November is here and that means writers all over the US are kicking off National Novel Writing Month. The goal? Write 50,000 words of your novel in the month of November. I am so excited to be participating this year after one failed attempt and several years of saying I wanted to and then never starting. I'm so excited to get to work on this novel and to hopefully one day share it with you all. Today I wanted to talk to you a little bit about what the novel is about, how I'm writing it, and how you can follow my progress!
The Novel
Currently my novel doesn't have a title. I wanted to wait until I was further into writing it and see if a title naturally comes out. It is a YA (or possibly NA) Fantasy novel, and the more I think about it, the more it feels like the first book in a series... and that scares me a little bit.
The story takes place in a world ruled by two kingdoms (any artists feel up for some map designing?). 18 years before the start of the story the kingdoms fought a war against each other that led to the death of both kings leaving the queens, each with two very young children, to rule their kingdoms until their sons came of age. They signed a treaty of peace that had two key components. First - both their eldest and youngest children would be betrothed so one day the elder two would rule the Western kingdom and the younger two the Eastern. And second, magic would be erased from the kingdoms' memories.
18 years later, on the eve of their wedding, the eldest children of each kingdom disappear under suspicious circumstances and things that have been long hidden start to come to light.
So like I said, I don't think this story wraps up in one novel, but we will see what happens!
The Process
The book is currently in really early stages. I have the basic backstory, an idea of where it is going and have written one scene. I'm not sure I'll hit the 50,000 word count for NaNoWriMo, but I'm okay with that! As of right this second I am at 187 words.
The main thing I am excited for in this novel is how involved Tarot is in the process. I've always loved the idea of using the tarot to write a book and so I thought there was no time but the present. I'm using the cards to guide character, plot and relationships. I've even based the kingdoms off cards to some extent. I look forward to seeing where the cards take me on this journey.
Currently none of my characters have names except for one of the princes (and one of the dead kings...) and so I'm getting ready to dive into Baby Name YouTube to find some ideas. My favorite Baby Name YouTuber is SJ Strum and she has some great theme lists up that I can't wait to dive into to pick out some character names.
Like I said, this is in really early stages, but I'm excited to see it evolve over this month and beyond. Who knows? Maybe I will hit 50k!
Follow Along
There are a few ways you can follow along with my journey with this novel!
If you are also participating (or have in the past) in NaNoWriMo - become my buddy! Or you can just check out my Participant Page.
If you want to see some of my inspiration for the characters, world, plot and more - you can follow my Pinterest Board.
If you want to see more of the tarot elements and updates - follow my TikTok.
If you want lengthier updates or to see my ranting about how frustrated I am - make sure you are following my bookstagram!
I am so excited to keep working on this book!
Are you doing NaNoWriMo? Let me know all about your novel!
xo,
Kayla
Comments