So, what are you writing about?

It's a young adult novel set in the early 1960s. Here's my synopsis:

Hank Higginbotham’s young life is turned upside down when his communist-phobic father moves the family to a tiny airstrip in the desert—its salient feature? A natural bomb shelter in a large cave. The tension of the Cold War heightens dramatically as threat of likely annihilation seems all too real in the days leading up to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Hank’s burgeoning sexuality is at once exciting, and troubling to him and seems to all but eclipse his doomsday fantasies when he meets Charmaine, the Daisy Mae look-alike daughter of the resident airplane mechanic and gun wacko. The older Charmaine awakens the man in Hank, and just when he thinks things are getting interesting … the commies have other plans.

The other eccentric desert individualists in the little settlement will vie for spots in the shelter, and deals are made, though in a bomb shelter there’s only room for SOME. Hank’s disappointed, and mentally adrift mother, along with his handicapped little brother are further complications. Hank has decisions to make. Will he throw caution to the wind, find his love, and have sex even if it’s the last thing he does? In his mind it very well could be. Or will he protect the people he’s come to know and insist they find a place in the future?

(Gasp!) I'm actually thinking about my novel before I start it this year!
It's going to be a romance/adventure set in almost-medieval times in a fantasy world full of dragons, magic, a sorcerer out to ruin the world as he attempts immortality, a quiet girl who doesn't want to marry her evil betrothed, and a very good looking blacksmith.
I'm hoping for it to take flight and soar!
Wish me luck!
And best of luck to everybody out there attempting this feat!

I'm writing about an artist who still lives with his parents. He's been working on a project for well on six years that has barely gotten any recognition beyond a few devoted readers. He's extremely cynical and just wants to finish it to be done with it. He's finally onto posting the last few pieces when he gets an e-mail... from one of his main characters.

I'm super excited about it. :3 It's going to be written very differently from any other story I've ever done. Here's hoping I can finish it!

Originally tehtinycheeseminion.

NO IDEA. Saving the world, vampires, Greek gods, teenagers, that kind of stuff.

I just decided that, yeah, I'll give it a fourth try this year, despite that I'm extremely, EXTREMELY busy. I should probably study for the SAT. But I think it'd be good for discipline.

Ok, so this is my first time and I am pretty excited about it!
Not sure if it will be a young adult or adult novel-- but a time travel/late middle ages (England) mystery story about a girl that has to choose btw 3 men.

This is my first year participating, and I've decided to try mystery writing. I usually stick to general fiction, so I'm excited about the double challenge this will be for me. I've brainstormed a good sized intricate tale with a buddy of mine. We have more fun talking about the story than I think I will have writing it.

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~Rochelle~

Ah I have no plot either. No worries. I find it far more fun to write off the top of my head.
So far all I know is that its going to be a semi-authobiographical account of my highschool career so far...but with a few twists. It will include space travel and such, as per usual for all my writing. Told from my perspective, it'll be all about this other character who is crazy. Yea, I don't really know much beyond that. Which is kind of iffy considering I'll be starting it in an hour and ten minutes

Mine will be, vaguely, the life story of a woman whose oldest friend is a ghost in a ruined castle. I think she's had sort of a run-down life, starting with parents telling her that young ladies don't put themselves forward, teachers that punish her for "showing off", and a husband who likes her best when she's invisible--that sort of thing. The ghost is the first person who values strength in her, and it's a lesson she learns from him periodically upon re-meeting him at various times in her life. Eventually it's her hard-won strength and confidence that she needs eventually to free him from his haunting and free herself from his influence, because like most ghosts, he has a misguided sense of what's best, and like most men in her life, he wants something from her that isn't in her best interests.

Like I said, kind of vague. It began several years ago as a writing exercise: take a song with rather obtuse lyrics, and write a story which it might, if you squint at those lyrics right, be considered to describe. I chose Tori Amos's "Toast," the final track off the Beekeeper album. The song seems to describe, obliquely, more emotionally than explicitly, the ending scene that's in my head: "It's time to let you go."

I wrote for about an hour, emailed the results to my husband, and he wrote back, "That's a great first chapter! When do I get to read the whole novel?" And I turned to the Muse and said, "Darn you, you said this was going to be a short story!" And She made that anime gesture where you put your two index fingers tips-together and go heh-heh-heh! in an embarrassed way, like Starfire does on Teen Titans, right? and said, "Oops, did I say that? I guess I goofed... Sorry?"

