Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

twiggilala — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 17:04:39 -0500

Salutations, bonjour, greetings, and hola~ You can call me twiggilala or Laura, and I will be your fantabulous co-moderator of the Literary Fiction forum this year. I am quite the fan of literary fiction, and I cannot wait to discuss the tricky monster that it is with you. Feel free to introduce yourself and your plot here. Some ideas to start you off: what's your plot, what is your favourite work of literary fiction, and tell us something fun about yourself.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

signalbeam — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 01:56:17 -0500

Greetings! I am signalbeam, and I'm very excited to write my first NaNoWriMo novel! My novel is about a boy named Flanders who meets a boy named Cam, who teaches Flanders to realize (and embrace) the wildness around him. Will Cam go too far? Also contains fantastical/surreal elements and weird stylistic stuff that I tend to play around with. Youth and reality are the most evident themes. My favorite works of literary fiction are Invisible Cities (Calvino), Dandelion Wine (Bradbury), Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte) and Einstein's Dreams (Lightman). And me? I'm nineteen (turning twenty in November), a boy, a junior at university, and an avid reader/writer double-majoring in English and History. One time I got in a car chase, but I got away. Another time a jellyfish floated onto my foot and I panicked and kicked it out of the water. It hit a European tourist in her thigh, and while she was unhurt, she wasn't too happy with me.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Inoru no Hoshi — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 04:05:21 -0500

Hallo, I'm Inoru, and as you can see, I'm a long-term resident of NaNo. \o/ This year, I shall be writing about a man who wakes up one day and literally can't remember the last seven years of his life, and thence tries to pick it back up. Seriously character driven, and may end up being seriously meta, which I figured means LitFic. I'm honestly not quite sure what all I've read that fits under "literary fiction", so not sure I can give a favourite. Sorry! As for myself, I'm almost 23, unemployed (still), severely hard of hearing, crafty and creative in various media, and am generally hanging out on Twitter, fangirling over Adam Lambert, and reading fanfiction in a truly impressive number of fandoms (or so I'm told; I even read in fandoms I don't know the canon of).

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

TimothyCarlow — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 04:42:48 -0500

Hey everyone :) I'm Tim, or Timothy (honestly have no preference) and this is my second year officially doing NaNoWriMo - last year was a success! I'm a bookseller (which I love doing), and am getting married this coming summer. My novel this year chronicles a 24-year-old man named Adam, who, as the result of a tumultuous former relationship with a budding cocaine addict, is single father to a little girl named Amara. On the one year anniversary of the disappearance of Amara's mother, Adam's friends take him on a ski trip to Vancouver, British Columbia, to try to keep his mind off of his former love. But the weekend quickly turns disastrous when, on the trip home, a fire aboard the ferry sends the enormous boat to the bottom of the Georgia Straight, claiming dozens of lives - including Amara's. In the days and weeks that follow, Adam must rediscover what it is that defines him as a human being, now that the axis of his former identify - his beloved daughter - is gone. An exploration of how disaster reshapes us, how we relate to the world around us, and the factors in our lives that define who we are. I have high hopes for this project, and can't wait to launch into it! My favourite work of literary fiction? That's tough. At the minute, I'd have to say Nicolas Dickner's "Nikolski"... probably because I just finished reading it and thoroughly enjoyed it. My all-time favourite author in this genre is Michael Ondaatje, who I got to meet at an event hosted by my work recently! Feel free to add me as a friend if I seem like somebody you'd like to be friends with! -Timothy

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Almira Torralba — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 05:58:41 -0500

Kat here! Been around here since 2008. I'm doing this novel while working on my first year of post-grad. Currently this year's novel is going to be told in epistolary style: via letters. My narrator won't do much--he's reading the letters of my protagonist, a playwright and actor named Darren. Darren has a lot to work out:: he's pushing 30, still not yet settled, about to leave a job, in love with his married best (guy) friend Emil, and estranged from his family. The story is basically about the genesis of a play based on Darren's friendships with Emil and a lady named M.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Raquelin — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 08:35:29 -0500

Hello, hello, again. I'm Raquelin. I have only vague semblances of plot. This year it's something about terrorists/freedom fighters and the corruptive influence of love (I'm so excited for this, oh my Baty), and of course more epic Pokemanz. My MC needs to finally 'grow up.' This will, obviously, entail getting body slammed by a raging Charizard. I've already done the research on flail chest. Not entirely sure what constitutes as lit fic, since I only really read YA and even then, YA that tends to be 10-20 years old. As for something interesting... well, I enjoy incorporating crack-addled challenges into my NaNo experience and pushing myself to the point of wailing, wine-drinking, numb-fingered exhaustion by Thanksgiving. (I hear this makes me a "real writer." Compensates for the Pokemon and the random hilarity.) Yay!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

anna scott graham — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:22:00 -0500

Hi! I'm Anna, been poking around with lit fic now for a bit, my second actual year hovering in this forum. This year's plot is part coming of age, part dealing with middle age as two sets of best friends endure tragedy. Phil and Julia have been together as buddies since they were twenty. Now their eldest children are wading through similar murky waters, as well as falling in love. Phil and Julia are helpless as Abe and JJ lurch from one angsty situation to another, until Abe dives off the Golden Gate Bridge. As Phil was abandoned, now JJ is bereft along with the rest of Phil and Julia's families, Abe's body unrecovered. My fave lic fic? Well, In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan is one of the best. Being There by Jerzy Kosinski rates highly, but my new most favorite is The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, part metafiction, all brilliance! Something funny about me... I LOVE to bake and cook, especially sweets. However... pie crust scares the hey outta me! Not the eating, but the making. Which is probably good, or I'd make far too many pies and never get any writing accomplished!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

cheesypeas — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:52:09 -0500

Hey everyone! I'm Sadie, my third nano but first time doing LitFic (that's what I figured my nano is this year, not really quite sure though). My novel doesn't really have a plot as such, just developments in the characters thoughts and relationships... or something. It's basically about a year in a young man's life who sort of befriends a not-quite-so-young widow(though their precise relationship is quite hard to pinpoint) whose lost touch with her life after the death of her husband and just can't seem to get it together again. I guess I'm sort of pondering the questions of whether it's worthwhile to give your whole life to someone if losing them will be so painful, and also how do you rebuild your life when its been completely uprooted. There's other stuff too, but that's hard to put in a short description. My favourite to LitFic? Hard to say, I can't really tell what's LitFic and what's not... If Watchmen counts (yes, I know it's a graphic novel) then that's my absolute favourite. Something fun about me? I'm OBSESSED with sewing. My flat is full of fabric and patterns and everything else sewing-related :) DIY ftw!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

TheBookworm — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 10:35:56 -0500

Hey everyone! I'm Tesni. Nice to meet you. *waves*. I'm fourteen years old, and this is my third attempt at literary fiction (the other were last years' NaNo and a random other novella I started writing over the summer). It's also my third year of participating in NaNoWriMo. My NaNo this year is based loosely off a short script of only about 600 words that I wrote in the spring. It's about a teenage girl, Julie, who's reached some major crossroads and turning points in her life. Following the death of one of her best friends as a kid, her mind has been constantly inhabited by an imaginary friend she had for company, but now who refuses to go away, manipulates her a lot and basically won't let her get on with various other aspects of her life. So, ghost in tow, she leaves home to revisits all the important locations of her past that she associates with him as a way to shake him off, and I imagine that there will be all sorts of surreal escapades and little vignettes of the people and places they go weaved into it all. I imagine it will be very character-driven and such, so we'll see how it goes. Favourite works of lit. fic? Ahhh that's such a hard question because I devour just about all the books in the genre that I come across. However, I guess my favourites are the Dance Sequence by Aidan Chambers, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Under a Glass Bell by Anaïs Nin (if that counts), We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut. When I'm not writing I can generally be found singing, playing the double bass, guitar or piano, overenthusiastically studying German and Russian, listening to French singers from 80 years ago and obsessing over Marlene Dietrich and Clara Bow.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

TheBookworm — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 10:37:57 -0500

[Duplicate Post]

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Bewitched.Rhapsody — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:12:19 -0500

-barges in through the door- Hola. I'm known outside of the internet as Julia or Jewels, and occasionally My Little Sunshine/My Sunshine [obviously, a nickname my parents have given me ^^]. On the internet, I am called Natalie Field, a little pen name I came up with. I like it when pen names and author names are four syllables (J.K. Rowling, Charles Dickens, Terry Pratchett, C.S. Lewis, S.E. Hinton, Very Quick In-A-Nutshell Summery of My Novel: FMC (Anneliese Mencken) moves out to the country, gets lonely, joins a writing club and meets a bunch of kids who she decides to befriend and help - even if they are different and her parents may or may not approve. Naturally, it's a lot more than that. Lots of internal conflict. Society and generally people also seem to be doing a lot of conflicting. o.0 There's a distinct lack of plot. Lots of pondering. Yeah, it's LitFic. And I honestly don't know what my favorite LitFic is. I didn't even know such a genre existed until NaNoWriMo, really. /shot. Does The Outsiders count? Probably not. But the so-called "plot" does seem to be summed up in the characters. Sort of. Never mind. Something fun about me? Ouch, tough question. I don't know. I write. That makes me awesome. Right? /shot again. I play the piano and some guitar and sing a bit... I'm a music nerd. I don't know if that's something fun about me, but there you are. And music comes before writing for me. Yeah, I'm a BIG music nerd. Oh yeah, and I clog. Warning: a lot of the videos on youtube about clogging fail. Just a warning. o.o I used to do Irish dance. I did it for five years before switching to clogging. Both dances are extremely awesome. The clogging technique is easier to master, but the steps are just as hard as those in Irish. The Irish dance technique is ten thousand million times harder to grasp. And Irish music has stolen my soul. But I don't rank one dance over the other. Well, there you go. Pleasure to be writing with you guys. ^^

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Bewitched.Rhapsody — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:16:16 -0500

Woops, HTML/whatever you call it fail. ** (J.K. Rowling, Charles Dickens, Terry Pratchett, C.S. Lewis, S. E. Hinton -- just a few of the epic four syllable authors). And it appears my paragraph spacing disappeared. It also appears I cannot edit... ? Oh dear. o.o Oh well.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Entity_TK — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:49:58 -0500

Heya, all! Teresa here. There's so much to tel I don't know where to begin anymore. The series I am writing is a complex one, which makes me chuckle because of the fact it started with a single question or idea I never thought would fill a single novel. It grew like the roots of a rosemary plant. Last November, I barely came up with what was then the fifth of five novels, and I wrote the first 50k or more words for that one even though the other four were not yet written. A month later a sixth was added. Two more months after that, the universe of my series expanded. The novel from last year became the ninth of thirteen. That was the gestation and birth of the Unbound Saga. This year, I finally wrote half the first book back in August. I mean to write book #2 come November 1. There is another series--a science fiction trilogy--I wish to write, but this bigger series demands far more attention. I thought back in December/January I was going to write the first part of the trilogy during this year's NaNoWriMo, but it did not happen that way. Ah well.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Simonetta — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 12:35:56 -0500

I'm called Simonetta on here. This is my first year doing Nanowrimo and I'm really excited! My plot is... well, like most LitFic, there isn't much of it. It takes place during late 1917-1918, and the MC is a young man named Neil Philbin who's quite a loner, and finds himself bored and aimless. He works in the film industry, getting bit parts and stunt work to make do. He meets a young, little-known actress named "Viola Eden", and the story is mainly about their relationship, their ponderings about their meaning in life and future, and the desire for recognition and fame. I have little of the outline completed, so more than likely, I'm just going to see where the characters take me.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Jamilah — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 13:21:39 -0500

Hi. You can call me Jamilah or, if you prefer, Linda, which is what my parents named me (and what still appears on all official documents). I can't remember offhand how many times I've attempted NaNoWriMo now. I know that it's been a while since I've finished anything. I actually have a work-in-progress that is nearly done (well, first draft) and I need to finish that before the end of October. About sixteen years ago my husband and I suffered at the hands of community members, many whom we had counted among our friends, when politics entered into our religious institution. I suffered more than my husband, partly because he's mostly immune to stress (must be nice) and partly because he got a six-week reprieve away from the mess to be with his dying mother thousands of miles away while I coped with the community and our six sons, one just a newborn. The effects of this whole trauma have been long-lasting for me, mentally and physically, and I'm still trying to shake them completely. A few years ago I thought it might help if I could write about the whole ordeal. But it took me a while to figure out my angle. Now I have it and I am ready to go. A family moves to a small town, looking for a better life, and at first they are pleasantly surprised by the warm hospitality of everyone around them. But. . .

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

cassidyone — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 13:23:39 -0500

Hello, Debbi here This is my third NaNo, hopefully my third win and Hopefully, my second actually complete novel (kinda failed at that the first year ... ah well ...) I write Lit Fic because I love characters more than just about anything and I'm a bit preachy on opinionated subjects that often have to do with character strengths and flaws (politics, religion, etc.) so that's where I end up. This year's novel is the aftermath of a pandemic - about 60% of the world population has died and the other 40% get to rebuild their lives and societies while mourning what is lost. My protagonist will be leaving all that she knows behind and heading out west to the Teton area where she'll meet all sorts of characters I have yet to outline and they will all try to rebuild their own little corner of the world in the image they see it. That's about all I have now but I have -what?- 20 days and some odd hours and minutes and seconds to refine from there :) Looking forward to it!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

yossarianette — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:35:47 -0500

Hi everyone :) This is my second time doing NaNoWriMo. I wrote a really cheesy fantasy novel when I was in high school, and now that I'm done with college I wanted to give it another try. I read a lot of literary fiction over the past few years and it's warped the way I write, so that's why I'm here. That said, I tend to enjoy literary fiction that overlaps with surrealism/magical realism. I hope to someday write a novel as excellent as Flann O'Brien's The Third Policeman, but I'd settle for writing something half as good :) I have no idea what this November's novel is going to be about, though. I want to see what I come up with on November 1st. I'm afraid I'll lose my enthusiasm if I plan too much. Good luck everyone! Nice to meet you :)

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

muffinsplanned — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:36:31 -0500

Hi there everyone, I'm Rebecca. This is my 4th time doing NaNo, first year writing a LitFic (more like YALitFic, since it's slightly coming of age), previous years I've done a fantasy YA (failed), and two mystery/crime YA even though I'm not at all a fan of mystery novels. This year I'm wringing a story of a young girl who's life has always been a struggle, and is now dealing with the aftermath of her life taking a drastic turn. She didn't get into college, and her parents are in the middle of an ugly divorce. Then she meets a young boy who is a lot like her young self, and they form an odd sort of friendship. My favorite work of literary fiction? I have to be honest and say I haven't read much literary fiction, and those I have read are Swedish, so I doubt it'd say much here. Something fun about me? I will probably change my plot around 7 times before November, and I will stick with the idea I get on oct 28th. heh

