NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month Options

[haute ecole rider]

Have any of you ever tried this?

National Novel Writing Month (fondly known as NaNoWriMo) is a challenge to writers everywhere (international, not just in the US) to write 50,000 words in 30 days. It doesn't have to be perfect. If it's crap, it's okay. They're not interested in what you write so much as challenging you to just simply write.

I have to agree with the concept. Just write 50,000 or more words in 30 days or less. There's time later to go back over the material and make it better.

I heard about it last year, but didn't join. This year I've decided to take the plunge. I'm wondering if any of my fellow writers here on Chorrol.com have tried this. If not, I'd appreciate encouragement from you! If so, please share your experiences - I'd love to hear about them!

For those of you who are curious about it, here it is:
NaNoWriMo

[haute ecole rider]

mALX, it is running like a rip tide right now!

Acadian, that course correction saved me from the shoals!

And Olen, I'm proud to report I'm now up to 22,705 words.

I don't regret my decision to scrap the first attempt. The main character in that one just wasn't speaking to me. But the three in this one certainly are!

On reflection, I realize that I've always written romances - they're just disguised as historical/adventure/sci fi/etc. But I always end up with the main characters falling in love with each other.

So this one is proudly a straight up romance with no pretenses at being anything else. It's contemporary, and I decided to try setting it in a foreign country (ROK), though I've never traveled outside the lower 48 myself. I've been studying South Korean culture, history and life for a few months now, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. I'm trying to avoid the clichés that make me groan the rare times I do pick up a romance novel (look at this for a hilarious discussion), but there's always one or two that creeps in (the bad boy, the smooth operator, the feisty heroine - yeah, it's a love triangle!). So the challenge for me now is to keep the clichés from being too, well, clicky!

Already my main characters are doing their own thing, which tells me this is a hot one! The smooth operator was supposed to be the kind, gentle man, but instead he turns into a manipulative SOB. The bad boy was supposed to be a tortured artist type, but no, he's an impatient, self-absorbed a-hole. He even introduced himself two chapters early and made quite the dramatic impression on the feisty heroine by literally jumping onto the boat and promptly falling on her! Not quite the way to impress this lady! And she is supposed to be recovering from a really bad relationship years ago, and her encounter with Mr. Smooth Operator didn't help her recovery, and now Mr. Bad Boy just confirms her private opinion that all men are British boats.

Does it sound like I'm having fun with this? No? How about this - I'm at a point in the story now where the fireworks are going to start between Ms. Feisty and Mr. Bad Boy. She has been scrimping and saving for three years to buy her deceased grandfather's home (abandoned by the succeeding owner and loaded down with back taxes), she figures she has a year left to go before she has enough $$ But she finds out the lawyer who is supposedly helping her has absconded with the money, and now she is about to find out Mr. Bad Boy actually bought the house (paid in full, so Mr Slick Attorney has now absconded with 1.75 times the value of the house). Ms. Feisty is telling me she will not take this lying down. She won't be meek and submissive like so many romance heroines are. I'm afraid she's going to start swearing like a sailor. Oh no, I know she will!

So I'm almost halfway there, and my fingers are still hotter than this laptop! But I'm stopping for the night. I'll pick up tomorrow. And yes, I'm ahead of the curve right now. Yay!