The joy is back! After absolutely loving the feeling of my first NaNo (I wrote 64K words in 21 days with no idea what I was going to write until the characters started yammering in my brain on 3 November), the magic was gone. I still loved NaNo for what it did for me—got me writing with no excuses—and loved that I had a completed novel at the end of it.
But it was never the same as that first NaNo.
Until now.
And I think I have Chris’ Golden Rule to thank.
You simply cannot care about the characters too much. I always followed the rules for the sake of following the rules, but I also understood Chris’ point about caring about the characters’ stories too much if you had already begun the novel before November. (And, as a “Rules Girl” aside, this IS National NOVEL Writing Month—not National Write 50,000 Words in a Month, even if 50K is the quantifiable goal that NaNo had to institute because it needed, well, a quantifiable goal. Just because you write 50K words in November, if you didn’t follow the ONE rule NaNo has, then you didn’t win NaNo. Period. Yes, writing 50,000 words during the month of November IS impressive, and you should be justifiably proud and congratulated, but if those 50K words were finishing up random stories already in progress or writing a textbook/cookbook/memoir/other non-novel identity, then you didn’t write a novel, and you didn’t win NaNo. Thus, the only person you are cheating is yourself if you validate and/or claim previous wins you didn’t truly earn. )
Okay, umm, yeah, I feel passionate about that, and it has only intensified since becoming an ML and a moderator and with this year’s implementation of the NaNo Rebels Forum. What can I say? I am a Rules Girl. *veg*
So, where was I? Oh, yes, the passion I have felt again!!! This year has been sooooooo much easier to write than the last three years, and I can only think that it is because—I DON’T CARE! I know that this will not go on my website for public consumption. I know I am not massacring characters I have adored since I was not-quite-9. I can be free and do what I want—and it doesn’t matter! These characters? I don’t like ‘em! I actually created them to be unlikable. I wanted to create six spoiled, rich, sponges-off-of-daddy characters that cared nothing about anything but themselves and the quickest way to their own pleasure. They’re friends, so tangentially, they care about each other, but if a choice ever needs to be made—me or them—it’s always, “Me!” They are the antithesis of the Bob-Whites. And when you give your characters free reign like that? It’s liberating! And it surprises you. Two of my characters found love—when they absolutely didn’t believe in it. One has a work ethic that surprised me (none of them were supposed to have work ethics!). And one is truly despicable—which surprised me, too. I was just going for unlikable but with the possibility for redeeming qualities. This girl? None. She is like no one I have ever known before, in fiction or RL.
Sitting down to write—the actual sitting down itself—has been hard. I’ve procrastinated every single day since NaNo started, without fail. (Leigh, you continue to amaze me with your ability to sit down every morning at the crack of dawn and churn out words while I am either asleep or still groggy!) Not one day have I sat down to the computer to specifically write for NaNo and written a word within two, three, even four hours some days (case in point—here I am blogging when I had fully intended to novel). I have been spending my days writing continually lately (unusual—usually I have at least some editing to do, which is a lot easier), and I am burnt out. I’ve done NaNo 1.5 times over in the last 6 weeks, and that’s not counting my actual NaNo. So, it’s understandable when I bulk when faced with writing *gasp* 2,000 words.
But once I start writing? Holy crap! The words flow. It’s insane. I usually hit more than 3K words (more than 50% above my goal). And it’s all because I don’t care about the characters. I don’t care if fanfic or sequels are allowed by NaNo rules—in the future I know better! For me at least, if I care too much, then fahgeddaboutit.
Of course, now I have to rely on writing during the rest of the year to meet my Jix word count or have something ready for the Jixanny or my Jixaversary. Eeeeeep!
Okay, I've been up since 3:30 this morning. I got on the road at 4:30 am and drove to Detroit to catch a plane and a snow storm or two (yay for all of Michigan's County Commissioners getting together last week and deciding not to salt any secondary roads this winter at all and no freeways until December. The three accidents I barely avoided even when never traveling above 30 miles an hour were worth it! I LOVE living in a state that has no money!) and a plane ride later I am in Myrtle Beach. Unfortunately, between the traffic conditions, literally the longest security line I have EVER seen at that airport, and being in the very farthest gate at the farthest terminal, even though I left 5.5 hours before my flight, I arrived at the gate with only 20 minutes to spare, so I didn't get any writing done at the airport. And now exhaustion and the gorgeous Atlantic Ocean sunset out of my window are threatening my productiveness.
Must. Prevail...
« All done!
