My Thoughts on The Doll Maker's Daughter at Christmas... So Far

As you may know, I am publishing the chapters of my newest work, The Doll Maker's Daughter at Christmas, as I complete them.  I have never done anything like this before, but I really felt compelled to get this story out there in the raw, to get some feedback, to see how the readers think the story is developing. And so far, I haven't really gotten a lot of feedback--which is fine, although I'd still like some--but  what I have gotten is something else, which is a clearer understanding of exactly how a story begins to write itself. Let me explain....
This book is my entry for National Novel Writing Month, which essentially means I need to write at least 50,000 words of this novel in November. Now, that may sound like a lot, and I guess it is, but I regularly write more words than that in a given three day weekend without distractions. So I am confident in my ability to finish the book in the next few days (before December 1st), but I will also be the first to admit that I sort of put off writing it because I wasn't sure what happened. Of course, I had an idea. I knew who my characters were. I knew their secrets, their strengths and weaknesses. I had a beginning, a middle, and an end--in theory. But anyone who has ever written a book knows that everything beyond the beginning can be quite flexible. And often times the book begins to take on a new direction the more you write. For example, I had no idea that Santa Claus would become an important part of this story--I thought he would be a great way to tie in the whimsical, fantasy, Christmas magic component the entire book centers around, but I didn't know he would be sooo important. Until he made himself important today as I was writing Chapter 12.  Often times, such changes cause the beginning of the story to need to be adapted as well, and I am now fairly certain the published beginning of this book will be slightly different than what you can find on my blog now, but I also believe it will be better.  I love when stories begin to intertwine, when there's more going on than meets the eye. I think Santa brings that element to this book in a unique way.

He knows when you're awake... and when you're writing!

There are already a lot of things going on, however, and I can't help but mention a few of them. For example, we learn pretty quickly that Serendipity can't read very well and that this inability has caused a tragedy in her life, one that she cannot overcome. It isn't until later in the story that we begin to understand why she can't read. And guess who decided he wanted to be the person to begin to shed some light on this problematic area of Serendipity's life? That's right--Santa Claus.
My reason for causing Serendipity to have this particular learning difference has everything to do with my job as a reading specialist, particularly this year when I have been given the opportunity to work with some very unique, extremely special kids whose differences are of the same nature as Serendipity's.  I hope that, through telling her story, we can begin to understand each other a little better and stop being so critical of others who may happen to think differently than we do.
And then there's Cornelius Cane, the hero--or is he the antagonist?--of our story.  Up until today, I didn't really like Corey--at all. I found him quite annoying and pretentious. Today, as I was digging deeper into the layers that make up this heir to the Candy Cane fortune, I realized he's not such a bad guy after all. Sure, he makes some really bad decisions that end up hurting some other people that I really love--like Serendipity--but at the end of the day, I think we all have a little bit of Corey in us. Haven't we all found ourselves a little too concerned with what is best for us, for our own reputation, for own opportunistic sense of self? Aren't there times when we are so close to the magic we forget it exists? I know I've found myself in those situations before.
With about 15,000 words left to go before I meet my goal, I am wondering if this story will be over by then, or if it will choose to be longer, even more intricate than I thought it would be. Who can say? For now, I will continue to head in the direction I am intending to go, and hopefully the story will continue to unfold before me as I do so. Who knows where we will end up, but when we get there, I hope the story accomplishes what I set out to achieve: entertaining the reader with a whimsical, folklores story about magic and Christmas while shedding a new light on a common learning difference.
If you're reading along, please let me know your thoughts! If you'd like to start with chapter one, you can find it here.