It's about to begin: As of Nov. 1, I (and thousands upon thousands of other writers, aspiring and otherwise) will accept the challenge of National Novel Writing Month and attempt to write a 50,000-word novel in a month.
I didn't decide to participate until the beginning of this week, so I'm already a bit behind the eight ball, but that's okay. I'm looking forward to some seat-of-my-pants writing and churning out a bunch of words on a daily basis -- about 2,500 words per workday, to be exact.
My story is tentatively entitled "Snakebit", and it is inspired by an attempted arson case related to insurance fraud that I covered when I was working with the Starville Daily News in Starkville, Mississippi. It takes place in the fictional Mississippi town of Crudup, and I think it will make for a good comic story in the "Raising Arizona" vein. I've got some interesting characters sketched out: a painkiller-addicted protagonist, a Gypsy-blooded fortune teller from New Jersey, a flamboyant pawn shop owner, and a crooked "Dr. Feelgood" orthopedic surgeon. Hilarity shall ensue.
Unlike my other story-in-progress, "Committed", I will not be posting the novel for general consumption. I'm doing this for a couple of reasons: 1) the draft will most likely be unfit for public consumption because of the rate at which I will need to write it; and 2) when I finish, I hope to have a first draft of something I will be able to ultimately present to potential publishers and I don't want to trash my first publication rights.
So, I'm knocking out some more outline and pre-writing work over the weekend, and then on Sunday, the big show begins.
Bring it on!
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