Brainstorming for National Novel-Writing Month, which coincides with November. If you’re unfamiliar with it, NaNoMuBlo-ers will be happy to explain.
Patience, Please
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Hooray!
I’ve been waiting to post a long, rambling post about my entire situation with regards to upcoming NaNo until we got this thread.
I’ve pretty much got my plot down, though it needs a lot of work. It’s part three of a planned three-part book. Part one is going to be a ‘defeat evil overlord’ story. Part two is a ‘quash the rebellion’ story. Part three is a mix of both, from the perspective of a double agent who doesn’t want either side to win. All three parts tell exactly the same story from totally different perspectives.
It’s sort of an expansion of the saying ‘history is written by the winners’. Or ‘evil is in the eye of the beholder’, which isn’t actually a saying but conveys everything I want it to properly. If I can get that across properly in one section, the other two sections will probably be cut out.
And my computer is somewhat nonfunctional, so I’m hoping it’ll be fixed by the fourteenth. If it’s not, I’ll take over one of our ancient laptops for writing on. Or if we declare it unfixable, I’ll probably get a new computer entirely.
Only twenty five more days!
Yeah! Finally!
Okay, I’ve got my plot pretty much down, and I posted the profiles on the Fanfic thread. It’s a pokemon novel (haha, how surprising), but kind of based around the concept of friendship (how cliche). So there’s four people, three brother/sister/brother and one sort of a street urchin-girl. There’s also a few legendary pokemon involved, and some sacrificial themes.
My computer is raring to go, and I can’t wait! This is my first ever year, so I’ll probably need some help. *goes to stalk old NaNoWriMo threads*
SFTDP
Just signed up for the website! 50,000 words is a little daunting…maybe I’ll shoot for 30,000 and call myself a winner.
Let me see…according to my stalking, people set goals and had awards for themselves. So here are my goals, per day:
Weekdays:
(It’s separate because I have school, and can’t get much writing done during the day)
1,000 words=Nothing
1,500 words=1 cookie
2,000 words=2 cookies
2,500 words=2 cookies and 30 minutes of Owl City/HTTyD fangirl binge-ing
3,000+=3 cookies, 1 hour or fangirl-ism, and 2 new songs
Weekends:
1,500=Nothing
2,000=1 cookie
2,500=2 cookies
3,000=2 cookies and 30 minutes of Owl City/HTTyD fangirl binge-ing
3,500=3 cookies, 1 hour of fangirl-ism, and two new songs
4,000+=5 cookies, however long the HTTyD film is of fangirl-ism, 3 new songs, and free computer time.
Just want to remind you that if you don’t feel like doing all 50k, the YWP is open to all people under 18. You can set your own goal there.
I know, and I’ll probably register there as well.
Here’s my reward system: Every 20,000 words, I will let myself watch an episode of a show that I occasionally watch (Not really quality, mostly for brain relaxant.)
Mine is
Weekdays
1,000 words- One pice of carmel corn, no soda.
1,500 words= Soda with dinner.
2,000= Raspberry sorbet.
2,500= Sorbet and 1 hour on FanFiction
3,000 or more= reading 2 NaNo’s from past years by MBers, sorbet, FanFiction, 1 pack of pokemon cards, and art time. ( drawing)
Weekends:
2,000= 1 scoop, chai latte while writing.
2500= Calling FunnelCake.
3,000= Eating 1 chocolate bar, and soda, phone call, and IM.
3,500= Buy iTunes gift card for $15.
4,000= practice Fireflies on Piano and Trumpet, buy Star Wars book for trumpet, new book as food for thought.
Starbucks, meet NaNoWriMo, the source of sales in November.
Oops. Weekdays and Weekends were supposed to be bold. HTML gnome? * offers all owned Maximum Ride manga*
I’m going to write a hopeless love story, because those seem to be the easiest for me.
I could never do NaNoWriMo because I’m too much of a perfectionist when it comes to writing.
That’s one of the main reasons I did it, to break free of the perfectionism that was crippling my ability to write.
I don’t want to lose my perfectionism, though. I don’t plan on being a writer “when I grow up”, as the saying goes. I want to remain, as Robert once put it, a precisian.
The idea isn’t to lose it. The idea is to be able to use it at the right times.
It would appear, then, that we have somewhat different philosophies concerning this matter. This is one of the reasons I generally find poetry “easier” to write–because a poem doesn’t have to be thousands of words long. Poems are generally shorter, and so I can focus on every word as much as I want.
That’s why I wrote poetry, too. Very meticulously crafted and precise poems. My philosophy changed considerably over time. It wasn’t until I hit graduate school and had to write REAL papers for the first time in my life that I found out how much I had boxed myself in. I finally found something I wanted to communicate and couldn’t keep up with the writing. I’m all for precision, but sometimes you have to make a mess first.
Summary, as I wrote it on the site:
Bob Jones (name WILL change) is a policeman in the sleepy little town of Twin Oaks. When one of the dogs of the old lady who lives on Maple st. dies, and from what appear to be natural causes, he tales the case quickly, hoping it will add some excitment to his dull summer. Two kids, in middle school, having read many a mystery, decide to try yo help his solve the case. He doesn’t want there help. Five suspects are considered: the mayor, the librarian, and three others I’m not are of yet.
changed “Bob Jones” to “Parnell Doyle”
OH GOD
IS IT ALMOST NOVEMBER
CAKE
needideasneedideasneedideas
Hm, question: Is there a NaNoWriMo-type thing, but for poetry instead of novels? I think I’d be more interested in doing that.
Not that I know of.
BUT
I don’t see why MB couldn’t organize one…
There’s at least one month where people try to write a poem a day and/or there are 100 “themes” (single words–adjectives, emotions, what have you) and the write a poem for each. Not sure if it’s official through anything, because I mostly just see it on DeviantArt, but yeah.
Oh, here’s my basic idea:
~~~~~~~~
Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. In this world, technology had become mythology. People worship a virus checking code. People fear the delete key.
And above all, nobody know’s what’s going on.
Nanobots control the planet. Two worlds, separated due to imcompatible realities. To control the nanobots is to control the world. You can make bread appear, if you have enough grain. Yarn will braid itself, if you can control it. You can destroy people with a flick of a finger and a word. But be warned…
For viruses never sleep.
~~~~~~
My current title is “Minds in the Sky”. But it’s apt to change at any minute. It will probably have two sections, one all fantasy, with magic powers, and the other a technological horror story. Told by the same person.
Basic summary:
A Mary Sue is jealous of her fiance who is in love with another woman and uses black magic with the help of her evil and long-lost twin to kill the other woman but inadvertently kills the other woman and the fiance. Add a death scene straight from Othello and language like Amanda M’Kittrick Ros, and that is my Nano.
*bows*
I think mine may be a mystery novel. But I might use the plot for a screenplay instead…
7-Not really. There’s February Album Writing Month, if you write 14 and give them tunes as well, and Refrigerator Poetry Writing Month in April, if you want to write exclusively with refrigerator magnets, and National Epic Poetry Month in May, if you want to write an epic poem, but other than that, none are listed on the NaNo- or JulNoWriMo (July Novel Writing Month, like NaNo but in July; I tried it and not only did I not win, it was the worst thing I’d ever written, but it was fun!) sites… But as TMFA said, MB could have one anyway.
Anyway, I’m doing it, but I don’t really have the slightest idea what I’m going to do–but then, I don’t generally plan much when I write anyway. I’m doing the full version instead of the YWP even though I’m only 12, because I lied about my age…
I can’t wait for it to begin! I don’t think I’ll win, though; I’m really busy in November. Oh, well!
I did Screnzy one year, but I’ve never attempted NaNo. I wish that I could, actually, but I know that I’m far too busy this year. Good luck to all who are!
I agree that such undertakings quash all attempts at perfectionism – I’d probably be enormously embarrassed by my Screnzy script if I could actually find it.
I’m considering totally improvising the entire novel. It worked out badly last year, but only because I chickened out. I think if I’d stuck with it it could have been a lot of fun.
