With Nanowrimo looming large I have started getting into practice. How? Well starting to write a novel of course. I have bought a small tablet device which I am using as a notepad in those little in between moments, such waiting to pick up or drop the kids off at school, of snatched moments at home, etc. The screen is sensitive enough to type reasonable quickly, and bright enough to read out doors, i.e. in the car. I have ordered an adaptor cable so I can plug in a proper keyboard for those moments when I get half and hour or more to do some serious writing. For £120, it’s far cheaper than an iPad with a keyboard, and I still have the dubious pleasure of being able to play Angry Birds, possible the dullest, but very compelling game I’ve played since Farmville.
So why write a novel now. The main reason is to get back into practice before November. I have half a story that needs to be written. Unfortunately it’s the first and last quarter of the story. The middle bit will need to compost a bit more. I have launched into the first chapter, and am longing to do rewrites already. I plan to keep this one going until Nano starts then shelve it until December. I will then pick it up and finish the first draft, by which time I will be sufficiently distant from the Nanowrimo novel to give that a rewrite, proof etc. When that is done, I will be able to do the same to this one. I am hoping that that is a going to prove a productive workflow. If it does work, I have a couple of other stories I want to get into.
The current novel is an adventure story. It is inspired by the stories of Edgar Rice-Burroughs. It will be suitable for older teens and adults, but there is some graphic violence in it, and possible some mild sexual scenes, so I might have to put one of those warning stickers on the cover! It’s set in the jungle, but not on our planet, or time frame. So there is a fantasy fiction element to the overall theme. So as I write this, chapter one is underway! Starting has been the hardest part as I had no compelling reason to start. With the Nanowrimo event, there is a definite start date, which is very useful, but with writing just for the sake of it I have to be self-disciplined, and that is not something I am good at. With that initial barrier aside, the blank sheet of electronic manuscript paper written on, my only obstacles of the multitude of diversion activities drifting my way.
Onwards and upwards. There are words to abuse, grammar to mangle, and the lives of fictional characters to mess with.
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