NaNoWriMo Is Here–Sort Of

All right, yes, I know that National Novel Writing Month is supposed to be in November. And if you want to wait until then, go for it. I, however, have a science fiction story that needs a MAJOR, as in MAJORMAJOR, overhaul, and I ain’t waiting.

So.

I’m inviting you in to share my novel revision process, day by day. Here’s how it works:

I start with a stack of about three hundred index cards of different colors: yellow, blue, pink, green, white, and purple.

I designate a category for each color. This time around, yellow is Setting, pink is Misc, white is Scenes: Existing and Scenes: To Write, green is History, and blue is Character. (I’m holding the purple in reserve for when the blue runs out.)

I go through the existing story and write out a two or three sentence summary of each scene on the white index cards. I note any characters involved in the scene. I note any notes I have in mind already for items to fix, add, or change about the scene.

As questions arise in my mind, I write them on the relevant category of card (Note that I’m not trying to answer them at this point, just writing down the question). If I think of a scene to write, even if I don’t plan to use it in the actual novel (I do a lot of scene writing just for background purposes), I write it on a white card marked Scenes: To Write, assign a word count cap, and put it in a separate pile. If a given question or scene looks like it will be a Major Project, such as detailing the family history of every POV character or the culture of six separate planets or the motivation for the villain to be a Bad Guy, I add something along the lines of “Pick One” or “One Day Project” at the bottom of the card.

Every so often, I will take a card of random color and write something on it like “Go blow bubbles in the back yard” or “Go out by yourself for a cup of coffee and bring a brainstorming notebook”.

At some point, I can’t think of anything else to ask, or the process is beginning to bore me, so I stop writing down scenes and questions. I shuffle all the cards (except the stack of Scenes: Existing) together.

Here’s where it gets fun and irritating all at once: Every morning, when I sit down at my desk, I shuffle the cards, take the top five (or three, if it’s a really busy day) and That. Is. What. I. Do. I do not get to skip a card I don’t like or don’t feel like doing; I don’t get to go out and play until I’ve done the work for that day.

I let myself do the assignment horribly if I have to, I let myself hate the assignment if I’m feeling grumpy, I often curse myself to the seventh hell for coming up with such a stupid system in the first place; but I do the damn assignment anyway.

If I need to do more research to answer a question than I expected, I mark that card as a One Day Project and put it back in the stack.

When I complete an assignment, I write the filename on the card and put it back in the stack. If I draw that card again, I either repeat the assignment from a different angle and write the second filename on the card, or open the file already noted and expand upon it. Then I shuffle the card back into the stack.

By the time I get about halfway through the stack, based on previous experience, I’ll be off and running with the revisions, and I won’t really need to refer to the cards except as an occasional stopgap during stuck times. This time I’m expecting to run into slightly more trouble, because this world isn’t nearly as developed as the setting I’ve been working with for the past ten years. I need to start this one almost from the ground up, and to make it more challenging, I’m weaving together two storylines that stand about two hundred years apart.

In other words, I have to do all the worldbuilding stuff–TWICE. Yes, you heard me. Twice. One set for each timeline, in order to account for the changes in society, politics, language, commerce, and so on that will take place over two hundred years.

See that dent in the wall? That’s where I started hitting my head when I realized what I’d just signed myself up to do. Yeah. But I’ll do it anyway, because I have the index cards now, and the promise to myself that I Will Do Each Day’s Assignment No Matter What.

If you’d care to join me, I’d sure love the company; you can put together your own stack of index cards if you like, using the method above. Or, you can just keep an eye on this blog, because I’ll be posting generic versions of assignments from my daily draw pile now and again. I won’t promise daily, but frequently, at least.

And to get you started, here’s what I’ve drawn for today:

Scene to Write: Main character getting in trouble that puts her job in danger, a manipulative minor character rescuing her without the boss finding out about the incident, creating a debt for the minor character to later exploit. (under 1500 words)

Setting: What regions of the world display which analogues to Earth accents?

Character: Where does each main character feel most at home? Why? (2 ea)

Misc: Describe the military uniforms of this world, including symbols of rank

Scene to Write: Main character is attacked by local bullies, then arrested for causing the fight (police prejudice based on a socially unacceptable aspect of character, such as homosexuality, red hair, dark skin, etc.) (under 2000 words)

All righty then. And awaaaaay we go!