So this past week was the dreaded and infamous week #2 for Nanowrimo. It is said that most authors really hit a wall during this second week in their novels. I am not sure if it is because they have gotten past the introduction portion of their books and are now in the setup phases or if the realize how big the mountain is that they have to climb in front of them.
Whatever the case is, I have to say that I did find this past week to be pretty difficult. Early in this week I had some real problems trying to get my book going. I found that I have run across a lot more auxiliary characters and locations than I originally anticipated. I spent a good portion of this early part of this week just wracking my brain on how my characters were going to get from point A to point B, or why they cared about risking their lives to do something. I ultimately found a good path for their progression, but not without some turmoil on my end.
One thing that has helped tremendously is talking with someone about my ideas and bouncing the ideas off of them. Getting the words out of my head and asking for advice on how to approach a scene or on how someone would act helped a lot. My wife was that person this week and she actually responded back to me with some really good suggestions.
I finished off this evening with 25,159 words. I am technically a few thousand words behind schedule, but my goal was to be "half way" to 50,000 at the end of week two here and I am proud to say that I accomplished that this evening. I also left my novel in a good spot to allow me to pickup tomorrow with the next section of the story. Let's hope that this next week goes more smoothly.
“What exactly is it that you want us to do?
“We want you to escort a small contingent, including Amenmer and the wizard to the meeting. The meeting is supposed to be secret so we could not possible send a large group of royal guards out on o the roads. It would simply attract to much attention. From there you are to attend the meeting with Melkhar and possibly gain as much information you can from the meeting about the actions in the west. None of us want to start another war, but if the rumors about the expansion and the destruction of the forests west of the mountains are true I fear we may not have much choice.During this whole explanation the wizard sat quietly in a chair in the corner, his chin was tucked down to his chest and his eyes were closed. He seemed to be listening intently, but made no other motion are gesture to the conversation.I looked over to Staia and Banda and then back to the group in front of us. All eyes were on me, waiting on me as if I was responsible for making a decision for everyone.“I would like to speak with my companions privately if you would. This is all rather a lot of information to take in at this point”.Of course. replied the Falah, and he with the rest of the nobles quietly left the room leaving the three of us and the wizard quietly sitting in the corner.The there of us looked at him as if waiting for some response, but he just sat motionless, apparently listening.After some discussion the three of us finally decided to agree to accept the request. After all who were we to reject the falah’d and we all knew the stories of the previous great war, it was why we joined the army in the first place. We had been trained to handle these sorts of situations and it was not like we were heading into. We were simply escorting a spy to a secret meeting.After all three of us agreed, the wizard stood up and slowly approached us with a pensive smile upon his face.“I am glad the three of you have chosen to accompany us. I see that Amenmer has made a wise choice in his selection of you. We will be leaving tomorrow morning. I will inform the Falah’d of your decision and he will arrange to have all of your equipment ready for you. Some attendants should be along shortly to show you to your rooms to spend the night in the palace.Without waiting for an answer he nodded to us and left the room.