MIGHTY PEN: Leaves
We are so proud of all our winners, including Leaves (they/them) who is over in the UK! Give them some love, and learn more about their project below!
Is this your first time winning Nano?
It isn’t, actually! I won in 2019 and 2020 (with different drafts of the same project), and I’ve hit 50k in a couple of Camps in between. I took 2021 off but this year has definitely been the most fun 🙂
Have you participated in Mighty Pens before? What made you inspired to join Mighty Pens this year?
I haven’t done Mighty Pens before; I only learned about it this year through Sooz’s wonderful wider community, who encouraged me to participate. I also wanted an excuse to get back into writing, and writing alongside people was a great way of doing that!
What’s the working title of your NaNoWriMo22 project? Give us an elevator pitch of your project!
It’s a fantasy currently going by the very boring title of “Elven Adventure”. My original idea was to create and play a D&D solo campaign, and then write a story based on that. And then my October fell apart, so I just took the characters I’d made, rolled up some settings, and pantsed from there. As such I don’t really have an elevator pitch (but I do still want to play that D&D campaign with my MCs…)
What’s your current favorite part of your NaNo project?
Definitely the little scenes I’m dropping in with side characters – so while the main plot lines are slowly edging together to make my MCs into an adventuring party, I’ve also got small inserts of a shipwrecked pirate, a ranger far from home looking after a growing dragon, and a King’s daughter becoming a vigilante. I like the pirate best! I’m also looking forward to seeing how my “secondary party”, if you will, might influence the rest of the plot.
What was a frustrating part of the NaNo/Might Pens this year? What was rewarding?
Probably the most frustrating part was how much of November I’ve been absent for! I knew I was going to have a lot of life stuff going on, but I probably still shouldn’t have cracked 50k in nine days… The most rewarding part, though, was the community; the fact that even though I was a Mighty Pens first-timer, they welcomed me into the fold and embraced the amount that I wrote (and the frankly ridiculous speed), and encouraged and supported me the whole way. I love every single one of you <3
What advice would you give to other Mighty Pens / NaNoWriMos participating this year?
To every single one of you, whatever you do, you’re amazing. Whether you write 50 words or 50,000 in November, taking the time to start writing that story is always a good first step! Make sure you look after yourself first, take breaks (like I, uh, didn’t), and then think about the writing. The story will always be waiting for you.