To get everyone brainstorming, why don't we all post our novel ideas and see if we have some natural writing buddies in the mix!
Here's my idea:
Title: People you don't know hate you
Plot/concept: A novel about the little things people do every day that will cause those around them to just utterly despise them. This is the book everyone who has ever worked in retail, fast food, restaurants, etc. has ever wanted to write. I'm hoping to draw on everyone at the meetings to remind me of all the things that we should tell people NOT to do!
Genre(s): Nonfiction, humor
Personal word goal: 60k (I just barely hit 50k last year, and I know I can do better!)
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16,676 / 50,000
Oct 5, 2009 - 15 50
Title: Take Two
Plot/concept: A world where you can relive the day you die (for preventing death) a certain number of times (the number depends on how you've done on your life). A man who doesn't want to die. But as he enters paranoia, how far will he go to stay alive?
Genre(s): Literary Fiction
Personal word goal: I'm probably hoping for 75k, but this year I'm more planned out, so just however many words it takes to finish the novel... or 50k. Whichever's higher. ;)
----------2008: Tales from Lairtheef: Straian Stranded. 50,014
2009: Déjà Perdu.
Words written: 12637
![]()
Death count: 1
Dares: 6
Characters met: 10
Current state: Catch up time!
0 / 50,000
Oct 5, 2009 - 18 54
Is it appropriate to reply saying that I have absolutely no ideas whatsoever and plan to twiddle my thumbs for the next couple of weeks until inspiration strikes?
Appropriate or not, the deed is done.
----------All of the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies.
-Bokonon
My poetry tends to sound like inappropriately long and personal hallmark cards except without the sense of occasion.
My prose is shallow and pedantic.
0 / 50,000
Oct 5, 2009 - 19 07
Just pick one of these:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thirty-Six_Dramatic_Situations
Then do several of these:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblique_Strategies
Then proofread, mail one copy to yourself, and mail one copy to your publisher. Collect royalties. Repeat until movie deal.
41,346 / 50,000
Oct 5, 2009 - 19 38
Plot/concept: A world where you can relive the day you die (for preventing death) a certain number of times (the number depends on how you've done on your life). A man who doesn't want to die. But as he enters paranoia, how far will he go to stay alive?
This premise reminds me quite a bit of one of my favorite PS2 games, Shadow of Destiny (soon to be ported to the PSP). Awesome, awesome concept.
----------http://jessicarbrown.blogspot.com
3,871 / 50,000
Oct 5, 2009 - 21 33
I'm always a sucker for post-apocalyptic. It's a fun Genre and can let you do whatever you want.
Setting is a check, plot is nebulous and characters are non-existent.
Good thing I've still got 3 1/2 weeks for those other bits. I mean who really cares about plot or characters. Setting is where it's at!
----------0 / 50,000
Oct 6, 2009 - 05 29
I am still mulling mine over. My latest writing escapades have all been erotic in nature. Follows with my photography I suppose so I might go along those lines.
My first thought was to base it losely on my life and experiences, yet still fiction (hell some of my life feels like fiction to me and I lived it). I have never found great success for me with writing about something I have not experienced in some way.
Good thing I still have 25 days to think about it....LOL
I think I will try those ideas above.
Thanks!!!
39,900 / 50,000
Oct 6, 2009 - 11 43
Title: Obsidian
Concept: Kala is a 14-year high school freshman who can see the "truth" in pieces of volcanic glass. When she finds out who's been stealing money from her school, she knows she has to speak out. Unfortunately, her classmates already think she's weird, so what's going to happen when they find out she might actually be crazy?
(I'm assuming the rest of the plot will develop as I write...)
44,611 / 50,000
Oct 6, 2009 - 13 16
Oh man, some of these novels sound so planned out already...
Uh, No title yet.
Topher and Caden have known each other since they were five, and for the past few years have secretly been in love with one another without realizing that the other loves them back. When tragedy strikes, the two find their lives intertwined with a couple that they have never met before. A tale of romance, angst and struggle for survival in a reality they never dared to imagine affecting their lives will send them to newer heights and different maturities, etc.
Okay, that made no sense. Whatever. 24 days to plan, it's going down NaNo!
----------The gears in my mind are turning like dancers.
~ The Downtown Fiction
2006: Untitled - Lost
2007: The Five Guardians - Won
2008: How Long is Forever - Lost
2009: Pink Heart - ?
Dares Taken: 35; Dares Completed: 7; Pages Written: 38; Number of Panic
42,006 / 50,000
Oct 6, 2009 - 16 59
An underachieving painter living in New York returns to her Kentucky roots looking to recharge her creative juices and unexpectedly finds romance with a reckless airplane pilot. Don't have a title yet.
