NaNoWriMo 2014 - What has surprised you?

IdrisG

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Cal and An are somewhat mutually obsessed with each other/co-dependent to that point they're almost completely deluded about each other. I started with a BFF/besties/friends forever type of a bond and I got...this. I kind of love it. Picking it apart in revisions is going to be murder.
 

AshleyEpidemic

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Does anyone else feel like their WIP is just a ball of messy diarrhea? I still know what the main plotline is, but all these other things have happened and now I just see it as a tangled mess. *hides from WIP*

By the gods yes.

Every time I look at my word count and the point where the juicy stuff in the story comes back into play I panic.

My story is still there, but I feel like I'm reveling in the aristocratic society that my street kid mc is so not used to. I think it's only worse because it's in first person.

I do really like the relationship that is developing between the MC and the character that is supposed to be her best friend. They weren't supposed to end up together until the end after she's heartbroken, but I just love how they play off each other. It's hard keeping them close, but at enough of a distance. I think I'm going to have to make them have a boundaries talk.
 

LJD

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I "wrote" most of my 3400 words today using speech recognition software, and it wasn't as frustrating as i'd expected...
 

KateSmash

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In previous attempts, Jessia almost always abandons Sandor in the beginning. Now she refuses to let him go because he's so vulnerable and helpless and he's becoming her squishy far faster than I ever intended.

But she's way more likeable this time, which is exactly what I need. So Sandor can be her squishy all she wants.
 

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Through normal dialogue progression I ended up with Ace explaining Theseus and the Minotaur to his new friend. And when I finished I remembered that when he met Evie in his other life, he was really nervous and rambled on about Apollo. And I didn't mean for that to be completely in character for him, but it was.
 

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Well, that was not the point that I expected Ace to go crazy.
 

Carrie in PA

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That Charlotte is a much bigger character than I had planned/anticipated. Also, Betsy's personality isn't quite as shy and introspective as I had envisioned.

I'm also blown away by Charlotte's relationship with her granddad's nursing home roommate. She's forming a bond with Eugene that I thought she'd form with her grandfather.
 

Tamlyn

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I wish I could say the slightly less superficial relationship that seems to be developing surprised me. I wanted it to be a vague crush and that was all.
 

Maggie Maxwell

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Length. I'm usually a short writer. When I plot, I usually end up at 1k per scene and I usually end up fretting over whether my story will even stretch to 50k, and by the end of NaNo, I'm always on the home stretch. This year, I'm on scene 7 from what I plotted... and 18k (20k for the whole story thus far.) We haven't even met all the important characters yet! The main portion of the plot hasn't even started. I think I might actually end up with a novel-length novel this time...
 

Putputt

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Urgh. A character I have grown to like is going to die, I think, and I'm getting kinda upset thinking about it. I'm trying to think of ways to save the character, but I think I'm just going to accept that death is the best thing for him. Fehhhhhhh.
 

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Pretty sure I just got my main characters kicked out of their respective super-leagues. One of those is easier to fix going forward than the other. I'm trying to salvage the harder one's situation.
 

KateSmash

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I have made it to 25k+ words without killing a single character, major or minor or even off-screen.

I ... who am I?
 

Rachel77

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I've been feeling weird, because I've not had any real surprises so far; I started with a vague outline, and as I'm expanding it into scenes, it's all coming together pretty neatly.

But then today I decided on the spur of the moment to burn down the town library (the FMC only just makes it out in time). I did not see that coming.
 

Hannah M

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Murder attempt in the park.

It was supposed to be a nice calm scene with Dad explaining to Jackie the situation:
‘It means that one of the most powerful criminal organisations in the world has over five hundred trained assassins on the lookout for me, with instructions to kill.’
Dad nodded grimly. ‘Exactly.’

Then some sniper decides to emphasise my point by trying to kill her.


Poor kid.
 
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Sage

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How hard it has been to get to any of my planned major plot points. And any time I come up to a possibility of heading towards one of them, I get stuck at the fork in the road, wondering if it's too soon to hit that point compared to other things I want to do.
 

LJD

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I made myself cry while writing today. Which is weird...I can't remember the last time that happened.
 

AshleyEpidemic

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I've got way too many J names in my story. I always seem to do this, but with different letters. I start a story and then a bunch of the names that feel like they are perfectly tied to their characters are similar. I currently have a Jamar, Jamie, and Jimmy. All male. I also have an Amaree and Ava. My biggest problem is that Jamie and Jimmy are both characters the MC has liked at some point in time, though their relationships are very different.

ETA. I almost forgot the last name of the family that adopted the MC is Jrevan. So many J's. A person or two will be going through a name change when I edit. Not fun.
 
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CQuinlan

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All my bad guys have names that start with K. I have no idea when this started. I don't even know why. I can't think of one person I know with a K name. Oh wait...Karen...that bitch....

My main characters have been avoiding each other (still are). I had two new characters come from no where and one of them might die soon.
 

Rachel77

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It hit me yesterday that I'd forgotten the existence of half the storyline, and that storyline is a large part of why I wanted to write this WIP to begin with.

So, it's nice that I have a whole new area to explore. But it would be nicer if the MC of that storyline would freaking DO something. (Besides get possessed and start killing people, I mean.)
 

KateSmash

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I'm kinda shocked how much fun I'm having writing this MC. I usually stick to introverts because it's what I know. And she is an extrovert with a capital E. But man is she just the breath of fresh air I needed to get out of my writing slump.
 

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I possibly burned down Evie's house. This is also a surprise to the Big Bad who was storing stuff there.

Also, Ace is seducing Evie via voicemail, and her reaction to it is a perfect call back to book 1, and I didn't know this was happening until last night.
 

Carrie in PA

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I went to my first-ever write in this morning with two other NaNoers in a café, and I was surprised at how productive I was!! I've never written outside of the house (except for notes here and there), and I cranked out 3500+ words in 3 hours. It was awesome.

In my WIP, I'm surprised at how my MC's sister reacted to seeing their dad in the throes of a violent flashback for the first time. It wasn't pretty. I think it might just be real for her now.
 

Putputt

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I'm reading what I've written for Nano and while the first three chapters were pretty painful to slog through, today I came to a part which, dare I say it, I loved. It was so refreshing. I've been going through the first three chapters thinking, "Oh god, I'm just going to trunk this I think..." and now it's like the clouds have parted a little, allowing a few rays of heavenly light to shine through and I can hear the angelic choir telling me there's hope.

(Of course, having posted this, I'm sure the next few chapters are going to be crap.)
 

Sage

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Oh, I think Evie's father just got dad-napped, and that might be the perfect catalyst to drive us into the climax. If only there weren't so many plot points that I dropped and meant to come back to.