Mental Meanderings

National Novel Writing Month - Day 2

OMG what a nightmare. Seriously this is a LOT harder than it would seem. I mean when you write fiction you can pull the details from your mind. When you step away from the make believe however and focus on real life things and places facts matter.

I went into this thinking I could just write about the places I know and I realised that there is so much I DON'T know about the places I know. I've also realised that while I thought what I did know could cover a great many words I don't think it would be enough to write a book.

Today I attempted to continue with my travels through Perth but while there are many other sights worth visiting I can't bring up personal recall of them and don't know enough about them to say much of interest. Obviously this book is going to require a great deal of research.

I struggled over an hour and was on the point of quitting because I'd only forced 400 words onto the page. At this point it was toss it in or figure out a new strategy. I mean if I'm forcing words to the page and trying to struggle around research it's going to come out stilted, formal, and much like a tourist brochure.

I don't really want my Travel Journal to turn into a tourist brochure. It's definately going to have a taint of that because it's focusing on tourist attractions, as a tourist, and gives off my awe and passion for this country. But I want to avoid sounding preachy.

Of course some would probably say I'm over thinking the whole process. Just shut up and write, Bec. *chuckles* So eventually that's what I did. I gave up the research. I gave up trying to recall places that weren't coming to the surface and stopped trying to follow a specific route across the country.

Instead I jumped around the sights I'd listed and spoke from the heart about places I remembered well and enjoyed. The remaining 1200 words came so much easier and the pressure of the writing dissipated into an enjoyment of the recalls.

By the end, however, I was beginning to struggle again and I'm worried that in the first 2 days I've covered everything I KNOW and am left having to learn the rest. This is really the sort of book best written while on the road. If only I could take off for the month and do the touristy thing in the morning and then write about it in the evening.

It would be a spoilt writer who could do that. It's a someday dream of mine and perhaps I'll have the opportunity to do that and so much more in the future.

Meanwhile, I have 28 more days to slog through and I'm very worried I've run out of topic. I KNOW in that dark recess where reason can't be denied that it would be practically impossible to run out of words when discussing Australia. But the afraid, inner demons are working hard whispering in my ear. Perhaps I should recognize that if they're being so vocal it's because they're running scared which means I'm probably on the right track. *grins*