Camp NaNoWriMo reflections of a creative challenge: My Prep

I did even less prep for this novel than I did for the last two. I had a few characters, a few conflicts and a beginning and an end. I let the characters moved through the middle as they would.

I drew maps of my town, Riverside. I had streets and the river and the place looked pretty much the way Astoria, Oregon looked in my memory. I did not look at a map of Astoria for fear that it would be too impossible to recreate the place for a novel which takes place in the near future after the AI soldiers have taken over the world.

In my town there was no electricity or electronic gadgets. There were apples trees that made cider and later apple brandy. I had to make these poor characters drink, become drunk or become hungover every time I came to a stand still. If there is anything to that advice: write what you know, it is that I know how to be drunk and hungover.

The whole point of my story was that there were only the people of Riverside left, the whole rest of humanity was already gone before the onset of my book. The people of Riverside were living of borrowed time. They had an electromagnetic pulse emitter running on an atomic battery that kept the AI soldiers away. In the story, the battery is failing and the end is near.

I also wanted my characters to treat the end of days with grace, compassion and booze.

As with the first creative challenge last November, I planned my writing hours, stuck to them, and stayed very focused.