Caught in the Action

Yes, I am caught in the action. By that I mean I am right there, in the action, with one of my characters. With this post I want to give just a bit of a taste of what it is like when I write.

I've just finished writing the dare about a shop that doesn't have what it should, and the character going up the ladder of employees and getting more frustrated with each step. It ended with someone he knows owning the shop. The person (Marcus) takes my character (Melvin) into a secret room, which seems nice as it gets Melvin out of an awkward situation.

However, something seems wrong. This is not just to Melvin, but also to me as I am seeing things through his eyes. The room seems very out of the norm for Marcus and he has started to say some odd things. Yes I wrote them, but sometimes these words just seem to come from the character as though I am watching the story on a screen inside my mind. In addition, writing at the pace of NaNoWriMo, things can just seem to start appearing on the page, especially when on a roll.

That's where I am, but not where I'm going.

To decide where the story will go next will...well, means that I need to make a decision. They are both magicians. That leaves many options. Let's start with Marcus turning out to be evil:
1. Marcus turns Melvin to the dark side.
2. Melvin refuses and gets trapped in the room.
3. Melvin refuses and there is a terrific magical duel.

Marcus is good:
1. That likely means the guild is evil and Marcus will ask for Melvin's help in taking them down.
2. Marcus wants Melvin's help, but Melvin has other things to deal with.
3. Melvin doesn't believe Marcus, and will try to stop his plans.

There are an infinite number of options, these are just some of the ones I feel are most likely at this point. Sometimes, thinking about options just isn't necessary, as the story feels right and just seems to flow out. Other times it is just like this case. There are many possible options to the future of the scene and story. It's kind of like when I try to predict what will happen when reading, or when I start to think about how the story I'm reading could have gone differently. Except that in this case, I get to make that choice, and if I don't like it I can do it differently later. I tend to base these kind of solutions on what I feel are right, having looked ahead at how the outcome of the scene could branch out into and affect the rest of the novel. When really stumped, I take some time away, which is what I'll do now. Then when I wake up tomorrow I will make a decision and go with it. That is a big part of the beauty of a rough draft; I know that I can redo the whole scene later or even get rid of it. For now, the next lines just need to be written.