So per my previous post on the subject, I’ve decided to have a crack at NaNoWriMo this year – writing a 50,000 word novel during November. So time for NaNoWriMo preparation.
I’ve been doing a bit of research into the basic premise of my story (you can prepare, but you can’t write anything of the novel itself outside of November). Essentially it’s a steampunk based story set in an alternate mid 19th century Japan, where the real life Meiji restoration has happened a slightly different way, allowing for rival states within the Japanese archipelago. I’ve also decided to include real historical figures in there, in adapted versions of their real roles.
It’s been interesting to read into this period of history again, which was a time of real direction change for Japan, and spent some time reading more about such things as the Ezo Republic (Japan’s only republican entity in it’s history), and some of the women warriors of Japan, many of whom aren’t well known outside of their areas nowadays, such as Nakano Takeko from Aizu who will feature as head of the independent city state of Aizu.
As far as the writing itself goes, I suspect most will be done on my Mac Mini and my old MacBook from 2006 in Scrivener, with the file saved into Dropbox, so I can switch between the two machines. I also have two weeks now to re-read “The Elements of Style“.
The next update will probably be just as we kick off, so good luck to fellow NaNoWriMo-ers!