Did my first word count verification of the NaNoWriMo website this evening. I really didn't think i was going to make my daily word count today but I got a brief second wind when I came upstairs and managed to complete a scene and just get a little higher than the suggested 35007 at this point. I do find having a NaNo themed wall paper on my desktop helps so much as does filling out the daily report card. It makes it all so manageable.

I know it's circa 5 in the morning and trust me I am going to be heading back to bed in a minute. I woke up just after 4 from a dream. I don't think the dream connected to my story but I just had an urge to finish the scene I'd begun yesterday when it was time for dinner. I guess i could have continued later on but I was sleepy and figured I had done my word count for the day.

I have been typing like wildfire and did over 1200 words in less than an hour.

Anyway, Chris Bray's weekly pep talk just came into my in-box and he had some tips that were so very useful that I thought I'd share with my friends list - for those who are engaged in this or have NaNoWriMoed in the future or for just a taste of the philosophy of the endeavour. ( Under the cut )

His second tip is one that I've been adhering to in terms of word counts for each session. Although I've not taken part in any of the on-line sprints this year, my IMs are just not activated at the moment, I take the same approach.

Anyway back for some more zzzzs.

Worked a little this morning and then returned this afternoon and finished with a word count of 1,928. Decent enough for the first day.

Here it is opening day of NaNoWriMo 2009.

Due to circumstances I haven't thought much about the plot of this year's novel and I had initially thought that my Muse, Sarah Taverner, was not going to appear in the story. However, Sarah had other ideas and announced that she was not about to be denied her chance.

Unlike previous years this time I am going to give Sarah the reins as narrator and again it will attempt to be a contemporary fantasy set in the UK. While I will update here with progress I am unsure how much I want to share with others of the 'work in progress'. I shall have to see how it feels once I have some words under my belt. I have no title as yet but a vague starting point.

Despite my initial thoughts this morning that I might not be writing a sequel as soon as I put my hands to keyboard I was... though Elizabeth seems to be the main focus at the moment, which was always my intention as the first one was really Sarah's story. I made use of my strange dream of bees and demons this morning as a starting point and in about 90 minutes wrote 1,900 words!

Definitely made my first day's word count and later will do some adding to it and grooming (not too much editing) to get it into better shape.

The working title came to me partly from seeing this beautiful icon by the very talented whispyr and partly from how I wanted Elizabeth to develop as a character. So we shall see what develops.

Here we are back again. I'm not going to post anything here for reading immediately until I have a few thousand words under my belt and a sense that the plot is going somewhere. Right now what is popping up isn't a direct sequel though does continue the Magic's Heirs theme and Sarah and Co will come into the story but it may start elsewhere. I think.

So main task today is to write and write and see where it leads.

Just before midnight last night, I submitted my word count for verification and crossed the finish line with 50,067 words. I still have some more to write as I am only part way through the final chapter.

Still there is nothing like that feeling of completing the goal!

Some of Magic's Heirs takes place at sites that I know well such as Glastonbury. Brinklow Hill that is only a few miles from where I live is a local hot spot for paranormal activity and does have a dark reputation including a sinister figure seen on the hill and the Raven pub.

Under the cut I have placed some photographs of Brinklow Hill (Castle) from the web as well as some taken yesterday by marvo on a research trip to the village.

I was amazed to see that there was indeed a wooden stile on the path leading to the hill as it had been a clear part of Sarah's nightmare in Wales and the chapter as I wrote it.

( Pictures! )

Just an advisory note that after a discussion on nanowrimo about it being a good idea to keep your novel under wraps just in case you do eventually go for publication. Apparently some publishers won't touch a novel if it's already been posted on-line.

So just in case my chapters are now 'Friends Only'.

As I was up early this morning I logged on via AIM to join in the All Night Sprint-a-Thon organised by the Mods of nanowrimo. My AIM connection was terrible and I kept getting bumped from the spring room but found the format of sprinting for 15 minutes and then breaking for 15 minutes, then sprinting again. I wrote 1,700 words in record time leaving me the rest of the day for relaxation with marvo.

I'm returning to do some more now before considering my word count for the day done.

