Ha, the middle of October is here. That means it's almost November, and almost National Novel Month time! (I just checked, I wrote posts of similar type on October 18th 2013, October 17th 2015, October 14th 2016. I also wrote a 'NaNoWri-NO' post on the 8th of October 2012. It has been quite a streak so far.) As you can see, there is no 'no' in the title of this year's post, and I am pleased to tell you I will be participating again. Last year I kind of dodged the issue and didn't actually write a blog post about it, even though I did register a novel and crammed out about 900 words of a rewrite that wasn't really going anywhere. The rewrite of the same novel I spent two Camp NaNos revising. The rewrite of the novel that I now seriously want to rewrite again, as I have new insights on the matter.
However, NaNoWriMo is something different than Camp NaNo. For one thing, you actually have to stick by the rules, and the rules say you have to write something new from scratch. For another thing, you have to write the full 50,000 words, and as I mentioned in 2016, rewriting just doesn't give you the same drive as a whole new story does. So another rewrite is not what I will be doing this November. Great as my 2015 NaNo novel was, I've spent enough NaNo time writing, rewriting and editing it. It's time for something completely different.
The last time I said that, I went in for 'comedy' and really had to fight to get the words out by the end. So we'll see how this one goes.
The genre I picked is 'romance'. Not a sentence I'd ever thought I'd ever write. But there were are.
I was inspired by Call Me by Your Name, a novel I recently finished, and The Only Story, a novel I'm currently reading. As far apart as those two novels may seem in plot and style and space of the story, they're both about love, and they both spoke to me on a different level. Added to that, I decided it was time for me to write from a female protagonist's point of view, something I haven't done since my 2010 novel. So for the 2018 instalment of NaNoWriMo, I will be writing a romance novel from the point of view of a female protagonist. The working title is "How not to fall in love", which should tell you something about the happiness of the love portrayed in the story. I have working titles for most of the chapters too, and quite probably already an ending. For the style I've settled on a mix between The Only Story and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, and if you don't know what I mean by that, you should definitely read either or both of those novels. The only thing I was still debating was whether to write in Dutch or in English, but I've pretty much settled that the story will take place in Groningen again, which makes for a Dutch novel.
Basically, it feels like I'm more prepared than I ever was. Plot wise, that is. I have no idea what my main character is like, or her love interest, or who will pop up beside them in this story. But that's okay, as long as I roughly know where the plot is taking me, the characters usually sort themselves out. I'll keep you updated on any novelling related info as usual, so in roughly a month's time we'll know whether the crazy novelling path I'm sending myself down this year turns out to be fraught with peril or paved with success!
