NaNo-ness

NaNoWriMo is done. I didn’t get 50k words, but I learned a hell of a lot about writing. I’m continuing the story for NaNoFiMo.

My biggest problem was not having a plan at all when I started. I dreamt up characters, kept sparse notes, and plugged away… for about 22k words. As I approached the climax of the story (too soon, at that!), I was having to devote too much mental energy to figuring out what would happen when I wanted to be devoting energy to skillfully delivering that climax.

Um… that crisis, I mean. Yeah.

To make things worse, there isn’t really a good subplot to add complexity and build tension, beyond some background romance. The story had sluggishly climbed towards its current point, and once I ran out of steam, I sort of just starting moving characters around, making the story scatter even more.

Anyway, I’ve spent a few hours today working up character sheets for my existing characters. Just articulating the personalities and traits of my few most main characters have given me ideas for a second subplot and ways to flesh out my current weak subplot. My outline’s got numerous unwritten scenes in it now, even without moving the plot itself closer to resolution.

Back to the character sheets, then I’ll probably write up a few of them before hitting the sack. Yay for writing.