The first big challenge of an upstart novel writer is finding the time to write and sliding it into the daily routine. Without it being routine, writing remains a chore. Its something "extra" to your day that often will end up being cut, thus the "writer" ends up quitting before they really begin.
This is something Ive had problems with in the past, but now Im starting to accept it as part of my day. I have a feeling Im going to become very antisocial over the next few months, because I know if I interrupt this routine too much I might lose it again.
My writing time seems to pop up around 9:00 PM and lasts until I go to bed. On nights before work this poses somewhat of a problem, as I only have about an hour to make progress. However, I think that for now this works to my advantage. I can work in small spurts, allowing me to reflect on the direction Im going and anticipate what will come next. In other words, I wont run out of story to write because I'll never have caught up to the story in my mind. Not until the epilogue rolls around, anyway.
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I finished up Chapter 5 tonight and Im going to start Chapter 6 when Im done writing this post. Something that surprised me about Chapter 5 was that when I got to a certain point, I became very frustrated. Id just written about a scene that didnt sit well with me, and it was the first time I had encountered such a disappointment so far in the outline. The characters were acting in a way that, to me, didnt make sense, and yet for some reason I wrote them that way.
And then I had an epiphany. I was looking at this character (we'll call him B) through the eyes of the main character. And, as it turned out, the main character got pissed at character B for acting in a way that did not make sense to him. But it did make sense for character B to act that way. The main character had been betrayed.
In short, I felt the feelings of my main character and saw character B's actions as out of character. I became frustrated with myself that I'd just messed up, when really I hit the nail on the head. If even I, the author, got pissed at character B, then I know the readers will, too. And that makes me feel happy, because thats how I want them to feel.
I think Ive officially been bit by the story bug. All hope is lost for me.
Chapters Outlined: 6 (Includes Prologue)
Rough Word Count: 5104
