After all my rousing success last year and my advanced planning this year, I failed at NaNoWriMo 2012. Sigh.

“Inspired” by the Winners’ button, I made my “loser” button –>

Some of those 25k excuses: I failed through a combination of circumstance, distraction and disinterest. Written entirely in documents created by the (many, varied) characters, in three separate time periods, following myriad stories, it was never going to be easy but I think I underestimated how difficult I would find it to create certain types of documents/documents for certain characters, and how I would feel bogged down by the less enjoyable stories that I thought it needed to make it more rounded. Compared to last year’s effort (which finally closed at circa 150k and which I’m still editing), it felt emotionally distant, cluttered and soulless.

I’m not beating myself up about it though: the “loser” thing is really quite tongue-in-cheek.

I wrote 24,177 words I wouldn’t have done otherwise. I got to try writing in lots of different styles and in lots of different characters’ voices – some that I probably wouldn’t use in “normal” circumstances. I learned various different things in the name of research. I also learned there are some things I don’t like writing but some things I really, really do enjoy and that bodes well for things I have in mind for the distant future. I got to draw a completely made-up map like I used to love doing when I was a child – yay! I played with a storyline I’ve been dabbling with for a few years, fleshed it out loads and thought about how I could take it in a different way – definitely something to go back onto my ideas book. In fact, there are a lot of things like that — the first part (set in 1851, which is complete) could easily be used as a sourcebook for creating a larger, more involved story in the future, or if I strip out the things that bored me/come up with more compelling storylines, I think I could return to the original premise and complete it.

I might not have technically “won” but really I have :)

My favourite things about doing NaNoWriMo is all the cool things I get to research and learn about in the name of fiction. Last year, I found some wonderful resources such as websites documenting historical weather conditions by month/year (from 1900), an archive of photos from Liverpool in the mid-20th century (and earlier) and perhaps most exciting, photos and other information about all the hidden bomb shelters in parks around Leeds, including a large one less than 100m from where we used to live.

I kept a track of the search terms I used in the couple of days last year – and I’ve done the same this year. Both stories are set in the past (last year, 1951-1981, and this year specifically 1851, 1935 and 2010 – I’m on the 1851 bit at the moment) so have involved historical research = lots of fun!

(Searches were on Google or Wikipedia, unless stated otherwise, and do not include chain links followed as a result of the initial search which are, by and large, more useful than the original generic search.)

Things to do in the middle of reading a novel about zombies which has disturbed you more than you’d like to admit:

1) Chop up a lot of braising steak, the bloodier the better

2) After frying said braising steak, add it to thinly sliced red onions fried with a little tomato puree to make a concoction that is somewhat reminiscent of brains

3) Have a dog (or possibly fox) bark in the woods so that your dog gets anxious and starts barking, which starts off the chickens anxiously clucking

4) Have the owner of the dog in the woods have an argument with someone so you can hear raised, but indistinct, human voices at a distance

5) Time all of that with rush hour so the emergency vehicle with its sirens whirring takes close to a decade to pass down the main road

6) Run out of both onions and (ground) cumin. Wonder whether it’s better to live in a world filled with hordes of the undead or try to cook without onions & ground cumin.