The NaNoWriMo 2019 Grand Experiment, Day 1: Writing Into the Dark = lower word count but better world-building!

Well, day 1 of NaNoWriMo is in the books. (Ha ha, puns.)

As is my yearly tradition when participating in NaNo, I took the day off work to devote the entire day to writing, hoping to accumulate a large chunk of words and get a head start on the challenge. (Especially since the back half of the month is always pretty crazy.)

For the first time since 1990-something, I’m trying a totally different process to write my next novels. I started writing up a whole post about this process, and how it went on day 1, and my thoughts about why it seemed to lead to better world-building than when I tried to create a world before starting a draft … but it was getting really long and frankly, I got bored.

So instead, I made a video about my NaNoWriMo Day 1 thoughts! (Because I can talk faster than I can type, and I figure listening is faster than reading a big long thing, right?)

So! What all did I accomplish on Day 1 of NaNoWriMo 2019?

For the Legacy of Lucky Logan prequel, titled The Train to Tennessee (for now):

• I finished the first chapter
• Fully edited the first chapter
• Wrote half of the second chapter
• Fully edited that half a chapter
• Researched the area the gang is currently in…
• …which led to some unexpected world-building

I also got more written on the draft of Starship Ass book 3: Of Donkeys, Cogs, and Hot Bodies. We’re just about done with that one now, which is a good thing considering it’s supposed to release in a few weeks. O_o

So, I wrote a total of 3101 words on Day 1 … but did a lot of other useful stuff as well.

For more details and a breakdown of why I like world-building on the fly better than trying to get it all hammered out before-hand (so far), you can watch or listen to the video here:

And now I have some stupid ridiculous deadlines breathing down my neck and way, way too much to do before then, so I fear I must dash!

I do hope to post a few more updates on this new process throughout the month though, and I’ll also be sharing some full chapters of my upcoming books in the near future, so stay tuned!

Until next time, happy November to all!!