It may only be March, but it’s already time to start thinking about this year’s NaNoWriMo.

Between then and now, I must get the first draft of The Three Deaths of Piper Gwyn finished.  I have a number of ideas for this year’s NaNoWriMo but, with this book currently stretching on for 200,000 words, I’m working on the idea of doing a collection of shorter adventures for the next book.

The idea is for a book approaching 200,000 words but with individual shorter stories of 10,000 – 30,000 words.  There would be no minimum limit, but the collection would consist of 10-20 “mini-adventures” with each one forming part of the overall story.  For instance, things that happen in adventures 1, 2, and 4 might come together with elements from adventures 3 and 5 to form adventure 6 which, itself, would integrate with later adventures before leading to the finale.

I seem to be able to cope with long and meandering stories better than the shorter ones, and this idea would force me to challenge myself into keeping the adventures short without sacrificing the depth of the longer overall adventure.  It will also help me to highlight if my key characters are sufficiently developed to handle adventures without having to create new depth for them.

I have a starting point and a vague idea for an ending.  The ending is more important than the beginning, so it’ll all depend on the next few weeks.