Since May, I have been working on a Secret Writing Project/Experiment. My intentions with this project was to be an experiment of sorts, in two parts.
To finally write something to completion to show my brain that I can do it
To do the complete opposite of my normal writing process
As of Friday, October 27th, I did in fact complete and write a full story beginning to end (yay me!) and I felt the want to share a little bit more about the experiment.
With my normal writing process, my characters come to me with a bit of their life story, their current struggle, and a desire to tell their story. Their names take a while because names have meanings and sometimes they cycle through multiple names until one fits.
I tend to spend hours, days, sometimes weeks, just creating a character profile with MBTI types, Big Three in astrology, appearance, and way too many celebrity Face Claims in order to visualize them better.
After that, I usually write a brief outline, use tarot cards to fill in some blanks, and then start writing from chapter one. When I get about two or three chapters, I get stuck. I start second guessing everything and then redoing the outline, redoing the characters, and ultimately end up getting frustrated and never finish.
Enter The Opposite Process.
This time I just wanted to get started writing without overthinking things. So I used a name and job generator to create Character A and Character B. I keysmashed the name for a fictional town and wrote a synopsis, no outline. Then I started writing.
I knew I wanted it to be a cozy romance set at a lighthouse, I knew one of my characters as a bit of a hermit, one of the characters is asexual, and that found family would be a huge feature.
And y’all. I had so much fun.
It got a little frustrating at times, especially around the third act because I started to convince myself I could do another draft and publish, but after a couple of conversations with friends who are also writers/authors, I reminded myself, this was just for me. And I can always harvest the bits I like for future projects I actually want to publish.
Now, I am sorting through several WIPs from the past two years, deciding which ones will be on deck to write. I’m planning on doing a lowkey NaNoWriMo (not word goal oriented, just the writing process and community support itself) and will probably alternate between a few because I am indecisive and have ADHD.
Some WIPs that might make it to the rotation:
an Atlantis meets The Mummy queer adventure novel
a Hocus Pocus inspired gay romance featuring “friends to enemies to reluctant allies to friends to lovers”
a seven deadly sins inspired dark academia (you know, the one I’ve been working on forever)
a comfort ship inspired dark academia romance
And let’s be honest, I’m sure I’ll think of something else while trying to sort through these. Is anyone here doing NaNoWriMo or a lowkey version of it like me?
Until next time,
-A
Yay!!! Congratulations!!! So proud
congratulations!!
and I am here for Atlantis meets the Mummy