Beautiful Books: All According to Plan...

So Round 2 of Beautiful Books questions have been issued, so answer them I shall. Mwahaha.

(It's hosted by Cait and Skye, by the by, if you want to go link up.)

(Oh, and in case you were wondering, I'm writing ROCKS, the first volume of my Superhero Dystopia trilogy.)

1. Overall, how is your mental state, and how is your novel going?

Boing, boing, boing... Um, I'm not as exhausted as I was the first few days, so that's good.  The hardest part is that we've had to send my sister to our grandparents' house for an undetermined amount of time and I've been having to do her chores as well as my own. It's going to get interesting.

I started NaNo with 7,500 words already written, and I've added almost 10,000 as of right now. Yesterday was my best day thus far with 3,500 words, while Wednesday was my worst with less than a thousand. (But I did get to do some driving practice and I put in a job application, so it wasn't an unsuccessful day)

Also, I might have decided to completely rearrange the series and take out Lavalight's story and add a third book at the end instead. We'll see.

What’s your first sentence (or paragraph)?

You can read the opening chapter here if you'd like. It needs a serious rewrite, though.

Who’s your current favourite character in your novel?

Probably Myr, Roxanne's Electrokinetic, blue-haired roommate. Who is currently explaining to Roxanne why she can't use Diamondz - a comic book hero that William, Roxanne's best friend from back home, created - as her villainous persona. And why she needs to wear black armor.

What do you love about your novel so far?

All the fun characters with all the fun powers. The concept of heroes and villains being forced into their roles by an oppressive school/government, rather than them choosing for themselves. 

Have you made any hilarious typos or other mistakes?

Me? Make typos? What ludicrousy is that? Apart from me consistently misspelling "lose" as "loose."

What is your favourite to write: beginning, middle, or end — and why?

Endings. Because then you're done. I've written a lot of beginnings, with all their pressure to get them just right, and I've gotten stuck on a lot of middles. Endings are a special treat of doneness that I rarely get to savor.

What are your writing habits? Is there a specific snack you eat? Do you listen to music? What time of day do you write best? Feel free to show us a picture of your writing space!

My brain is crazy and tries to focus on everything except writing. I like to take frequent breaks to run around the yard like a crazy person. I don't often eat while writing, or listen to music. Most of my writing is done in the evening as I crunch it out before midnight. Sorry, no pictures. 

How private are you about your novel while you’re writing? Do you need a cheer squad or do you work alone (like, ahem, Batman)?

I'm not terribly private at all. Here - have a snippet.

   Tournaments were on Saturday, and lasted the whole day. It was, simply put, a war. The principle was the same as their daily afternoon practices, and was in the same room – the heroes had the room to practice in the mornings – but on a much larger scale because there were twice the people and the heroes brought completely different powers to the table.

   Susan refused to listen to listen to Roxanne and send her after Riley. Nor did she take the other logical option of having Roxanne build fortifications with her rock powers. Nope, she had Roxanne guarding prisoners. Roxanne made a steel box for them and sat on it.

   Her brother, it appeared, had been put in charge of building the other team’s forts, and Roxanne knew, from looking at the wooden buildings he was putting together, that the other villains weren’t going to get in easily. Yodel knocked a few down with his the yodels he took his name from, but Riley quickly learned and started adding extra fortification.

   He had limited materials, though. While there were some plotted plants scattered about whose growth he accelerated, most of the structures were made out of a large supply of wooden planks.

   Roxanne, on the other hand … well, they were in a mountain. Simply put, she had access to all the rock in the world. If Susan had played her cards right, she could have a fortress that would have put any and all that Riley was building to shame – especially given how well Roxanne was doing in the school, and how many bonuses she had won as a result.

  And it wasn’t even as though she had a lot of prisoners to guard. One smallish first-year girl whose power was turning into a bird, and who had been caught by a fourth-year whose power was flight.

And I need a cheer squad, definitely.

What keeps you writing even when it’s hard?

My cheer squad.

What are your top 3 pieces of writing advice?

Get a cheer squad.

Have a plot.

Have a character whose head you don't mind being in.