So what's everybody writing?

I'm writing yet another 'Star Trek' novel, although much different to both the novel I wrote last November and the Script Frenzy! screenplay I wrote in June - they were fast-paced action-stories, whereas this year's 'Seven Days And Seven Nights' is much more relaxed and not plot-driven (it's basically a what-some-people-did-on-their-holiday story).

My story was inspired by my favourite NaNo experience last year. At one point, I had been writing chapter after chapter of starship battles, and I found it draining. So, one Sunday morning while lying in bed, I brainstormed furiously, and came up with the idea of sending my main character and her boyfriend on a holiday - so, I jumped ahead six months in the story's future, and sent them on shore leave to the (in)famous "pleasure planet" Risa. It was great relaxing fun to write about two people relaxing, and that Sunday alone I churned out over 4000 words - so the idea of writing 50,000 words of great relaxing fun is irresistible (especially as work sucks at the moment).

'Seven Days And Seven Nights' is now mostly planned and raring to go. At one point, I considered cutting my story back to 'Five Days And Five Nights' because I was worried about running out of things for my characters to do, and I also then thought about including two day-long action sequences - but fortunately, listening to some '60s surf-music one day gave me a great idea that has just grown and grown.

Fantasy, inspired by a conversation with a drunkard on a bus.

I've got some basic ideas for fantastic elements but I have to think of a way to string them together. It'll probably end up sounding like Stardust (the book, not the movie). I've been reading a lot of Neil Gaiman lately.

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Medieval age.
Title: BEAST BLOOD
Vengeful man sets out to destroy invaders who destoyed his village and his to-be arranged bride.
Somehow kills a bear on top of a broken sacrficial altar, which a ritual had been performed on. Because of this he ends up with bear-like qualities, rage. strength, etc.
Finds a guide to help him control his new found powers,
...
...
..
..
lots of slaughter and a big twist at the end.

I am doing a story set in the world of the Nightside by Simon R. Green.

I didn't do very well last year and have found this setting to be really inspiring, to the point that unlike last year I actually have a plan.

Its going to be the recounting of my characters discovery of the nightside when he is hired by an new television network in the nightside. He discovers the hidden wonders and horrors of the nightside and then gets to experiance them first hand when his contract leaves him locked into a strange situation.

I'm going to attempt a comedy/fantasy (making fun of the archetypes) simply because I managed to compose 4 scripts to that effect for a friend to act out. they were only a few thousand words long, but i think I can go longer. Especially if I try the Terry Pratchett style of story telling.

Ok, well I'm currently backing an idea I had one day whilst waiting in an op-shop. Basically, this guy is waiting for his gf to try on some clothes, and spots a book that was written by someone with the same name as his. He finds this amusingly unlikely so he picks it up and reads the blerb about the author. To his suprise it sounds just like him until his 25th birthday, where the description of the authors life deviates from his own. Amazed and confused, he buys the paperback, and goes looking for clues. This leads him into a maze of confusion, dead ends and red herrings, till he's convinced he's either crazy or someone very powerful has it in for him. Then things really start going downhill...

Not real sure how it's going to go. I need to write a book within a book. Could be tricky. Wish me luck.

Ray

Good luck! It sounds like a really interesting idea.

This is what I did last year.

This is also what I will be doing this year, in the same world I developed last year with new characters to torture, Pratchett style narrating and all.

Maybe I'll even get around to finishing last year's nonsense as well.

I'm a bit nervous about putting my idea out there for everyone to see, I can't even decide what genre it falls into! Fantasy/Romance with a lashing of homoerotica?

My MC's family has been cursed so that he cannot bear the touch of anyone who cares for him. He runs away from home when his father tries to force him to marry. The story will follow his journey and the people he meets who will eventually help to nullify the curse. Along the way, of course, he'll find someone to love. Oh yeah, and did I mention it's slash?

It sounds pretty stupid, but I've run my detailed plot outline past a few friends who's opinions I trust and they think it's a good idea.

The whole point of nano is word count, and the experience. Try not to worry too much about whether your plot is a good idea! And don't be afraid to share, everyone here is as mad as each other, so you're in perfect company!

I will be writing about a Demon Fighting Librarian, and it'll be a bit steampunk, a bit sci-fi, a bit fantasy. Partly because strong, sensible female characters are too far between, but mostly because I find it hilarious.

I am mad to be doing this in the middle of the most important event of my job; the election, but like I said, we're all mad.

I disagree that it doesn't matter whether the novel is a good idea. Sure, people should go for their idea even if they're unsure about it, but I don't think it helps to disregard the quality of an idea and just write an old drivel.

Good point. But when it comes to balancing "get something written" with "this is utter trite", I think people should swing towards drivel, at least until they are absolutely sure it is in fact drivel. If the internet has taught us anything, it is that even the most mundane daily activities are worthy of permanency.

If people were to limit their plots to ideas they immediately thought were excellent, a lot of great books wouldn't get written.

I actually really like my story idea, and I'm reasonably sure that I can do a decent job of the premise. The only thing that was making me hesitate was the time constrant. But I've just read Zette's NaNo book and I'm feeling a lot better. I think, even a completely ridiculous idea can be turned into an enjoyable read, in the right hands. Not that I'm necessarily saying that my hands are the right hands, but I've been writing fanfiction for about 3 years now and I actually have a fair number of people who enjoy my writing, so I must be doing SOMETHING right, yes?

I think I was worrying mostly about whether it would be a good enough idea to interest a publisher, but I've decided to just go for it. If it turns out to be better suited to fanfiction, I'll just change a few details and share it with my friends. I'm sure there'll be another idea along, eventually, that will be of some interest to a publisher somewhere!

