I do not usually participate in Camp NaNo, though I have occasionally been able to work during April or July on a writing project. Camp NaNo is part of National Novel Writing Month and it differs from NaNo in November because you can set your own unique goals for Camp. If you want to write 30,000 words as a goal? Go for it! Since November NaNo was so successful as a motivator for grad school deadlines, I decided to try April Camp NaNo, even though it is my final semester with a goal of 50,000 words, because why not?
Some of my favorite writing tools for preparing for a month-long creative project:
No Plot? No Problem! By Chris Baty, as a reminder of the encouragement and cycle of the four weeks. I always struggle with week 2, so I try to bulk my word count during week 1 to offset the smaller word counts in week 2. I reread his encouragement before Camp and as needed for motivation.
I enjoy examining plot structure as a reminder of my outline and whenever I get stuck or do not know which scene to write with Save the Cat. Is this the Darkest Night? What is my B Story?
The Writer's Journey reminds me of my own life journey and the Hero's Journey can relate to the story's structure. Call, Ordeal, Return with the Elixir.
Story Grid is also a resource for story structure. I love reading books in the same genre and creating my own Foolscap. What scenes are vital to each genre? What are the reader's expectations? What are my expectations as the first reader?
So this time I will be rewriting Beauty and Beast, different from my November 2020 retelling. I am drawn to the characters and the story structure. Do you have a story that you retell? Which stories are you drawn to retell?
Are you participating in Camp NaNo? What are you working on?
1 comment:
I'm participating in Camp this year, and I'm hoping to finish the first draft of one of my long unfinished WIPs. My word count goal is only set to 25,000 words, though.
Best of luck to you with your rewrite!
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