I like to finish up NaNoWriMo early, lest I forget to update my word count or experience a computer crash on the last day and miss out on the sweet Internet glory. A long, frantic writing session has allowed me to accomplish this goal today, bringing my glorious mess of a novel to its conclusion. I’ll reflect on the month tomorrow, after I get some well-earned rest.
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I love getting past the 45,000 word mark in NaNoWriMo, because it makes everything seem supremely manageable. I’m now at the point where I can probably finish up the whole thing with one busy day of writing – which is a good thing, since there are only two days left.
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Rape is one of the most disturbing things that can happen to a person. As such, I feel obligated to note that today’s NaNoWriMo entry has a description of a rape in it. If you don’t want to read that, skip this entry. I’m trying to treat this subject matter with the seriousness and consideration it deserves, and hopefully I am succeeding with that.
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I managed to keep relatively on track on NaNoWriMo through Thanksgiving, so that’s a reason to be thankful, isn’t it? This section is mostly exposition, but there’s more action around the corner.
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After flailing around for a few days and trying to find my direction, I’m back into a groove with today’s NaNoWriMo. However, fair warning: there is a suicide attempt in this section. If you’d rather not read about that sort of thing, come back tomorrow.
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The weekend saw me absolutely swamped by kids’ sports, my wife’s birthday, and paid writing projects. Advancing my NaNoWriMo plot in a coherent manner became a struggle with all these other obligations. I focused on pushing through and at least getting my plot so far straight in my head so I could work on pressing onward when I have more time.
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This section brings my NaNoWriMo project above 25,000 words. From here on out, my words written will be higher than my words remaining. That’s a major hurdle to pass, because now it really feels like the finish line is in sight.
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Just about every book of mine involves the protagonist getting badly injured at some point. In this case, Carlton Hammond made it a whole 12 days before winding up in the ER.
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The word count requirements of NaNoWriMo can be very helpful when developing characters. The need to push through to a certain word count by the end of the day means that I add in a lot of extra details to keep things moving. While some of these words will wind up on the cutting room floor during revision, they give useful insight to the characters and their mannerisms that can be used later on.
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Fun fact: even though the BDSM stuff here is more window dressing than anything else, I felt the need to look through bondage gear listings on Amazon.com. A writer’s web browsing history is filled with lots of…interesting…things.
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Charlie Brooks 