Tomorrow it will be November and it will be the fifth November I spend doing Nanowrimo.
For anyone who's not familiar with it, Nanowrimo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It challenges you to write a 50,000 word novel during November. The idea is, it forces you to write quickly, switch off your internal editor and get a first draft down on paper.
Here's how it's gone for me so far.
1. On The Eighth Day - 2004. This was a high fantasy novel. I wrote the 50,000 during November, but the story was nowhere near finished. In fact, looking back, I'm not even sure the story really got started! At the end of November I set it aside to work on at a later date. I intended to finish it one day (I still do) but it hasn't happened yet.
2. The Red Flag - 2005. Another attempt at high fantasy. Only, in this one something interesting happened. Two of the main characters came to life. Degnal and Mafori - a former sergant in the kings army turned guide across the inhospitable regions of the country and Mafori a former potcher who was caught and branded a slave for her crimes. He buys her in a slave auction because he the only way to cross certain borders is to make an offering to the inhabitants of certain countries. This one went the same way as the last. I wrote the 50,000 in November and then set it aside. It will be finished one day, and you can garantee that Dengal and Mafori will live happily ever after in whatever ending I finally manage to write.
3. Alpha - 2006. This was the first Nanowrimo story I finished. It took my until January 2007, but I did finish it. I did 80,000 in the November. The finally story was 212,500 words. It was the first male/male story I wrote, the first erotic romance story I wrote and the first real BDSM story I wrote.
1. On The Eighth Day - 2004. This was a high fantasy novel. I wrote the 50,000 during November, but the story was nowhere near finished. In fact, looking back, I'm not even sure the story really got started! At the end of November I set it aside to work on at a later date. I intended to finish it one day (I still do) but it hasn't happened yet.
2. The Red Flag - 2005. Another attempt at high fantasy. Only, in this one something interesting happened. Two of the main characters came to life. Degnal and Mafori - a former sergant in the kings army turned guide across the inhospitable regions of the country and Mafori a former potcher who was caught and branded a slave for her crimes. He buys her in a slave auction because he the only way to cross certain borders is to make an offering to the inhabitants of certain countries. This one went the same way as the last. I wrote the 50,000 in November and then set it aside. It will be finished one day, and you can garantee that Dengal and Mafori will live happily ever after in whatever ending I finally manage to write.
3. Alpha - 2006. This was the first Nanowrimo story I finished. It took my until January 2007, but I did finish it. I did 80,000 in the November. The finally story was 212,500 words. It was the first male/male story I wrote, the first erotic romance story I wrote and the first real BDSM story I wrote.
All in all a huge turning point for me. I haven't really looked back since. I haven't started editing this story yet, but it (in a much shortened form) is going to be part of a series I'm hoping to write in the reasonably near future.
4. Falling Angel - 2007. After spending the previous twelve months writing male/male. This was my first real go at writing a novel length male/female erotic romance story. I wrote 100,000 words in November and finished the story with 112,500 in the December. This is another of the storys in my to be edited pile. Hopefully I will get to it at some point in the near future.
5. A Model Submissive - 2008. This year I'm going for another male/male story. It's BDSM (like pretty much everything I write). I'm aiming for a 50,000 word finished story during November - if I manage it, it will be the first time I've actaully finished by November novel in November.
4. Falling Angel - 2007. After spending the previous twelve months writing male/male. This was my first real go at writing a novel length male/female erotic romance story. I wrote 100,000 words in November and finished the story with 112,500 in the December. This is another of the storys in my to be edited pile. Hopefully I will get to it at some point in the near future.
5. A Model Submissive - 2008. This year I'm going for another male/male story. It's BDSM (like pretty much everything I write). I'm aiming for a 50,000 word finished story during November - if I manage it, it will be the first time I've actaully finished by November novel in November.
My screen name for the Nanowrimo website is Pheonix Jones. You can see how I'm getting on here.
See you then.
One bit of other news before I go...
I finished Between Tooth and Paw tonight - just in time to start my Nano Novel tomorrow :D