You wrote Flamehenge, didn’t you?
I did indeed, and Windhenge as well. I don’t think I’ll ever finish the quartet, though.
I do in fact have an excellent first sentence for the novel, but I can’t write it down because it would be a waste of seventeen perfectly good words.
Mine is going to be a sort of green revolution. The world comes to the point where things are dying left and right, and they need to do… something. Er, I’ll get to that. Sooner or later… *headdesk*
Actually, the lesson that I usually take away from NaNo is that first drafts will utterly suck, no matter what, and you can save the making-it-not-suck for December. Which kinda failed last year, but I have better plans for this year!
Right now, my tentative plot centers around a small town in, like, Wisconsin or Iowa or Michigan or a state in that area. It’s one of those small towns with cute drugstores and diners that makes you nostalgic for the ’50’s even if you never lived through them. My protagonist is a ridiculously snarky, wisecracking seventeen-year-old with problems (think like a cross between Holden Caulfield and Jon Stewart) who might be a boy or a girl, and my antagonists are a gang of bullies who run around picking on nerds and such. (Yes, I’m relying very heavily on the tropes/cliches with this one.)
Mr. Plot arrives when Protagonist receives a magical, electric baseball bat from a mysterious source. The bat can act as a sword, send out shock waves of power, allow Protagonist to fly, etc. Also, it can hit baseballs. Yay Protagonist! En is a superhero! Unfortunately for Protagonist, Antagonists have also received weapons and magical superpowers, and all of them are being used as pawns in the war between good and evil.
Yeah, I know, you’ve heard it before. The way I plan to make it interesting for myself is to focus on the mundane world plotlines, not the magical world ones. In a lot of fantasy high school books, the characters are all stalking down the hallways of the school, glaring at the evil people because they are on the magical evil side. In this, I plan to have Protagonist stalking down the trails of the magical forest of doom, glaring at the evil people because they ruined ens outfit for Homecoming, or something. I dunno.
Expansion on my plot, yay (Hopefully without giving too much away)!
Lily has run away due to not obeying her parent’s will. She is a Normal-type trainer, while both of her parents hate Normal-type pokemon, considering them to be weak and inferior. She hung out at [Insert Big Pokemon City Name Here]’s PokemonCenter for a bit, before hearing a voice tell her to run.
Nathanial is the eldest and most obeying. He has exactly one Fighting-type pokemon and one Ghost-type pokemon. However, he also has a Bellossom.AS soon as Lily ran away, he kind of had a spiritual over-heave and ran off to try and bring her back. His excuse was he was going to fight the gym leaders.
James is the youngest. His only pokemon is a Pichu that his parents’ friends bred for him. He found a secret spot deep in the forest, but got lost one day. Lily found him, told him how to get back, and grudgingly accepted him into her runaway plan.
Roxxy is the only character that isn’t part of their family. She’s loud, ignorant, and blunt. Her pokemon all share her spunk, especially Bossie the tempered Miltank.
I also need an evil team name (Nebula, I’m thinking) and a reason why Shadow Pokemon are coming back (maybe the boss-guy of Nebula wants…something. Revenge, maybe?)
Or maybe I could add indefinite twists, with Guys in Trench Coats and betrayal, and stuff.
I hope I don’t get to far behind because I’m missing the first two days of NaNo because of travel… but anyway, I’ve got three basic ideas for the plot.
1) Expanding, or continuing, that necromancer-ish story I posted on the BiP thread.
2) This Doctor Who fanfiction I’m working on, or maybe I won’t do that and I’ll use this idea for a sci-fi story that’s been swirling around my mind that has been so kindly eaten by Enceladus.
3) I’ve got this story… with a main character… and a vague plot, and I might do that. (So informational, right?)
I will post more once I decide.
Got a general idea now. Here it is…
A girl recently out of high school feels trapped in her hometown, and is convinced that she’ll never get out. So when an opportunity presents itself to leave behind the mundane routine of her life and move to Los Angeles, she jumps for it. The catch? She has to accept the engagement of a stranger, who must marry before his own twenty-first birthday in order to inherit his late father’s corporate fortune. Before she knows it, she’s thrust into fame, fortune, and under the spotlight. What she doesn’t know is that when your life is interesting to everyone else, it’s not long before everyone is waiting for you to crack…
I still need character names. Can anyone help me out?
Maybe the girl’s name is Sheila? Or Laurette? And the guy’s name could be George?
Marietta Levine and Robert Delaney.
I really like Robert Delaney!
I think the girl’s name is going to be Bria Arthur.
Do these sound good?
Sounds good!
Thanks!
I liked your suggestions too. I may use them again for some more characters!
Maybe the girl’s name could be something simple and plain, but when she marries Robert Delaney she would have to glam it up, so Mary Levrett would turn into Marietta Levine.
I’m doing it, although I may not end up finishing/actually writing more than a paragraph. Plot goes something like this: There is a necromancer, who lives with his apprentice (he secretly loves her) in a tall tower on the outskirts of Bahon-on-the-Water. One day, she dies ( Not sure how…either drowning, falling out of the tower, or nobody knows. Probably not murder. ) He tries to raise her from the deadk…not sure how it will end. The story alternates between his and her point of view. Any ideas for names?
I might actually write an alternate history story this year. Perhaps a rehash of the long-dead RRR SMAS-TT, since I am now in AP US History and won’t have to exhaustively research everything.
I think I’ll need a back-up plan, in case I decide not to do a pokemon novel…help? I write fantasy best, with dragons and stuff.
Perhaps I’ll completely invert the high-fantasy Cliche Storm. The plucky, ragtag band of rebels will be the despicable villains, while the omnipresent, powerful Empire will be the actual good guys. In order to make this interesting, of course, the Empire will already be tottering on the edge of collapse when the villains begin work.
That sounds good. I had the idea to do something like that, only a inverted traditional quest/treasure hunt story, where the team with money and resources are the good guys totally willing to share the treasure once they find it, and the raggedy guys who set off as soon as the quest is announced with no supplies are the ones who want the treasure for themselves.
I also want to write something very surreal, scary, and Moffat-y. A concept on the level of the Weeping Angels for inducing paranoia and nightmares.
I’ve been planning this for awhile, and so I’ve decided on writing about six or seven teenagers who find themselves mysteriously trapped in a basement one day after a hangout. They wake up to food every day and new clothing and what not. So people start getting greedy and taking other people’s food, and there are emotional back stories to all of the characters… I’m doing so I can get better at making dynamic and well-rounded characters, so we shall see!
Should The Professor be Rebecca’s father? I’m thinking no, the ages would most definitely not work out. Syeira (aka Rebecca) was originally a Gypsy. She has a twin sister (Vadoma) who appears later in the story (yes, I am going for cliché). Someone was distraught over the loss of their own child, so they kidnapped Syeira and crossed onto Lord Blackwell’s land. The person was shot but Syeira was saved and raised as Rebecca Blackwell. As for names, I’m thinking of renaming Rebecca Barbara because it means “foreign.” Thoughts?
I have a title now!
I call it DEFENESTRATE. The capitals are intentional and necessary.
Doesn’t that mean to throw (or otherwise propel), something out of a window?
27-Cool title.
I’m taking title and/or backup plot ideas.
I have, as usual, several ideas:
1. A thriller about a girl who suddenly remembers a past life she never lived- that of Jake, a boy who died in a traffic accident twelve weeks and six days before she received a severe blow to the head which changed her life (and her personality) forever. Or did he die in a traffic accident? She didn’t know him at all, not that she can recall anyway-just like she can’t seem to remember the true circumstances of the accident which cost her most of her memories. And what isn’t her best friend, who used to be in the same homeroom as him, telling her about his death?
2. (name of town), South Dakota used to be the most boring place I ever imagined. But last Halloween something happened. Something mysterious and wonderful. Now vampires and werewolves and shinigami roam the halls and everyone has a unique magical power. Well, everyone but me so far, so I guess mine isn’t precognition. It’s probably just because I was the youngest at the party- or because I wasn’t in the room when it started. Or maybe my great destiny just starts off with sitting around in safety, like in Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. In fact, I bet my power will be the greatest of them all. I mean, it’s not like I won’t get a power when everyone else has one, right?
