Word Count - 25025
First, I need to thanks Mark Means for the counter bar I found on his blog yesterday and then immediately appropriated for myself. I've been looking for one of these, and since the NaNo site doesn't seem to be in a hurry to get their widgets up and running - I am pretty thrilled to have something I can use until then! So, thanks Mark!
So here I am, a day short of a third of the way through the month and finally at the half-way point. I am trying really hard to not think about the fact that last year at this time I was three days away from finishing. Thoughts like that will just put me back into that deep dark hole that held me back a few days ago, and at last, I have finally found my groove. I know where my story is headed, how exactly it is going to end, and for the first time in my writing life, it isn't a particularly happy place.
This is pretty foreign territory for me, I write mostly romance and the happily ever after thing is pretty much a prerequisite for the genre. Maybe it is because I am still kind of pissed off at a couple rude fan-girls, but I feel a bit like staging a rebellion. My heroine is going to lose her baby - she will be stillborn, they will bury her and then she will leave my hero standing alone at her grave. For months, he will have no clue where she is, he will mourn alone and when my heroine returns, all he will get is an offer of friendship.
Of course, that isn't exactly unhappy. They will still be together, the reader will have the right to fantasize that maybe once the curtain falls and they get past their sadness they eventually end up together. It is the least that I can do - it is what I would want if it were me sitting on the other side of the monitor.
But when you sit mulling over an idea and you start to cry - you know you are dealing with something you have no choice but to run with. This could be pretty powerful stuff if I do it right. Maybe this is a little cruel, but my story is called The Fractured Fairy Tale after all. I'll probably be hunted, tarred and feathered for this one but I can't worry about that, the story has to come first.
Besides, the little shits have it coming.
You're very welcome =) I can't remember where I stole...er, I mean...found the progress bar first, but, I agree, it's a great tool.
ReplyDeleteAs for your progress, you're doing great. Try not to compare this year's experience with last years...that was then, this is now. Besides, you're still ahead of most of your NaNo compatriots.
Who says it has to be a happily ever after story? You can end it on a down note and have the characters bounce back in a sequel ;)
Keep at it, and best of luck!