So I started NaNoWrimo, this November 2016. The first day was great. Almost got my 1667 words for the day. The next day got another 500 or so words in. Then, about November 8 I went dry, but let me backtrack. I am pretty good at setting parameters, the historical setting, and what I call, the technical components of my book: A Drop in the Bucket. The parameters are the timeframes, theme, and locations. The timeframes are dictated by the locations and the theme. The theme is water and how it is used in different cultures. The timeframes are determined by what is happening at the various locations. The technical components are what I use in the various locations, and concerns mostly in agriculture, water engineering, floods, precipitation or the lack thereof.
I start with farming and water conditions plus its uses in the Sacramento valley during the 1970s. One of my characters came from Holland, and as the story unfolds, he compares water management in California with water management in Holland. He refers back to the 1953 flood in Holland and how that is managed to this date. In the third phase, his water engineer brother comes over and wants to see the consequences of Katrina in New Orleans, which took place in 2005. He also used to live in Bangladesh, working on water projects there. Notice that all four locations are part of a delta from one or more rivers that culminate and flow into the ocean; different oceans, which in turn dictate how these water flows are affected.
So far so good. This is where the MS writing group comes in. Each Wednesday we go to Sacramento, have lunch together at the Carlton Senior Center rest home, then go to the library where we write for about 1 ½ hours and read our writings out-loud. Len writes pieces on how MS affects him, and some detective-like stories. John, in Oregon, writes about a theme in what I call exaggerated tale form, but right-on. David often writes light-hearted stories. Harold writes short stories and Irene wrote a very nice piece about her mother-in-law last week. Marise is expanding on her life story, and John can write much to the point about characters. It is all about characters, for each one of the team. That is what I like. That is what I need to flesh out my characters and to make the story more interesting. To make the story a story. I also need some drama such as the mis-use of water policies, policies developed for selfish reasons by its authors. And I need some intrigue, which I notice in all of the other team’s writers. How do I do that? That is where I am stuck. What are the questions I should ask?
