Writing Wednesday || NaNoWriMo Check-In #2

The halfway point is LOOMING, folks, and I feel less behind than I felt last week! Shall we celebrate?

Current Word Count

Somehow, over the last week, I’ve brought my total up to 19,093 words! It’s still a little shy of where the official suggests I should be, but it’s close, and I have a week off for Thanksgiving next week, so I have plenty of time on my hands to fix that.

Favorite Line

“‘How are you with ghosts?’ [Napoleon] went on, now pacing back and forth between dummies. ‘You’re passing zombie 101 all right, but will you be able to handle it when I dump this body and go back to my bones? Can you deal with rot and decay? Fletcher, how do you feel about death? Because if you can’t look it in the eye, we’ve got a problem.'”

If nothing else, Napoleon has a flair for dramatic monologues and trying to make himself sound like the smartest, most functional being in the room. He’s just a cranky skeleton cat, though, so take that how you well.

On the other hand, he does know what he’s talking about where generally undead things are concerned, so it’s a rare occasion where his arrogance is maybe a little bit warranted.

Favorite Character

It’s time to reveal Napoleon properly! He’s really stealing the limelight this week. The last couple chapters I’ve written heavily feature his snark and sass, and I’m also really entertained by how stressed he is. He was supposed to meet Kate a year ago, but some lilies made it a little tough to resurrect in time, so now he has two weeks to teach this stupid human how to do all the things a witch is supposed to know, including make sure all hell very literally doesn’t break loose.

To be fair, he doesn’t really think Kate is stupid. He actually quite likes her. The problem is, his version of affection is a rare compliment buried underneath criticism after criticism. He’s hard to please and speaks the language of “grumpy old tomcat” better than “affectionate childhood lapcat turned supernatural mentor,” y’know?

He also doesn’t have claws, since he’s just a skeleton. Keratin doesn’t hold up in the afterlife, apparently, and he’s very frustrated by this fact. He feels its hard to be intimidating when you don’t have claws anymore, but then again, he’s a literal skeleton. That’s enough to freak most people out, right?

Goals for This Week

I’d like to get up to 30k, if not 35k! Thanksgiving break is the perfect time for intense NaNoing, and since I’m also getting even deeper to the dramatic parts of the project, the words are really flowing.

That, and the temptation to write out of order so I can write some angst scenes is so real. I love a good angst scene…

As always, if you’d like to add me on the NaNo site, my profile is here, and if you don’t want to do that, watch this space on Wednesdays for updates! Believe it or not, the finish line actually feels like it’s in sight despite being more than half a project away, and I’m excited to share this with you!