Just what the heck are you writing about?

A small vampire high school was quietly operating to allow vampires who looked like teenagers to quietly study among their own kind. One day, due to several mistakes on the staff's part, a human was accidentally allowed to enroll into the school. Most of the vampires don't know, or don't care, but a small number of them find out and their interests were piqued. What will happen as the human moves among the ranks, and certain "students" are brought out of the shadows? Only time will tell...

Grasps Of Reality is a fantasy high school story told from two points of view. On one side you have an old vampire who has been trapped in a 6-year-old body. While she normally sees herself as the Observer, watching and recording history as it passes, the entrance of Silvia, the first human at the school, intrigues her out of shadows she had almost never before left. Lilila, and her butler-esque "caretaker", Kierian, although normally melded within the shadows, come out of hiding to witness this new development personally.

On the other end, you also get the point of view of the human herself, Silvia. She just moved nearby and enrolled in the ultra Private school. She swore it was a fluke. And besides, the whole school seemed creepy, almost empty even. only a few people here and there.... She didn't want to move in the first place and finds adapting uncomfortable, even impossible. Meanwhile, it seems everyone she sees it glaring at her and only one person will talk to her, that person seemingly way too young for high school. One could wonder if they'd ever get through this...

What will happen as the two's story unfolds? You'll have to crack open "Grasps Of Reality" to find out...

--------

That was the summary. There's a few other characters as well -- Twin Vampires, Phreaq{pronounced like Freak} and Isabeau{called "Izzy"}. Phreaq is kind of quiet and slow to anger, but her anger is a raging firestorm that lasts a long time when invoked. She is also obsessed with photography and drawing. They are her passions and so far the only thing that makes her smile.

Isabeau is the typical popular girl,kind of bitchy/jerky but she tries to be nice, she really does! She has kind of a wild rebel-type streak most of the time. She is quick to anger, but it goes away quickly and she generally doesn't even remember what she was angry about. She's a very forgiving person.Phreaq is the only one she truly gets along with-- except for her boyfriend, Damien of course!

Damien is the only demon of the school and a real wild-child! He is a true juvenile delinquent-- if anyone could catch him! He's really poor however, and won't let anyone help him. Damien and Izzy actually met because one day Isabeau was mad because she met her first rejection by a boy and tackled the nearest student to her{other than Phreaq}-- Damien. After a wrestling match between the two, they were almost seconds after dating.

Amyas is a werewolf and spends his time mostly daydreaming. He is a dreamer, after all. He comes from a long line of werewolves and is immensely loaded with cash. He is kind of quiet, but his demeanor is very calm. He is head-over-heels for Phreaq, but is too shy to say anything. He is always kind of trailing behind her, flower in hand whenever he's not lost in his thought. He is a total romantic, but Phreaq won't give him the time of day.

And Kierian, the caretaker/butler of Lilila's has the stature and mannerisms of a butler, but is called by his first name. He almost never talks, and certainly to no one except Lilila at first. Usually seen at Lilila's right-hand side, looking straight forward as if in wait of Lilila's next order. He is also an elf.

-----

That's kind of it.. I'm thinking about adding one more character into the mix.... >>"

NaNoWriMo 09: Grasps Of Reality
NaNoWriMo 10: The Child Inside {GoR Prequel}
Important Characters: 8
Character Deaths: 1 planned
Dares used: 6
Dream sequences: 3 or 4
Species Used: 5
Beverage Of Choice: Coffee <3

I'm planning on attending the write-in tonight to solidify some of my ideas, but I'll write down what's in my mind here for record keeping (and for sharing, of course).

The novel's title is It's A Magical World, which should sound familiar if you are a fan of "Calvin and Hobbes." The main character is a boy raised by a single mother who is very loving but does not have a lot of free time. The boy uses his free time to wander about the city in which he lives, and encounters many forms of magic, magic wielders, and supernatural entities. The boy possesses a fantastic imagination, and he believes in the things he sees. What he does not realize is that magic exists because he believes. He forges relationships with the magical denizens of the city and embarks on adventures.

The power of subjective reality gets tricky, of course. The boy does not fully realize what he is, but his existence inevitably changes the people and events around him. There are those who are somewhat aware of the boy's powers, and they seek to manipulate the boy to fulfill their own goals. Will the boy realize the potential of the power he wields? What will he do with them? These questions are mysteries to you, me, and the other characters alike.

Though the boy shapes the world, subtly or otherwise, by his imagination alone, other characters in the book have more concrete ways to practice magic. Potential archetypes include magic fueled by:

Force of will (versus objective reality)

Faith

Thaumaturgy

Demonic pact

Voodoo

Science

Alchemy

Love

and more.

