NaNoWriMo 2011 prep bigins NOW!

I know it's only the middle of June and NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month for those of you that have been asleep for the last decade) doesn't start until November, but I'm starting the prep work today, or I would, had I not started it this Saturday last.

Last year, I started in September and spent weeks brainstorming ideas, and then did some initial research/outlining on five possible ideas and by October, I had decided the topic for that year's novel. I used the 31 days of October to try and follow the recommendation of a book I had been reading and found that method to be wanting - I needed more time to outline and not so much time for character bios. What I really needed was more time to research. I was trying my hand at a Science Fiction novel and wanted my speculative science to be at least rooted in reality. When I got to the stage of writing a detailed outline, the method I was using did not allow me any more time for additional research, but I really needed it. I ended up spending hours in November when I could have been writing doing research instead.

This year the method to the madness will be my own. I already have the idea firmly in my head, and it looks like Science Fiction again. I don't want to give anything away, not that it's secret rather just that I don't want to bore you, but I've been looking to use a certain mechanic that explains the operation of reality, well, for close to twenty years. It was just this last Friday that it came to me how to use it as part of a story (as opposed to just being some background info).

I predict the hard part will be not starting to write the story. Research this year will be roughly as difficult as last year, maybe even more linguistic research, but I have a head-start in that area of interest, plus I have four and a half months instead of 5 days. Following my own plan seems like a better idea now that I've tried several different methods for NaNoWriMo. The only thing I really have to think about, is whether to do it at all - if the start of September rolls along and I'm ready to start writing, do I really need to wait another 60 days? I love NaNo, but I love writing even more. Perhaps the story will break up into "books" and I can write one of them in November. I know that to some, that may seem like I'm shooting a little high, but since I tend to come up with ideas that are very broad; and since I've written more than 100k words two Novembers in a row, I think I'm capable of doing something like this.

Who knows, maybe by NaNo time, I'll already have worn out this idea and be starting something new.