NaNoWriMo Day 8
Current Word Count: 12,245/50,000
We're a week into National Novel Writing Month and I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted. So far I've done a good job of writing everyday and hitting my word count goal, which is better than I've done in previous years. I actually have a small word bank built up. Want to learn more about word banks and tips to get to your 50,000 word goal? Check out my last post: 10 Tips To Winning NaNoWriMo.
So far, I've been able to introduce our two main characters, Jack and Frank, as well as introduce the world they're living in, outlaw territory on Mars. I've also been able to introduce our inciting incident, the kidnapped Haley, and dig a bit into the actual plot... at least we think so.
Here's an actual conversation we had:
Daniel: You know what I just realized? Our novel is basically All Dogs Go To Heaven.
Me: No it's not!
Daniel: Yes it is. Two criminals find a kidnapped girl at a bar.
Me: Right but it's in Mars and there's no dogs.
Daniel: I guess but the basic premise is the same.
Me: Whatever. I'm still writing the book.
Anyways, Daniel and my co-writing idea has hit a couple of hiccups. I did get the character interviews and some of an outline, but mostly we've just been pantsing it. The original plan was that Daniel would come up with the characters and plot and I'd just put some life in it, but things have proven a bit trickier than that. It's more like he's says "Next they're going to do some shenanigans" and I do my best to image was "Shenanigans" means.
It's been more difficult than I anticipated introducing your spouse to the world of novel writing. I thought he understood a lot of stuff seeing more going through my MFA program and helping me emotionally as I wrote 3 other novels. But as I try to convince him that my feedback is constructive and destructive, I see why more couples don't write together.
Daniel's afraid that there isn't enough plot for a full novel, that it might be more like a short story. However, I'm enjoying digging into the characters and getting to know this unique world a bit more, so it may grow to be more than 50,000 words. We'll have to see.