Synopsis?

I have a start, and possibly a middle, but I still have to dream up an ending. As in previous years, my favorite aliens are involved, although I am doing something different. No Thekherham, none of his family, no distant planets. As a matter of fact, it is set on Earth, present time, and it involves a very bad movie director (think Ed Wood (Plan 9 from Outer Space)), and a movie he's making called 'The Pit of Hell.' How are my aliens (Tereskadians) involved? There is a small village in Northern Ontario (way north, near Hudson Bay) where a small group of Tereskadians have settled. Each Tereskadian is symbiotically linked with an animal called a whistling dragon, which is not really a dragon, because they have fur, and they are mammals. But they do have wings. The head of the CGI department is trying to convince one of the Tereskadians to allow her whistling dragon to go down to Los Angeles to be in this... ahem, movie. Hopefully, there will be some humor in this one.

___________________
That's Tee kee' rahm

The fox-like, auburn-furred, bushy-tailed alien

It sounds like there's lots of potential for humour in that, Thekherham! Sounds interesting too. :)

I'm going for a post-apocalyptic love story this year... the Earth is pretty much screwed, most of its inhabitants are dead or barely functional, but one of the unaffected people is trying to restore her zombified husband to his former self. I haven't worked out the details, but I want kind of a double narrative, with the story of their past life together taking the focus, and also explaining how they found themselves in this predicament.

What are you up to this year, Rachel? I notice you didn't mention it in your intro. :)

ML for Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge
"merp! merp!" --bunnyhero

Ha, I was hoping you wouldn't notice.... lol.

Well, here's the very basic idea:

My MC (probably named Samantha) is a very successful 26 year old who loves her life. She spends her days working as a senior editor for an as-of-yet-unnamed publishing company, going to book launches, taking clients to dinners, travelling etc. It is at a company conference out of state (not sure where she will be living yet) that she meets the love of her life. He is 11 years her senior. They have an amazing, passionate week together and then go their separate ways (after the conference ends).

A few weeks later he calls her and invites her to his place (he lives in a different state), tells her he has something important to tell her. It turns out that he has three kids under 7. She is shocked, etc. That same night he proposes to her. She decides to quit her job and move in with him.

So, the story from here on out is about her living life one way and then all of a sudden being thrown into motherhood, dealing with her new life, new roles, and of course, the ex-wife.

There.... I said it...

Rachel Celeste
http://rachelcopland.wordpress.com

2008: 50,219 words
2007: 25,524 words
2006: <1,000 words
2005: 15,034 words
2004: 11,093 words

Oh, and I'm fairly certain that I have decided on "Love and other Dilemmas" for the title.

You see, I have this obsession where i HAVE to have the novel named before I begin writing...

Rachel Celeste
http://rachelcopland.wordpress.com

2008: 50,219 words
2007: 25,524 words
2006: <1,000 words
2005: 15,034 words
2004: 11,093 words

I had an idea that struck me while in the car with my friends in July. Everyday geeks in a post-apocalyptic world run over by zombies. clearly set in the K-W area (as surprisingly most of my nano novels are lol)

I'm gonna eat your socks!

Well, I got my story mostly planned out, at least the beginning is 100% ready to go, i only have idea's for the rest at the moment.

It's a fantasy, set in the world of Terra. it follows Damien, the rebel leader against the Lord Seymour. He ends up on the small island of Belai, where he meets Arina, one of the few who still frequent the temples of yore. Through her, he discovers what he believes to be the secret of the temples, the reason why Seymour hated them so. He convinces her to come with him back to the mainland, hoping to use this new knowlage, and new power, to end the stalemate and bring victory for his side.

Well, thats the best I can make of it anyways lol. I've never been good at describing a story XP

Death Toll: 70

Mine is about a girl who lives her life being invisible. No friends, avoiding family, that kind of stuff. It works so well that people don't pay her any attention at all. One day when she gets to school she hears over the PA system that she was murdered the night before, and realises that she's a ghost.

It's pretty much just my take on what it's like to be a ghost, including what happens when an incorporeal form tries to enter a building with a basement and the trials of finding things to do when you're dead, since she hasn't seen a single ghost in her city and is starting to firmly believe that she's stuck on earth. She comes across a stereotypical dumb jock in her school who can see and hear her and takes to haunting him if he doesn't help her cross over.

There are no such things as accidents; only pre-planned events that no one bothered to tell you about.

