It is Day 8 of NaNoWriMo, and I have persisted to plug away at my novel, forcing it to make it work. I have rewritten chapter 1, three times already and debated throwing in the towel. As I’ve mentioned in my previous posts, my novel has no plot, no story, aside from a typical boy meets girl romance. It’s very cliche, but yet, people still run to this type of genre because it is the needful human experience to socialize, connect with individuals of the same and differing interests, and fall in love. But, I don’t want just a basic romance; I want it to be different. The novels I write are already different because of the lack of kiss scenes and the purposely avoided sexual encounters. I believe the latter can be left up to the imagination; surely, I do not have to go into detail about a natural occurrence in human life. I write tales of innocent, blossoming love and string my readers along as they wait for something that to them probably should have happened ages ago to emerge–that is the kiss scene. I may be called old-fashioned or even a prude, but does it matter if my couple’s first kiss happens to be at their wedding? For myself, I find it more satisfying that way. I can breathe a sigh of relief, in knowing my characters have sealed their relationship forever.
But, back to this story I am working on. Yesterday, I had very little to work with. Just my meager ideas and a few quotes I came up with for some upcoming scenes. Still, no plot. I took time out of my schedule just to Google how to get in and out of car when you are wheelchair-bound and what the APR is for payday loans in California. I also did some research on various types of paralysis, spinal injuries, and conversion disorder (paralysis caused by psychological factors). I must say that writing a novel really does have you learning new things. Somewhere in the midst of doing this, I thought perhaps, my main male character could be a con-artist. That’s when my story became interesting. All of a sudden my female character gained a personality and more background and my male character became more disconcerting, almost villainous, and I thought that the two of them would have some amazing interactions.
So, I thought about how I could approach this story. I had considered first person but ended up settling for third because it has been a long since I have written in that style. Needless to say, writing it again was like rusty gears–squeaky and in need of oiling. I stumbled through it, contemplating giving up, but that was until last night when inspiration struck like midnight. Last night, I found my voice and my story. I wrote a new chapter one, piggy-backing off of the initial one I wrote on the first day of NaNo. This one had more metaphor, more depth. I could feel this character more than I could before. Although I am slightly behind the daily goal, last night I was happy to get a good 1800 words in, which is better than nothing at all.
I will enjoy writing this novel. I have a few ideas to prayerfully consider, but my goal for tonight is 10,000 words.
Solemn Radio 