Thank you very much for the encouragement. I'm really starting to feel more eager than freaked out!

A demon fighting librarian? That's really got my curiosity piqued! Sounds like great fun.

I have no idea what to write yet, but I do have some selected lyrics that I wanted to use as my starting point.

"To Eden with me you will not leave
To live in my cottage of crazy crooked Eves
In your own heavy home
Take care of this night
When you let your little cat in
Turn on the light
Something scurries behind
And finds a cozy place to stare
Something sent to you from paradise
Paradisically somewhere
Tongues flouring
They leap out laughing
Lapping
Disappear"

I don't know precisely what I'm writing, only that I'm determined that at least 40,000 of the words will be original fiction rather than fanfiction.

I have a number of original fic plots to go with - a combination of sci-fi/fantasy with a touch of romance and I seem to have a fondness for the epic scale story.

We'll see how it goes.

I also won't be in Sydney for most of November - I'll start the 1st November in the US, before flying over to Europe and arriving on the 2nd November, where I'll be staying until the 26th November before flying home to Sydney and arriving on the 28th November.

It's going to be an interesting experience, I think.

Sel

Better hope they got power for your laptop on the planes, SelDear!

I agree, Deamon fighting Librarians are few and far between in our culture! More if it I say!

Sounds like there are going to be some interesting tales told next month. I'm looking forward to reading some excerpts!

Ray

I've ended up (somehow, really long story...) with this SciFi/Fantasy plot, with telepaths and horses and soldiers and woods... and fugitives. Boats come in at some point. But WOAH! I can't get through a single maths lesson at this point without jotting down another page of character notes! That didn't happen last year...

Good luck everyone!

Currently? The idea is to re-write Peter Pan into a darker tale of a boy who never wants to grow up and kidnaps children from the real world to play out his twisted dreams and delusions in the place called never never land, following from the perspective of wendy, a babysitter that Peter has fallen head over heels for and decided to take two of the young boys she was looking after to force her into entering never-ever land.

Or, I could write something else entirely. I won't really know until I put pen to paper, or I get some opinions from people. c:

First time NaNo-ing, so have decided to charge mostly blind into this. *Huzzah!* Watch me burn.
I’ve got a death before the story starts, an MCs tree-change, and the wonderful 2 degrees of separation of the queer scene.
But I think it’ll be a romance in the end. Can’t stand reading romances. But my original idea went weird when I started jotting ideas.
Who know what it’ll turn into when I actually start writing :-)
Current dilemma - naming characters before I start?
Hmmm.

I'm writing an edgy dark lit/horror piece that could be seen as like 'Fight Club' about a guy who goes from job to job, hates work and kills his boss's before he quits.

I'm still working on where the plots goes for there, but that's the initial situation.

That idea sounds very interesting! I've always had a soft spot for Peter Pan. I really like your idea of doing a darker, slightly more twisted take on it.

Its my first time writing this year, but I was thinking of basing it off a character I thought up of a while ago. Set in an alterna-Vegas where the government has legislated for the confidentiality of priests to be allowed to be compromised for the sake of criminal investigation, the lead character, a Catholic priest, hands out the same forgiveness as his peers - but charges his clientèle for confidentiality. Off course secrets are nasty things - and the Father soon finds himself caught up in vices to help him forget the confessions. His drug-induced states often lead him to confront representatives of the spiritual realms his faith is instilled in.

I'm a little unsure as what sort of plot I want to embroil him in yet; an absolutionist-for-hire in Vegas has all sorts of possibilities but I wanted to settle with something that wasn't too predictable yet not too difficult to write.

This is my first year! Aaaah!

I had intended to just make it up as I went along and use a string of sarcastic lines to hold the story together but I think maybe writing up a plan involving some semblance of a plot would be better.

So far, it starts with someone (not even sure if it's a significant character) has killed their parents. Follows on that they're actually the next stage in evolution and they can cause things to or not to exist because existence is a delusion. Religion doesn't like this. Government doesn't like this. Science isn't particularly fond of this either. Chaos ensues.

That's about it.

Why thank you, though I doubt I'm the first to have such idea's. I just find that most of the classical and traditional fairy tales are never as clean and bright as the disney version makes them out to be, and enjoy the idea's of taking things in the opposite direction.

I only hope I can do the idea justice >.>

This is my first time trying to write something for NaNo. I previously wrote a 30000 word novel when I was at Uni but it took me two years. I'm hoping the need to churn out lots of words in a limited time will put an end to my output problem.
I haven't decided who my mc will be, because I have a lot of different characters clamouring for the centre of attention. Possibly my novel will end up being a bunch of interrelated short stories. That way I don't have to stick with just one point of view. Sorry I can't be more specific.

This my hook, kind of like the blurb at the back of a book.

****

Theo’s been through a lot of jobs – and he’s hated every one of them. He hates work so much that he can’t quit until his boss is six feet under, and he sees too it that they do.

But when Theo makes his latest career change and realizes that he has more than one boss, he has to make the choice of giving up to a career of wasted days and useless meetings, or rising up to the challenge as those on the other side getting smarter.

Ha! WIth my race with Maxtac to 50k in under 2 weeks, I'm attempting another as well! It's about the First Werewolf - Set in Ancient Egypt - And all the problems that would go with it.

I'm writing a HP fan fic :) I did the same last year, but didn't get to complete it because I was too worried about the plot side. I was going to do an original fiction, but realised it would take too much planning. So for NaNo, its back to Fan fic. I've already written one that's over 50,000 words (still incomplete), but that took me 6 months...lol..I only got halfway last year and I gave up, so I'm determined to hit that 50,000 word mark and edit in December if the plot really sucks.