3. This one is sort of half-baked: it’s about a girl who lives in a giant city-thing orbiting a sun. Except the structure is weakening- especially various insulation materials that should protect the people in the lower, hotter regions for radiation. So the society has been divided into two groups; the workers who maintain the agriculture, sent into the dangerous zone for any sort of crime or simply because they were born there, and what’s left of the old society which also has the remaining escape crafts, though there aren’t even enough for the upper class and there’s no-where left to go. Everyone is desperate, and there will probably be a rebellion of a sort and a lot of solar-powered ships.
4. This one is overbaked: I tried it for MuDoSoMo last February and several times before that. It’s a sort of Kiki-Strikesque story about teens who have the power to shift into different dimensions/planes and can bring back “poss”, a material which can become anything if handled correctly. They fight in cities across centuries and are reborn a certain number of times (the first person once, the second three times, the third seven times and the next nine times etc). In their last life, they have to train their apprentice because they shall die in battle against the “big bad” and their apprentice will have to defeat the evil for them. Except that Daphne (who’s training her apprentice) was already born in Vienna about 150 years ago and killed in a fire before she could win her battle, so there are nasty twists. Also, her apprentice is determined to try and save her, because he has a crush on her even though she thinks of him as a little brother and turned him down. I love the story, I’ve just tried to write it so many times that I’m almost sick of it.
And that’s about it… I think I’ll probably just wing it in the end
If you don’t wing it, the second and first one seem like they could turn out to be very nice novels. (I’m totally obsessive, I read shinigami and totally screamed “AAH DEATH NOTE!!”. My mom looked at me very strangely.)
*coughcoughit’sonyoutubecough*
*coughcoughIwishI’dknowthatearliercoughcough*
*coughcoughanimeultimatoocoughcough*
I think the second one would be the most fun one to write.
An image that appeals to me: an abandoned, condemned paradise filled with squatter angels, retaining a delicate beauty even in decay.
I’ll write a story about a girl who finds a website and it’s some spy thing, and she’s becomes involved in some FBI mission.
Realms of the Unknown:
Underwater: Been done.
Underground: Been done.
In the sky: Been done.
In SPAAAACE: Been done.
In another universe: Been done.
In a building:
…Hm.
It might have been done (House of Leaves, for instance), but not so much that it would be uninteresting. That might also link up with my title, as a building would likely have many high windows that things and people could be thrown out of.
I keep coming up with ideas that are pretty and delicate and fantastic in my head, and then turn out to be cliched and overdone when I write them down. Like a phrase that got stuck in my head the other day: “a city of angels atop a pile of the dead.” I wanted to write about that city, but everything I thought of was just the usual dystopia-hidden-beneath-utopia’s-shiny-surface thing.
I did add to my original idea, though. Right now, the magical world which Protagonist enters is based around baseball. Everybody plays it, and your worth in baseball reflects your worth as a person, kind of like a knight’s courage/chivalry/fighting ability in the Middle Ages. Protagonist may have to go on a Quest to find the long-lost Strikeout Kid, the king of all pitchers, who is sort of like the magical world’s version of King Arthur. Unfortunately, by the time I start writing, baseball season will be over, and I’ll probably have lost enthusiasm.
How about Utopia-hidden-beneath-a-dystopia’s-sordid-surface? That would be a challenge.
You know, I don’t think I’ve ever read a proper Utopia. Nice places, sure. But every place that’s an actual Utopia has actually been a hidden dystopia. I’m not really sure how to write a Utopia, actually.
And has anyone else read the list of pep talkers for this year?
Holly Black
Dave Eggers
John Green
Mercedes Lackey
Lemony Snicket
as well as Chris Baty, Lindsey Grant, and somebody called Aimee Bender, who wrote a book called The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake that everybody I know seems to be talking about.
Oh my. It’s going to be a wonderful November. I’m fanning myself with joy in between sentences.
I want to do this.
I’ve come up with a backup plan!
Okay, so there’s a fluffy white persian cat who’s the main character of al these pet food commercials. The cat (need a name: something ridiculously pompous, but can be shortened to something more normal) lives in a huge mansion with maids, servants, and her owners Mr. and Mrs. _______ and _______ ________, their son.
One day, Mr. and Mrs. *blank* get into a fight, and they divorce. The cat tries to jump out of a window to get to the son (because he’s her favorite owner), but falls and lands in a box. Mr. *blank*, who is none the wiser, seals up the box and puts it in his car and drives away.
Some time later, the cat wakes up groggily and realizes she’s moving. She’s also in a box, but wriggles free. Mr. *blank* has the windows down and before he can react, she’s jumped out the window and landed hard on the blacktop.
After some near misses with cars and people, she runs into an alley and into some mice, who cower. After explaining she doesn’t eat mice, she says she needs to find an owner. Remembering *the son*’s worst enemy own lots and lots of different reptiles, she tells the mice what she’s looking for, and they nod at each other.
The mice lead her to an alligator, and she jumps on him, clamping his mouth shut. They wrestle for a bit, the cat shouting “Where is he?”, before the alligator notices her collar.
And…that’s all I’ve got so far. But it’s detailed.
(Yeah, can you tell i got the plot from Bolt? XP)
i actually started something in bio lecture that will probably turn into my nanowrimo (don’t worry, i’ll subtract the words off). but so yeah, i have like a plan or something O_O crazy
i might actually lose this year though. i know i said that last year, but this year is actually so much busier. five hours has changed from an average to a really good night’s sleep. it’s a good day when i have three consecutive hours in which i don’t have somewhere to be. and a lot of my “free time” goes to eating, sleeping, and homeworking (okay, and internets a bit…and some partying/hanging out…but that’s basically just thursday nights, fridays, and weekends :-/ so if i just write my entire novel on weekends and don’t do my homework or see anyone for the whole month, i should be good i guess)
i have met a couple people who do it though! and i might try to actually go to a write-in this year
Whoa. NaNo. -is completely disconnected from the world of internet-
Gosh. NaNo. I’m not even considering it this year. I forgot it existed. It’s been ages since I actually wrote a word of fiction. I kind of want to take a fiction class. Much as I hate class.
Writing… -wanders off in a daze-
Well, I have another idea for a plot…
A land where ice sinks. Instead of more air being in ice than water (This is why ice floats; it has more air and gets bigger and less dense.) there is less. So the world enters an ice age (Think about it: Ice would most likely not melt and stay at the bottem of lakes and other bodies of water. Eventually it would build up and cause extreme coldness.) and many humans die from being under prepared and not knowing about the build-up. Ice is, believe it or not, not familier to them. (After a while the scientists noticed but most people didn’t take them seriously.) In Switzerland (well, actually, it’s called Grengahoen and the boundaries are different, but it’s the same general location) a girl and her 6 siblings were on a camping trip…when it started to snow and it didn’t stop. Basically, the story is about them and their struggle to survive. Hmmm, yeah, that’s about it so far. Not sure were to go with it…
I have a title! Tales From a Land Where Ice Sinks What do you think?
Except that it’s not that ice has more air, it’s more empty space. The crystal structure of ice actually moves water molecules farther apart than if they’re in water (Please correct me if I’m wrong, physics students!)
But other than that, it’s very interesting.
Mine is about 2 girls named Alexi and *can’t think of name* who go to a boarding school, and develop a tail and other catty skills after a flu shot that got tampered with ( cat dna on accident?) and has to run away, and there’s another mutant at the school, Alexi’s friend/boyfriend,Jake( kind of a Fang & Max situation) but they don’t know until the FBI, who thinks the CatGirls are bad chase them, therefore becoming the bad guys, and a really bad guy ( Name?) takes over the FBI, and they actually are bad, meanwhile, Jake tries to save his best friend, with his newfound powers of a wolf.
