Hoo-hah! I’m on day eight, and I’ve reached the halfway mark for NaNoWriMo, with 25,349 words. Not only that, I feel the novel is actually flowing well.
I have made a total hash of the scene list, yet I still say that it was a worthwhile exercise. I look at it now, and about half the scenes are not going to be in the novel at all. It is still going towards the same conclusion, but the natural flow of the story has taken it out of a context that makes sense for most of them.
We will see what happens, but I am beginning to think that one of my strengths is being able to be creative and logical, so I can flow forward from one point to another that makes sense, and see the situation creatively. Maybe so, maybe not, but that’s what I’m thinking.
(And no, I’m not trying to toot my own horn, here. Remember, I’m just an amateur writer trying to make it into the bigs, and figuring out my own strengths and weaknesses is part of that process. I don’t just want to write a novel in a month; I want to write a good novel in a month. I want it to be commercially viable and a fun, gripping read.)
Anyway, the scene list is getting ripped apart, but it’s still there, giving me an outline to go towards. I still have a conclusion I’ve been driving to from the beginning. I still know where I’m going, even if getting from Maine to Florida involves a detour through Denver.
Anyway, we’ll see what happens with the scene list when it’s done.
I’d like to hear how the whole rabbit scenario played out for you. It was there initially to show that Little Bear was more than just a human; he has Gerleesh inside him, and Gerleesh is no longer tied entirely to the flesh.
Then that aspect of logical flow I was talking about started working on it, and I realized that the rabbit that was thus gentled away from fear of its situation with humans might want to come back for more. That partly provided comic relief, and partly provided an opportunity to show the perils of opening those kinds of connections for Little Bear.
Willow in particular is convinced the rabbit is a god, and remains so. Only Raccoon is cynical about it. The rest of the tribe is convinced Little Bear has done something really bad. That also sets things up for later.
There is a lot more conflict coming up. I’m sure it will get back to the scene list.
One of these days.
Brian Groover
Frederick, Maryland
Saturday, 7 November 2014