Wordle

I hit the 36K mark today (thus avoiding Onerosity Coupon #1) so I am all worded out. Thankfully, though, there's a great online tool where you can plug in a bunch of text and out comes a picture, i.e., a wordle, where frequency determines word size. So for you visual learners out there, here's a sneak peak at the novel:

Torture 'em

Today's helpful NaNoWriMo pep talk was from Jane Fitch, author of White Oleander. She suggested that in order to create good fiction you must create protagonists you love and then torture them. Playing it safe makes things dull. Pushing them off a cliff . . . atleast it'll be exciting. I'm a little afraid of the chaos that will ensue but tomorrow the torture will begin in earnest. After all, if you read the Plot Arc? post, you'll know I need to crank out 2652 words tomorrow or else so volume (and action) will be key!

Fiddling (as if I know anything about that)

I can plan out a series of events that I hope will move the plot forward and not leave the reader snoozing. But I can't plan out the small details, the texture of context, that seem to come out of nowhere. Like today's complex color-coded guest list for the restaurant opening. I've never color-coded a guest list myself, I've never seen a color-coded guest list, so why did that flow naturally? Because J.B. (my character) color-codes her lists that way, like she's done a hundred times before. Possession, that's all I can offer in explanation.

Of course, as the Dow drops below 8000 NaNoWriMo feels a little like fiddling while Rome burns. But then again, if we're all going to be out of work, we might as well be writing novels around the bonfires together!

Plot arc?

I'm scared. Do I have a plot that will stretch all the way to 50K? Or will it sputter out somewhere in the mid-30s, only to leave me prostrate and shy of the mark?

So far, I've just been winging it, trusting my memory and instincts and characters to guide the plot forward. But today I actually sat and detailed some of the possible actions that could be included. The NaNoWriMo folks talk about having a story arc pretty clear at this point. I'm concerned that my "arc" is but a plane, flat and dull, like documentary footage without dramatic impulse. Perhaps some of you experimental film buffs might enjoy that, but I'm hoping to entertain here. Writing with no clear plot arc feels kind of like walking a tightrope: exhilarating, but not exactly pleasant.

Oh, and I employed another tool today: the Onerosity Coupon. I pledged to hit 35K by Friday or I would have to undertake a particularly onerous task for a friend. So if you have some heinous task you need doing, by all means track down your NaNoWriMo friends. Either you'll get credit for being a super-supportive pal or you'll get your stuff done. Win-Win, atleast for you.

On the Rebound

Yesterday, what I swear will be my lowest daily word count was logged. Today we're on the upswing again. I visited with my people for 832 words. You wouldn't think that was much but it was enough to let them know that I'm still here and were going to get this party started again on Tuesday, full out to the end!

And lest you think I'm making this whole thing up (which I am, the novel's content not the novel itself) here's a little tidbit that contains the 25,000th word. (remember: editing comes later).

“Allen’s a bit too much of a dick for that.” he found himself saying out loud as he placed one more wine bottle into the array. He pulled out his tire bouchon, the one he’d found in the antique store in the Marias during the last wine buying tour he and Allen had made in the summer. With deft hands, he flipped open the little knife and sliced through the lead foil around the cork. Snapping the knife back in place he pulled out the corkscrew and lever and made quick work of twisting it down deep into the cork and then pulling it free. Now that bottle could breathe too.

Staying in Touch

One piece of advice they NaNoWriMo folks offer is to stay in touch with your characters. That if you leave them idle for too long they'll get bored and wander off making it very hard to pick up where you left off on the novel. You'll start typing and no one will be there. Some kind of a rapture of the imagination.

So today, I say goodbye to my generous Seattle friends and head for Portland to visit my niece and see her in her new world of Reed College. She's the one who planted the NaNoWriMo seed in my imagination so it seems only fitting.

Alas, only 392 words today. But that was enough to say a quick hello to the plot and the characters and to assure them that tomorrow, once I'm home, they will have my full attention. I can't wait to find out what they've been up to!