(vol 2) Chapter 40: “NaNo is coming!”

2015 TOTAL WORD COUNT =           69693

It is now the middle of October which, for a lot of writers, means only one thing . . .

NaNo is coming!

I can’t believe how fast 2015 is going. It feels like just a couple of months ago that I was getting stuck into last November’s project, the ill-fated FALLEN SWORDS. I had big plans for that sucker which, after a name change to FRACTURED DAWN and only eleven episodes written, just stalled. I wish I could go into more detail about what happened to it, and more importantly what is going to happen next, but for now my episodic fantasy has been put on the back burner. Perhaps in another blog post.

This year I’m writing something else.

Although 2015 has seen me write various things, more than anything else it has been the year of Chris And Mike. What started back in January as a fun mix of Scott Pilgrim and Buffy soon rolled into an ongoing weekly challenge, one that I’ve been producing ever since.

July’s CampNaNo saw the world of Chris And Mike expand as I stepped back and took their first adventure (CHRIS AND MIKE vs THE WORLD) and turned it into the novella CHRIS AND MIKE vs THE RISING DEAD.

I’m still working on the second draft of this (coming along nicely) and didn’t want to be derailed from these characters even for just one month. So the only logical step really is to keep going with them.

So, this November, I will be expanding on the next Chris And Mike adventures. My hope is to round out the first trilogy (CHRIS AND MIKE vs THE FOREST OF DEATH and CHRIS AND MIKE vs THE TEMPLE OF GLOOM). This will complete the origin story and finally get them . . .

Wait. That would be spoiler territory. Let’s not go there.

Suffice to say that I will be spending the next few weeks going between drafting the first story while juggling the planning stages of the next two. This is good, I think, as it will allow me to mix in details here and there between all three pieces; adding little Easter eggs and small hints, planning for the future.

Where I go after that is anyone’s guess. The rest of this year will be taken up with NaNoWriMo and editing, so it looks like 2016 will be the year of Chris And Mike vs. Whether it’s one story, a collection, or an ongoing series, it all depends on the reception and my attention span. I’m hoping I’ve conquered that second

Its 18 days until NaNo.

But I’ll see you in seven.