if i disappear: progress (and WIP Wednesday) + plans

[autisticblueteam]

Chapter 3 of If I Disappear is done/drafted! It's clocked in a little under 400 words longer than the previous chapter, which itself was already around 9k, and it's definitely looking like that'll be the norm. So far I'm actually liking how it's going; whilst everything is longer than I expected it to be, the scenes feel like they're mostly working and some of the perspective I was fearing I'd lose is showing itself much more easily than I expected too. Connie has a lot to say when she wants to say it. Along those lines, here's a bit for WIP Wednesday:

“Hm.” Connie sat on her bed with her legs crossed so tightly it should have been uncomfortable, and would have been for anyone but her. Holding her feet, she rocked slightly. Her nose was scrunched.

“I know that face,” Wash said, almost accusatory. “Don’t overthink it, Connie. C’mon. It’s just a leaderboard.”

“But why do we need it? It’s weird, is what it is.”

“There’s a lot of weird things about the project; it’s an ONI Spec Op program,” not that command had ever admitted it, but it was obvious, “things are going to be weird. This is far from the weirdest thing. Remember when you got hung up on our lack of ranks?”

Connie shifted up onto her knees. “And that’s another thing!” (“Oh god.”) “Is this meant to replace an actual, formal ranking structure? Do I answer to Maine, now? Or South? Do you answer to me, because I’m one spot above you? Or do only the squad leaders count as having an actual, tangible command position?”

“I think it’s the latter.”

“You think, you think,” Connie said, wagging a finger in his general direction. “And that’s exactly my point! We don’t know!”

I'm moving into chapter 4 tomorrow and that includes some 'mission' scenes. So I imagine it'll be slower going. But I want to get stuck in for the last few days of the month, as I'm hoping to move into proper preparation for Nano come October.

I have the basic plot outline for my project. I have my setting, though I'll be doing a lot of sporadic research for details. I have my protagonists, side characters and abstract antagonist. It's now just a matter of making a proper outline and fleshing out some of my character notes, which is proving interesting with one of my protagonists because they're simultaneously a blank slate and a persona.

So that's the plan for October: prioritising this final bit of preparation ahead of November. I'll no doubt work on If I Disappear at some point too, but the focus will be on Nano.