Nanoplanmo 2020 Update 1!

Hi! It’s been thirteen days since I started my planning for my Nanowrimo novel. If you remember from my announcement post, you’ll have noticed that I didn’t go into detail as to what I’d be writing, aside from that it was going to be set in the world my previous two nano novels were set in.

Well, that was because I had no idea what I was going to write. But hooray, now I know, more or less.

This year’s novel is indeed going to be set in the same world. It’s a fantasy, and it’ll happen on a continent that hasn’t gotten a novel yet, meaning I’m currently doing a deep dive into the development of culture, civilization, history, species, magic, and you name it for that continent. Some themes I’m going to utilize within the novel include relations between species with different technology levels, the use of magic, and the misuse of life to fuel that magic. I’m not really gonna go deeper at this point, but I’m sure you’ll forgive me.

So for that past ten days, I’ve been drawing maps and detailing out which areas I wanna focus on. I’ve also been on the lookout for map creators and town creators and stuff in video game form or web browser form that’ll let me actually build my cities so I can have a clear picture of what goes where. I’ve found a few things, but nothing has really stuck out to me as the perfect product yet. So if you have any suggestions, do let me know, particularly if they have a free demo I can try out first.

I’ve also been really trying to get a system in place for my world building. It’s a bit all over the place right now. I toyed with Campfire for a bit but my trial ran out before it had sold me. My husband, who’s also doing nano this year, has basically made the equivalent of a campfire set up within his evernote, so I might try doing that as well. We’ll see.

If you’ve done nano, or if you’re a writer that does a lot of world building, where do you organize it? What’s your system? I mean I have a “system” but it’s basically just a bunch of unorganized word documents.

Anyways, I’m really pumped about this year’s project. For the first few days of October, I was iffy, just because I had a premise but didn’t have a plot. Now I have a plot as well and I really like it. I’m itching to start writing now, but I’m forcing myself to hold off. No cheating!

Guys I’m so pumped!

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If you’re also participating in Nanowrimo, do let me know!