I'm planning to introduce twenty characters, following the scheme of the Fibonacci sequence up to 8 (1,1,2,3,5,8). Each group of character will draw upon some elements of mysticism corresponding to the number to flesh them out. For example, I have planned for 2 to correspond to Yin Yang, which in turn manifests in twin brother and sister with very different world views.

Oh, by the way, Communism was just a red herring.

To victory!

My story that I'm going with is a soap opera spoof. Almost anything that you can think of in a soap opera will be in it I hope. Here's what's going to happen in short.

A girl just found out she's adopted so she goes off to find her real parents who are now super rich. She finds out that she has a slightly snobby, ditzy sister who is in love with their pool boy, but the pool boy's evil twin bother has plans to ruin his brother's life.

I have the basic events and the plot laid out. It's an idea I've had for awhile and I'm excited to get it on paper. Any questions? Feedback is great if anyone has any.

Well, mine is set in a fantasy world with technology roughly equivalent to the...1600s, I think? Maybe early 1700s? There are guns and cannons, but they're really inaccurate and expensive to make, so most people just stick to swords and bows and arrows and that kind of thing. Anyway, my main characters are a large, extended family that has the outward appearance of being well-to-do and respectable, but they're secretly a criminal organization attempting to throw the usurping king of their city-state off the throne and put the rightful heir up there instead (because, after all, that ruler would be in their debt, so they'd be sure to get special privileges).

The main main character is a teenage boy who thinks the various missions his grandfather assigns him and the other kids are exciting, and he just likes having a good time and pulling the wool over everyone's eyes. But then things start getting more complicated, when the Ashers (people with the magical ability to turn anything they touch to ash, who invaded the country a century before) invade the city, and when it becomes clear that the king had been allied to them all this time. And that's not to mention them finding the heir to the throne living as a beggar on the streets, one of their number going over to the enemies' side, a fortune-teller randomly showing up on their doorstep shelling out dire predictions and wacky comments, several people dying, one of them getting kidnapped, and all sorts of secrets.

As you can see, I've got plenty of material to work with. I'm just worried that there might be too many convoluted characters and goings-on and I won't be able to sort everything out @_@

All writing begins life as a first draft, and first drafts are never any good. They're not supposed to be.
- Patricia T. O'Conner

This year, I decided to do something completely silly and create a story that utilizes every type of creature my warped imagination has come up with over the years, including a few characters created when I was a kid.

A bit of background: I grew up in Michigan and my paternal grandmother lived in Rockford, IL, which meant that going to grandma's house involved a trip through (or around) Chicago. Somehow, these trips instilled in me a love for the Chicago skyline and I created two characters (brothers) named after the tallest skyscrapers: John and Sears Hancock.
(I told you it would be completely silly.)

The story revolves around the daughter of Sears Hancock and her relationship with her father. Beth (short for "Bethesda") has a very controlling mother who has kept her isolated from her father's side of the family for nearly all her life. However, she has recently graduated from high school and, with a "new" car (an eight-year-old BMW handed down from her father) she sets off on a forbidden trip to visit her paternal grandmother. To her amazement, she finds her father's side of the family to be very strange: the butler is a werewolf, the gardener is more feline than human, and her uncle's pet rabbit has been dead since 1986 ... but still hops about. Her grandmother is a founding member of the Intercelestial Order of the Herons, a group committed to the peaceful coexistence of beings whether they want to coexist or not. The Order handily has access to time and space portals, which has allowed for her great-aunt, Dinah, to collect a nice menagerie of currently extinct species ... complete with a tyrannosaurs named "Babs." Through the course of her adventures, Beth developes a closer relationship with her father, despite the very real threat it could have on her parent's marriage.
(Run silly; run deep. Evidence of a Terry Pratchett influence.)

I'm writing about--

Oh, wait. I don't tell people what I'm writing about. At least, not until I get desperate for some plot kickers from my KanMoWriCo fellows.

I have 5 quirky characters, and need to plan at least 2 more. Some of them are traveling together on a spaceship.

They have no goals. Yet. But I figure, throw them into tight quarters together on Nov. 1, and somebody's going to be at somebody else's throat, and someone else is going to have a plan for somebody else. (Hmm, I kinda like that last bit.)

poetT / Teri
ML in the black hat

I wish that I could say my idea came out of thin air but not really. My lovely best friend helped put it in my head such a dear that one. My novel is called Dear Little One. It's a story in letters of sorts. It's letters from the mother to the child as the child grows up into her adult self.

