Characters Coming Out of the Woodwork

With NaNo WriMo bearing down on me, I've been a little concerned about book 2. I've known the plot of it nearly since I finished book 1, but knowing the main events doesn't make a story. I needed to know the characters. At least four new main subcharacters are going to be introduced in book 2, and if they don't work, the book won't work. Until yesterday, they were vague, disembodied ideas.

I didn't plan yesterday to flush out the characters--it just happened. I was on the treadmill (which is a great place to do some thinking) and I was going over changes that I need to make to book 1 in my head. I came up with some brilliant connector bits that I hadn't realized until that moment were needed to fill weaknesses in my story. Once those were in place, it was like the characters for book 2 came out of nowhere, complete with names, ages, appearances, regions, and personalities. They were talking, practically on top of each other, to each other, to me, to themselves. It was fabulous.

I darted back up to my apartment (on rather wobbly legs), practically shushed Cody when he tried to talk to me, and spent the next twenty minutes writing down notes of everything they'd said to me.

I'm officially ready. Bring it on, NaNo. I'm not scared.