I’m finally drawing my second novel, entitled Keeping Light, to a close later this month. Then I’m up for a brand new creative adventure called JuNoWriMo! It’s just like NaNoWriMo, as I mentioned in my previous post, where participants strive to write 50,000 words in 30 days. That means writing 1,667 words a day, which I have learned can be very doable!
My premise for a new story is sketchy so far, but involves an eighteen-year-old young woman who moves to an island to attend college and lives with her visually impaired older sister who writes mystery novels. There are mysteries and secrets from the past on the island, perhaps involving the sisters and their family, draws them closer together as they seek the truth.
The biggest improvement I discovered in the April Camp NaNoWriMo session was the importance of an outline. I used a flexible outline that I often changed to reflect ideas that came to me in the process of creating the story. As I finish, I can already tell that improving the characterization of each individual will be my biggest editing challenge. I want readers to know these characters and their motivations. This seems especially important in the science fiction genre into which Keeping Light falls. While it is set on planets different from our own with characters of slightly different origins, I want to be able to understand them as if they lived next door. I always tell myself that if the story is interesting for me to write, it will be hopefully interesting to readers. The opposite is also true. If I find myself growing weary of a storyline or character as I write, I don’t expect readers to have a different experience than my own.
Pictures can really inspire my writing. To create Keeping Light, I used a lot of pictures of stars, space and beaches to put my characters into their environments.
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Looks like a sci film your picture. Good to read your enjoying this experience ☺️
Thanks! I’ve really enjoyed the experience.