23 November 2009

NaNoWriMo: Day 23

At last I’ve posted a review! I finished it today as a change of pace for my brain, because I think NaNo’s fried it. First, I had my feigning-muteness heroine speak - twice! - and didn’t even notice until the following day. I discovered that there was a black hole in my plot where Chapter 7 should be. When I did start getting Chapter 7 planned, I somehow managed to segue into one of its scenes when I should still have been writing Chapter 6. And I did all these things in under 24 hours.

(I would here like to apologise to anyone in my suburb who was alarmed on any morning last week by the sight of the crazy girl walking toward the station muttering to herself. Rest assured that it was not paranoid ramblings; it was “Could something happen at dinner? No, no, after dinner ... she could meet John on the stairs ... no, in the passage ... and he’s heard about the discovery in the drawing-room....”)

Fortunately such errors seem to have disappeared with the advent of the weekend and more sleep. Well, mostly. Chapter 7, cobbled together in haste though it was, is actually looking pretty darn good now that I’ve struggled through Chapter 10. On the up side, at least when you know a chapter’s gone totally off the rails you’re free to quit trying to write decent prose and just go for speed.

I had hoped to reach the magic 50,000 mark tonight, but first I need sleep. And some answers to those important questions: What happens next? What clue does Alice discover? How will Lizzie’s secret love for John affect my plot? When will Fabian actually start talking to his author?

And why do I keep typing “whickers” instead of “whiskers”?

No comments:

Newer Posts Older Posts Home
Header image shows detail of A Young Girl Reading by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, c. 1776