Keller’s NaNoWriMo Korner: Mud and Plot Bunnies and Such (Because we’re all sick of the NaNo puns I’ve been using in these titles, aren’t we?)

Word count: 35107
Still no title.

It’s funny how the subconscious mind works.

Some of you may know that, prior to NaNoWriMo 2011′s start twenty days ago, I’d been working on my second novel, The Wendy House, for a very long time. As in years. There have been several starts and stops, shifts in narration and points of view, and do-overs galore. In short, the damn thing has been giving me trouble. Writing it has been like trudging waist-deep through thick, March mud. In sharp contrast, writing my new NaNo Novel has been like…I dunno. Swimming through a clear, mountain stream? Or something like that? (Don’t judge me. I’m saving all my good metaphors for the book.) Let’s just say I’m not struggling with it. To be honest, it’s been going so well that I considered scrapping The Wendy House in favor of this new book. It’s true. And then a weird thing happened. Rick, my protagonist from The Wendy House, showed up at an A.A. meeting in my NaNo Novel.

My first instinct was to kick him out. I’ve been dealing – unsuccessfully – with this dope for years now. He doesn’t want to behave in his own novel, so why should I let him infest this one?

“You don’t belong here,” I said, with an imperious wag of my finger. “Shoo!”

But upon further reflection, I realized his presence made sense. My new novel is set in Westville, Maine, the fictional town where Rick resides. Rick, too, is an alcoholic, with a history of falling off the wagon. Why wouldn’t it be plausible for him to show up at Kara’s meeting? And what harm would it do to chase this little plot bunny for a page or two?

NaNo Novel is set in the present day, nearly five years after the events of Rick’s novel. Although I know how his book ends, I’d never thought that far ahead into his future. But here I was compelled to do just that, and it helped to clear away some of the mud I’ve been trying to write through (or something like that) for the past few years. And now, for the first time in a very long time, the idea of working on The Wendy House seems exciting to me. I’m looking forward to finally finishing it once NaNoWriMo is done.

I don’t know if Rick is going to appear in this new book again. I’m thinking he won’t. His presence may not survive the first draft. But I’m glad he showed up because [something about a clear, mountain stream]. And such.