So I have written my first 2,000 words of my novel, which I have called ‘The Heart’. (I’m sure I will change it) I started writing about 1 o’clock and finished just before 4pm. That’s 5 pages in 3 hours. Good going for me. Sometimes it takes me 3 hours just to write a blog entry.

My for the rest of the week, now that I know how long it takes to write 2,000 words, is to start writing at 10am and be finished by lunch time. I will try to stick to this timetable, so I’ll have the afternoon free to do other stuff. Some days I may not be able to stick to these times, because of work commitments, but as long I write my 2,000 words a day, I will be able to meet deadline.

I have been trying to adhere to the ethos of NANOWRIMO, as in that you don’t edit as you go, but just write and write. I have tried not to go back and edit it, but alas I couldn’t help it. As I have gone along I would introduce an item or event that wasn’t in the previous paragraphs. I had to go back and write those things in, so they don’t appear out of the blue. Like where did that torch light appear from. Apart from that, I haven’t done any other editing to it.

As I have been writing the novel thing, I decided to change the story a lot. The first chapter takes place in a graveyard with two boys looking for a ghost. Then I was going to jump 20 years from there and when one of the boys returns to the town and have to face the consequences of what happened in that graveyard. But I am really enjoying writing in this time period, the 80s, and I have enjoyed setting these two characters up, their backgrounds and the world that they live in, that I want to continue writing about them.

The story is going to be a lot different than what I intended, but a lot of ideas have sprang out writing this first chapter. I also can use some of my old ideas from my original story outline. They fit into this story surprisingly well. You think that if you change the story, that you have to dump your old ideas. But I find that some ideas can be very adaptable and can be applied to new stories. I am really enjoying writing this, and I looking forward to seeing how it pans out.

I thought I would finish this blog entry with an excerpt from the first chapter. Enjoy!

CHAPTER 1

THE GHOST

1

‘I dare you!’

‘I’m not going in!’

‘I double dare you!’

John, the smaller of the two boys, stared at Duncan. He had been double dared. Nobody would back down from a double dare without forever being called chicken. I don’t want to be called chicken for the rest of my life, but… John turned from looking at Duncan and looked at the graveyard through the gap in the iron bar fence.

…but it would save me from going in there.

The graveyard looked like something out of a bad dream. John couldn’t put his finger on what was wrong with the place, but his gut was dancing a jig. The Preston Cemetery had been there for centuries. Many generations of families had been buried there. Even John’s grandparents were buried there. On that day, the graveyard had looked nice, peaceful, a bit rustic, old, but nice. Tonight it looked very threatening. John could feel that there was something wrong with this place. It wasn’t the normal childhood fears of the dark. This was something more.

‘I don’t want to go in there. There is something wrong with this place. I think it’s haunted’, John said, hoping to convince Duncan to change his mind.

‘Of course it’s haunted, John!’ Duncan exclaimed, as if everybody knew this for a fact. ‘That’s why we are here. To see the ghost.’

‘I have a bad feeling…’

‘I triple dare you!’

There was no escaping a triple dare. It would be worse than breaking a double dare. You could live with being called chicken. But an out and out coward, that would be unbearable. Everybody would know that you were the kid who turned down a triple dare. People would point and laugh. Other people wouldn’t even talk to you. It would follow you for the rest of your life. That’s why John had no choice now, but to go in.

John nodded in agreement. Duncan’s face lit up at having won this small victory.

‘FOLLOW ME!’ Duncan shouted with glee, as he squeezed himself through the gap in the iron bar fence. John had to follow. He was now bound by the triple dare rule. He squeezed himself through the bars and followed Duncan into the dark graveyard.