I've signed up for NaNoWriMo again this year and have high hopes of reaching the 50,000 word mark this time round. I'm a pantser - someone who writes by the seat of their pants rather than planning - so I don't usually do much in the way of planning before I write. But I have been doing a little light preparation for a whole month of frantic writing.
I have an idea for the story I'm going to write. It's a murder story around a failed affair. A married man has an affair with a younger woman, the affair ends and she tries to forget about him. Some time later his wife is discovered murdered and he has gone missing. His previous mistress comes to the attention of the police, possibly as a suspect, and the story follows her attempts to prove her innocence and find out what happened. I know how the wife will die, I know that the mistress isn't the killer but I'm not sure who is or where the husband has gone. So there is still a considerable amount of flesh to be put on the bones of this story.
I have been preparing by coming up with names - I'm setting the story in a fictional town so I can fashion it as I choose and I've got a few ideas for the name of the town. The characters are proving more tricky to name however. Every name I come up with doesn't feel right. What is a good name for a cheating husband, a wronged wife or a mistress? At the moment they are A, B and C! I'm happy to keep them as A, B and C for the time being - perhaps they will name themselves as I write.
As November approaches I get a bit twitchy about writing those first words. The tyranny of the blank page, whether paper or screen, is ever present. I always worry that no words will flow and I will stare at a blank page until my head aches and tears spring into my eyes - drama queen or what?
So I'm wishing all NaNoWriMoers lots of luck this year - and I include myself in that - and I hope to share a few bits and pieces as the month goes on, so watch this space!
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