Martin Livings

Yeah, I'm not doing these every day this time around. Just from time to time.

NaNoWriMo Day Five
Target: 8330
Written: 10103
Position: +1773



( Blather about the book beneath the cut... )

So, yesterday on Facebook, I bragged to mikandra that I wasn't going to plan anything to write for my NaNoWriMo this year, just go with the flow. Nothing in mind.

Yeah.

Then I went to bed and continued reading kaaronwarren's Slights, struck by the voice and style she's using in it, a personal, rambling Palahniuk-esque flavour. It reminded me of how I once intended to write a book I've been thinking about for some years now, a non-genre novel called Mister Phoenix. I've tried to figure this book out dozens of times over the years, but could never crack it.

I turned out the light, closed my eyes, tried to go to sleep.

Then Mister Phoenix appeared before me, almost complete. I saw the entire book, from the opening line to its conclusion. I saw the characters, the voices of the characters, the method of the storytelling. And I saw that it just might work.

It's hard sharing a bed with a writer, just ask my sweety. I leapt out, ran to the study, and frantically typed some notes (not too many, mind you!) before they faded. Then I went back to bed.

Today it's not quite as clear as it was last night, but it's still there. And it's a book and a style that will benefit from the quick-fire method of NaNo, it needs to be a stream of consciousness, entirely subjective and as unstructured as I can bring myself to be [1].

Now I have to wait a fortnight for NaNoWriMo to start. I can hardly wait!

[1] I'm a ridiculously structured writer, it's one of my worst flaws. Before I start a book, I usually decide how many chapters I'm going to write and how long each will be. Kind of kills the spontenaeity of it, huh?