NaNoWriMo 2015

NaNoWriMo

Hey, everyone! (Waves) Sorry I haven’t been active on here. Still not relief from the headache, though I’m holding out hope that the botox will still work or acupuncture will at at the very least… I’m trying my best to keep writing as much as I can, which is why I challenged myself to National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) again this year.

For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s a bunch of people who all try to complete a 50,000 word novel in a month. Those of you who’ve read UnConventional or In/Exhale know that 50,000 words is barely half a story for me, so I set myself that even more challenging goal of getting a complete 75,000 word draft done by the end of November.

So far I’m definitely on task to make it to about 75K by Nov 30, but the way the story is moving I’m not sure that’ll be a complete draft. So far it’s feeling a little like UnConventional in that it’s falling into three parts, perhaps of about 30K each, which would leave the draft at about 90K. (UnConventional is about 100K.)

Anyway, the only way to write at this kind of pace, especially with my headache limiting my productivity, is to write fast and dirty without really looking back. But I wanted to share a little about this project with you all for those of you who are interested.

The Project

My headache makes me very light sensitive, so for the past ten months or so I’ve been living like a vampire without a daylight ring–keeping all the blinds closed all the time and only turning on a light when I absolutely have to. In the process, I’ve gotten very good at getting around in semidarkness, doing things, from preparing my husband’s to-go cups in the morning to cooking and cleaning and everything in between.

As a result of that, and some inspiration from a TV show (and one of the story blog stories, Footsteps), I started thinking a lot about what it would be like if I had a character who was blind or had low vision. The seed was planted, and the more I thought about the idea, the more excited I got. I’m an extremely visual person and writer, and tackling the story of someone for whom vision isn’t a primary sense felt like a fun and new challenge. As depressing as this whole headache situation has been, it felt like exactly what I needed. Something fresh and new and different with nothing to lose.

And so Love Unseen was born.

The story is about Jackson Santoro, a thirty-something history professor living in New Orleans. Because he was born premature, he has mild CP and has been blind his entire life, but he’s not totally blind. He’s able to see colors and some shapes, but he relies more on his other senses to orient himself in the world. He’s an introvert who’s only friends are his older sister, Lyn, who just got married and moved out of the house, and his seeing eye dog, Molly.

Jackson soon finds himself with the supposedly straight and ridiculously sexy roommate, Dan Oldendorf, and despite all logic, Jackson begins to fall for him. There’s nothing harder than falling for someone you think you can’t have, right?

An Excerpt

Here’s a scene from the very much work-in-progress. Keep in mind that the final version may differ enormously, and this doesn’t have my usual polish because I’m trying to wait to revise until I have the draft finished. But it should give you a taste of the two main characters.

Please go to the next page to read it —->>

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5 Responses to NaNoWriMo 2015

  1. MM says:

    Oh, I am *so* excited for this story!

    Can I ask which tv show has served as inspiration?

    • Chie Alemán says:

      It was actually an episode of Code Black. They had a kid come in who wasn’t clotting and the reason was he took anticoagulants bc he had problems with clots on his retinas, and he was blind as a result. It made me curious as to what could cause that, and one thing led to another an d I started thinking it’d be interesting to write a character who was blind because of something called the Retinopathy of Prematurity, in which blood vessels overgrow on the retinas and can cause them to detach, causing eye problems and potential total blindness. 🙂

      I’ve also drawn a little from a little known TV show called Blind Justice. The premise of the show is pretty ridiculous (a cop blinded on the job goes back to work) but the blindness is actually presented pretty accurately and he uses a seeing eye dog. 🙂

  2. Anonymous says:

    Oh wow, I love it already! Can’t wait to read more…

  3. Jeanie says:

    I love, love it so far. Warm and fuzzy over the main characters already. Can’t wait for the rest.

  4. Ali says:

    Hello!
    Chie, i love your writting, your style caught me imediatelly.Im your regular reader on paradevo blog, read your awesome book about Santiago, and as i can see we have to patiently wait for this one….
    Please, i dont want to bother, but can you give us some more info about this future one, when are you plannig to release this promising work?
    Thank you and have a nice day!
    A

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