Second Half, Second Novel? (NaNoWriMo November 16th)

In November, I usually wake every morning ready to write. Sometimes I have a clear vision that will jump-start the day's writing: an interaction between two characters, a revelation in the developing mystery, a turn in the fateful weather that drives the conflict of my main characters.

The other day, for example, a bit player in the last two novels suddenly insisted that he had a sister who would become important to the tale, and her back-story needed to be told first. As I lay in bed, gearing up to tell about Matt Callan's sister and how she had acquired the nickname "Beaky", I realized that this year's novel required a specific bit of Indigo's history, and therefore I would also need to write about someone's grandmother and her farmhouse.

These are easy accommodations to make to a novel about the present-day town of Indigo, in the somewhat real, though fictional, world I am exploring. But this morning I stayed cuddled for a long hour beneath the quilts, trying to banish a completely different story that had overtaken my pre-writing musings. A fairy tale with a dark twist at the end, this story had nothing to do with Indigo and its inhabitants. 

The main character (whose name she told me firmly was Sophie, in spite of my desire to call her "Doris" or "Dot") was gifted one morning with the ability to see the denizens of a supernatural plane existing all around her. She tries in vain to undo their evil machinations. She is ultimately unsuccessful in either stopping the dark fairies or in calling attention to their existence.

In fact, the very gift of sight that reveals them to her also spotlights Sophie for them. The unfortunate girl is finally dragged away from human plane to the fairy, where she is no more visible to her family and friends than are her captors.

I don't want to write this novel now. I'm not even sure it is a novel. Perhaps it is a short story. 

With that, I realize: I can put Sophie and her supernatural  sight to work in Indigo. I had already envisioned a story-telling session at the library, as a way to bring Indigo's children into the tale this year. It is nearly Halloween, and Indigo has a poor history of finding alternatives to trick-or-treating, but the winter weather makes a good excuse to tell some spooky stories in the warm library instead of traipsing around in snowdrifts in the dark. 

Furthermore, Indigo already has a truly evil resident, one who walked back into town in Chapter 8, who might be persuaded appear at the library, tell a precautionary tale, and scare the children as well as their parents.

And the NaNo floodgates open...

Total: 29,347 words