I hit the 30K mark this evening (and beyond). We were at the Lone Tree Panera Write-In again, which makes for a nice dinner-and-a-show-of-writing.
As a general observation (or for my own future benchmarking), I average about 1,000 words an hour. That includes some light in-stream research (I try not to do too much of that, but spending a minute on a Google search that lets me do something write fills me with happiness).
The down side to that is that it means I’m burning about 2 hours a day doing NaNoWriMo. Which impacts Margie more than a bit (if nothing else than in the domestic stuff I’m unable to get done). She’s been a real trooper about it, very supportive, but I do realize that it’s not just skittles and beer on her part.
I’ve been trying to build a good playlist of music to listen to whilst writing Donne & Donne. I’ve pulled together some WWII / Big Band music, as well as some Film Noir and “Crime Jazz” bits. I have some on order, too. I’m (finally) making use of Margie’s iPod.
I’ve been making notes of things that I need to later go back to and add in, as narrative “color.” For example, cigarettes. Roger doesn’t smoke (bit of backstory there), so Chrys doesn’t, but in 1951 that makes them a minority. Smoking makes for some great “business” to write in. As Robert Parker put in his Spenser novel, The Judas Goat:
I hadn’t smoked in ten or twelve years, but I wished then I’d had a cigarette that I could have taken a final drag on and flipped still burning into the river as I turned and walked away. Not smoking gains in the area of lung cancer, but it loses badly in the realm of dramatic gestures.
Hmmmm. Occurs to me I’ve been reading a lot of Nero Wolfe centered around 1951, but I could do worse than to pull in some Spenser, esp. the early novels.
Hats are another thing I need to be sure I remember. Hell, jacket and ties …
Something I’ve, ironically, had problems remembering to include are some of the Donne magical bits. Roger doesn’t show anything unusual until mid-chapter 3, and some of the things about San Francisco that I wanted to include as backdrop just haven’t come up. Something for the first revision pass.
I’m doing pretty well right now. I was having more problems at 20K than at 30K. I have the next several scenes mapped out at a very high level, which is somewhat comforting. Things flowed tonight pretty well.
The shifting between first person perspectives between chapters is actually going okay. I’m slowly working into Chrys’ voice (I’m sure that will be something to further massage during the next revision). Margie noted it took a bit to realize the changes, which means it’s not clear enough. I’ve started “cheating” by noting the character at the chapter change (hey, if Andre Norton could do it, so can I), but it’s a sign that I don’t have distinct enough voices between Roger and Chrys to make it pretty obvious.
“Excuse me,” I said.
She turned to me, her eyes flicking up and down with weary insolence.. “Sorry, lady, not how I swing. Cost you extra.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You’re so choosy, then?”
She shrugged. “Didn’t say no.” She named a price. I shuddered, wondering how many tricks she had to turn at that, or less, to satisfy her master.
I reached into my purse and handed her a five dollar bill. “I’m actually looking for some information.”
She snagged the bill in two fingers, tucked it down her front. “Time’s time.”
Aside from the reference to “lady,” I’m not sure there’s anything there that makes it clear who the perspective resides with. Something to work on.
Katherine, meanwhile, busted through the 3500 word mark tonight. While what she’s writing needs a fair amount of polish, there’s some great stuff there. It’s “Percy Jackson” fan-fic, but it’s more a matter of being in the same universe and locales than of being the same characters or anything. I’m really proud of the job she’s been doing.
