November is National Novel Writing Month! NaNoWriMo for short. Or simply NaNo to those in the know *nudge, nudge, wink, wink* The goal is to write a 50,000 word novel from scratch in 30 days. That works out to 1,667 words per day (just over 3 pages typed) and the best part is, it doesn't even have to be good! NaNo is all about quantity over quality. It's the Cherpumple of the literary calendar. If you'd like to join in the month of madness, head over to nanowrimo.org or check out The Office of Letters and Light Blog.
So this month I've decided to turn the concept of this blog on its head and mix things up a bit. Instead of using the elements of a story to create a conceptual cake, I'm going to use the elements of a cake to inspire the plot, characters and setting of my novel. The inaugural NaNoWriMo Cake Mix will be...
...a Croquembouche! It's got literary potential written all over it. For a start, it's traditionally served as a wedding cake in France. That could suggest a location, a character or some all-important backstory. It's shape could signify mountains, adventure or an obstacle to overcome. The hot caramel that binds it all together is a potential threat - if someones not careful they could metaphorically (or literally) get burnt. And not to mention the whole thing could collapse at any moment. See? The possibilities for drama are endless, as this croquembouche by Rainbow Sugarcraft in Peeblesshire, Scotland clearly demonstrates!
I'll add a word count widget to the sidebar (when it becomes available)
so you can keep track of my progress and each Sunday I will attempt to write a plot
summary so you can see what shenanigans my characters have been getting
up to all week. I'd better get typing...
