So I’m nearing the end of my nanowrimo 2015 experience and I’m going to finish this year! However, I’m still well aware of creating a crappy story. The rushed, 1667 words, approach definitely produces ‘suck’ every time.

This is down to my planning being almost non-existent.

My premise for this story was: skaters leave a stadium after being housed for three months during a wildfire.

That’s it. No other idea of why, what, how, who, where etc. This has been enough to plough through to the 40k word point, but my story has no real drama in it.

With this in mind I’ve decided that 2016 will be the year of revision. I will revise, edit, complete After The Fire (working title), and publish this story. I don’t know if I’ll feel happy about pimping it to everyone, being the timid, and insecure person that I am, but that’s the plan.

Earlier in the year I told someone I wanted to get three shorts completed and published by the end of 2015. Nice lofty goal there, but hey-ho, such is life.

One thing I am enjoying at the 40k point of my current story is practicing ‘story’ with characters that I know well, and writing to develop my narrative voice.

Just this morning I wrote a metaphor into my a chapter, which I am really pleased about, and is, as far as I’m aware, the first time I’ve sub-consciously wrote one, and consciously knew what it was once I’d completed it.

Today I have learned.

For the rest of my word count I’m planning on knowing why I’m writing before I start, and writing towards that character goal. This should have been what I was doing from day one, but nano has never been about thinking. It’s only ever about doing.

Mark