You aren't dreaming! You've got a group of people here dying to hear the details about your upcoming novel... so use this thread to give us the dirty details!
My own novel is called "Ominous Omens," and it's the sequel to last year's "Shifting Shadows," a part-horror, part sci-fi story set in the Soulard neighborhood in St. Louis.
In this year's story, my skeptical freelance writer / private detective, Cara Covington, is sent to investigate a religious group in rural Missouri that claims to be performing real miracles -- receiving prophetic visions from heaven, healing the sick, and breaking the laws of physics. Cara is sent to get the scoop... and discovers that something really IS going on. Rocked to her core and reconsidering the religion she left behind in college, Cara probes into the phenomenon to try to understand why God has shown His power in rural Missouri. But the deeper she digs, the closer she comes to the story of an ancient religion, a mysterious and murderous cult, and a terrifying truth that someone does not want her to bring to light.
So, what are you writing about? Fill us in!
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Sean J. Jordan
Municipal Liaison, Southern Illinois Region
Keep up to date on Southern Illinois NaNoWriMo events on our blog!
40,011 / 50,000
Oct 11, 2009 - 12 00
well i have 2 diffrent ones and not sure which one to do yet
the first one called my vampire life which is told first person and the vampire tels you about her life after she became a vampire which souns lame even to me
the other one does not havr a title yet it is also about a vampire but she wants to tell the world about herself yes i know it sounds very interveiw with the vampire like thats all i got right now other than an on going novel about werejags which i can't use for NaNoWriMo
what do u think
40,030 / 50,000
Oct 11, 2009 - 12 18
Authra-- welcome!
I noticed on the other thread you were concerned that you'll be out of place being a not-yet-published writer. The majority of participants you'll meet are not professionally published, and you'll even meet a few who are writing in your genre! We often sit around and bounce ideas off each other during write-ins, so you'll feel quite at home.
As for your ideas... why not integrate the two? They both sound like two sides of a vampire's "coming out" story. Maybe you could set the story in an alternate world where vampires have to blend in because ignorant rednecks will hunt them down and kill them just for being vampires? A few bad apples (vampires who have gone after human blood) have spoiled it for the rest (who get donor blood, animal blood, etc.)
Good luck! And keep your eyes on this forum or our blog (http://SoILnanowrimo.wordpress.com) for details about events.
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Sean J. Jordan
Municipal Liaison, Southern Illinois Region
Keep up to date on Southern Illinois NaNoWriMo events on our blog!
40,011 / 50,000
Oct 11, 2009 - 12 22
thank you and i thought about that just not sure how it work it
32,025 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2009 - 11 18
I can't believe more people aren't posting about their novels! I'll take up the slack with my half-baked idea, then.
My novel is a Young Adult-ish urban fantasy set in a world were the fey and spirits are well known. The story is set in a town where the fey were driven out a hundred years ago, and are starting to go feral. Two girls- my as-of-yet unnamed main characters- are set on the quest to release the eight Lords that watch over the fey- only nobody knows where they've hidden themselves, and time is running out as more and more gruesome murders are attributed to rabid fey creatures.
There's going to be action, mystery, romance, minute amounts of teen angst, bird-men, deer-women, nursery rhymes made real, and murders.
I'm pretty excited to start! How about YOU?
----------Eight lords sleeping till it’s foretold
By an old hand they will be stirred
One a tree that’s grown too old
One a sound that’s never been heard
One a shade that hasn’t a caster
One a light been swallowed by a bird
One hangs like a ghost in the sky
40,239 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2009 - 18 12
I'm leaning towards my fantasy romance novel set into the civil dragon wars of the age when humans are just coming into existence as sentient beings. My story is centered around a DragonLord and his halfbreed slave that is half dragon half elf and magic is still living in the world. Humans are low in the pyramid as the caretakers of the earth while the dragons still employ mountain dwarves and also are allied with the woodland elves. The opposing faction are members of the Black Dragons Emerald Dragons Dark Elves and more .... The fight of course is for territory to control and for treasure to hoard. But even as the story unfurls you can tell that the age of man is inevitable. First we have to get through the dragon wars . . .
