This Baby Makes Six

I finished my NaNo novel yesterday. Early. It made me sad, really, to finish three days ahead. Where's the hurry? Where's the scurry? Just me, quietly finishing up yet another novel.

And this baby makes six.

How did it start? Illi Niqua {shameless word count gimmick} falls in love with Amri. That was how it started. It may be worth mentioning that this was not really a fantasy, and that nobody had any special powers to speak of...when it started

Then I discovered, or wrote into being, the following:

• Illi Niqua could hear nature, see people's emotions on their skin, and was bound to her people in a magical way.
• Amri, my romantic interest, was a jerk, had a fiance, and could make people believe he was trustworthy. He wasn't.
• Sutter, Amri's older brother and my original villain, was a really nice guy who could see emotions the way Illi Niqua did, make people believe his words, use telepathy, and was bound to Illi Niqua's people also.
• Jaana, Amri's fiance, was telepathic.

And all these things came into play as I speed-wrote my way through ten-minute increments and created a story I call A Girl of the People that I hope never to read again.

{Though, admittedly, that was what I said about last year's story...and a re-read a couple months ago proved that it wasn't half as bad as I had thought.}

Am I glad I did NaNo? Of course. I still enjoy throwing things into my story that whip it around and upside down. It only happens when I'm speed-writing and don't have time to let myself think about it. But it's fun. It's like splattering paint on a wall and seeing what pictures come out of it. Not something I would do if I wanted my painting in a gallery, but definitely fun. And that was my point all along.

How are you doing in your NaNo quest? Tomorrow's the day!