Hey all, as you probably saw from my last post, I started off the first half of NaNoWriMo while I was in the hospital. Because of this, I had to start writing my project by hand! My sister bought be a notebook, and I started writing in that. It’s been years since I wrote longhand, so it was a bit tricky. But I managed!

It’s day 16 (as I’m writing this), and I have 25000 words so far. I’m supposed to be at 26667, so I guess I’ll have to get on that after I finish this blog post. (To those of you worried about my dates, I’m scheduling this for the 18th, but wrote it the 16th).

What’s happened so far? My characters are shaping up nicely, which is always good. I wasn’t sure that I would be able to get a good voice for my characters without my notes that were on my computer, but I think I’m good on that front.

As for my plot, I’m generally a planner, but this year I had to do things a bit differently, so I’ve been using different tactics for my writing campaign. I’ve been planning only two chapters in advance, while the rest is all vague future plot points. It’s been working pretty well, even though I usually like making sure that I have the end plotted out. Who knows how this one will end!

A few other people I’ve noticed are also doing NaNoWriMo, so a shout out to them, especially my friend Laurence who probably has twice the amount of words that I have right now. He’s been steamrollering through this thing. I’ll be happy to finish this with 50 000 words.

I’m so glad that I’ve been able to write again. I thought I’d forgotten how to.

I still have half a novel to go, but the first half is great. I created a pronoun for my dragons which doesn’t actually have a human equivalent, so that’s fun. I’m going to have a great time trying to find a symbol that looks dragon-y and inserting it there.

I think I’ve gotten a bit better at character’s emotions, or maybe it’s actually my own emotions I’m better at, and it’s translating into writing. Whatever the reason, it seems to be working out for me.

As for the story, it’s going to have quite the arc, because a small thing that I had happen suddenly decided to become a whole revolution while I wasn’t looking, and will probably end up being a civil war… by the end of this novel. So it looks like I’ll possibly have a series on my hands, which is exciting, since I’ve never had one of those before.

I’m actually kind of excited, because there’s lots going on in this novel. It’s slightly steampunk, but also with dragons, because they have steam and coal power which is made easier, thanks to dragons. 

I’m very excited, and I’m already looking for beta-readers to plot check it when I’m done.

If you want to follow my updates, I’m on twitter as @aa_powell

If anyone wants a short excerpt of this project (it’s unedited, so finished project might be a bit different) give me a page number in the comments or on Twitter and I’ll choose 50-100 words to post!