I did this last year and I’m doing it again this year. While everyone else is busy doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), I’m doing PerNoFiMo (Personal Novel Finishing Month). And unlike last year, this year I plan to finish what I restart.
Oh, don’t get me wrong. I made decent progress on last year’s novel. I wrote about 40K words, which was good. But honestly, I needed to write another 40K to finish it. And before I do that, I really need to do some research. I could do that this month, but honestly, I’m not in that big a hurry to write that particular novel. It just doesn’t grab me like another project does.
This year, I’m picking back up on a project I called “The Little Death.” This was a sci-fi noir piece I started for ERWA’s noir theme month back in 2008. Yes, it’s been that long since I’ve messed around with this piece. I got about 14000 words written, blowing way past the original story length I had planned. But I really enjoyed working on this particular tale. It was sort of “Blade Runner” meets “Wuthering Heights,” with psychics and robots and an oppressive, totalitarian government doing its damnedest to regulate the human soul. I’ve always wanted to get back to this piece, so I’m working on it now and next month, with the intention of podcasting it for the Heat Flash Erotica Podcast starting in January 2011.
Right now, I’m working on turning out about 5000 words a week. That’s not nearly the frantic pace of NaNoWriMo, but it would give me about 40000 words by the time January hits, certainly enough for me to be ready to podcast. Here’s a quick excerpt from what I wrote this evening:
*****
“Wait up!” I shout at him. “Asshole…”
Vallard looks back at me and winks, then hits the landing between floors and turns the corner. A moment later, he’s gone, and I’m left standing alone. I contemplate turning back. I don’t need this. If I want to play head games, I’m pretty damn sure all I need to do is go back to my room and wait. OverWatch will send someone over to deal with me eventually. Someone who’s not a doctor interested in my health, but an inquisitor looking for answers I don’t have.
Suddenly, I’ve got the urge to race down the stairs after Vallard.
*****
Just a quick clip. I don’t want to give away too much, but if you intend to listen to the podcast come January, pay attention to the names Vallard and OverWatch. They figure pretty heavily in the story.
That’s it for tonight’s work. I’ll post another snippet next week.
