author: Nicole J. LeBoeuf

Pardon that last entry. Part of the reason I'm keeping a NaNoWriMo blog at all is to have a record of my pace - when I was at what word count - so if I miss a day, I lose a point on the graph, so to speak.

Anyway, today I had this plot flash. About 15,000 words and 11 days ago, I had just jumped ahead and written the climactic scene in which the Disreputable Older Boyfriend (we'll call him "Mr. Wrong") shoots the Nice Classmate And Bourgeoning Love Interest (we'll call him "Mr. Right") and then drives away, and Diane has to try to flag down help to save her friend's life. I had no real idea what action led up to this scene, though. All I knew was it had to happen. Well, now I know - but it's not very pretty. Mr. Right is going to show up in time to witness Mr. Wrong mistreating Diane rather viciously, and, being a virtuous lad, will try to come to her rescue, with the above results.

So, good. Another piece of the puzzle falls into place and I'm looking forward to continuing tomorrow. But the exact nature of Mr. Wrong's abuse of the main character brings up a logical problem I really can't keep ignoring. (Although I will keep ignoring it until I either spontaneously solve it or finish this first draft.) The problem is, this is a teenage novel with all the sex and hormonal uncertainty associated with that age... more, it's a teenage unicorn novel, which invites the author to explore issues of innocence both emotional and physical... but the story is being told by Diane sixty years or so later to her grandchildren. Grandchildren who are mostly too young to hear, for instance, about Diane and Mr. Wrong having a heavy petting session under the bridge behind the school.

And, no, grandma-Diane is not too old and senile to realize that the story of teenage-Diane is R rated.

I think the solution lies in differentiating the version the reader gets from the version the grandchildren get. But I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to pull it off.

And, er, that's all I've really got to say, for now. "I'm not sure how I'm going to pull it off." It lacks a certain snappy something for ending a blog entry, I know, but now that I've met my word quota for the day, I need to get to work on another writing project - a short-short to submit somewhere before the end of November. Just because it's NaNoWriMo doesn't mean I'm off the hook for doing one professional submission a month! Last year maybe I could have pulled the "but I'm already doing my novel, what more do you want?" whinge, but last year I was employed full-item. This year, my full-time job is... writing. So 2,000 words later, my job ain't quite done.