Nov 1, 2010

NaNoWriMo Dynamic Beginnings

I've blogged many times about the importance of a good opening hook. You can see my post about strong beginnings in First Impression and Lasting Impact. So how did I begin my NaNoWriMo novel today?
With two characters discussing the weather. Yep. This went on for about three pages. It was utter rubbish.

But...

It doesn't matter. There's a good argument for writing weak beginnings and material to just be scrapped later; it's a first draft. I had a rough idea of my plot planned out, but I wasn't prepared to spend time working out exactly where the story should start. I got about six pages done today and I think my story will actually begin about page three (which was Chekov's exact prediction - write your story, then throw out the first three pages). Plus, I was sticking to my theory, if you can't think of anything to write... write anyway (I include this as a tip on writing when you're stuck in Thinking About Writing)

After a long bout of weather-chatting, today my protagonist was merrily digging away and discovered a... severed hand! Yuck enough for most, but for her, even more so. When she touches dead things, she gets a flash of how they died. Turns out the hand was not an accidental death by misadventure caught up in the land explosives clearing dirt. She was murdered.

Anywhoos, I was happy with my word count, I hit 2,634 and will probably get a few words down tonight before bed.  Did you start your novel today (I know we're all on different time zones)? How'd you go? Love it or Hate it?

7 comments:

  1. Just started mine. Pleased with how it is going so far...surprised actually.
    Have fun with your hand :)

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  2. Good luck reaching your 50,000! I like your psychic concept.

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  3. Wow! I'm impressed with the word count for your first day. The story sounds intriquing. Keep on writing.

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  4. Great numbers for your first day! That's awesome. I'm doing NaNo as well. I'm lisagibson there.
    Lisa ~ YA Literature Lover

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  5. Congratulations, you're off to a stellar start! :)

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  6. THANK YOU! For starting your NaNo with 3 pages of small talk and telling us about it. I told my inner editor to "just let it go!" about 28 times while I was writing this morning.

    I had made it to 2,138 words before I knew it. And I learned that my audience is not who I thought they were...

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  7. Glynis - Thanks, the hand is getting a lot of page space still, and now other bits are turning up.

    B.Miller - Thanks for visiting and the encouragement!

    Myrna - Thank you, as always, you are a sweetie :-)

    Lisa - Cool - I'm gonna buddy you on NaNo.

    Notesfromnadir - Thanks, I'm loving NaNoWriMo.

    Bel - you're most welcome for my honest appraisal of the rubbish I started writing for NaNo, and somedays it will probably all be rubbish, but if I keep going there will be some good bits - so you keep on, you're doing well with your numbers!

    NaNo on!

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