This one’s up late, because I almost forgot to write it, whoops! (The nature of these ones is that I get to write them day-of to excitedly recount the week, unlike the bulk of my other posts.)
So, it’s Week 2 of NaNo, and I’m ready to admit that I’m not actually working on the project that I claimed I would. I normally give myself the leeway to juggle projects, because words are words, and also because creatively I like to bounce around if I get stuck. It beats staring at a blank page, that’s for sure.
But what do you know, the original project that I was going to quickly throw together and then get back to my Real Project… didn’t want me to leave. So now I’m at a beautiful 35k and absolutely 0% of it is on my second book. WHOOPS.
Of course, I’m at 35k on November 12th (without writing any today yet!), so I’m still sitting real damn pretty. I didn’t write at all last weekend, and I probably won’t again this weekend, because Animal Crossing. Also because if I’m this vigorous with my writing, I need to not burn out before the finish line. That would be a horrible end to the month.
So my apparently-actual NaNoWriMo project is not only fanfiction, but a foray into sci-fi. (It’s Mass Effect, I’ll admit it. I wanted to write something for N7 day… I played myself.) I’ve always enjoyed watching and reading sci-fi, thanks to growing up on Doctor Who and Star Trek, but I’ve always found it intimidating to write. I’m not a hard science kind of gal, and my brain screams if I hand-wave technology and don’t plot out every single detail about a world.
Of course, with fanfic, I’m playing in someone else’s playground, so that lessens the burden considerably. I’ve still had to come up with several things, deep-dive into interstellar travel and alien lifeforms, and even worldbuild with some polytheistic lizard people, but the bulk of the work has already been done for me, and I get to pull from there. For a start in a genre that’s intimidated me, it’s been pretty smooth—and damn enjoyable.
I can’t see myself actually heading into the sci-fi genre anytime soon with original novels, but my next idea (outside of my two series…) does play a bit more with science than previous projects of mine. I won’t give too much away, but it does involve some multiverse travel—albeit with a fantasy twist. But the science is there too!
I’m expanding my writerly horizons, and certainly expanding my already fat wordcount. It’s been a good NaNo season thus far.
(And if you’re playing ACNH 2.0, and have a Maypole for sale, hit me up!)
