The Girl Who Saved The World

It's the 18th of September already, and you know what that means? That's right, NaNoWriMo s just around the corner!

(For the uninitiated, National Novel Writing Month is a challenge to write a novel, with a minimum of 50,000 words, in the month of November.)

It's definitely time to start preparation! I did intense planning for my first NaNo in 2010 and found that the challenge was really manageable. The next year I didn't even decide what to write about until 31 October, muddled around for two weeks then madly dashed to get the 50,000 words out. There's potential in it, and some passages I really like, and a completely spontaneous 1000 word diary excerpt that was the product of a word sprint which I absolutely love, but I'll be going the planning route this time. Partly because I'm going to try to write a children's book rather than a YA.

Now, I mainly only read (and consequently write) YA, so this is really upping the challenge this year. But I've been inspired.

I recently went to an interview and book reading with John Boyne of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas fame, and he said a lot of inspirational things. Not least of which was 'I don't think young readers are as interested in vampires as publishers seem to think they are'. Amen to that! Particularly if they are vampires of the Twilight variety. More importantly, I was inspired to:

A) Continue with my current work in progress, One Last Day.

and 

B) Attempt to write a children's book.

The title, The Girl Who Saved the World, came first. It was a title that had been floating around in the back of my mind since March - I just didn't have an appropriate project to affix it to at the time. But it would suit this project nicely, particularly as I didn't have characters, a setting, or a plot yet. 

I've always been somewhat sceptical of authors who describe characters and ideas just coming to them. JK Rowling, for instance, says that the character of Harry Potter came to her fully formed while she was on a train. As it turns out, that was sort of what happened with my main character. Only I wasn't on a train. 

Meet Aiofe (whose name I just realised now I have spelt wrong) (please excuse my inability to draw hands):

Yep. She pretty much strolled into my head looking like that and said that. 

Here's what else I know about Aiofe:

- She's nine years old.

- She lives in a small rural community. 

- She has a younger sister. 

- Her dad wears an apron.

- She loves dress ups and make-believe. 

- Her family doesn't have a TV.

- She dreams big. 

- There's an old lady who lives nearby who she visits often. 

Before I start any plot planning I think I'm going to draw the rest of the main players (as I learn who they all are). I think it would also be cool to draw some random pictures of Aiofe in different situations then have the challenge of working them into the story somehow. Suggestions welcome! 

Another NaNo planning task I have set myself is to read some children's novels before NaNo begins so I can get a handle on how different authors deal with the genre. Otherwise I'll write in my normal novel voice, and end up with a YA story about a nine year old doing nine year old things and it will just be a mess. The list thus far:

- Moon over Manifest, by Clare Vanderpool.

- The Terrible Thing That Happened To Barnaby Brocket, by John Boyne.

I reckon I can squeeze three more in there. Suggestions welcome! 

And on a final note, anyone who writes or would like to try writing should think about doing NaNo, because it is really fun and if you go to meet ups you get stickers!