Writing Blog Number 2

20241121 - NaNo-21

NaNoWriMo #21

Day 21.

One of those days where everything was just on a roll.

I finished yesterday with Joanne being taken through the house where the girls had been kept as prisoners by their hyper-religious father. I stopped when I wasn’t sure what I was doing there. Then I worked it out this morning, and I made it that Joanne told the police where the “punishment closet” was. This has introduced us to Luke, who will become more important as the story goes on. He’s the cop in charge of the investigation.

I spent about forty minutes with a local detective who I know, and asked him all sorts of questions. He was happy to do it because (a) it gave him a break and, (b) (which is what he said to me) he liked the idea of things being accurate in stories. There is also the fact keeping good with the police in Australia is vital, as it is a nasty police state, and they will hammer you whenever they can. So, he told me that detectives here rarely work one case; they often have three or more on the go. This is perfect for my story. Luke is about to become a busy cop.

So… Joanne has now got herself in good with the cops, and her knowledge (which the reader knows comes from her childhood, but virtually no-one in the story does) is making her invaluable. It will also make her being more empathic than other counsellors more logical, and push where I want the ending to go.

Anyway, then we have the first death. Joanne’s grandmother, who brought her up after her parents and the other adults at the farm died. And her sister and cousin were murdered. Joanne and her cousin Jackson were taken in by the grandmother… and now she’s dead.

And then I had to have Jackson accused of killing her, the implication being it was for her money. The police came to search Joanne’s house, but Luke came and helped, along with a lawyer. And I finished today with Jackson missing. A death, one that cuts deeply, and a missing cousin, who might as well be a brother to Joanne. The ante is being upped… finally.

This story is flying. And a day like today when I just had the day to myself in front of the fans (no air con in the pub room), writing was all I did. This was a good writering day.

Now, looking at how these things work, I know how the story is going to end, I know the next major character to be introduced, I am using the number five to its fullest. I know where this is going, and I just want to write before I lose it all. This is the best mentally sorted story of all those I’ve done this month, and it’s also the one that has been percolating the least.

Maybe there is something in that for me to take note of…

Words today – 7132
Total words– 112457