Naming
So I'm safely and soundly back from Rome, but that's not what this update is about. In fact, this update is about NaNoWriMo, and how I'm realizing how close it is and I still have no idea what my story is really about, to the extent that my main character doesn't have a name. Now, this isn't exactly unusual for me at this stage -- especially since I'm pretty sure that with this novel I'm moving back in the direction of the first-person narrator -- but I still want to find something to call her. Sometimes finding the right name really helps me get a feel for a character. Really, there are so many things about her that I'm still narrowing down, but in most of these cases I'm just choosing between two options, either of which could work with the story, but which would lead the character in different directions.
My MC is in her mid- to late twenties (haven't actually decided upon an age yet), has graduated from a mid-range four-year college and achieved some kind of entry level job which is either A) not terribly interesting but could make her a decent amount of money in the next few years or B) something that she cares about but which has relegated her to a near-poverty she can only defend by attempting to ignore it.
She lives in either A) northern California or B) southern California, but no matter where she is, she grew up next to a beach. Her mother's family is from California, her father's family is from New York. Her parents separated and then divorced when she was between the ages of ten and eighteen. If she has any siblings she's got an older brother who was close friends with her as a young child, then turned into a deadbeat once he hit high school, and is just now starting to get his life back on track.
She has either A) never had any real long-term relationships, preferring to erect a barrier between herself and the rest of the world or B) had two or three moderately serious relationships, all of which broke off right before (or after) the point of moving in together.
The only person in the world she can really trust is either A) her childhood best friend, the girl who lived next door and who she would play fairytale games with or B) a guy she's been close with since junior high, around the same time as her parents' separation, who she respects because he's so down-to-earth and never causes any drama.
She could work as a...
A) junior high teacher
B) receptionist/secretary
C) member of a non-profit or humanitarian organization
D) swim instructor (or some other job at a local YMCA-like organization)
E) bartender (ruled out by Natalie)
Really she's just like any normal person except that she may or may not actually physically travel to the different places that she dreams about -- whether in this reality or not -- and she's pretty convinced that this is evidence that she's crazy but it's something she's learned to live with.
The one thing that I don't know about her (and it's kind of a big thing) is what she wants. Initially this was going to be a cheesy romance story about the woman who meets the man of her dreams, but really now I think that the guy she meets is just the catalyst for her quest to discover the truth about this "insanity" that has made her distrust herself for so long. She's written herself off as a nobody, or as someone necessarily confined to the fringes of society, because she's pretty sure that she's crazy -- and what's more, she enjoys some of the insanity -- wouldn't you like to have lucid dreams every night that you remember clear as crystal in the morning? (Except you wouldn't always, but we'll get to that later.) BUT ANYWAY. All my heroines seem to want the same generic thing -- to find themselves -- but it would be nice if I could figure out a specific thing she's trying to do. Maybe at the same time that she's pursuing this dream guy, she could be attracted to a guy in "real life" (not saying whether or not the dream people are a part of said "real life") and be trying to navigate the difficulties of her "mental illness" while trying to get to know him.
I need to stop thinking out loud about this and go to sleep, but overall I'd say this has been quite productive. Now I feel slightly less directionless regarding November! (We'll leave for later the nagging worry that this story is too serious for NaNoWriMo, or really just for me as a writer.)
My MC is in her mid- to late twenties (haven't actually decided upon an age yet), has graduated from a mid-range four-year college and achieved some kind of entry level job which is either A) not terribly interesting but could make her a decent amount of money in the next few years or B) something that she cares about but which has relegated her to a near-poverty she can only defend by attempting to ignore it.
She lives in either A) northern California or B) southern California, but no matter where she is, she grew up next to a beach. Her mother's family is from California, her father's family is from New York. Her parents separated and then divorced when she was between the ages of ten and eighteen. If she has any siblings she's got an older brother who was close friends with her as a young child, then turned into a deadbeat once he hit high school, and is just now starting to get his life back on track.
She has either A) never had any real long-term relationships, preferring to erect a barrier between herself and the rest of the world or B) had two or three moderately serious relationships, all of which broke off right before (or after) the point of moving in together.
The only person in the world she can really trust is either A) her childhood best friend, the girl who lived next door and who she would play fairytale games with or B) a guy she's been close with since junior high, around the same time as her parents' separation, who she respects because he's so down-to-earth and never causes any drama.
She could work as a...
A) junior high teacher
B) receptionist/secretary
C) member of a non-profit or humanitarian organization
D) swim instructor (or some other job at a local YMCA-like organization)
E) bartender (ruled out by Natalie)
Really she's just like any normal person except that she may or may not actually physically travel to the different places that she dreams about -- whether in this reality or not -- and she's pretty convinced that this is evidence that she's crazy but it's something she's learned to live with.
The one thing that I don't know about her (and it's kind of a big thing) is what she wants. Initially this was going to be a cheesy romance story about the woman who meets the man of her dreams, but really now I think that the guy she meets is just the catalyst for her quest to discover the truth about this "insanity" that has made her distrust herself for so long. She's written herself off as a nobody, or as someone necessarily confined to the fringes of society, because she's pretty sure that she's crazy -- and what's more, she enjoys some of the insanity -- wouldn't you like to have lucid dreams every night that you remember clear as crystal in the morning? (Except you wouldn't always, but we'll get to that later.) BUT ANYWAY. All my heroines seem to want the same generic thing -- to find themselves -- but it would be nice if I could figure out a specific thing she's trying to do. Maybe at the same time that she's pursuing this dream guy, she could be attracted to a guy in "real life" (not saying whether or not the dream people are a part of said "real life") and be trying to navigate the difficulties of her "mental illness" while trying to get to know him.
I need to stop thinking out loud about this and go to sleep, but overall I'd say this has been quite productive. Now I feel slightly less directionless regarding November! (We'll leave for later the nagging worry that this story is too serious for NaNoWriMo, or really just for me as a writer.)