Thursday, September 30, 2010

Open Topic Thursday: Getting Ready for BIAM Writathon

First, thank you to F.D. Davis for being my guest blogger this past Tuesday. Hope you enjoyed her article on writing speculative fiction.


Yes, that's my cat with my husband. She likes me but she adores him.

On to today's topic: the Book in a Month Writathon. This is a twice yearly writing challenge via Anne Marie Novark's Yahoo group. In April I wrote a m/m contemporary romance. This October the goal is to write Cathedral Girl, a NaNoWriMo project I started but failed to finish. What I like about this particular challenge is there are no rules except one: Write and write a lot. If you're interested in checking out this invitation only group, go to http://annemarienovark.com/?p=151

I need to get ready for NaNoWriMo. I have Liquid Story Binder and I'd like to use it to prepare the third book in my Angels of Death series. I'm a software junkie. I admit it. I have Dramatica Pro, Power Writer, and Power Structure to help me plot my stories. I use Dramatica Pro the most because I'm used to it.

NaNoWriMo is about the only time I become a pantster. I usually start with a title, a vague sense of plot, and a well-intentioned plan. It goes something like this: I promise to start plotting my book on October 1, which gives me a whole month. But I don't. And October 15 rolls around. It's okay, I convince myself. Two weeks is plenty of time to create character GMCs and plot turning points. So I let a few days slip by... And suddenly it's October 30 and I haven't done a darn thing except think of a few names. November 1 arrives and I'm sitting with my fingers poised over the keyboard thinking, "What the hell do I do now?"

Armed with what little knowledge I have of my story, I write. After all, I know I'll be revising it. During November I'll plot the version of the story as it will be rewritten. The idea is to get it down. A little unorthodox, but it works for me. The original version of Death Sword is nowhere near the almost-final version. Names changed, character motivations were altered, etc. The essential plot remained, but I rewrote 99% of the book.

Cathedral Girl will be a little easier to write as I've already plotted it and done character GMCs. Like Death Sword, it probably fits in the category of urban fantasy. And yes, it involves angels.

I also need to revise my Zaphkiel short novel. I want to submit it to a small press that is on the approved publisher's list of the Horror Writers Association. (I plan to become a member but I need to meet certain criteria.) The question is whether I'm going to keep it at the current word count or expand it. Most likely, I'll expand the story, which seems to fall into two parts. So that's another project...

What about you? Anyone doing BIAM Writathon or NaNoWriMo this year?      

1 comment:

Barbara Monajem said...

I have no plans at all for anything that requires too much work in too little time, LOL. I already have plenty of that!

On the other hand, a write-a-thon might give me the perfect excuse to write what I feel like writing...

Love the cat-and-husband pic. :~)