Man, everyone has such awesome sounding ideas! I am not quite decided on the hows and whats of my novel yet. I know some things that it includes, and a basic sketch of the plot, but nothing all that interesting yet. But it will come to me, I am sure of it. :)

I'm at about the same point as you, fleshing out the MC and exactly what's going to happen. I know it's a sub-super hero who is mentally similar to myself, thrust into an adventure where he must use the multitude of skills he's developed over years of jumping from here to there to take on an international drug company. (Lots of shadowy action as well, of course)

I'm doiong a sequel to my 2007 NaNo novel which I'm really excited about. It's basically my MC's transition from Isobel to Ira as the domanint personality. Yes I know one MC two names (3 acctually...but two for this novel) is weird. The novel is also meant to look at her transition into a Greek Goddess. Yeah it's mythology related. Most of it is driven by the fact that she dislikes her brother now because of what happened in the last novel and him getting used to the idea that his baby sister is no longer really his sister. Okay so the idea sounded much better in my head. My goal is to also begin the thrid book in the series (this one introduces the final personality, the one that becomes the dominating personality) and I'm really excieted for it because it takes place in my MC's mind.

Good luck to everyone else with their novels.

silamai ...

that sounds like a good novel :)

Rachel Celeste
http://rachelcopland.wordpress.com

2008: 50,219 words
2007: 25,524 words
2006: <1,000 words
2005: 15,034 words
2004: 11,093 words

I'm going with my idea of a semi-dystopic era where minors (being 21 and under) are considered animals, and are trained in a highly controlled enviornment until they earn the title of "human". I don't know how the whole journey will end, and a few key themes are my only driving force, but I feel big potential for it.

My story is about a girl, Alexis, who's this 18 year old party girl, whose parents have tons of money. They never really cared what she did, and she went on with her promiscuous ways, until she gets pregnant. And isn't sure who the father is. She debates what to do about it, but her parents end up kicking her out and cutting her off due to it. Some of the stuff they said to her during the fight leading to that convinces her to keep the baby. The rest of the book will be about her trying to adjust to providing for herself for the first time ever, WHILE dealing with being pregnant. It's basically a story of self-discovery. And since I'm such a romantic, I just have to have some intricate love plot woven into there, but I'm not sure how yet. It'll have to be a complicated one though, since Lexi isn't exactly a relationship kind of girl, hahahaha.

Wow, I simply loved reading your guys' ideas. (Oh and I can't wait to see how zombies in KW turns out! lol)

So mine is a little complex and I am having trouble describing it to anyone. I usually get a confused stare followed by, "that sounds... interesting." It's just not coming out right when I try to describe it, but to quote one of my new fave shows "I'm a glutton for punishment," so here goes...

Working Title: The Mirror Crack'd
Genre: Fantasy/Occult Fiction

Premise: (This is where it gets tricky.)

The realm of Kaldea, the so-called "Land of the Pyramids" and world of illusions, is a world somewhat "parallel" to ours. At the beginning of the 20th century, the western world experienced a bit of a resurgence in occultism, and interest in magical practises. A number of practicioners of these occult paths attempted a magical ritual which, if completed successfully, would bring them "across the Abyss" and supposedly to a higher level of existence. Ones who failed were said to get lost in the "Land of the Pyramids." Kaldea was created when these practicioners failed to cross the Abyss, succumbing to their own ego. Thus, Kaldea is a world populated by egotists, and runs rampant with hedonism and self-indulgence.

The more people followed in the footsteps of these failed magicians, the more populated Kaldea became, and in turn slowly began to function as a world of its own. Eventually the fad of occultism died down in our own world, and fewer and fewer people crossed over to Kaldea - eventually the flow stopped entirely.

Until Nora arrived. Nora, my main character, appeared as an infant in Kaldea. By this time, the prevailing idea is that the "Earth" realm is a hell-world, populated by "hollows" (Demons that possess no divine spark and are nothing but hollow shells). Nora is rescued by a Master (a very talented mage who has risen very highly in the magical order which governs Kaldea), who conceals the child's origins and cares for her at the magical College of Ezra, where he teaches.

Somethings in Nora's life go awry. She is the model pupil, a natural talent and she has a natural ability to "scry" (make contact with spirits of other realms through her own mind). One day, she finds an artefact in the college's store rooms, a black mirror used for spirit summonings, and begins to use it herself. Through this mirror she makes contact with Aron, who is unlike any demon she has ever encountered. She finds he eases the torment in her life, and becomes addicted to summoning him. In short, she falls in love with him.

Aron is not a demon. He isn't even a spirit. Aron is actually a real live human, one of the last practising magicians in the "Earth Realm." But Nora finds herself unable to trust him, and in a fit of rage - destroys the mirror that is her only connection to him. (This is actually my idea for the opening scene.) But as it turns out, this mirror was not some useless item collecting dust in the store rooms and actually was a very important tool for certain "higher ups" in the Order. She is on the verge of getting into a lot of trouble, very quickly.

