Screaming characters (NaNoWriMo)

[mousme]

My antagonist began screaming in my head today, on the bus coming home. He snapped, lost it, and started screaming in rage at his victim. Suddenly I understand him better. He still doesn't have a name, and I'm still not sure how my protagonist is going to find him, but it's a start. It also gave me a good way to introduce his motivation later on in the story. Senseless killings may happen all the time, but they don't make for a good murder-mystery.

Someone on the NaNoWriMo Forums, in the mystery forum, specifically, suggested writing your criminal's confession before actually writing the book (whether the criminal confesses in the story or no), in order to get a better idea of how the plot works. I didn't do that, but given the particular nature of what I'm writiing about, the word "confession" triggered that scene in my head, and I think now it might end up being one of the pivotal scenes in the novel. We'll see.

I really, really want this to work this year. This is the first year that I've had a proper idea for the book (rather than a nebulous concept in the back of my mind), with three characters pretty solidly defined and everything. Even if I don't finish the story by the end of November, I want to get my 50,000 words in. So, I'm going to try and put as much as I can on my side this year, and attend the NaNoWriMo meet-ups regularly, haul my ass to the writing jams, and write over my lunch breaks. My first goal is to build up a cushion in my first week (and maybe my second, too), so that when inevitably the crash and burn of week three comes, I won't be too far behind the game.

:::wibble:::

We'll see, I guess.

:::cross-posted to secret_history:::

Comments

[swestrup]

Writing Jams?

[mousme.livejournal.com]

In which several writers get together to sit in the same room with various hot beverages and do nothing but write all day/all afternoon/whatever.

It's a motivational thing. You're less inclined to good off with other people writing in the same room. :)

[swestrup]

Ah. Sounds like a good idea. If I had a laptop, I might even try to participate in such a thing. Unfortunately, without a keyboard, I can't write...

[mousme.livejournal.com]

If you have a disquette, sometimes laptop borrowing can be arranged. :)