Riding the Rapids

Courtesy Pixabay.com

I've had a very busy month, but it hasn't been bad. NaNoWriMo is  always a rollercoaster ride where every year they move the curves. I usually just jump on and hang on tight. The stories are always different in every way, and I tend to stick to mysteries.
Going into this NaNo this year, I wasn't feeling well but a glimmer of a story idea nagged at me a week before and rolling it around in my head and taking notes. It completely changed my "I don't want to do this." to "When can I start?"

Perhaps a raging river would be a better analogy. I mean, some years the novel rolls off my fingers like a gentle, steady flowing river, with depths you can dive into and search like an ancient wreck, for treasures. Around each bend is something new and exciting, like raging rapids, dangerous rocks, or shallow water. Other years it becomes like a torrent in a storm, flowing fast and hard and then slowing to a trickle as the drought sets in. Those years, you spend a lot of time staring at the screen and pulling your hair out, but I wouldn't trade the thrill of all that for anything. I can buy a wig.

I'm happier with this story than I have been about any story for a long time. It's different from what I normally write and there is a depth to it that scares me a little. Diving into that might prove more exciting that I anticipated. It has made me realize that, as a writer, it might be a good idea to do something radically different once in a while. It is easy to stick to a formula or a genre, but I like to challenge myself as a writer. I like to try writing things I haven't written before.

To tell the truth, this story picked me, this year. I wouldn't have chosen to write it, but it was in my head and rolling out as soon at the starting gun sounded. I could no more resist it than I could control that river I mentioned earlier. And once you enter the rapids, going back is pretty much impossible. You just hang on and ride it to the end.