dianaschnuth

Well, I cranked out 3,300 words last night, and that felt pretty good. I got up over the 10,000-word mark. Never mind that I should be past 25,000 by now. Baby steps.

My only fear now is that I’m plowing through my plot a little too fast. I’m already way too far through my outline for being only one-fifth done, and there are still details of the climax and resolution that I haven’t quite worked out yet. I know how the story ends, I think, and I pretty much know how to get there, but there are a lot of flashbacks and explanations in the interim, and one main scene I won’t be able to duck gracefully past.

For fight scenes and sex scenes, I’ve been using the ploy of writing up to the event, then skipping past it and writing the aftermath of the event. It’s been working well so far — but for the denouement, a supernatural fight scene involving four to seven vampires, one human, and an incubus, I don’t see me being able to dodge it so easily.

I think I’ve done well with my flashback sequences, finding places for them to live alongside the modern-day storyline without being too confusing. I’ll probably continue along these lines, because I still need to include several Highlander-esque moments between my main character and his mentor, among other scenes.

If anyone would like a synopsis of the story so far, or maybe a snippet or two of the NaNo-in-progress (beyond the intro that’s posted on NaNoWriMo.org), just post a shout-out. Oh, and you have to answer the question I posed yesterday, too. 😉 I’ve pretty much solved my character’s motivation dilemma for now, but there are still some mighty cheesy moments that could do with some motivation assistance. And lots of editing.

OK, faithful blog readers. I require NaNoWriMo writing assistance.

So, without giving too much plot away… let’s say you’re a guy. You see this chick in the club, and you don’t know why you’re so attracted to her, but OMG, she just makes your stomach do a flipflop. Not in that I-want-to-sex-you-up-NOW sort of way, though; more of an I’m-totally-infatuated-with-everything-about-you sort of way. You don’t end up hooking up at the time, though, and you’re kind of unsure whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing. She’s quite a bit younger than you, though not jailbait by any means, and that (among other social reasons) makes you think that you two getting together would be a Bad Thing™.

Now, let’s say you run across this girl again, later on, and you find out that she has a big problem. One that you know how to solve. It’s actually your job and mission in life to solve these particular kinds of problems. You’re still totally attracted to her, more so than you ever have been before. Love at first sight, even — at least, on your side of the equation. You’re still not sure how she feels.

What do you do, and why? Do you:

1. help her solve her problem, and use the thank-you-so-much reaction to try to get together with her, and damn the consequences?
2. help her solve her problem from arm’s-length, because it’s your job, but reject your desire for her, even if she ends up wanting you?
3. try to find someone else to solve her problem for her, so you don’t have to deal with the temptation of possibly hooking up?
4. choose to banish her from your thoughts completely, and ignore her problem, even though you could help?
5. or some other solution, or combination of solutions?

Leave a comment below with your answer, and give a little background explanation of why you picked that choice. Your motivations will help me shape my main character and his motivations (assuming that more than two or three of you answer).

Yes, yes, I know I’m supposed to be half-done with my NaNo by now. I’m only 15% done. I’m dealing with the fact that I probably won’t “win” NaNoWriMo this year. But that doesn’t mean I’m not still going to try.