NaNoWriMo 2009 Day 4

[ladyseishou]

Day 4 - 26 days remaining

The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible.

~ Vladimir Nabakov



So let's turn up the heat and fill those blank pages with words, Nano Writer!

Today's word count to beat is 6,667! How did you do? Are things heating up for your protagonist? What particular bit was the most fun for you to write?

For me, it was a discussion between two characters about the size of a tub recently used for bathing:

He caught the thread of her misunderstanding. Indeed it was almost a funny thought imagining the boy crowded into a pot the size most wives brought out to boil up a bit of ale to share with family and neighbor.

“Mine’s much bigger,” he said with a straight face. He couldn’t resist the jab.

The woman smiled. “I suppose I deserve that.”

Hmmm, methinks that it was funnier in my head or maybe you had to be there ;-) My total word count today: a little over 12K but slowing down as my plot gets more complicated.

And so Nano Writer I'll close by reminding you to Keep Writing!


Photo image: Kriss Szkurlatowski

Comments

[murdering]

Well, since I'm up at 2 AM, though still getting ready for bed, I guess I'll post what I'm starting the new day with once I'm awake for Wednesday.

I made it 5007 words at 12.30, meeting my goal for day three and officially catching up. Since I'm writing this thing all over the place, it's not really going in plot order yet, but the area I'm writing now is getting close to the more interesting parts for my protagonist.

As for a fun tidbit from what I've written in the last two hours... Well, the mental image is more humorous than the actual passage, but the character is generally very sarcastic, so her commentary tends to be the most amusing part of any scene:

The idea that occurred to her in that instant was perfectly terrible. Perfect, because it would work- Terrible, because it was pure madness.

Ten minutes later, Brenna was on her knees, two of her stitches torn out as she used the fresh blood to draw her insignia on the floor. It was a lot harder to write in blood than she had anticipated; from what she'd read in books about signing names in blood and things of that nature, she had assumed that it was as easy to spread around as ink. It took her nearly half an hour of vibrant curse words and impatient sighs to fully complete the symbol, and by then the rain had grown far heavier, though the wind had thankfully changed direction so it wasn't blowing right into her room.

[ladyseishou]

Good use of setting at the end there to complement your character's accomplishment, IMHO. Dark with a touch of spooky. And a good place to come back to for your next writing day!

[lexicalcrow]

Nearly the end of day four for me. (The joys of living in Australia. :P) I'm just about drained, and possibly need to not leave my NaNoing to the last minute. I've only managed just over 800 today, bringing my total to 11,223. Decent, but still, I'd have liked a little more. Ah well.

Story is not travelling as quickly, and I still have a couple of scenes I'm not sure where to fit, but I'm writing them anyway.

What was most fun to write? Probably this draft version of an exchange between my time travellers (it needs a little fleshing out, and I need to name them, so excuse the clunkiness.) They're on a train, stowed away in a carriage used to transport cargo.

"Where are we anyway?" one of them murmured. He appeared to be American, and was curled on his side as he dozed.

"Fucked if I know. Bristol or something," one of the others offered. He also appeared to be American, and was lying on his back, his hat covering his face.

"Birmingham. We ain't nowhere near Bristol. We are near Birmingham, aren't we?" The third was sandwiched between the two Americans and might once have come from Liverpool once upon a time.

"Dunno. Haven't looked yet," the fourth replied. He, too, was English, though not from the same part of the country as the Liverpudlilan. His accent was stronger. With a reluctant sigh, he woke and got to his feet, wandering over to a small window. Peering out at the landscape as it flashed past didn't exactly help.

"So, are we there yet?" the first said.

"I dunno. Maybe. I wasn't alive back then. I dunno what Birmingham's supposed to look like," the fourth said.

"Well, you're a lot of help, aren't you?" the first said.

The fourth sighed and returned to them, lying down next to the second. "Time travel is an inexact artform. Why do you think we're here a year earlier than we'd planned?"

"Because you don't know shit about time travel?" the second retorted.

"And you do, hey?"

"Will you two shut up? Some of us are trying to sleep," the first said.


So yes. ...They weren't even supposed to be in my NaNo, you know. They sort of crept in and such. Yeah. *facepalm*

[ladyseishou]

Your word count is great and certainly fat enough to take care of slower days! The exchange between your unexpected guests is wonderful! Great rhythm!

[lexicalcrow]

Aye, it's a nice total, and I'm glad for it. I certainly find it easier to write more earlier in November than try and catch up at the last minute. And thanks. I'm quite pleased with it myself. I think they're just trying to dazzle me with their awesomeness so I don't cut them out. XD

[juliet]

8,037! Made my daily target by 2 words (1,669 today; the words-in-hand are from the last couple of days) which I'm really pleased about as quarter of an hour ago I was just past 1,000 and feeling that I wasn't going to be able to get the wordcount.

Today I was writing from the POV of my other main character (I'm experimenting with switching, chapter & chapter about), and it was a bit tougher but I think I'm starting to get into him, and it does feel like a different voice than the other main character. Their heads feel different to me, anyway, so hopefully I can get that out into the writing!

The most fun for me to write was Stuart (Other Main Character) just pottering around in the kitchen a bit -- he's a laid-back kind of guy, and I was using his stream-of-thought to write my way into his head :)

[ladyseishou]

Wow! You made fantastic progress on your word count! Wonderful! And it's great to hear that your character's voices are speaking to you - I'm quite fond too of stream-of-consciousness for getting to know a new character.

[lassarina]

Still a wuss with a 500 wordcount. STUPID FLU. Hoping to catch up today.

