I have returned to answer 20 questions about Twelve’s Design, my novel I’m working on for NaNoWriMo!
1. Tell me about your NaNoWriMo project this year! Give me a blurb!
Three years ago, Logan Cusick, a high school senior with a bright future, mysteriously vanished from Blue Mountain Forest. Now six months before the world’s predicted end–December 12, 2012–psychic Seth Rose, haunted by Logan’s memories, hunts for Logan’s abductor, a monster named Rio Lamar. If he’s honest with himself though, he doesn’t know where to look. That is until he discovers a dark energy surrounding Logan’s troubled brother Eugene.
While Seth suspects Rio Lamar has returned to execute some devious plan, other investigators disagree. Eugene’s friend Esarose Porter fears creatures from the forest took Logan and have returned to take his brother. Brand Danil, an alien-obsessed stalker, thinks extraterrestrials abducted Logan and have plans for world domination. And Seth’s business partner Conrad Xiao Hong believes the anguish surrounding Logan’s disappearance has attracted a powerful demon.
Even without their conflicting opinions, identifying their enemy and how to stop it won’t be easy. The dark entity following Eugene provides as few cryptic clues and outright lies to its origins and intent as Eugene does to what hides beneath his carefree façade. Seth and his fellow investigators scramble to discern the truth before they find out what really happens on December 12.
2. What’s the genre?
New Adult, Paranormal, Psychological Thriller
3. Describe your MC in three words.
scarred, selfless, snarky
4. Without spoilers, describe your villain in three words.
manipulative, familiar, generous
5. What is your goal?
I hope to finish rewriting a rough draft of the final two chapters of the book, so I have a better idea of how it will end. In the previous draft, these chapters had about 45,000 words. I’m hoping that number will decrease.
6. Is this your first draft? Second? Third?
It depends how you count them. I originally wrote this story in 2006. Back then, it was actually two novellas known only as Book 3 and Book 4. They bore little resemblance to what Twelve’s Design is now, but some core ideas and characters have survived. I wrote two drafts of Book 4.
I picked these stories up again in 2009 where I wrote two drafts of a new story based on them. The first draft combined the stories together but kept one of the main plot devices: the main character had amnesia. The second draft was born from asking myself, “What if he remembered everything?” These drafts are where the story started to resemble the modern Twelve’s Design.
Since picking the manuscript up again in 2016, I’ve written two drafts and am currently working on the third.
tl;dr This is about the fifth-ish draft.
7. Are you starting a new project (or draft), or continuing an existing one?
Continuing!
8. What is your favourite time to write in the day?
Late at night, but I also like bingeing at all hours of the day on weekends.
9. Where are you going to write?
At my desk and “standing desk” (a bookcase).
10. Computer or paper?
When I’m writing a new story, I do all my planning and outlining on paper. I also write the first draft on paper. Then, I transcribe everything to Word for editing.
With Twelve’s Design, I do almost everything on the computer. I even use Trello and Evernote for notes. The only things I don’t have on computer are the room/house blueprints I draw to help me visualize scenes and a map of the city the book takes place in with key locations marked.
11. How are you going to make time to write?
I’ll probably keep doing what I’ve been doing: blocking out a few hours every night to write/edit. I’m also thinking about doing a 24-hour writing marathon on November 1-3 as part of Extra Life, which I do something for every year.
12. Are you going to participate in local or online NaNoWriMo events?
I may not even officially register for NaNoWriMo. I never know how to count the words I’ve written/edited at the end of the month, so I usually participate in spirit.
13. Do you write from beginning to end or skip around?
I’m editing linearly for the most part, but when I planned and wrote the early drafts in 2009, I intentionally wrote Twelve’s Design as a collection of scenes that I eventually assembled in a linear order. Actually, I’m still moving them around!
Besides Twelve’s Design, I usually write linearly, but I skip around, too, if future scenes demand my attention.
14. Planner or pantser? (or plantser?)
Planner. Even if something changes when I’m mid-way through writing, I’ll usually pause to make a new plan. I often speed write the entire book or select scenes before I start writing.
15. What will be your go-to NaNoWriMo snack?
I wear Invisalign orthodontic appliances with rubber bands at the moment, so taking all that off to snack is a hassle. I’ve enjoyed tea lately though!
16. Choice of caffeine? (or no caffeine?)
Tea (mostly non-caffeinated)
17. Any rewards for milestone achievements? For finishing NaNoWriMo?
Hmm. Not really. I’m working until I finish this draft and can pass the story around to beta readers again. I’m nervous but also looking forward to hearing what people think.
18. Share a tip for other NaNo-ers!
I don’t know if anything I’m doing is correct or good or will ever amount to anything, but I still enjoy writing for fun… So, write for fun? Or don’t. I don’t know.
Also, always portray yourself as happy, inspirational, and confident! 😛
19. How are you feeling about NaNoWriMo?
I’m not nervous about NaNoWriMo itself. I’m more nervous about if I can finish this draft in time to meet my self-imposed deadline (December) and what it will look like in the end. This is the first draft where I’m writing a different ending from the one I envisioned in 2009. Will I like it? Will it be an improvement? I don’t know. I guess I’ll find out.
20. Share an aesthetic for your NaNoWriMo novel!
These are mostly just pretty pictures of the setting, but enjoy!
Image Credits
