Day 8

Day 8 of working on NP, and I've finished a character profile for Will, one of my secondary characters.  I have no idea how he ties into Acts II and III-- just that he does tie in, somehow-- but that's cool. I'm not plotting yet.

I have two more secondary characters to profile, including the main antagonist. The antagonist has been pretty hazy for me-- until today, I wasn't even sure of gender-- but now I'm pretty sure we're dealing with a 370-year-old bald woman. Still need a picture and a name for her. I think I'll get The Husband to vote on google images of bald women.

Character Work

I just finished the profile for Irsa, NP's protagonist. I've been using Lazette's Gifford's Two Year Novel book as a guideline (I'm already up to week 12. After 6 days.), with exercises in character mapping and goal, motivation, and conflict.

Now I'm diving in and profiling the secondary characters, beginning with Akenam, Irsa's foil/guide/love interest.

Incorrigible

Gah. I know.

So I'm sure it's no surprise to anyone that I haven't written in months. I tutored a bunch through the spring, read a crapload of novels, and let EN get as cold as The Husband's feet on a winter's night.

And then I did something naughty.

About a week ago, I was drifting off to sleep when a character tapped me politely on the shoulder, and asked if maybe I could start telling her story, since I clearly have nothing else going on at the moment. And the next morning, I plunged into a new novel. I've accumulated ~35 pages of character work and plotting ideas so far, and am feeling the giddy rush of the bright shiny new project.

I know. It's awful. You're not supposed to bail on your first novel for younger, prettier one just because the going gets a little tough. That's bad bad bad, and no way to actually finish a book. I should be ashamed of myself.

But I'm not. I'm having too much fun. Picture me with my fingers to my lips in a gesture of feigned scandalization, giggling over how incorrigible I am.

I'm calling the new project NP for now. Catchy, hm? It's a YA/SF that is arguably a prequel for EN... so it's not THAT bad to work on it? Right?

15 minutes

Worked on EN for 15 minutes today. Slow, painful baby steps.

Poor Neglected Blog

I've been a miserable, pathetic excuse for a both a novel-writer and a blogger these last two months, and I can't promise it'll be any better this month. I'm in a major creative dry spell. But in the spirit of new months and fresh starts, I opened EN today and worked for 10 minutes.

Things I Have Learned...

...from my mostly failed attempts to write this month:

1) Working more hours = less mental energy for storytelling.

2) It is not possible to write in my house while The Husband is home for lunch.

3) If you're stuck on the opening pages of a chapter, skipping ahead to the exciting part can backfire.

No Foolin'

Ah, spring has come to northern New England. The grass has reappeared, the birds are tweeting in the bare branches, and the flowers are sending up their first shoots through the newly defrosted soil.

April Fool! We actually had a raging snowstorm today. The birds and shoots are pissed off.

But anyway...

New day, new month, new goal. I'm back to counting words. It seems to result in more forward motion for me than any other method of tracking progress.

So far, I'm at 635/20,000 for April, and I'm pretty damn psyched to be moving forward again.