This year, John asked me, again, "When are you going to finish my ghost story?" And I said, "You know what? This year for Nano sounds like a good time."

I'm off to reread that "first chapter" now and remind myself what might have been in my head at the time.

--
nicole j. leboeuf : actually writing blog
IM: vortexae (AIM, Yahoo), vortexae at hotmail dot com (MSN)
Puzzle Pirates: Millefleur on the Viridian Ocean
Second Life: Kavella Maa

I have no idea what I'm writing. I just have six characters so far.

High Concept:

The Brothers Karamazov meets Philip K. Dick.

:-)

I wish I had something more for you. But it's so disjointed at this point I can't begin to tie the strands together. We've got a bumbling English professor with a girl who makes him want to die, we've got a Japanese baby-thief whose ex-lover is actually out to kill him, a Russian hit man who just wants to be able to read Shakespeare, and a Columbian virtuoso who converted a drug cartel into a religious cult.

And cloning. And the KGB. And a suicide switch.

lol. We'll see what happens when they meet.

I know what I'm writing about, but no matter how hard I try I just can't summarize it. So this is a lil' tiny excerpt which, in a way, defines the whole book. I just know that I woke up one morning with this idea (the last two sentences, specifically), and knew I had to write about it.

"Have you ever driven through a rural area, and found your radio didn't work? Ever lost a call due to bad cell phone service?
Lost your keys, your socks? Or have you ever lived through a hurricane, with rain streaking down your face and wind taking down the trees around you?

I have. Except for the last part, I've experienced all of this. A lot of people have. It's a common phenomenon in this world, to have something just plain go missing and there's nothing you can do about it. The world is a crazy place, and for all you know, it's just going to get crazier.

Movers. They come from a different reality, and tamper with this one. Their passing makes things happen--they absorb socks, they shift the position of keys, they make you forget things, they spin the currents of air above the ocean and send deadly storms hurtling into continents.

Yes. We call them the Movers.

You call them ghosts."

Mine is a take on the superhero comic. It's about a genderqueer character who happens to be the reincarnation of the Greek Hero Achilles. She (He? I haven't decided on pronouns yet ... fortunately it's all first person!) has to come to terms with her own gender identity, her incredible anger, both at things that are unjust and things that aren't, vanquish her homophobic father, save the day from an incredibly destructive monster, and just maybe even get the boy.

We'll see where it takes me. I'm having a horrible case of writer's block at the starting gate.

(And if anyone wants a writing buddy, I could definitely use someone to give me a kick in the butt. I'm already two thosand words behind.)

I love your story summary: a genderqueer Achilles? Cool! Let's be buddies. I'll add you, you add me, and I'd be happy to kick your butt. My name is Verna and I live in Louisville. How do you do?

Consider this a KICK IN THE BUTT! taenia, can you come to the Tea Box write-in on Tuesday from noon to 3:00? Come out, come out, wherever you are! If you are ever in Longmont, come to Vic's on Airport Rd. I am there Sunday (tomorrow) from noon to 2:00 or later if needed, Monday, 4:00pm to 6:00pm, and Wednesday from 10:00am to noon. I will KICK YOUR BUTT PERSONALLY. If you need an evening write-in check out the calendar for Boulder or Longmont. There are several listed. I will be at the mid-November party in Boulder on Friday night, so come to that one and I'll KICK YOUR BUTT before the party gets started!

I like the idea of your novel. Please write it! There was a transgender director interviewed in The Week a few weeks back. Can't remember his name, but he talked about choosing not to be one sex or the other... wish I could remember his name...

Ellen or "Alienor"
"... it could be my job to write a novel a year, but it's also my job to take a walk and think." -- George Pelecanos
http://www.electricrider.net/ellen/index.htm

I have no idea what I'm writing. It's kind of a scary/cool place to be. Last year I had an amazing idea that would not leave me alone; this year I was totally blank come 1 November, so I just started writing. So far I know it's set in Michigan, of all places, and the protagonist (at this point) is a collegiate girl who is completely closed off to the world. The idea driving it is WALLS. I love that part: what walls are, where they are, how they get there, what they do, who builds them, who tears them down. I'm hoping my plot will not die just because of this fascination.