I planned on writing another novel through the spring and summer and publishing in the fall. Things went as planned... kinda... for a while. I was over 40,000 words into a novel about a serial killing ghost when I had to accept that it was going nowhere.
Discouraging? Yes. I'd spent most of the year forcing it along, telling myself that all first drafts are crap; it's okay that this thing is rambling; it's normal it's taking forever.... I was convinced of all this, because all of it is true. First drafts are meant to be rough, and some stories take a while. Fine. But you have to know when typical setbacks become warning signs. You have to know when to call it a day.
So, time to pull the plug. Fine. But what was next?
 |
| Paperback and Kindle |
Because, hey, I love a challenge. I love to climb mountains. I've developed a passion for running and completed my first half marathon in 2018. Why not take the challenge approach to writing? Why not NaNoWriMo? It sounded fun. Maybe the structure would suit me.
I spent the last two weeks of October tossing around ideas. I did not outline anything. I simply decided on a concept--a single dad and his daughter in a rat-infested house--and a working title, Plague House.
And on November 1, I dove in.
After spending months fumbling through 40,000 torturous words that went nowhere, Plague House somehow spilled out easily. I wrote between 1,300 and 2,000 words a day and hit 50,000 words right on time and spent the first week of December rewriting the ending. That was really the book's only hiccup, and it was a minor one.
Plague House became Rattus Rattus, and I'm proud of it. Like Folklore, it's a lean, straight-up horror novel with characters readers will care about. Also like Folklore, it's a modern-yet-traditional take on a classic monster.
The blood-suckers in Rattus Rattus are tragic, lonely, and monstrous. I think they'll have you checking for rodents and fleas.
NaNoWriMo was just what I needed. And Rattus Rattus is available now.
