Time to start NaNo work

I am somewhat preparing for NaNo now that I am done with The Servant Girl. I keep having twitches to reopen the novel file, though, and start editing it. It's too soon, though. I know it. And if I do it now, I'll just have to redo it in a few weeks. So, no looking at it yet.

Instead, it's time to really start thinking about the next novel, which will be the NaNo one. Or two. Or even more if I get moving this year. I have four possible outlines, plus a fifth I've been holding onto for a few years until I get the urge to write it. This might be the year.

The outlines I'm working on now are:

Wildlands (fantasy)

Autumn Storm (Urban Fantasy)

Foundling: The Story of Tom Luck (Fantasy)

In the Shadow of Giants (Science Fiction and Fantasy)

I'm Not Who You Think (Contemporary YA Mystery -- the one I've been holding onto for a while)

A little heavy on the fantasy stuff there. Maybe I should try to come up with something just straight out science fiction, like a new Devlin novel. She could be fun to write about again. I think the reason the last story is calling to me is because of all the fantasy. It gives me something different to write about.

Foundling and Shadow of Giants both need background work. I have my books stacked up, and I think I'll get a good amount of that work done next week. We'll see. If not, I have the other three novels to choose from, so I'm fine anyway. I can get either of the research-heavy outlines done for the start of the year, if nothing else.

I love working with outlines and background material. I enjoy finding new things to slip into the novel, and being able to do it easily in the outline, rather than fighting to shove something into material already written. Not that it doesn't still happen sometimes, but I would rather find the ones I can before I start serious writing. And it lets me not worry about getting sidetracked by work and messing up the story because I lost track of what I was doing.

Outlines allow me to just write and be creative, and to explore the story possibilities and the characters on a level that I couldn't if I didn't have a basic plan on where they were going. It allows my story to move logically and build on things that I know are going to happen as well as things that have occurred in the story.

It's like studying maps before you take the journey. I know the path, I just can't be certain what I'll see or who I'll meet.