NaNo Is Almost Here: Happy Halloween

First of all, a very happy Halloween to everyone! What is everyone dressed up as? I'm going classic/boring: modern-goth vampire.

It was a whirlwind weekend spent out-of-state for my cousin's wedding. Congratulations to the happy couple, by the way!

The out-of-state wedding meant hours in the car driving. Would that also mean hours in the car contemplating the holes I need to fill in the "Peeping Tomcat" plot outline? I mean.... it should have. I did think about the story. I didn't really get many answers for it, though.

I came up with my first potential Akuma villain a few days ago when falling asleep; as it usually happens to me, and I pray I remember when I wake up the next day. I don't think I have her powers locked down, though, and I still need to figure out how the villain is getting defeated.

Of course neither of these main issues, nor a second Akuma villain, came to me while I was driving. The best I came up with was that instead of Cat Noir being distracted thinking about the "Marinette Conundrum" as I originally planned, it would be Ladybug being distracted over the fact that she has to save Chloe yet again, and Cat Noir will be the one with the focus and main grasp of the situation. I need to show that he is nearly LB's equal as a hero before making him look like a doofus against the next few Akuma attacks I pit him up against.

Hopefully, this will better illustrate the fact that he's not bad as a superhero; he's just REALLY distracted with this whole Marinette/Ladybug thing.

Still, I don't have the first villain locked down yet, I still need a second one, I need to figure out how Adrien missed seeing or hearing Tikki for a solid week of spying on Marinette, AND I need to figure out how to explain to the reader how he missed seeing her when the story is in Adrien's First-Person POV. I mean, I can't just neglect to mention Tikki since he doesn't notice her, because the reader my think it was an oversight. It might draw them out of the story, or even have them ask in the reviews "How did he NOT see Tikki?" How do I let my readers know that I thought about it; figured it out; and that I'm not trying to cheat anything?

I have a LOT to still figure out, and NaNo is tomorrow!

In the past, I've done my normal "pantsing" for NaNo, and it resulted in me not winning.

Last year I attempted to do the whole "Plantser" idea for NaNo.

It was my first NaNo win, so I wanted to make sure to follow the same concept. Actually, I wanted to go a step father this year. I was all set to have everything figured out. I wanted a full, complete outline. I was going to spend a whole month, if not longer, prepping for NaNo and have myself perfectly set. I really wanted to be a full-blown "Planner" this year.

To be fair, according to the image, having "lots of helpful notes" is part of being a Planner, and I definitely have that. However, I'm definitely going to have to wing a bunch of key things during NaNo unless I manage to figure it out before I get to that part of the story. I'd call that kind of "pantsing" versus "planning."

Of course, while I'm still struggling to figure out the last details of "Peeping Tomcat" I'm already thinking of plot points for "One and the Same." Not. Helpful. Or... is it? I mean, it gives me a leg up for later, but I'd appreciate it if I could finish off ONE story first.

I guess I'm going into NaNo semi-blind with a 4-pg outline, and pray that it's enough.

I'm also going to try something else that I used last year and hope it's just as successful: five day writing week instead of the "true daily" for the full month. It's more words per day, but it allots me down days for when I get too busy to write every day. It helps me avoid being too hard on myself when I go a day without writing anything, or not writing the daily goal.

Such a super neat calendar! I'm so glad I found this guy last year, and that he updates every year. If you want a better image of this for you to use this NaNo, feel free to check out Dave Seah's work. He has a Patreon if you would like to support him, and he also now sells a full 12-month version of the above writing calendar. It's a great way to keep your writing on track, especially if this works well for you during NaNo. He sells the calendar for $1 per month, so it's down to $2 for the rest of the year. However, he always has his NaNo calendar for free as long as you are ok with this green color scheme. He has other colors over on Patreon.

OK, plug over.

I'm thinking I'm as prepped as I'm going to get. I'll have to give it a better go next year, but it is what it is for this year. Let's see how I do, huh?

How about you guys? You more prepped for NaNo? You even doing NaNo? Are you a Pantser, Planner, or Plantser? Do you have other calendars you like to use? Anyone else use Dave Seah's calendars? What is your story idea? Let me know everything in the comments section below.

Happy NaNo-ing, everyone!