Holy crap guys!
I did it. I actually did it. Not since 2010 did I even try NaNo, and I met the 50,000 words two days early!
I am so elated, even the next day.
And, what’s even weirder?
I actually like my story.
I went into NaNo with a rough outline of where I wanted the story to go – you see, this is one that’s been “living” with me in my imagination for years. Probably a decade at this point.
I had written the original first few chapters then, which I re-wrote for NaNo (is that cheating? I hope not…) But I have come to realize that as I’ve grown up, my character(s) needed to as well. My original protagonist, Cecelia, was, quite frankly, a ditz before. She was the portal to having things explained to the audience, and as I grew, I realized that there was no need for that. When I read something, sometimes I like to have to figure it out myself. Sometimes, the audience doesn’t need to know the gritty details and history. Let them figure it out with the character. Don’t have your character ask dumb questions just to help the reader.
Especially if your protagonist is a woman, IMO.
I’m writing the story for myself, what I’d want to read. I’m sick of 90% of female protagonists suffering from the “Bella Swan” syndrome — they’re ditzy, vapid, and easily flustered.
My protagonist is a trained killer, who knows what she has to do and does it. Rarely does that break, until she’s thrown into a world she’s not ready for – the life of ruling over a small duchy, where others are affected by her choices.
But, she’s also decently good at lying, so she fakes it till she makes it, until shit hits the fan.
That’s the type of female character I want to see, not someone who has to be saved. And, yes, she needs to be saved at times, but it’s not swooning, it’s in action.
I dunno. I guess I just get disappointed in so many female protagonists that I don’t want my character to wind up there on her journey. And she’s still on a journey, I have gotten maybe 1/3 of the way through my outline, and new parts keep coming to me – there’s nothing like laying in bed at midnight trying to fall asleep and then realizing that you could do something really cool with a character you introduced as a throw away/filler later on after (random event) happens.
Sorry for my rambling today, I guess I’m still in a writing mood, if the word count for something as simple as “yay, I did it!” gets this high.
I’m back to making things, with posts coming up soon, as well as new listings! I also want to plug that I’m doing free shipping on everything, everywhere, worldwide, for the holidays, so please consider picking something up and helping me out a bit :3
Update: January 2020
Since I’ve closed up my Etsy for the time being, please consider ordering directly from me here with my artwork. Also, keep an eye out, I’ll probably have some of the handmade stuff up here soon, too!