Creating New Worlds

I belong to a large number of writers groups online and I have been enjoying deeply seeing all the posts about the upcoming Nanowrimo writing session. For those that aren't familiar with Nanowrimo I will happily share an overview. Nanowrimo stands for NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth and it is a self imposed competition. The tag line, at least when I began several years ago, was 30 days and nights of writing reckless abandon. We start on November 1st at midnight and write an average of 1667 words per day in order to complete the challenge of 50,000 words in a 30 day period.

We pick a story, sometimes we have researched it, outlined and storyboarded it even concerted our characters. Sometimes it is just an idea that strikes us and we give it our best shot. Then by 11:59pm on November 30th we copy and paste the story into the verifier on the Nanowrimo website and if it is determined that we completed the challenge then we are declared a winner.

My first year competing I worked on a story I had been planning and hoping to write for nearly a decade but I couldn't get past my writers block. The looming deadline gave me a push I didn't have before and when I was finally able to turn off that pesky inner editor and just focus on getting the words down I was able to open up and listen to the characters as they told me their true story. I had been trying to control them and that is why it wasn't working.

Now for the first time I am researching the background for my book. I am creating a novel that is far outside my general comfort zone for writing. I have always stayed in a drama or romance genre and it has flowed well. Most of my stories have had elements of my life and experiences in them, though one came completely from my imagination. Even the one I invented was set in the real world and was a romance novel at the end.

The book I am planning to write this year is a tremendous leap. I will be writing a historical fantasy novel set during the Salem Witch Trials. I need to research the time period to make sure my language and references make sense. I have to learn about witchcraft and how to make it believable in the realm of what I will be using it for. These are going to be much more adult than books I have written in the past. They involve seduction along with the magic and I need to not only create believable witches but vixens able to seduce and destroy with a visual but not raunchy level of sex.

The last part of this that makes me say I am taking a leap is that Welcome to Syn is the first book in a series of eight books. I have always created stand alone stories. I have been persuaded to write another book that will go hand in hand with my recently published Never Give Up that is the story of another character from that book but I still view that differently than a series. I also have not written it yet. So again this will be the first time I create something knowing that moving forward there is more to the story.

I am scared in a way but if I can make this series into what I picture it to be and I can expand my genre horizons then perhaps someday I can truly reach out and create a book that is set in my very own world.