How’s the prep been going for this year’s NaNoWriMo?

Well, for me, there hasn’t been much. Between work, family, and editing What Happened at Ingvar Bluffs, I’ve put off prepping for this year’s NaNo novel. So far, I only have a few themes, some sketches of the world, and a loose sense of the plot.

This year’s novel doesn’t even have a name yet, so I’ve given it a (very boring) name: Project River. You’ll see why I chose “river” in the setting description below.

I’m sharing this as a way to work it out in my head for tomorrow morning and to encourage you to begin NaNoWriMo, even if everything isn’t perfectly planned out. Here’s what I have prepped so far:

Genre

The story is a fantasy adventure novel set in a magical world seperate from our own.

Themes

The main theme of the book is Purpose vs Desire. The tension between a character’s ‘purpose,’ as defined by fate or others with influence over them, and their ‘desire,’ what they feel most called towards.

There are two other major themes of this book, both of which play off of the overarching main theme:

• Technology vs Magic: The exciting future of technology in a medieval world that has recently gained a goddess of innovation versus the trusted power of magic, which is limited by the current power structure.
• Safety vs Adventure: The boring safety of the known world versus the exciting danger of the unknown adventure.

The world of the novel, expecially the existing power structures, view these as rigid dichotomies, but the story will show that there are shades and not everything is as clear as it seems.

Setting

The main feature of the world is a magical river that encircles everything the main characters know. The River is enbued with the divine magic of the Liless the Inevitable, Deity of Destiny. The water is filled with her magic and always runs clean, though people endeavor to avoid allowing sewage into the River out of respect. The River splits and joins constantly, creating hundreds or thousands of different courses that make a huge swirl covering hundreds of square miles.

At the center of the swirl is the country of Rataidra, in the middle of Rataidra is the capital city of Mosrod, and at the cetner of Mosrod where the swirling waters of the River gather is the Legemy.

The Legemy is the main temple to Liless, lead by her head clerics, who regulate those who can use the gift of Liless’ divine magic so that it is only used for good.

Other locations include Heatherfalls, where the story begins, and the Garona, the vast desert that surrounds the River, where nothing grows and beyond which no mortal has ever traveled.

Characters

Aleris Kelradich

Kel is quick-witted, miserly merchant who owns his own river vessel, the Abni. He eschews adventure for safe, profitable routes with a certain return on his investment. He has many acquaintances, but few friends.

He is hired to watch over a young woman who needs to be taken to the outer courses of the river, a job he only took due to the high up-front payment.

Ivesy Zirina

Ivy is a untalented cleric of Liless. Despite showing promise at an early age, her ability to wield magic never came to fruition. Now, with knowledge of the temple but no power of her own to protect herself, the head cleric sends her far away from the Legemy as a mysterious foe threatens.

The Goal

My minimum goal is the typical NaNoWriMo fare: 50,000 words by midnight of November 30th. I also plan to update a minimum of once a week on here with my current word count and how the writing is going.

My ideal goal would be 90,000 words. I typically run under when drafting, and add an additional 25-30% in editing. This would hopefully get me to my desired word count of 110,000 to 120,000 words in the final draft.

I am also going to endeavor to update this website daily with my current word count and how the writing is going.

If you are also writing for NaNoWriMo, good luck! Let’s go!