And Then I Went All Darth Vader

I've  been working on my first round of revisions for my NaNo novel. You know, the really broad strokes of plot and character arcs and all that fun stuff. Filling in the holes that are large enough to lose a rather large dragon in. I've been reading through the rough draft in hard copy so I can make notes and comments to myself and it has been absolutely hilarious. I frequently find myself laughing out loud at my ludicrous sentences that must have been written when I had no sleep (oh NaNo you bring so much sleep writing). One of my favorite comments to write is: Really?! As I ask myself what on earth I could have been thinking.

And I've been figuring out how to fix minor problems like:

• Characters showing up for one chapter and then vanishing as though they never existed.
• Someone dying and then three chapters later the main character having a conversation with them. (and there are no ghosts) (or zombies)
• Contradicting myself in the same paragraph.
• Ridiculously long passages of exposition that I lamely explain away.
• Secondary characters that show up so infrequently you forget their name, but the main character keeps saying she knows them really well.

You know. Nothing major.

HAHAHAHAHAHA

But I am actually loving it. This is really the first manuscript I have been so excited about and so sure that I can make it into something great with a lot of work.

And I've been doing a LOT of thinking trying to figure out the motivation of the two main characters - what drives them and what arc is going to carry them through the story - what their purpose is.

So yesterday when I was at work I was on the register (which isn't my favorite thing ever, but it is what it is) and it was slow, so I was thinking hard on why Devvon behaves the way he does. And suddenly it hit me.

He has a sister that I didn't know about and she is super important to everything that he does (yes, I am being really vague).

But what happened (and I am not joking) was that I got what had to be this really creepy smile on my face and I said softly (and aloud because I was so amazed and I am that much of a dork)

Sister... You have a sister.

And then I started laughing at myself because it sounded so Darth Vader-y and I was super glad that no customers or co-workers were around.

But it made me very happy to figure out such a major plot point!

Don't you love when our characters start to take on a life of their own? Have any of yours revealed anything shocking or surprising lately?