Writing Desk

Writing Desk, originally uploaded by brweaver.

I'm (nearly) half-way through my first novel. I'm participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) this year, which has really been a fun challenge. The idea is to write 50,000 words during the 30 days of November, which is a tough goal.

So far I've been quite pleasantly surprised by a few things:

1) That the story seems to be there. The more I write the more it all sort of flows out. I haven't hit any major road blocks or any abnormalities, and aside from being slightly behind in my writing I'm doing pretty well.

2) I didn't plan this book out to the letter. I have a rough idea of what happens, and how it ends, but not much more. I'm hand-writing it cover to cover in a journal, and it's so surprising to me how characters come to life and the details sort of figure themselves out just by following the logical trajectory of who my characters are what they would do and so forth.

3) Writing largely from my experience as a homeschooler, with the distinct coming of age experience homeschoolers have as the focal point, I find myself surprised how nearly all of my characters shift in and out of likability. They can be so charming in one scene, and so obnoxious in the next. It feels good to write them in a way I can only describe as honest.