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Bandi.Bandi — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:44:55 -0500

Hello, my name is Ally. I'm a junior in high school (home schooled), and besides writing I love swimming and playing the piano. This is my second year year doing NaNo, and hopefully my second win. Last year I wrote Lit Fic as well. I love the genre, because I believe character development is more important than a good plot. I don't have a plot for this year yet. I may end up just writing a collaboration of short stories. I do have plenty of ideas for those. I think short stories are great for showing string character development. My favorite Lit Fic novel is Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. I know I've probably outgrown it, and most of the other books I read are totally different, but this is the book that led me to start writing Lit Fic. I also enjoy reading Sharon Creech's books. I'm very excited for this year to start!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Trippy41 — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:00:41 -0500

Hi, My name is Laura and this is my first NaNoWriMo. I am a high school secondary teacher and I have been writing in one form or another since I first picked up a pencil in Kindergarten. My LitFic story idea has a plot summary and I am currently graphing it out, but the basic theme is the mother/daughter dynamic and how it works with the overlay of mental illness. The story is told through the eyes of the daughter, and I want to explore the bias that she has as an unreliable narrator. Her POV is skewed by her emotional state, and her latent feelings of hostility towards her mother who struggles with mental illness. The title, which I've had in my head forever it seems, is Far from the Tree. My favourite LitFic author is Margaret Atwood and some of my favourite books from her are: The Handmaid's Tale, Alias Grace and The Robber Bride, just to name a few. I'm looking forward to see if I can get this done!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

thewritechristine — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 19:29:19 -0500

Hi! I'm Christine. This is my second NaNoWriMo. I'm a writer and poet from California. I started writing my book during NaNoWriMo last year and will be writing part two (or book two, if you will) this year. My book is about two students at Columbia University who are ushered into the world of the intelligentsia by their professor, where middle-aged professors and artists live vicariously through and manipulate young people for the benefit of their work and creativity. Working title is Wherewithal or Daybreak. My favorite works of fiction are Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham and Burmese Days by George Orwell.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Raquelin — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 20:29:31 -0500

I just read Bloomability last night. I was wondering if those would 'count' as lit fic. Nice to see someone else bring it up. :)

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

BreatheHistory — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 21:10:21 -0500

Hello! *waves* I'm Amy. :) This is my third year @ NaNo (won my first year with a political history/thriller, failed miserably last year with Lit Fic). I am actually going for attempt #2 at my Lit Fic novel from last NaNo... Ashby has lost her way in life after the death of her mother & her family's lack of grief. Ashby is soon visited by her mother's "ghost" who claims her death is murder. Basically it's a literary rehashing of many of the themes of Hamlet, told through the experiences of a "lost period" of my own life when constant partying seemed like a better idea than actually dealing with my demons. I struggled with the story last year I think because it was harder than I thought to write so close to my truth, but I hope I am better prepared this year! I still really like the IDEA. Obviously Shakespeare is a big literary influence for me but I also love Edith Wharton, Jane Austen, and John Irving among others. A Prayer for Owen Meany (Irving) is currently my favorite novel. I love the variety of topics I already see in this genre! Should be a great November :)

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

BreatheHistory — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 21:38:59 -0500

No editing comments? Oops. I forgot to add the "something fun!" I am a huge St. Louis Cardinals fan! Loving this magic postseason ride we are on, AND I get to go to a game this weekend :) Go Cards!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

minionygoodness — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 22:15:26 -0500

Hey all. :) I'm Riella. This will be my first year of NaNo, although I have written many books outside of NaNo. I've been writing since I was 4, and have finished over 100 books. None published yet, though. I'm really looking forward to November. :) My book is actually a mixture of LitFic and Action/Suspense. There's quite a few things going on plot-wise, but the focus is on the character's reaction and growth because of the events, rather than the events themselves. The MC of this one could very well be the most unusual MC I've ever had, since her unorthodox upbringing causes her to have a drastically different mindset than most people. My favorite book ever is Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis. Not sure if it's officially a LitFic book, but that's how I would describe it. It taught me so much about people, the way we think and react to others; I wouldn't be able to write LitFic nearly as accurately as I do today if it weren't for that book. :)

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

DanWells11 — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 22:21:26 -0500

Hey! I'm Daniel - I work full-time and day-dream part-time. :) This is my first time with NaNoWriMo, and I THINK that this is LitFic. This will be the best way to kill time/be productive until Graduate School comes around next fall. (procrastination on grad apps isn't helping...) 'The Society of Broken Nails.' (Third Person) A 13-year-old boy is told that he will be attending summer school for the first time. I'm intending to portray him as a sexless boy that is thrown into the summer school by his parents that fear he is homosexual. I hope to undertake a study of gender-based stereotypes through a boy that is watched, studied and dissected by the camp's staff. Once he comprehends why he is at the camp, the boy will join the society of broken nails with other boys, which will come to question their sexuality, sexuality within science, and then the worth of such studies within existence itself. Is J. D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye a LitFic? If so, that's my favorite! I'm in intermediate music mode (piano, contemporary composing, lyrics, etc.) and am looking for musicians to sit around with. Other than that, I love to cook, to dance and the arts. (Shakespeare in the Park, here I come!) I'm working in retail sales, but because NaNoWriMo is right around the corner, I'll probably hold off on a search for internships.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

my_foil_tree — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 01:21:30 -0500

Hi I'm Jessica! I've done nano since 2009. I won in 09 but lost in 10 and I hope I can redeem that name this year! This year's novel is based on fifteen characters and the story has fifteen chapters. Each character is the MC of their own chapter and each chapter focuses on the recent problems and important life questions that are facing each of the characters. It's set in a meditation garden on a college campus, where all of the characters attend. This story is hugely character driven. Oh, and it will begin with two people discovering a dead body, which is going to make it sort of a mystery. Since each of the characters are all in the same place for each of their chapters, and they are all occurring within an hour or so of each other, then all of the characters are going to at least run into each other. Somehow I'm going to let the reader know that one of the secondary characters in each chapter will be the dead body by the end of the novel. The big deal at the end though, *spoiler alert,* is that the girl who dies is going to pull out a gun and attempt to kill herself, only to be shot by a misfire of another kid's gun a few feet away before she has a chance to pull the trigger. *sigh* I hope I managed to explain the concept without it sounding too weird. I guess that's how you know you belong in lit fic! Don't really have a favorite lit fic novel right now, but I think I could safely say that The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien is probably my favorite. As for me, I'm celebrating my first anniversary in a few weeks and I'm starting my senior year of undergrad school this year :)

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

TheZazzMan — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 03:59:16 -0500

Hi all, I'm adi, I'm a uni student hopefully finishing my Psych degree next year. This will be my first NaNoWriMo and I am very excited. I've been planning for a while but everything is still fairly up in the air. My story is about a man stuck in a remote and isolated small town in a valley. He wants to leave but can't bring himself to. The main theme is an exploration of self sabotage . BUT, I don't know how I'm going to go and since this is my first big writing project I'm basically just going to throw in as much experimental stuff as I can. So lots of dream sequences, lots of flash backs, lots of digressions and tangents, lots of surreal imagery. Not sure if it's LitFic exactly but then again what is? I think it'll probably suck in the end but I'll learn something about my writing abilities and voice so I can't wait. Fave literary work has to be anything by Pynchon really. I also write music.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

not-spencer — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 06:04:48 -0500

Spencer here, comic dork, coffee drinker and all-around good-guy (I like to tell myself). I'll be eighteen next Friday, this is my first NaNoWriMo. I'll be writing about Davey, a bad-tempered, codependant, manic-depressive young writer, whose battered girlfriend finally leaves him. I'll also be writing about his dead best friend, his ex-girlfriend's new polyamorous relationship, his hardly-functioning alcoholic father, and a five-foot-two, tattooed boxer and child psychologist. As for my favourite litfic... if Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close counts, that's it.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Acile — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 08:31:38 -0500

Hi, I'm Acile or Alice, 19 and a university student from Austria majoring in Japanese. This year will be my third NaNo and I can't wait to start! I'm longing for a little creative chaos more than ever because uni is quite a lot of work. My novel isn't fully planned or researched yet, but I'll be writing about a philosophy student whose disillusioned world view causes him to look down on his fellow city dwellers and pencil pushers. When he meets a guy who wants to be socially accepted through becoming the prettiest person in town, however, he finds himself thrown into the social pool and finds it more interesting than he thought it'd be. However, it's only the first impression... The story deals with how he'll cope with city life and if he can find a place for himself in the big mass of anonymous faces. There'll also be some annoying crows on the rooftops and a speaking cat figurine. My favorite litfic book? I adore everything by Haruki Murakami, especially "Norwegian Wood" and his most recent work, "1Q84".

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

astrida — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 08:40:34 -0500

Hi, I'm Ida and this will be my 3rd year doing NaNo. I currently work as an intern at a local museum. I'm 21 years old and living in Finland. The theme for my novel this year is rape, female sexuality, slut-shaming and blaming of the rape victim. I know it's been a widely discussed topic lately, but it's something I feel strongly about and I really want to write this plot. Oh, and it's called The Slut Journals. Favorite works of fiction, um, there's so many... The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, The Shadow of the Wind and Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, and Purge by Sofi Oksanen, to name a few.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Fizzit — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 13:08:38 -0500

Hello! I am Kristina, and all I can say is that I adore lit fic. :D My novel this year is going to follow the perspective of nine different characters. There are a few different storylines going on through all of these characters lives, and everything is driven towards a final "crash" among them in the end. I love lit fic because it is so character driven, so I am really going to push my luck with having so many main characters!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

twiggilala — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 13:41:03 -0500

I suppose I actually should introduce myself a bit here as well. My name is Laura, and I am twenty-three years old. I just completed my Master's in English Literature this past August. My thesis was focused on Virginia Woolf. Unsurprisingly, my favourite work of literary fiction is "The Waves" by Woolf; though, I am also currently very fond of anything written by Richard Powers. Kelly Link and Michael Chabon are also literary pleasures of mine.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

BookHungry — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 21:26:28 -0500

Sorry to hear about the troubles you and your family have gone through, Jamilah. It sounds like you do have an interesting premise for a book, though, and I agree that the writing could be healing. Good luck with it!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

BookHungry — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 21:49:07 -0500

Hello. I'm Sandra, a first time Nano. My book? Well, let's say I'm taking the phrase "No Plot - No Problem!" to heart. I'm starting with a loose idea of a woman who's spent most of her life in daydreams and fantasies and reaches a crisis when reality pushes its way in. A favorite Lit Fic I've recently read is "Possession" by A. S. Byatt. Something fun about me? I'm a marvelously expressive singer. It's fun for me, but alas not for anyone who might hear my singing, as I can't carry a tune! Hence my passionate singing remains a solitary, but enjoyable, pastime.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

BaKa-NEKO — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 22:23:12 -0500

Hi! My name's Keely and I've been a WriMo since 2008. LitFic is the general, all-encompassing genre that I work in since my plots end up very character-driven, but I work in many sub-genres (Humor/Parody, Action/Adventure, Sci-fi/Fantasy, Mystery, Horror, etc). I'd say that only genres I haven't stepped foot in are romance and ero, although I'm sure I'll get to erotic lit soon enough... I'm a brand spankin' new freshman in college, so this NaNo's gonna be tough. My workload is insane thanks to the fact that I chose one of the most difficult majors on campus, but I'm hoping I can make the 50k. I haven't written a solely LitFic work since my novel in '08--It was pretty popular. I'm hoping I can duplicate its success. This year I'm working on a novel regarding a really interesting medical find. Basically, it's been discovered that if you give comatose patience Ambien or a similar sleeping pill, they will wake up for a few hours and, assuming there isn't severe brain damage, they will be completely conscious and able to interact with people. I'm going to be experimenting with this concept, with my protagonist being comatose. He can wake up for an hour or two every day, knowing that, once it's over, he'll fall back asleep. My favorite novel (Or series of novels) is the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Fun fact: I can touch my nose with my tongue :D

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

KaitTTT — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 01:22:58 -0500

Girl. My name is Kait, I am 25 years old and located in sunny (joke!) Portland, OR. This is my third time participating in Nanowrimo... but really only my second, since the first time (in 2006) I don't know that I actually wrote anything. Last year I was writing from Seoul, South Korea. That November will go down in history as one of the best in my entire life! I met some excellent people (& one especially excellent person) and had some hilarious times (see: reviewing each others' work, "10k day"). I only wrote ~24000 words, but I felt like I definitely accomplished something. This year I want to work extra hard and get my first WIN. I think it's possible. I can do this. I have a bit of a plot and some character names. And a lot of good intentions. The vibe for my novel this year is the same as last year: chill. I want it to be about realish people doing realish things, even if they are funny things, or weird things. I want to focus on writing well, describing well, etc. I want there to be a little bit of sadness and ache in my story, even though it will have mostly happy endings. I dunno! We'll see! Nice to meet you all.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

benarol — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 12:12:51 -0500

I'm Ben. 4th time NaNo, I think, but I'm a massive rebel (I prefer the term 'maverick') this year; I'm rewriting parts of a complete draft. It's called Polaroid, it's about a bunch of young people drifting apart and trying to find out where they belong in the world. Also they dress up as zombies and follow people around. My favourite LitFic is... all Vonnegut. Also; Waugh, Isherwood, Chabon... recent discovery, Nicola Barker, who blows my mind. Best (ab)user of language this side of Stephen Fry. I will stop typing.... now.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Acile — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 14:59:31 -0500

Hey, that's an interesting novel and a good title you have here. Does the zombie thing actually help them to find out where they belong? :P

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Goerge — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 15:10:54 -0500

Greetings! I'm Abraham Meislow, twenty-one years of age, who has recently become addicted to the sheer beauty that is literary fiction. This is my... sixth year participating in, and winning (it will happen, I have to keep telling myself that) NaNoWriMo. My novel will be about a truly appathetic man, a journey into discovering the why to this character trait set against the back drop of a London being torn apart by political/social/economic riots. One of my most favorite works of literary fiction is Candide by Voltaire.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Michael Hanley — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 15:12:29 -0500

Morning/ afternoon/ evening (delete as appropriate) everyone, All well with you I hope. A very quick word to say 'Hello!' and introduce myself by saying that this is my first NaNoWriMo, and - like the inexperienced marathon runner - I'm just hoping to finish. UNLIKE the inexperienced marathon runner, though, I guess our strategy can't be 'Start steadily.. and then slow down!' On the face of it the novel I shall be wrking on - 'Cantiones Sacrae' - tells the story of a festival of choral music which took place in a number of parish churches in the diocese of Lichfield, Staffordshire in England in the summer of 1989. However it is also an elegy for the music itself and for the churches – the building of which stretches back over earlier centuries to the start of the previous millennium – that that music was first sung and heard in. When it comes to literary inspirations, I'd like to able to channel a little Thomas Hardy over the next six weeks or so. Here's hoping, eh ;) Speak soon, Mike

