Writing Update: Preptober
Dear writer,
What a month it has been so far.
I just came back from a birthday trip to Italy, which I hoped would restore my energy and overall motivation towards my writing projects. To my grateful relief, that’s exactly what happened. Though something I didn’t count on happening also took place.
I went on this trip with the intention of spending time with my fantasy trilogy. If you aren’t aware, over the last decade I’ve been working on-and-off, developing the story of my dreams, writing and re-writing it, draft after draft. With all the downtime I knew I’d have catching trains and flights, for sure I knew I’d be able to spend some time to finally take a step forward with the trilogy and have it ready for publishing soon.
But really, it was the exact opposite.
Before leaving, I had an idea for a new story that started forming in my mind, but because I have spent so much time on the trilogy, I wanted that to be attended to before any other. But I guess my soul couldn’t help itself. Every opportunity I had to spend time with my book while travelling, I gained more ideas for this new one, so much so that by the end of the trip, I had finished a rough outline.
During this time, I remembered what it was like to be buzzing with excitement to write, to be absentmindedly daydreaming about a scene, unprompted by need. It arrived from pure joy and passion, so I decided to follow that drive.
Everything happened in perfect timing, because as I’d almost finished the outline, I realised what month it was. October. Preptober. The month before the most anticipated month of the year for all writers: National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).
For those of you who have never heard of NaNoWriMo before, it’s a challenge to write 50,000 words of a draft manuscript by the end of the month. That’s 1,667 words a day. The reason why the goal is 50,000 words is because anything less than that is actually not considered a novel, but a novella instead. Preptober is the month before NaNoWriMo, dedicated to preparing outlines, worldbuilding, creating character arcs and discovering the messages and themes of the story to ensure as much smooth sailing for the month ahead as possible.
So my current plan of attack is to finish plotting and fleshing out the outline of this new story; I’ve been calling it ‘The Pirate Book’ for now (and I’m sure you can guess what it’s about). Then, I’ll be dedicating the entire month of November to writing the first draft, all 50,000 words of it.
It’s been a while since I’ve gotten this far with a book outline that wasn’t part of my fantasy trilogy, and it feels refreshing, especially knowing that this pirate book is going to be a standalone. I recognise that due to editing being my profession of choice, I am very prone to perfectionism and overthinking. Perhaps that’s why I was stuck in the cycle of constantly drafting my stories. But I’m taking a new approach.
This time, I’ve decided to discovery-write a little more than what I’m used to in order to keep the excitement and sense of wonder alive. I’m allowing this draft to be its authentic self and unfold before me naturally. I’ve made a promise to lock my inner critic outside my brain until its time to revise the story. But in the meantime, this draft is about having fun while watching a book form before my eyes, not trapping a narrative within the confines of my plotting for the sake of needing it to be good.
For example, I have the basic foundations of my characters down, but I want them to tell and show me who they are. I know my message, and I also have an outline of the story, and a few key scenes I want to write, but if the narrative wants to unravel in a certain way, I won’t stop its train of thought.
In saying that, I do have a plan that I’m hoping will allow me to consistently show up to write 1,667 words every day without hitting many walls. By the end of this month, I hope to have scheduled scenes for the entire first week of the challenge, so I’m not going in blind and twiddling my thumbs at the keyboard. Then, I’ll be scheduling my writing every week in advance after that. Of course, if any of the details need to be revised, I’ll be more than flexible to change them.
Currently in my preparations I have outlined the story, discovered my message and themes and laid the foundation of my characters, including their wants, desires and goals. I still have some lore I want to flesh out, since it’s a trait of my protagonist to be knowledgeable in that area, and I also need to flesh out some other elements of the plot, but the ideas are flowing.
It has been such a long time since my life has felt this is deeply immersed in one of my stories, but my heart is the happiest it has ever been. Every time I close my eyes, I’m inside a scene or a new setting. Before I go to bed, I’m imagining conversations between my characters and advancements in their relationships. Even while I’m reading books my mind will wander to my own. To say I’m more than excited to get started on the writing of this novel is an understatement, but my feelings of gratitude supersede anything else.
I’m ready and I’m back.
Let me know if you’re currently preparing for NaNoWriMo and what your strategy is. It’s incredible to imagine just how many stories are being born at this time, and just how many new favourites will be made. You never know, it could very much be yours.
Good luck, and keep writing.
