NaNoWriMo 2016 - November 1

So here we are again with a new log for my National Novel Writing Month. Like my posts from last year, these will be off the cuff and done after I've completed by writing for the night. So if they get a bit confused or contain more grammatical errors than I usually let by, I blame the lateness of the hour.

So this year I decided to do things a bit differently, but only by necessity. You see I already started working on a novel over the summer. It was a fantasy adventure story set in a world of my own design. So I spent most of August and good chunk of September crafting my main characters, drawing maps, creating some legends and lore for the world and some additional historical elements that are going to play into the story. I wanted to get these down so I had a solid reference as I progress through the story.

But I learned long ago that this stuff is just a guideline. I have to let my imagination run along a bit so that things stay fresh and interesting as I write.

And yes, I did start writing the novel in September and through a good chunk of October. As I was trucking along, I started to realize that this novel was going to be a bit longer than I originally thought (at least from a word count/page count perspective). I think all that world building helped me visualize a lot of these settings and people, creating more description than I usually tackle. Not sure if all of it will make it past this first draft, but it is an unusual development.

That said, I figured I would be further along in the novel when November rolled around, and I was ready to sit NaNoWriMo out. But looking at the fact that I was on page 67 and not even a third of the way through, I figured I could give it a shot.

So I'm shooting for the 50,000 word goal by the end of November. That means I need to hit about 2778 words for each time I sit down to write. I'm looking to write about four days a week. I'm not sure if that goal will be the end of the novel or not. If I do end the novel somewhere in the middle, I still have plenty of legends and lore, history and other elements I can write about. Because if I'm still having fun with this world after finishing this book, I can see this becoming a series. Yes, the world needs another fantasy series. :)

I think that is enough babbling for now. I'll start giving some more plot and character details in later log entries. But here are the vitals for this round.

Page Start: 67

Page End: 76

Word Count Start: 27632

Word Count End: 31672

Music:

• The Wind Gods – Pinar Toprak
• The Egyptian – Bernard Herrmann and Alfred Newman
• Dragon Age Origins – Inon Zur