Sorry for posting late, I had this partially prepped and then forgot to schedule it.
It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month. I encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.
The awesome founder of this hop is Alex J. Cavanaugh and his co-hosts today are Sadira Stone, Patricia Josephine, Lisa Buie-Collard, Erika Beebe, and C. Lee McKenzie!
OPTIONAL QUESTION FOR NOVEMBER: What's the strangest thing you've ever googled in researching a story?
I ended up not using it (yet) but I researched the haka, a Maori dance, for my superhero-novel-series-project-that-may-never-get-finished. My main character is part-Maori, part-Scottish-American with some alien DNA. I've also researched habitable planets in the Milky Way for that project (there are none what we know of, but I can still "dream" right?).
For my current WIP, one odd thing I have researched: maps which feature the notation "Here Be Dragons." It turns out, there's only one and it's a small globe. The rest of the ancient maps just have drawings of dragons, mermaids, and rhinos (?!).
NaNoWriMo: Here Be Dragon Slayers
I decided to participate in NaNoWriMo 2019, the 20th year edition of NaNoWriMo. I really appreciate the end of the year, kick in the pants I get from NaNoWriMo. Whether I win or lose, I learn from the process of writing and plotting, and thinking about noveling in an intense way all month long.
I am writing about a traditional fantasy trope: dragon slayers.
Unlike the traditional dragon slayers, I decided to hang out with my favorite dragon slayer whose name is Mel aka Melisan Winter, an orphaned young woman who kills dragons with a variety of weapons but never with a sword, and her business partner and sidekick, Gavin Summer, also an orphan. If you think they are in a romantic relationship, think again. They are best friends, business partners, and they both have their eyes out for others ... (so, romance will happen, but not with each other).
Mel and Gavin will probably meet up with another dragon slayer by the name of Mad Maud, a character from a previous short story "Of Words and Swords" which can be found in the 2017 IWSG Fantasy Anthology: Mysteries of Death and Life. However, this is not Maud's main story. I haven't quite decided where he's going to land yet, other than as a reluctant mentor to these two.
A few fantasy tropes will be used, twisted, and re-imagined. There is a "chosen one" but it's not who you think. Dragon slaying will occur, but not quite on purpose every time, and well, it gets more complicated when a particular character comes on the stage. Not every dragon looks like a dragon and not every dragon is a dragon ...
I am actually plotting and pants-ing as I go. I have plot points. I am following them like guidelines and sign posts. I am following Save the Cat Writes a Novel ... mostly.