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Sir write-a-lot — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 15:41:00 -0500

Greetings Earthlings, I'm writing a story about escapism from society, death and meaning with life. As I discovered with one of the threads here in this subforum, I focus on higher chunks than lower chunks (specific details), and I laughed out loud, when I read in the first post that it was a common trait among lit fic writers, so here I am, hellooooooooo. I've got a message I want to share with the world. Many of my ideas of fiction I want to write arrives from high moral thinking, and from there, I develop a story around it that makes these themes popping like T-pain. Peace over and out,

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Milla Berlin — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 15:51:25 -0500

Hi, Lit Fic folks! I go by Milla online. This is my second NaNo. My novel for this year is called Ransom Heart. The FMC's last name is Ransom, so it's a play on words, but I haven't decided on a first name yet (names are always the hardest for me). The novel traces her relationships with three different men: her high school boyfriend who gets her pregnant (she gives the baby away for adoption), the guy she thinks is her soul mate, and a third man whose beliefs are completely at odds with her own, but with whom she has a deep connection. She's very rational about all things and doesn't believe in emotions or love, but these three relationships challenge those beliefs. This is my first time experimenting with a non-chronological plot, so I hope it works and doesn't make the story seem disjointed. My favorite work of literary fiction is The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. Something fun about me...I collect vinyl records and listen to them while I'm writing. It's good because I get a break every half hour or so when I have to get up to flip the record. Good luck to everyone this year!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

metafictions — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 19:58:24 -0500

Hey all! I'm Celeste and I'm managing NaNo as well as my HSC (Final leaving exams for high school) all at once, which should be interesting. My novel is entitled "Leaving", and will be exploring just that; what exactly is leaving? How does one leave? Etc, etc. It sounds absurdly crap when I put it down like that, but I want to explore the promise of the future and the replenishing power of memory (Gwen Harwood, anyone?) and that seemed to fit nicely with them both. I'm an absolute AS Byatt fangirl, and more of a poet than a novellist, so a lot of my prose draws from Ginsberg, Hughes etc. So absolutely thrilled and excited!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

thewonderelf — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 21:35:26 -0500

I'm Kelly, 25, and a first year MFA student at Chatham University in Pittsburgh studying fiction and travel writing. For this year's Nano (my fifth), I'll be writing the first draft of my thesis novel about a female mortician who can talk to dead people. I happen to be a total Star Wars nerd, and I don't really believe in genres. Some of my favorite "literary" fiction includes Margaret Atwood, Ursula Le Guin, Cervantes, Horacio Castellanos Moya, all the usual Latin American magical realism suspects, Vonnegut, etc.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

ianthe — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 21:58:14 -0500

Hi! I'm Louise, and this is my first year at NaNo :) My novel is about a girl (surprise, surprise). She and her friends consider themselves to be adults: living out the best time of their lives, but they are only fourteen. Bee and Theo are friends, sort of. But when a job pushes them together, Theo sets Bee's world on fire. Everything is different with them, from what they do together to how they act to what everyone else thinks. Theo is not everything he seems (they never are), and his world is shattering before both of their eyes. It's not a romance because it's not about romance. It's mostly about the societal issues we have with young people who don't have to be young, and old people who want to be. Bee goes through a powerful character journey, through what she thinks is love and back again, but Theo's character is the one with the real issues. So, essentially, it's about a whole bunch of messed up people in a town together :) My favorite lit fic is probably The Catcher in the Rye.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

catalytic — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 03:27:52 -0500

Hey. I'm Gloria. My novel was originally going to be a romance, but then it became something greater. It's about the complexity of the trap love can create. Basically, two characters struggle individually with the love they have for each other in a mutually destructive manner. It's going to be dark and complicated, but hopefully do a decent job of looking at how easy it is to find oneself stuck within an inescapable downward spiral. Violence, sex, mental breakdowns, and identity crisis- woo! I am an Atwood fangirl and adore Fugitive Pieces (has anyone read it?).

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

benarol — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:00:49 -0500

Thanks. I'm not sure how to answer your question without a boring essay... I'll say this: the zombie thing is a semi-failed attempt to fix the problem (of belonging) themselves.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

reelbigschmidt — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:38:51 -0500

[duplicate post]

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

reelbigschmidt — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:40:45 -0500

I've reposted this below the others. Obviously haven't used these forums in forever. Didn't mean to reply...

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

reelbigschmidt — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:40:56 -0500

Hey. I'm Daniel. This is my fifth go-round with NaNoWriMo, only finishing twice (my first two years!) Instead of starting fresh, as I have in the past, I have been on somewhat of a stride (albeit a slow one) with a novel I'm going to continue to write, which I've called "They Will Not Be the Only One's Starving Under the Sun." I've been a third done with this thing for as long as I remember and my natural tendency is to just edit, edit, edit. So I'm going to try to move beyond where I've been stuck and just write, write, write (until December). It's hard to explain the plot as it centers around a man named Orestes, who is abandoned in Kansas Territory just before statehood. It loosely follows his life, while involving dozens of other characters, spanning from the 1850s to 1945. It is, I suppose, my take on the sort of novel I like to read - the sweeping epics that don't feel like they're holding you underwater. It'll take you from the humble beginnings of a homestead to the ravages of religion upon the native Kansa (and their eventual removal) to the gold rush of California and the rise of San Francisco to labor strikes in Kansas oil fields to Leavenworth prison and rebellion during WWI and finally to a Mexican friar and scholar searching for the bones of the first martyr on US soil. I was born in South Dakota. Grew up and went to college in Virginia. BA in History and Journalism. Moved to Lawrence, KS. Fell in absolutely love with Kansas. Then, for some reason, moved to Denver, CO. Love to read, love to write. Started reading Latin American fiction in college, still in love with Bolano, Borges, Cortazar, Filsberto Hernandez, etc.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

nanoJuu — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 18:52:40 -0500

Greetings, LitFic brethren! My name is Julie. This year will be my second attempt at NaNo, and hopefully my second win as well. This year I'm writing a novel tentatively titled "The Thousands." It's about a young woman who decides to meet all of her online friends before she goes off to college. Lest I sound like a laundry list, but I'm playing with the concepts of perfection (or the lack thereof), naiveté, and how potential is a commodity easily wasted. My favorite piece of literary fiction would have to be Slaughterhouse-Five by Vonnegut, for so many reasons. In non literature related information, I have a husband and a cat. My life is pretty boring.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

ghk1962 — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 23:55:03 -0500

Howdy all ~ Greg here. I'm actually super new to this writing thing. Not only is it my 1st year at NaNo . . .but really, I've never even attempted to write before. I read a lot, and have occasionally daydreamed about writing. A friend clued me in to this site and I thought it was totally cool. I find myself sorta addicted to the idea of a novel now. Driving to work, eating dinner . . . I think about plot and character and timelines. I suspect being my first attempt, the suckage quotiant will be fairly high. But that's ok . . . I figure if i write that's good enough. My story revolves around a guy who goes back to the place he grew up in . . . and he tries to find out what has happened to a boyhood "friend". As for a "fun" thing about myself ~ uhhhhh . . . uhhhh I do Irish dancing with my wife :-)

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

BeatifulImperfection — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 01:10:49 -0500

I'm Brenna. :) This is my third NaNo year. I have no idea if I'll finish. I just barely finished last year. ...as in, I wrote 32 K on the last day and finished twenty minutes before midnight. It was pretty bad. My story...has no plot. But this is LitFic after all. haha. But. The essential premise is the life of a girl who discovers beauty in the trials in her life instead of succumbing to depression. I think the central plot will be her struggle with an eating disorder. My hope is to shed light on real emotional issues without making it over dramatic...hopeful reality, I suppose? Something interesting about me? I'm either incredibly interesting or incredibly boring, depending on how you look at it. I think Batman is the greatest character ever invented. I psychoanalyze everyone I meet. I love the Cookie Monster in a weird way. I do public debate, but I hate arguing. That's about it.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

ColorOfSakura — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 02:39:40 -0500

Hey all, I'm Robert. This will be my seventh NaNoWriMo, and hopefully my sixth win. This is my first foray into LitFic, but I'm certainly excited to see how it all turns out. I spent the last two years writing Mainstream Fiction novels and I think it's time for a change of pace. I'm 26, turning 27 in December and I work in a fabric and craft shop. I'll be honest, I only have a vague idea of my novel's premise this year, so all the details haven't really sharpened into something legible yet. However, my current working title is "Petrichor." Favorite work of LitFic would have to be either To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee or The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I adore both novels, and was probably one of the few weird kids in High School that enjoyed reading them. Good luck to everyone else out there!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

zemmy — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 04:44:00 -0500

Yo, I'm Jazmin. This is my forth year of nano but so far I've only won twice (silly swine flu got me one year). Every year I plan to write fantasy or adventure but I always end up back in literary fiction. Writing the genre just comes naturally to me, I guess. My plan will probably change but this is what I'll sit down to write on November first: Hattie (short for Harriet) is a very intelligent girl of 14 with an IQ of 144. She was born without legs into a world where her mother is also her sister. Hattie is optimistic, despite her abusive family and a nervous disorder that leaves her unable to talk in front of anyone except her mentally unstable brother. She dreams of being taken away by a loving family and eventually she is, when the police bust the meth lab in the basement. But the family is adopting her just for the publicity, and she slowly becomes bitter while still trying to keep optimistic that things will change. The story mostly deals with how powerless Hattie is against the people in her life and how her high expectations constantly fail her. I don't have a title yet though I'm leaning towards "Expected Joy." My favourite piece of literary fiction would either have to be The Boy in the Striped Pajamas or Crime and Punishment.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

matthewpennell — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 13:14:55 -0500

Hello, all. My name is Matt, and I've attempted but failed entirely to complete NaNo on three previous occasions. This year will be the first time that I will actually have the spare time, and no chance of surprise freelance gigs, to dedicate to completing the 50k. I'll be writing from a film script treatment that I've been tweaking for a couple of years. It tells the story of an introverted loan shark; a repressed Catholic widow and her daughter with modeling ambitions; the parents of a dying girl, falling out of love; and the neighbourhood photographer. If I could have written anything, it would have been Magnolia. My favourite literary fiction is probably Bukowski.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

oliviaobscura — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 19:57:38 -0500

Hi I'm Jo. This is my second nanowrimo. Last year I "won", but I really had no idea what I was doing. I've spent the last year writing as much as I can, so I feel a lot better going into this November. That said, I've decided to be a complete NanoRebel. I'm going to have a completely deconstructed Nano - no new novel, no 50,000 words, no 5,000 word days. How very litfic! Reason being I'm due to give birth in November, as well as finishing off a couple of short stories for a course I'm doing. But I will be revisiting my novel from last year, which I'll never bring myself to look at without a good motivation like Nanowrimo. It's a crimlitfic, or crime fiction with elements of literary fiction, called Simple Living. Basic premise is that the MC goes from living on a commune to staying with her rich half sister and is drawn into investigating the crime when the sister murdered. It's sort of about my family. I wasn't sure if I was writing litfic but in the last year I've written a lot of short stories with no plot (most recent being a guy walking to the dry cleaner only to experience a major crisis when they give him the wrong suit back) so now I know. I assume anything I read that isn't genre is litfic, so my fave novels are Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre and Life of Pi by Yann Martel. But if you want something more traditional I'll nominate Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolfe.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

chowchowgrl — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 06:13:25 -0500

Hi, yall! Lainey is suffering, so she decides that now is a good time in her life to volunteer at a local dog shelter. At first it's fun. She even adopts a big yellow hound and names him Cornbread. However, it soon becomes apparent that being involved with dogs means being involved with people, some with a very dark side ... My story is called UNDERDOG RAILROAD and will feature post-traumatic stress disorder, sex, healing, depravity, hope, and home cooking in the Midwestern autumn countryside.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Yuustinoodle — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 09:39:51 -0500

Noodle here. I *tried* Nano a couple of years ago, but never got far with my story. This year, however, I'm serious about this! I'm actually planning my novel and trying to get ahead with course-work so I have more time and more focus on my novel. My story is about 4 people (3 guys and 1 girl): a Catholic priest with a lost sister who sort of haunts him (in a psychological way), a man who quit med school to become a high-school teacher in search of fulfilment, an excitement-junkie paramedic who doesn't care much about anything and a girl who wanted to play it safe and be a teacher, but ended up in art school. I want to explore relationships they have with one another, and questions like how well one can get to know another person, whether it's important, why one looks for a special sort of friendship, stuff like that. Also, I imagine 'searching' is going to be a prominent theme too. The idea occurred to me in a sort of backwards fashion and I liked it so much I decided to tell the story that way too, so, it starts with the death of one of the guys and a detective goes around trying to find what happened and piecing the story of the 4 people in the process and forcing the 4 people re-examine their friends and relationships. My favourite work of litfic is Mikhail Bulgakov's Master and Margarita.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

the lee shore — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 13:02:03 -0500

Your novel sounds awesome!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

the lee shore — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 13:17:33 -0500

Hi guys! I'm Caitlin, and this is my first year doing Nanowrimo. My story is about a relationship between two women--starting when they are in high school and continuing in to adulthood-- and the way that youthful radical idealism can change as you grow older. It's obviously not very fleshed out yet... My current favorite writer is probably Norman Rush. Any other Rush fans out there?

