NaNoWriMo is often a lesson on how hard the life of a writer can be. A lot of our deadlines are self-imposed. Unless you have a multi-book contract or have something you’ve sold that is currently in the editorial process, you work on your own. NaNoWriMo presses upon us a one-month, fifty thousand word deadline. Usually, in this career, you get paid for such an experience. In this case, though, it is all in fun.
This month has been rough from the get–go. I have a very demanding day job, and it has been a nightmare time-consumer over the first week of November. I am a very productive writer, and a quick-typer. Even with those things going for me, I have only just kept my fifty thousand word pace. It’s required some quick typing, not wasting a moment, but it has also required getting up early, working my entire lunch break, and variety of other tactics.
At this writing, a post that was supposed to go up Monday, mind you, I stand at 5,700 words. I’m not totally happy with the quantity of the writing, but I have been happy with the quality. I am three chapters in to writing Very Dangerous People, and I am enjoying it, so far. The supernatural elements that will be a big part of the story haven’t come in to play, but will probably be showing up in the next chapter. I’m comfortable with my protagonist, and his “origin story” worked out pretty well. I was surprised by some of the things that came up.
The first three chapters have been the easy ones. It has been a free-flow of ideas to the keyboard, because they were all my ideas. However, this novel is not one containing only my ideas. Very Dangerous People is the story of a social group of professional killers who get caught up in a plot to release Lovecraftian elder gods upon the world. As a horror scholar, it is important to me to do the mythos justice, and to also write a good story.
I imagine that the pace will slow for me as I enter into the realm of Lovecraft’s creations, having to weave them in to the world that I have established in present-day Salem. However, I think the story has a lot of potential and will have some surprised in store for me.
I look forward to seeing how Dick and his band of killers deal with a dark Lovecraftian cult and the monsters that they release upon the world. Hopefully, I will be back on Monday with good news about their efforts, which in the case of fiction, often means bad news for my protagonist.
Week 1: 5700 words
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