Nanowrimo Worries, Word Count, Character Development, and Other Things?!?

Question by aNd YoUr BiRd CaN sInG<3: Nanowrimo worries, word count, character development, and other things?!?
nanowrimo is honestly kicking my butt. It’s day 8, and I’ve only got 7,000 something words. (I just joined Saturday). I don’t think I’ll make it. Anyone else feel this way? And even though I know we shouldn’t be concerned with character, I can’t help but worry. Since I just dove into this, I didn’t have the time to develop my characters. Is the teacher funny? How can I improve him?
“…collecting homework. Show of hands, who didn’t bother?” Half of the class raised their hands, and he retired to the corner of his desk, kicking his feet.
“Miss Nelson!” The girl jumped, and he laughed.
“I’m not going to beat you, Miss Nelson-”
“That’s my job!” a boy interrupted. All eyes turned to him, even Battle’s. Mr. Levinski stared at him.
“Johnson…you need counseling. I don’t want to hear about your psychological issues in my class. Anyway,” he continued over laughter, “Homework. Why isn’t it done, Miss Nelson?” A girl in the second row shrugged.
“Glee was on last night?” Everyone laughed at her miserable excuse, Mr. Levinski included.
“Who else watched Glee and didn’t do their homework?” The same group of students raised their hands. He got up and turned his back on the class.
“Mr. Laurence, you expect me to believe you were watching Glee last night?” He asked, rifling through a backpack sitting on his chair.
“Yeah,” he said confidently.
“So tell me what happened.” Laurence froze.
“Uh..huh?”
“You heard me. Tell me what happened last night.”
“That’s a little personal, don’t you think?” Laurence said, as someone from the back of the room called out,
“That’s what she said!” The class broke up into laughter. Mr. Levinski returned to the front of the room, tossing a tennis ball up in the air and catching it rhythmically. He stopped in front of Laurence and threw the ball at him. It reminded Battle of gym class, and she shut her eyes. From the laughter that followed, she assumed that he hadn’t caught it in time.
“No you moron, what happened on Glee last night?” he shook his head, “Kids these days. Drugs not hugs, Laurence. Live above the influence. No one can afford to lose brain cells, especially you,” he raised his voice over the laughter once again, “Everyone who actually did their work, pass it up. Those who didn’t, do it tonight. Really. It takes two seconds. Between Miss Nelson watching Glee and Mr. Laurence getting booty..there’s no wonder why no one learns anything in here.” The kids laughed so hard Battle found it a wonder that no one had come in to complain yet.
“Okay, shut up before I get fired. Open the literature text to page 40. Somebody,” several girls raised their hands, and he picked blindly, “Smith, read.”

And my character, Battle..does she annoy you? She irks me, but I’m too far in to change her now..
Midway there, she paused just long enough to look up. In that instant, her books disappeared, and there seemed to be a delay between the moment her books left her hands and scattered onto the floor. She didn’t look up to see who’d done it. The laughter echoed back a thousand times louder in her ears. From somewhere down the hall, she heard,
“Bookslap!” Battle didn’t even attempt to pick up her books. The students parted around her, like the Red Sea. A few of her notebooks were kicked across the hall, and they hit the wall with a hallow thump. Her eyes burned and threatened to betray her.
“Here,” someone said. Battle looked down at his hand and saw he was holding the notebooks that had diffused across the hall. She took them and stacked them on top of the books she had managed to retain.

She’s hopeless! So am I!

Best answer:

Answer by Aeryn Of the society
Hm. This is a toughy. First off, do you have an official question? If not, I might as well rant anyways with a bit of advice. And I’m gonna sound like a jerk in the process.

Eh, first off, characters. I feel like a total meanie saying this, but it seems almost as though your teacher character, Mr. Levinski, is better developed than battle. I know, I know. Sounds like a terrible thing to say. But he just…he flows. I like ‘im.

Dialogue. Is intense. Your dialogue is good. It’s real. It works. Better’n mine, even at its best.

Names. Mr. Levinski. That’s a real name. It fits ‘im, too. But ‘Battle’? I mean, hear me out. You had a solid ‘reality’ thing going. It…felt…like the real world when I was reading it. But then I find her name is Battle. It’s a cool name. Don’t get me wrong; it is. But it doesn’t quite work. I love names, that’s why it hurts so bad when I can’t give a character the name I want simply because it doesn’t work. If her parents had a story and background for naming her that, then put that in and it fits! Just saying, though. Felt I had to point it out.

You’ve got what it takes, mate! Just keep writing. You’ll pull through.

Ooh, also, just remembered, character development is every bit as important as plotline. Here’s something that might help: http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474976908598 Hope it helps a bit. xD

What do you think? Answer below!

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