I think I’ve narrowed it down to two choices: desert high-fantasy with evil mirrors, or humorous time-travel tale.
Desert High Fantasy. Evil mirrors are cool.
I’m going to add a useless character named Byron de Marseilles, a misunderstood (in his view) and misanthropic person who is grouchy all the time and whines about how no one understands him and how he is so much smarter than his older brother Herbert (changed from James). So there will be random chapters with him soliloquizing, and I think he will have a crush on Barbara, although it’s unrequited.
There will be huge portraits in the Lockwood family mansion that reach almost to the floor, and if you press a certain part of the frames they will swing open to reveal a narrow space. You can step into this narrow space, swing the portrait shut (it has a handle on the inside), remove the eyes of the painting and look into the room. Vadoma will learn about these little cubbyholes and spy on the professor as he goes into his secret study and reads magical books.
So, do you think I should try to recruit people to do NaNo at school, or not?
If you’ve got a known writing community, absolutely.
Well, I think I am. I’m gonna ask my English teacher if I can put my word count on his board, hopefully inspiring other people.
I like the idea of a system of magic based on the five senses.
Sight would probably have an oracular component to it. Prisms, mirrors and light would play a big part. Illusions and mirages could also be fun.
Hearing would be somewhat air-themed, even though sound doesn’t necessarily have to pass through air. People would either speak or sing (or play an instrument) to focus on casting. Perhaps there will be a limited influence on the weather; butterflies causing hurricanes and all that. Besides, I love the phrase “singing down the storm.”
Smell and Taste would most likely be melded together, simply because I think it’s cooler that way and can’t think of a way to make the two distinct from one another. The practitioners would be completely immunized to poison (possibly by undergoing an extremely painful ordeal on initiation) and keep bottles of strange chemicals and colored salts. In civilized areas, many find employment as chefs, apothecaries or assassins; in the wilderness, hunters with this talent are second to none (recall that Smell is also part of their magic).
Touch was the most difficult for me to figure out. At the moment, I’m thinking I will merge it with proprioception, the sense of the relative position of parts of one’s body. Practitioners are extremely centered and poised; they know exactly where they are, where they’re going, and how to get there. They make excellent gymnasts and acrobats, but they tend to be rather incompetent in combat because they can’t easily shrug off pain. Those who master this weakness through mental discipline can become terrible warriors in another sense; their preternatural awareness of the body allows them to recognize others’ physical weaknesses and ruthlessly exploit them.
Already a book series based on the five senses.
But probably not a creepy as POSOC’s ideas: series are usually buttered down. That way they can keep people happy.
Singing down the storm is an amazing phrase!
Creepy? How are my ideas creepy?
You were saying you wanted something Moffat-y, and also the idea of mirages and mirrors as villians.
*shrug nonchalantly* Oh, that.
Which one is it? Just so I can make my idea different enough to avoid inadvertently ripping it off.
SECRET SERIES SPOILER! DON’T READ IF YOU HAVEN’T FINISHED IT!
The Name of this Book is Secret is a 2007 fantasy novel by Pseudonymous Bosch. It chronicles the adventures of two children, Cass and Max-Ernest, as they investigate the mysterious death of local Pietro Bergamo. Frequently during the course of the book Pseudonymous chastises himself for writing the secret, going so far as to change his mind and stop halfway through, only to bribe himself into completing the story.
A sequel was published in late 2008, under the name If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late[1] A third book was released on September 1, 2009, with the title This Book Is Not Good for You. A fourth book, This Isn’t What It Looks Like, is scheduled for release September 21, 2010. To date the series is a commercial and critical success.
Cass – Cass is the female 11 year old protagonist of the story. She is always prepared for any disasters that may occur and carries with her a backpack filled with survival gear. The narrator frequently refers to her as a survivalist. Although she prefers to think of herself as a loner, she allows Max-Ernest to collaborate with her on her investigation of Pietro’s death. She has large ears and her real name (well not really, as the author claims to have used all false names in his/her story) is Cassandra.
Max-Ernest – Max-Ernest is the 11 year old male protagonist of the story. His parents became divorced shortly after his birth because they couldn’t decide whether to name him Max or Ernest. Despite this, they still live in the same house divided into two sections (saying that while they dislike each other, they don’t want to rob their child of a childhood with both his parents). Max-Ernest has a talking disorder that has caused his parents to take him to many psychiatrists. Instead of inhibiting his speech, it makes him talk incessantly until someone stops him. As he has so many conditions, his parents have a problem of thinking that he has every single condition that exists. Cass is his only friend.
Ms. Mauvais and Dr. L – Ms. Mauvais and Dr. L are the two antagonists of the story. They seem to know the cause of Pietro’s death and are desperate to find his journal, which contains the secret the book revolves around. Once they find out Cass and Max-Ernest have his notebook, they go to many lengths to take it from them. It is also revealed during the story that Dr. L is Pietro’s brother after Cass discovers a birthmark of a crescent moon on the back of his neck that is mentioned earlier in the book. They own a spa called “The Midnight Sun”. Ms. Mauvais has lived since the 1800s. Dr. L is about 80 years old. They wear long gloves to hide their wrinkled skin and Ms. Mauvais wears a blond wig to cover up her gray hair.
The Retired Magician (Pietro) – Pietro Bergamo is the magician, who was given The Symphony of Smells (a way of seeing the smells) from Ms. Mauvais many years earlier. He also wrote the notebook, that Cass and Max-Ernest found, telling them about how he joined the circus. He had a twin brother, named Luciano, who was kidnapped by Ms. Mauvais. Although the narrator often refers to him as “dead” Cass and Max-Ernest receive a note from him in code which they decipher. Pietro’s initials are used at the end of the note.
Benjamin Blake – Benjamin is a boy that goes to Cass and Max-Ernest’s school. He won a prize for a big art show. He has synesthesia. Halfway through the book, he was kidnapped by Dr. L. and Ms. Mauvais.
Grandpa Larry and Grandpa Wayne – Grandpa Larry and Grandpa Wayne are Cass’s Grandfathers. They are not her biological grandfathers. Cass’s biological grandfather’s are only mentioned as being “not around”. Grandpa Larry was Cass’s mother’s history teacher when she was in high school; as for Wayne, it is not explained what relation he has with Cass’s family. Grandpa Larry and Grandpa Wayne also own a shop (an old fire station) that Gloria Fortune also comes by to drop off stuff from the dead magician houses.
Owen – Owen is a butler whom Cass meets soon after arriving at The Midnight Sun Spa. When they first meet, he has a strong stutter and appears to be very shy, but friendly. Cass and Max-Ernest soon discover that Owen is actually a spy of sorts. He helps them escape the Midnight Sun with Benjamin Blake and takes them to Cass’ grandfathers. Owen’s most notable characteristic is that he imitates other accents, instead of speaking normally. In the book, Owen speaks with a slight stutter, a Surfers’ accent and an Irish brogue
Gloria Fortune- Gloria is a real estate agent for the dead. When people die she clears out their stuff and tries to sell their house. This kind of person is called a probate specialist. She loves to gossip.
Pseudonymous Bosch- Pseudonymous Bosch is the narrator of the story. He gives little information on himself. But by indirect observation, we can see he has trouble keeping on subject, and is addicted to chocolate.
The story starts when real-estate agent for the dead named Gloria finds a mysterious box in a magician’s house called, The Symphony of Smells, and gives it to Cass and her grandfathers. Cass is an outcast misfit in her school until she stumbles across another misfit, Max-Ernest, who talks too much and has divorced parents.
Cass and Max-Ernest become collaborators and investigate the dead magician’s – Pietro Bergamo – house only to get caught by a young couple; but not before they find a mysterious journal hidden in a secret room.
Later the couple comes to their school looking for them but find a synesthete boy named Benjamin Blake after they examine a piece of art painted by him on display in the school. After initially loathing him, Cass decides its her job to save him. However, during this time, Cass and Max-Ernest stop being collaborators because of a petty issue.
