Find out why the winds die... And where the stories go

I have so much swirling around in my head that I could tell you about my story and about Nano.  To keep organized, I've created a small survey for myself.  Feel free to do it yourself in a post, a comment, or modify it for your own use. :)

1. What's your first thought about Nanowrimo, now that you are one week in?
"Now this is the way to write a book!" Seriously.  I am really loving how I can just write, not dwelling on how I'm going to fix things in the future, just knowing I will fix things.

2.  What's the most radical thing you've done so far for Nano?
I switched from third person to first person about twenty pages in.  And I didn't go back and change everything else.  That's right, gasp! I was shocked at myself, but I'm so glad I made the switch early on, because third person was just not working for me.  I couldn't get as close to my characters as I needed to be for this book.  Now in first person, everything's going much better.  I confess I did think about doing first person with present tense (like the Hunger Games, cough), but past tense came more easily so I wasn't about to force myself into a style that would instantly label me as a copycat of Suzanne Collins. 


3.  How do you feel about the way your story is coming along?
Well...I'm mostly happy with it.  It's turning rather violent, though, mostly because of a rather...fierce... male protagonist.  I already have a woman being mutilated by a logging machine and a steamwalker accidentally stepping on a girl.  Oh, and there's a certain male protagonist breaking someone's nose and...maybe....killing him? Heh-heh?
I blame this uprising of violence on my First Aid class.  The pictures in my textbook have got to be R-rated.
But yeah, otherwise, so far so good...

4.  What can you tell us about your characters?
I love my characters, so much! Especially the protagonists.  Dust's perspective is so fun to write and she's so unpredictable, even to me.  She's tough and has quick reflexes, and yet she asks millions of questions and can't stand seeing any creature wounded.  Quite a contrast from almost half-animal Ethen, who attacks on instinct and forgets just how much physical strength he has.  He's angry all the time.  He's harder to write, but I can't wait for Dust to start working her innocent magic on him.  (Yes, his attitude does have to do with something in his past.  That may sound cheesy, but hey...it's Nano.)

5.  Even though the whole point of Nano is to plunge in wearing a blindfold and pound out 50,000 words paying no care to typos, plot holes, or anything, is there something you're being careful with?
Yes.  Character voice.  To me, it seems like something that you can't really go back and fix afterwards, or if you do, it sounds choppy.  So I'm trying to be careful in that when I'm writing Dust, I don't have her do anything or think anything that would be out of her character.  The hardest part of this is when I'm writing Ethen, making sure I make him act and think like a male and not a female.  I have no idea what it's like to think as a male, I really don't.  But I do my best.

6.  Do you have a song for each of your characters?
Yes! Well, most of them.  You can access my inspiration playlist / novel soundtrack here.  Most of the songs relate to my novel in some way...I think.  The Pride and Prejudice tracks are doubtful.   For those of you who like instrumental songs, I'd highly encourage you to go listen to "The Violet Hour" by The Civil Wars.  Beautiful song.
Dust: "I Hope You Dance" - Lee Ann Womack
Martin: "Hope in the Air" - Laura Marling
Ethen: "The Cave" - Mumford & Sons (Thank you, Sarah, for introducing me to this amazing band!)
King Archid: "Set Fire to the Rain" - Adele (I just have a cover on my playlist since I couldn't embed any of the real versions...)

7.  So...how's your chocolate stash holding up?
Heh heh.  Well....it's almost gone... It's been more of a companion instead of a reward, as I told Evergreena.  I did get a bag of candy corn after Halloween stuff went on sale, though.

8.  What's your word count, as of 5:55 p.m., November 7?

17,851 - Feels good to be ahead of the game. I haven't written at all today, so the count will change pretty quick - I plan to write after studying my gruesome First Aid book for my exam on Thursday.  Lovely.

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That's it for now, my fellow travelers.  Here's the link to my Nano account - check out the background info / synopsis I wrote for my novel if you wish.  I'm sorry I was so terrible at keeping track of my hours and cat vacuuming - I'll do better for next week.  Good luck writing, all - I must fly!