NaNoWriMo is almost upon me

In 2 days' time I will be sitting down at the laptop with the aim of producing a novel in a month as part of NaNoWriMo.

My aim is to produce an average of 2000 words per day. That should be achievable; of course other things will get in the way...an assignment for my Masters, a trip to Italy, and my usual laziness. However, it is still achievable and the more I tell everyone about it, the more likely I am to go through with it (only dieting has failed in that respect so far!).

The title is ready - Even the Darkest Black - my characters are fully formed and I have the outline of the novel in place, partly on paper and partly in my head but it has a definite shape. I know where the novel will be based, in and around Venice, Italy and having visited the region frequently in the last year I have both mental images and physical pictures to refer to when it comes to description. I have reminded myself yet again (by revisiting a previous blog post) of the pitfalls to avoid, so there really is nothing left to do but write.

My key characters

I'm both scared and excited. I am sensible enough to know that the finished article will look more like a knobbly grey stone than a beautiful diamond but I am also confident enough to know that it can, and will, be transformed from stone to diamond with some cutting and polishing (as to the clarity and brilliance I am not the one to rate it).

One piece of advice I am going to adhere to, that a friend and fellow writer shared when she undertook the same exercise last year, and which she in turn took from Stephen King, is to ignore the details you need to research and just get the story down. Authenticity, accuracy over the route a person may walk or the date on which an event occurred can be checked and changed as part of the editing process AFTER the story is complete. I am going to drill that rule into my head in the next two days as, being a procrastinator of unparalleled skill, that could be my biggest downfall.

Venice