Hello, dear readers, and welcome to National Novel Writing Month 2013!
I'm your author, John, and it is with great pleasure that I welcome you to this blog.
This will be the second year that I attempt NaNoWriMo. Last year, I won handily with my novel Death Like Wine. The finished word count was over 53,000 words-- well over the amount needed to win, and this doesn't even count the pages of author's notes released after every chapter, the pages of planning notes in my notebook, or the afterword for the book that I never actually released (since by the time I wrote it in late December I figured nobody would care). The finished chapter count was 30-- one for each day, although the chapter releases tended to be sporadic rather than linear. The current view count is over 3,000 views-- most of which came from the United States, but we had regular readers in places like Italy and Germany as well, and none of which came from your author manically refreshing the page looking for comments. The top result for searching "Death Like Wine" on Google is still the old blog.
All in all, by the numbers, last November was a huge success, and I'm hoping to reach similar heights this November.
For those who don't know what NaNoWriMo is, let me explain.
NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing month. The goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in thirty days. For those keeping score at home, this is about the equivalent of writing a 5 page double spaced paper every day for the entire month of November. Participants can plan as much as they like ahead of time, but they cannot start writing the novel proper until November 1st.
A couple notes, then, on this year's NaNo process:
First, 50,000 words is a lot. My preferred writing style is to write slowly and methodically, carefully choosing every word and phrase. This will not do. In order to write the necessary 1,667 words per day, I need to write quickly and with abandon. To paraphrase Heinlein, I cannot promise that the food will be good-- but I will promise that it will be hot, and on time.
Second, the current outline contains exactly 30 chapters. It is my intention to release one chapter a day, like clockwork, during the month of November. This probably will not happen: I might skip days, or have double-chapter days (during Death Like Wine, we even had a three chapter day). Feel free to subscribe to the blog if you like to catch these regular updates the instant they occur, but I will also be posting chapter links on Facebook whenever I post chapters here.
Third, I love audience feedback. If you like the story, leave a comment. If you hate the story, leave a comment. If you have suggestions, leave a comment.
Fourth, I will be posting little author's notes as the first comment in every chapter, as I did last year. They will range from informational to incredibly sparse, depending on how tired I am. Hopefully they provide illumination and amusement.
Fifth, at the bottom of every post will be the word count of the current chapter, and the word count over all. This way, we can keep track of our 50,000 word goal together.
Sixth, thanks, as always, for reading!
I'll see you on the 1st,
John
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