NaNoWriMo 2011 Day 6: Having Fun

Exposition is well underway, and the characters have made their initial appearances. The readers are hooked into the plot, aware of the struggle, and have identified who the antagonist is, even if they don’t yet know his or her motivation. This is the sweet spot, at least for me, of the first draft. Tell your imagination to run wild, let go of whatever doubts you have, be they overwhelming or annoying vestiges. Don’t even worry about sticking to your outline right now. Let the story go where it needs to, and you can take a look at your original plans later.

We’ve had nearly a week of writing now, so hopefully the novel is spending quality time in your thoughts. If you write scenes now that you’ll later cut out of the text, that’s okay, because anything you put on paper right now only gets you closer to the characters and the story. You’ll have edits to make later and you can use them to imbue your themes, meta-level messages, and so forth. But for now, today, just run with it and enjoy the act of writing itself.

Tomorrow’s post will focus on pacing, but this Sunday, dive into the narrative and write whatever comes out of your fingertips. And enjoy NaNo.