After leafing through some spa brochures collected by her mother, Cass decides to pose as one of the Skelton Sisters, a teen pop sensation, and calls The Midnight Sun spa to pick her up in a limousine. As the driver pulled into the spa, he told her that The Midnight Sun spa is said to be a pyramid with a “gleaming orb of light at the summit”.
While being escorted to her suite, she spots Gloria in a younger form lounging about a pool. Gloria is oblivious to the truth and is enjoying her stay.
Cass then meets Owen, a stuttering servant who sets up her room and tries to make her comfortable. Cass finds Owen the most likable out of all those at the spa.
Later that night Owen comes into Cass’s room, speaking with a strange accent and no stutter, a notable characteristic he had when she last met him. Max-Ernest and Cass reunite as Owen leaves to go about some business and they discover that the goal of the Midnight Sun is to achieve eternal youth. The duo save Benjamin and a fire breaks out, but before it it is implied that Ms. Mauvais’ conspirator Dr. L is Pietro Bergamo’s brother Luciano.
Owen meets up with Max-Ernest, Cass and Benjamin and they all speed away from the spa in the limousine as the light from the orb atop the pyramid dims and eventually goes out. Along the way home the limo nearly crashes into a truck. When the driver exits the vehicle, he is found to be Grandpa Larry and his dog looking for Cass.
Owen sets off on his own in the limo while Benjamin, Cass and Max-Ernest drive home with Grandpa Larry. Cass and Max-Ernest become collaborators again shortly before the end.
Touch could be a kind of battle magic, like Evocation spells. Then again, that’s a lot less subtle than the other magics…
Um… What exactly is National Novel Writing Month? *is ignorant*
It’s an event in which one must write a new and original 50,000 word novel over the month of November.
I sort of want to do this. Sort of. I mean, it’s a lot of work, and I’m sure I have other things to do, but it could be really beneficial and it’s been ages since I wrote anything, even fanfiction. I have whole lists of ideas just sitting on the back burner. It’s kind of intimidating how much I want to write but don’t. I just get stuck in the idea-planning stage, and suffer from an extreme unwillingness to write anything down or to spend time editing. It takes me forever to write, my thoughts either go too fast or I come down with writer’s block. Heck, even editing and posting this is a challenge that took ages.
Someone please encourage me to write. It doesn’t have to be NaNo, but something, anything will do. Even if it’s that homework I need to work on. *sigh*
Sorry for being so maudlin, I’ve been feeling terrible about my language skills lately.
Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! Write! For the love of pie, write!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Write, or I will eat your BRAINS.
Well, you wanted encouragement, didn’t you?
I’m trying to integrate at least four different things:
Time: The aftermath of a bloody revolution overthrowing royalty in favor of a republic (with shades of the French Revolution: growing extremism and execution of nobility and “traitors”)
Place: A vast desert dotted with oasis-cities as the main setting
Magics: Based on the five senses (see my earlier post)
Villains: Disturbingly alien creatures made of sunlight that take on the forms of mirages and people’s reflections in mirrors
Arghhh I’ve been avoiding this thread now haven’t I…
Don’t get me wrong, I would love to do NaNo this year, the problem is time. There’s just a ton going on in November – I won’t sit here and look like an idiot listing out my “excuses”, but I know it’s going to be busy – so I was thinking that instead of going for the full 50,000 (which I didn’t even manage last summer, and that was three months…) instead just having a plan to write for a certain, smaller quota each night. Not sure what this amount is going to be yet, but at least this will hopefully get me writing on my own time more actively.
…there are several stories/novels that I’ve started before and never finished, but I sort of just wanted to start fresh with this. I’ve been throwing around some ideas, but I haven’t quite thought them through too much yet. Hopefully I’ll do some more brainstorming tonight and come back with some better ideas. Typically I like writing realistic fiction, but that’s just so hard to do I might just wing it and throw in some magic in here or there.
I’d love to write a NaNo, but I’m not sure I’ll have the time. I’d also need to have the commitment to spend my spare time writing, and also the eloquence to persuade my parents to let me have extra computer time.
The idea I want to write about is about a star that is mistakenly banished from the sky. She lands in England, is cared for by the couple who found her, and after a few weeks, ventures out into the rest of the world. She travels all over, touching many, many lives, and find out a lot about normal life as a human girl. Then, when the stars finally realize they made a mistake, they invite her back to the sky. However, she would rather live with the friends she’s made on Earth, and tells the stars she would rather stay as a human instead of returning to the sky.
Have you read Dogsbody, by Diana Wynne Jones? Sounds a bit like that.
That sounds good! I’d read that! Kind of like a more emotion-based Superman.
I’m now considering writing an Industrial Age/Glacial Period tale. Pack mammoths and steam locomotives? Yes please.
Yes PLEASE yes write this PLEASE.
Wonder of wonders, I have a character I actually LIKE now. I think I will write this Gaslamp Glacial tale.
Unfortunately, I’ll probably have to change the title. DEFENESTRATE doesn’t quite fit.
Gak.
NO IDEAS.
I might end up doing the utopia-under-a-dystopia story, but still, there’s no plot. Hm.
LBK-thanks for the cheer.
Enceladus-Eek. OK, I’ll write, but if I start to flag you can’t eat my brains because then I won’t be able to write and will forever lose the chance to participate in NaNoWriMo.
My idea is vague and unformed at the moment. I was hit by a sudden bolt of inspiration yesterday and wrote a sort-of prologue to the story. It’s metatastic, narrated by a genderless (at the moment) person who is a little too crazy and personally involved in the story. I’m planning to start the story with this person’s (great?) grandfather. There’s going to be a hero and a villain, duly identified by the narrator, but the narrator is unreliable and as the story goes along it shows that en is only on en’s family’s side, and that good or bad isn’t as clear cut as en makes it to be.
Part of the problem is that en is the only person in the story who has an unhappy ending. Everyone else is satisfied and moves on with their lives, but en is unhappy and tells the (exaggerated) story of how en fell on bad fortune to everyone en meets. So that’s the basic idea.
I still have no idea how en fell on bad fortune though. It might be a misunderstanding with the rich and powerful person in the town en’s family lives in–powerful merchant or nobility.
I don’t have a strong setting for the story. I keep imagining a small town in Italy or something that looks like it, but I thinks it’s more set in a generic, slightly medieval fairy-tale story place. Probably really anachronistic. I think I’ll focus on the character building rather than world building. And the plot. Which I have no idea about.
I don’t really have any fantastical elements in the story, despite my name. I’m kind of sick of having to memorize an entirely different world structure and setup with every new fantasy book I read. Maybe I’m getting tired of the genre and a name change is in order?
Waitwaitwait. Maybe the plot can have something to do with a MacGuffin object rumored to have magic powers. (Just rumored). A ring, that is more important to the person it was given to than it’s original owner, who could care less about it. Maybe this ring was given to the grandfather of this person by a daughter of the rich and powerful house. Maybe she was the head of household. Maybe later descendants want to get the ring back, even though the original owner didn’t care who had it.
Oh boy. I’m getting excited now. It’s not even November yet. Will the inspiration last? I really did come up with the plot idea right now, typing. I hope it does. Wow this is a long post. Oh well. This is a Brainstorming thread. I’m rambling. Woohoo!
I have a world. A city with remnants of the magic that once spread across the kingdom floating around, now directing itself into useless tasks such as making buildings float, running water uphill, and warping space slightly.
The secret of magic was lost ages ago, so it’s uncontrollable. MC’s great-grandmother, who died some years before the story starts, could use magic, but nobody else can, so far.
And I need a whole pile of names. I wanted a bunch of them, so I could throw in minor characters whenever I felt like it, and then I realized I need at least two lists of names, one for nobility and one for the commoners. Maybe even a third, for the rebel types. And each of the lists have to have a unique flavor, but with similarities. Erk.
And I’ve rambled enough. I’m quite excited about this idea, even if I do keep coming up with other ones.
Go to baby name sites. Piles of names all sorted by gender and linguistic origin.
