Making a mistake because you know you should

When I was writing my first Nanowrimo, back in 2008, I was informed that one of my characters needed to take a fall.  It was a week before Thanksgiving and my characters were pretty much running the show.  I was about 35,000 words along, no outline, and my word count was healthy … but suddenly gusts of inspiration were wandering around too far overhead to find my screen.

Oh, why had I decided to wing it? All my pals with their sturdy outlines next to their keyboards were marching ahead, pursuing their master plans. Their October prepping was paying off, while my messy inspirational index cards were collecting crumbs in my dining room.

Such embarrassing arrogance to assume that a full-grown comedy would somehow spill out of me … that the 15,000 words words I needed to win would jubilantly emerge in time…  And they did … but not before doubts on top of doubts began tightening my shoulders.

And just then, a famous writer (FW), who stood on the sidelines cheering us on to the 50K finish line, asked us all a powerful question. Something that made me blush as I scooped it out of my in-basket, aching for an encouraging word.

Yes, two weeks before the deadline, FW wanted to know if any of us had fallen in love with our main characters.

Ouch! How could he make such a brazen inquiry during a time like this?  How could he suspect that some of us had invented flawless beings who danced under the moonlight, sang under the starlight, and ultimately held the key to our hearts.  How did he know?

It happened. That wonderful professor I wrote about, who reeked of integrity and always knew what to say, had ruthlessly led me into a trap that could have knocked me out of the race!

And the omniscient FW had seen it coming and felt our pain and kindly presented his cure.

Make him fail at something, he demanded. Make this precious character you created do something wrong.

And it was my carefully planned mistake that led to massive chaos and gave me the burst of inspiration I needed to carry on!

Sweeping up had carried me to victory!

Did somebody just ask what’s Nanowrimo?    nanowrimo.org/about