The Wednesday Pen || NaNoWriMo 2020 Check-In #3

Why write original content when you can write fanfiction instead?

I truly did not mean for NaNoWriMo 2020 to turn into a fic extravaganza, but here we are, almost 30,000 words in. I’d say it’s a little late to turn back now. Wouldn’t you agree?

Current Word Count

Last Wednesday, my goal was to be at 25,843 words. As of this moment, I’m sitting at 28,007, which is much more comfortable! It still leaves me a hair behind the official NaNo curve, but ahead of my personal Pacemaker calendar (which has, incidentally, been a lifesaver; doing 1,667 words a day just fries my brain, but Pacemaker switches it up sooo smoothly).

And about 3.6k of those words came yesterday, entirely from Lucifer fanfic. Lucific, if you will.

This is what happens when I fall head over heels for a new show, folks. I absorb the canon, I slap the canon on the page in my own words, and then I make an OC to ship with minor characters I find exceptionally lovable.

Favorite Line

God may have created humankind for his own amusement, but they are more themselves than his playthings nowadays. And Sariel cannot help but wonder who they will become, if only they do not tear each other apart first.

Yes, I shoved another angel into the Lucifer canon, and yes, she exists by and large for the purpose of giving Ella Lopez a really cool girlfriend. Let me live, y’all. Gotta find my entertainment somewhere. But genuinely, I love this line because it’s so much the essence of where I started with Sariel. She’s been on Earth a lot longer than most other angels, protecting humanity from itself wherever she can, and she genuinely loves this messy little project.

Plus, she’s a believer in free will, which makes for a fun contrast to writing Lucifer. (Incidentally, I’m so pleased with the scenes where I included him. Turns out his voice is so distinct that it makes putting the words on the page a breeze!)

Favorite Character

Again, Sariel! Sara for short, much like Lucifer is sometimes called Luci and Maze is short for Mazikeen. She’s a delight to write, partly because I’m a huge sucker for protector characters, and partly because she’s a softer vehicle for me to explore some of my own religious roots and conflicts. I’m not especially religious now, but was raised in a somewhat religious environment, so Sariel is a nifty way to have fun in an oddball delight canon and a way to grapple with faith and all that jazz.

 Not to mention, I love writing her and Lucifer making verbal jabs at each other. They play nice together until they don’t, and it’s great practice for dialogue, easily my rustiest skill set.

Maybe I set out to write original content this month, but with what fic is doing for my confidence and enjoyment levels, WOW. I suppose I need to ease back into writing more fic when things get rough, huh?

Goals for This Week

Ideally, when I reach the final check-in next Wednesday, I’ll be at 37,368 words. After that, you won’t see me until my official NaNoWriMo 2020 wrap-up in early December! But with less than 10k to go in order to reach that goal on time, I’m confident I’ll be celebrating my progress next week. Even better, I might be way ahead of the curve. All I need is for this fanfic buzz to hang around until I cross the finish line; all on its own, it could easily carry me past 50k.

Apparently, I am easily spurred to regular creativity by religious criticism packed into a sapphic, shield-bearing package supported by the literal Devil and his gaggle of odd but lovable associates. Specific, I know. What can I say?

Anyway, if you’re doing NaNoWriMo 2020, we should chat! And if you’re not, we can still chat anyway! You can find me on Twitter (though less regularly than usual, since the new Fleets are a nightmare for the mobile interface, send help), and on the official NaNoWriMo site. Happy writing, folks! 💛