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

missreeka — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 13:21:03 -0500

Hi everyone! This is the second time I'll be participating in nano . . . I was on track for completion in '08 (46K words) and then my cat knocked an entire glass of water on my computer. I needed a year or so to recover from that. I've been trying to wrap up another project I hope to enter in the ABNA contest next year but I've decided to take a little break and try to bang out another first draft. I have a title (Salvage), a number of the characters, and a vague idea of how they're going to interact. Some of my favorite books are Postcards,by Annie Proulx, Marabou Stork Nightmares by Irvine Welsh, and Horse Heaven, by Jane Smiley.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

quixotic_hope — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 14:54:49 -0500

Hey everyone! My name's Katie, though I go by quix/quixotic_hope on the forums. This will be my fifth year doing NaNo, and I'm hoping for my third win (fifth if you count both sessions of Camp). My story focuses on a girl named April, who only made it through high school because she was told everything would be better after college. Now she's unemployed and forced to realize that something has gone terribly wrong with her life, and she can't figure out what it is. She has to deal with how unfair it is that a straight A student is unemployed and living at home while everyone from high school who almost failed and dropped out are living on their own and having a great time. Not sure I have a favorite writer at the moment, but someone else mentioned Virginia Woolfe, so I'll go ahead and ditto that person. I wrote a paper on "To the Lighthouse," and it made me really appreciate the subtleties of that novel. And I don't think I spelled that right but that's okay. :)

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

cartweel — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 17:05:21 -0500

Howdy everybody! I'm cartweel -- John -- and this is my third NaNoWriMo. I'm a student, and mid-terms are smack dab in the middle of November, so I've never won before, and since I've just started a new graduate program that is kicking my ass, I doubt I'll win this year, either! But that's no big deal, I just love the distraction from my academic writing! This year I'll be toying around with different ideas of what it means to "convert," religiously or otherwise. My story centers around a young man's experience joining (and leaving??) a cult. Aaaand it may also be a romance thriller with gay vampires. And long sections of epic poetry. And epistles and chronicles and songs and other sundry literary forms all at once a la Burroughs and dada lit. And I might toy around with something akin to mind-altering/mind-controling language like 1984's Newspeak. And _no really_ lots of sexy vampires. I live in Chicago and cook Southern food just like my grandma taught me.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

monquito — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 19:24:33 -0500

Hi Everyone. I do believe lit fic is where I belong lit fic by dint of my novel being: feminist, dystopian, and speculative fiction. My major sources of inspiration are William Gibson, Margaret Atwood, and Marge Piercy, who all happen to be some of my favorite authors. The plot is: a woman thinks she is going to her first session with a new therapist to deal with what she thinks may be paranoid delusions and instead finds herself not only hospitalized but experimented upon. During the hospitalization we learn about what life was like beforeWe follow her through her escape from first the doctor, then the city, and ultimately life as she knows it. They weren't delusions. It's hard to pick one favorite. Standouts are: White Noise by Don DeLillo, Pattern Recognition by William Gibson, JPod by Douglas Coupland, Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy, Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, and Grub by Elise Blackwell (which is a re-write of New Grub Street by George Gissing). An amusing thing about me is that every creature I live with has a beard (schnauzers, goats, the husband-elect).

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

monquito — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 19:29:12 -0500

Ah! I forgot to add Wake Up, Sir! by Jonathan Ames. I am a huge fan of everything he does, but that's my favorite.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

i like octopi — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 21:52:10 -0500

my name is emma louise! i am sixteen and fabulous and definitely a cat. i like jack kerouac, william s. burroughs, allen ginsberg, and tao lin. i don't think i have a plot yet. i don't know i just like literary fiction!!!!!!!!!!! i also like tom wolfe and his exclamation points!!!!!!!!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

pollution aviator — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 23:31:25 -0500

Holla if ya squalor. I'm Sinclair. 22, 5th nanowrimo. Like everyone else I'm having a bit of a hard time summing the story up. It's largely a character piece about a very depressed but self centered/arrogant boy and the people he interacts with at his new apartment complex. He thinks he's better than them because he considers himself very intelligent (of course he never says this or consciously thinks this) but ends up learning a lot from them. I've been reading a lot of Woolf. She's a pretty cool guy. I'm always in for writing buddies if anyone wants them. Hit me up.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Inachis — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 04:30:29 -0500

Hello there. I'm Shermine, 15, and writing for my first official NaNoWriMo (only because I never actually bothered to sign up previously). A summary of my plot: Normal people. Normal lives. They meet. They change. Their thoughts. And that is my synopsis as quoted in its entirety. Seriously, though, it's basically about two main characters (who are going to be romantically involved, if not only for the sake of the plot and by extension talking about their feelings) and what happens to them, including how their thoughts constantly change throughout the entire plot (which is pretty standard and boring). The two main characters are basically meant to feel conflicted because of something happening in the plot, which is basically an excuse to get to write a response to odd situations from the point of view of an obstinate character with an inferiority complex and another idealistic individual who has parental issues and is easily swayed by his father's opinion. If I'm really desperate about my word count I'll write a poem (that actually fits) and fit it in somewhere, although it is more likely that one character will have a lot to say about music (considering that she's a music teacher and composer) and another will have a lot to say on both books and music. I don't know if Lovecraft can technically be considered LitFic, but I like the way he writes about his characters. Also, I seem to adopt his style (largely subconsciously, it appears) while writing introspective pieces. And then there are books which most people won't consider LitFic per se, but Rebecca is a great example of introspection plus a fantastic plot.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

SarahB-H — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 10:04:12 -0500

Greetings to all! When I reached my mid-50's, I made a midlife decision that it was time to leave a career I had come to loathe (public accounting) and begin something new. This will be my first time participating in NaNoWriMo. My novel will be set primarily on a cruise ship during a specialty Caribbean cruise for large contributors to the Republican National Committee. Characters will include an aging husband-and-wife team of conservative pundits, a drug-addicted ship's captain, and a waitress with a score to settle. As for favorite novels, I have many. Middlemarch is certainly among them, as is a recent Booker Prize winner, The White Tiger.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Lonaneomaflame — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 11:26:14 -0500

OMG Speak is LitFic? I so did not know that, if that is LitFic then what I write is DEFIANTLY LitFic. :) I feel better knowing what what I write is now.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Lonaneomaflame — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:06:33 -0500

Hi I'm Cathrin, and I think I'm writing LitFic this year. This is also my first NaNo I Love to write and I'm looking forward to November and Cannot wait for it to be here. (mostly because I HATE October now days for a few reasons). I'm writing about about a girl who finds out she is pregnant at fifteen just before her sixteenth birthday, at some undecided point in her pregnancy she will lose the baby. the first part of the story will be about what it's like to be pregnant in high school and the rest will about what it's like to lose a child during pregnancy. She does not have a name yet I'm not a planner at all and the only thing that for sure isn't changing is that she will be a teen mom who loses her baby. I'm writing this as kind of a therapy for me as her experiences will be similar to mine but her story is Completely different. I'm not sure what my Favorite LitFic is as I'm not sure what all is in LitFic, I love the sweep series and the house of night series. I am eighteen, I am married, and we have four children who were lost during pregnancy while in high school (see similar but yet very different) I play Five instruments and I sing very well, I love to read, and I run an org called Names in the Clouds; I'm also a freshman in college.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

MaryJeddoreBlakney — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:35:43 -0500

Hi, I'm Jae, or Mary, whatever fits your mouth better. My story chronicles the history of fictitious Patterson Mills, New Hampshire, from its founding in 1792 until the present, when something happens to Patterson's Jade Massilon that she simply doesn't believe is possible. After seriously considering that she may be losing her mind, she finally decides the experience was a vision, a symbolic message from God or her own subconscious, and it gives her the courage to make the changes she needs to make in her life. But as soon as she begins preparations to make those changes, she gets a message that throws doubt on all her conclusions. When Piper Provencher, a 1970's college student, finds herself the victim of an industrial accident, a handful of strangers band together to save her life and put themselves at risk for her comfort. But Piper's so obsessed with how wronged she was that she doesn't even notice. She's consumed with the idea of getting out of the bizarre life caused by the accident, getting home to the life she knew. Eventually, she gets her wish - but realizes too late that her wish could come only at a terrible price. I don't have a favorite work of fiction. I loved Wuthering Heights for its richness, Amistad for its lesson, Sixth Sense for its twist, and the list goes on. I live in a log cabin with a wood stove and no running water.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

KaitTTT — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 01:54:56 -0500

right on.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

subtlemelodrama — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 12:07:05 -0500

Hello! My first year doing NaNo, and I'm throwing myself into the Lit Fic fold. These intro posts are immensely amusing - I can tell just by reading some of them that you lot are LitFicers. LitFickers? Nice. I'm Beth, I'm 24, and I graduate with an MLitt in Creative Writing next month. So I should be able to do this. Yes? My novel is going to be some words, with a couple of characters, consideration for mental illness, some darkness, and some other things that I can't predict yet. Let's do this!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

velvetmoomin — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 13:28:45 -0500

Hi! I'm Laura and this is my first year doing NaNoWriMo and first time attempting to write a novel. I have previously written a PhD in philosophy and several academic articles, but I figured it was time to see if I could write something I would actually enjoy reading myself. I'm hoping the novel will be a cross between LitFic and psychological suspense, a little like Sarah Waters (I especially enjoyed Fingersmith and Little Stranger.) It's set in the 1920s or 30s. The MC is a North European immigrant woman who works as a maid to a rich American woman who disappears in connection with a religious group. The MC needs to figure out what happened to her mistress while figuring out how she herself is changing in connection with the inquiry/search. The themes have to do with mimicry, fitting in, making people believe you are something you are not while also making them believe you have knowledge of them you don't actually have. I know there's a white Art Deco building by the ocean, and the need for the MC to learn 'cold reading' people like fake psychics and palm readers do. Apart from that, I don't have much yet. I'm pretty terrified about this whole thing, actually. But I switched my laptop background to say "I can't do this but I'm doing it anyway." so that's what I'm trying to believe. My writer inspirations for this project: Haruki Murakami, David Mitchell, Sarah Waters, Barbara Vine. Borges, Calvino. Paul Auster, Dorothy Sayers, Kerry Greenwood...

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Cope — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:19:06 -0500

Hello all, I'm Travis and this will be my second round of NaNoWriMo. I did it back in 2009 and managed to "win," took 2010 off to write my college thesis and now I'm back this year. The novel I'm doing this year is called Innovative Dynamic™. It's something that has been in my head for about two years now. It popped into my head as I was writing my novel from two years ago. Basically it is about living in a dystopian near future. The United States has broken up into a patchwork of territories, with lines drawn based on which 24-hour News Channel had the highest ratings in the area. Farms in the heartland have been sold off to build new cell phone towers, causing a new Dust Bowl. The fountain of youth has been discovered in a pharmaceutical lab, but has been misplaced. Innovative Dynamic™ is a multinational corporation involved in some way with all of these events. It will follow the activities of three unrelated people; a janitor, a businessman and a student in their day to day lives. My favorite books: Infinite Jest, Fight Club, Slaughterhouse-Five, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, The Pale King

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

The Pelican Maze — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 18:59:01 -0500

I'm 24 years old, just finished a Master's degree program, and am in the process of applying to graduate schools. When I was 13-16 I wrote genre fiction, mostly fan fiction, which was mostly dark and violent. I think nothing of what I wrote at that time, but I feel that I eventually developed my own style in the process so hopefully that experience has prepared me somewhat to go back to writing. I have nothing to do in November but write a couple of applications, so this is the best opportunity I'll have for a long time at least. My novel concerns a group of mathematicians-in-training, starting a PhD program in the fictitious European independent state of Niederstadt. PhD student Eli Behrmann is struggling to adjust to life away from home, and his antisocial behaviour only adds to his difficulties. His worldview is built on naive conceptions of the world, mathematical structures, and simple deductive reasoning. When his country goes bankrupt he suddenly loses his scholarship money and his ability to support himself, and becomes estranged from his family. All he has left is his college; the fees were already paid in advance. He panics, leaves his home, and turns to his only friend Jim, who quickly takes a shine to him. The two quickly develop a relationship of mutual dependence; Jim seeks affection, sexual favours, and help with his homework, while Eli requires food and shelter. With his personal comforts gone, Eli takes solace in his vision of the world as being essentially predictable, and conforming to a simple and elegant list of axioms of his own vain design. As his relationship with Jim becomes more perilous, his world view becomes increasingly perilous, and his work increasingly erratic. But the people of Niederstadt are also collectively deluded in the main, in a similar fashion... I'm not very well-read, I'm ashamed to say. I like William Faulkner, but I don't think I'll have a similar approach and can't see myself playing with narrative like he does in the first two sections of The Sound and the Fury. I'm currently reading Light in August which might have more of a bearing. I might be taking more pointers from Salman Rushdie and Midnight's Children, which was great at simultaneously telling the story of one man with that of the fate of a nation. Another novel I love that might have some influence is Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, but given that it'll be written in third person omniscient and will often "pan out" into the big city I don't think it'll be too apparent. I was inspired by Woody Allen's film Manhattan, which I saw last month - I'm not sure it was Allen's intention, but I felt that the scenery often reflected as well as influenced the feelings and viewpoints of many of the characters. I'd like to see if I can convey something like this on the page.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

walker13 — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 21:35:03 -0500

Hi! *nervous wave* This is my first year ever doing NaNoWriMo, and until this week I wasn't even sure if I was going to do it or not. Finally tonight I was like "Well, why not?" and joined. I have a history of self-injury and initially wanted to write a YA book about a girl cutter and how she starts to eventually make her way to the path of recovery, but I just could not bring myself to do it. I couldn't get into the story I wanted to write, so I went a slightly different direction not so directly focused on self-injury. My novel is going be a mesh of past and present events. There's a family with a husband who has been murdered ten years ago; the killer got away. The story's about how the family is still grieving and struggling with it. The mother especially - she's convinced if she can keep looking, keep hopping on Internet forums asking people Have You Seen...?, she'll eventually find the murderer. Problem is, she's so driven to fix their life this way that she's not noticing how this is actually hurting her kids. Her son is acting like an adult helping his sister and not being a kid; her daughter is cutting herself and struggling with being with guys when she's really not ready to. Basically, a story version of the phrase “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” That make sense? :P Still trying to figure out a decent title. :/ Nooooo idea where to figure that one out.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Badly Drawn Girl — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:22:01 -0500

Hi! I'm new to NaNo this year too. I'm writing about two old friends who reconnect after losing touch for several years. I think LitFic is probably where it fits because the most important thing (well, for me) about it is the theme - it's about the different ways that people define themselves, so there's some minor characters and subplots around that. (If I'm in the wrong genre forum, please feel free to nudge me towards the correct one. :p) I love tea, and I have a ridiculously detailed outline prepared. I'm basically using NaNo as an opportunity to drop everything else and just write - something I never normally have time for.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

RubyMarlin — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:29:37 -0500

Hi, I'm RubyMarlin! Nice to meet you. All the World's a Stage. Ella Ride is twin sister to Etta Ride. Etta Ride was mad, and wanted nothing more than to be an actress. Etta died. Now Ella is traveling with a troupe of actors that she never wanted anything to do with, other than to make her sister happy. This is the story of how in one year, they changed Ella and Ella changed them. It only took one year, because after that, everything goes up in flames. and, that's all I've got. I am working on an outline, but I am terrible at coming up with summaries and titles. Favorite LitFic... hmm, I seem to be in the same boat. I don't know if I really have one. I do enjoy Chris Crutcher's books, do they count? They're the first thing I could pull off the top of my head. Something interesting... the longest thing I've ever written is a 20,000 word Newsie FanFic. Its on fanfiction.net if anyone is interested; and to take something from another thread, apparently I write like Edgar Allen Poe 5 times out of 16. :)

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

TheLoveMutt — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 17:06:27 -0500

Hi there =] I'm thelovemutt, or TLM, or just plain Liz. I did NaNo last year, and since I didn't win, I am EXTRA determined this year to reach my 50K goal. I started planning out my characters a bit and realized I still don't have too much of a plot. I also just realized [today] that what I'm planning may actually be LitFic after all XD. I currently don't have a plot structure, but I do have general ideas: A look into the workings of a mental health facility and into the lives of those who work and reside there. Plus a list of character names, an idea of general diagnoses/symptoms, who's staff, etc. Each chapter as a different client's story The most plot I've come up with is: At one point, one of the clients loses control/blacks out. Switch to another's perspective XD. Twelve more days!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

weirdalchemy — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 10:12:15 -0500

