Nanowrimo

It's that time of year again, where writers everywhere are preparing to write a crazy 50,000 words in one month. For those that don't know, November is the month of caffeine, chocolate and sleepless nights as writers push to make it past the finish line.

With there being less than a month until the hectic mayhem starts, I'm busy trying to plot my idea. October is usually the month that most of the plotters spend getting all the details of their novels worked out (while I know several who have absolutely no idea what to write up to 11:59pm on the 31st October and have still powered through the 50,000 words). So, this month is going to be exceptionally busy for me.

Okay, I'm being a bit ambitious this year. I've had this story idea brewing for a few months, but I wasn't going to start writing it until I go to Japan on holiday in January. So, what does my holiday to Japan have to do with it? Well, it's actually because the story is based in Japan and I've been researching like mad all the elements of Japanese culture (such as home life and schools) that no holiday can tell me.

It would probably be the best idea to wait, but I've been to Japan before so I know the rough locations where I'm setting the novel, and my character really, really, really wants to be written. So, here's an introduction to my Nano novel titled Shinigami Eyes (it's a YA supernatural mystery):

After an incident at a school dance almost got her date killed 16-year-old Rin is sent to live with her grandparents in Japan. Being the new girl is hard, but also being told by crazed Otaku (someone obsessed with anime/manga) Matthew that she is a character in a manga called Shinigami Eyes that he recons can tell the future is something that she can't handle. 

 She tries to ignore Matthew's attempts to persuade her that she is indeed a character until the manga shows her standing over a dead body. Now Rin, with Matthew's help, has to discover the identity of this person and why she would want to kill them, before the manga becomes a reality.

Apart from finishing my research, my planning is going to involve creating a wide cast of characters, plotting my mystery elements and even figuring out 'who did it' and 'murder victim'... even though my brother suggests to just write it and as he says "see who wants to jump under the knife". I'm excited to start planning for this because there's going to be manga, witches and murder... what else could anyone need?

So, who's participating in Nano? If you are, have you thought about what you're writing? And are you a pantser or plotter?