#6 The Curse of NaNoWriMo

National Novel Writing Month is nearly upon us. This year I bought a T-shirt because I liked the colour (also because I still have a lingering belief from childhood that the more stuff I have around me associated with something will somehow make me better at it... I know, I know.) and I have been playing on the forums, answering questions and generally being sociable. Should anyone like to friend me, that would be most welcome (Gem351 is my username).

I thought up until yesterday that I knew what story I would be writing. I had a retelling of Beauty and the Beast in mind, in a more historical setting than fantasy. I had named my characters. I had worked out a few plot elements, although not very many. Now I'm not so sure.

Last year, I had vague meandering plot ideas, but I had characters that I knew. I had a decent, but still vague idea of Zillah, Sam and Micheal. Red was easy as soon as he walked onstage, as it were. Flowers was... challenging for me, but it just doesn't feel like that this time round.

This year I really feel it's laboured. I don't really HAVE a plot (even last year I had a faint idea of one, such as it was). The thing is, nothing much really happens. I mean, I have complex relationships worked out between people (which I think I'm getting pretty good at, my epic WIP to thank for that one.) but there's nothing much for them to DO.

I'm seriously considering ditching it, which is a shame because I still love the title and beginning I have in mind. But it just isn't cooked yet. I think this one needs a while longer in my head.

I have various other ideas I could pull out. There's Jemima's story, but again, that's a newish idea that I think needs time to stew and needs a lot of research. I could fudge it, but I get a lot of ideas when I read non-fiction and it would be a shame to miss out on those.

So... second NaNo idea is something that I wrote the first four paragraphs of two years ago. Or so. I was never quite sure what the rest of the story was but it seems to be playing ball with me for the last week. The world is built. I need to work a little on one of the characters (Oona) but I think I could write that. It lets me play in a lot of cultures and with a different technology level than I usually write.

Lastly, the same as last year, my epicWIP which has been uncooperative over the summer, now decides it's time to get active again. I think it has some kind of weird hibernation cycle. I'm still writing the backstory thingy for Deedee (it's up to 12 pages... how did I get this verbose?) and now I have another thing I want to write quick before I forget it because it is neat and awesome in so very many ways (and also shows that last years Pink bunnies of Doom sketch had its uses...)