Today has been an improvement over the past couple days of ruminating over what to do. I was trying to figure out a few more details, thinking that I would need a little more information on what I was doing before I could start, and I realized that I needed to jump into actually writing it. Coming up with the plot was exciting and exhilarating because I had 10 ideas flying at me at once, each competing to be the next one written down and saved. It was the honeymoon phase. After the major plot points were figured out things started to move more slowly. I wasn't sure what to do with my main character's life at home. That might not be the most exciting part of my novel, but it is certainly important and I want to find something fun to do with it so that it will be more enjoyable for other people to read.
Anyway, that had been bogging me down and I realized that I didn't need to know all that yet. I can start writing and those ideas would come to be eventually. Once the need to address those unknown parts of my story arises I'll have more context to figure out what fits. Thus, I wrote my first few pages. It's not much yet, but I broke a thousand words.
It was hard to come up with an opening paragraph, because every author is pressured to come up with a genius idea for one. It's what gives the reader a first impression and sets the tone for the novel. That's a ridiculous amount of importance for just a few sentences! I came up with a first shot at it, but who knows if I will keep it. I'm guessing it will change dramatically by the end. Once I got that first paragraph it got much easier.
I am very excited to say that I have joined writing forces with a good friend of mine. Manny, who I've known for a few years now, had told me before that she would love to write a novel as well. After I mentioned this idea to her she told me she would try to start hers as well. The great thing is that I now have someone with writing experience to swap stories with. Since I know my first drafts won't be great it is a relief to know I've got someone to show my story who understands that what I first write is not my best work.
I do plan to eventually try to join some sort of writing group around campus. I need to take advantages of the other resources available on campus here while I've still got them. I just don't think I'll feel ready for that until I've got a bigger chunk of this written. We'll see.
Total Word Count: 1015
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