#nano2015

April 1. NaNo Update. I know it’s rather late to be giving NaNo updates--I mean, we’re literally as far from November in both directions as we can get--but! It’s a momentous occasion!

I have officially finished the first draft of Tornado Riders!! It’s completely typed, which means it went from being in these two notebooks to being in Word and the Interwebz. It took seven pens, two notebooks, and six months to write, which ended up being 139 handwritten pages, or 313 typed.

Woohoo! Burnin' Rubber is officially (privately) published! Its available for purchase - I think for just $10! - thru this link: https://fp.fastpencil.com/products/ALYLRAPOKN4K

I don't really want anyone to go to the trouble of actually buying it, but the link also has a sample up to about Chapter Three to see if you're really interested! 

Also, the description I was allowed to put up felt too short, so here's a fuller one:

"Paranormal becomes the new normal for Amelia Bernard when homicidal spirits start appearing on her campus. And when a new student appears as well, a new world opens for up to her, rife with danger and adventure. But Kingsborough Private School is haunted by secrets, lies, and much worse things than Ghosts, and she'll need the help of Ronnie Burns, a cocky hunter if she wants to make it to graduation."

Oh, and if anyone wonders, the "private" publishing means it can only be accessed through that link, it's not available on the wider market of that website. I did that in hopes of keeping it safe for future publishing, (much) later on.

I have gotten a rough idea of how I want the beginning to be now. It calls for more changes in perspective than the first draft, which might make my narration style, primary POV change (I’m doing first person mostly right now, but I hate shifting first person POVs, so who knows?).

Still have to answer a few more questions, and develop the characters a bit more. The Big Bad/Primary Antagonist, for example, needs to have a greater presence in the novel, and there need to be a few secondary obstacles/antagonists. But still, a breakthrough is a breakthrough, and it gets me closer to the time when I can write the second draft (with significant reference to the first draft, but not bound to it in anyway).

At the same time, I am considering major changes in plot and world building.

I know I should just focus on just one area, but I like jumping between medium changes and major changes. For one thing, the medium changes show me where I need to work harder, the descriptions or sequences which I obviously had trouble with. For another thing, the read through helps to re-familiarize me with my own story, and the facts that I accidentally revealed two or three times.

Still, when I write draft 2 (which hopefully I can start writing before Christmas), most of the scenes will change. I mean, draft 2 might see an entirely new order of events! Or a different mystery/challenge/foe/whatever. Not sure yet.

Anyway, in the first draft, the NaNo draft, I have two characters, Elesn and Lito. They believe they are cousins. Lito is possessed by the demon Akhen, who also believes the two are cousins. Elesn becomes a demon hunter, and all memory of her is excised from Lito/Akhen’s mind.

Years later, Elesn and Lito/Akhen are forced to work together to find who is killing people near the village; one such victim is Elesn’s younger sister.

During their investigation, Lito’s body is consumed by Akhen as he resurrects himself, so suddenly Akhen and Elesn are related (becuase Akhen gets Lito’s blood and therefore his blood ties, but he still becomes a demon; its complicated).

Except Akhen finds out that him and Elesn are not cousins - they are Twins.

I have been thinking about what would happen is Elesn and Lito/AKhen either knew they were twins from the start, which would make the victim the younger sister to both of them, instead of the sister to one and cousin to another. Or, if Lito/Akhen remembered Elesn, because memory of her was not removed when she became a demon hunter.

Both of these change the dynamic between the characters, and removes at least two scenes from the story (the scene where Lito/Akhen admits he has figured out she is cousin, and the one where he finds out, during his resurrection, that they are instead twins). It might also change the way they approach the problem, and the order in which certain events occur.

I don’t know which way I like it better.... Should Lito/Akhen remember Elesn? Should he know they are twins? Should she know? I like stories with twins, and twin demon hunter and twin demon (well, demon possessed twin for part of the time) seems like it would be more .... emotionally charged than just demon and demon hunter working together....

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