NaNo Day 8, On Which I Hatch A Cunning Plan

NaNo Day 8 arrived and the heady relief I felt at having survived week one quickly evaporated in a miasma of wretched confusion. I wasn't experiencing the dreaded and somewhat mythical writer's block. Far from it! I was ready to put my characters to the task, make them jump through hoops, but... You knew there was a but in there somewhere, didn't you? Just what tasks and hoops should I set before them?

If you've been following along thus far, you know that I plotted the story before I started this (insane?) adventure. And that by Day 3 my characters trampled that original plotting in a stampede to find better things to do (at least in the initial details, not so much in the big picture). Now what? I didn't want to believe that I'd reached a dead end already. I mean, come on! I'm only on Day 8 with 7400+ words! How could I be at a stand still?

I was also, I freely admit, tired and cranky. Lack of sleep and being on an emotional rollercoaster from external (non-writing) things has a tendency to do that to me. Not the best of moods to be in to try to create anything. So, I took a deep breath and a big step back and came up with my plan. I'd nap my way to NaNo success (this day only)!

What's that you say? How can napping bring you success? You're not writing. You're not doing anything but sleeping!

Says you.

I say, power napping with a little directed dreaming, has solved more creative problems for me than I should probably admit. Anything from higher math problems (ask me some time about the calculus problem I solved in my sleep) to coding problems to, yes, plot and character problems. The trick isn't the napping, though you don't want to sleep too long at a time. The trick is in the directed dreaming (and the dream recall afterward).

I doubt that what I'm calling directed dreaming is what the so-called "experts" on the subject mean when they use the term. This is something I've been able to do since I was a kid. Just before I drop off to sleep, while I'm in that sleepy surreal space, I think about the problem I want to solve. Eventually I drift into sleep and start dreaming. Nine times out of ten I'll dream about the subject that was in my head just before sleep. When I wake up I try to remember everything that happened in my dreams. Even the most bizarre thing can trigger a solution.

So, what answers did I discover yesterday? I figured out that my characters' goals were too superficial, to easy to resolve. There was, quite literally, not enough there, there. I'm going back and re-thinking the goals/motivations of my main characters. I don't need to throw out all the words I've already written. I just need to tweak things here and there and add some stuff, and voila! I'll be back in business.

How's that for napping your way to success?

NaNo Day Eight Words: 0
Total NaNo Words: 7427