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NaNoWriMo 2018

NaNoWriMo 2018

Last year I got sick during November and didn’t finish National Novel Writing Month. I did write a novel in December but that broke my NaNoWriMo win chain. But this year I am coming back for another. One lose isn’t a reason to stop the trend.

Today I filled out my NaNoWriMo 2018 profile. Have a look.

I am announcing my novel for 2018, Shao Island. If you have seen previous years you would be familiar with the story. Each time that I work on the story, I have learned more about the story.

I used a cover generator to come up with a mock cover for this year. Poster Wall is the name of the generator.

Here is the synopsis I have written so far: 

Something draws members of the mystical and magical community to a small island in the Pacific Northwest. Shao Island. When a new resident moves to the island with her parents, Cailin Alexander can’t help but to make friends despite a past of evil.

Something else comes to the island though. In hunt of something new resident Alyssa doesn’t even know she has. A secret her family has hidden from her. Now Cailin must protect the whole island from a sudden set of killings. Answers don’t come easy.

Keep tuned as I write for November and you will find out more as it comes. That is the beauty of National Novel Writing Month, I learn about the story as I write and create!

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NaNoWriMo Start: Chapter 1 of Detective 139

Today’s word count is a little bit behind where it should be on day 2 but I exceeded it on day one.  Day one, I finished with 1945 words.  Want to see where I am at right now?  Take a look at this live tracker:


Later tonight I will get this tracker posted on the page somewhere so you will be able to see it no matter what post or page you are viewing but until then here it is.

Want to read the first chapter of Detective 139?  Here it is below.

Everything around 1138 Sparrow Avenue was typical Seattle behavior. Traffic slugged along, people walked by a couple of blocks away, and birds flew overhead singing their song. Not much distinguished the day from any other in the Central District of Seattle, Washington. In a way the day was normal for Detective Lincoln Thomas too. A veteran of the anti-gang task force, he was used to these kind of raids.

He looked down the block again taking in the neighborhood. A low retaining wall ran down the side of the street that the subject’s side of the street. It would be great for cover. No one in any of the houses appeared to be looking outside. The SWAT team was staging right down the block, getting ready for action.

With luck, no one would know that they were coming. And everyone will stay inside, he added as a side thought. Lookie loos while a raid went down never ended well.

“Zebra 1 to Delta 2, the team is readied up.”

“Copy, Delta 2 to Dispatch, we are rolling.”

Continue reading “NaNoWriMo Start: Chapter 1 of Detective 139”

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Snowflaking Detective 139 (Snowflake Method)

In the past, I did an article where I used the snowflake method to start really simple and build up on a description of the story.  I took Detective 139 and did the same.  I started with one sentence and went all the way up to a one-page description.

Remember that this is still very early on in the story writing process and there might be multiple changes made throughout writing.  Take a look at the various different stages of brainstorming.  Don’t forget to click Read More to see the three paragraph and whole page!

One Sentence

Detective 139 is the story of Detective Lincoln Thomas who loses both his partner and life spirals down from there, until he takes a mandated vacation which isn’t as innocent as the psychologist thought.

One Paragraph

Detective Lincoln Thomas is getting ready to serve a warrant as part of anti-gang task force when his partner takes a shotgun blast that also wounds Lincoln.  His partner is dead before she hits the ground but he is able to crawl back wounded.  A year after the incident a department psychologist orders that Lincoln go on vacation.  When a dead body turns up the morning after he gets there, he knows that his vacation won’t be all peaceful.

Continue reading “Snowflaking Detective 139 (Snowflake Method)”

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NaNoWriMo 2017: Detective 139 Character – Detective Lincoln Thomas

NaNoWriMo 2017 is getting even closer, and as it gets closer I have prepared even more for the process of writing. I want to have as much background done as possible before November comes so that I can spend the majority of my time writing. Today we are going to talk about the main character, Lincoln Thomas. I filled out a character sheet like I talked about in the Snowflake Method post I did and here is a quick sample from it.

Continue reading “NaNoWriMo 2017: Detective 139 Character – Detective Lincoln Thomas”