The reason I chose this was because I was telling her my idea when I have children of my self. I have always loved reading letters that my mom has written me over the years through my heartaches and my homesickness. That I thought I would create a book for each of my children through special moments with them. Like one of the letters i would write would be the time that I found out I was pregnant. My feelings of being pregnant and all my hopes and dreams. Then slowly those special moments like first kick. Then right after they were born so on so forth. I would give the book to my child when they leave home for good either getting married or just moving out. That way when they feel like no one loves them they have something to look at and know that their mother has always loved them.

So that's pretty much what I am doing with my two characters. A mother writing to her child about each little moment. Of course there will be funny parts and some sad parts but it should be pretty interesting.

The United States government has decided that religion is a disease that needs to be eradicated in order to make a better world. Any person that has any strong religious ties has their children taken away from them. People who preach or who are found to be practicing religion disappear in the night. Nobody knows what happens to them. Families are torn apart as the government looks to rid the world of the genetic defect that causes worship.

My story is from the perspectives of the different members of one family torn apart in the chaos. A mother, at home alone, wondering about her husband and children. A son and daughter in a special school whose purpose is to alter children while they are still young and “fixable”. And a father who is in prison and tortured for preaching. Is faith strong enough? Can this family survive this ordeal?

(I am still working out how this is going to work but I also have the strong idea to bring in a group of missionaries from tribal Africa. They will be there to reach people. We will see them working in each persons life without them knowing that they are all the members of one family. Maybe they are undercover guards in the prison or caretakers of the children. Not sure how this is going to play out yet. I will have to see where they take me)

Amendment One -2009

"A word after a word/after a word is power" - Margaret Atwood

This year, a vampire mobster's attempts to recover a certain item are complicated by the interference of a costumed vigilante.
Still haven't figured out what he wants to recover :)

Hey Jacob? The Oromo of Ethiopia had an underground Christian community for years under the Communist regime and remain one of the most active and growing Lutheran communities in the world. I could definitely see Oromo missionaries coming over here to help in a case of religious oppression, particularly where their own faith is concerned. Gotta admit, I like the irony in that as America has sent so many missionaries to Africa over the years.
Good Luck.

I'm writing a sequel to A Christmas Carol. Marley and Scrooge have been assigned an apprentice, a young man who died in a World War (haven't figgered out which one). They all three are sent back to earth to bring the spirit of Christmas back to a teenage girl, last name of Crattchit. Marley hasn't been caught up to speed on the technology of today, and Scrooge is hopeless when comes to the actual haunting techniques.

I want it to be in five "Staves," just like in the original, but I'm not exactly sure where I'll make the breaks.

It should be fun!

-Scorpio (for short)

Scorpio

That sounds like a recipe for hilarity, Scorpio!

I think I know what I'm doing now. Last year I wrote (not through NaNo) a historical fiction novel loosely based (very loosely--translate: I took the names and places and changed everything else) on the Robin Hood legend. Told it from Marian's POV, gave all the characters--well, CHARACTERS. (The Robin Hood legend is full of some of the flattest characters in the world.) My favourites were Much, Marian, and Robin.

Now I'm writing a sequel that is seventeen years later. (1208 AD). Two of my favourite characters from the original are dead (sniffle) and I'll mostly be using a new characters. I meant to outline through the last week, using my OYAN techniques. Hasn't happened yet. >.< Anyway, main character is Rosamond, and she's trying to hunt down and kill the former High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire (that mouthful of a name is the REAL ACCURATE title that I looked for for AGES), Ralph Murdoc (also accurate name *slightly--more than slightly--prideful*). She drags along her brother Edwin, a girl she doesn't like who likes Edwin (first time I had one of these *giggle*) named Yvette, and an older friend Joan across England. Probably south, but I might end up charging north instead. *shrug* That's pretty much all I have. I'm trying not to spoil FoL as well. :P Anyway, she learns lessons in about love, humility, justice, and God. I love her. Poor thing...

That was a really boring summary. Oh well. I'm just glad I've finally picked. (Even though Eddie is ATTACKING me for picking hte one that doesn't have an outline. Oh shut it.)

Oh. And I thought I'd pull the only good character from my first novel(la)--Jarvis--change his name to Gervais (if I can stand to do that--I think Jarvis is one of hte coolest names in the world and NO I DID NOT take it from A Tale of Two Cities. I read that after I'd picked and though: oh shucks...) and stick him in this story. Mostly because he's bored. It's a sorry state to be the only 3-D character in a 2-D world...we'll see how that works.

Jarvis: PLEASE?

