WIP Update #1 | Preptober Gave Me An Outline of 7,000 Words + An Aesthetic + Motivation For NaNoWriMo ’20

It has been two years since I moved to Jaipur, Rajasthan in India and while it was more of an independent choice as a new adult to feel closer to my homeland—and set a life I can solely call my own—it was probably a more destined choice meant for me to be inspired by this heritage, this culture, and the stories buried under the sand dunes of this desert.

My love for mythology, especially around my religion of Hinduism—the pure concepts & teachings instead of the societal traditions and unwritten laws set up by older men—has always made me crave certain story ideas I wish someone wrote. But as years passed by and I had to move away from the fun passions during school years to university commitments for a STEM degree, all the story ideas, the cravings, and the dream to be a writer were all pushed back.

This year of 2020, considering how great it sounded in December of last year, brought a new drive within me. A motivation to get back to the myths, legends, and tales I think can perfectly fit in a fantasy series. A newfound desire to commit to this story and finally consider myself a writer. Yes, impostor syndrome has made me suspicious of myself as a writer but if you’re often finding yourself in the same trap, let me tell you: YOU ARE A WRITER.

Cutting back on the details, I slowly but finally decided on what exactly I wished to tell through this story and crawled towards the month of October, when the very many writers who look forward to taking up the NaNoWriMo challenge, prepare for the same, in the name of Preptober. This can include intensive outlines, extensive research, making playlists, aesthetic designing, and creating inspiration boards on Pinterest, or it can simply be the act of putting your commitment to this story out in the universe. While I had fully assumed myself to do the latter, I surprisingly did some bits of the former!

Basically, I now have a quick description of this story, an outline—which is a massive collection of bullet points—to give me direction, a checklist of all the mythological details I wish to include, and an aesthetic I take immense pride in. Oh, and a hashtag to track my updates for this project on social media: #KaliYugaWIP  Needless to say, such a preparation has certainly cleared my mind to focus more and be actually motivated to write 50K words for NaNoWriMo 2020.

This is the first of the very many weekly updates I’ll be posting under the writing page of my blog to document, track, and share my journey of writing this story—and hopefully seeing it on the shelves someday. If you’re a writer too, share a quick update about how your project is progressing and I would love to chat!