Monday, November 29, 2021

Nano 2021

 Well, I've started work on this year's Nano.  Yes, you in the back.


Ummmm . . .  isn't that leaving it a bit late?

 Yes.  Next question?


Why  did you leave it so late?

 Well, I blame the decision to become a plantser.


To become a what?

Look, Nano divides writers into three groups.  Planners, Pantsers, and Plantsers.


Yes, but . . .

Patience.  A Planner has to have everything laid out before they can start writing.  They world-build and outline the story to a fare-thee-well.  A Pantser writes, as it were, by the seat of their pants.  They do no planning, just write.  A Plantser falls into the middle zone:  some planning, some seating.  I am ususally a Pantser.  I just point the story in the direction of the ending and then find out how to get there.


This year, however, I decided to write an urban fantasy -- a modern urban fantasy, with the werewolves and the vampires and such -- and since the two main bases for such stories are either romances or hard-boiled detectives, had to create a mystery.  And that meant planning so that I at least knew how the hero(ine) solves the case.  And so, I choked.


I think you did that on purpose.

 No,   It just worked out well.  Or not well, depending on how you look at it.  Anyway, I've written about three thousand words so far and I think I can get another thousand in before the end.

 

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