Wordcount: 396
Summary: In which the Writer panics with last-minute worldbuilding late at night, the Muse attempts to point out the obvious, and the rest of the fictives have already thrown in the towel.

The pre-NaNo planning for the 2018 April Camp NaNoWriMo continues!

It’s the day before Camp and I’m still flailing around trying to get everything perfect… which is pretty much how I NaNo. Even after all these years (and all these wins and fails), I’m still never really ready for Day 1 to arrive.

NOTE: This is a MuseFic in which the Writer, the Muse, and her fictives work to create the rough draft of a story (or just worldbuild). There will be spoilers for the story being drafted, which will most likely contain plot holes, retcons, and other inconsistencies.

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Day -1 : Magic, Magic, Do As You Will

“So… magic. Right.” The Writer summoned up the Endless Whiteboard from the story mists and proceeded to stare at the blankness.

“Camp starts tomorrow,” said the Muse with sleepy annoyance. It was late and they weren’t getting anywhere. “Like in a few hours… why are we still doing this?”

“I am well aware of that,” the Writer grumped at her Muse who was only mildly napping on the couch. The other fictives had all headed out early to prep for the chaos of the next day. “But don’t have enough stuff figured out yet!”

“You’re a panster, you live to not be ready.” The Muse yawned and considered napping a bit more forcefully. “We have all of April to figure this out, we don’t have to get it done before midnight so why are you stressing now?”

“Because I don’t want to write myself into a corner again,” the Writer sighed and sat back down in the Dad’s abandoned comfy chair. “I really want this to be the time when I write a whole story… that doesn’t get stuck in the worldbuilding because of plot holes.”

“First drafts will never be good drafts, there will always be plot holes and dead ends and retconning. You just have to start committing to writing the second drafts so you have the story you meant to write.” The Muse cracked an eye open. “Look, if you are that worried about making sure April’s story will get done, then make sure it’s a good first draft. Write all the extra bits that don’t go in the story. Explore all the dead ends. Write waaaaay more than you need to and I bet we’ll have enough that we can get a real draft done in May. Or August, since July is another NaNo month.”

“So the answer to not knowing what to write is just to write too much?” The Writer dug a drink out from between the interdimensional chair cushions. “Does that work?”

“Have you got a better idea?” The Muse closed her eyes again. “We’ve got an outline and a general idea of a story, that’ll be enough. I promise. Now stop stressing and go to sleep, silly Writer. The story will still be there in the morning.”

And after a very long stare at a very blank whiteboard… she did.

THE END

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