I don’t really have a plot, but I think I’ll almost definitely write a story from the perspective of someone who either isn’t the hero, or is a very unlikely hero. That is, the main character isn’t actually the hero of the story, probably a friend of the hero, or the main character is the hero, but someone else is “the chosen one” or whatever, or the main character is someone who isn’t very special in a world where there are very special people. (e.g. someone who can’t use magic in a world that has magic users.)
So it could clearly go a few ways from there, and I’m leaning towards one of the first two options I described, but other than that I’ve got no clue as to what to do. Any ideas?
I don’t think anyone I know off the Internetz is doing NaNoWriMo this year. *sob*
The only two people who did it last year, Terpsichore and my friend Montesquieu (yes, I dip into Enlightenment philosophers to get names, whatever) have both said they probably won’t this year. Terpsichore pleads total lack of ideas, and Montesquieu has given up on finishing about twenty days before he’s even started. Then Cleopatra, the only person from arts camp who I still talk to, told me she can’t because she promised our writing teacher she’d revise the novel she wrote during July in November.
Sigh. I might just go get a cartload of ideas and bring them to Terpsichore so she’ll do it with me.
I wish I could convince somebody else to do this… Most of the people around me are saner than I thought, or just busy with school. I know one person who was going to do it in July, but I don’t think she ever got off the ground. I’ll talk to her, but I’m not extraordinarily hopeful.
I’m really looking forwards to it even if I am alone. After all, nobody else did it last year! (Not quite true. I do know someone else who did it, but I didn’t know she was doing it until afterwards.)
i’m picturing cleopatra apologizing profusely all while montesquieu sits in the corner moodily….:lol:
i love all the names you choose for people!
i know at least one other person i know is doing it, hopefully more…
so read through whole thread (Well, mostly!) and you all have fantastic ideas, very inspiring…
i’m definitely trying this year, and harder than i did last year. all of 200 words…-___-
out of curiosity, how many of you have done the whole 50k before? i know TMFA is a god and busted out like 75k+ last year, i think
even though i am abit worried about how this will fit in with school, i consider this as important, if not more, for the reasons rebecca mentioned. i need to get out of my “IT WILL BE PERFECT THE FIRST TIME!” mentality. i need to write more fiction! I’M GONNA DO THIS!!
plot wise….not entirely sure yet
i’ve been throwing around the idea of a series of short stories or fables/fairy tales…something like that.
Actually I got an idea a while ago to write a series of short stories, each based around a single kanji and its derivation (since kanji are ideographs, the shape/strokes are derived from images.)
an example being the the kanji that means “night” is derived from images of the moon and mountains….so somehow building a story around that. but i don’t know if i’d already be boxing myself in too deeply…:lol:
some of them would be told like fables and others would be more modern…i guess there is considerable room for improvisation. hmm…
something fairytale-esque also interests me but i’m wary of the hackneyed “fracture fairytale” paradigm…:( although maybe it doesn’t matter if i want to just write! ehhh
there’s also the story that i was trying to write last year but i think that one might still be beyond me, i dunno.
Um, it was 105k. or there about.
*is in awe*
HA i almost said that but then i questioned myself because i was like “nah that’s not humanly possible”
WHICH IS FITTING BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, GOD STATUS
xD
I can’t claim TMFA’s Godly Powers O’ Wordiness, but I managed to bang out 70K.
I finished, with almost exactly 50k on the very last day. Not exactly the most impressive wordcount here, but I’m happy with it, as a first attempt.
Same here.
Urk. I was perfectly happy with my plan, and I had no real thoughts of switching to anything else until today. Well, maybe yesterday. Yesterday I had an idea for a really cool title with a neat double meaning. (Ties That Blind, either about a girl who can’t believe that her former friends are now evil, or about neckties that take away your sight. :D) Today I sat down and wrote three solid pages of my first decent synopsis ever.
I’ve now put more effort into this new idea than into my former one. But I’m not sure I’m excited about it anymore. I couldn’t come up with an good ending for it, one that I was at all satisfied with.
I seem to have hit a period of apathy. I’m not excited about my original idea, I’m more interested in the new one. But I’m not extremely excited about that one either.
I’ll go with my original idea. I’m trying to figure out exactly how to start it, and basically the entire plot line beyond a very very basic idea. I now know that I can write a good summary, since after all I’ve written one before, so I’ll try doing that for this one.
If I really can’t get enthusiasm at all for my original plan, at least I have a backup plan. A couple backup plans.
That rambled way more than it should have. Sorry, I’ll be more coherent tomorrow. I need to go to bed now…
((Apologies ahead of time for the poor wording of this post, I’m feeling rather addle-brained at the time.))
I’ve decided I’m going to have magic in my novel, and the first thing I wanted to do was to decide what kind of magic is allowed, and how to keep it balanced, because not everyone can use magic.
I decided to have magic divided into two schools, Hard Magic and Soft Magic, Hard Magic being all the spells with clear, stark effects, and Soft Magic being more subtle. Each school is divided into two classes, and each class into three commissions. They are as follows:
Hard Magic
Necromancy
-Healing
-Zombification (basically what it says, although I’d like to make it clear that total resurrection (that is, bringing someone back to life) is not possible.)
-Altercation (Any damage dealing spells.)
Evocation
-Summoning
-Teleportation
-Stormcasting (Basically, changing the weather. This seems like it could also be a soft magic, but I decided it fit best under Evocation.)
Soft Magic
Alteration
-Shapeshifting
-Illusions
-Divination
Enchantment
-Charming (getting a person to do things for you. The usual rules of charming a person apply.)
-Buffing (making someone better at something.)
-Exaggeration (bringing out certain traits in a person, tampering with their emotions. Making them very angry, or sad, for example.)
Questions? I’d like comments, suggestions, and criticism, this is a still a rough draft.
Sorry, I forgot to include that Magicians, Wizards, whatever they end up being called, can only cast spells from one of the two schools, whichever they choose, and then specialize in one of the classes.
How will you balance the power between the two schools? It seems to me like Hard Magic is quite a bit more powerful. Perhaps Soft Magic lasts longer? Or Hard Magic, is, well, very hard?
Hm. Good point. I’ll think about that…
Perhaps I’ll put a skillcap on Hard Magic, and not on soft? Or no skillcap on either. Essentially, Hard Magic is better in the beginning, but if you stick in for the long run, Soft Magic is very powerful. It kind of fits in with the schools, too. Hard Magic is immediate, and Soft Magic is slower… I like that idea.
Or you can never tell when Soft Magic is being used, that might work…
Yeah, that’s an idea. Although that could quickly get out of hand. (Exaggeration used to make someone so angry that they commit a murder, and then nobody can tell if it was used or not, for example.) But I could combine that with the Skill cap, so that the better you are with Soft Magic, the harder it is to protect against and detect.
Mine will be something along the lines of a zombie pre/post apocalypse. But not the generic kind, something new. Some sort of prologue through the eyes of a scientist/soldier who helped create a piece of biowarfare gone wrong, then through the eyes of his grandson. The whole thing will revolve around “safe stations”, wrecked underground subway stations transformed into safehouses and barricades. Each one will have a sizable population, but not too big. They’re connected by tunnels, but only a handful are infected-free.
Only a little will take place aboveground. Now, excuse me while I go watch 24.
My username is [snip!], if the GAPAs allow it.
I just realized that my NaNoWriMo would make a really great movie script. I might have material for Script Frenzy!
My friend, who I worked on Script Frenzy with, persuaded me to do NaNo this year… ^_^
I believe I’m going to write something about a girl in New York City(?) who finds this magical thing (I think it’s going to be a feather) which transports her to another, fantasy, world. Hopefully it won’t be nearly as cliche as it sounds, the fantasy world isn’t going to be the dragons-and-unicorns-and-You-Must-Save-The-World-From-Evil kind. XD
Um, by the way, is the header up there calling us National Novel MuseBloggers?…. Oh-kay…. XD
NaNoWriMo… yes. This sounds like that beautiful concept I never before to the time to partake in. I feel a bit as Alice does, swept up in the appalling mess of schoolwork my teachers feel necessary to bestow upon me, yet… It’s plot think-uping time. Though the day grows nearer, I think I just might, just maybe, be able to pull this off.
