During last year’s NaNoWriMo, I had a situation authors only talk about in interviews. I don’t know if it will make the final draft if the final draft ever happens, but during one scene in the novel I started to cry. Something happened to one of the characters, an incident not far from reality. My heart broke over a fictional character, and it played out with the main character as one of the waves in this event. All this came from one germ.
This time around I have many germs, but nothing was catching. A story germ, a term I use instead of ‘idea’, has to catch on as oppose to the cold or the flu. (Two things not worth catching.) I nearly wanted to go the contemporary fiction route again until I circled back to an idea of setting a novel in the world of The Walking Dead. It’s not ‘fan fiction’ per say. Fear The Walking Dead takes place as things fall apart in Los Angeles. I want to know what happens in a city like Winnipeg.
How seriously did I consider a walker apocalypse in Winnipeg? I went to MEC to possible scout luggage for a trip. Things like knives, axes, and other things line the same walls. I stood in front of a machete with a salmon-coloured handle, noting its $21.50 price. (Not bad for possible weapon against walkers or cannibalistic human colonies like Terminus.) I considered the matter further, like MEC would get looted first. Looting will happen regardless, but MEC, and Cabela’s will find their shelves cleaned out.
Writer’s fuel their process with ‘what if’. I have no idea how this year will pan out. Last year I had a groove and kept going. Other years I started and fizzled. NaNoWriMo 2015 has twin goals:
- Have fun. It’s hard, but what happens at the end makes thing worth it.
- What do I have to do habit-wise to go the ‘next level’?
- What the heck is that next level? (Alright I unexpectedly had triplets.)
Unpaused Life 