Friday, August 21, 2020

Preparing For NaNo.

To my dearest friends and followers,

At the beginning of this year, I set myself a reading challenge on Goodreads to read 20 books. On July 13th, I reached that goal, and have since read 10 more books!! I've read a wide variety of books out there, from classics like Sherlock Holmes, to modern Japanese Manga, to the Rick Riordan novels!!
A couple months ago I was scrolling on Facebook and saw an add promoting Rick Riordan's new novel. It isn't available until October 6th, but I immediately pre-ordered myself a copy. I couldn't help but think, I hope someone is this excited about my books some day. XD
I have been so careful when planning what to read next. I want to make sure I have read Riordan's previous 4 books (The Trials of Apollo series), so that I am ready when I receive the 5th book. I estimate it would take me 10 days (at most) to read each book. Therefore, I don't want to begin reading them too soon, finish them, and be waiting in suspense until I have the final book. Basically, I plan to begin reading book 1 on September 1st.

In the meantime, I decided to take these extra days to focus some time on my own book, the sequel I'm working on to The Story of Hollyhocks. Click here if you'd like to check out last week's post, where I talked about starting this project. I have been writing so many notes, asking myself questions about the direction the story will take and about the characters. How old is Jack? What does he like to do? Who are his friends? How is he different, as he states in the prologue? What is the purpose of the prologue?

It's even important for me to know the other characters, not just the protagonist. What will their names be? How do I match the names from the first book? What part does that character play in the story and is his or her role necessary?

I need to know what this world is like too, and how does it differ from the world I already built for Hollyhocks, since it is supposed to have taken place BEFORE Hollyhock's story.

I've also had to ask myself, do I want this story told in the same narrative (the old fairy tale-esque style, like someone is sitting down, telling the reader the story, as opposed to the reader simply reading the story on their own)? How do I accomplish that?

For anyone who has read and enjoyed the first book, I am happy to say that several of the characters will appear in Jack's story. It makes me so happy to revisit this world and see familiar people!! I have written the prologue, the 1st chapter, and part of the 2nd chapter. I am still taking it slow, but I want to write enough (probably no more than the first 3 or 4 chapters) for when NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) comes around in November!!
At that point, I hope to have found my groove and stick with it, maybe not completing my novel, but getting a lot written!! Last time I participated in NaNo (in 2016), I finished the month with a total of just over 26,000 words. That was ok with me. The plan was not to write 50k words (which NaNo pushes for), but to write something everyday. I plan to do the same this year. I'm really looking forward to it!!

Yours truly,
Me

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