Nano 2014: Day 5

How's everyone doing with NaNoWriMo so far? I'm almost 3k above my personal goal. As I've said in earlier posts, this is all new to me. I've never written so much so fast. I don't know how much of it will stay, but I'm having fun writing it and already I'm discovering things that I didn't know about my novel.

I've discovered that the characters I've used as a foil to the MCs mother are actually going to turn out to be better by comparison. The antagonist is worse than I'd originally thought. A character dies. A love interest turns out to be a lot more complicated. I love these little discoveries that you hit while you're writing.  I'm approximately 15% through, if I make it to my wordcount goal, so there's not too much to discover yet, but I'm really pleased with the way things are unfolding for me.

I think I'm getting there, though. To that point of creative takeoff, where everything just starts to bloom before its creator's eyes. The world that you've created and the people who you've made to populate it will suddenly combine in great and unexpected ways.

To me, that's probably the most fulfilling part about art. When the artist can sit back and just watch the art take over. There's always a point in my writing when I stop feeling like I'm making things happen and I just feel like I'm expressing things that are happening. As though everything on the page would continue without me. I'm just the vessel to get it out there. It's an odd feeling, and hard to explain, but I think a lot of other writers will understand what I'm talking about. It's Creative Liftoff.

So whether you're way ahead of your wordcount goals or you've fallen way behind, I applaud you for taking part in the adventure that is writing a novel.

And if, by chance, you are behind, then don't sweat it. During Hurricane Sandy two years ago, I had a friend who lost power in her house for the first five days, if I remember correctly. She kicked wordcount butt, though, when she was finally able to get back on a computer. Everything that she would have written in those five days just spilled out of her. So if you're behind today, maybe day six will be the turning point for you.

Wherever you are in your story and your wordcount, keep working hard for the love of the craft, and I'm confident that you'll reach Creative Liftoff

--Britni M