----------In love you never lose, because love is never lost, like energy, it transforms, and is in us to find the new shape, to take it again, and keep going.
40,417 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2009 - 19 58
Not sure what it will be or what it will be...still working that idea out. Hope to have idea and outline soon. But I always get excited about writing for NaNo..it is my jump start ..looking forward to the KO party. if it is a day I can come.. Edwardsville area would be doable. Jan
----------PTJanny
50,458 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2009 - 14 10
Sequel to last year's nano - book 2 of trilogy.
----------20,561 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2009 - 17 59
Okay, I'm reluctant to say anything because I hate talking about my novel before I start working on it just because it'll probably change huge-ly, but I'm going to do a stort of steampunk, rebellion, war, star-crossed lovers, secret agent novel.....I think.
----------2006: 11:34 A.M. (Ubran Fantasy), 10k- Fail
2007: Delilah's Demons (YA/Urban Fantasy) 51k- COMPLETION!
2008- Untitled (Historical Fiction) 3k- EPIC Fail
2009- Suns Dissapearing [Working Title] (YA/Fantasy/Romance)
56,750 / 50,000
Oct 15, 2009 - 07 56
My nano idea, in one: A cynical photographer must solve the mystery behind a celebrated children's poem to stop a murder on Christmas Eve--his own--as forecast by the poem's author two hundred years earlier.
----------Jimmy Olsen
44,734 / 50,000
Oct 15, 2009 - 08 55
I'm pretty sure I'm going to be writing a Star Trek: The Next Generation novel. My working title is "The Strange". Until I came up with that title, I was calling it "Romulans I Have Known and Loved". Had to drop that one when I figured out the story was more of a drama than a comedy. Still, that could change as I start writing.
Plot: Captain Picard & the crew are sent to bid on an item at a Ferengi auction. The problem is, they don't know what they're bidding on. Neither does the rest of the galaxy, but they all show up anyway. And -- you guessed -- trouble starts brewing.
I currently only have a vague idea of what that trouble is, so my brainstorming/outlining starts this evening. Wish me luck!
Hunter
4,000 / 50,000
Oct 15, 2009 - 10 12
Well, since I finally figured out what i wanted to write about, I'll post it here. I hate to say it, but the idea came to me in a dream. It was years ago, but still... Anyway, here goes:
The main character is a ghostwriter. he's quite good, but being a ghostwriter, no one knows. Anyway, he's hired to rewrite a novel written by a Lovecraft-like writer from the 20's. A publishing company is re-releasing his work, but the last novel is absolute dreck. So, enters our hero to do a rewrite. However,as he gets writing strange things start to happen. As he gets deeper into the novel, things from the book start to appear in the real world. It turns out the orginal writer had gotten so good at his work that he was able to bring his creation into being. The reason the writer had written so badly was that it was the only way to keep his ideas from coming true. Having undone the writer's binding, the ghostwriter now has to figure out a way to keep the monsters in the pages of the book.
Beyond that, I'm still coming up with stuff.
Matt
44,734 / 50,000
Oct 15, 2009 - 16 37
Hey Matt! There are a lot of people writing about vampires this year. Will your ghostwriter meet up with any vampires? There seem to be a lot of them lurking on TV and in bookstores these days.
Hunter
4,000 / 50,000
Oct 15, 2009 - 18 13
For now no vampires. More eldritch terror than gothic horror, but who knows...
32,025 / 50,000
Oct 16, 2009 - 09 13
Oooh! Lovecraftian NaNo novel! I am intrigued.
