Still playing NaNo, and it really does feel like a game.
With dice, maybe those twelve-sided ones, and also cards to draw, and–
Despite my shoot-from-the-lip personality as a person, I’m strictly controlled and prepared as a writer. That is to say, I polish up my Sentence, work hard on my Blurb and turn out a pretty good Synopsis. Generally the synopsis is followed by note cards, one for each important scene, complete with Sentence Lite.
NaNo is different. Writing fast is the reason, I think.
I’m still more or less within the confines of my synopsis, but the note cards are cinders drifting around my neighborhood, unable to land. When they do touch down, they’ll probably find themselves at the 1939 World’s Fair.
Writing fast is different, and I won’t know till January or so whether all this flaming keyboard approach was worthwhile or not. Writing fast is like driving fast: you can point the car down the road, but you can’t dodge every little pot hole. If you want a smooth ride, slow down. If you want a completely comfortable day, stop and get out of the car. Find a pub or Grandmother’s house, or a crypt.
If you want to drive from Dallas to San Diego in 24 hours, you have to drive fast and stop only when necessary. Similarly, if you want to write 50,000 words in 30 days, you just have to go hell-for-leather.
Hell-for-leather hath its charms, the biggest one being the constant surprisery that happens when your fingers are one step ahead of your editor.
Surprises so far:
My main character is pricklier and more competitive than I figured she’d be.
Her kid sister is more innocent.
Her mother is more worried and more dramatic and looks to be keeping secrets from her daughters and even from me.
A throwaway character came on so strong and so appealing that I may have to kill him off to keep him from supplanting the guy who is planned to be my main character’s happily ever after.
The main character’s ex-husband was up to a whole lot more than I realized, and he’s been at it longer.
The guy who is planned to be the main character’s main squeeze is taller, smarter, uglier, and more competitive than I planned. This last thing is going to give me trouble, because his arc was supposed to be from nearly a bum to responsible human being. If he starts out as an okay guy, where does he go? And I’ve seen signs that his backstory isn’t what I thought it was.
Question: What do I do now? How do I handle this madness?
Answer: I’m going to do something out of character for me. I’m going to follow my nose and see where it goes.
Will my nose and I wind up in a beautiful garden with a salvageable novel, or will we outrun the road entirely and pile up on the rocks below?
No idea. To paraphrase Jack T. Colton: Woo! It’s been a bumpy morning. Gonna be one helluva day.