NaNoWriMo Day 3

I’m slowly but surely getting back on track. Now that I’m home, I’m back to my afternoon and midnight writing routine. Thank Goodness, because any more days like the previous two and I’ll be lucky to make it past the first chapter by the 30th.

When I start writing a new book, there’s always an “experimenting” stage. I’m writing and trying to move the story along, but I’m also trying to gauge who my characters are going to become. In the beginning I always know the most about my central character. In my NaNo book, her name is Kimi. Before I started writing about her I knew what she liked and hated, her relationship with the people around her, her favorite color and that she would have a hard time adjusting to middle school. Nothing I’ve written about her really surprises me, yet. It’s the other characters I’ve introduced (her two best friends, so far) that I’m learning a lot about. For instance, last night I was writing dialogue (my favorite!) between the friends, and one of them came out and said something so snappy. I literally stopped what I was writing and thought, “I can’t believe she just said that!” I have a feeling this girl is going to give me some trouble, seriously.

I do outline my books so I know where the story is headed, but they are all character-driven. I don’t stick with that outline if it means changing who my characters are becoming from chapter to chapter. And yes, they always do something that surprises me. That’s just what happens when you give the voices in your head complete control. It’s exciting, and probably my favorite part of the process.

So far, so good!

NaNo Stats:

Time: 2:05pm
2: loads of laundry done
2: pieces of chocolate cake consumed
1,517: number of NaNo words written
48,483: words to go