Happy Monday! This month, the blogging circle is focusing on the ever looming mountain of doom that is known as NaNoWriMo, aka NaNo. If you haven't heard of it, then I can tell you what it is in very simple terms. You have to write 50,000 words in one month. You get from November 1st midnight your local time to November 30th 11:59 your local time. The first time I won, after many attempts, was 2008 but I've been attempting NaNo since at least 2003. After 2008, I've won every single year, which is nice, and sometimes I have big word counts. Sometimes I just get over the finish line. But this is what a majority of the posts in October will be about, save for this week's post, which will be more about the black hole of editing.
That all said, let's get to the questions.
NaNo Planning vs NaNo Plotting
Which is better for you?
I am a planner. Now, I wasn't one to begin with and I'll get into that with the next question. However, if I have a plan, then I will not fail. I need something, just a basic idea of what I can get done during the month, or I'll sit and stare at a blank screen. Now, my sort of planning is a more that the outline is a general idea of what will happen. It can change. The characters can change from good to bad, save for the main characters or any major characters that need to stay how they are. But, if I have my outline and my basic stats? I will not fail.
Which one always fails?
Due to last answer, you're going to think pants-ing. You'd be correct. On a longer project, like NaNo, I cannot pants. I can do it for a few chapters, but not all the way through the novel. Now, if I'm doing something shorter, like a quick fanfic or flash fiction? I can pants the hell out of that. My problem is not pants-ing in general but the length of the work that I'll be writing.
Or can you do either/or?
Heh - you know the answer to this! I can do both. I like doing both. Sure, you could follow your outline to the T in order to get from point A to point Z. My question is - what's the fun in that? I like throwing in random plot twists as I think of them if they fit the plot that I'm going with. For example - random vampire attack out of the blue? Does it fit with what they're doing at the moment? Yes, it does, so it stays in. However, if there's something like "she follows the rabbit" and I'm all "why?" then random plot point does not go in. You can pants as well as be a plotter but you better know what you're doing at the end of the game. Or be ready for a hell of a lot of editing. But yeah, you can have the best of both worlds. You just have to make sure that you know what you're doing and where you're going.
That's it for this WriYe Blogging Circle! Hope you enjoyed it and we'll be back here next month for a new one. On deck, this week, is how editing is a big ass black hole. Next week, we start the all NaNo all the time. Cheers!
No comments:
Post a Comment