Well, as I said in my previous post. The book I had been working on last year this time was completely lost due to my pc hardrive crash. It's toast! I have not pursued trying to re-write or anything like that. So, with that being said. I still have the jist of it in my head still. So, it will be like starting from scratch with a new idea. It's a Sci-Fi, which is one of my favorite genres to read in and my other favorite genre being Fantasy. I want to start over with it this year and hopefully be able to finish it! :) Its about a astro physicist who discovers something mysterious and very unusual possibly surrounding our planet. "The Umbilical" is the title I have given it, and I'm very excited at the prospect of getting it finished and making it into a real book that I would like to see in the books stores someday! :) In this past year the little writing I have done has been in poetry, which I also really like to delve into and use to express myself. Haven't pursued any novels this past year. Things have been so hectic for me getting settled into a new place and all. Take care and God Bless you all! :)
----------
Glenn Ellis Ralph
54,949 / 50,000
Oct 20, 2009 - 22 01
At the current moment all I know is that my story will be some sort of urban fantasy. I know it has magic and at least one elf (more along the lines of Tolkien's elves than anything). I think the theme might be self-discovery for a young man, with some comedic/satiric elements. Maybe something more or somewhat different, like environmental advocacy or "human rights" issues. Right now I'm just letting it germinate before I start. If it convinces me to write it, it gets written, if not I default to my other story idea, which was far better planned. That was urban fantasy too, but no elves, and certainly not at all lighthearted.
----------80,835 / 50,000
Oct 21, 2009 - 05 25
I added a brief synopsis to the novel info section of my profile - it's going to be an alternate history fantasy based loosely on the city of St. Augustine. It'll include a variety of quirky characters and some steampunk-ish technology bordering on magic.
My outline is completely done at this point - I know some people do this thing on the fly, but I wouldn't get far without having it fully planned out what's supposed to happen next!
By the way Glenn, to address your question in the other thread: I don't have a laptop either, but if I find I have some time during the day when I'm away from my home PC, I pull out a notebook and do exactly as you proposed - write with pencil and paper. Then at night I start by typing it all in. It actually works pretty well for me - typing in stuff that's already written is a way to ease myself into the nightly writing session, since I don't have to stop and think about what to write.
Chris
----------Surge of energy, spark of inspiration.
58,521 / 50,000
Oct 21, 2009 - 16 46
I'm excited to see so much SF/F coming from the Palm Beaches. Mine too is SF, a dark take on a space opera. I pretty much have the setting nailed down, but not the plot. Basically, it's taken humanity about 500 years to devise near-instantaneous FTL travel, through the use of a network of "wells." Of course, that meant they had to send teams of a few hundred or so into deep space to construct all the wells in the first place. It was a one-way journey, resulting in a definite schism between the folks who made the trip and those who stayed behind. And while humanity has been reunited throughout the stars, there are some who wish it were not so. I know I want to focus on the clash of cultures and the lives of so-called "everymen" in this 'verse, but I haven't nailed down a specific plot yet. *sigh* Oh well. Still have 10 days, right?
----------2004: A Memory Not Mine (55K)
2005: Double Edged (76K)
2008: Empire Farms (64K)
2009: No Asylum (goal: 100K)
6,467 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2009 - 04 35
Mine is more of a Chick Lit/ Popular Fiction storyline. It's about a rediscovery of self after finding out what you have is based on convienience and a lie, but it's going to have more humor than heartfail. I've got the first chapter completely outlined and I know exactly how the end will pan out, but I'm still outlining the middle. I plan on most of it to be flashback-style while returning to the present to acknowlege the differences between who they set out to be and who they've become. It's just driving me crazy trying to segue between the two. Hopefully it will just come together seamlessly. *fingers crossed*
Does anyone else actually write their stuff out and then go back and type? I know it's redundant and time-consuming, but I find that I get further that way.
-Lindsey
----------- Push the button, Frank!
26,050 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2009 - 15 37
As for writing long hand first and then typing - yes I do that sometimes and I may do that this time since I don't carry my laptop though I do carry a flashdrive which I plug into my computer at work at lunchtime and work on my writings then. But I may switch back and forth to longhand. I write faster than I type though I type pretty fast when I know what I am writing. I am chomping at the bit too for November to start and we can start our novels. I am so ready.
