NaNoWriMo Check In | Week One

As you may or may not know, I joined NaNoWriMo on sort of a whim this year. I do have my novel mostly planned out and I’m loving it so far, but I’m finding the commitment of NaNo daunting, to say the least. Currently, I’m so far behind as I’m sitting at just under 5000 words.

Here’s the thing that I’ve discovered about myself in this past week. I love writing, I really do, and while it would be fabulous to eventually publish a novel, I have no intention to become a professional author. In fact, my planned career/major has nothing to do with writing, English, publishing, or anything related to that. Writing is something that I like to do on my free time and it’s something that I don’t want to be pressured about or feel stressed out about. Trying to do NaNoWriMo on top of everything else in my life is proving to be much more difficult then I imagined. I simply seem to run out of time during a day of school, homework, rock climbing, and various music things.

HOWEVER! I don’t think I’m going to completely throw NaNo out the window quite yet. I’d like to continue updating my progress and writing, but I might go at my own pace and not be too worried about my word count. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to finish up November with a 50,000 word novel, but I also don’t want to be stressed out and accidentally let my schoolwork or my blog slip because I’m too worried about writing.

I know many of you are doing NaNoWriMo, and you’re probably doing better than I am, so let me how your writing is going this month! I’d love to know how you’re doing with writing and entire novel in one month!

Beautiful Books | Introducing your NaNo Novel

Beautiful Books is a spin off of the “Beautiful People” meme hosted by Cait @ Paper Fury and Sky @ Further Up and Further In. It’s a chance for writers to explore their own writing and share it with other writers who are also potentially prepping for NaNoWriMo! With NaNo rapidly approaching next month (and I’ve finally got a good bit of my story plotted out), this month’s theme is introducing your NaNo novel!

QUESTIONS

How did you come up with the idea for your novel, and how long have you had the idea?

I came up with the idea for my novel shortly after watching both of the How to Train your Dragon movies! I was pretty sick of the manuscript I’ve been working on because I chose a topic that I wasn’t too excited to write about. I love dragon mythology and I actually bought Seraphina and Shadow Scale so I could read some more dragon books before NaNo starts.

Why are you excited to write this novel?

I have a better understanding of where I want the story to go and I truly already love my two main characters, so I’m extremely excited to get started writing about them and their future relationship!

What is your novel about, and what is the title?

I have no title yet because I can never think of good titles, but I’ll get there. The basic premise is that this town (city, town, ect. I haven’t decided what to call it) used to be set down in the plains for fishing and farming, but it was destroyed in a dragon attack when our protagonist was just a baby. Now, the people have relocated to live on the side of a mountain in hopes of keeping safe from potential attacks, while dragons are now an exiled and hunted species. Our protagonist is now 17 and she is an artist who one day stumbles across a dragon hidden in a cave. The rest of the story unfolds from there!

Sum up your characters in one word each. (Feel free to add pictures!)

I don’t have a ton of named characters yet (like parents, ect.), but here’s what I have.

Rowiana (Rowan)- Stubborn

Sebastian (Bash)- Quirky

Rowan’s mother- Headstrong

Which character(s) do you think will be your favorite to write? Tell us about them!

Definitely Bash for sure. Bash is the kind of person who uses humor as defense and he’s a very outgoing and fun character in general. I’m excited to write his movements and dialogue, but then also to show his weaknesses and what would ultimately destroy him.

What is your protagonist’s goal, and what stands in the way?

In the beginning, Rowan just wants to explore and sell her art to other villages, but her mother doesn’t allow her to leave. Although, later she wants to show people how dragons can be an accepted race and that the killings of dragons and Riders alike is wrong. Her mother stand in the way because her husband was killed in the initial dragon attack, so she doesn’t trust that dragons could be a kind species.

Where is your novel set? (Show us pictures if you have them!)

My novel is set in a made up place called Ayrith. I mentioned briefly before how it is built into the side of the mountain and there’s lots of hidden alcoves and caves that Rowan likes to paint in her free time. It’s a smithy town because people are always training to hunt dragons, Bash is the smithy’s apprentice.

What is the most important relationship your character has?

Rowan’s most important relationship is the one she has with Bash. He’s an orphan so Rowan’s mother helped raised Bash when he was younger so they are very close. Rowan disagrees with her mother’s philosophies, so she’s always turned to Bash for support instead of her mother.

How does your protagonist change by the end of the novel?

Rowan will become more independent and an overall stronger character. She was never a very strong leader, but she’ll learn to adapt to role that she’ll be given (no spoilers! ;))

What themes are in your book? How do you want your readers to feel when the story is over?

The main theme is learning to stand up for yourself. I want to show that just because you might be young, that doesn’t mean your values and opinions aren’t important because I’ve always struggled over coming that. I want people to feel empowered once they finish, since my main target audience is YA.

BONUS! Tell us your 3 best pieces of advice for others trying to write a book in a month.

Well… I’ve never tried, and I’ve never even come close to finishing a novel myself so maybe we’ll come back to this question in December!

Becoming A NaNoWriMo Viking

I fear that I’ve already made a mistake, but this year I’ve taken the plunge and signed up for NaNoWriMo 2015! If you don’t know what NaNoWriMo is, it stands for National Novel Writing Month. Basically, the goal is to write a 50,000 word draft in… one month. Starting November, thousands of people will be hunkering down and starting their novels! You can find out more information at their website.

I first found out about NaNoWriMo back in 2013 from Katytastic on Youtube. It was around March of that year so it was obviously too late for me to sign up that year. When 2014 rolled around, I considered participating but I decided against it for some reason. NOW. It is 2015 and November is quickly approaching us, so I decided that I should at least try this year, even if I don’t win.

If you guys participate in NaNoWriMo, let me know and we can become writing buddies! My username is Bookish Things and Tea! I would love to write with you guys and help out by cheering you on with your own writing this year.

Here’s the thing that scares me. I’ve never finished a story draft, let alone come even close to 50,000 words. I’m hoping NaNoWriMo will help push me to finish a story, so we’ll just have to wait and see! I’m also considering re-opening my twitter account for this, which scares me because I despise twitter. Everyone says it helps out a lot though…

Now for the nitty-gritty stuff. I actually didn’t know that people starting prepping for NaNoWriMo in September, so I’m going to start prepping this month. I actually already have a story idea and some stuff for it written down (it’s about dragons ;)) which is what inspired me to participate. So, I might make a trip down to Barnes and Nobles and pick up some writing craft books and some cute new notebooks as I’m currently using a yellow legal pad for notes and that’s not too inspiring.

#SlayTheWordCount

Snazzy Snippets | The Lack of Food and First Words

Snazzy Snippets is a bimonthly meme that allows writers to share more of their writing! It’s hosted by Emily @ Loony Literate and Alyssa @ The Devil Orders Takeout.

It’s an opportunity for writers! Every two months, we post a prompt or question for you to share a snippet of less than 500 words. It’s designed to let you have fun, analyse your work on a smaller level, or just write something to join in.

If you’re not a writer, or aren’t working on anything, don’t go back up the rabbit hole just yet. Read everyone’s wonderful snippets on the linky!