Thinking about NaNoWriMo
Oct. 11th, 2011 10:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
clare_dragonflySo, you know, this year I was thinking about skipping NaNo. Which I've done before. Once. The other times, I haven't really succeeded. So, yeah, when I got an email from my ML... I realized there's no way I'm skipping this year!
However, I have a lot of different ideas for what I should write and I'm having trouble deciding. No, this isn't a list of all my ideas ever, but it is a list of my thoughts for this year's NaNo and the pros and cons.
Idea 1: Chatoyant College - writing 50,000 more words of my online serial novel. I don't actually know what the plot to this would be (some of it is worked out, but not all of it), but it's basically, er, suburban fantasy? It's a college campus with faeries and magic classes. Also, werewolves and mermaids, and I'm pretty sure there are vampires somewhere about.
Pros:
-Not much worldbuilding or other development to do; after (almost) 7 books I know my characters and world pretty well
-I know I can write 50k words
-When I finish, I'll have a substantial buffer and will probably be able to move updates back to 3x/week
-I could probably work on something else at the same time, maybe do another Garden of Prose in November
Cons:
-Might get bored continuing to work in this same world
-Having the biweekly chapter to post has motivated me to write on days when I'm feeling tired or lazy; I'd lose that impetus if I had a buffer
-50k is... not a challenge
Idea 2: Warehouse 13/Criminal Minds crossover fic - I've been planning this fic for a while, and I have a lot of cool ideas for it; it would be about a serial killer using an artifact.
Pros:
-I totally want to write more Warehouse 13 fic after the season finale
-Coolest casefic ever
-Again, I could work on something else at the same time
-I know there's an audience for it
Cons:
-Don't know if there's 50k in this
-I haven't been so much in the mood to write fanfic lately (the one I just posted notwithstanding; I wrote most of it months ago)
-No chance of making money from the month's worth of work
Idea 3: Closed Circle - continuing this; probably only minor fantastical elements, more of a mystery.
Pros:
-Closed circles are fun to write! My first NaNo back in 2004 (which none of you are ever, ever seeing) was one.
-I quite like my characters.
Cons:
-Don't know if there's 50k in this
-Would need to do a fair amount of planning since I have no idea why they're in that house
Idea 4: all of the above - combining 50k on Chatoyant, writing all of the fanfic, and continuing Closed Circle to fill up 100k, a double-Nano
Pros:
-I won't get bored!
-I may have sort of challenged someone else in my region to a NaNo war... apparently last year they were keeping an eye on our respective stats (and beat me by about 2k) and that triggered my competitive side.
Cons:
-That's a lot of words. Last year I decided that 80k (my goal for the month) was about the best I could expect to do. However, last year I was also participating in a fairly active RP at the same time.
-Seriously... that's a lot of words. I will have even less of a social life than usual (though write-ins pretty much count as a social life).
Idea 5: Taylor Viets - this is the novel (first in a series) I'm writing in the Extranormal Crimes world; urban fantasy about law enforcement.
Pros:
-It will definitely be finished by December; I'm hoping to self-publish it by mid-December to take advantage of the huge number of ereaders that I know will be sold that month
-I would need to do more worldbuilding, but not a huge amount
-I know I'm going to have a lot of fun with this book, and I knowaldersprig, at the very least, wants to read it ;)
Cons:
-I would have to stop writing right now to be sure there were 50k words left in the story (I'm at a little over 15k, and I think this will be a relatively short novel)
-Technically against the rules, this would make me a NaNo rebel
So... any thoughts? Does anyone else see pros and cons I may have missed? Which of these would you be most interested in reading?
However, I have a lot of different ideas for what I should write and I'm having trouble deciding. No, this isn't a list of all my ideas ever, but it is a list of my thoughts for this year's NaNo and the pros and cons.
Idea 1: Chatoyant College - writing 50,000 more words of my online serial novel. I don't actually know what the plot to this would be (some of it is worked out, but not all of it), but it's basically, er, suburban fantasy? It's a college campus with faeries and magic classes. Also, werewolves and mermaids, and I'm pretty sure there are vampires somewhere about.
Pros:
-Not much worldbuilding or other development to do; after (almost) 7 books I know my characters and world pretty well
-I know I can write 50k words
-When I finish, I'll have a substantial buffer and will probably be able to move updates back to 3x/week
-I could probably work on something else at the same time, maybe do another Garden of Prose in November
Cons:
-Might get bored continuing to work in this same world
-Having the biweekly chapter to post has motivated me to write on days when I'm feeling tired or lazy; I'd lose that impetus if I had a buffer
-50k is... not a challenge
Idea 2: Warehouse 13/Criminal Minds crossover fic - I've been planning this fic for a while, and I have a lot of cool ideas for it; it would be about a serial killer using an artifact.
Pros:
-I totally want to write more Warehouse 13 fic after the season finale
-Coolest casefic ever
-Again, I could work on something else at the same time
-I know there's an audience for it
Cons:
-Don't know if there's 50k in this
-I haven't been so much in the mood to write fanfic lately (the one I just posted notwithstanding; I wrote most of it months ago)
-No chance of making money from the month's worth of work
Idea 3: Closed Circle - continuing this; probably only minor fantastical elements, more of a mystery.
Pros:
-Closed circles are fun to write! My first NaNo back in 2004 (which none of you are ever, ever seeing) was one.
-I quite like my characters.
Cons:
-Don't know if there's 50k in this
-Would need to do a fair amount of planning since I have no idea why they're in that house
Idea 4: all of the above - combining 50k on Chatoyant, writing all of the fanfic, and continuing Closed Circle to fill up 100k, a double-Nano
Pros:
-I won't get bored!
-I may have sort of challenged someone else in my region to a NaNo war... apparently last year they were keeping an eye on our respective stats (and beat me by about 2k) and that triggered my competitive side.
Cons:
-That's a lot of words. Last year I decided that 80k (my goal for the month) was about the best I could expect to do. However, last year I was also participating in a fairly active RP at the same time.
-Seriously... that's a lot of words. I will have even less of a social life than usual (though write-ins pretty much count as a social life).
Idea 5: Taylor Viets - this is the novel (first in a series) I'm writing in the Extranormal Crimes world; urban fantasy about law enforcement.
Pros:
-It will definitely be finished by December; I'm hoping to self-publish it by mid-December to take advantage of the huge number of ereaders that I know will be sold that month
-I would need to do more worldbuilding, but not a huge amount
-I know I'm going to have a lot of fun with this book, and I know
aldersprig, at the very least, wants to read it ;)Cons:
-I would have to stop writing right now to be sure there were 50k words left in the story (I'm at a little over 15k, and I think this will be a relatively short novel)
-Technically against the rules, this would make me a NaNo rebel
So... any thoughts? Does anyone else see pros and cons I may have missed? Which of these would you be most interested in reading?