November is NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. Writers who are up for the challenge try to write a novel of 50k words or more in one month. I don’t do that—I don’t like taking a month off my main project—but I always do some sort of challenge. This year, I invited a good friend and fellow writer, Matthew Marchetti, to collaborate on a choose-your-own-adventure in addition to whatever we were doing for our main projects. It was a blast!
For anyone who hasn’t read a CYOA, the story lets you, the reader, decide what to do next. At the end of each scene, there are options like “If you talk to Harrold yourself, go to 30. If you wait for Harrold to leave the inn and ambush him, go to 65. If you confront Harrold with what you know, go to 66.” (Yes, these are actual options in the story.)
Every day, we each added at least 500 words. To inject some NaNoWriMo energy into the challenge, I gave myself a one-hour time limit. If I didn’t exceed 500 words, then I had to write for an extra half-hour, aiming for at least 250 words. I failed seven times. That’s less than a quarter of the days, so I’m happy with that. I got faster over the course of the month. In the later weeks, I hit 600 words three times. Writing in the second person with a time limit was a nice change from my main project, which is a first-person novel that has to be written with extreme care.
By the end of November, we were at 38k words! We decided to go for Eldritch Horror in a medieval setting with a mind-over-matter magic system. I’ll be posting the opening scene on the 14th. Follow me on Facebook or Instagram so you don't miss it!