----------The Pirate Queen
4,079 / 50,000
Oct 24, 2009 - 06 47
I just posted a very brief synopsis of my planned tale on my profile page but here's a bit more.
Main character is a professional sailor who makes his living by racing other peoples boats (what we in the trade called OPB), working on said boats and delivering sailboats from port to port. It sounds romantic and fun and all of that other stuff until the delivery means leaving a northern port in winter with ice and snow on deck or sailing a thousand miles upwind or any of a thousand other problems that occur at the most inopportune time.
He's a bit of an arrogant young man owing to his skills at an arcane task, meets lots of women, has his way and sails on, sometimes returning but generally leaving them behind. He doesn't think he's a total asshole because he's very aware that he can do nothing about the actions of the sea and the weather and can only be prepared for the worst but women are a different matter. Two women will make a difference in his behaviour
0 / 50,000
Oct 24, 2009 - 16 52
Mine is horror all around. It's gonna be a pretty twisted read or so my outline suggests.
It focuses on two main characters, half the novel in one POV and the other half in the other POV. Jack Blair is my main character, a semi-psychotic high school senior on the brink of a melt-down. The other character is Leon Terra, a nightclub server/dancer who is a drug addicted high school drop-out. The story follows these two as Jack falls deeper into his psychosis and Leon gets dragged down with him. It's actually pretty deep writing for me, whereas my other stuff is a bit shallow. It's a dark look into the mind of a potential serial killer and a helpless drug addict.
My main inspiration for Jack, and this will sound particularly childish, would be the Joker from the recent The Dark Knight. The sheer depth of the Joker's insanity/hyper-sanity (which it is suggested to be in the actual comics), inspired me to take this dark look into the mind of a person like this. How interpersonal relationships develop because of his sociopath nature. Leon takes the role of the "target" of Jack's obsession, earning the book the title "Unhealthy Obsession". Leon gets caught in the web Jack spins, trapped as Jack becomes his source for getting drugs. From there it just gets really dark, ending even darker.
But besides the unhappy setting of the tale, I'm excited to the show on the road come Nov. 1. I'm shooting for 100k in the month, as 50k isn't very hard for me given earlier works (if I'm really into it, and have some free time, I can get 50k done in less than five days). But it's taken years to get to that point, I've been typing out stories since I was 12. And I'll be 17 in eleven days!
----------58,521 / 50,000
Oct 24, 2009 - 17 14
Main character is a professional sailor who makes his living by racing other peoples boats (what we in the trade called OPB), working on said boats and delivering sailboats from port to port. It sounds romantic and fun and all of that other stuff until the delivery means leaving a northern port in winter with ice and snow on deck or sailing a thousand miles upwind or any of a thousand other problems that occur at the most inopportune time.
He's a bit of an arrogant young man owing to his skills at an arcane task, meets lots of women, has his way and sails on, sometimes returning but generally leaving them behind. He doesn't think he's a total asshole because he's very aware that he can do nothing about the actions of the sea and the weather and can only be prepared for the worst but women are a different matter. Two women will make a difference in his behaviour
Wow, that sounds really interesting. If you post/share it eventually, you have one guaranteed reader right here!
----------2004: A Memory Not Mine (55K)
2005: Double Edged (76K)
2008: Empire Farms (64K)
2009: No Asylum (goal: 100K)
25,800 / 50,000
Oct 24, 2009 - 17 15
My story is a bit of urban fantasy w/ a touch of sf. I've been still trying to work out some plot ideas though - I'm wondering if it has enough weight to be a novel. Anyway the story is called Promised. Its about boy who was cast out of a guardian society and ends up meeting his betrothed while trying to redeem his honor.
----------theAlexRoSe
40,010 / 50,000
Oct 31, 2009 - 21 11
I'm doing a Crime Drama. Capitalized for effect.
I decided to do an old fashioned mystery, picked the most boring mystery I could imagine (a stolen diamond necklace), and went from there. I now involves slavery, rape, torture, murder, jay walking...and many more.
Everyone's stories look awesome. Some look nightmare inspiring, but awesome nonetheless.
----------The shortest distance between two people is an...internet connection!
