Dear Readers,
Welcome to my second year hosting NaNoWriMo articles and advice! You can check out last year’s NaNo posts to give you a taste of what may be coming up this month.
National Novel Writing Month is a 30-day challenge to write a 50,000-word novel. Participants often enjoy get-togethers in their region, healthy and friendly competition with friends, and plenty of coffee. Winners, on the other hand, enjoy other perks – not the least of which being the satisfaction of completing a novel.
I plan to participate this year, but I may have to quit midway through due to the whole graduate school thing. (I love NaNoWriMo, but I also love not failing classes.) Along the way, I’ll be posting links and advice from myself and others.
To start off, here’s a list of character archetypes to play with:
- The Femme Fatale. Though the idea of a femme fatale is a little – how do I put it – sexist, there are plenty of ways to change the femme fatale as a character archetype to make her more interesting. What if the femme fatale in your noir-style novel isn’t a secondary character but the narrator?
- The strong, dark, silent type. Overdone. A million times overdone. Find a way to save it or make it fresh, and I’ll give you a cookie.
- The damsel in distress. Also along the lines of sexist – but what if the damsel in question is a man being saved by a woman? A man being saved by a man? A man being saved by his trusty dog?
If you’ve got your own suggestions, leave them in the comments – I’m sure it would help all of us. And if you’re doing a new twist on an old character, be sure to tell us what it is and how you’re making it new.
Remember: you need to write 1,667 words per day to reach that 50,000-word goal. With new twists on old character types or stereotyped settings, I’m sure you’ll be able to reach 50,000!
Happy writing!
Feliza
Feliza Casano 