The NaNo Countdown is still going

If you got worried on Monday that I was bailing from doing NaNoWriMo this year, set your concerns aside.

I’m still going forth.

I really want to challenge myself with the pace of the writing demanded to complete NaNo. As I explained earlier, the book I thought I would start during NaNo isn’t ready yet in my head. I’m not to the point where putting those words down on paper would be productive. If I were, I’d need to use a machete after it was over to whack out all the useless words and I’m not really a fan of that kind of editing.

So, I’m going to burn an idea on NaNo.

Alright, maybe “burn” is too strong of a descriptor. I hope the whole experiment doesn’t go up in flames – either literal or metaphorical.

I’m resurrecting an old idea and trying again. I wrote another novel a couple years back. I tried to revise it and realized there were huge, monstrous, man-eating plot holes in the middle of the thing. I stuck it in a binder in my file cabinet in a drawer that rarely gets opened. It could stay there a good long while, I figured.

Except parts of it I really like. Parts like the main character. And the bug scene. And the thing with the clock.

I don’t like how it’s all framed and where the story starts and some of the other things the protagonist does.

So for NaNo, I’m pulling that novel back out of the drawer. (Ok, that is a metaphor). The first draft is staying where it is and I’m starting over. I’m not planning on using anything from the first version over again. I’m keeping some of the ideas, but I’m going to new versions of those scenes. I am playing by NaNo rules and not starting to write before Nov. 1 (which I take to mean pulling scenes from the original at any point during the month.)

Do I know quite how the plot’s changing from the original? Nope. Not so much.

But that’s NaNoWriMo for you.