It took me all of 19 days, but I reached the 50,000 word count for NaNoWriMo! While it may look like it came easy since I’m done with 10 days left to spare, let me tell you, it was far from easy.
The writing was, of course, enjoyable. I love figuring out who my characters are, what bugs them, and how they react to the story. I love connecting bits and pieces together into something much larger. But it doesn’t always just flow out of my fingertips like Force lightning. In fact, there were some nights that I didn’t get much written at all.
I was never too big into plotting and outlining, but I did more than I used to for this book. I mapped out everything I wanted to happen. I followed the structure pretty well, but there was still plenty of room left over for discovery writing. For me, that’s the fun bit about writing, seeing where everything will end up, while at the same time knowing exactly what will happen.
Well, about halfway through, I had no idea what was going on in the novel. It was exciting for me to be on the journey with my characters, watching the story unravel as they experienced it. It didn’t take long, however, before I was stuck. My outline called for certain things to happen, but when one of my characters went and did something completely out of the ordinary, I had to follow along and see what happened. I was then left with an outline that would no longer work.
So, I sat down and figured everything out. Again. And you know something? This way was even better than the original plan I had! There’s something to be said about spontaneity. Had I just followed along like I had planned on, this story wouldn’t have developed as my subconscious knew it should have.
It’s a great feeling, reaching the 50,000 word mark. My last book, Dwarf Mountain, which this is a sequel to, ended November at about the same amount of words this one has now. I then went back and added nearly 50,000 more words, fleshing out the story and building the characters. I’ll do the same with this book, so while I’ve officially “won” NaNoWriMo, this book is far from over.
