Well, it seems NaNoWriMo has descended upon us! And, you know, it’s a totally good idea to reach the halfway point 4 days within the event. . . Right? Riiight? Because it’s not like I’ve lost hold of reality. Noooo. Hehehe. . .heh. . .heheh. Ahem. So maybe my OCD tendencies kick into hyperdrive during November and I can’t seem to stop making myself write. And yes, I hit the halfway point last night. But my goal for NaNo is not to reach 50k but to finish my book as quickly as possible. And since my books always end somewhere above 100k I have to really push those words out. And also I’M HAVING FUN. My cast is just as delightful as I thought it’d be. Iavin slays me time and time again with his adorkable self. Do you ever have those characters that you don’t need to flesh out and discover? Sometimes they explode from your brain with all the personality in the world and when you write them their thoughts pour from your fingertips as easily as your own. Iavin is one of those characters. I’ve discovered beginning are usually hard for me to write. I’m always ecstatic to start a new story but then I never fully get into it until two or three chapters in. It takes a bit of time to get to know my characters, discover the world, get deeply into the plot, etc. But once I’ve established these things my love for the story blossoms. Thus, the first day or two of NaNo tends to be a bit of a struggle for me. But this year the first day has been my favorite so far. Almost the entire story is written from Iavin’s point-of-view, and looking at the world through his eyes is as natural as breathing. I didn’t have to experiment with the first chapter to get a feel of his character, it just flowed on the pages instantaneously and I can’t imagine tiring of him. His sweet, awkward, shy self makes my heart full. (Although I may feel a bit guilty slinging him into peril.) Sayleth is also proving to be a delight. I was excited about attempting a mute character, but, to be entirely honest, also rather nervous. But my fears were for naught. The challenge of finding ways for her to communicate has been a blast. Plus, this is a fantasy, which means I’m allowed a few otherworldly tricks. *grins* Then there are the dragons. Iavin’s dragon, Nemayn, is currently sneezing out snow she just sniffed into her snout. She’s kind of a total mess. While Sayleth’s large, white, male dragon, Daeomin, has a tendency to hide behind his tail. Watching an enormous dragon act like a skittish puppy is an amusing sight, let me tell you. And Cael, well, his first words were: "By Ugrafel’s beard, you people make a lot of ruckus." This was commenting on a pretty intense battle. Right now in the story he just said killing Iavin and the gang would not be beneficial to his state of being so. . .yeah, at least there’s that. Cael. What can I say? All in all, the story is going pretty great. The beginning feels info dumpy and now I feel like I’m not giving enough info. I keep having to shove my Inner Editor away. I was heavily editing a novella just before NaNo started, so it’s taking me a bit to remember I have permission to write messily. It’s starting to sink in though. Actually, I think I’ve just about scared my Inner Editor away with all the atrocious writing. Um, success? Hey, it’s NaNo. What would NaNo be without a messy first draft? Right now I’m just enjoying writing the story. It can always be rewritten. That’s what NaNo is for after all, to pump out those words and get that first draft written, no matter how it turns out. So write I shall! Speaking of which. . .I should probably be doing that now. How is NaNo going for everyone?? Can you believe we’ve almost made it through the first week? We got this! *fistpump* Today’s Writing Snippet: Frowning, Iavin pulled his frostbitten arm up with his other hand and cradled it against his chest. "You did this to me. You sent your glacier— Erm, gwac—" Anger blinded his memory. "Your ice bird thing to attack us!" "Now, Sii, that was not very nice," Cael scolded, turning his head to face the bird. "I sent you to persuade them to come down, not freeze the poor boy’s arm off." The bird ruffled its feathers and turned its beak to the sky, as if offended. "I apologize on her behalf," Cael addressed Iavin again. "She can be a little overzealous. Come here, that arm looks ready to crack right from its socket." Iavin had the same thoughts, but he wasn’t about to let Cael do anything about it. Cael breathed a frustrated sigh. "Don’t be stubborn. I can fix it. Right, Sayleth?" She turned sad eyes to Iavin and nodded. Iavin hesitated, looking back and forth between the two, before shuffling forward. He supposed not much more damaged could be done to it anyway. Cael shooed Sii off his shoulder. The bird crowed in indignation and clamped her claws down into a boulder where she watched everyone with her piercing white stare. Iavin eyed the bird warily but the pain of Cael grabbing his arm pulled his attention back to his doom at hand. P.S. I apology for the randomosity of this post and for any future posts. I sort of threw my sanity out a window and locked it out on November 1st. I’ll probably let it back in come December 1st (maybe the 2nd). Until then. . .well, I’m just really, really sorry.