Third World Writer

Terrible, just terrible.

I should have 11,669 words by now, and I’m nowhere near that number. Worse yet, my plot seems to be falling apart. After getting stuck on a scene for more than an afternoon, I decided to outline my entire story, chapter by chapter, breaking things down to specific scenes and what happens in them. And then I realized that my characters didn’t really have much to do.

If I continue things as they are, pretty soon my flimsy plot is gonna rip, and even the characters will be wondering what the heck they’re supposed to be doing. They need a reason to be meeting, to be doing the things they’re doing, and the Devil (I have a Devil character) needs a reason for not just gobbling the world up and spitting it out (he can do that if he wanted to, you know). I need a reason for everything, and the reasons just don’t seem to be coming to me.

I’m considering changing stories. The Hand of God is a great concept, but trying to make it fit NaNoWriMo I tried putting the concept and characters into a forced plot that was bound to unravel. And now, 6055 words into my story, things are starting to make no sense. Hrm.

(Still, I love my characters. ^__^ I can’t wait to create a plot that they would fit nicely into.)

So. What to do, what to do? Should I proceed with this thing, try to make it work along the way, eventually either landing Gold or falling in Shite? Or should I go with a plot I’ve been working on for years that’s sure to have less kinks in its fabric but doesn’t have much of a theme? Or, there’s this other story I’m considering that I haven’t spent much time thinking about, but has the potential for a solid plot, some romance and really wicked action?

*le sigh* This NaNoWriMo business is tough.

I think for now I’ll work out the plot lines of these three things, and by midnight I’ll (hopefully) decide what to go with. And then, I’ll work like hell to catch up with the word count. I’m already more than five thousand words behind schedule.

Darn it.

(p.s. Shameless plug – I’m posting my nanowrimo progress here. Please nag me.)

Ending day three of NaNoWriMo, where I should have clocked 5000 words, I’m 1171 words behind schedule and just started Chapter Three. I must say, seeing the word counts of some people (at 9000, 10000) kinda makes me feel insecure. ^__^ But that’s okay, easy does it.

I realized today that I might be doing all this for nothing. I mean, I’m writing a story that will never get published, and probably no more than two people will ever read because, well.. without intending to be anti-Christian, it kinda is. (This is based on my guess that if you portray Jesus as an idiot human who was tricked by the Devil into thinking he was the Son of God, then you’re anti-Christian).

At any rate, I also realized today that even if no one will ever read this story, I think I’ll finish it anyway. There’s a certain satisfaction to be had when you see the ideas in your head actually flesh out into words and sentences and chapters.

“Hey, I wrote a whole chapter!” I want to say. “This one is about a boy who made a sandwich.”

Chapter Two – A World of Invisible People – DONE