I henceforth commit myself to this project.
Good news, I’m taking a writer’s workshop class so maybe I can spend 45 minutes every other day in school devoted to my NaNo! You know what would be cooler? If I spent that much time finishing last year’s. Which is AALLLMOOSST done. Meh.
asajdfajdfjfkdja;l;fjf
I can’t do this.
I can do this.
don’t panic don’t panic don’t panic
All I need is a character. Someone with a voice and a personality that I can keep writing for the sake of. Even if I put her/him through agonizing dilemmas and randomly generated ordeals, I promise I’ll give him/her a happy ending.
For once in my life, I want a character that isn’t a cardboard cutout.
You can so totally do this. For sure.
Quick! Symbols foreshadowing death! I’ve got:
-knives, hung up all over the place
-a huge painting of the death scene in Othello
-poison ivy overrunning the woods
-a skull, somewhere. In the secret lab!
-? Any ideas?
There’s always lights burning out/candles being blown out.
i’ve heard that cypress trees symbolize death, but i don’t know if that’s true or not. wilted flowers?
Snow.
The number four.
Scythes showing up in random places.
Hourglasses, clocks, and other trackers of time.
Lots of animals are associated with death (black cats, bats, vultures).
Tombstones and angels are a little more obvious, but they could work depending on the situation you’re writing about.
An owl, raven, or magpie.
A pale horse.
A saddled horse without a rider.
A pair of chopsticks stuck like tongs into a bowl of rice.
A broken harp-string.
A broken thread or cord, especially golden.
A stopped clock.
The ticking of a death-watch beetle.
In a deck of cards, the ace of spades.
In a Tarot deck, the Tower Struck by Lightning. (Oddly enough, the Death card itself does not symbolize death.)
(I wasn’t sure whether you needed symbols of death or omens of death, so I’ve included a few of each.)
But… owls, ravens, and magpies are some of my favorite birds… The magpies in Spain were beautiful. My friends gave me strange looks when I was freaking out over them; I was staring for quite some time. They’re really beautiful birds-they have a nice body shape, nice colors, and a nice long tail.
A clock chiming 13?
In some European cultures, chrysanthemums symbolize death.
White chrysanthemums, to be specific.
Three horsemen.
A dead chicken/rabbit/deer/*insert Bambi animal here* stripped of its skin, opened up, gutted, and hanging from its feet.
A bottle with a skull and crossbones on it
An old clock, dusty and cracked.
Broken anything
…as you can tell, I have a disturbed mind.
I have a problem-my computer won’t let sign up for NaNo. By that I mean it won’t let me check the I accept these terms and conditions box. And, strangly enough, I actually read the terms and conditions. So, with my computer acting like this, I believe I shall just be attempting to write a novel, not really worrying about word count and stuff. Of course, I will sign up if my computer decides to be nice and let me.
Yay, it decided to be nice!!!
I think I may have characters, if not yet a plot. This is basically intended to take apart and examine all of the stock high-fantasy characters before putting them back together in new ways.
Ten years ago, the world was in deadly peril. Dark powers rose across the land, threatening to bring everything that is and will be under their shadow. Humanity had one last, desperate hope; the Chosen One, a hero who rose from humble beginnings to challenge the forces of evil. After a long, hard-fought struggle, he succeeded, and was hailed across the continent as mankind’s champion.
Then he disappeared without a trace.
This is not his story.
It is the story of those who search for him.
First is the mentor, an ancient warrior imprisoned by his own infirmities. The training of the Chosen One was his last great achievement, and he seeks his student hoping to find some proof that it was not ultimately a failure.
Second is the executor, part of a branch of the Church that even the rest of the Church doesn’t know about. The executors are the insurance policy, the half-legendary lawyer-priests who quietly ensure that prophecies work out the way they’re supposed to — and put a positive spin on things for the public when they don’t. The very words of the Oraculum are inked into their skin. Officially, the executor is there to find the Chosen One and drag him back into the light, but she is beginning to doubt that it’s the best thing to do, either for him or for the world.
Third is the lover, the Dark Lord’s beautiful daughter. She was raised to believe her father’s cause was right and proper, and believed it up till the moment she fell in love. A passionate impulse led her to help overthrow her parent, one she thought she’d never regret- until the Chosen One vanished a few weeks after their betrothal. Ten years has been long enough for plenty of regrets, and now isn’t certain that, when the final battle came, she chose the right side.
Fourth is the mercenary, the instrument of a dead man’s revenge. Carrying a relic imbued with the last remnants of the Dark Lord’s power and thought, he follows the trail of the Chosen One with one intent in mind; to kill him. In exchange, what’s left of the Dark Lord has promised him the one thing in life that he wants, the one thing that all his blood money could never buy.
(There ought to be five, but I can’t think of a fifth right now.)
8 days left.
Why is this thread dying? The momentum should be picking up! As TMFA most astutely pointed out, there are only eight days left till Triple Aces!
I’m not sure!
My enthusiasm isn’t as high as usual. I haven’t been working on my idea.
These are clearly connected. Must go work more.
Zombies on a march of destruction across the U.S. have surrounded Avalry High School in the small town of Avalry. Almost all of the students- save the cheerleading squad, which was zombified along with the teachers- are trapped inside, enforcing barricades against the undead threat and withstanding power outages and limited food stores. Class president Emilia Kemmerson is trying to maintain order within the school, but it’s not going so well… and soon she’ll have to decide- should the students remain hidden? Or should they fight against the zombies?
Much plot-tweaking to come.
Where is everyone??
69-Ooo, cool! That sounds good. For ideas on barricades and such, I reccomend What to do if zombies attack which is full of interesting stuff, such as the fact that earplugs are a very important thing to have to survive a zombie siege-people can be driven mad by the constant groaning.
I have changed my plot, and I shall be writing about a virus that gets loose in a town and causes most people who get within a few feet of it to die within a few minutes. If they touch it they die rather…grotesquely :D. Some people try to flush it down the toilet and rinse it down the drain and it multiplies and everyone in town is infected except for some people at the local high school who seem to be immune. They are turned into flesh eating mutant people who can use pychic energy to influence things around them.The same scientists who were experimenting on the virus (On government orders) and caused it to mutate tried to find a cure but it just made them like the high school students, although without the psychic energy. They collect the students and all go to a boarding school building on the edge of town where they figure out what is going on and are able to grow flesh and blood in vats. Then the government comes and cleans the town of any traces of the virus (including all corpses). They manage to hide. The scientists seem to be hiding something, though, and when the virus (which looks like green ooze when there is a ton of it; and there is a ton of it) comes out of the basement like it’s coming from nowhere and an evil doppelganger appears, 15-year-old Sora decides it’s time to figure out what’s really going on.
How does it sound?
OK, While I’m not entirely sure of the whole plot, I am sure that I’m looking for some (article of clothing?ex:hat, scarf, watch; other ideas?) or something that can be given or put on someone as a symbol of human nature’s innocence. I’m thinking associating such an object with another character might make it easier…but while I’m here, any suggestions?
Hm. Perhaps one of those shiny capes? Anything typically associated with children and you’ll be golden.
For girls, a little red riding hood. Or anything involving Hello Kitty.
(Just kidding about Hello Kitty.)
A common symbol of innocence is a lamb. Any piece of jewelry or item of clothing bearing the image of a lamb would serve the purpose, I’d think.
Five and a bit days until Triple Aces, and I finally have a good idea.
*panicpanicpanic*
All of my ideas have died.
No plot.
No characters.
Zilch.
And NaNo starts in, like, four days.
asdgfasgd;a
It’s a good thing I worked out most of my plot, like, last summer (I’m recycling an old RRR plot that died before it really got started) because I have done NOTHING SO FAR.
