NaNoWriMo Novel Update

As many of you know, I participated in the National Novel Writing Month where I wrote a 50,000 word novel in less than 30 days.

Just now, I finished my first reading of the novel since I typed "The End" back in November. Having now read the entire story in one shot, I can safely say I am proud as hell of myself.

I didn't do any major revisions or anything like that. I did make a "map" of sorts which tracks the main action in the order of the story and will be useful when I do start the revision process. I also made a list of questions I had about the story as I went along and finished up with writing a little blurb of what I thought overall.

This is the time I get to say I'm really happy with this novel and it's definitely worth getting ready for publication. Much work needs to be done on it, but unlike my most recent short story, the basic structure and plot are all there. There are many twists and turns and behind the scenes machinations going on. All of this is very good.

In my email to my friends right after I finished the novel in November, I remarked that I didn't know who killed the doctor who dies face down in his soup during a dinner party. At the time, two characters had very good reasons for killing him. During this reading, it was crystal clear to me who the murderer is and why he was killed.

As before when I was writing the novel, I was completely surprised by some of the story developments. I did almost no planning at all and just had a vague idea of what the story would be about. In fact, I was surprised at the end, but it made sense in the context of the characters and their motivations. Also I thought the story would go in a different direction than it did with a different character emphasis. The story I wrote down is much superior to the one I vaguely had in mind. I'm really happy about that.

In the novel there are three key scenes between the two main characters. I love those three scenes. They were really fun to write and now that I've read them, I love them even more. All three will prove to be pivotal in the story.

Much work still needs to be done, but I'm sooo happy about it. I can't wait to get started!!!