Confession: it really annoys me when I hear an author being interviewed and they talk about their characters as if they are real people. And not just real people, but people they know the complete past, present, and future of. It just sounds so lame somehow, at best eccentric and at worst delusional.
What makes it even worse is that this annoyance makes me a self-hating hypocrite, because that's exactly what happens to me.
Last year was my worst NaNoWriMo yet — 300 words for the month. There were excuses: overtime worked, Yule presents to knit, illness. That last excuse is especially weak since I'm always sick in November, but the others are weak too. The main reason, in the end, was writer's block.
I was writing other things, like Friday Flash every week, and the Tuesday serial which was running at the time. But the novel characters just didn't want to talk.
Now they are. Now they're talking so much they're telling me things that can't possibly be relevant to the story (or maybe it is?). Now they're even suggesting structural things, like how to name and organise the chapters.
It's got to the point where instead of the "why did I sign up for this?" dread I usually get before NaNoWriMo starts, I can't wait to get going. It's weird.
I'm going to try to stick to my original plan of getting some flash fiction done before November starts, and then sticking to the project plan I outlined as much as is reasonable.
50,000 words month or no, it will be good to Finish All the Things.
How are you doing with your writing plans? Or do you not use plans and just let the Muse arrive as she feels like?
What makes it even worse is that this annoyance makes me a self-hating hypocrite, because that's exactly what happens to me.
Last year was my worst NaNoWriMo yet — 300 words for the month. There were excuses: overtime worked, Yule presents to knit, illness. That last excuse is especially weak since I'm always sick in November, but the others are weak too. The main reason, in the end, was writer's block.
I was writing other things, like Friday Flash every week, and the Tuesday serial which was running at the time. But the novel characters just didn't want to talk.
Now they are. Now they're talking so much they're telling me things that can't possibly be relevant to the story (or maybe it is?). Now they're even suggesting structural things, like how to name and organise the chapters.
It's got to the point where instead of the "why did I sign up for this?" dread I usually get before NaNoWriMo starts, I can't wait to get going. It's weird.
I'm going to try to stick to my original plan of getting some flash fiction done before November starts, and then sticking to the project plan I outlined as much as is reasonable.
50,000 words month or no, it will be good to Finish All the Things.
How are you doing with your writing plans? Or do you not use plans and just let the Muse arrive as she feels like?