Hi there! My name is Tommy, this is my second NaNo. I participated and completed my first NaNo in 2007. Since that time, I've been in medical school and haven't had nearly the time required to participate in NaNo. I'm currently a senior in med school, but I will have (hopefully) enough time during November to participate this year. Who knows, this may be the last time for another 6 years or so that I'm able to devote the month of November to a NaNo, so I'm really looking forward to it this year. My novel is still in the planning stages, but what I can say so far is that it's about a young artist named Sloan who is diagnosed with a terminal cancer. Given that he is young, underemployed, and from a relatively poor family, he doesn't have any health insurance. On top of that, he lives in a small college town without any large medical centers that would treat him as a charity case. The story follows him and his girlfriend Emily through his diagnosis and his subsequent struggles trying to find medical care in a monolithic and uncaring medical system. I don't want to give away too much about the story line so I guess I'll leave it at that, but suffice it to say that I don't foresee a happy ending. :(

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

rlmark — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:58:16 -0500

Greetings! I'm Rebecca, and this is my first attempt at writing anything with a plot, let alone in one month, having thus far only completed a degree in English writing literary criticism. Don't worry, I'm not the mean type of critic. I currently work at a center for gifted youth, and they provide plenty of plot fodder and dialogue, so expect to hear much of their quirkiness mixed in with my own writing idiosyncrasies! (Yesterday they postulated that the dreams of babies were the lies that we tell... that's SO going in my novel!) Alas, my novel is not generally about the dreams of babies; it's about a shy college grad who finds a questionable ghostwriting gig on craigslist or some other site, and who thinks she has it easy when she finds out her "boss" is a sweet old lady with a very boring life story. As time and the writing progresses it becomes evident that this "memoir" might be full of lies, and that the sweet old lady is caustic and brilliant, suffering from Alzheimer’s, and might be hiding a section of her life away. She and the narrator have a falling out, but out of curiosity and an intense desire to finish the book, the narrator returns and patches together a fiction to recuperate the losses that history, memory, and now illness have dealt to the old woman. That's all I got folks. Right now, my favorite novel is Midnight's Children, by Rushdie, but I study poetry so my real favorite pieces have got to be Anne Carson's Autobiography of Red or Gertrude Stein's Tender Buttons.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

writersblock99 — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 08:48:30 -0500

Bonjour, ciao, and ni-hao. Ich heise, me llamo, and and my name is Tyler. This is my first NanoWrimo. My plot is about a man named Edward Upton, his entire life from 1965 (or really, from 1972 when his father dies) to 2015. During that time he'll go to a private school paid for by his evil stepfather (whom his mother sent him to live with because she couldn't afford to keep them both alive without his father's income), become the servant of the CEO of New York City's [fictional, of course] Epithet Publishing House, inherits the company, loses the company in the 2008 recession, opens a (toy?) store, and is in some way linked to (witnesses? joins? dies in the crossfire of? ...I'll get there.) an anti-Government protest at the end of the story, all while struggling with his own ever-increasing securities and neurosis given to him by his father's death and mother's (in his mind) abandonment, as well as his witnessing the fundamental consistency of human nature.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

samripley — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 10:33:04 -0500

Hey everyone! The name is Sam and this is my fourth (!!!!) year doing NaNo. Not bad for a nineteen year old, I should say. I've only won twice, but hopefully we'll make that 3/4 times this year. :) I usually write YA, but I've been leaning a lot more towards litfic in my reading/writing as of late. The story that I'm planning on doing this year is a little too dark for traditional YA, although the protagonist is 16/17, still. Oh god, I can't even explain the plot. Basically: there's a zombie apocalypse and the MC must band together with her former childhood nemesis, whose life she saved a year ago, and then there are some adventures and a lot of death and she deals with it all in a Daria-ish caustic-wit type of way. My favorite work of litfic: The Road by Cormac McCarthy. That's also my favorite book ever. Can't wait to mingle with all of you litfic-ers!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

bibliosylph — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 18:37:10 -0500

Okay, I read em all. You're all completely adorable, and I wish you the very best and most success this year. My name is Mer, but you can call me Lily. Or not, as you wish. This is my 7th year of NaNoWriMo. It will be a challenge because I have to use the desktop iMac instead of my Powerbook, which is dead. Poor me. My synopsis just became seven paragraphs so I will spare you. You can read my official one, if you like. I'm writing about Jack, Charlie, Aaron, Lena, Violet, and Lily. I write about some of them most years. They just live in my head all the time, and now and then I feel the need to let some of their air out. This year I decided to write about all of them. Nothing much happens; they tend to just muse over things and discuss stuff, and they have a lot of quirky friends who are fun to describe and have conversations with. Personal memes: Someone has been married to or in love with a person of different sexual orientation. A big storm or flood wine whisky eBay food Italian-Americans artists who discuss philosophical nonsense old guys who argue about baseball, singers, film stars left-handed people unrequited love I'm super bad at choosing favorite anythings, but I greatly admire Sinclair Lewis, Anthony Trollope, Rex Stout, Madeleine L'Engle, PG Wodehouse, Garrison Keillor, to name a few. Probably some people who haven't been dead awhile as well, but I kind of live in my own time-space. I (dimly) remember the moon landing, and when the Beatles broke up, and have been in love with James Garner ever since I could make out the shapes on our old Motorola TV.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

InTheNorth — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 15:03:23 -0500

Hi everyone! After thinking about my novel's genre for a long time I decided that it's probably literary fiction. The story is about a girl who is raped at the beginning of the story and about her surviving the horrible experience. What more can I say about it? That pretty much sums it up. If you want to know more, you can always check out my synopsis :) And me... I'm InTheNorth from the north, more spesifically from Finland. I'm 26 years old and this is my fourth time to participate NaNoWriMo. My NaNos before this one have been historical fantasy and YA. In my opinion all of my previous NaNos also had something in them that could be described as literary fiction. I hope we all have a great writing experience this year! :)

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

teresue — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 17:09:49 -0500

Hello All! Since the very word 'plot' fills me with dread, I guess this is where I belong.This is my first NaNo and I'm going with the 'write what you know' plan which means I'll be filling my novel with all the fascinating stories I have been boring my coworkers with for years. My biggest concerns are 1) Relearning a lifetime habit of double-spacing at the end of a sentence. 2) Writing about a man who has to learn to take care of himself without making him appear a total doofus. 3) Finding the right music to write by. I read prodigiously and can only hope that all those words I have been digesting will come flooding out in some sort of 50,000 word verbal vomit. Good luck to us all...

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

ad_meliora — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 18:20:21 -0500

Hello, fellow LitFicers! This is my first year attempting NaNo, but I've been writing since middle school, and I've been reading LitFic for almost as long. As a college student, I'm sure meeting my word counts will be VERY difficult, but the community seems so great that I had to give it a shot! My novel is the marriage of two ideas that I've had for several years and has two parallel arcs. The Morgan family- Caroline, Drew, and daughter Kate, has been crumbling for several years under the weight of an unhappy marriage, a miscarriage, plenty of resentment, and a plethora of other societally familial issues. Kate's best friend Meg is like a second daughter to them, and the two go off to college together where they are steeped in the intense traditions of the school and discover many secrets. Then Meg disappears. One day she is sitting next to Kate in class, and the next day she is gone. The Morgans' slow deterioration escalates into a rupture, with flashbacks from Caroline and Drew's past and Kate's complicated relationship with Meg's boyfriend. Sprinkled throughout all the internal dialogue and intense characterization are chapters about where exaclty Meg went...and it's slightly magical realism, which is new for me! Best of luck to all of you in your writing frenzies. If anyone wants to be writing buddies or needs some stress relief/cathariss, feel free to contact me!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

thedorngirl — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 04:00:53 -0500

Pft, I graduated college four years ago and I'd read Speak again. Just because it's a YA novel doesn't make it irrelevant as you get older. Good luck with your project. Short story collaborations can be a lot of fun.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

thedorngirl — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 04:02:27 -0500

You're gonna win this one, I can feel it!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

thedorngirl — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 04:05:43 -0500

That sounds like a really interesting premise. I hope you post excerpts so we can see what you do with it.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

thedorngirl — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 04:07:46 -0500

Thanks for reminding me we aren't supposed to double space anymore. Between that and the obliteration of the Oxford comma, I don't know what's going on anymore.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

thedorngirl — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 04:30:46 -0500

Ahoy! I'm Dorn. I've been doing this since I graduated college in 2007 (I skipped '09 because my life wasn't conducive to writing nonstop for an entire month) and have technically won all three times, but have only really come away with one totally finished manuscript. My writing tends to deal with dysfunctional relationships, mental illness/suicide, and characters grappling with What Could Have Been. Typical 20-something psych major nonsense. Given that I am in the midst of a cancer scare that may not be resolved in a timely fashion being as I have a job but no health insurance or family support to speak of (recently joined the early morning logistics team at Target after burning out of my career as a mental health professional slash EMT... my life could probably serve as adequate NaNo fodder so the less I say about it, the better) I have a fire under my butt to rewrite and finish a novel that I started working on in 2009 while I was letting my 2009 NaNo novel rest before revision. I had a 2003 iBook that I loved dearly, but the video card died suddenly that year and I, being the nimrod that I am, hadn't backed up the manuscript so it's been lost forever. Never store your manuscript on your hard drive, ladies and gentlemen. The video card on your laptop might die. Anyway, what plot there is involves an aerophobic nurse who loses her husband to a ruptured aortic aneurysm and has to cope not only with the fact that he was young and their friends aren't very much help, but with the fact that he'd predetermined his cremains be scattered near his family's home in another country, so the entire book is basically her grieving so that she can deal with this crippling fear of flying pretty much on her own. So yes, that is me. Just a warning, I love word wars, so once this gets going I'll probably start yelling at people to add me on Google Chat or AIM.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Trilli — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 11:15:31 -0500

Hey, I'm Trilli. I'm writing Lit Fiction this year, and I think my story is about to take over my life.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Melodia-j — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 12:11:53 -0500

How about basing your title on this in some way: When one door closes, another opens; :)

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

jerrygillespie — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 12:41:49 -0500

Hi, My name is Jerry and this year I am starting with a blank slate so I have no commitment to any characters or plot right now; would rather wait until November 1st and just let it happen. I do know that I want to do a series of related short stories, possibly inspired by an event or series of events (and with everything going on in NYC and around the world I have a feeling that there are some current events that may be playing a significant role in my stories but may not define or even link them), all first person with different narrators offering diverse perspectives. To that that end I am perusing all my old Glimmer Trains and just soaking it all in, anticipating next Tuesday when, for thirty days, I put down the reading (except for poetry & non-fiction) and pick up the pen or keyboard.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Carolyn Branch — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 18:19:37 -0500

I work in the reader's advisory desk in a public library. It's like a chocoholic working in a candy store, forced to describe favorites all day long and never allowed to nibble at work. This is my seventh year, but my first time on the LitFic forums. I've called my stories mainstream, historical, even mysteries, but they are all really about family relationships. This year, my working title is "The End of Rose." Abandoned by her mother, betrayed by her father, Rose grows up fiercely independent. She is proud to be able to take care of herself and refuses to be dependent on anyone, even her husband, Jim, who has loved her and tried to care for her since she was a lonely five year old. She loves Jim, but she is unable to trust enough to let him know how much she cares for him. He tries to give her the space she thinks she needs, and they drift apart, married but living separate lives in the same house. Tired of always striving for a closeness she won't let him have, Jim gives up and leaves without saying a word. Although she thought she didn't need him, Jim's departure pushes Rose into a physical and emotional journey to find her mother, understand her father, and make peace with her broken childhood.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Circles — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 18:52:38 -0500

Hello, Call me Circles. I'm 52, menopausal, adorable and awful. I live in Elsewhere, WI. I've never heard of NaNoWriMo before, but saw it on someone's calendar so I Googled it. Then wrote a quick synopsis but don't know where to post it because it contains sexual words. My writing is not going to be about THAT, but will contain sex words necessary to the plot and maybe some swearing. I'm trained in writing but never used it. Much. I'm just looking for a starting point and I have a lot of reading to do here this week to figure it all out. : )

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

c.k.dalton — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 01:49:04 -0500

I'm Kate, and this is my first time delving into all that is NaNo. I'm so looking forward for it all to begin, and have been drafting & outlining & reading more than can possibly be healthy for a normal person. The novel I'm working on is a serious work-in-progress, but every time I work on it, it reveals more and more of itself to me. As of now, it is shaping up to be literary fiction with a darkly funny/semi-apocalyptic twist. Lots of layers, character-driven. Dream sequences, philosophical arguments, late-night radio talk show hosts, obscure music/film/18th-century-poetry references. You know: the good stuff.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

bibliosylph — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 08:36:24 -0500

This sounds good. I like the idea that she is so independent she doesn't really know how to let someone in close. ...possibly I relate to that a tiny little bit...

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Stazz — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 10:23:53 -0500

Yay, fellow newbies! ^^ I'm Stazz or Jazz or hey-you-with-the-obviously-GIMPed-picture. I'm probably not ready for this thing, but I've got characters, a rough idea of a plot, and a certain amount of experience in the fine art of procrastination, so I think I'm set! My story's the chronicling of...how did I describe it? I wrote something rather good this morning before class. "The stories of twenty-one different people and a few months of their lives: how they change them or allow them to be change, their relationships (both romantic and platonic), their personalities, and the way everything fits together and interacts. Clearly not the most plot-driven novel. A more sophisticated story and synopsis may be forthcoming, but I'll probably only know about it when my fingers start putting it down on the page. Possibly to be done as an anthology-ish sort of thing." There you go, poetry. I actually don't read a lot of LitFic -- my favorite example happens to be a fanfiction story -- but I'm hoping to change that as things go on, since, you know, I am writing it. XD

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

SarahB-H — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 07:55:22 -0500

James Garner! I concur, and add: hubba, hubba!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

watchthis — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 08:59:45 -0500

Hi, you can call me Diane. I'm a potter and writer, in my 60's, a mom and nana. This is my 3rd NaNo. I won the first, failed the second and will get this done easily this Nov. I also live in Elsewhere, WI...a diverse and huge community . I read everything and like most of it all. It's more of a winter activity since my business is seasonal, so not much serious reading lately. Synopsis: She's a mid twenties college grad who marries a Midwestern dairy farmer and through many life lessons, including sudden serious illness, bankruptcy, divorce, single parenthood and a remarriage, learns to open her heart and soul to herself. It's a spiritual, emotional and even economic journey.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Mandy Noble — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:14:16 -0500

Hullo! Mandy Noble of the land of Ill Noise here. According this the site I've been enrolled here since 2006; this is inaccurate, as I first participated in NaNoWriMo my sophomore year of High School, 2002. Ah well! I don't actually believe Illinois is full of Ill noise, unless you think "ill" means totally awesome, in which case, it is; my darling V-Dig plays a Les Paul guitar named Lynette, and she sings to me beautifully as I write. I am so fortunate to be in this situation in life! I rejoice! And I'm so thankful for all you forum participant toos; I hope to become acquainted with your works at November sprints by.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Adiah — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 09:11:50 -0500

Hi, my name is Adiah, I am from Amsterdam, the Netherlands and this is my first NaNo, I am very excited and can't wait to start, I downloaded Lazette Giffords book and am reading it now. I am doing the things she suggests. I will write in Dutch as that is my mother tongue. I am usually a very slow writer, thinking about every word but now I will hopefully learn how to write fast.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

ThreePatchProblem — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 01:34:00 -0500

Hello! I'm Amanda, and I'm working on a story that I figure is literary fiction - at least mostly - so here I am. I've got a narrator character who has to decide if my main character lives or dies; should the MC live, the narrator might die, but can my narrator let a friend die? My story is set in the near-future, and is full of political turmoil teetering on the edge of dystopia and World War III between America, Europe, the Middle East, and China, morality of right/wrong on global and personal level, and most importantly: it is still missing a villain. I'm an international relations and French double major. So that explains a lot. XD

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

bibliosylph — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 10:55:37 -0500

Adiah, when I'm making up a story whole cloth, er, I mean, completely from nothing already true, I am also a very slow writer. I've been doing NaNoWriMo for several years, and that is still a struggle for me. I enjoy the process, but do not end up with very large word counts like some "veterans." I have learned, though, to let go of the need to regard each word as precious, knowing I can set aside time later on to fix it all up as I like...