I really need to like, work out character sheets and stuff or SOMETHING
Except now I think I am going to go carve a squid fighting a ship on a pumpkin.
THIS IS WHY I HAVE PROBLEMS.
Jadestone:
Relax. Pumpkins are important!
Also, it is perfectly fair to work out “character sheets” as PART of your NaNo; just describe them as part of the story. Doing too much stuff on the side only dilutes the energy.
how’s this for a plot idea:
main character(no name figured out yet) basicly runs the family farm by him/herself. main character’s parents are for some reason(still undecided) unable to do anything. then one day some cousins move in. however, they are no help at all-they heve never done any garding, are afraid of most animals, won’t do any chores, can’t cook, ect. so main character has to teach them how to do a lot of stuff AND cook for them AND get some kind of job because she/he needs more money AND do a lot of other stuff.
so. you like it??
Your main character sound a bit too perfect…
Perhaps you could add a bit of a
homicidalantisocial tendencies.A good psychological problem never hurt a story… did it?
oh yes you’re right
So I have a decent plot, a setting I like, a cool character who isn’t made of cardboard, and a second cool character who also isn’t cardboard, and I’m basically quite excited.
Except I had this cool idea of a space fantasy type story with a clueless, shallow, self-absorbed, main character and a bunch of really awesome space-agents. Heavily influenced by the book I’m reading right now.
I’ll stick with my original idea, though. It’s fun too.
It’ll be much more challenging than last year’s. For one thing because my characters hopefully aren’t the previously-mentioned cardboard duplicates of each other. My villain was the most interesting character of all. Maybe when I rewrite it, I’ll do so from his perspective.
That’d be fun.
I’ll stop rambling now.
Skyfall: Where the decayed hailstorm-causing revenant is actually on your side, and the beautiful sun-being of shifting auroral veils is the one you should be worried about.
Skyfall: A rousing tale of industry, exploration and genii locorum in the Frozen North!
Skyfall: Seriously, where else can you fit woolly mammoths and steam locomotives into the same story?
(I AM COMING UP WITH TAGLINES FOR MY NOVEL GUYS)
I like the second best.
Names for the Frozen North: Perryland? Hensonager? (or latin root for land)
Also. I need names for a culture similar to the Inuit, a culture similar to Britain, and a creature similar to Otzi the Iceman animated by a storm spirit.
(The Radiant Ones don’t have names. They’re the reason the Frozen North is so legendarily dangerous. Which reminds me, I also need a name for the Frozen North region.)
Thule?
Definite possibility for either one.
I meant Thule for the Frozen North.
I need to sign up. I need to outline–not plot, my story is character based so I need to write a character sheet. I need to keep from panicking.
There is one happy note in all this–completely to my surprise, I know people in real life who are planning on doing it also. I’ll have someone to complain to
ifwhen I get writer’s block.Okay, have totally scrapped my pokemon idea and am going with a sequel to HTTyD. Need a name, something short, and a tagline. Help?
How to kill your human: A dragon’s story of rebellion.
How to leave your dragon: A boy’s story of moving on.
For the top one, a story about Toothless killing what’s-his-name. The other is about how the world was just some kid’s fantasy creation that he eventually has to abandon.
Lol…but no. I was thinking of something entirely unrealted to the HTTyD title. Basically the only ties it will have is the village of Berk, dragons, and stories of a “lost Rider”, or Hiccup.
Taglines and titles for my story:
Minds in the Sky: Where magic is not what it appears to be, and half the world lives in death.
Living Air: You use what makes them live, and then you die, and then you become one of them.
(Yes, it is a subtle reference to intelligent air.)
Gwaed Academy: Where water fountains contain blood.
Wow, I’m horrible at taglines.
82-I like the first one.
Hmm…possible titles I’m thinking of.
Dangerous: Are they really?
The Lost and Found Rider: What happens when you leave for 40 years and come back.
I Trust You: I won’t hurt you, and I know you won’t hurt me.
…I kind of like the last one.
More:
Crumpled: What happens if you throw away everything and start over again?
When You Die:…make sure you leave with a bang
Take Wing: And fly through the clouds
Anger Cuts Deep…Sadness Cuts Deeper: Why? Why would you do this to me?
*sigh* I’m not very good at taglines
Strikeout Kid: Folks, do you believe?
82-I also like the second one.
83-Are you still doing the virus thing? If so, how about “Virus: Lock your doors.”
85- Baseball? “Three Strikes-Something only the Strikeout Kid could ever achieve.”
Sort of. Think baseball crossed with post-apocalyptic crossed with King Arthur crossed with the Industrial Revolution.
Wow. Lots of crosses. Okay, lemme think…you know what, just use your title. It’s so much better than anything I could com up with.
81.1 When I read your comment, I litterally gasped and screamed out loud “Encleadus forgot Hiccup!!” How is it possible to remember Toothless’ name but not Hiccup’s? (I may despise everything that movie stands for, but it’s mostly because I love the books.
Anyway, when exactly does NaNo start?
November First.
Specifically, isn’t it 00:00:01 Nov. 1st military time?
Cool! I’ve finally evened out an annoying plot device issue in the story I’m planning to write, and it looks like I did it just in time for NaNo!
Because I never read the book, and didn’t enjoy the movie.
Mine:
Things get catty…: Hold on to your tails.
Have finally decided! Here you go:
Crumpled Secrets: Let’s start over.
NANO STARTS TOMORROW NIGHT!!!
I’m slightly excited. I think I have my idea polished fairly well, I have a bunch of decent characters, and I’m otherwise fairly prepared!
For some reason, sixteen hundred words sounds easy right now. Even though I know perfectly well that it’s actually amazingly hard.
Memory is a funny thing.
I feel prepared. I’ve got my characters, a plot, and an idea for a plot twist. I watched “Coraline” last night, so I think Fagan is going to be like Wybie and the White Rabbit mixed together. I liked Button Wybie…*sniff*
18 and a half hours and counting!
Since NaNo has already started in some time zones, can we have an official NaNoWriMo thread?
Yes please!
I’m thinking about changing my story last minute. I want an action novel. Maybe about zombies?
I’ve set a goal: an average of three thousand words a day, and I’ll be all done in about 20 days. That leaves some leftover time for more words!
Yes; that’s what I was planning too. I’m rather busy in Novemember, so I will have to complete my NaNo in less time. Also, my plot is really messed up and I need to figure it out, so that’ll take some time too…
Yayness. Noveling starts tomorrow, in about 4 hours from now. I just saw Inception and that definitely will influence my novel. Basically, it’s going to be a satire on the constant repetition of fantasy plot-lines. And, since I’ve decided to ignore any form of objective criticism, it will be freakin’ awesome. Basically, I actually have a vague idea of my main character at least, which is a much more than I had three days in last year XD. Added to the fact that I have no school this first week of november and that I’m not in the hospital the first two days this time, this year is going to be awesome.
OHMYGOD. I still don’t have a good plot. This isn’t going to get done.
NO THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING.
My carefully constructed plot which I spent so long on had a few holes poked in it this morning by my sister and I had no time to sort them out and four minutes from now I start writing and I’m this close to throwing out my plot and writing something else that I’ve been sitting on for a couple days. In the same world. With a few similar characters.
No more time. No more time. Three minutes.
ARGHHHHHH!!!!
GUYS LOOK AT ME I’M NOVELING
so far there are these dudes who are writing a story. i think maybe the guy in the story will realize he’s being written and try to find them. but maybe not. we’ll see. so far there’s a tavern. and a light switch. so setting is also up in the air. the writer-god-dudes had the light switch and the character had the tavern so maybe they are rewriting the past for some reason. who knows, man. it’s nanowrimo.
Heh, I had absolutely zero planning for this. I’ve just leapt in and am devising stuff as I run!
But, I have made four characters.
1. Andover -likes to play cards
2. Cloaked guy – is angry
3. Marcelle – is sad
4. Angel Ilyia – is productive
Yeah! And someone already died! Guess who.