'Twas the Night Before NaNo

On the Playlist:  No Curtain Call - Maroon 5

Well friends, it's 10:58PM on Halloween. Who knows what that means?

If you gussed In sixty-two minutes, Bri will stare at her computer screen for approximately four minutes before beginning to type something along the lines of, "fgjfdhds", then deleting it, then typing, "I'm an idiot", then deleting it, then writing a first sentence of a new WIP that she will (hopefully) finish by November 30, you would be correct! And you know me far too well.

November 1 is the start of NaNoWriMo, where a bunch of crazy ambitious writers try to write 50 000 words before November 30. I've blogged before about what I hope to achieve with NaNoWriMo, and now I will tell you what I'm planning to write and how I've prepared.

My novel is called Like a Bad Country song, and here is the terrible synopsis:

Tiffany and Adelle have spent their lives in the small town of Chillicothe, Texas. Tiffany's parents are, and always were, happily married. Adelle's parents are not, and never were, in her life; instead, her grandmother is her guardian. Tiffany is the captain of her high school's pom squad. Adelle's position on the pom squad is to be the tenth member they need to compete. Tiffany has had the same boyfriend, Ethan, since she was five. Adelle's never been kissed.  Tiffany hates Chillicothe. Adelle loves it.

But when Tiffany and Ethan have sex at the start of their senior year, it sets off a chain of changes in the girls' lives.  For the first time in seventeen years, Tiffany and Adelle must change themselves to handle what their lives have become.

Now, you may be (and probably should be) asking, "Bri, why is your synopsis...not a synopsis? It tells us about the characters, but nothing about the plot."

That's because I have no plot beyond that. 

Sure, I have some ideas for scenes and whatnot, but I really don't know where this novel is going at all. I do, however, know my characters. This is not new to me; all of my stories start with characters, and without real plots. The characters show me the plot as I write.

So, how have I prepared for NaNoWriMo? I haven't, really. I, obviously, have no outline. I do, however, have a ridiculous amount of leftover Halloween candy and Diet Coke, which should get me through until I find a plot. It's worked before.

I plan to post every Sunday night about how my week went NaNo-wise. This will be incredibly embarrassing, because I will fall behind on wordcount, I will have moments where I'm sure that I can't do it, and I might even do the unthinkable and delete scenes because guys, when I write crap, I write crap.

But I think this will be a lot of fun, and if nothing else, I'll have more words than I did at the beginning of November. I am really excited to write at midnight.

NaNo'ers, tell me about your project! How have you prepared for NaNo? Do you know your characters? Plots? Do you have an outline? Do you have lots of chocolate? Let me know in the comments!