NaNoWriMo 2012, Day 17 - musings

"Tiriki's Great Escape" is a different sort of novel from "Aroha's Grand Adventure" although the two do intersect. "Aroha's" is very similar to the traditional animal style novel - with the main character travelling from A to B and having adventures along the way. I didn't wan't Tiriki's to be the same, and thus it is mainly set in two places - one being Arthur's Pass Village and the other be the large house of an aviculturist (bird breeding) who is engaged in illegal acts.

As such, Tiriki's story is a much slower one than Aroha's. There's less action and more conversation and I am not sure if it going to be as interesting to the younger audience. I suspect I shall have to go through it and fill in some more kea-esque pranks and develop some characters a bit better. Whilst I do have a vague idea of where it is going - and I think Josh is going to be instrumental in making sure the title is accurate, I'm not sure of its viability as a story.

Interestingly enough, I am experiencing the same difficulty with "Tail of Two Scions" in that when the character remains in one place it is harder for me to write. I think that says something about my abilities. Yet "Midsummer Knight's Quest" worked okay, despite the fact that the characters did not really travel that far at all. So, who knows?

Other difficulties I have found are: This novel is written entirely from Tiriki's PoV, therefore, if it doesn't happen where he is, he doesn't know about it. There's nothing wrong with this technique, but I am hoping that the side plots are not too obscure for the reader to notice. Currently I am tending towards having Tiriki attacked by several of the kaka (who are scared of change) and removed from the aviary, being returned to his cage in the breeding shed. Here he should hopefully get to meet the chicks at last. He can also watch Maxwell stuffing the eggs into a special carrying bag to transport them overseas. Maxwell will head off to engage in his illegal smuggling activity, and Josh will sneak in and "steal" Tiriki for his school project.

I kind of need for Tiriki's escape to involve exposing Maxwell's activities at the same time. I am thinking, perhaps, that he escapes from the cage whilst they are being carried home in the car, with Josh in disgrace.

I've just passed the 30k mark and will soon be heading back into the weekend Christchurch Write-in. Maybe I'll post some pictures of that later. I accidentally left my camera there, so I hope noone is misusing it!

Before I head out:

Wordcount:  Daily = 1,244 , Total =  30,849

Of the ten or so people writing here: At least two are writing HP fanfic, one is writing porn/erotica, one is writing dystopia, one is writing fantasy and the others have not disclosed their genre choice. Conversation seems to turn to the topic of Harry Potter fairly often.

Wordcount:  Daily = 1,933 , Total =   31,538