Last Day of NANOWRIMO --- Oh No!

 Where did the month go? 

Certainly not on the page. I have an outline, some character sketches but mostly I have a lot of research notes. 

My story is about Witches who are sisters and when one of them passes the others summon her back from the dead. 

The research involved reading a lot about witches. Yikes! there is so much stuff about witches all over the net. Very interesting stuff. 

Three things I learned about witches; 

1. Not all witches are Wiccan. Wiccan is more of a religion. Some witches are just kind of  free range. 

2. There are many different kind of witches. Hedge witches, Kitchen witches, Animist witches, Green witches, Crystal witch, Eclectic witch and on some pages even more types. 

3. Crystal are frequently used by witches. The history and uses of different crystals is very interesting. I could spend days researching them! 

I also now know the symbolism of the Pentagram. The five points on the star stand for Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit.  This was interesting because in movies the Pentagram is often associated with the devil or evil. Actually it's more representing the world around us, nature. 

The problem with researching things I know nothing about? I can spend hours reading and not writing. My NaNo word count has suffered greatly. I'm at a measly 9316. One of my fellow NaNoWriMo buddies (we meet weekly at Starbuckies) said I shouldn't do the research and just get the story down first. I find that hard to do! I'm a natural fact checker and there was so much I didn't know about witches and their craft. It was extremely interesting and sloowed me way down. 

However I do like my story and I know where I'm going with it so that's a plus. At least I have something I can work with. There's been other NaNos where I basically call it quits after struggling through the month because the story just didn't gel. 

Although I'm looking at the word count of 9316, I've written more than that on other story so the words have flowed... just scattered. 

How's your NaNoWriMo? Did you ace it? Do you do any research while working on your story? 

Are you celebrating tonight?  Go NaNoWriMo!

NaNoWriMo 2023 Starts in 3 Days - Ready?

 

Three days till NaNoWriMo starts!

Are you ready to write? A plotter or a pantser? 

I generally make my notes in a sketch book. This gives me room to draw or write and make arrows and lines. Little boxes of character notes. Its a real mess to everyone else, but it keeps me centered. A sketch book also gives me a place to draw out my town. I know which streets my character goes down and where everyone lives. Sorry, but it your character can make it three miles across town, walking and still show up on time for dinner.... someone out there in reader-land will nail you for it. Details! The devil is in the Details! 

For NaNo? I have nothing planned. 

Today we had our NaNoWriMo launch party and someone brought these dice that gave plot ideas when you rolled them. So I gave it a roll.

Next idea came from trying to make a witch for my front yard. There's a way to do it with a gallon milk jug, black plastic table cloths and a stick. So I went to Pinterest and found out how to put it all together. Do you know what happens when you ask Pinterest something? Like witches?
Your feed fills with witchcraft and spells. Next thing I know Facebook groups are showing up with witches. What's a writer to do?

First I started a Pinterest board for witch stuff. I need to know more about this stuff! Did I join the FB group? Well.....

So, in the past week or so the universe has brought to me those four plot point dice and witches. That's what I'm going to write about for NaNoWriMo. 

Witches, Illusion, Non-Gen, Protect & Anti-Hero

Gotta love a challenge. 

So did you pick your plot, yet? Got a seedling of an idea? Or just gonna go for it?