Writing MeMe & NaNo Day 3 – Inevitable Path

An update on NaNo day 3.

Working on: Scene 2 – where my MC steps foot on an untraveled path, not sure if she wants to go there. Of course she will. Otherwise there would be no book.

Words Written Today: 2564
Total Words: 4355
Fave Words: Keagan looked up at her sister-in-law. “Fear. It’s no different than the Millbrook of today. Fear makes people do unspeakable things. The only problem with that? I’m not one to stay silent.”

Things on my desk:
– red pen
– MP3 player
– flash drive
– bottle of purple nail polish
– discarded mini Coffee Crisp wrapper

Insights:
Happily, I was able to work in some history that I had set up in the very beginnings of Book 1. Yay! I’d like to think it was by magic but truth be told, even though I started Book 1 in 2007, I guess those residual ideas have just been waiting patiently in the folds of my mind for me to bring them to light again.

Daily Wrap-up:
This was my 1st full day of writing. Cleaning off my writing desk and holing up in the writing nook worked wonders. Granted, not sure how shiny my words are, but at least I got them down.

Continuing with the 30 Days of Writing MeMe, here are my answers for days 2 & 3.

2. How many characters do you have? Do you prefer males or females?

Asking a writer how many characters he or she has is like asking one to count the number of toothpicks after spilling the contens of the box on the kitchen floor 🙂

As for which I prefer, I'm not sure that I consciously choose whether my MC will be male or female. As my fellow writers know, story ideas come to us at the strangest times and often from the most curious of places, so when I do get an idea, often the MC is already magically there, waiting for me to breathe life into them via my words. So far, I haven't had to battle over which sex to make them. Maybe I'm lucky that they already come to me having decided for themselves.

3. How do you come up with names, for characters (and for places if you're writing about fictional places)?

I have my trusty Name book and a few baby naming websites bookmarked. I actually put a good amount of thought into naming my characters. Often times, I cannot get started on a story until I have names that feel right. And I generally choose names that symbolize some sort of personality trait in my characters. Not that readers are going to necessarily know or recognize the connection. But it sort of allows me to channel their personalities better.

In my current NaNo project, I created the name of the main setting by smushing 2 words together, but it is not uncommon (and maybe I subconsciously took note because when I went on a mini road trip to do research for my book, I found there is a local town with the same name).

And don't even get me started on naming stories or novels. That is, often, a drawn out process in and of itself.