{The Scribbler} NaNoWriMo and the Thrill of a New Idea

I decided to retire Word Count Wednesdays because I don't often bother to post it.
I still like talking about writing, though, and decided to merge WCW into The Scribbler,
which can be for any writing topics I wish to talk about.

So, the last time we talked about writing, I was all gung-ho to do NaNoWriMo.  I went on a Book Reading Ban, cleansed my mind, and got cracking.

I didn't know if I wanted to work on the high fantasy idea that has been poking at me for most of the year (despite the fact that I still have world-building to do) or work on another contemporary piece I've wanted to do since late spring (despite the fact that I was trying NOT to work on contemporary atm.  This was the most developed idea and wouldn't leave me alone, though).  What's a girl to do?  Start both, of course!

I alternated back and forth between the two, and I was on top of things for about a week.  Then, of course, life kicked in and I got busier.

And then...something magical happened.

I was putting a beach towel over my fish tank (so that light wouldn't get in and bother him at night.  My poor betta actually just passed away a week or two ago *sob*), so in a way, my betta was my muse.  I had a pile of DVDs on the ground next to the tank, and I managed to knock them over with the edge of the towel.  Picking them up, I found a documentary that I'd forgotten about.

This documentary made me think of a TV series I'd seen pieces of a few years ago.

The setting for both of these is very unique, and it somehow made me think of Super Secret Fizzy Pop (Which I have been working on, quitting, and working on again for over a year now...and NaNo was supposed to give me a break from this piece!).  One of the gripes I have about Fizzy Pop is the fact that it's so contemporary, and I lean more fantasy.  Thinking about the documentary and the TV series, I realized that if I moved the setting of Fizzy Pop to this, it suddenly became more interesting, more unique.  It might still be completely contemporary, but now it's not quite so ordinary.  And, there's potential to add a trace of whimsy or the fantastic, if I choose to do so.  This doesn't have to be clean-cut contemporary.

All this from moving the setting!

Of course, this means I need to extensively re-write, um, everything.  And do research.  A lot of research.

When I tried working on my two NaNo projects again, all I wanted to do was think about re-working Fizzy Pop, and I could no longer concentrate on writing anything else.

Instead, I got my hands on that old TV series, purchased another documentary, and pulled out all the material I have that could possibly relate to this new setting.  I spent the rest of NaNo investing in research.

I'm going to do my own personal NaNo in February or March, since I have a couple weeks of vacation to use by March 31st.  I'm getting as much framework in now as I can.

I'm honestly really scared, because this new idea has the potential to go 100% utterly, terribly wrong.  It's pretty weird.  But if I handle the material well enough, it also has the potential to be perfectly right.  It's a really scary time for me, and a big risk!  (Thank goodness for Scrivener and multiple drafts!)

So...

I didn't do much writing in November.  I went into NaNo wanting to write for myself and get a foundation, not caring about hitting 50k, and while I did a lot less than I intended, I managed to get excited all over again for Fizzy Pop, and now I'm desperately eager to figure out the tangles of this new idea and start writing again!