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

jill-leo — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 15:24:12 -0500

Hi Amanda...when it comes to killing off characters, I love it all. Wherever your character leads is perfection.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

jill-leo — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 15:34:46 -0500

Hello, I'm Jill (not really, but we'll go with it) and this is my first year with NaNo. My NaNo Plot I'm thinking of three vaguely related stories. I want to experiment with crossing the MCs in a series of barely perceivable moments. As if writing 50,000 words in one month wasn’t a hard enough challenge. The three girls live torturous lives and fastened themselves an escape. In tag-team fashion, the girls will cross paths as they skip between realities. My LitFic Favs I never fancied myself a LitFic girl. In reflection, all my favorites fit. Atwood and McCarthy stun me with every word. Barry and Palahniuk cause fits of hysteria. Twain and Herlihy show me people I would otherwise never meet. To pick one would be to settle on a single mood for the rest of my life.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

iymcool — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:20:17 -0500

Good late afternoon! My name is Mike, a 22 year old healthcare worker in Texas. This will be my first NaNo, and I have high hopes that it won't be my last. It's a pleasure to meet everyone and I hope we're able to bounce off ideas from one another and come up with some great manuscripts! My basic story for this year's NaNo is based off of the differing aspects of psychology (in which I have a B.A. in): A dystopian collection of European-esque countries are divided up, separated by physical barriers, by the varying schools of psychological thought. The citizens in each country act and live within the confines of their own particular school: Jungian/Freudian/Aestheticist/etc. Evelyn, a young graduate from a Jungian university sets out on a sabbatical through the varying countries to try and define the "Influence" that supposedly founded these schools, and tries to better understand why they exist, and even moreso, why they are disconnected to begin with.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

iymcool — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:38:54 -0500

*B.S. in psychology, not B.A.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

lkhunsaker — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 17:44:21 -0500

This is my 8th Nanowrimo! But it's my first year of doing straight literary fiction. Mainly I write a blend of lit fic and romance, yes it's a strange blend, but it works. ;-) My rough plot: A biker on a quest meets Americans in all cultures and environments and takes notes, while a man who finds himself where he never planned to be tries to make sense of it. We'll see how it goes. I can't list one fave lit fic book, but my favorite current literary author is Marilynne Robinson. Oh, I have 6 novels and a children's picture book published. The last three started as Nano novels.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Rafini — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 11:37:24 -0500

Hi, I go by the name Rafini and this is my first NaNoWriMo. I wasn't able to participate last year but this year I decided, why not? Even if I don't reach the goal of 50,000 words, at least I'll have written something. My novel is about the life of a little girl genius and how her experiences influence the woman she becomes.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

jgreen629 — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 01:01:48 -0500

Hello, people. Even though I've been a NaNoWriMo member since 2008, I actually plan on being a winner this year. Anyway, here's my plot: An upper-middle class black couple builds a house on the land in Brixtondale, Connecticut where the murder of 11 members of a black family (including 8 children) occurred decades ago. Thirty five years later, the father is a writer who hasn't written anything in decades and who spends his days getting high. The mother, the first black female neurosurgeon in Massachusetts, quits her job for mysterious reasons and spends her time going on fruitless spiritual quests. The two elder daughters left the house the day after their prep school graduations. The youngest son will likely do the same if he can survive his senior year at the Brixtondale School. When a family consisting of a largely mute but intelligent eight year old girl, her troubled mother and her psychically gifted grandmother move to Brixtondale from the Boston projects, the two families will interact in ways that will examine what it means to be a successful African American in the shadows of our country's racist history. A fun fact to cheer you up after all that doom and gloom: I'm into psychics (ssssshhh! I like to keep that on the dl) Favorite LitFic: I just recently read Junot Diaz's "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" and enjoyed it immensely. I also like anything by Zadie Smith (White Teeth, On Beauty) and Jhumpa Lahiri (Interpreter of Maladies, Unaccustomed Earth) I hope this post wasn't too long. I tend to be a bit verbose when talking about books and writing.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Crissytrap68 — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 21:45:10 -0500

Hi all, My name is Cristina. This is my first attempt at Nano, though I have written a novel and a half. I feel somewhat not prepared, but I am ready to just let it go and see what develops organically. I guess that is sort of the LitFic way, right? Anyway, I am eager to get started. My favorite LitFic: Paper Fish by Tina DeRosa, Above the Thunder by Renee Manfredi. I also loved Beloved and The Things They Carried and What We Talk About When We Talk About Love...I could keep going on and on.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Jo Bee — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 22:08:08 -0500

Hello All! Call me Jo Bee. This is my second year of NaNo, and I am attempting 150,000 words. I'm going to die a painful death. Fun times. Hopefully the more people I tell, the more I'll actually sit down and wright for 5-6 hours a day... :D My novel is Purging of the Scarlet Blossoms. Part One: The Crying Stone. Part Two: Glass Heart. Part Three: N/A as of yet. I believe my novel is Literary Fiction(hopefully), mostly because it deals with the MC making herself go insane to keep from becoming truly insane, and trying to break through her insanity later on. :D Not to mention my story has 'demons' that are constantly at work in various ways. My synop: The Demon Contracted elf Bledrin is running rampant. He is nearing the end of his mission, to kill off the races of Elf, Dragon, and Veianwey. He has done this with such precision and slowness that the races have not realized they are near extinction. Elwyn is an insane prison escapee. She is the Veianwey chosen for the New Covenant, part of that meaning she is the only one who can land the killing blow to her counterpart, Bledrin, and take his place in the Original Covenant. But she could care less what happens to the elves, though their blood runs strong in her veins, and she would prefer to kill the dragons with her own two hands for what they have done to her and her dead family. She must choose between killing Bledrin or joining him, all the while fighting her own insanity. The purging is ending. Who will remain alive? Take Care! Jo Bee

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

claudinec — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 04:08:40 -0500

Hi there. This is my first attempt at nano. I'm trying to overcome my perfectionism and need to plan every aspect of my life. I have two main characters (who appear to be different aspects of myself), a setting for the first chapter, and not much else. This is a bit scary!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

CharlieFromLost — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 09:35:14 -0500

'ello, ah, finally though should be posting in this thread too. xD Name's Birgit, NaNoName's Charlie. I tend to kill my characters a lot, but looks like this year there won't be a death. Odd. This year's story balances between Literary and YA, and is about nine people who were best friends when they were kids but have parted their ways now, and how they're trying to connect each other again. And music. Mostly about music. I have never won a WriMo before, but this year hopes are better. Man, I even made an outline! xP My favorite genre is Fantasy and I also have a Literary/Fantasy story halfway done. And I write fanfiction sometimes. They say that you are what you think you are. I think I'm a writer. Good luck with Nano, dears. ~Charlie

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

scrawlingsi8u — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:00:15 -0500

Hi, My first NaNo year and it's almost time to start... my main character is forced to return to her childhood home - a house on the edge of crumbling cliffs. A chance encounter with a former sweetheart, the discovery of a trunk containing old documents and a tragedy lead towards a change in attitude... but will it be too late? My lit loves are Thomas Hardy; Margaret Attwood; Helen Dunmore and oh so many more...

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

s.m.keene — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 17:05:16 -0500

Hello, all, My NaNo username is S.M. Keene, but it was kind of whipped up during an Internet search of the meanings of various names originating from the English Isles. I doubt I'd actually adopt that as a pseudonym. It is pretty easy to get me going on a tangent, so I'm hoping my NaNo yields at least one or two of those to push me up to 50,000. I'm a music student, so most of my writing will occur at times that I couldn't be practicing anyway. I wasn't sure whether to classify my 2011 NaNo as literary fiction or mainstream, so I hope I made the right choice. It alternates between two simultaneous narratives. One is through the eyes of one character, who actually lives and acts the events of a plot involving a hasty political decision with severe environmental and economical ramifications. The other is through the eyes of an average, small-town family. While their influence on the plot is static, their development is where the meat of the novel lies. They experience firsthand the consequences that come from vanity guiding policy-making, and they portray the result of a society addicted to instant gratification and quick fixes for long-term problems. I tried and made it to about 16,000 words back in 2009, then last year I sat out. This year, I made sure I had a direct continuum of events, so I wouldn't get stuck connecting Point A to Point B. I'm hoping that my organization, a slightly more open schedule, and my odd soundtrack pairing of Rachmaninoff and Wolfmother will help me emerge on top in 2011.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

bazinga — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:30:25 -0500

My name is Sarah and I think I'm trying out literary fiction for NaNo. My novel will explore a woman's personality and relationships leading up to her decision to commit suicide.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

jonaki — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:41:53 -0500

Hey all, Is everybody revved up for tomorrow? I am! My novel (untitled) is a coming of age story of a young girl growing up in a remote tea planation in India. It offers readers an intimate look into the little known world of Assam tea. Favorite book: To Kill a Mockingbird. Fun thing about me : Hmmmmm, let's see - I know all about Indian spices and I am a voracious and crazy cook.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

jonaki — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:54:02 -0500

Oh Gosh log cabin in the woods! I am so envious! I am in the thick of humdrum life, screeching work deadlines and soon descending relatives - freaking out thinking about Nano. Good luck with the writing!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

carino — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:55:10 -0500

Hi, I'm Caryn! My novel doesn't really have a title (I just made one up so the little spot for it wasn't blank), but it's going to be a modern wartime novel that's not actually on the battlefield, but shows that the battlefield is everywhere. Favorite book? I can't even hope to choose. But I'm going through a Neil Gaiman phase right now, so let's just stick with that.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

esroopay — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 19:12:37 -0500

Hello, I am esroopay, this is my first NaNoWriMo. Since I have always dreamed of writing I am going to actually sit down and do it I am excited about finishing something longer than a short poem or song, although I don't plan to actually *finish* my novel at least I hope to "win" NaNoWriMo and have a good start to what I hope can become a strong piece of writing. My novel is "And He Flew." It is an exploration of the life and psyche of a clockmaker driven mad by his work. It will be divided into chapter "pairs" the first chapter of each pair will be a chapter of the philosophical musings/manifesto of the protagonist and the second chapter of each pair will be a third person exploration of the events that led to writing of the first chapter of the pair. This format scares me but I have become more and more addicted to the idea since I had it. (Even if at times it strikes me as both overly pretentious and overly ambitious, I hope to overcome these faults.) I have a hard time listing favorite authors or books...I would have to break it down by both genre and period, let's just say the list is extensive.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Fondofbooks — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 20:04:02 -0500

Hey all - I'm Bev, from South Carolina, and this is my first NaNoWriMo. I'm more than a little nervous, but getting excited as the hour draws near!! My story is "Faithful Son". The bare bones synopsis is as follows: It is set in the Clinch Mountains in Tennessee, primarily on a plot of land that has been in a family for several generations. There is a family history of bootleg whiskey making and running, but times have changed. The new family business is crystal meth. My protagonist has been raised away from the family home, and returns at the beginning of the novel. I plan to alternate between the present and the past, and am including some diary excerpts as well. I own a used bookstore, and my least favorite question is "What's YOUR favorite book?" Truly, it changes by the day! I kinda have a rotating list, and as hard as it is to select my favorite book, it's even harder to select my favorite lit fic book!! Let's see...*stares up at bookshelves in living room*....I love Chris Bohjalian, Wally Lamb, Pat Conroy, Joshilyn Jackson, Joyce Carol Oates.....I could go on....but hey, we've only got a few hours, and I need to get some sleep so I will be ready for the big day! Best to everyone!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

ryanpoholek — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 20:09:46 -0500

Hey everyone! I'm Ryan, and this is my first year doing NaNo. I'm happy to be part of such a vibrant community where so many people are oriented towards the same goal. I'm hoping it will motivate me to finally churn out all the ideas I've been keeping in my head for so long. I'm not sure I'll be able to finish in time; I'm a bit overwhelmed with my workload as is (I'm a freshman in college, so I'm still trying to get used to the extra work). But I'll do my best, and try and have fun in the process. That's what this is all about, isn't it? :) So send me a message or something! I'm not shy, and hopefully we can bolster each other. My novel is going to be about a boy's first year in college, and all that he experiences while there. (They say to write what you know, right? Haha!)

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

taqueria — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 20:58:20 -0500

Hey, I'm Sheena, this is my fourth year trying NaNo and hopefully my first year to actually finish! School usually holds me back from finishing (though I've finished Screnzy twice in three years) but I'm going to try to push myself. I'm 21 and I'm a radio DJ with a full credit load this semester XD. I'm taking Literary Criticism this semester and it has inspired me to try something more literary than the usual dumb comedies I write. My novel's working title is Shooting the Moon and is about a girl who dumps her boyfriend for an already engaged and insane young man who has no interest in her. She wakes up one day to find two clones of her standing over her bed. She locks them in her attic and tries to forget about them. Then a giant egg washes ashore Lake Erie, a little boy and his grandfather try to destroy the moon, and there is a moral in there somewhere. I love me some Joseph Heller, and lately Ralph Ellison and Kafka :).

