NaNoWriMo

Happy Friday to all! I hope it's been a great week for all of you. It's been productive for me. As I stated in my last blog, I just wrapped up my latest draft of Book 2. Now, I am beginning my "CTRL-F Edit". If you have no idea what I mean by that, just keep scrolling down and read my previous post!

It seems hard to believe this will be the final blog post of September. 2020 has been a doozy in many ways. At times, it seems like it has flown by, while at others, it seems it will never end. But now that we are finally into autumn, what better topic to discuss than NaNoWriMo?

I'm guessing if you're reading this, you already have a pretty good idea of what NaNoWriMo is. If not, here is a basic description, courtesy of their website (which will be linked at the bottom of this post). 

National Novel Writing Month began in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel in thirty days. Now, each year on November 1, hundreds of thousands of people around the world begin to write, determined to end the month with 50,000 words of a brand new novel. They enter the month as elementary school teachers, mechanics, or stay-at-home parents. They leave novelists.

Straightforward enough, right? This will be my first time participating in NaNoWriMo, though I have broken the 50,000 word mark in a month before. This time, however, there is a scheduled month for it, and I will be charting my progress publicly. That means you all get to judge me and mock me relentlessly if I fail! Exciting, right? 

Please don't get too excited though, because I have no intention of failing. I've been preparing for this for a few weeks now, and by the time November 1st hits, I think I'll be 100% ready to roll. I'm actually really looking forward to this. I have my book outlines, though I will be re-evaluating that outline over the next few weeks to ensure I am set up for success.

So what's the project? It will be Book 6 of my Thrawll Saga epic fantasy series. It will conclude the second trilogy of this saga. I've not shared many details about this trilogy, but I'll give you a little taste. It follows a young Imperial Army recruit named Darian Tor. He joined the army because that was what his father did at his age and his grandfather before that. Plus, his best childhood friend had already enlisted, so why not? Throughout this trilogy, he forges a tight friendship with several of his fellow recruits, and friendship which they will need if any of them are going to survive the hell I've been putting them through. By the time it's all said and done, Darian finds many of his assumptions, not only about the military but about life in general, were horribly mistaken.

I've really enjoyed writing the first two books of this set, particularly the friendship between the young army recruits. Their drill instructor in Book 4, while a minor character, was also an absolute blast to write. I think I'm going to make him even meaner on my edits, though. It's a darker, grittier story than my first trilogy, which is precisely what I wanted. While I want the various pieces of this saga to flow coherently, I also want each individual story to have its own unique feel. How will I bring it all together when the time comes to conclude the saga? That's Future Pete's problem, let that guy deal with it. Though, truth be told, I already have a few ideas about that.

Well, that's all I've got. Are you participating in NaNoWriMo this year? Have you done so in the past? My Friday blogs starting on November 6th and ending on December 4th will be dedicated to this topic. I will also be posting regular updates on my social media platforms (linked below). If you are participating, good luck! Remember, proper preparation prevents poor performance!

~Pete

​NaNoWriMo Website

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