NaNoWriMo 2013: An Almost Novel in a Month

It's that time of year again! Nope, I'm not talking about winter, or even the holidays. I'm talking about NaNoWriMo! Happy Month of Writing to you! May the word count be ever in your favor!

 

This is my second NaNoWriMo experience. Last year, I successfully completed the challenge by writing 50000 words in 30 days. And then I threw out the whole draft when I realized I didn’t like the plot line. *shrugs* Isn’t that the life of a writer?

So, this year, I’m trying it again. Same characters, similar story, whole new plot. Except this year I’m fudging the rules, just a bit. It’s my story, so I figure I’m allowed.

This past spring, I revamped the plot of my story, starting it at a completely different point, changing all the scenes and drastically overhauling the climax. To make my WIP more manageable, I divided it into three parts. My plan was to write each part as a mini-novel, because facing one whole novel was just too overwhelming.

When I was ready to write, November was a couple months away. I didn’t want to wait to write, and I couldn’t set the story aside to write something else for NaNo. And I definitely wanted to give NaNoWriMo another go. So I crafted a plan. Muh ha ha. (That’s an evil laugh, just so you know.)

If I wrote Part One in the months leading up to November, I could write Parts Two and Three for NaNoWriMo. I made it my goal for each part to be 25000 words, meaning my almost-novel for NaNoWriMo would be 50000 words. Perfect, no?

And, in total, my WIP would ideally be 75000 words at the end of November, which is the suggested length for a solid YA novel. Am I an evil genius? I think so!

I know, technically, I will not be writing a novel in a month, in the terms of inciting incident to resolution. However, I will be writing the majority of a novel in a month (from a little way into the rising action to the resolution). And I will be writing 50000 words. (I started my word count on November 1^st. I did NOT include the words I had already written in Part One in the count. Now that would be cheating.)

But I wanted to be honest with the world. I may not be following the rules in the strictest sense, instead bending them a bit to fit my needs. Thanks, NaNoWriMo, for understanding.

*takes deep breath* Now, let’s go a-writing!