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Chasing the Horizon — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 21:56:48 -0500

*sneaks in, feels extremely out of place, and asks everyone to please not throw any fruit that's too terribly rotten* Hello, all. I'm doing two Nano projects this year (50k each), and one of them is lit fic. It's a genre (or, heh, anti-genre) that I greatly enjoy reading, but have always been far too intimidated to write. But after trying and failing to get an outline together for a second Nano fantasy book, I've given in and decided to write the dark literary book I've thought about doing for years. My MC is a young woman with schizoaffective disorder and the novel follows how her unique perspective on the world influences the lives of her dysfunctional family, neighbors, and lover. A lot of the narrative will use her delusions and occasional hallucinations as metaphor for the insane world the supposedly "normal" people around her have created. The story is themed around exploring our discontent with the world and with ourselves, how our dreams so frequently end up broken, often (but not always) through our own doing. There's also a heavy dose of plot (at least for a literary novel) involving a small-town drug-smuggling operation, which is actually a true story of something that happened in my old home town, though I changed the ending a bit. This will be my 8th novel, first year doing Nano, though. All my previous works as well as my other Nano novel are fantasy. I may make quite a mess of the literary novel (yes, my title is pending), but I hope I will at least learn some things that enrich the rest of my work, and maybe even learn a bit about the real world in the process. :) I'm terrible at remembering author's names, but three of my favorite literary novels are The God of Animals, The Development (okay, that ones technically a short story collection), and Veronika Decides to Die. I always read the Best American Short Story collections and have found most of my favorite lit fic by buying novels by writers whose short stories I enjoyed. Anyway, I'm very excited about Nano and would be happy to be Nano buddies with anyone who's interested. :)

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

girly1393 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 22:53:53 -0500

Hi there! My name's Madison. This is my fourth (fifth?) nano. I get frequently told by my older family members that I'm too young for literary anything, but I'm pretty crazy about LitFic. My absolute favorite is Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence. I write LitFic whenever I work on my stuff, but I've given up on dreams of publishing for my dream of astrophysics. This year, I've got a sweet title and two characters and maybe a glimmer of what the story will be, but for the first time, I'm just flying by the seat of my pants and hoping for the best.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Stop that, kitty! — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 02:06:42 -0500

Hi. I'm Sara, aka Stop that, kitty!. This is my first year actually attempting nanowrimo, though I've had a ton of friends do it throughout the years. My synopsis: two friends, Mika Kilpimaa and Andreas Alvarez, form a Black Metal band. Hilarity ensues. Decided on Literary Fiction because it's really character driven, through Andreas' eyes. We'll see how it all goes! (and there really need to be more lit fic written about Black Metal. Or, any metal really.)

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

magic — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 02:23:42 -0500

Hi ya'll! *waves* This is my third nanowrimo and I hope I finish it this time! My story is about this hardcore photographer who gets her camera stolen when on a big backpacking trip. In losing her camera, she realises that she can now finally live up experiences instead of just watching them from behind the lenses. In having a back up camera sent to her, she must now decide whether to be a part of a rare festival she is given the once in a lifetime chance to attend, or to go back behind the lens photograph the event instead. A story about living up life.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

HHagenda — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 09:45:42 -0500

First time NaNo here! A 24-year old fresh graduate living at home working on a whole mess of projects to hone his writing and better his portfolio. That wasn't the synopsis though; that was just me. x) The real synopsis: in the secluded village of a death-worshiping tribe, the loss of someone dear sets a teenage boy on a journey of self-discovery. Using a seat-of-the-pants approach for a literary work is probably not the best idea, and the synopsis is vague because of it. But I've given myself boundaries and a small area to work in thematically, so I'm hoping that by focusing on the one character and his motivations/psyche, I can make this work. Of the literary fiction I've read, I'd place Nabokov's "Lolita" and Eric Miles Williamson's "Two-Up" at the top. If I'm feeling unorthodox, I'd throw in Alan Moore's "Watchmen" too. If I'm feeling particularly crazy, I'd start listing television shows (albeit a very short list).

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

croniclesSB — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 10:27:03 -0500

hi there i am sharonb and very excited. I wish you all well and happy writing. anyone want to be buddies just let me know, i will be happy to be your buddy. hugs and smooches from Atlanta!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

TurtleMama — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 10:54:58 -0500

Hello. My name is Heather and this is my first year doing NaNoWriMo. In fact, I just heard about it yesterday! I have been married 8 years and have two boys, ages 7 and 2. I am currently a college student, but will graduate next Spring. That's pretty much all there is to me right now. I am going to be writing a bit of an autobiographical fiction. It will be about a woman in her late-twenties who is trying to define herself after already being married and having two children. It will be her journey to discover who she is and how that works in the constructs of her relationships that have already been in place for years. This will be a great experience for me because I will be able to express myself through this character and grow alongside her. I, honestly have not read a fiction book in a long time. That thought saddens me. I am usually too busy with classwork to read for pleasure. My three favorite books growing up were The Girl Who Owned a City, Walk Two Moons, and The Giver. I think those may have been Literary Fiction? I also love Jane Austen. Hopefully i will have more time to read during this next break between semesters.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Kemar — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 12:25:09 -0500

Hello! I'm Elizabeth and this is my second time nano-ing (not to make this sound like a support group... even though in some ways it is). I currently do not have a plan, but I have a character, Ruby. I'm fairly confident I will be able to follow her lead, despite her general apathy towards life. My working title is Ruby the Maneater. Best of luck to everyone and happy first day!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

terrifried — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 16:06:27 -0500

Hi to all my fellow literati, I'm attempting The Great Gaijin Contemporary Japanese Novel: nobody in my view has ever really nailed this one, so I thought I'd have a go. My literary heroes are: Jean Rhy, Haruki "Nobody Does It Better" Murakami, Patricia Highsmith and Yukio Mishima. Is a marriage of contemporary East/West taste possible? I dunno, but if my literary effort slips into comic ineptitude I'll just rename it "Sushi and Chips" and move myself over to the Comedy thread. Good luck everyone - and remember "Littera Scripta Manet"! Or at least, until you try "Select all" followed by "Delete".

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Pashtun — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 16:46:07 -0500

Sorry I haven't succeed in uploading a pix yet. I am Pashtun, aka as Riaz, and my favorite Literary Fiction is "The Kite Runner" by Hosseini and "Kim" by Kipling. My story is based in what was called the North-West Frontier Province, now Pakhtunkhwa. In a town called Murree there is a School called the Convent of Jesus and Mary run by Irish nuns. The nuns decide to take the Senior girls of the 1970 class on a trip to Kabul. My protagonist's story begins when he meets one of the girls. On the way there they stay overnight at his cousin's house. He is 17, she is 12 at the time. They spend all of 20 minutes together having an ice cream. Those twenty minutes changes the protagonist's life. So about myself: I am an 62 years young .. and an Engineer in my previous life. My story will have elements that are drawn from my life, but not entirely biographical. I came state side when I was 25 got my masters here. By American standards I have "minored" in several subjects. Fun facts: I love to dance, love modern, Indian classical as well as Western Classical music.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

JocelynNano — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 17:47:22 -0500

I just fell the need to find myself some kind of genre board, so I think I'm choosing here. First time doing nanowrimo, hopeless at staying the distance as any number of completely unfinished non-nano writing projects will attest. I love writing, and I love science. Apparently this is unusual. I find reading fiction annoying, for the most part. Which I know might sound harsh. But I love reading fact, especially science. I'm not convinced I have a plot yet, which is annoying me no end as I like to plan. I'm writing about plants, more specifically, borage, and a human's relationship to them. I suppose it will be quite descriptive. My favourite literary fiction is White Noise by DeLillo.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

nico_idaho — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 18:23:07 -0500

I grew borage this year and was quite impressed. Beautiful and useful plant. Facts are facts (still, I think?) but reality, perspective, and meaning, etc, are all assigned. I would look forward to seeing an excerpt at some point?

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

nico_idaho — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 18:35:03 -0500

Hi, I'm Nicole and this is my first time in NaNoWriMo. My novel is about a couple that decides to lease a ranch house to live a simpler, more authentic life and finds that they have to face their own inner demons first to live "better." The working title is The Year of Soup, but that may refer more to my own current life. ;) I have read several Willa Cather books and I find her writing inspiring. I am currently reading the new(er) Thomas Covenant books (fantasy).

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Alestra13 — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 19:52:30 -0500

Aloha, This will by my second NaNo novel, and I love the comment about Lit Fic being more about character development, because that is what I want to develop this second time around. My novel will be similar to the film Babel for those who have seen it. It is about the merging of cultures and classes. I just finished Little Bee, which I absolutely loved. The author said, "I wanted to write a story that was never made fully explicit; which relied on the readers interpretation of the characters' dialogue." This is my challenge as I write about the turmoil in Central America in the 1980's and Brazilian Candomble (both good and bad voodoo) and the absolute self sacrifice of a megalomaniac. Well the bones are there, now to put together the skeleton. I am feeling very much the need for buddies, just like I did that first day of a new school. Happy Writing all.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Kamu — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 20:07:41 -0500

Hi all, I'm Kate, a late comer to the litfic family, but I was here last year. I have been playing over in the Satire lounge before now, because yesterday I started writing a parody novel. A kind of urban fantasy parody of a Classical myth. About 1000 words in I realised, it's just not going to last 50k. I pushed that to 3000 words, just so I could see if it was true, or I was just being, y'know me. But I was right. 3085 words on Day 1 by noon. Scrapped. I started again this morning with a Lit Fic ish idea that's been blathering around in me for a bit, one that I considered writing for Nano after I'd committed to the first. And here I am, just gone 9am and just over 1000 words. It feels so much better. A day behind but not lacking the enthusiasm (anymore) to keep on pushing!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Kamu — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 20:09:52 -0500

Aloha, seems I'm following you into the foray of lit fic again this year. You've had a whopper first day, mine not so. Alas. But I'll make up for it today even if my hand falls off and my eyes shrivel up. Nice to be genre buddies again :)

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Novus — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 20:49:43 -0500

This sounds great. I love an unreliable narrator. Have fun with it. PS: I'm also a huge Margaret Atwood fan too. :)

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Novus — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 20:54:00 -0500

I like this concept. I also like the structure that you have planned. Should make for an interesting novel. I'm also using multiple MC's. Have fun!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Novus — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 21:01:07 -0500

Sushi and Chips...now theres a great title. Good luck with your novel!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Novus — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 21:08:24 -0500

Hi everyone *opens the nanowrimo curtain and waves* I'm Pam. This is my second attempt at Nanowrimo. I failed miserably last time and hope to do better this year. I'm writing a novel from three different MC viewpoints. A cellist (who plays in a cello rock band), a tattoo artist and a Linguistic professor. They're in their late 30s now, but have remained friends since high school when they were bound together by an incident involving a girl named Lilith. The book is about how each woman is forced to come to terms with what happened when Lilith comes back to town after 20 years. It's tentatively called "The Art of Chaos". I hope everyone's writing is going well!! Good luck with your wordcount!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

goodgreek — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 22:37:35 -0500

Hi, everyone! I'm Katie. My background is in classical languages (plus a couple of spares) and math. I'm doing a victory lap after graduation while I consider grad programs. This is my first year attempting Nano, and I'm hoping for the best! (Also, looking for encouragement and writing buddies. Willing to give encouragement, etc. in return!) The working title for my novel is "Just Architecture," which is going to be a collection of memories that ties some of my older non-nano works together, and sorts the histories and relationships in my head. I've done quite a bit of outlining, and it's already paying off. Currently re-reading "Invisible Cities" for like the millionth time.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Lanabelle — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 04:43:22 -0500

Hello, My name is Lana. I'm from Melbourne, Australia. I'm doing a graduates course in publishing, and am working full time in a publishing house. This is my first NaNo so I'm pretty nervous! I started a YA piece yesterday but ditched that this morning and started a literary fiction piece. It doesn't have a title yet, but It's about a soldier who is writing letters to his wife and daughter, reflecting on his life in the army, and his relationship with his family. But he never gets any letters back. For me to know why, and the reader to find out :P

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

invisagirl — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 12:39:33 -0500

Hi, I'm Jen but you can call me Invisa. This is my 3rd Nano and Hopefully the first time I win! My story is a concept novel. Maybe. It's examines how a person allows themself to be molested maybe kinda and then some type of displaced need for revenge. I named the title character Sasha when she was supposed to go out to protect some children but I don't know if that name fits well now. My favorite work of literature (right now) is Nathan Englander's collection of short stories "the ministry of special cases" although I do really enjoy the old man and the sea and A farewell to arms by Hemingway. My favourite author of all time is George Orwell and 1984 is the book that made me really want to be a writer.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

invisagirl — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 12:41:18 -0500

I like that you call it victory lap. Tho I'm over here calling it failure. Good luck and the book sounds awesome

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

vanillagrrl — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 13:46:00 -0500

Hi, I have been thinking about the meaning of these viral YouTube videos about interspecies interactions between animals and between humans and animals for a while and had it in the back of my mind to explore these thoughts in this year's Nano. This morning I sat down and started The Ten, a novel about two women and how the animal videos they start disseminating create a huge evolutionary shift in attitudes about animals and people. I am having so much fun already! I am 2100 words into it. I've done NaNo four times and won twice but haven't yet felt any of the novels are finished. This time for sure.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

invisagirl — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:49:06 -0500

I mean that I'm calling my own victory lap failure. not urs. I wish i had called mine that, then I would have seen it better

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

JocelynNano — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:14:32 -0500

Yeah, I'll work on an excerpt. Might need to rework my blurb too, because I think I've pinned down what I'm going to do. I'm trying to really focus on staying the distance and not worrying about quality, but sheesh, it's tough! My borage was self sown and wild. It's a spectacular plant. I hope I have enough meaning for my facts.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

JocelynNano — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:16:34 -0500

I love soup! And I just did a "me-change".... downsized my city and upsized my lifestyle, which involved a LOT of soup, especially in winter.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

JocelynNano — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:19:26 -0500

This sounds like an awesome topic. It is amazing how much stuff gets done with animal videos these days... like "politics with cats."

