Word Count: 35,132
Chapters Completed: 5.1/16
Worlds Visited: 2
Sanity Level: 65%
Mood: pensive
So it's 10:48 on the morning of November 6th, and I've yet to write any words (well, besides these ones). I'm at the very beginning of Chapter 6, and although the story is rolling along nicely (more or less), I'm still struggling to find this novel's voice. Voice is never something I struggle with (plot, yes. pacing, yes. voice? no), so it's a little frustrating. I don't know if it's because my main character wasn't fully formed in my mind when I started writing, or if the idea needed some more time to percolate or what.
And then yesterday, whilst driving to piano lessons, I had a completely crazy idea: what if I were to narrate the story from the point of view of my main character's dead sister?
I thought about it, and thought about it (I'm still thinking about it), and I could be completely and totally wrong, but this shift in narration might be the spark I've been missing for the last 35,132 words. I can hear her voice in my head, and last night I scribbled out a possible new beginning that just felt incredibly right.
Not exactly sure where this leaves me. I'm definitely not, at this point, going back to rewrite everything, but I'm thinking about shifting the narrative style right where I'm at (smack dab in the middle of a scene at the beginning of Chapter Six), see what that does for me, and rewrite accordingly after NaNo is over.
And that is probably WAY more information than anybody needed about the strange inner workings of my brain during noveling.
Need to get dressed now,
Joanna
aka
Who-Wouldn't-Want-a-Dead-Child-for-a-Narrator Smith
6 comments:
That sounds interesting. It brought to mind Desperate Housewives b/c of the whole narration by dead person thing.
I'm flying along. And excited that I haven't run out of places to take my novel (at around 5,000 words I was worried.) But as I write scenes keep flooding in. Information is coming along well, no huge story dumps, and my character is starting to evolve. And the story is absurd. As it is supposed to be. So, at almost 13,000 words, I'm feeling great. I keep telling myself I need to keep ahead, because I suspect I'll hit the wall at some point.
And--(I just noticed what you're reading) I'm just about to crack open Enna Burning as well. I read The Goose Girl, and then River Secrets (out of order, I know) and am reading Cashore's Fire, but Enna Burning just came in at the library, so it is next.
Oh--and the word verification is unsuck. I hope that applies to my NaNo novel!
Desperate Housewives is narrated by a dead person? Wow, I totally didn't know that!
So happy to hear that everything is going so smoothly! I LOVE it when that happens. :-)
Just finished Enna Burning last night. I was sort of "meh" about the first half of it, but thoroughly enjoyed the second half. Skipped out on some noveling to finish it, as a matter of fact. :-) Hope you enjoy it!!
Yes about the narration of Desperate Housewives. (Unless it's changed in the last couple of years--I haven't been watching).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desperate_Housewives
Holy Moly! You really wrote that much and it's only Nov. 6?
I've only managed to eek out a little under 3000 words. I had to finish a revision , but I did, so now I get to turn it on. But I feel officially left in the dust!
J.A., if it makes you feel any better I wrote absolutely nothing at all yesterday. :-) Good luck with the writing!! You can do it!
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