Complex Numbers

Revisited: "NaNomaterials"

Today's peek into the past takes us back to September of 2018, and discusses a certain novel-writing month: "NaNomaterials" 

Ever since I first heard of NaNoWriMo, I've been conflicted.

I'm not really conflicted anymore; I just don't care enough to put in the necessary work.

I don't generally jump on bandwagons. If something becomes popular, I view it with a certain amount of distrust.

What's worse is that there are things I like that are popular. And I absolutely hate it when people assume that I like it because it's popular.

Yeah, I joined Facebook pretty early on, but I'm not active there anymore.

I can't even get into my account long enough to close it.

And the first time I heard about Twitter, someone told me that some guy had rigged his office chair to tweet every time he farted. I swore then I would never be a Twat (or whatever they call people who go to Twitter), and nothing I've heard about Twitter since then has convinced me it's gotten any classier.

Clearly, it's only gotten worse since that entry. It's not Twitter anymore, for starters, but X. Or, as I call it, Xitter (where the X is pronounced like sh). A post on the site is called a Xit (also sh).

And no, this isn't some hipster thing for me. I won't join that group, either.

I was hipster before it was cool. Then I stopped.

There follows a promotion for "October Novel Prep Challenge"  [13+], which I still recommend to anyone planning to do NaNo (or just want some help and motivation in getting a story together).

Anyway, I'm trying to decide whether to attempt it this year. Of the three I've completed, two of them are crying out for sequels (or, really, continuations to make them 100,000 word novels), and I've got a couple of ideas for new ones, though none are very compelling to me.

Here it is six years later, and none of them have been edited yet.

Of the three I've done, one's straight science fiction; one's contemporary fantasy; and the latest is, well, not a serious attempt at getting anything publishable done - it's science fiction erotica. Naturally, that's the one I most want to continue with, and it's the one least likely to get read.

I spent so much effort world-building that last one that I've considered setting more serious fiction in that universe. "Considered" being the key word. The title of the entry was meant to be a pun on a science fiction trope, one which, like much SF, is entering consensus reality.  

So why start something new when I can't finish what I've already got going?

On the other hand, if I can't finish what I've already got going, why not start something new?

Not this year, though. I expect to be traveling during October, and recovering during November.