Hello, dreamers. It’s here at last: National Novel Writing Month has begun.

Over the coming month, I’ll be focusing nearly all of my writing efforts on the lofty goal of completing a novel before December 1. For me, it’s likely an unattainable goal; the original rules of NaNoWriMo define a “novel” as 50,000 words. That may get me halfway there. But writing a novel isn’t a sprint; it’s a marathon. And as is the case with a marathon, just getting there is an accomplishment, however long it takes. Still, I’d like to make serious headway on this story throughout the month. So with that in mind, here’s what I’ll be working on this week:

NaNoWriMo

As of this writing, I’ve completed the opening chapter of OctoWIP and am well on my way to finishing the second. The going is slower than it has been on past novel projects; I’ve averaged around 1.2k words over the first two days. But I’m still finding my groove. And as I’ve mentioned several times over the past year, the drastic changes to my writing style necessitate a slower pace. I’m getting there.

The most encouraging progress I’ve made thus far has actually been ironing out the current plan for the novel on the whole. Today, as I complete the current chapter, I’ll be taking things in a new direction. Rather than having the first two major action sequences happen in series, I plan to use the setup for the second to create early tension. By the time I reach the first action sequence, the crew will already be looking ahead to the second.

This change is being made due to feedback I’ve received on Seven Days on Samarkand. Among the few pieces of negative feedback I’ve received is the suggestion that I need more tension early on. By doing this, I’ll introduce the first point of tension and ratchet up the stakes early enough for it to appear in the sample pages of a query. Obviously, in an ideal world I wouldn’t need to worry about that; I’ll find an agent with Seven Days on Samarkand. But while I always hope for the best, I also plan for contingencies.

My current goal for this week is to make it through the first action sequence. Over the coming days I’ll be working through several chapters of character building, interspersed with a subplot that will set up the action. I’ll likely be referring back to previous draft attempts for the actual action scenes. So at least for now I’ll be rolling on training wheels. Hopefully that will help me to settle into a groove.

Short Fiction

Though I still have one outstanding submission, currently I have no plans to make any more before the end of the year. And that presents an opportunity, thanks to my new critique partners.

After years of consideration, I finally joined a critique group. I’ll be talking more about that in this month’s “Cutting Room” post, but for now suffice to say critique groups can be invaluable for aspiring or emerging writers (and I think I actually fall into the latter category now). Freed from the imperative to make submissions, I have time to pass my extant manuscripts through my critique group. Just having two people, rather than one, read and comment on my stories can make a huge difference.

Already, I believe the story I completed last week, “Eden in the Vacuum”, may be the best short fiction piece I’ve ever written. And I give credit for that to my critique group. Over the coming months, I plan to give them the chance to read and critique all of my current manuscripts. And, of course, I plan to offer my feedback on their work as well. I’ve already read several of their stories, and having done so I’m confident I am among peers.

Querying Seven Days on Samarkand

Last week, I formally concluded my query efforts for the year with my “post mortem”. Essentially, I reviewed all the queries I’d made so far, complied feedback from agents and critique partners along with my own notes, and looked at ways to refine both my materials and my overall querying strategy.

So far, there are only two notable changes I’m considering to the story itself. I believe there could be value in condensing the early chapters, partly to introduce the initial tension earlier. And I am, believe it or not, considering reuniting the two halves of the original story. That would, of course, undo a solid couple of months of hard work. However, the main concern I have would be the effect on my query letter. Ultimately, whether or not I go through with this would depend not only on whether or not I receive requests from the five queries I still have outstanding, but also whether or not I believe I could adequately capture the resulting story in 400 words or less.

Upcoming Content

Starting this week and running through the month of November, I’ll be making two posts regarding NaNoWriMo each week. I’ll have a midweek update on Wednesday, and a wrap-up post on Sunday.

That said, here’s what you can expect on this site through the week ahead:

Wednesday: “NaNoWriMo Midweek Update”

On Wednesday I’ll be updating readers on my progress with OctoWIP. This post will mostly focus on how the story is developing, and what I’m considering for the days ahead.

Friday: “Sci-Fi Reviewed: Enterprise“

After two decades of success, in the early 2000s Star Trek finally found a dud. In this month’s “Sci-Fi Reviewed”, I look back at Star Trek: Enterprise: what went wrong, how it ended, and what happens when Star Trek is afraid to be Star Trek.

Sunday: “NaNoWriMo: Week 1”

I’ll end the week with a wrap-up on the first full week of NaNoWriMo, apprising readers of my progress and my goals for the coming week.

It’s going to be another big week. So read on, and dare to dream. – MK