54,949 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2009 - 15 30
Ugh... I've done something horrible... The story I've been preparing for the past 18 days (really???) has been placed aside in favor of the one I meant to write in the first place... Yesterday a friend yelled at me for not writing it even though I've been meaning to for a long long time, and that he wanted to read it like NOW, and I caved in. So today I gave it a try and wrote quite a bit on it. 5633 words to be precise... If I just do that again 9 times in a row, I can reach 50K by November 10th!? Insane. The story seems writable... Very much so.
What do I dooooooo? Write both? lol
----------4,850 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 12 40
My idea is a comedy/adventure for young adults, more like ages 9 and up. (Is that considered childrens?)
It's about a bumbling adventurer who retrieves artifacts for the Museum of Really, Really Old Things. (Not to be mistaken with the Museum of Really Old Things)
I'm a bit new to writing like this. So I'm still working on more of the Show Don't Tell issues I encounter.
Any advice is welcome.
Thanks and good luck to everyone.
Dan
----------"Man cannot survive without the Earth, but the Earth can survive without man."
www.danbodenstein.com
10,012 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 15 23
Well, right now I guess I'll have the shortest post on this thread.
My novel will be a YA medieval era romance. The rest of the idea is still developing .... I hope. =)
0 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 19 25
Well, this is my first year writing. Another website i'm on mentioned this place and i decided to try out the challenge. I've hada novel idea bouncing around in my head. I did post a brief synopsis in my profile, but basically its a heavy fantasy. I'm going to attempt to gear it towards adults with violence and semi-graphic scenes. I made up my own world and a couple of races to go along. The main inhabitants are a race of beings called Rathans. They are a feline like people that visually speaking look like slightly more cat-like nekos(aka catboys or catgirls) There is also another race i created call the Ka, which have different clans that were affiliated with the different elements.
Galtoria is a world lived by the spell rather than the sword. Every inhabitant from the lowliest peasent to the mightiest king has some grasp over magic. The story follows a young Rathan woman whose world is turned upside down shortly before her 16th turning day when her and her betrothed are out enjoying a midsummer day and are attacked. her betrothed is captured and she is knocked out. She comes to in the cottage of an older Rathen who nurses her back to health and later trains her in the use of her magic. She is joined by three other mages over time and they all learn to work together and bond as friends with Karisa at the head. Then they set out to find Nori and rescue him. Much happens along the way of course but i don't want to give out too many details X3.
I'm slowly getting it churned out ^^
2,011 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2009 - 19 51
I stumbled upon this via a writer's blog I recently started reading. I tossed the idea of signing up around in my head a bit before really reading the website to find out more about it. After reading it, I just had to jump in. I've been thinking about writing a novel for a long, long time & have been writing since I was in my teens (now 34).
My novel is about a psych patient's life prior to being committed. It has a touch of humor & I'm toying around with the idea that the reader won't know for sure that they're reading about a mentally ill person until the very end. I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to pull that off, but I'm sure going to try! I'm writing in a journal format.
Anyway, I just started it today so it may morph into something different. I'm psyched to be doing this with everyone & look forward to hearing more about what everyone else is writing!
~ Jayequeue
17,568 / 50,000
Nov 4, 2009 - 08 29
Ok so I threw myself for a loop at the last second and changed from doing a thriller/horror to now doing a Sci-Fi Adventure. My story takes place in the distant future on an Earth none of us would recognize. Force field, domed cities dot the landscape separated by dark, dust-cloud filled valleys. A young woman traveling between two cities gets knocked off course and links up with a valley dweller who helps her journey back to her home city. The majority of the plot follows the two girl's journey through unknown terrain and strange new places neither one of them knew existed.
The subplot involves the valley dweller's twin brother and his awakening to the realization that not only is there life outside the valley, but in order for that life to thrive in conditions beyond his wildest dreams, the cities externalize the waste from their "clean, green living" to the valley.
The end will culminate with the girls making their way back into the city and the boy leading a strong resistance movement to storm the city. Little do they all know, but the cities are on a countdown to blast off into space, leaving a dying earth behind. The head scientists and engineers have calculated the death of the planet and therefore the cities must migrate to a new planet.
Part II will explore the city that was stormed by valley dwellers and how they must now adapt to the extra people now aboard.