NaNo Update #5: Finishing Her Up!

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First of all, before I begin this last NaNo update … can we give a round of applause to my insta-graphic format? *a couple people clap* *everyone gives me a weird look* *I go hide in a cave and live out the rest of my days as a hermit*

Really, though. It was so easy to just change the text in the circle and the background image to another Scotland picture. #NaNoLifeSavers*

After this update, we’ll return to our normal posting schedule. Throughout December, there are going to be some fun posts. For a while, we’ll have all Christmas-themed, which is gonna be tons of fun.

*I should totally remember this and write a list of #NaNoLifeSavers next year.

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But now, what you’ve all been waiting for … the actual writing update.

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As you can see, in the last week, I’ve had a lot of upwards spiking! Yes, I hardly wrote anything on Friday, but on Thursday (Thanksgiving Day!) I wrote a total of 5,644 words. And then there were slightly smaller upwards spikes over the weekend and lots (3,207 and 4,841) on Monday and Tuesday.

I’ve yet to start writing today, but I’m hoping to make at least 2,000. Tomorrow will be the last day (*weeps*), and I’m hoping to (somehow) finish Beyond Her Calling before December. But I don’t know. It might not work out. #somuchtowrite #solittletime

You know what, though? I won NaNoWriMo on November 25th! Isn’t that exciting? My grand total is currently 60,408. It may get to be more than 70,000 before the novel is finished, but I’m not sure. I’ve been zipping through scenes recently.

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Now that we’ve gotten past the technicalities of writing, we can move on to how the writing (aside from word count and finishing) is going.

Well, I’m on point twenty-nine out of thirty-seven. So there’s still about eight points to get through. How long is a point? Anywhere from 200 to 2,000 words. Maybe more, maybe less. So no, I don’t know how long this is going to take to finish – or even how long it will be when it is finished.

Now I can just relax, concentrate on the book instead of the words, and get it done. Hopefully within the next few days. Because I have so much going on in December that it’s not even funny.

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But … I’m not all that pleased with the book itself? I mean, yes, at least I’m getting it down, but … it’s just not the same as At Her Fingertips. I blame it on shoddy preparation. And these stinkin’ characters being so hard to write.

I know Alice up and down and inside out. I just do. Everything about her is ingrained into my mind.

Ivy? She’s a puzzle. I want to portray someone with a slight mental disability without prejudice and in a realistic way and will concern for the era. And still thinking about Ivy’s individual personality. As if that weren’t enough, Ivy’s general cluelessness is much more annoying now that she’s an adult, and I have to figure a way around that.

Then there’s Jordy. I realized he had the same personality type as my best friend, so I thought, “Hey, I’ll just base him off Bailey a little.” Well … *coughs* That didn’t turn out so well.

You see, when you try to base a character off someone in real life, you’re continually reassessing his actions based on, “What would Bailey do?” when really each person is so individualistic (no matter what their personality type) that it’s impossible to judge that.

Besides, I don’t want to overthink things, and it causes me to overthink.