NaNo, Writing, and Tone

So I started my NaNoWriMo novel on time, and in one sense it's going very well. I have a story I really like, I'm having no trouble getting my word count out, and I'm excited to write instead of dreading it. It's been years since I really enjoyed a NaNo, and I credit my ADHD medication with giving me back the concentration level that I used to be capable of. 

But I am having trouble hitting the right tone. The right feel. The right... waves hands... vibe.

And that's frustrating because, in my shorts, tone/vibe is what I get first. From a prompt, or an idea, I get the feel of what I want, and then I put words around that feeling. Easy peas. With this story, I just haven't hit the right tone yet, and it's been long enough since I wrote a novel-length story that I'd completely forgotten what a pain that is.

If you've read the writing advice I put on my Tumblr, you know that I firmly advocate never rewriting the first chapter until after you've written the last one, in part for this very reason. Tone is something that emerges over the course of the story, along with a lot of interesting character tidbits, even if you're a hardcore planner. No matter how closely you stick to the plan, little things are going to change, the tone is going to shift, and new themes are going to creep in here and there. By the time you get to the end, the first chapter is going to need rewriting to align with those shifts, so there is absolutely no point in wasting time rewriting it before that.

BUT I FORGOT HOW FRUSTRATING IT IS WHEN YOU'RE DOING IT.

So you guys are getting this, instead of a sneak-peek at the story, because it's just not jelling yet and I may find myself capable of writing about the deaths of thousands in a weirdly jocular tone, but that doesn't mean I have to share my shame.

(I mean, I have no shame whatsoever about killing the thousands, I am a confessed murder-mystery enthusiast and I have no hesitation in just raising the stakes sky-high from the first page, but not being able to sound appropriately serious and dramatic about it is, as a writer, mortifying.) 

Today's writing book recommendation is 'The Heroine's Journey', by Gail Carriger. If you like to write, or just like the nuts and bolts of how stories work, where tropes come from, and so on, I really recommend this book. It explores the mirror-imaging of the Hero's and Heroine's journeys, why found family has such universal appeal, and a lot of other interesting stuff.