The story of a sequel by Amanda Wilson

To some, the image on the left may mean absolutely nothing. To others its mere appearance may provoke emotions that range anywhere from overwhelming excitement to nervous anticipation or sheer panic.

The image for those who fall into the first category is the logo for National Novel Writing Month, more affectionately known as NaNoWriMo. The event is one of an epic scale and not for the faint hearted. The rules are simple - write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.

In just over two weeks time, on the 1st November and the ensuing 29 days, millions of people around the world will be putting fingers to keys (the more wild at heart may well be putting pen to paper) and starting to write the first few lines of what they hope will at least be a half decent novel. Some will be entering into the realms of NaNoWriMo as a novice, others a seasoned NaNoWriMoer (an unofficial term).

I will be entering it for the second time, having successfully completed 50,000+ words in November 2009.

So my mind of late has been consumed with thoughts of, 'What will I write?' 'When will I write?' 'Will I win this year?' and more recently 'Should I really write a sequel?'

My original intention when I decided that I was going to enter this year was to write something completely different. But then I thought 'hang on, now's the perfect time to write the sequel to 'Karaoke, Praise the Lord (available from Amazon and other good bookshops).'

Now I'm not sure whether writing a sequel will make the NaNoWriMo process easier or harder and I won't be able to answer that question fully until the 1st December. But I've considered it from both points of view. Writing a sequel could make the process easier because I already have the main characters, I know their personalities and they each have a back-story that I will be able to build on. On the other hand under NaNoWriMo conditions, writing a sequel could prove more challenging because I know the characters have a back story which I will need or perhaps want, to make sure I have tracked correctly. I will be more aware of things they did and didn't do in the previous novel and this knowledge may slow me down as I try to ensure that I'm carrying on the story accurately.

One of the good things about NaNoWriMo process is that it is more about the word count that the quality during the 30 days. On their forum there are hints and tips as to how to get your word count up - have a character that stutters, or one who is deaf meaning everyone has to repeat themselves. You could have a dream sequence that happens for several nights running, or have a character that suffers from amnesia and so has to constantly retell the story of how they ended up where they are today.

When I entered NaNoWriMo in 2009 I made a conscious decision to stay away from these methods of getting my word count up, as I wanted to make the effort to carefully choose each of the 50,000 words I used and not have to resort to lesser means. Although by the 25th November, I was resorting to putting in conversations that went nowhere. So now I'm writing a sequel I will have to be just as creative in getting my word count up. I don't think I'm going to have any of the main characters suddenly adopt a stutter, but maybe I could have character that speaks French and has to have everything translated into English? Or maybe I could have two (or more) of the characters retelling part of the story from their own personal viewpoints. Hmmmm.

I have to admit, whatever methods I decide to use to get the word count up to - and maybe even over - 50,000 words it will be a challenge that I will relish greatly. There is nothing like a really tight deadline to spur you on to getting something written down - regardless of how badly. I've already drilled it into myself not to worry about the editing until afterwards. But what I do want is to ensure I've written a sequel worthy of the first book, with characters the readers can relate to and a storyline that's worth reading.

So, spare a thought for me during the month of November as I try to get my 2,000+ words a day written down. Hopefully my next blog post will be one celebrating my success at producing a sequel and not lamenting the fact that I flagged half way through the month.