----------Eight lords sleeping till it’s foretold
By an old hand they will be stirred
One a tree that’s grown too old
One a sound that’s never been heard
One a shade that hasn’t a caster
One a light been swallowed by a bird
One hangs like a ghost in the sky
18,178 / 50,000
Oct 18, 2009 - 19 27
There used to be a law that a monster could not enter the city limits of Urbana, IL. I'm jumping off from there to ask what happens when the law is repealed and and the local Monster Control Task Force (aka Monster Cops) really have to start worrying about doing their jobs. Furthermore, why the heck was there a law like that in the first place?
Note: No vampires, sparkly or otherwise, will appear in this book. I will maim with a pencil anyone who suggests otherwise.
----------Hex
0 / 50,000
Oct 19, 2009 - 11 47
I keep going back and forth on a couple of different ideas.
The first is a story about an average guy who decides he's had enough with the direction he feels the country is going and decides to run for Congress. The story would focus on his campaign and all of the obstacles his opposition and the established political machines put in his way. Almost a "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" slice-of-America kind of thing.
My second idea is a 180 degree turn from my first and is a science fiction tale similar to Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon. A dashing hero, space princess in distress, evil overlord kind of tale. This would be easier to just BS my way through as it would require little to no research if I didn't want it to.
I don't know. I guess we'll just have to wait until the time comes to put up or shut up to see what I end up going with.
40,239 / 50,000
Oct 19, 2009 - 17 26
*giggles* Gag with rusty pointy lead pencil for sparkly vampires = YAY
----------In love you never lose, because love is never lost, like energy, it transforms, and is in us to find the new shape, to take it again, and keep going.
10,405 / 50,000
Oct 19, 2009 - 18 31
Hello everyone!
I have also have a couple of ideas rolling around in my head:
1) The main idea I want to run with is a post-apocalyptic western. The setting is a fairly straight-forward idea, the system crashed, but not from a bomb or a great war. Instead, the world economy crashed and its governments imploded. A hundred years later, our country has become a string of self-reliant city states. Instead of standing armies, militias stand watch over each town armed with aging weaponry of a time nearly forgotten. Strangers are vilified and universally hated. Hated most of all are hired guns, those who sell murder to the highest bidder.
My main character is a hired gun who finds himself in a war between two rival cities. After assassinating the mayor of one city, he is double-crossed and hunted. When he becomes the hunter, the tide turns and he changes from a lone assassin to a the leader of men when one is most needed.
2) There are a few ideas I've had for a while but never put on a page. One is a folk tale about a young man and girl about to be married. The day before their wedding, he is attacked by a tiger and barely escapes with his life. Unfortunately, the girl is told that he has died and commits suicide. In Japanese culture, someone who dies in such a fashion become a Yurei (a ghost) and begins to haunt her beloved. With the help of a witch, he travels to the spirit realm to save her soul at the cost of his own.
Besides that, I have a couple other less developed ideas, but these are the two that are vying for attention. I can't wait for November 1st so I can finally decide! Argh!
-Ken
51,016 / 50,000
Oct 20, 2009 - 10 19
I've got two ideas outlined. Honestly, I probably won't know which one I will work on until the 1st when I have no choice but to make a decision.
1) 17 year year old Victoria Hudson has always wanted to play baseball. When her grandmother moves into a district where the rules for the summer league aren't clear, she seizes the opportunity.
2) 16 year old Elle McCoy is everyone's friend but no one is there when she needs them the most. On a lonely Saturdday night, Elle starts chatting with user ID koolkat99. Elle, weary of cyber stalkers and cyber crimes, keeps this information to herself. As their cyber-relationship grows, Elle and koolkat99 learn more and more about one another.
There you go. A baseball story and a cyber love/stalker story....Now how to choose....
40,008 / 50,000
Oct 23, 2009 - 11 22
I'm considering a prequel/sequel to my first novel "with fingers and other instruments". The working title is "possibility, probability, actuality". The first dealt with self-abuse so I'm hoping for something with a little more sunshine - or at least a happy ending. The first considered the lies that we are told about ourselves/tell ourselves. The second will be about discovering real identity. So "possiblity, probability, actuality" will be an exploration of identity from the perspective of someone who has totally lost hers. This is a young woman who is struggling through mental-illness and identity disorder. It is a mystery novel - where personal identity is the mystery. On one level it will be a historical retelling of a medieval fasting saint - on another level, a contemporary version of the same ...
