Red Room Where the Writers Are

I don't know why, but NaNoWriMo was so much easier to complete last year...

 Or maybe I'm just remembering it with a retrospective fondness that, in reality, did not match my actual experience. I do remember swearing at the computer (my poor departed Laptop which I imaginatively named Lappy Topp), swearing about my character development, swearing about my plot development, swearing at my wife who is thankfully also a NaNoer and who understands - just plain swearing, really (I am from the country, it's part of my nature). And, of course, churning out somewhere around 70,000 words' worth of writing which I assured people was really crap, until a writer friend of mine actually read it and told me it wasn't. I also vaguely remember lamenting on forums and at write-ins that I would really prefer to return to the previous year's NaNo. Funny about that.

In any event though, according to my official spreadsheet, at this time last year I had 10,000 more words in my compartmentalised writing folder than I do this year. Last year, day 18 saw me crack the 50,000 words - it is now Day 14 and I have only just passed the 25,000 mark. 

In 2006 I only made 20,000 odd words, but I was doing a very important work placement, was away from home and away from my girl, and basically had more important things on. It was a murder mystery, set in a liquor store (I was a casual checkout chick at Dan Murphy's in the months leading up to NaNo but quit to attend my vacational placement in November). I would love to return to the story at some stage if I don't become too focused on last year's and this year's novels in the meantime.

Last year was a full (if segmented) story containing main characters, a developing plot and resolution to issues. It was a youth fic piece that I am actually quite proud of and have allowed people to read (including - eep - one of my new work colleagues who is super-intelligent, widely read and whose opinion I actually care about - she has been struggling to get hold of the computer because she has children all studying for exams at the same time so I cannot expect feedback for awhile, but I'm still really nervous). 

This year, however, involves a series of semi-interlinked short stories focusing on characters as they come to terms with the fact that the world is about to end and they complete their final tasks, so just when I feel that I am getting into the rhythm of the characters, it is time to blow them up (literally in terms of the story) and begin again.

In saying that, I did enjoy playing around with my sadistic serial killer and the slightly xenophobic (yeah, that one came about in a crazy word sprint and unfortunately it suited the character) police officer who is trying to track him down at the expense of time spent with his family. 

I am also now enjoying developing a rivalry between the former favourite minion of an ageing mob boss and the current favourite minion, in regards to which one of them can come up with a plan sufficient to redeem said mob boss in the eyes of his God and ensure that he enters Heaven. I thought it would be a little crazier than it is - this was meant to be my comic relief piece after the heaviness of the serial killer / cop story - but maybe I should accept the fact that the entire novel is intended to be a little dark. After all, I am killing off every single one of my characters. How light could it possibly be?

Next up, we have:

• Teenagers at a 'let's all go to Hell' party finally discovering their love for one another (yes, I can't break free of my youth fiction roots)
• An elderly woman reflecting on her life and in particular on her children's upbringing and subsequent excommunication and wondering whether sticking to her beliefs at the expense of relationships with her family was actually worth it
• A pregnant couple in bed eating bad food and enjoying each other's company and just discussing who their child would have been had he been born
• Possibly the story of a mother desperately searching for the child she was forced to give up (I don't know, it feels a little sappy to me, and I'm sure I have enough words already)
• Aussie Rules Football Teams whose CEOs argue so long and loud about who should have the right to play in the Grand Final and be named the final Premiers that they actually miss out on holding the Grand Final itself (I'm an absolute footy nutter so I will love this one, it's a struggle to leave it til last), and
• The epilogue following on from the prologue - the prologue having introduced the team leader of the scientists who actually managed to blow up the world, the epilogue documenting her vain attempts to salvage both the world and her experiment.

So anyway, let's pretend that I did not just spend fifteen minutes and approximately 1000 words procrastinating from my NaNo novel and writing blogs, let's call my official word count for the 14th November 2008 at 27,041 words, let's turn off Lappy's new brother Happy Topp, and say good novelling and good night.