I’m Doing NaNoWriMo + A Tiny Bit about My New Book

I’m doing NaNoWriMo again this year! (If you don’t know what NaNo is, here’s a post I did a couple years ago about it) This will be my fourth NaNoWriMo and my sixth novel. And I’m taking a completely new approach to writing it. 

In the past, I have always outlined my novel. My outlines have varied in form and depth. Some have been chapter by chapter, while some have been plot point by plot point. 

But for this book, I’m not going in with an outline. Yes, I do have a document where I’ve written down scenes I’ve imagined and how each plot point will play out, but it’s really not an outline. I’m not going to follow it to the letter while writing this book. This book is going to be discovered while I write it. 

Now, before you writers out there get worried about an outliner trying to discovery write: I have discovery written before. Actually, my novels are the only thing I outline. Everything else—flash fiction, short stories, novelettes—I go in with a rough idea of what’s going to happen, and the story grows and unfolds as I write it. And that’s what I’m going to do with this book. 

So, what is this book about? Well, because I am going to be discovering this about this book as I write it, and it is no doubt going to change while being drafted, I can’t tell you too much about it. But I can tell you this. 

It’s about a leprechaun. It’s roughly inspired by The Twelve Dancing Princesses. There’s a snarky magical cat. The world is steeped in Irish faery lore. 

And this idea grabbed me from the moment I came up with it several weeks ago. I can’t wait to put it down on paper and go on an adventure with these characters and learn what the story really is. 

I also think that drafting this book, especially since I’m trying a new way of writing it, during NaNo is a smart choice since NaNoWriMo really motivates me to meet word count goals and keep writing. I know that NaNo doesn’t work well for some people, but it does for me. It’s just part of how I’m wired.

Are you doing NaNoWriMo this year? If so, I wish you all the best in your writing!