6668 Words

That's my word count goal for today. Before my head hits the pillow, I hope to be 6668 words into my NaNoWriMo project. 7,000 would be even better. After three days of writing, I'm currently sitting at 4417 words.

To say the first two and a half days were a struggle would be an understatement. I made it through Day One by sticking to a narrative voice, telling myself I was writing the prologue, Beau's history. The voice matched the old fairy tales perfectly. And would have been a perfectly dreadful way in which to write a full-length novel.

"The babe chose to make its appearance in the depths of winter during the worst blizzard in living memory. Knowing his wife’s time was near, the merchant had sent for the midwife before the winds had risen above a murmur, as the first flakes danced earthward on the swelling storm. "
Now mind you, I'm not saying that my writing's good - far from it. But, having reread several of the earliest versions of Beauty and the Beast just before I got started, I can say it matches that style quite nicely.

What I wanted was to get inside Beau's head, to see and write about the world through his eyes. But he remained stubbornly mute, staunchly allowing the narrator to do all the work. I started to doubt I could even write from his perspective. Or any other character's perspective for that matter.

So I took a detour, and opened one of my other project files instead. This file was scarcely longer in terms of word count. But here was the third person perspective I'd been seeking. What's more, much to my surprise, I rather liked the writing. Turns out, I hadn't bothered to finish that particular scene. So before I knew what I was about, I was writing. I wasn't supposed to be working on THAT project, but I was writing. Something that had been a slog for two and a half days was suddenly proceeding with ease. So I stuck with it until the words slowed and the scene drew to a close.

And the amazing thing is, when I returned to Beau, he was ready to talk. Our relationship is still a little rocky, but I think we're getting somewhere. We'll see how writing goes today.