Before my son and I went to play at the park, get the oil changed, grab lunch and shop at the grocery store this morning, I finished the first chapter in my new project. I wrote 20 pages this week. Yay!
So far, the story is humming right along. The characters don't feel as forced as the ones in the other story that I put on hold. Their voices are crystal clear in my head. And every time I open the story, I don't feel like I need to go back to the beginning to rewrite what I typed up the last time I was in their world.
I can't decide if it's best for me to stick with what I know with characters and settings that I can relate to or to make up people in situations and locations that I know little to nothing about. On the one hand, it's easier to envision and describe things that I have some experience with. On the other hand, it's my book and I can make up whatever details I want.
This new story is somewhere in between. The first book I attempted to write and gave up on a quarter of the way through involved teenagers and I felt like I wasn't getting their voices right. It didn't sound authentic. The book I finished involves adults a few years younger than me. The one I've put on hold is dominated by a 23-year-old woman. This new one is about teenagers, but I don't feel the same kind of disconnect I did with the first story.
Only 20 pages in, it's too early to declare victory, but I feel pretty good so far. I'm actually looking forward to staying up late and working on this new story tonight. It doesn't feel like such a chore. That's a victory in itself.
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