... or maybe I'll just write another installment of the beloved Sweet Valley High series
----------18,178 / 50,000
Oct 23, 2009 - 16 50
1) The main idea I want to run with is a post-apocalyptic western. The setting is a fairly straight-forward idea, the system crashed, but not from a bomb or a great war. Instead, the world economy crashed and its governments imploded. A hundred years later, our country has become a string of self-reliant city states. Instead of standing armies, militias stand watch over each town armed with aging weaponry of a time nearly forgotten. Strangers are vilified and universally hated. Hated most of all are hired guns, those who sell murder to the highest bidder.
My main character is a hired gun who finds himself in a war between two rival cities. After assassinating the mayor of one city, he is double-crossed and hunted. When he becomes the hunter, the tide turns and he changes from a lone assassin to a the leader of men when one is most needed.
That sounds like a really cool idea! It's definitely the kind of thing I would pick up in a bookstore. Your world setup is really what caught me, and I hope if you don't end up writing this you eventually do SOMETHING in that world.
----------Hex
41,534 / 50,000
Oct 24, 2009 - 17 09
Mine's a YA currently titled 'Sisters of Cloth' but that may change later. It's about a 17 year old, run-away named Lara who ends up joining a coven of witches who call themselves the Sisters of Cloth--hence the title. They work cloth magic, weaving the spells into the fabric. I'm not entirely sure what's going to happen, but I'm pretty sure there's going to be a throw down with their rival coven, the Gun Mages--they mix their spells into the gunpower of their bullets, activated on firing.
----------Viel Liebe
Candice
79,227 / 50,000
Oct 24, 2009 - 23 33
I decided to go with something that is more modern and includes some erotica this year. I love to write fanfiction and people seems to enjoy my erotica work, but I am tired of applying situations to things that are fannish. No, will not be smut. I just cannot stomach it unless it is fan stuff as I get that enough from the members of Inuyasha Fanfiction site that I run.
It will be called "Behind The Classroom Doors." The main character is a senior and 18 years old, but also a military brat who recently transferred with her single father. Of course, she meets people and among them are two teachers who she becomes involved with. Etc, etc... plot bunny would be ruined if I summarized even further...lol
My issue is that I have decided to keep the settings around Belleville East, (and NO, whatever happens in the story never happened to myself or anyone I have ever known when I attended the school and no ones actual names are included, nor will be.) It just feels more comfortable writing from a place I have known growing up while giving it a different angle. The problem is that I have no idea if this might cause issues if I actually happen to publish it. If I were to make up a school in Belleville or create a fictional town, I would have someone getting PC on my rear...lol.
I have other plot bunnies, but this one has been itching to be completed.
----------Blondish.net | Mommy-Blogger.net
Me On Twitter | Me On Facebook
45,702 / 50,000
Oct 25, 2009 - 08 35
I am thinking steampunk vampire hunter book. I am in still in the planning stages, but I think that a group of misfits (classic steampunk) are called by Queen Victoria (it is the 1920s-30s) to hunt down the vampire that turned her into the quasi vampire state she is now in. She would really like to die, but can't because suicide is a sin and regicide is against the law. She can feel no emotions and food has no taste. She was forced into the quasi existence against her will and would love to move Britain into the modern age by passing the kingdom to her family.
This group of misfits will have misadventures and will kill the vampire, but is it the right one? Or is it only one made by the master?
This is out side the box for me, so it should be interesting.
----------A good book and a cup of tea, what more can you ask for?
10,405 / 50,000
Oct 25, 2009 - 16 14
That sounds like a really cool idea! It's definitely the kind of thing I would pick up in a bookstore. Your world setup is really what caught me, and I hope if you don't end up writing this you eventually do SOMETHING in that world.
