NaNoWriMo 2015 - November 3

So today was the start of the great unknown. Well at least as far as this novel goes. I had planned my scenes out pretty well up till this point. From here on in I have vague ideas of scenes and a general direction of the plot and conflict, but the details are murky. This is usually where I start slowing down in my word count and yeah that did happen.

I also find myself getting distracted as I try to get into the writing zone. To avoid this, I shut off my internet browser and just focused on Word and iTunes. Less distractions meant more writing. I ended up looking up how to spell Quonset hut. Wikipedia to the rescue!

Most of my writing today focused on describing a key setting in the desert. One of my weaknesses as a writer is my lack of description for setting. In this case I wanted to establish a creepy atmosphere to the place, so I went into quite a bit of detail. I'm thinking some of that will get cut in the editing process, but I feel that going overboard in the first draft is better then writing less, at least for setting material.

This particular setting has appeared in two of my previous stories. It was the location of a bloody finale in one of the first short stories I ever wrote. I also used the same location in my Nanowrimo novels from 2009. In that case, I opened the story there for a bloody confrontation. This time it appears near the beginning, but it is the site of another violent encounter. I put a little homage to my previous stories with a blood stained wall in a key location. it's an in joke for the five people who have read both of those stories.

Coming up next is that confrontation, the first major one of the book. I'm feeling a bit intimidated because I don't have it planned out too well. But I have an end point firmly in sight, so I'll just need to dive in and see what the characters do. In any case, there will be blood.

Writing Music for this Run:

• The Ghost and the Darkness (soundtrack) - Jerry Goldsmith
• A Passage in Time - Dead can Dance
• Passion of the Christ (Soundtrack Suite) - John Debney

Final Word Count: 10625