No plot, No problem- the NaNoWriMo thread 2012

[TheEmerged]

Clocked in over the 38k mark yesterday. Quota at the end of today would be 33k, which is a good thing because I may not get a word done today.

For one thing, the "wrinkle" in the plot just came into its own by going in an entirely different direction than originally planned. Furthermore, one of my "revenge focus" characters for the first psionic went and surprised me as well. I love it when my characters and story surprise me! I don't think I could have planned this change much better!

And here's where the word count & rule about no/limited editting helps me, I think. Ordinarily I would lose the next week editting previous chapters to reflect what was just 'discovered' (and by discovered I mean came to me out of the blue but *works*, darn it!). I would then lose my forward momentum and like "The Emergence" (my longest work, the one I draw my internet handle from) I'd never get around to writing the final chapter.

Instead? I'm taking a light day to let what just happened process. I hit a kind of pre-climax. To compare it to the Hunger Games, this was the kiss in the cave; to compare it to Star Wars, this is when Luke sees Ben die as they escape the Death Star. I feel like I need to spend the next chapter just winding down from this.

====================

On a slightly different note, I was not aware there was a Young Author's variant on this challenge to hit 30k. I found this out when I learned that some local schools are participating - but only challenging the kids to hit 10k for an A or 5k to get a B. Um, if you can't hit 5k in an entire month, you need help. Even if only able to do it on the 20 school days this month, that's 250 words a day. I can *sneeze* a hundred words, but then again nobody's going to call me young either.