According to that 1667 rule, I've finally caught up to where I'm supposed to be. I went to another write-in last night which turned out to be fairly productive, even hand-written. The funny thing is, wacky secondary characters seem to insert themselves all over the place. Unplanned secondary characters. But I'm not one to turn down extra words.
I don't make extensive character sheets before I start a story. Usually it's just a bare paragraph description. It's actually the story itself that will be used to flesh them out. In one of the more recent chapters, a bit more of my characters' backgrounds have revealed themselves--hints of rather unpleasant and bloody histories. I might slowly unravel it as the story progresses, depending on the direction it goes.
I know what you mean about references. I actually saw one of my lecturers sit and watch his phone until it stopped ringing. He never picks up. And getting him to respond to emails is a matter of luck. Unfortunately, he was my final year project supervisor, so he knows me better than any other lecturer.
Good job on catching up! I've got 5,780 words until I'm back up to speed. I'll see if I can do that today.
I have absolutely no clue if this will be of any help to you, but whenever I introduce a new character (on purpose or by accident) I simply toss their name into my NaNo-journal with a couple details about them.
IE: Jimmy Smitts - First victim - Young boy - Loves puddles
Maybe it'll help? Although I'm not sure if you need it. Way to keep up the pace!
