NaNoWriMo: Day Three

Okay good things: I think I'm getting back into the swing of this.  The story is picking up, taking on its own rhythm and its own drive.  I'm curious to see where it's taking me!  So far today, I'm at 5,236 words, and I think I might have a little more in me yet for the day.  The struggle is making sure I don't write myself out and run out of ideas...

I started this month having already written a preliminary draft of "Tangle," in which I'd gotten stuck.  I was really frustrated about it, since I thought it was such a cool idea (yeah, no bias there) and really wanted it to work.  By the time I got stuck, I had come up with an ending already (which I hadn't written) and about 7,000 words of beginning text.  At that point, though, the timeline started to become important, and things just weren't working out.  Something was bugging me about what I'd already written, and eventually I just gave up and focused on "Thicker than Water."  In the back of my mind, though, I kept wondering why "Tangle" wasn't working out.  I felt like I had a good premise, good character setup, a good cast of people - it should have been working.  

As it turns out, I made my main character, Eva, too young.  It made no sense for the stuff she was doing to be happening.  A difference of two years made Eva go from being a pawn to being someone who could make decisions and figure things out for herself.  Another issue I know I've struggled with personally is too much exposition.  I always feel like I have to explain all of the background before the action can start, and I know it makes my stuff way too long.  Plus, then there's nothing interesting for ages.  I'm really trying to just jump straight into some action and explain along the way, and I think it's helping.  At least, I hope so.  

And now, an excerpt from today.

TAKE ONE DROP AND ONLY ONE DROP.  RECORD EVERYTHING.  MAKE LAST AS LONG AS POSSIBLE.

That’s my handwriting.  Why is that my handwriting?  What is this?  I hold the vial up to the light streaming in through my window.  The glass is too dark to make out the color of the liquid inside, but I can tell that there’s not much left.  I carefully remove the lid and shallowly inhale.  The liquid has a sickly-sweet scent unlike anything I’ve ever smelled before – somehow richer and brighter.  My mouth waters slightly, and I slap the cap back on.  Where did this come from?

My thoughts race back to the month of tests and medications and hypotheses – to the two months of missing memories.  Could I have brought this back from the wastes?  Could this be the antidote? 

TAKE ONE DROP AND ONLY ONE DROP. 

I should call Alabaster.  I should let him know.  KuTech or the hospital could do some kind of test to figure out if this matches the drug they found traces of in my blood. 

RECORD EVERYTHING. 

I should tell someone.  Those two months of memories locked away inside my head – maybe at last I could get them back.  I could find out what happened, how I got back here, everything that happened between arriving in the wastes and waking up in the ambulance. 

MAKE LAST AS LONG AS POSSIBLE.

I should I should I should. 

I sit down on my bed and unscrew the dropper cap.