It’s time for the delightful virtual cabins and bonfires of camp Nanowrimo! I’ve never participated in the official November version, but I find the summer camps oddly soothing. This year, I’m pretty solidly in the editing stage of my Dagger Trilogy. I don’t want to switch gears to another world, but I also desperately feel the urge to create something.
Here’s my compromise: for the month of April I’ll be working on a prequel to the Trilogy. It’s not something that I ever plan on publishing, however one of my main characters has a really complicated backstory that dramatically influences his actions in the book. I’ve done my fair share of notes on the topic, but I wanted to really dig in and see these events unfolding.
Friends: I am having SO much fun!
I mean… you know, writerly fun. Not fun fun. (The backstory is really dark and depressing—one of the reasons I’m not aiming to publish it along with the trilogy.)
I think the reason why I’m so excited to wake up and get to writing every morning is because for the first time in a long time, I’m not writing for an audience. Don’t get me wrong, I want nothing more than to share my characters with readers, but it’s shockingly liberating to know that these particular words are just for me.
When a scene is dragging or the dialog is choppy I don’t need to stop myself and rework the outline. That’s not the point of this exercise. It doesn’t matter if I spend three of four pages on exposition that editors would chuck out the window, because the whole point is for me to learn more about the world and these characters.
How’s April going for everyone else?