NaNoWriMo Adventures and Writing a Prequel Novel

Hello, Writers!

As I write this, I’m supposed to have a couple of days off to recover from National Novel Writing Month. It was a great idea in theory. As an entrepreneur, I’ve found that I can’t do anything or take time off without thinking about my business, or my next book. A not so great habit I should kick to the kerb.

My NaNoWriMo Adventure

The whole point of NaNoWriMo is to commit to writing a certain number of words every day for thirty days. But, I didn’t do that. I managed to hit my target with eighteen days of writing. I was able to reach the word count goal in a short time because I’m committed to treating my writing as a business. For me, this means not writing on the weekends. I observe this rule even with NaNoWriMo because I want to ensure I’m not drawing water from an empty well. As a full-time writer, I like to keep my consume versus create ratio balanced. In short, this means, I’m doing things that inspire creativity and writing at the same time.

My decision to participate in NaNoWriMo was a little spur of the moment. I had planned on writing the prequel novel and had a premise, but, I was going to stick to a production schedule. I’m one of those writers who can write without an outline. As a result, I spent fours days, world-building, creating characters, outlining, and procrastinating.

Writing a Prequel Novel

This year I committed to writing the prequel novel for my James Lalonde series. The book’s working title is Silence. I’m starting to love writing this series. I tend to swing between, ‘I think I have a decent story somewhere in this draft’ to ‘what if no likes my books.’ The classic writer split personality. On the other hand, I’ve gotten to a place where I feel like I know my protagonist, James Lalonde. He’s a bit of a French cliche, cue, eye-rolling. Imagine a French accent with a hint of arrogance, a dash of sarcasm, and a strong personality. If you want to know more about the prequel book, read the synopsis by clicking this link.

This book is different from Immunity because James is amongst friends and you get a much stronger sense of his personality. The prequel explains the events up to the start of Immunity. Silence foreshadows something exciting that will play a major role in the third book in the series. The third book has the working title, Vertigo.

As a part of the research behind the prequel novel, I’m planning a research trip to Oxford, within the next few weeks. So keep your eyes peeled in the upcoming weeks for photos and video footage.

Happy reading book lovers!

Amelia xx