Passing the 30,000 word mark for NaNo is awesome!…. until you realize you have a problem. Momentum, my NaNo project, is supposed to be an action/adventure space opera with romantic elements, so naturally the two largest characters are a guy and a girl. Sadly, the guy, Graham, is disliking this whole project. He’s not speaking up when he should, he’s avoiding confrontation, he’s disappearing from key scenes – basically the guy is making a nuisance of himself.

So, now, with a little under 20,000 words to write in just over a week (I can do this! Go me!), I have a few interesting options.

I strongly suspect that what Graham needs is his own voice. Literally. Right now his partner Annie is the first-person narrator, but I have the feeling Graham is going to want his own say. In third person. Which will likely cut Annie down to a close third as well. Good news? Less crying and internal drama. Bad news? Getting inside the head of another guy, this one a manly-man will change the whole flavor of the book. But I could do it – push forward in a new POV, see what happens. It’s part of the grand tradition of NaNo, after all, to experiment, to mess up big, and to learn a lot about yourself and your characters in the process.

Alternatively (and this one gets my husband’s vote), I keep going in the POV (point of view) I’m currently in, finish the sucker, and go back and fix later in revision. Who knows? By then perhaps Graham will have been cowed into submission and behaving nicely. Or, more realistically, fighting with his love rival and making moves on Annie like he’s supposed to be doing. One can only hope!

The trouble with both plans is this itchy deadline of mine… the looming End of NaNo, which is fighting with my inner perfectionist in a knock-down, drag-out cage fight to the death. The perfectionist is huge, weighty, and has about a hundred voice behind him. But NaNo’s a persistent little thing, not afraid to go for the ankles or the balls in a pinch, and just plain Doesn’t. Give. Up.

Today I admire the fuzzy furball called NaNo for sheer ruthless determination. I can learn from the furball. But, like a force of nature, I can’t stop him.

Here’s to running faster than he can catch up – with or without a new POV.