NaNoWriMo 2009 Wrap-Up

I didn't win. I think a large part of me knew that even going into it. I was doing well for the first two-thirds of November, and then life, and all the deadlines, papers, projects, and whatnot, got in the way. So I didn't exactly write for the last 10 days of November, but I wrote 32,772 words in the 20 or so days that I did write, which meant that I was pretty much on track the entire time.

It was a great experience, even if the ending was disappointing. I didn't know I had it in me to set aside time each and every day for writing, what with all the school-related things I have to do. Now I know that I am capable of doing such a thing, given the right motivation!

And the story, you might ask? Well... it changed during the writing process, but I think all in ways that were for the better. I realized my writing and story weaknesses, and discovered two fantastic protagonists that make me giddy with their interactions with one another. Once the semester is over I'll probably continue writing this story and trying to work out the kinks intermittently next semester. I have no idea whether or not it will be published-book-worthy, but I guess that's one of those things you can't really just for yourself, and we'll see!

And finally, I'll leave you (finally) with a synopsis of my still-untitled NaNo:

Since moving to the small town of Rayburn, South Carolina, 12-year-old Darcy Lin has been at a loss for company. The soccer boys in the park don't let her join in on their games. Her older sister ditches her for the company of a creepy male neighbor, and her parents bug her to study and practice 24/7 to be the perfect Asian girl. When she meets and befriends Danny, the quirky boy next door, Darcy thinks her life is looking up--until she enters school and faces racial discrimination and prejudice for the first time she's aware of. The treatment from her classmates brings the normally active Darcy down and causes her to withdraw, painfully aware of the things that make her different from her peers.

However, Darcy's issues are soon shadowed by those of Danny's, who turns out to be a vampire--and wants to attend public school for the first time in his long life, an action that sends the town and nation into an uproar. Vampires have long since been around under the radar, caught between the laws of the human world and the nature of another. They have kept a low profile and endured the raw ends of deals given them by the American government, but Danny's attempt to attend public school calls attention to the injustices that vampires have long since faced, though Danny and Darcy's classmates are hardly willing to accept a vampire into their midst.

Danny's trials take the attention off Darcy, but soon she must decide where she stands: alongside her revolutionary vampire friend, or with her classmates for the chance at her own acceptance.