Aron, meanwhile, cannot understand why suddenly he is no longer able to contact Nora, and himself goes on a quest to find her again. A quest which will eventually lead him to Kaldea, perhaps just in the nick of time.

I've left a fair amount out, but if you've gotten this far and what I've written actually MAKES SENSE to you, please let me know. The fact that no one seems to understand what I'm trying to convey has been discouraging. If I can even convey my idea, how on earth am I going to write it???

It made sense to me! Sounds like a long fantasy quest kind of thing with lots of backstory, and any of those would be hard to convey in a few sentences to a relatively uncommitted audience. But I think it sounds pretty cool. =)

ML for Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge
"merp! merp!" --bunnyhero

Thanks Merpy! That makes me feel better. :) I was on the verge of hair-pulling. ;)

So I guess it's my turn to give what ideas I have so far.
I have the basic ideas and background, but the plot is more or less unknown to me. But that's okay, 'cause I'm going to let this story flow naturally, as one writing a novel in a month can flow. It's a fantasy called "The Shaker of the Earth". For you myth lovers out there, the title is an epithet for Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea and earthquakes. My story doesn't use the Greek gods, but I like the name as a title. It is about gods though. Basically, one the the gods comes down to world and takes possession of man so that he can cause havoc for humankind. (Hey, when you're immortal)what else have you got to do?) He has a telekinetic-like power that continually grows throughout the story, till the point where he has the power to literally 'shake' the earth. Of course, this god isn't the only god in the story: it's up to one other to stop him. Hopefully, there'll be lots of action and lots of inner struggle, 'cause even the most evil characters have to have some interesting aspects. Essentially, the main theme of my story is: if you have this unlimited power, what would you do with it? Would you help others, use if for selfish gain, or something far worse?....Well, power corrupts for a reason.
I just wonder if the novel will look anything like that at the end.

Nice one, Strige! I think you've got a solid concept here. It will be curious to see how it plays out. :) (I'm a big mythology buff too; Graeco-Roman and a smattering of Norse.)

Jessica888 -- sounds like something I'd like to read :)

Rachel Celeste
http://rachelcopland.wordpress.com

2008: 50,219 words
2007: 25,524 words
2006: <1,000 words
2005: 15,034 words
2004: 11,093 words

oh everyone's ideas sound awesome! =D

I give the fantasy writers a ton of credit! I have a fantasy idea hanging around in my head but I'm too intimidated by it to try yet lol. Someday. My MC for that story is biding her time. She knows I won't abandon her forever XD.

as for this year's story:

the MC is a seventeen year old male named Zachary who runs into a university professor named Morgan. Zachary is as fascinated by Morgan as the other way around, and Morgan convinces Zachary to join his little group of "friends". Morgan turns the tables on Zachary pretty quickly, essentially claiming him as his own possession and renaming him "Princess". Princess ends up deeply entwined in the group's dynamic and loses himself quickly into the world of sex, drugs, and hate crimes against homophobic individuals. He'd be a lost cause, but for Tristan.

so yes, it's a love story. =3.

oh everyone's ideas sound awesome! =D

I give the fantasy writers a ton of credit! I have a fantasy idea hanging around in my head but I'm too intimidated by it to try yet lol. Someday. My MC for that story is biding her time. She knows I won't abandon her forever XD.

as for this year's story:

the MC is a seventeen year old male named Zachary who runs into a university professor named Morgan. Zachary is as fascinated by Morgan as the other way around, and Morgan convinces Zachary to join his little group of "friends". Morgan turns the tables on Zachary pretty quickly, essentially claiming him as his own possession and renaming him "Princess". Princess ends up deeply entwined in the group's dynamic and loses himself quickly into the world of sex, drugs, and hate crimes against homophobic individuals. He'd be a lost cause, but for Tristan.

so yes, it's a love story. =3.

Chase, I love your story description. Can I read it when you finish?

Meh, fantasy's not that hard. I actually find it more stressful and daring to step outside the fantasy box and have to relate an idea to the real world. I guess everything is perspective. :-p

of course Skalds! =D

Mine follows five different main characters through the immediate precursors and then aftermath of an electromagnetic pulse due to a Coronal Mass Ejection (think sun flare) which caused massive and widespread damage to electrical and electronic systems. It's based in London, UK. The EMP knocks out power, telecoms, water, transportation, basically all the things modern society requires. As AJ Rimmer says, " Deprive a culture of food for three meals, and you'll have an anarchy."

I'm trying to make it as hard-sci-fi as possible - i.e. make it as plausible as possible. The basic premise is possible from a scientific basis. The human side is also plausible - see what happened in New Orleans.

I'm using the five different characters to try to highlight different aspects of personality, as well as writing essentially a post-apocalyptic adventure story.