The Words: 2598 written today. My region’s Skype group hasn’t been doing many word wars, and when they have, it’s been before or after I’m on for the evening. So I’ve been doing a lot of my own sprinting with Write or Die. I’ve barely even been using @NaNoWordSprints, because their start and stop times just aren’t lining up with mine. It’s weird how things that were so helpful to me last year are falling flat so far this year.
The Story: I had one of those “Aha!” moments today that come when you suddenly realize the perfect direction to take the plot. I sort of had two of them. One is more likely to work out, while the other one I’ve brainstormed out it would play out, and there are definitely some wrinkles.
It all started with this line: “Listen to you, thinking like you’re some kind of amateur detective, she chastised herself. You’re no Nancy Drew, and in the real world, no one would tolerate you snooping around.”
Since my story is a murder-mystery, it might seem odd that I hadn’t already planned for the MC to be snooping around, solving the mystery. In fact, I’d specifically decided that she wouldn’t, probably because I’ve been too busy trying to keep things true to real life. But for some reason, when I wrote that part, I realized that it might be just what I needed. I’ve already been telling myself that for the story to have the lighter mood I want, it can’t be so realistic.
And then as I thought about the mystery and the way it all worked out, I thought it all seemed too obvious and maybe just boring. And suddenly I had what in the moment felt like an amazing plot twist to incorporate at the end. But now that I’ve thought through what it would mean, I’m not so sure it will work. That part isn’t important to figure out yet, so I’ll how the rest of the story unfolds for now.
Total word count: 35,186
Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already: 2015 – November 6th
It’s amazing how we can reach new epiphanies as we’re writing. Ideas pop up and excite us, then we think until we’ve thought too much & suddenly uncertainty settles in. What roller coaster life is that of a writer! Sometimes we just need to follow a path, despite the doubts, to see where it does eventually lead. Good luck with yours 🙂
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That’s a hard-learned lesson, following a possible path that you’re not sure about, in actual writing and not just thinking. Many times I’ll think about a possible plot point for a while and decide it just won’t work out, but choose not to write it out, to avoid wasting time. But I’ve learned that sometimes, writing it out anyway is the only way to know for sure. And sometimes it’s the only way to get to those epiphanies.
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