NaNoWriMo Family

We are family, but does family belong in a National Novel Writing Month project?

In the Terminator films, there was the T-2000, the killer robot. Well in National Novel Writing Month, I am the NaNoWriMo 9000, and the robot is breaking down. I've got a good solid 9,000 words into it, I have an outline of a first act, and part of a second. Today might be the first day that I take a break as I figure out what to write next....

I have to make a decision on tone. I have a theme of the book-- a lawyer has to fall back in love with his family and they have to fall back in love with them. There are several ways to get there-- first, the family is in peril and the hero has to save them, proving that he loves them after all. The second one is a little more fun, the hero works together with his family to beat the bad guys.The problem with the second story is that by definition it is more juvenile. I don't write kids very well, they tend to sound like mini-adults. There is the third way where the family rescues the hero. I don't think I could write that at all.

It is easier to write the hero saving the family. The family doesn't have to be as fleshed out. The hero just has to save them and smile like John Wayne in the Searchers.. On the other hand, writing a family novel would be a lot more fun. I have a vision of "The Incredibles" in my head, but could I write something like that?

Which brings us to every writer's dilemma. You are told to write what you know. I've been in a family that had adventures, but I was the kid and not the father. I've never had kids,I've never baby sitted, so I would be faking it if I tried to imagine family life today.

So today, I'me taking some time off from writing to spend it with my imaginary family.