Friends and novels

Last year, probably in June, I had a vague idea of something I wanted to write inspired, I think, by Kristin Cashore's Bitterblue and Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus.

I don't know if anyone has ever heard of National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo as it's informally known, but it it's an online challenge in which you have to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November and it is awesome. There is also a summer version of this online challenge called Camp NaNoWriMo, and last year Camp NaNoWriMo took place in June and August. I had exams in June, so when I started this novel, I did so in August. I got to 41,000 words. I didn't even get to halfway through my plot. So I gave up.

At some point I told a friend about this novel on Facebook, and a while later - I don't remember if it was days, weeks, or a couple of months - he asked me how far I'd got with it. When I told him I'd never finished, he was disappointed, because he said it'd sounded good. And this has stuck with me. If ever I finish this novel, I have one potential reader. Hopefully.

So recently I started rewriting this novel. For a while it was called 2012 Novel, or Untitled Novel, or My Novel, you know, the one about... And then my friend Emma named it Barnabus. And then I named one of my characters in it Barnabus, because I didn't want to lose the name when I replaced it with the proper title, and because it made naming that otherwise nameless character so much easier. And now I finally have replaced that name with a proper title. First I called it Our Parent's Faults. I didn't like that, but it was a title all the same. I have renamed it in the few days since then. I wouldn't be surprised if there was already a book with that title, but I am much happier with it.

I hope to finish my novel one day. Maybe within a year. The first draft anyway. It's a fantasy story set in a fictional city, about a girl named Saffie, and her mother's past. I'm afraid I can't comment on whether or not it'll be any good, and I can't promise you that it'll ever get published, or ever get finished enough to consider being published, and I'm not going to tell you any more about it either, but I thought it'd be nice to share that I am writing a novel, and a little about that novel that finally has a satisfactory title.

Also, I said that I'd post a short story every Wednesday, and today is Wednesday, but I have been busy, so I will post you all something tomorrow instead. And luckily, I do know what I'm writing for you all. I just haven't finished it yet. Happy Wednesday evening, guys! :)