Monday, November 9, 2015

NaNoWriMo 2015: Week One Report


The first week of NaNoWriMo 2015 is in the books (pun intended), and the project that Jolene Haley and I are working on sits at 18,000 words. That's a great spot to be in as we begin week two, and our story is really starting to hit its stride.

As I've talked about before, Jolene and I live on opposite coasts, so that presents a bit of a challenge as far as writing a book together. I've talked a bit about our process before (here and here, among other places), but the short version is that we make heavy use of the comment and chat system in Google Docs, and we have a planning doc and a Pinterest board that we are constantly updating and referring to as well. We also have periodic Skype calls to talk through any issues, and we Skype more frequently when we get to edits.

After using the aforementioned process for HARROWED, it was like putting on my favorite pair of wool socks this time around. We have a system that works, and we roll with it.

As much as we love the Woodsview Murders series (we are already a good ways into book two), we are working on a totally different story this month. It is a YA horror story, and I can't wait to tell folks more about it in the coming months (although Jolene and I are already dropping hints on Twitter if you follow us).

One of the ways Jolene and I get our ideas.

The biggest challenge for me so far is that we are writing this new story in first person. I write third person almost all of the time. In fact, until now, I think one short story is the only thing I've written in first person. So, it's been an adjustment, but I'm really enjoying the challenge. Not to mention, Jolene is a fantastic writer who frequently writes first person, so I am learning a ton working with her on this project (yet another benefit of collaborating).

So, week one was a success, and we look to keep the momentum going this week. The second week is where a lot of NaNo projects tend to slip, so we are determined not to let that happen. It helps that our story is really picking up, so we'll be writing a lot of the fun stuff this week as we start to destroy the nice little world we had built for our characters.

Here's hoping all our fellow Wrimos have a great week two!

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