Leasspell Dæl

Dear Self;

Using video-game cameos to fill-in for the KH characters' parents was supposed to prevent you from needing to make up back-story and characterization while still having standards with which to hold yourself. Giving the parents further back-story defeats the purpose of this. Especially as it's not plot relevant. Remember the plot? The bit you haven't started writing yet?

...

*sigh*

The worst part is I'm not even certain that the scene that's causing me this consternation is going to make it into the final draft. I'm not even sure the scenario that's plaguing me would make sense in the greater scheme of things. I'm going with it for now, though, because I'm having problems getting into the groove today, and I have to write something.

*mutters mutinously before returning to the document*

(In the interests of helping others procrastinate on their NaNo/general discussion, how do you guys deal with characters having absent or vaguely referred to family?)

So, confession time.

I've written over 25000 words for my NaNo fic, but I didn't have a real plot for it. I had an idea.

Hey, what would happen if Sora and Neku were actually twins?

I managed to get a lot of scenarios plotted out sequentially in my head for that--many of them dealing with how messed up the Reaper's Game left Neku, and supported by my secondary idea that Neku didn't forget Sora like everyone else did (hence why his memories were his first entry fee).

But there wasn't a story, just an exploration. It's why I hadn't listed it as one of my projects. I knew I'd eventually reach a point where it would need something to support it, and I just didn't have that. No big threat, no reason for them to join forces. Just... a setting. Boy, was I surprised when that's what I started writing.

Last night, my plot--specifically the ending--arrived, panting from exertion, but with no apologies for being late. It also had no problem shaking my shoulder where it was covered by my comforter and demanding attention.

It worked structurally--I'm not going to have to rewrite masses of material to work it in. It worked thematically--even tying in with the title, and a few quotes I'd dropped earlier which will now work as foreshadowing (rather than me being a huge dork). It fit perfectly with the changes I had to make to get the crossover to work in the first place--merging TWEWY's Shibuya with the Destiny Islands.

Heck, it even works for character arcs.

But, well, let's just say that as I was trying to work out some of the details last night I was crying into my pillow. It's gonna be sad. :(

Well, I've made my goal and beyond today, although it's not near as impressive as yesterday.

I've added 2355 words, bringing my total word-count to 10592! I'm 20% there! The trick now is not to get overconfident with my buffer. I still want to try to reach 2000 words a day, although at this point I only need 1400 a day to finish on time.

Still working on the same fic, and I'm at the point where I'm working on transition scenes I hadn't thought about yet which is both good and bad. It's good because it's new material, which is more engaging than stuff I've thought about a million times. It's bad because if I hit a stumbling block, it's going to take longer to work through it. So far so good, though!

What I'm truly enjoying at this point, is that I'm reaching places to insert exposition naturally that I kinda crammed in at the beginning. I'm re-inserting the exposition so I can prune the beginning when NaNo's done and it's editing time. Show, not tell, right? Either way, I'm not going to worry about now.

NaNo stats predict me finishing by the 9th, which while better than yesterday, is still hilarious. :D

Also, my music rotated to Robo's theme from Chrono Trigger while I was writing, and I just instinctively started grooving where I sat. This makes me happy. :)