NaNoWriMo Days 8,9

Since I’ve finished up the first two projects, I had major planning, plotting, worldbuilding, etc. to do for the other two.  Yeah, I have notes and some details already figured out, but not enough to confidently plow through one of these new stories.  I fully intend to SUBMIT these stories for publication, so it’s important that I know what the @#*% I’m doing before I get too deep!

So for two days, I worked on the plot for Miseryland (post-apoc).  I’m doing it in Scrivener, and I’ve managed to complete at least a rough draft of the plot through Act II part 2.  I still need the big showdown and final climax.  In general, I know “what” happens.  I just don’t know all those pesky details.  *sheepish*  I’m hoping those will filter out naturally once I get closer.  I do at least have an ending point to write to, and then I’ll have to figure out how the good guys actually WIN.

The other project, working title Phantom, has been giving me some problems.  I had the premise pretty well thought out in my mind, and it’s a shorter work, so I don’t need a lot of plot.  I actually don’t want a bunch going on to detract from the erotic elements.  But the characters themselves were just little cardboard props.  I had no idea WHY they had to be in this story, with those names, those goals, etc.  So today, my job was to sit down and write out all the backstory I could think of.

When did they know each other (for space reasons, I need them to know each other relatively well before the story starts)?  How did they grow up?  What problems did they have as teenagers and young adults?  Who’s their family? Who’s the antagonist?  Who’s the red herring and why? Who did they not get along with? 

WHY WHY WHY?  Always, that crucial question. 

I managed to get over 2k of backstory written.  Now most of this will NOT end up in the story, but I have a much better feeling of who these characters are and why I need to tell their story.

And yes, I’m counting all this synopsis/pre-work for NaNoWriMo.  It’s words that I have to have to be successful.  Consider them a “draft 0.”  I’m hoping to begin drafting a bit of Miseryland while I work out a more formal plot of Phantom.  Whichever one takes off the most in the next week will be the one I ride to the finish line, but I’d really really love to have first drafts of both done by the end of the year.  Doable since I think they’re going to be about 70-80K total in first draft.

No snippet tonight since I’m just plotting and building.

NaNoWriMo count:  24,200