National Novel Writing Month - My novel, day one

National Novel Writing Month That's right, I'm doing it again, for the 5th year in a row.

I am probably done for the day, and my word count is 7444.

That's right, but then I always get out of the gate with a splash because the book's first act is usually completely formed in my head by the time I start writing. I "see" it, as a movie, and then write it as fast as I can, describing what I've seen, plotted and thought about for the previous month or so. It's also a particular kind of fantasy/fish-out-of-water story, so introducing characters and settings are pretty easy, since the main character is seeing them for the first time.

I was surprised by a few characters showing up, and as I wrote them, I liked them enough that they will probably stay around. The rest was all pretty much as I envisioned it, and I stopped right before I had to do a batch of exposition, which is much better to write when I'm at home and can do it while listening to my own music and such. I was also surprised that the opening section (which was the inspiration for the novel itself) ended up only being about 3000 words. I had planned it being longer, but as I wrote it, I found that the situation was simple and easy enough to grasp that I didn't have to spend a lot of time setting it up.

I'm toying with the idea of posting it in a LJ/blog type thing instead of how I've done it in previous years, chapter by chapter in a section of my website. If anyone would rather read it on LJ, let me know, as I'll prolly start putting it on line in some way this weekend.

Stress level: Low
Word Count: 7444
On Target: Yes
Surprises: 3 unplanned characters.