National Novel Writing Month!!!!

I recently started writing a novel for National Novel Writing Month which is a month dedicated to writing an novel of 50,000 words or more. I'm not entirely sure on all the details around what happens at the end of the month. I figure it's only the 6th and I've got plenty of time to read all about that!

In the meantime I'm having a blast writing my novel. I sat down Sunday night before I went to bed and picked up this piece of paper I had written on a few days earlier. I had no idea what it was about, yet it was a sub-story to something. It just sort of came through me at the time.

I sat and wondered what I would write about. One thing that had come to me was a mid twenties girl living a very high paced life in the city. Her mother suddenly passes away and she has to go home to her 'small' hometown and deal with everything from her mother's death to old memories of ex-boyfriends past. I had no idea how it was going to come together.

I picked up that piece of paper and said, "That a part of my story!!" and I started writing. I've been going strong this week pumping about 2-3000 words a day by hand. Something about pen to paper is a must with this. And it's proving to be really good because as I type out the stories after already having written them I get to review them and write notes on new ideas that have come out of the re-read and typing.

I must say that I have been really fortunate with the flow of story. It's like the characters are just there telling me exactly what to write next, exactly how the story is going to unfold. There have been times where I've stopped writing because I didn't want the story to go where I thought it was going to head and their persistence in my head kept me writing into directions I never would have anticipated.

I even came across a particular scene that I didn't want to write because it was somewhat explicit yet I kept writing, allowing my characters to take me where they had been and through to the other side, which in this situation wasn't the outcome I had expected yet I liked it very much. It created a new standard for my character. After writing it I knew I was going to scrap it because of how explicit it was and I realized that I needed to write it in order to understand where my characters were going, and how they progressed from that event.

It's sort of like watching a movie unfold before your eyes, or in this case page, frame by frame. Allowing your mind to create one ending while the words create something even better.

I'm so glad my cousin exposed me to this contest because I've finally found some place to put all that creative energy. I knew I loved writing yet it was always so forced when I had to think about a topic. When I allow it to just flow, magic happens.

Here's to losing yourself in your creative endeavours!