;my nanowrimo goals

For the past few years, I’ve tried to take part in NaNoWriMo. I’ve never completed the challenge of writing 50,000 words in a month – not even come close, if I’m honest – but it does encourage me to actually sit down and write. Whether I’m writing blog posts like these, or working on abandoned fanfictions, at least I’m writing.

And in the end, for me, that’s a win for NaNoWriMo.

I realised after the first year I took part in NaNoWriMo that working on one project frustrates me. After I write it for a while, I start getting stuck, I start spiralling, and I stop writing.

So since then, I’ve been choosing about two or three projects to focus on, and then adding in whatever else I may write to my word count. It works for me, and it means that my projects come that much closer to a completed first draft.

This year, I’ve chosen four projects to work on. Ambitious, yes, but two of these projects were a last minute addition because apparently I have midnight story ideas that absolutely need to be written. My brain needs to stop.

• Desi Space Mom Epic.
  This story idea started from a tweet by Lauren Spieller and sort of spiraled from there into world-building and family politics and actual politics, and most of the characters around my main character have a name but she as yet does not have a fixed on. Yeah, and also there’s a space pirate ship named the Yamraj and you should ask me why that makes me laugh.
• The Reincarnation Story.
  Originally, this was a fanfiction for a Hindi drama I used to watch and adore, and I wrote about 10 short chapters for it, and I had planned the rest, but then I fell out of love with the show so I stopped writing. Recently, I realised it could standalone as an original story, so I started editing it and cleaning it up, and I’m not very far into it, but I’m falling in love with the characters all over again.
• Matchmaking Rom-Com.
  When midnight ideas don’t leave you alone, you decide to text your best friend to complain about it, but your best friend just laughs at you and convinces you to write the story instead of shelving it for the future. Thanks, babe. Think of this like a mix between Good Luck Chuck and Miss Match and possibly Practical Magic. I haven’t started writing it, and it’s probably the only project I’ll be physically writing out instead of typing.
• Cinderella Web-Series.
  Please see the complaint above about my best friend and know that she did this to me TWICE in a span of two weeks, but also know that this web-series will probably never be made because I am only a script-writer and know nobody else who would be able to do everything else. But also, Singaporean-based brown Cinderella, not-so-evil (YouTuber) stepsister, and (Prince of YouTube) Charming, also brown. I have thoughts on their arcs, and I’m possibly bringing in Anastasia’s arc from the sequels.

As much as I complain about plot bunnies, I enjoy writing these stories. What I do not enjoy is having TOO MANY unfinished projects lying around, but also I don’t have the motivation or ideas to finish them.

The life and times of writers, amiright?

To everyone else also working on NaNoWriMo this year, good luck! Tell me about your projects (if you want to), or tell me about future things you want to write!