Tuesday 26 October 2010

NaNo 2010 - Bending The Rules AND all about WIP

As most of you are probably aware (at least those on facebook) I've been wondering whether to do NaNo or not, since I was also wondering what direction revisions in my current WIP were going to take.

Well, now all decisions have been made, and you are the first to know :-)

This year, I'll be bending the rules of NaNo. Instead of writing a new project, I'm going to rewrite my current one. It requires a complete rewrite, and here is why:

  1. Change of POV - instead of multiple third person, now it will be first person. That not only means a complete rewrite just because of that - but also because any essential information that was given to the reader during other people's POV while MC was absent, now need to be delivered through MC.
  2. Plot - while main plot remains the same, due to POV change, and just few other ideas, several things change
  3. Character Cutting - I've gotten rid of few of the minor characters, and reassigned new roles to some of the existing characters. As a result, their scenes change.
Of course I haven't come to this decision lightly, since I was actually planning to complete this book by end of October, and start a brand new project for NaNo. I have spent enough time going through my WIP, and I actually did a completely revised outline. But now, I am convinced that this is much better, far closer vision of my book that is in my mind. First person narrative focuses more attention on MC, and as a result makes him more active. Other characters were stealing too much attention through multiple POV and it wasn't suitable for the scope of this book.

There are a few things I still have to sort through in the new outline - again, result of all these changes, so I've decided to make this my NaNo 2010 project.

Because this is not a brand new project, I will be aiming higher than just first draft. So this is my goal:
  • Complete rewrite of the whole draft (current version which is multiple POV stands at just over 98K words. This one should be at least 90K)
  • Clean rewrite. Not just superfast mad race, but as good draft as possible
  • Finish the rewrite by/before 15/11 and start revision
  • Second half of NaNo month should be spent on revision
I love the challenge of NaNo, and participating with so many other writers, so I absolutely did not want to miss that opportunity. And there are times when we just have to do things our way, so I am skipping the rule book, and doing it my way. Goal after all is to accomplish something, and that's what I hope to do.

Looking forward to sharing NaNo experience with many of you again.

8 comments:

  1. Wow! I didn't see that coming, but sounds like a fabulous plan (and very ambitious). I may be just the teeniest bit jealous of your ability to do 90k in two weeks, but I'll get over it. LOL

    Good luck...glad you're joining us, no matter how you do it. :-)

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  2. Good luck & all the best for your NaNo-project! :-)

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  3. Jamie,

    Thanks :-) It will be fun. Only aiming for 90K in two weeks because it's a rewrite. I wouldn't dare with a brand new one :P And also, I am hoping to be obsessive in weekends, and taken 1st and 2nd of November off from work, so to make a good start :-)


    Nofretiri,
    Thank you :-)

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  4. Yay!! Good luck to you ;o) Holy cow 90K!!! You rock ;o) See ya in the trenches!!

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  5. I wish you the best of luck.

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  6. Erica,

    Thanks :-) Looking forward to the word race.


    R. G.,
    Thank you :-)

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  7. Wow. I'm always so impressed with NaNo writers. I've tried and have never crossed the 50K mark.

    Good luck!

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  8. Karen,

    I think the important thing with NaNo is to do your own challenge, and make aim to write little bit every day. 50K doesn't matter, if at the end of it, you are happy having written 200 words every day.

    Thanks for taking the time to comment :-)

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