NaNoWriMo 2014 - What has surprised you?

When I started writing I expected to have a relatively short chapter with the main character's family before he set off on his adventure. I'm 12K in now and he's still with his family, and the way their relationship with him has shaped to direct him on a bunch of the motivations he'll have later has really surprised me. I almost want to keep him with the fam, but then no adventure would happen (I've compromised that he gets to see at least one brother again later, giving that brother a happy ending as opposed to the death by his father beating him that he was originally going to have)

I wasn't expecting all the research I would have to do for my novel in the fantasy genre. There's no electricity, but I wanted magic use to be minimalistic, especially in the wilderness.

Ex: Today, I had to figure out how to make canal locks work without the use of electricity. Which meant, I had to figure out how exactly they actually worked. Even if the details don't make it into the novel, at least I know it's plausible.

The antagonist is a narcissist, an egotist, and not actually the mastermind of the story's events. Funny part is, he doesn't know that yet.

I am in love and his name is Daedalus Penn. I needed someone to handle my MC's hair and makeup, so I envisioned someone, oh, like Jeremy Renner. He used to be a makeup artist, and I thought that was cool and wanted someone like him for the character, who I only knew as Penn.

And then it comes time to write the character. Instead of the small Hawkeye-esque gentleman I was anticipating, this giant Scotsman with hands the size of hams and a personality just as big kicks down my MC's door and goes "RISE AND SHINE, IT'S 6AM AND THERE'S HAIR THAT NEEDS DOING!". He's got the energy and pep of a human cup of coffee, an awesome name, and I just can't not like him. This is a guy that's naturally built to be a lumberjack, and he just walks into my head and goes "Yep, I'm your makeup guy." Best character introduction twist ever.

I just finished my outline, but I'm super happy with how it came out. The plot fits together perfectly. This is my first time outlining an entire MS at once, so I'm glad it went well. With that finished, I should be able to catch up on WC and finish the MS with time to spare.

TAMaxwell said:

This is a guy that's naturally built to be a lumberjack, and he just walks into my head and goes "Yep, I'm your makeup guy."

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Lumberjack... haircuts... Sounds familiar. (YouTube link - Tell me I'm not the only one thinking it...)

Sounds like a great character! (Mine are rarely that assertive; I usually have to hit them to make them move. Which may explain why they're so resentful...; )

On a positive note, I'm finally comfortable writing 3rd person POV. And I like NOT switching POVs in this book.

Brightdreamer said:

Lumberjack... haircuts... Sounds familiar. (YouTube link - Tell me I'm not the only one thinking it...)

Sounds like a great character! (Mine are rarely that assertive; I usually have to hit them to make them move. Which may explain why they're so resentful...; )

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Okay, I knew the lumberjack song (and thought of it after the first time I described him as such), but I had no idea it started in after a barbershop sketch. That's a funny coincidence. XD

TAMaxwell said:

Okay, I knew the lumberjack song (and thought of it after the first time I described him as such), but I had no idea it started in after a barbershop sketch. That's a funny coincidence. XD

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Monty Python is king of comedy.

And now it looks like a subplot has emerged that's sadly based on real life events:

One of my side characters is an albino with African genetics, who is suspicious of everyone around her, because she's heard rumors of people killing albinos to use in dark magic spells. She's my only 'white' character in the story thus far. She was originally suppose to be just a white character, but then I stumbled upon the killings of albinos in Africa. In recent years, there's been 129 deaths of albinos in Africa, which is absurd considering how few there are in the population. Witch doctors even steal the bones of deceased albinos to use in spells.

It also makes more sense to have her fair skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes be blamed on a natural occurrence instead of having her imported from another area of the world.

I don't know. It felt like a natural connection, though I'm trying desperately not to connect my story to one specific place or time period. Right now, it's a mix between the technology of ancient egypt and the dress code and diet of the Tuareg (current day nomads of the Sahara) with genetics being a mix between middle-eastern cultures and african.

And then the magic that I still haven't figure out. It's vaguely reminiscent of the Golden compass, where each wizard has an animal familiar that is key to their powers. Should the animal die, the wizard loses his magic.

It's confusing, but fun to write.

I had a loose idea of a major event (the sinking of a steamer) that would drive the story. I started writing it over the first weekend of Nano and got really far with it. Monday I researched general location details as well as the details for the ship that sinks and discovered it would all worked perfectly exactly as it was.

That never happens to me.

Devil Ledbetter said:

I had a loose idea of a major event (the sinking of a steamer) that would drive the story. I started writing it over the first weekend of Nano and got really far with it. Monday I researched general location details as well as the details for the ship that sinks and discovered it would all worked perfectly exactly as it was.

That never happens to me.

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I love it when all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. Sometimes I feel like I'm working with the pieces of four different puzzles.

I wrote my first novel NaNoWriMo 2012. Since then I've completed 5 (almost 6) novels. All are at various stages of editing. All of them were in 3rd person. I got the hang of it. It felt natural to me.

This NaNoWriMo feels like the very first one as I'm writing my first novel in first person. I was terrified going in. Understandably so, considering I'd dabbled with a few rewrite chapters in first person. It never worked. Now here I am plowing forward in this endeavor that I can only imagine in first.

It's been scary. I find myself jumping tenses, unsure of how much is too much. It's like speaking a whole new dialect and I'm trying to nail it. At the end of the day it feels like I'm writing my very first novel.

I'm fairly sure it will only make me a stronger, more versatile write, but it's still panic inducing.

Apparently, my Victorian MC is a bit of an alkie. Didn't expect that.

Another thing that keeps surprising me is this one character's name that I keep forgetting. He's a minor, off-stage character but his name comes up every now and then. Every time it happens, I forget his last name and have to go to my spreadsheet to look it up, and every time I look it up I laugh and laugh because his name is Christian Toole.

*giggles and snorts*

That's even better than last year's character named Jesus Einstein.

meowzbark said:

Ex: Today, I had to figure out how to make canal locks work without the use of electricity. Which meant, I had to figure out how exactly they actually worked. Even if the details don't make it into the novel, at least I know it's plausible.

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I'm confused. Are locks ever operated WITH electricity? I grew up near the longest flight of locks in Europe (there are 29 in 2 miles) and as they were built in 1810, I'm assuming that they were operated manually.



I believe them big levers had something to do with it... Honestly, you young kids don't believe the world worked before iPads

Anyhoo, my biggest surprise was that... there are no surprises.

Kallithrix said:

I'm confused. Are locks ever operated WITH electricity? I grew up near the longest flight of locks in Europe (there are 29 in 2 miles) and as they were built in 1810, I'm assuming that they were operated manually.

I believe them big levers had something to do with it... Honestly, you young kids don't believe the world worked before iPads

Anyhoo, my biggest surprise was that... there are no surprises.

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Heh. Shows you what I know! I knew they worked....somehow. Thank God for the internet, right?

Does anyone else feel like their WIP is just a ball of messy diarrhea? I still know what the main plotline is, but all these other things have happened and now I just see it as a tangled mess. *hides from WIP*

FMC's mom has kinda totally disappeared, and MMC's mom has taken on a larger role than I had planned, which was zero. Goddammit, moms, stick to your damn roles.