I've also changed genres! I found on the NaNoWriMo site they they have a category for Spiritual, Religious and New Age. While there are elements of my NaNo novel that border on urban fantasy, it is more more rooted in the occult and the type of topics covered in that NaNo forum than High Fantasy.

I'm at 27,141 words and have a horrible feeling I might hit a wall at the end of this chapter in terms of where the plot is going. As the icon says though I am not panicking yet.

I wanted just to note that the technique that Elizabeth uses in Chapter 10 is based on a technique for past life exploration called The Christos Technique. An overview can be read here. I heard of this technique in the 1970s and used it as part of my work to stimulate lucid dreams. I underwent a few inductions myself as well as served as a guide. When I had formal training in 1982 as a hypnotherapist it was one of a variety of techniques we learnt for past life regression.

I did change the induction sequence some, having Elizabeth and Sarah face one another rather than have Sarah lie down and omitted the chakra and foot massage.

I woke this morning with ideas for the chapter dealing with events on Samhain night in Devon, so started writing when Crys went to work and 90 minutes later had written over a thousand words bringing my word count to a respectable 21,100.

In posting Chapter 7, I thought I'd post on the real-life locations that have made their way into the narrative.

The flat in the cul de sac in Belsize Park is based on the one I lived in with Cynthia in 1979.

The Solstice Bookshop in Bloomsbury is based on the Atlantis Bookshop owned by my old friend Geraldine.

Griffin Hall is based on Conway Hall, a venue for many years for diverse events including the Pagan Federation and Fellowship of Isis conferences and those dealing with paranormal subjects. Just a few steps away from the front entrance down a short alleyway is the Dolphin Tavern, which in my story becomes the Mermaid Tavern. In Chapter 8, one of my favourite Holborn eateries features: My Old Dutch Pancake House.

( Pictures )

Well as of tonight I have tucked away a respectable 18,090 words and have plenty to get on with as far as unfolding plot and sub-plots.

It seems that NaNoWriMo has attracted the support of a number of established writers including Neil Gaiman and one of my and padfoot_uk's favourites, Tom Robbins. I've reproduced it below the cut. Very sound advise.

( NaNo Pep Talk - 6 Nov 2007 )

I'm got pounced by a plot panda this afternoon as I was working and wondered 'can I introduce this?' 'will it work?' 'can I do this to my Sarah?'

So while I was downstairs half-watching Close to Home I wrote a 400 word scene that probably will be part of Chapter 8 and yes I think it's going to work as a sub-plot just to add to Sarah's troubles so to speak. I came upstairs afterwards and started work on Chapter 7 logging in total just over 3,000 words for the day. It's now time to wind down and spend evening with marvo but I may return to it later.

Am bouncy with joy!

When I finished Chapter 4 yesterday, I was doing some browsing on LJ communities and came across glastavalon. Looking through old entries I found this one on The White Spring, that happens to be located in Wellhouse Lane by Chalice Hill where I had placed the fictional Abbey of Our Lady of Avalon.

Scrolling down the photographs of the shrine there I was surprised and delighted to find the photo of a notice identifying this as The Shrine of Our Lady of Avalon.

I've finished up with a word count of 7,231 words today and I'm at that crux point where I need an important plot point to be revealed to my two protagonists so they can get on with it.

Hopefully inspiration will strike overnight!

I wrote for two periods today and have finished my first chapter at 2,102 words. Are they good words? I'm really taking Chris Baty's advise and putting my inner editor away for the duration.

The scene I have written features two of my original characters created for the original hp-hogwarts game back in 2000/2001. Naturally they have now stepped outside the Potterverse but then I have always wanted them to and this is another opportunity for them. Both did feature in my 2003 unfinished NaNoWriMo as the proprietors of The Dragon's Rest bookshop in Bloomsbury, London. That was an edgier more urban occult fantasy where this one is set in Devon is much more of the country and will be accessing British folklore.

I had planned for this to be Sarah's story for at least a few chapters but Elizabeth wanted in from the start and so they have met in the woods for the first time under mysterious circumstances.

I still have no title for the novel but today's chapter was called The Music of the Fae.

I may write again a little later if I feel inspired.

2,101 / 50,000 (4.2%)