DevinHarnois.com

Every Nanowrimo teaches me something, and this year I learned that my main character has to be someone I love, a character I can be passionate about, that fascinates me. This year I tried to hold back from my natural tenancies. I created a main character without the guilt, anger, or dark past that most of my main characters have had. I wanted to do something different this time and, well … it fell a little flat. Maybe I’m doomed to burden my main characters with a Dark Past of some kind. That seems to be a lot of what motivates me to write, to dig into these characters, to see what they’re made of and how they deal with their current problems and the shadows of their pasts. I like to go with them down into the dark, and then out into the light.

I still haven’t done any new writing this month. I’m 3/4 of the way through my first read of Marked, and the quality of the novel gets better as it goes. It’s definitely fixable, and in January I’ll tackle edits.

I’ve got the spark of a novel idea floating around in my head, about traveling between broken worlds that were once a single whole, and a young man’s quest to save his home. Good old fashioned story stuff.

I haven’t written a word of fiction since Nov 30 (not counting RPG stuff). Instead, I’ve spent my time catching up on what I missed during Nano, watching lots of movies and TV, and getting acquainted with my new Wii and Wii Fit. December is my month off, to relax and recharge.

In the middle of November, I got a rejection letter for Bayou Girl. It was a very nice rejection, though. The editor called it well written and original, and the story did make it through some cuts. So I need to figure out where to send it next. A nice rejection is just a step away from acceptance, right?

I printed out Marked so I can read through it before starting on editing next month. I realized that it’s been OMG 14 months since I finished the first draft. I’m so far behind.