After the first few days of starting NaNoWriMo 2019, I had written more words than in my previous four attempts put together. This seems promising to me. I missed Saturday just gone, breaking my streak of eight days, and leaving me with a day’s deficit in my word count. I didn’t quite manage to catch up on Sunday. Today, Monday, I have still not quite caught up. The trouble is, with each day, you need more words added to the word count. But, I’m doing my best.
I’m writing it in the so-called ‘pantsing’ style, which is writing it by the seat of your pants. Apparently, everyone plans their novels in these months leading up to November now. Using the original approach – starting a novel from scratch on 1st November – is considered ‘old school’. For me, the so-called old-school method is the only way to do it. It’s all about writing a novel in a month. For me, that includes planning and writing it. I think it makes it harder because you start with a half-baked idea and have to develop the story as you go. If you’re lucky, you get inside the characters’ heads and they tell you their story. If you’re unlucky, you will have to guess how they’d react in any given situation. That can be hard.
