Onwards and upwards
I’m getting back on track with NaNoWriMo, the word drought has ended and my neglected characters are being revived. The thing that is constantly amazing me about this process is the way my characters surprise me. They ask questions and go on tangents. They behave in ways I wouldn’t have even considered a couple of weeks ago. They are coming to life. The words may be crude and in desperate need of thesaurus, but the story is taking shape and the characters are becoming beings I enjoy working with. Sat at my laptop, lost in a world I’ve created, I’ve realised that writing fiction is a place where it’s completely acceptable to have imaginary friends as an adult – well on a part time basis anyway!
But then there are the times you get stuck. I get on a roll and see my word count soaring in a couple of hours, then I hit a turning point. I’m suddenly at a cliff edge and can see the other side, but there’s no way across. And this is where Twitter keeps me going. Within minutes of tweeting that I’m stuck I had people suggesting solutions and pushing me on. @rebeccablain tweeted “Even corrupt leaders make stupid decisions” and that set me off again. I’d be so caught up in my lead characters moving through the story I’d forgotten that the other characters were there to help the story along. Their stories and actions could be independent of the main characters, yet inadvertently create the situation that would get them across the void and onto the next bit of the story.
I’m up to 19000 words and just over half way through the month, but I’m determined to hit the 50k mark in the next two weeks. A few more days of 3000 words and I’ll make up the shortfall and before I know it (well probably the last couple of days of the month!!!) be sprinting to the finish line.
I am not making the word goal right now either but am sure I will get back on track. This book was way more complicated than the last two I wrote and it took me some time to get into the characters heads.
I agree that I love the feeling of sitting and playing around with my imaginary friends. I blogged about writing my last two books and I talked about how it was wonderful when characters took me somewhere completely new.
Keep having fun and the rest will take care of itself. I will keep my eye out for your tweets, in case you need an unstuck in the future.
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