Me: How very kingly of you. *snicker*

Jarvis: *glare*

Me: You can't be king in England, you know.

Jarvis: I know, I know! STILL!

Me: Hmmm...

Jarvis: Grgh.

Using NaNo to complete my second book in this imagined series...

In Search of Truth: The Sherwood Chronicles
1. Stained
2. Forest of Lies (written!)
3. Unbroken
4. The Bow (NaNo)
and hopefully more...

This year I want to do a Paranormal/Urban/Romance. It's an idea that has been dancing around my head for the last month, so I figured, why not?

For the last year Katie Hamilton has received weird letters in the mail postmarked to herself from herself. Then one night a man named Marcus Shaw shows up to deliver one of these letters. The first line is 'Duck!' and all hell breaks loose. As she follows the letter's directions, step-by step, she learns more about Marcus, and more about herself than she ever imagined.

Sure you can change a guy, but do you really want to wake up the next morning with a perfect stranger?

A vampire and a werewolf walk into a bar...
no wait...
A vampire and a werewolf walk into a library...
no wait...
A vampire and a werewolf are in the VIP lounge at the airport...no that's too much like that bar...
A Jewish vampire and a werewolf who was once a Catholic priest walk into a bar together...
Now we're getting somewhere.

Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit.

I'm normally a mystery writer, and I'm not venturing too far off with my NaNo project.

My novel is going to be like J.D. Robb's 'In Death' series meets Disney-Pixar's 'The Incredibles' with a spiritual twist to it. :) I'm looking forward to it, have it outlined about 90% of the way. :D

I'm writing basically vampire literary fiction. Huzzah!

"What are you doing here? I thought I killed you yesterday!" grumbled Albi quite racistly.
"No, Albi. You didn't kill me with your dragon flames. I crawled to safety, but you did leave me very badly disfigured," laughed the boy.
-Flight of the Conchords

In a few words:
Girl from New York moves to a little town in Missouri, becomes a protegé of sorts to an English professor, learns about life and tries to come to terms with spirituality or something.
Not too clear on the plot yet, but I have my characters revved up, full of life, ready to go. I guess I'll just wait and see what they decide to do.

I'm taking my first real crack at science fiction, and I'm woefully unprepared. I decided in the last week of October that I wanted to write this year. I had no ideas rattling around half-formed in my head so I started from scratch and started building a thought experiment: When humans finally reach the stars, what will we take with us? I'm not talking about animals and tractors; I'm looking at what baggage of human civilization escapes Earth with us. Building from that I've decided that not long after we gain the capability to explore and colonize other worlds we find one really special; one worth fighting for. My story is about the very human ways we deal with the situation. It's not all good, but it's not all bad either.

“Luke: What's in there?
Yoda: Only what you take with you.”

Mine's a stripper murder mystery. We'll see what happens.

I'm tackling the second novel in a YA high fantasy series, even though I have yet to write the first one. It centers on the a half-troll's quest to discover his non-human heritage, while his brother tries to keep him out of trouble. (Neither knows they're related. That's for a later novel.) Meanwhile, a girl is possessed by an evil entity and her family tries to free her. This has less than stunning results, even after a priestess becomes involved.

I'm a bit stuck three fourths through the novel in the outlining process. The hero has spectacularly failed to learn anything about his past, and now I think they should start for home in defeat. But they're in the middle of the wilderness, quite far from civilization. I don't know what to do with them between where they are and where they're going. They have no horses, few rations, and limited capacity for magic. Anybody have a suggestions for me? No dragons, thieves, wolf attacks, or raging rivers, please. I've already used those (admittedly cliché) plot elements.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

My NaNo this year is both planned and unplanned. Which is entirely new to me-- I'm an outliner.

After weeks of trying to come up with an idea for NaNo that I hadn't already started working on, I asked around some of my other writer-friends to see if they had any suggestions. And they did. So, basically, the idea became to take pieces of each suggestion and stitch them together into something...fun. And fun is what I'm having!

Basically, I ended up with a Murder Mystery/Coming of Age story with a Hispanic-American, NYC-born, main character, (that I suspect might have visions of the future in a somewhat complicated way? that suggestion wasn't character specific, but as the MC, it would make more sense than any others...), in which, whatever murder plot stumbles into some kind of unknown war and there's a shooting somewhere on a subway train. Someone else suggested talking muffins, but I'm really not sure what to do about that one just yet... Or at all...

Other than that, like you said, I packed some underwear and a toothbrush for the ride.

I'm putting all self-consciousness and guesswork aside for this one. Or. I will try to. And it will be grand, I am sure. :)

Good luck, everyone. <3

- sevendaysofsun