Divinely Crafty

Somehow, in a brief moment of delusion, I was convinced to participate in NaNoWriMo this year. Why? I have no clue. I have never written any fiction to speak of. All my writing is non-fiction with a small dabbling in prose. True fiction writing is completely unknown to me. Utterly and completely out of my comfort zone. I suppose that is why I agreed to it. For the personal challenge. Certainly not because I think I have the next great novel in me. Today is November 1st and I am supposed to start writing. Yet as of this moment I don’t have one character let alone a plot in mind. The only thing I can think of is sarcastically opening my story with the dreaded “It was a dark and stormy night…” I figure if I am going to write a bad novel, it might as well hit all the clichés and pitfalls of fiction writing. Go for the worst I can do so that I don’t fail. Set the bar low. But then the part of me that has kept me from doing many of the things I have wanted to do over my life (and I really do want to do this) which is my fear of not being fabulous on the first try (or ever) kicks in and I think that even writing a bad novel is too hard, too scary for me. I know the bookstores are filled with many great books, but in amongst them is also a bunch of crap. I envy the writers of crap who can do so with confidence and pride. How wonderful it must feel to have an impetus to do something and just get on to it without worry and second guessing.

Wish me luck in this. I will make an honest attempt at it, no matter how horrible it is. No – do not expect to read any excerpts from my story here or anywhere else. I will update on occasion as to my progress.

Have any of you written fiction? If so, where did the characters and plot come from? I feel like if I could get those basic ideas solidified that I could make a reasonable attempt at filling in the details. But how does one come up with a story to tell?