Nanowrimo 2015

It’s November, which means it’s National Novel Writing Month! I have decided to use the time this year to finish my third novel. Last year was my first ever successful completion of the event, and it turned into Dismissed. I have high hopes for this year.

The book I’m currently writing started off with the working title Perfume Therapy, but then as one of my critique partners pointed out after reaching the halfway point, ‘I’m still wondering why it’s called Perfume Therapy’. Obviously I had big plans for the second half to justify the title, and I had even already written it and proofed it. At one point, in my head, the book was ready for publication.

But after writing Dismissed and then coming back to do a final read-through of Perfume Therapy, I just felt that it wasn’t working in its current form. I loved the first half, and I loved the theme of perfume in the second half, but I did not love the plot in the second half. It almost felt like they were two completely different stories.

So! I split them up. I created an alternative second half for the first part, and I plan on using many elements of the original second half in my next book.

It has been going surprisingly well. This new second half is flowing much better than I expected. I am slightly ahead with my word count for Nanowrimo, and excited to see the rest of the story unfold.

It turns out that this year, you’re not even a Nano rebel if you’re continuing work on an existing story. Obviously you just count the words you write between November 1 and 30, but you’re not going to be declared an outcast!

Now my only problem is what to do once I finish this story if I come in under 50,000 words. Do I start another one immediately? Or declare a sort of victory and call it quits? I guess we’ll have to wait and see how inspired I am at the time.

Good luck to everyone else out there also participating. I promise it gets easier every year!

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