Gearing Up for NaNoWriMo 2010

My brother, Henry, was so excited about NaNoWriMo last year that it made me think about actually getting off my ass and doing something about one of my dreams. That dream is writing a novel. Many people want to write a novel and talk about doing it off and on for years.  Many of those same people never even put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard.

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. During the month of November, each participant has 30 days to write a 50,000 word novel. At this stage of the game, the novel does not have to be reading publishing. Hell, it doesn't even have to be reading for editing. But there have been some authors who have gotten their start by taking part in this competition. And just what does it mean to win NaNoWriMo? if you scuessfully complete your 50,000 word novel you have won the competition. If you don't make it to that word count, then better luck next time! There really are no losers.

My brother and one of my closest friends are also taking part in this year's NaNoWriMo. We can be a support for each other as well as have a friendly little competition between the three of us. Should be a wonderful experience for all of us. And with my brother's past experience in this, he can help us figure out some of the best ways to keep ourselves motivated as well as software that makes tracking our progress so much easier.

I have started writing a book many times over the years and never gotten very far with it. Short stories are not much of a problem for me, but fleshing the story out so that it is more than just a few pages is something that I sometimes have trouble with. Part of that trouble is that I lose interest or ambition with the project. But when I find myself doing the writing because I want to, then I can fly through pages and pages of description and dialogue.

One of my most successful stories was actually the back ground on a character for a LARP game. About nine years ago I let some friends of mine talk me into playing Vampire: the Masquerade. I wrote a five pages back story for my character and handed it in to the storyteller before my first gaming session. He read it over and then shouted out to the rest of the players, "This is what I mean by a back story!" Not only had I given a basic description of the character and what he was currently doing, but I written about his childhood, his early adult years, and what exactly was going on when he was embraced and became a part of the story line for the city.
Now, I have always been rather good at developing back stories for characters in role playing games. Sometimes I get so involved in the story that I forget that I am developing a character for a game. I plan to take some of that and turn it into developing characters for a book.

Between now and November 1, 2010 I can do all the story development I want, I just can't actually write the story. Does that sound confusing? Well, here, let me try to clarify that for you.  What I means is that i can write about my characters, the setting of the story and what have you, but I cannot actually sit down and write any of the STORY. I can describe the characters down to their smallest detail; I can write up or even draw out a plan of their homes, businesses, and other surroundings. What I cannot do is sit down and write out the dialogue between Character A and B at such-n-such a point in the story.

And just how am I going to help prepare myself for the commitment of this NaNoWriMo? I am going to do my utmost to write at least one post a day for this blog, with a minimum of 500 words for each post. (As of this sentence, I have exceeded that 500 words for this post.) I am also renewing my commitment to write at least one post for the Pangaia Metaphysical Store blog and get back on track with doing the weekly blog posts to my radio blog for Murphy's Magic Mess, Pagan-Musings Podcast and Musica Pagani.

Throughout the next several weeks, leading up to November 1, I will keep my readers posted as to my success with my pre-NaNoWriMo writing commttments. During November, I will do my best to keep up on those commitments along with the commitment to write the 50,000 word novel. So, I ask that you all have patience with me as I brush up my writing skills and I encourage you to drop me notes with suggestions and encouragement along the way.