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The First Days of NaNoWriMo – Metro US

The First Days of NaNoWriMo

A little under 5,000 words took me about a day and a half and I was amazed at that; I thought 1,700 would be difficult!

I attribute it to my 6 a.m. alarm on Nov. 1 and the numerous cups of coffee I downed while writing.

The idea of early morning typing came to me after reading that Ernest Hemingway had been an avid morning person.

As “the sun also rises” so would Hemingway, noting that “there is no one to disturb you and it is cool or cold and you come to your work and warm as you write.”

I followed his advice.

I was so surprised at the speed which the words flew onto the page.

Like I said, I didn’t have a concrete plot but my character seemed to invent herself.

Not to sound gushy, but it was unlike anything I’d ever experienced while writing.

Anything that came to mind (and made sense in context) I used, and let one thing lead to another.

First she was just a girl with a name (Edy), and then suddenly she had a past with a good education, a morning ritual (walk the dog and then watch Good Day, New York at 6 a.m.) and, of course, a romantic interest from years before that has yet to enter into the story except for a few vague lines.

It wasn’t all that easy, though.

Did I describe something too much or too little?

Would something that made sense in my, the author’s mind, make sense to the reader?

How much should be revealed in the beginning and what should wait as the story progresses?

I found myself channeling Brett Easton Ellis and creating long, run-on sentences that probably weren’t crafted as well as his.

I also abused the usage of semi-colons and commas; something I’ll have to work on as I continue.

But, at the end of day one, I felt more like a writer than I ever had in my life as 4,500 words was the most fictional prose I had ever completed.

When I was finally forced to do work other than write my soon-to-be-New York Times Bestseller (a girl can dream), the shocking question in my head wasn’t “am I going to be able to finish this?” it was “how am I supposed to fit the entire story in 50,000 words?”

At which point I decided that the end of November wouldn’t mark the end of the novel, just the first 170 pages.

Follow my progress on twitter at @SamWritesANovel