Thanks for the encouragement! I really hope I do the idea justice! :o)
0 / 50,000
Oct 28, 2009 - 07 55
Dang, it sounds like steampunk is IN this year. And here I thought I had something different...
Mine happens to be steampunk with more of a classic fantasy edge. It's inspired by a doodle I made in my math notes during a slow day (a plain rectangle, with the words "Dirigible Karl's Chocolate Bar" inside). It took a few days for a sudden epiphany of just where I could go with just the name "Dirigible Karl". You know, one of those wonderfully sudden ideas. Hopefully this one will pan out better than the others.
----------____________________________________
"You fire up that Halo theme in a roomful of people, and everyone who's ever played the game will silently cock a plasma rifle in their mind."
-David Thomas, Halo Effect
____________________________________
7,443 / 50,000
Oct 28, 2009 - 09 15
Wow! there are already some really amazing ideas posted...I'm ecstatic I signed up and will be writing along with some extremely creative people.
My idea has been kicking around in my head for months but I haven't actually written anything yet: A 30-something man relocates to Southern Illinois with his wife and 2 year old son for his job. He's believes he's been haunted by a spirit for most of his life, but doesn't tell anyone about it, since he often wonders if he's just nuts. Whatever it is, it's followed him around since he was 12. He finally decides to do something about the 'haunting' when he realizes the spirit might be haunting his son as well.
I'm still debating if I'm going to go strictly horror with this, or make it more psychological where he really is losing his sanity. Maybe even both. :)
15,241 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 21 08
Well, I'm using a sci-fi/fantasy world that I've been tinkering with for the past four years. There's a major animosity between the Bots and the Fae. The Bots use vampires (who I've changed hugely from the standard nocturnal undead idea) as their go-betweens and soldiers. In return, the Bots round up people, throwing them into town-sized 'farms' where they're free to live until a vampire gets hungry. The story is about a group of freedom fighters who go from farm to farm, freeing as many people as they can in the process. Naturally, they encounter trouble in the form of inner-group conflict, prisoners who don't want freed, and, of course, resistance from the owners of the prison-towns. Oh, and did I mention that most of humanity has been wiped out by a well-meaning cure for AIDS and that only those who could adapt somehow or another have survived?
There's magic, there's robots, there's shapeshifters and vampires and heroes and villains and all sorts of stuff. A fun time to be had by all.
----------Welcome to the Company of Fools.
23,498 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 21 40
My novel is the story of a biographer trying to write a biography about a nearly forgotten construction magnate. During the course of his search for information, he goes to one of the magnate's abandoned mansions, which used to be a college dormitory, and where two violent murders took place shortly before the buildings were abandoned. The biographer, when searching the mansion, turns up a photograph of the magnate and a roughly ten year old girl sitting together. This wouldn't be weird, since the magnate had a daughter, but the photograph is dated to three years before the birth of his only daughter. As he tries to learn about the identity of the little girl, he unearths signs that the little girl and the murders may not be entirely unrelated.
I'd made it up to about 7,000 words last night before the format I was writing in, which was a series of interwoven stories years apart, imploded on me. I pretty much started from scratch again at about 9pm last night, and added anything salvageable back into the new writing, and got to about 4700 words before I hit the hay last night. I wrote about 1500 words during an hour long break between classes today, and I think that I've got a solid direction I want to take this now.
46,014 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 19 13
My novel is tentatively called "Evince," and it is a story about how a man, tentatively named Cedric, who is a normal software developer fresh out of college finding his world slowly turning upside down as the events and people in his life become more chaotic; more than he could have imagined possible.
And all the while, he is haunted by a mysterious man named "Evince." Who is this man, and how is he connected to the chaos that has become Cedric's life? Only the potential end of the novel will tell!
As inspiration for the novel, I'm using real dreams (mostly my own nutty ones, but a fair share of friends dreams as well.) Read and/or participate (potentially) at http://www.jarondavis.com/DreamsMain.php .
----------Over and over, the crow cries, "Uncover the corn field."