creative writing

November 14, 2024

It’s NaNoWriMo

Within the literary community, November is known as Nation Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo.) In the past I have participated and even wrote my first novel during the event back in 2009. I enjoyed the process so much I subsequently wrote two sequels to that same novel. One was ABSOLUTE GARBAGE which will NEVER see the light of day and the other was so good it is the actual sequel.

The way it works is starting November 1st a wannabe writer sits down and clacks out 1,667 words. The idea is not to think, but to just write. I remember reading on their “official” website that you’re suggested to not even go back and re-read what you had previously written, as to not deter yourself by your internal critic. Although I have not seen that since and I have looked. Regardless, I have stuck tight to that rule. It keeps one focused on the task at hand and not worrying about prose or content but moreso on getting the story out. They also suggested writing down EVERYTHING one can think of for the story. Anything superfluous can be cut during editing. Build the world and characters in the moment. Focus on that more than anything else. Plus, it then makes hitting the daily word total a breeze.

I thought about participating but… November is a hard month for me what with my husband’s and my anniversary on the 1st, my birthday, and all the other celebrations that tend to happen in the same month. Now, it’s even more difficult because in addition to my birthday at the very beginning of the month as is my boyfriends. This year we began the month in Seattle traveling and I didn’t really have the time. I also didn’t really have an idea to write about.

That all changed a week ago.

As I was driving to work a story popped into my head based on the passing of my husband. Since then the narrative has been rolling around in my brain building itself up into a fully formed shape. Now, I am thinking about starting halfway through the month on typing it out just to see where it goes… The first NaNoWriMo I did was loosely based on a break-up with a boyfriend. Just told from the perspective of my ex. It was insanely cathartic. Not to mention it was fucking good. I am so proud of how it turned out. Why not use that same energy to handle my grief?

January 28, 2019

#WriterProblems

I am almost certain I have come to this fork in the road once before, when I attempted to edit my novel in the past. Evidently though I chose not to do anything about it and keep it the way it was, for whatever reason. Maybe I thought, “Well I’ll just fix it after I revise the whole thing.” Which is downright ridiculous because the changes required ripple through the rest of the story. Jesus, I really hate myself sometimes. Past Josh was an idiot, to be quite frank.

Here is my dilemma, my novel takes place in the mountains northeast of Boise, Idaho on New Year’s Eve and there is absolutely no snow.  The things that occur very much show no snow and adding it would make things difficult for both me and my protagonists.

When I was editing my Chapter 9 (‘yay’ for making headway) the question that came to mind is, “Wait, could this actually happen?” In this chapter I describe a broad green valley cut in two by a stream. Green… In January… In the mountains. Naw, girl. That doesn’t sound possible. So I did a quick google search and discovered that snow covered 99.5% of the landscape. So, you’re telling me that there is chance of snow. Then that information made me wonder if there would even be a stream.

Luckily I have a buddy who moved from my hometown to a town in Idaho. So I started asking him these very questions. And that kicked me back to the beginning.

When I originally wrote this book I did not have this particular plot point about an alcoholic father and it being New Year’s Eve.  I added that AFTER the fact to answer another couple questions that arose that needed clarification. However, because of them, this has created quite the conundrum.

How do I solve this issue? Do I go back and add in the snow and change the action to handle the new dilemma OOOOR do I just move the date of the story to a spring month? My one hang up is that it would seem too forced for the alcoholic father to have a HUGE change of heart in regards to his substance abuse. With the “New year, new you” mentality it fits better, in my mind.

The other option I had was maybe move it up to May, and make it a birthday thing. Like “Now that I’m 40…” And it could work but AGAIN another plot point comes under attack in the forms of a character that HAS TO put on a jacket. (That is 100% non-negotiable.) Is she still going to ask for a jacket?

Oh, writer problems.

My husband is such a dick. He’s making fun of me by saying that I’m going to be eighty years old still working on this book. “I just need to add one more thing.”

Anyway, I’m probably just going to go back and put a winter layover. I just don’t want to do it.