Mariella Hunt

I haven’t officially participated in NaNoWriMo for two years. Instead I would attempt smaller projects for Camp NaNo, none of which I completed; I always seemed to give up right when I gained some momentum.

This year, though, it seems my Muse really took a liking to me; why not give it a try?

For those of you who don’t know, NaNoWriMo (or National Novel Writing Month) is a worldwide challenge for writers. The goal? Finish a novel in a month, specifically the month of November. If you win you get prizes and the satisfaction of having completed a book.

Now, I don’t pretend I’m going to finish this book in a month–though my brain seems wired to write more than planned in a sitting. I do hope to make progress and work out some plot issues.

If you’ve followed my Twitter feed for the past two days, you know I had a hard time deciding which novel to write for NaNo. From the start, I wanted to expand on The Autumn Prince. However, I kept reading advice from published authors saying that once you finish a story, you should put it away for a month.

The thing is, though, The Autumn Prince was a short story. What I wrote of it didn’t even scratch 14k. So I don’t think it counts, and for NaNoWriMo I decided to write the novel adaptation of The Autumn Prince.

Not only that, but no two writers are the same. Maybe these published authors need to step away from their work for a while; I find my Muse works differently.

It felt silly to toss aside The Autumn Prince when it’s already so vivid in my mind; why push to the back burner something that’s almost ready? I had considered writing some other plot bunnies which also had potential, but now I’m going to wait–perhaps even try another serial with The Lady of Myrtle Lighthouse. 

Right now, though, I’m making my short story into a book.

For those who are interested in The Autumn Prince, the 2k I wrote so far reveals several new things. Spoiler: We’ll get some scenes from Winston’s POV. Also, there’s more to Kelsea than we thought…more than even she knows.

And Caspar has got a temper in the novel. Of course he does. He’s only going to be awake for a few weeks.

Are you participating in NaNo? Do you have a plot already set, or are you freewriting?