It’s almost November and that means it’s time for National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo for short)! I’ve participated three times before and all times I only managed to get at most half of what you’re supposed to write in order to “win”. The goal of NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words during the month of November. And this year, I intend to win!

This was so cool to see! Of my four projects two have actually become published books! Toverkolder was the project name for “De Kronieken van Irondia: De Grote Fudgewhizzle”. So it’s basically the same book and I intend to get it published as well 😉

Now, winning was my intention previous years, but the problem was that NaNoWriMo somehow always seemed to coincide with projects I was finishing. Last year I was busy completing The Xoron Redemption and going through the editing process. At the same time I  was trying to start a new project, my first fantasy novel, with a comedic twist. It will also be my first Dutch novel, which I aim to translate to English myself at a later point.

A new project I was already working on

So, the idea for “The Great Fudgewhizzle” has been there in my head for quite some time now. It was quite clear to me that after finishing a dark scifi story, I wanted to exploit my strengths and one of those is my sense of humour, so I wanted to start writing a story containing a character who is mainly just a victim of his surroundings. He wants to become famous, but in reality he’s just a big disappointment to everyone, especially his mom. I want the story to have a little bit of a “Big Lebowski” vibe, but in a fantasy setting of my own creation. There will be trolls, elves, goblins and the “great” Fudgewhizzle himself is a gnome. I often hear that when you’re working on a new story you have to create your own races, but I already did that with my scifi story and this time around I just want to take all the clichés from fantasy and turn them into something new.

And a new project has been added!

All in all, I think it’s quite ambitious, because I have to walk a thin line between writing funny stuff, but not creating the feeling in the readers that this story is meant to be funny. So the jokes need to be a bit subtle and I need to try and not lay it on too thick. Only time (and my proof readers) will tell if I can do this successfully.

Preparation is key

So, what am I doing to prepare for my epic journey to Irondia to record Fudgewhizzle’s adventure? Well, I have already written a couple of chapters to get a head start. I’ve also attempted to write 500 words a day to get into the flow. I didn’t exactly do this every day, because of personal reasons, but most days I was able to squeeze in 500 words easily. Now 1,667 words a day is a different number, but it’s roughly thrice as much as what I’m used to, so I think it’s safe to say that I can manage to do it.

I’ve also plotted ahead quite far, so I know what to write. I just have to sit down and write. Sounds easy enough, eh? 😉 One of the most important things I’ve found that works for me is the plotting. Without it, I have no direction, nothing to work towards to. Even if I haven’t fully developed the plot, I know how the story is going to end, so I know what to work towards to make that happen.

Of course, liters of coffee will be required to keep the tempo up! 😉

Another thing I am doing to hopefully reach my goal this time around is clearing my calendar of appointments. November will be a month mainly spent at home 🙂 And why not? It’s a month where autumn is in full effect and if I’m not busy writing, I can snuggle up next to Bren and read, or play video games. Either way it’ll be nice not to have too much social obligations for a change. 🙂 Oh and Bren promised she would be supportive of me during this challenge, so I’m sure she’ll bring me coffee, hugs and the occasional massage ;P

Time to get it write this time!

My DAS mechanical keyboard is ready for punishment 😉

So, that’s it. My preparation for NaNoWriMo this year! Are you participating as well? Let me know, and maybe we can become buddies! 😀

You can check my progress (if you have an account) by clicking this link!

Happy writing!

Jeffrey