I last attempted NaNoWriMo back when I was in college, in 2005.
As most people who love to read have, I’ve always dabbled a bit in writing. I don’t necessarily feel like I have some natural talent, but I can mimic styles well. That first attempt, however, I wanted to write high fantasy and that was a terrible idea. The world building is so incredibly important. Reading Patrick Rothfuss is just... I don’t want to write high fantasy ever because he has done everything I could ever hope for an author to do. It’s so easy to fall into the cheesy tropes and crazy names, but he has made a world that tosses most conventions on their heads while toying with the very idea of what storytelling is.
I could talk for hours about Rothfuss.
Anyway, I think I hit maybe 15k words. It was terrible, though, and even though everyone says you should push through it my relationship was ending, finals were coming, and it didn’t feel worth it to me.
As a baby stripper I thought “I’ll write a book about this!” like everyone does. And then as a not-so-baby stripper I realized that everyone has basically the same stories, and not only am I not some special, unique stripper snowflake, but most of those stories don’t really resonate with Muggles. (Possibly with the exception of the couple who got engaged on stage with me. I wonder if they’re married yet?)
Now... now I just want to write something that has the potential to sell, and to me that means cozy mysteries. They’re formulaic, polite, well paced, and use conventional writing styles. The most complicated aspect is the plot, and I’ve had this particular plot in my head for two years. Two years should be long enough, right?
Somehow I’m at 7,700 words, but I need to hit over 9k tonight to stay on track. Let’s see if I can be productive.
Anyway, NaNoWriMo 2016! Let’s see if I can get a positive out of this train wreck of a year!