[ladyseishou]

Oh dear! Please get plenty of rest when you can and take care of yourself! Your story will wait! And you'll be 500 words ahead when you're better and can really start making trouble for your characters! And if nothing else, you'll have a fresh perspective for any of them if they come down with the flu ;-) Hugs and wishes that you feel better soon!

[lassarina]

Ha, well, that's a different way to look at it! :)

[angryoldhag]

I'm at 13348 right now. This is going a lot faster than last time. My favourite part is a just writing a scene with Monty (I love Monty and he's supposed to be the bad guy!) and Calypso's introduction.

Tomorrow, ninja lemmings!

[ladyseishou]

Way to go! And yeah for the Ninja Lemmings!

[dragonjournal]

Today, I got to write a mother advising her daughter that letting a husband screw around isn't necessarily a bad thing, if she played it right.

Said daughter was less than impressed with this revelation.

[ladyseishou]

Fascinating revelations about your characters and their relationship! Very nice!

[dragonscrawl]

Alas, I am still only at the very beginnings of my plot. Although I'm deep in the midst of getting my cast established, though, and am laying groundwork for characters to discover what's actually going on (if they don't already know), so at least there's that. Word count's currently at 6974, but I plan to get more in today (my word cushion is diminishing...).

The most enjoyable bit to write today will double nicely as today's excerpt. George, who keeps refusing to let me move on to the next chapter, is proving to be better at reading people than I thought he was.

The references she had were better than any George had seen before. While she was hardly the first prospective to have references, he hadn’t seen any from others in the field before, or from captains he knew weren’t easily forthcoming with praise, or even so many from one with much of her career still before her. And yet there the references were, and if he could make any guess he’d bet that they were real. He couldn’t doubt that there was certainly skill in this woman’s hands. Now the question was if she could take commands from a novice captain…or from George himself if it came down to it.

George closed the folder and studied her thoughtfully. To look at her, one would never guess she was a pilot. Eloise wore a skirt almost down to the floor, just as any middle class groundside woman might. Her striking red hair was pinned up, which left the angles of her face exposed for anyone to see. Those angles didn’t make her a great beauty, but then again that might not be a bad thing in her line of work, with more men than women tending toward life aboard airships. The only real difference between her appearance and that of a middle class groundside woman, George thought, is that vest, and the pocket watch and compass that undoubtedly reside in its pockets.

She met his gaze head on, the confidence of her shining through to abolish that first tentative sight. George got the impression she only played a meek woman in order to slide between places where her confidence served her best. Leaning forward, George rested his forearms on the desk. “Tell me, Miss Saunders. Why is it you have so many references at a point in your career where most pilots would be lucky to have even half as many?”

[ladyseishou]

I like your Ms. Saunders! And isn't it great when your characters do something that surprises you? It's what makes writing so much fun for me. Keep up the good work!

[eien_herrison]

11,225 words total, 1,784 today, and I've got an hour and forty minutes until day five. I'm aiming to keep writing for as long as I can -- between going to the cinema and feeling down earlier today, I missed out on a fair chunk of writing time.

My favourite part so far today has to be my MC being 'attacked' by an excited nine year old who managed to attend the sporting event, and managed to get most of the athletes, including a...fairly arrogant athlete, to sign a book she's brought along.

[ladyseishou]

Nothing a writer does is ever wasted! Fodder for the story's plot or a character's background! And a child's POV always brings a bit of freshness and fun to a scene! Your word count still looks healthy too! Great!

[eien_herrison]

I never said it was wasted :P Worked hard in to the late evening and managed to get 2,580 words written for yesterday, giving me a total of 12,021. The child may become a recurring character, as I've got plans for her to turn up at least a couple more times.

[twistingthetale]

Day 4 finished with a total of 8429, so in theory getting to 10k before the end of Day 5 shouldn't be a problem. If I can get another 2000 words written I'll be happy as things will slow down over the weekend (will be away from Friday morning to some time on Monday afternoon).

[ladyseishou]

Sounds like a good plan! Good luck! Have a great weekend (take along a notebook to catch any thoughts that your characters will want to share with you).

[sonjadenise]

12,303. Whew! I need to fill out my outline some more, because I'm catching up to the last detailed section. And this outline is the only way I'm writing as fast I am.

My protagonist just vowed to snatch a baby. Granted, to return it to its birth mother...

Excerpt:
I knew then that it would be foolish to get too excited, to let me spirits be lifted too high, but I allowed it anyway. I refused the possibility of interpreting Haimua's words to mean anything other than being granted my freedom to return home and resume my life. My rebellion had paid off, and I had somehow crossed the invisible line to render me unsuitable as The Mother's Eyes.

"I thought you might like that," she said. "You'll be spending most of your time with The Mother's Eyes from now on. It's the next phase of your training."

[ladyseishou]

Wow - very suspenseful and lovely hints of dark times ahead for your protag. You have a nicely padded word count - I suspect that it won't take too much of a hit if you wanted to spend some time sketching out the next part of your heroine's journey. Good luck!

[darkdragonofthenever]

Pushed my muse a bit, and am finishing the day at 9741, trying to get my word cushion up there so that when I have to write my six/seven page papers for school, I won't be too far behind.

Mostly a bunch of rambling in my novel, until my muse decides on which plot she wants to take. :\ Hopefully she makes up her mind soon!

[ladyseishou]

Rambling is a good thing! I like to think of it as a potent stew of wonderful, creative bits that will come together nicely if you give it time! Keep at it! Make that word count nice and fat to keep your muse amused while you tend to other things. It sounds like you will be busy! Good luck!