The most promising (as judged by my pet editor James) is probably about 1/3 plotted. I have the start of the outline, I have the characters, I just need to fill in the details. The trouble is, there are a couple of quite major plot flaws that need to be ironed out. The general opinion on the NaNoWriMo forums seems to be that it doesn't matter whether you have an outline, some people even start on the 1st November with nothing at all and see where it takes them. I thought about trying that, but I get the feeling it would go badly and I would just give up on the mess I created.
So my solution was to get away from the computer. A text document doesn't allow me to mix ideas enough or reorder as I'd like. I've found a useful little piece of plotting software, but it's only really useful if you have the ideas to fill it.
It's surprisingly tricky to find a decent place to think and write. My requirements weren't many: it had to be warm, it had to have coffee, it had to have a decent toilet with soap provided at the sink and it had to have something to eat. I went through two cafes before I found a good one. One was rejected due to lack of food, the second due to lack of soap (one of my pet hates).
Anyway, once I finally found one I spent over an hour nestled in a corner with a cup of coffee (that lasted me over an hour, I could only afford one), 5 new pens (of varying colours and types) and a new notebook. This approach worked surprisingly well actually, and the result was several scribbled pages of notes and solutions to a couple of the plot holes.
Maybe I'll go back tomorrow. I wonder if they'll let me take my own coffee...
Also the sink is blocked, is immune to bleach and drain unblocker, and James didn't buy a plunger.
James is accordingly sad that he couldn't buy a plunger.
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