My Novel is a Teenager!

It is Wednesday, which means we are halfway through the standard full-time work week.  Of course, if you are a writer, or a single mom, there is nothing standard about a work week.  I get the fortunate task of being a normal working adult with a 9-5 type job and then I add in that I am also a single mother to an 11-year old who is often smarter than me and always moving, it is a bit like trying to pin down a cloud, and if that made you think I was bored, let's add that I also am a writer who is writing her first novel.  Whew!  I need a nap after typing all that out and just thinking of it. 

The fun part of all of that is that it is always changing.  Oh, the job is the same, the kid is the same and the writing is still getting written but the movements and tasks and feelings are changing.  For my job in politics and fundraising you can imagine the changes that I can experience from one day to the next.  All the interesting projects, creative campaigns and issue tracking that gets done.  Then, if you have kids you will understand all the movements and changes that happen with them to keep a parent on their toes.  Just watching them grow day to day is amazing.  An 11 year old has school and guitar lessons and doctor appointments and science projects and interests that may not be yours that you have to learn to keep up with....well it gets pretty exciting.  I have never known as much about mythology in my life and I credit all that to my son.

My son is also at the point where he is changing and almost a teenager but still a kid.  His thinking is becoming deeper and his opinions stronger, his actions more aware and his desires heavier.  He is on the edge of becoming a teenager but still looking back and liking the protection of being a little kid.  He is almost ready to cut through the ropes and be independent but not quite.  As a parent it is fascinating to watch the transition, and a little scary.

My writing is also at the cusp of being on a new point.  The action is about to change.  The location is about to cross waters and travel back in time.  In a sense all the changes make me think it is like having a constantly moving job or a constantly moving kid.  It also experiences changes and fluctuations.  It grows up just as your child does. 

I am in the middle of my novel now and as I was doing a little research for it found my original outline and creative plan for the whole novel.  I had been on the phone with my mother later that day and laughed when I told her that it is not the same book almost.  Oh, the premise is the same but the actions and sequences have progressed in a much different manner.  Even, my characters are different than envisioned.  My astute mother was quick to point out that characters become like real people and people are unpredictable and do their own things so why shouldn't a character. 

I thought about what she said after that call and she will be so happy to hear but she is right.  She doesn't realize how right she is.  I dream about my characters as if they are real people with real lives.  As I write this book I feel as if I am following along with their lives as well and have at times felt as if I were writing their memoirs than a fictional story.  I can predict what my characters will do but until I start to write the story I really can give no guarantees. 

So, I sit at my table looking at my old outline and I give a bit of a chuckle to myself.  I feel that the story has progressed in a different direction but it is a better story.  The characters have grown more than I had originally planned but they are more realistic and grown up.  I was not upset by the changes in my story but rather revelled in them.  My story is progressing and growing and that is when it hit me.  My story is a teenager.  I am in the middle of my novel now and the true action is going to start to take place within a couple more chapters.  A teenager often feels that their lives start the moment they leave home and head out on their own as if this action packed life will suddenly befall them and be exciting and exhilarating.  Well, my story is a teenager. 

I am close to the point where the action will increase and change.  The location will change.  The characters will have to adjust.  The story will have to move to incorporate these differences.  The story itself is growing and revolving and moving.  As I stared down at my writing last night I gave a small smile to myself because my novel is growing up.  I welcome being in the middle of the novel and all the changes and will not forget where my story initiated but I welcome the teenager factor of my novel.  Wish me luck, I have a pre-teen son at home and now a budding teenager novel.  Life is exciting.