Today is the start of NanoWriMo 2021 and once again I am participating amongst friends and fellow writers as we try and reach 50,000 words by the end of the month. In previous years, I have pushed myself a little too hard to reach the goal and haven’t come up with anything I can be proud of.
So this year, I plan to change my tactics to utilise the word count and benefit my novel series.
During my MA, I have been writing based on a number of topics. Though it was not always helpful for what I wanted to do at the time, it did demonstrate to me there were other techniques. One of those techniques is to try and free write on a regular basis.
Freewriting has been my saviour over the past weeks as I’ve been able to let go of the planning that has been weighing me down and have managed to have moved forward in the story.
Within NaNoWriMo month, I plan to use my original plan and step outline as a springboard but free write until I reach the climax. The novel is the first and second book of a three-part series combined (I’m unsure where to split the stories at present). After I finish free writing the rest of the story and climax, I will write a third book which leads onto a new story to see for myself how and where the story resolves. Only then will I go back to edit, adjust and redraft, slipping in hints that I will only know myself when I have written the entire series.
Good luck to fellow writers and NaNoWriMo participants! Fingers set, imagination active, start typing.
The Life of Sophie 