and I find the only thing holding me back is having the time to write. The plot is strong, my characters are being developed more as I write, and I'm getting much better at writing dialogue.
For anyone interested, I'll share the summary of my novel (which for a girl detective mystery would be the text either on the back cover or on an introductory page before the table of contents).
A page ripped from an old diary found in a book in her grandmother's attic reveals a forgotten family mystery. Now Mira and her best friend, Livie, must find the diary for clues to locate the missing ring. But who is the old man they keep seeing, and why is he following them? Can a neighbor's scattered memories of a little girl provide the missing clue? They'll have to work quickly because time is running out -- the ring might be in her Nana's house, which is about to be sold. ...
