 Fantasy: August 30, 2017 Issue [#8470] |
  Fantasy
This week: Preparing for NaNoWriMo Edited by: Robert Waltz  
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There's an old folk saying that goes: whenever you delete a sentence from your NaNoWriMo novel, a NaNoWriMo angel loses its wings and plummets, screaming, to the ground. Where it will likely require medical attention.
-Chris Baty
Make a list of all the varieties of aliens you can come up with. (And if it's less than 3,000, then THE PEARS ARE LAUGHING AT YOU, MY FRIEND.)
-Scott Westerfeld |
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Hey guys?
Guys.
NaNoWriMo is only 2 months away.
I know some of you are sick of hearing about NaNoWriMo. This newsletter isn't for you. Maybe next time. For the rest of you, there you are, authors in the genre of Fantasy (or maybe science fiction or steampunk or whatever), wanting to write something in that genre. Anything. And maybe you want the discipline and shared experience of writing 50,000 words in a month.
Now, I'm the kind of guy who complains when Christmas merchandise clogs a store's shelves any time before Halloween, so normally I wouldn't bother worrying about anything 2 months away. And to be fair, a large number of NaNo writers can probably just think about what they want to write in late October; and then, in November, just sit down and write it.
The problem is, while those people probably already have a fleshed-out world (ours, the one we're sitting in right now) in mind for a setting, we Fantasy/SF/whatever authors don't have that luxury. Even if our stories are set in modern-day Earth, there are many differences that need to be taken into account - maybe faeries, or perhaps the Illuminati pulling strings from behind the scenes.
So we need a little more time.
Look, I'm not suggesting that we "cheat" and start putting words down before November 1. I mean, sure, you can. You can do anything you want - writers do best when we're not following crowds. But if you want the personal satisfaction of completing NaNoWriMo, stick to the rules. The trick here is to save November for writing, though, and to do that, you might need some preparation.
Chances are you know of one of my favorite activities here on Writing.com, which is:
It's a great way to get yourself organized before doing the actual novel writing, and I highly recommend it. It's fairly generic, though - useful for anyone doing NaNo, regardless of genre. But sometimes we need more time, more effort, because we're dealing with different worlds. So what I'm suggesting is to start even earlier. Like right now. Today. Or if you're reading this editorial when it first comes out, maybe set yourself the goal of starting September 1 - and take the time until Prep to brainstorm your world-building.
I - and other Fantasy editors - have discussed world-building in previous editorials. You can take a look at the archives, or you can go your own way with it. Chances are you have some ideas in mind already, or you wouldn't be writing in these genres. Take September to flesh them out. Write down details of the planets, planes, alternative Earths, alien life, alternative human races, the magic and/or science involved. Really think about how everything works together - and write copious notes. You can refer to them, or refine them, later, when you're doing Prep or the actual storytelling.
The more you do now as background, the fewer surprises and idea conflicts you'll run into when you're writing. The point is that you want to take November to write, not diddle around with how many moons a particular planet has, or what colors its suns have. Then if, for example, you have werewolves on an alien world with three moons, you already know exactly how the moons thing works before you write yourself into a plot corner.
Then, when NaNo comes along (WAY too soon), all that stuff's already in your head and, as I said, you can just write. Which is what it's all about, really.
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Last time, in "Write What You Know" , I discussed how no knowledge is useless.
Quick-Quill  : I agree with you. 'Write what you know' is trite and overused. What is unsaid is; Research what you don't know, don't throw what you think out for possible experts to read. Creative license will cover some things, but not the basics.
Readers will forgive artistic license; they will not forgive ignorance.
And that's it for me for August - see you next month! Until then,
DREAM ON!!!
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