(vol 5) CHAPTER 06: "NaNoWriMo 2018 - Day 7"

So, it's that time of the year where words must be put to page, and an idea must be brought kicking and screaming into the world.

This year my project is a novel called SHUFFLE DEAL PLAY, and it's a little less genre, and a lot more personal. After a really tough 2018, I'm partly writing to get things off my chest, and I'm putting my main character through some of the shit I've had to deal with recently. I hope he handles it better than I did.

DAY ONE - 1672

Harrison Parker, our awesome yet stressed main character suffers his first humiliation that leads him down a dark path. I've taken to incorporating things from other stories into my works and this opener is no exception. The character is an artist and he loves comic books. But instead of going with the usual MARVEL or DC stuff, I'm once again using superheroes I've created for another project. I did the same thing for last years SUPERGOD. It's fun making things up for my own universe based on my love of all things comic book.

DAY TWO - 2094

The second chapter introduces us to Harrison's working environment. This takes a lot from what I do for a living. A lot of his work life will include anecdotes from my time working in IT. We also meet the first of Harrison's friends, one of the small group who unknowingly keep our hero on the right path when he can't see it.

DAY THREE - 1737

Now things get really tough for Harrison. This was a difficult scene to write, but I managed to put myself in his head and really wonder whether he would and could go this far away from himself. I had to remember that Harrison was going through an ordeal in his mind, and this is where he shows the first signs of cracking.

DAY FOUR - 2031

We've seen Harrison's work life, and now we see that things aren't too much better at home. This introduces his wife and son and explains why he doesn't feel like he has many happy places left. It's going to be a challenge to keep Harrison from just being a pathetic character with everything going wrong. But he also has to have that feeling of being totally suppressed in life.

DAY FIVE - 2062

This was my favourite day of writing, partly because I came up with a cool gimmick part way through. The character spends some time playing an online fantasy game (again using something from another project instead of something real world like The Elder Scrolls). I didn't like writing the two characters in two locations while their game characters were in a third fantastical location. So I considered writing these scenes in the future as if they are both in the fantasy setting of the game. Obviously this puts me into a more comfortable position with these scenes, but I think it works well and mixes things up a little while still progressing plot.

DAY SIX - 1838

This was a tougher day of writing. The character meets up with a couple of other friends and takes part in a game of Cluedo, all the while revealing to those closest to him a big secret he himself has just discovered. It ended up as a four way conversation at points and there was a lot of 'he said' 'she said'. Felt messy, and will definitely need saving in the edit.

DAY SEVEN - 1718
And easy scene to write today as it is almost an exact recollection of what happened to me several months ago. A lot of the rewrite of this project will be about bending it away from fact and focusing more on what makes a good story. But true life events are being used at this early stage to plan out the rough route I want.

So my running total so far is 13152. The story isn't rolling out as rapidly as the last couple of years, but I think part of that is because I'm quite far outside my comfort zone. No real opportunities to pull and alien invasion or zombie attack at any moment to spice things up.

But it's still more than zero, and I'm not stuck (yet).

How are your own stories coming alone? Hit any road blocks, or is the story flowing faster than you fingers can type?

Let me know in the comments below or on twitter (@BrianSCreek).

And keep writing. 

See you in seven.