Blogging NaNoWriMo 2013: Protagonist Similarities

It's unsurprising, since I finished the first draft of another project just before the start of NaNo, that the protagonist of this new one sounds a little like the protagonist of that one. However, 12,000 words in and I'm starting to see the differences come through.

I suppose, really, it comes down to the fact that one has a manipulative, self-serving streak that dominates nearly everything she does while this new one is inherently good, a little mischievous and very intuitive. The differences are starting to shine through and I like that.

However, the chapters I'd planned ahead of time are coming to an abrupt end in the next couple of thousand words. I need to make time to think. As I said yesterday, things are going a little more slowly than I thought they would. The ship's just docked in Lisbon, though, and my characters will be - grudgingly, in one case - spending some time together in that beautiful city. I can tell you they might be hovering around up here...

I'm looking forward to the Lisbon portion of the narrative. I know how things should play out there because I was thinking about it as I trotted round the walls of the castle. After that, who knows? It's on to Gibraltar and a little more...excitement?

Kicking Pivotal Scenes Into Submission

I've had a lacklustre week as far as writing is concerned.

Since I began this third (fourth??) rewrite of this novel I've been keeping my daily totals in a spreadsheet. I wanted some record of my success at fitting writing in alongside my ever-hectic PhD study. It worked fine until last Thursday when I put a '0' in the column. As I was away for the weekend three more followed. And then Monday to Wednesday this week I think I just gave up. Who cares? I'm only fighting against myself. Yes! And if I can't win that battle how do I expect to win any others?

So last night I dug my heels in and got writing. Then I realised the problem, the thing I'd been avoiding.

The scene I'd halted in the middle of was the first encounter between my protagonist, Danni, and one of the antagonists, Vincent. Working from my last draft I could see the scene was melodramatic, loosely written and involved a lot of direct communication with the reader. In essence, it was rubbish. I'd been hesitating because I didn't know how to improve it. I hadn't had time to let it percolate in my mind since I'd been too busy with everything else.

As I worked on the scene I realised it had to go on longer. Pivotal scenes can be short, of course they can, but this one needed an extensive amount of give-and-take. It's a polite, conversational struggle for power and information. It still needs work but I think the skeleton of it is there. The reader shouldn't come out of it thinking anybody has actually won because the novel is supposed to be more complex than simply good triumphing over bad.

I even managed to write and extend the short scene after it. I'll have to share my favourite lines now because due to the laws of editing, I like them too much to be able to keep them:

‘That’ll be a great story,’ Harriet muttered, starting the engine laconically. ‘How did you die, Mrs Fitch? Well, some slimy prick in a shite-coloured jacket tried to force-feed me custard creams until I threw up. Oh, is that the way you went! I wish I could’ve gone like that.’

I wrote over 1300 words last night, taking my total for this draft up to 9697. I'm playing the tortoise game, I haven't got a choice, but maybe I do need to pick up my pace a little here.