Hello, dreamers. National Novel Writing Month has begun.

Of course, it’s only just begun; today was officially day two, so obviously I don’t have a lot done yet. But I dare say I’ve made pretty good progress. That said, here’s where things stand so far:

Week 0 of OctoWIP

So far, I’ve written 2,164 words on this story. That’s over the course of two days (I’m writing this on Saturday night), but to be fair it includes several repitends. I technically began on Friday (October 31), so I could focus on enjoying college football on Saturday. Which, of course, means I also ended up writing on Saturday. Because I’m still me.

On Friday I wrote out the first chapter in its entirety, while on Saturday I began the second. The second chapter introduces by POV 2 character, and so far it’s been fun writing as her. As it stands, I have a clear plan for the remainder of this chapter, and on through the next several on the way to the first milestone.

Already, though, things have changed. Learning from my experience with Seven Days on Samarkand, this time I’m planning to introduce tension earlier, starting in the second chapter. So while the early passages have largely followed what I’d written on prior drafts, what comes next will be blazing new territory. I am still trying to work out exactly when and how to work on this story during the day, though.

In the early going, this story will be effectively dual-POV. While Seven Days on Samarkand hops around between chapters as the story demands, in this novel the story will mostly be told from two perspectives. I’m hoping this will help me do sharpen and define character voices earlier than I did with Seven Days on Samarkand (saving me the trouble of completely rewriting this book twice). The thing is, these two POVs are incredibly different. And I question my ability to shift seamlessly from one to the other in a single session.

So, at present I’m planning on dividing the two up across different times of day. My current plan is to have each chapter begin with one of the characters and then shift to the other halfway. If I keep this system, I will try to write the parts featuring Anita (POV 2) during the morning. It takes a little time for me to get the engine running on writing in the morning, and Anita’s voice comes more naturally to me. Then I’ll spend my afternoon session revising the previous day’s chapter, and in my evening session I’ll write the passages for Karen.

Normally I like to end NaNo update posts with my goals and expectations for the coming week. But all of two days in, I’m still learning, both about this story and the experience of writing it. With any luck, by my midweek update I’ll have a better read on this story and how the month will progress. Until then, as always, dare to dream. – MK