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Cmdroller — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 21:10:28 -0500

Hello, my names Cody and this is my first NaNo. I just happened to stumble onto this site a few weeks ago and decided that this is something I would love to take part in! I've been writing my whole life, and have been brainstorming a new novel for the past few months, so I figured this would be the perfect time to motivate myself to hammer out the first draft! My novel is about a simple college dropout who only wants to move up in the world, by any means possible. After meeting an important businessman through his father, he is thrust into the working world, where he soon finds everything he desired, money, cars, women... But everything comes at a price, and nothing lasts forever. Cliche, I know, but im working on it :P My biggest fear is not getting everything on my mind into the book! It seems like everyday I'm having new thoughts and ideas for scenes, not to mention multiple smaller lessons I'd like the book to teach, on top of the main moral. I've got a hectic month ahead of me, but I'm sure it's going to be a lot of fun :) good luck everyone!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

lillyv — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 21:31:20 -0500

Hi all! This is my second Nano. My plot centers around two characters dependent upon virtual reality in a technologically advanced, yet environmentally devoid, society who find themselves transported and trapped in a natural wilderness. The novel explores the idea of "reality," advanced society, and the survival of human relationships. My favorite literary fiction writer is Virginia Wolfe, and my favorite novel is Wuthering Heights. Lately, my favorite works provide disturbing comments on societies: 1984, Brave New World, and A Clockwork Orange, etc. Happy writing --looking forward to meeting other lit. fic. writers!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

ColynCaye — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 23:13:25 -0500

Hello, This is my first NANO, and I'm not only switching from screenwriting to novels but changing genres from my usual fare of thrillers and mysteries. My plot centers around a grief stricken pilot's widow who suddenly finds herself caring for an injured pilot when his small plane crashes on her ranch. With almost mystical foresight the pilot leads her back to her love of photography, writing, and flying awakening her to the life she had lived before she met her husband and helping her rediscover the joy of living as a gypsy pilot traveling the world taking photographs and writing articles for magazines like National Geographic. Looking forward to writing with you all this month!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Pashtun — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 09:07:40 -0500

Seems like my first intro did not take. So my name is Riaz, I am so green I belong in the rain forest, hence to get acclimated any help would be appreciated. At least add me as a buddy, its a lonely business, all this writing is. My story is a fictionalized bio as Literary fiction, and I know I have to tread softly so I don't stir any controversy, however there is enough smokescreens in there to be worthy of a smokers room, so fear not, no unhappy disclosure here. The location is also a point of interest since how many would venture to Murree or are familiar with the myth that the Virgin Mary traveled there, which is how it acquired its name and ended up having a Convent built there, The Convent of Jesus and Mary. Myth, history fact fiction with a strong dash of romance all combined to brew a yarn to keep you coming back for more. See you around the next gulch in the Himalaya's Good luck to one and all!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

jaydecay — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 18:58:04 -0500

I find having a separate doc. for notes, list of ideas and loose outline helps manage the hundred-new-ideas-for-scenes-a-day issue. good luck!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

jaydecay — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 19:51:37 -0500

Hello Writers, I am a second timer on this junket, writing a conceptual novel following a dollar bill through its life in circulation, passing through the loosely intersecting stories of everyone who gets it. Feels a little like a third grade empathy essay premise- write from the perspective of a carrot! But I'm running with it. I'm not using the bill's perspective really. Though I have kind of come up with a side-narrative of a world-weary hitchhiking drifter with a lot of acerbic thoughts about everything under the sun going from Ft. Worth to San Francisco, representing the dollar (the one I looked at for research notes came from Ft. Worth and went to the SF Federal Reserve...), but without intersecting the story of the real bill (yet, anyway). For characters so far I have a liquor store owner, a busker, an evangelist, a stripper, a toll booth collector, a hedge fund manager, a ten year old would be counterfeiter. Kind of sets it up as more of a short story collection, but I'm trying to keep it cohesive. Trying to think of it like an Altman film or something. Some characters are directly aware of the dollar itself, others less so. All of their stories have some element of focus on their socio-economic reality, either because of the dollar or otherwise. Challenges are keeping the logic of the dollar's path consistent, while not making it too self-conscious or heavy handed, and finding ways to spend it that don't get stale. Also feeling like I have to decide early whether any characters will recur after they've passed the buck. I welcome any thoughts, and wish everyone luck. Turn off the goddam wifi router and get back to work! That was to myself, but if you find any value in it, feel free to take it as directed at you.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

tulamarie — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 22:20:18 -0500

Hello! My novel is about a soldier who is the only survivor of an IED attack. While recovering, he discovers the mysterious reason he survived. It involves Gilgamesh. So far, he, his literature professor, and his counselor go around thinking about the nature of truth, trauma, memory, and legend, but eventually he is going to tell someone his theory and things will start happening. I hope. I'm not sure of my favorite work of literary fiction, but I have been on a big Henry James kick since spring. Something fun about myself...Well, I am married to an infantryman in the U.S. Army, which is more fun than it sounds. I also write scholarly work on heavy metal music.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

stuthehistoryguy — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 23:52:19 -0500

Hi, all. I'm writing a Kerouac-style "road" novel integrating many of my own experiences. I've got two MacGuffins pushing it along. One is that my MC is an author with an advance from his publisher to be "the next Bill Bryson" and do a travel book; that's the boring one, and I don't use it much. My MC has also lost an old friend of his, an alcoholic who is cut off from his family and has essentially willed his ashes to my MC, trusting that he'll do something fitting. So, while my main character is sojourning through the central US conversing with poets and folklorists, he's also searching for a meaningful way to memorialize his friend. He finds it--in a way that would be quite monstrous to many of us, but really is appropriate given the circumstances.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Nyla-Sparks — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 20:37:15 -0500

Hiya!! My name is Nyla (lie- it's actually my penname) and I've won Nano twice now (also a lie- I never won before). I'm also a complusive liar. Which is a lie. My story is one that I'm expanding on from last year; A girl (Eliza) is in an abusive relationship and is trying to figure out what to do. Pretty typical for the most part, but (SPOILERS!!) her abusive boyfriend ends up committing suicide. So, it's going to deal a lot with PTSD, depression and all the goodies. That's actually a really bad summary, but my creative juices are running on low right now. I pretty much love any book I read, though I'm particularly fond of biographies, memoirs and autobiographies. I loved "Seabiscuit" by Laura HIllenbrand and "The Psychopath Test" by Jon Ronson.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

qh2 — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 09:52:42 -0600

Great synopsis. Sounds like a good one. Dogs are so better than people - no dark side :-)

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

qh2 — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 09:56:35 -0600

Good luck! My first nanowrimo as well.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

qh2 — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 10:13:06 -0600

I'm Quarky and when I'm not feeding my serious instagram addiction qh2_aboutsquare and pretending I'm a photographer, I'm writing. Usually I write in my fiction in my head - which makes publication incredibly challenging. My first nanowrimo will force me to get the ideas onto paper. I think I'll hit the word count in 30-days and have a pile of paper requiring an awful lotta edits. I'm letting go of grammar and spellcheck and all the things I love because I just have to do this. I write press releases in real life and I can just double my perfectionist efforts there. Here, I will run with unknown literary abandon and explore the psyche of 27 characters because I just don't know which one I like most yet. My main character is a basically a cookie cutter desperate trophy/housewife and she hasn't grown enough yet for me to trust her to narrate. So I'm writing snippets and scenes and actually really having a ball. I crossed the 9K word threshold this morning and this exploration of lit-fic is drawing me away from these forums and back to my email. Yes, I've decided to write the entire novel in emails to my new fake gmail self so that when I write at work, anyone looking over my shoulder will just see the acceptable little email screen. Whether this will drive me nuts in 30-days remains to be seen. I challenged myself not only to write the 50K words but to actually "PARTICIPATE" i.e. visiting these forums, posting once a day, commenting once a day, adding a buddy here and there. I'm not a joiner so this by far is the biggest part of the challenge for me. Keep writing and happy nanowrimo to you :-)

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

qh2 — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 10:16:19 -0600

Interesting. I'm curious to read of this monstrous memorial. Sounds like a great concept. Way better than grad school burnout :-)

from someone who is totally clueless

Dawnheart — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 16:47:32 -0600

would "the alchemist" be literary fiction? o.O sorry if that is totaly off but i have no idea what literary fiction is but it seems really interesting

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Seth D. Michaels — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:13:03 -0600

Hi, team! I'm Seth, a second-time (and hopefully first-time-completing) NaNoWriMo writer. I am a little behind, about 5,300 words into my novel. It's called "The Rebels." Chris Jellineck, a young American failed journalist, ends up going to a West African country with three friends to try and get involved with a popular uprising against the dictator. They end up getting in way over their heads in a dangerous situation. My favorite authors are Kurt Vonnegut and Raymond Carver; in the last year I've been really blown away by "A Visit from the Goon Squad," "Swamplandia" and "The Imperfectionists."

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Lady Wordsmith — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 11:21:14 -0600

Hi! My name is Kinzee. Pen/stage name is Lady Wordsmith. I graduated with my MFA in poetry but have always wanted to master both poetry and fiction. After being immensely more concentrated in and more skilled in poetry, this is my first NaNo and I'm excited and nervous. My novel chronicles a devout Christian twenty-something girl who takes the hugest leap of faith of her life by relocating during the great recession to Houston to build a life there completely from scratch. I am thinking of titling the novel Too Many Psalms. Too Few Proverbs. My favorite contemporary fiction writer is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. (Purple Hibiscus; Half of a Yellow Sun; The Thing Around Your Neck) Many of the authors I admire most wrote the classics of various ages (e.g. Austen, Dostoevsky, George Eliot, Ellison. ) Thanks for reading this long email. I look forward to writing with , sharing with, learning from, and connecting with the fine writers on this forum.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Lady Wordsmith — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 11:24:53 -0600

This sounds like an intersting plot. An adventure novel. You're also taking on the challenge of having to represent another culture in your novel through the eyes of your characters. Please let me know how you progress.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Queenly — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 14:58:56 -0600

Hello and I do believe I'm writing litfic. It's such a nebulous and sometimes pretentious-sounding genre that I wasn't sure if I "fit" here. I actually have an issue with "fitting" anywhere in any genre but because of the expanse of genres that my WIP intersects I think if I had to label it, I'd say speculative fiction or literary fiction. intersecting genres: fantasy, fiction, socio-political, adventure, literary fiction, Black feminism and womanism, dystopian possible genres: Magical realism?, Fabulism?, Slipstream? A little bit of my fantasy, it is story about a young woman, age 20, who has a forbidden ability: the power to make whatever she imagines, reads, and writes manifest itself in reality. She is of a specially trained class called Scribes, who are allowed to write and copy manuscripts but not bring them to life, her rank is that of an Apprentice, each taken on by the elite Scholars. The trouble starts when one of their fellow Apprentices betrays them, murdering their teachers, the Scholars, to achieve his own terrifying ambitions which will alter reality as they know it permanently.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

DangerOLeary — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 22:11:33 -0600

My name is Dane. Having been writing and creating stories since I was a little kid. I've got an academic background in psychology, journalism and graphic design. I'm currently studying for my masters in anthropology. I like creating different voices and thought processes for my characters, and I like taking a common images, symbols and themes and reinventing them or using them in new ways. I don't have an official title for what I'm working on now, although I have an extensive list of titles I'm considering. I'm calling it an experimental narrative fiction. When his girlfriend tell him she's pregnant... with another man's baby, it all becomes too much for deviant and cynic Milo Wyer. The story chronicles the character of Milo as he recounts pivotal experiences, memories, and even dreams over the course of his recovery from childhood trauma, detrimental relationships, and certain... bad habits. The story begins with Milo's decision to kill himself (which he's already tried twice before), and then Milo backtracks to reminisce on the more defining moments of his life. In between catastrophes, Milo is usually up to no good, so it shouldn't come as a shock that he becomes associated with a local bank heist. After all, what's a character study without ecstasy trips, gunshot wounds, arson, and illegitimate children?

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Seth D. Michaels — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 20:20:54 -0600

yeah, the culture clash is a big challenge. i'm working my way through, slowly - i have a pretty good outline and a good shape in my head, but getting it down in text is tough!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Sunshowers — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 01:41:21 -0600

Well, hello to my fellow writers. My name is Kesta and I'm 25 yrs. old. This is my first time writing for NanoWriMo and although I'm starting in the middle of it, I'm not letting that intimidate me. 50K words, now THAT might be a bit intimidating. haha! Let's see, my plot is not fully developed, but I am thinking 1990s Brooklyn, a single mother who is raising her autistic (Asperger's Syndrome) daughter. That's what I have in mind, so far. Not much, but we'll see where I can go from here. Title unknown. Some of my favorite books are Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

Project18 — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 03:34:32 -0600

Hey! I'm Dave, I was pretty sure I was writing horror or adventure, but my zombie-ish novel, told through the journal of a particularly lucid infected man, is not turning out quite the way I imagined it. My MC just wants to sit around and talk about books he's read and think about how he fits into the universe now that he has the urge to kill people. So I think I'm writing lit fic. Glad to be here!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

SukiM — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 00:10:43 -0600

The narrative's about a small-ish town that wonders whether "all in this together" is a good idea after all. It's being (ostensibly) written in the early morning hours before the full-time job and the 4yo kick into gear. It's behind its word count, but there's hope. It's a first.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

mizrenaissance — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 07:37:41 -0600

Hi Everyone, I got a late start on NaNoWriMo and this is my first time doing it. So despite never having writing litfic before I thought I would give it a try. Hey, if a friend from high school can win the national book award, I can at least write some litfic, right? Interestingly enough, the story is flying out and it actually has a plot that I stumbled upon pretty quickly. Here's my short synopsis: Fifty-year-old Leanna learns that she has been surplussed at her company and must figure out how she will support herself and her teenage daughter at the same time that she learns her deceased mother had unshared secrets that will affect the second half of her life. I'll write in more detail about the plot/characters/theme when I close the gap on my word count curve. For now, I'll say that the action takes place in Webster Groves and Hermann (Missouri towns) and involves viticulture, farming, gardening, and a family that hasn't been in touch in decades. Favorite litfic author? Charles Dickens first comes to mind, but he'd be a horrible model for NaNoWriMo (can you image what the daily word counts would have to look like!?). I also like Hawthorne and Mark Twain. For modern litifc folks I have to give props to Margaret Atwood and Jon Franzen.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

rparker — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 08:39:03 -0600

Hi. I'm Megan and this is my fourth Nano attempt, third Nano novel. I'm a recovering English Lit major, a stay at home parent, and I write year round when I can avoid my other responsibilities. I like Bill Burroughs, Henry James, a bunch of other dead men, and some women and poets as well. I don't watch television but I do read a lot of genre books and this almost certainly influences my writing. My novel this year is pretty gothic, absurd, and unrealistic. It is neither genre nor mainstream fiction and probably belongs somewhere between erotic fiction, literary fiction, and satire. It is "literary" in the ways that Burroughs, Henry Miller, Matthew Lewis and Joseph Heller are literary and sometimes it has trouble remembering that it is fiction. I use semicolons, unreliable narrators, and T.S. Eliot references; there is a tongue-in-cheek synopsis on my profile.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

mizrenaissance — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 23:04:21 -0600

Welcome!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

mizrenaissance — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:03:39 -0600

GO Sunshowers! And welcome. Your idea sounds great. Write on!

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

originalgradk — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:30:06 -0600

Hi I am an Underdog lover and I have given my characters crafty ways of achieving their goals plus my issues are nice and controversial for added edge.

Re: Welcome to Literary Fiction 2011! Introductions Here.

originalgradk — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:30:56 -0600

I have also had a brilliant idea for another Literary Novel that celebrates my old pal the underdog now saved up in my Scrivener for Windows.