----------lighteddial
7,504 / 50,000
Oct 6, 2009 - 17 15
Still brainstorming on the title, but so far I like: Murder and Scotch
Plot/concept: Girl just out of college stumbles upon a weird circumstance where she ends up owning the bar next door to her apartment. She needs to quickly learn how to run a business and also begins falling for the bartender. However, the basement of the bar ends up being a secret temporary hiding place for recent members of the witness protection program, and the bartender is actually a US Marshal assigned to the location. The plot picks up when our heroine accidentally gets between a serial killer and his prey. Now, she is the most valuable witness, as she is the person who knows too much about the witness protection program members in her city.
The plot isn't thought out all of the way yet. I can't decide if I want the heroine to be on the run for most of the novel or not. I definitely want to explore her relationship with the US Marshal, as well as her friendship with a character who is in hiding.
I would love to hear anyone's ideas or suggestions.
This is my first year trying to complete Nanowrimo, so I'm open to advice and words of wisdom.
Thanks!
0 / 50,000
Oct 7, 2009 - 12 07
Title: Earth Fragile
Genre: Science Fiction, Mystery
Plot: Earth turned out to not be alone in the universe. It also turned out to be the equivalent of the slow kid in the class. None of humanity's virtues, our imagination, ambition, or exploration turned out to be unique. In fact, none of our vices did either. We're not the bloodthirstiest, or the most self-destructive, or even the most self-absorbed. In the end, we're barely mediocre.
Eventually, humans with individual talent left Earth. It was brain drain on a galactic scale. Now Earth is controlled by a central government whose only job is to administer a global welfare state. The galaxy doesn't care what happens on Earth. Hell, not even most humans care what happens on Earth. So why is someone trying so hard to make sure that the dredges of humanity, the surplus population kept happy through welfare programs and the extraterrestrial narcotic Amber, stay tucked away in their little cocoon? Could there be more to the story, or is it just another drug addled dream of a dying species?
Personal word goal: This is up in the air. I fully plan on finishing this novel. If 50k does it, great. If I'm still working on it next year, that's fine too. I plan to use NaNoWriMo as the springboard to get the motor going. If I can get 50k on a page, I won't let up until it's done.
0 / 50,000
Oct 7, 2009 - 18 30
Title: (N/A.)
Plot/concept: (No idea)
Genre(s): (Not a freakin' clue)
Personal word goal: 50k (I'm a first-time wrimo)
Uhhh...looks like I have a lot of thinking to do!
----------~DawnMarie
30,421 / 50,000
Oct 8, 2009 - 19 54
Title: The Unexpected Rescuer
Setting: The middle ages
Plot: The enemy country has declared war on the home country. The king sends his sons and the company commander into battle. A sequence of events leads to many of their men becoming prisoner of the war. Not being one given to waiting, one person sneaks off into the night to save the wayward countrymen. The prisoners didn't expect this person to be their knight in shining armor...
22,345 / 50,000
Oct 7, 2009 - 23 05
Habit
A geoscientist stationed on Mars battles both OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) and the Martian elements. Just this once, his illness leads to a troublesome find, one in which the future of human settlement on Mars may be at stake.
----------Habit
Some things just keep you guessing
22,221 / 50,000
Oct 10, 2009 - 13 11
Mine's a sequel off of the one I did last year.
Name : Queen of Clubs
The best friend of an assassin, who is a computer hacker, finds herself chased by the rival organisation of her friend's. She and her fellow hacker are eventually kidnapped, and she finds out what happens to her parents. And that's all I have so far.
10,519 / 50,000
Oct 10, 2009 - 22 13
Title: Dunno, lol
Plot/Concept: Faye is a senior in high school and a total doormat. Her parents press her to do well in everything, and Faye dutifully does as they tell her to. Then at a band concert one day, Faye meets a fellow flautist. She and the fellow get to talking, he compliments her playing, and mentions that he's applying to a certain school for music and that with her talent she should consider doing so as well. Faye decides that she'll do this, but when she announces the intention to her parents, they're not thrilled at all and tell her that won't happen. Faye agrees to not apply, but the internal distress this causes her leads her to fall into a coma or something like that. When Faye wakes up, she's in a strange dream world inside her own subconscious, and if she ever wants to wake up again, she'll have to confront her deepest fears and failings.
Genre(s): Fantasy, horror, action/adventure
Personal word goal: 50k. I'm actually designing this as a video game for a class this semester, and so I figure I use the concept for NaNo to kill two birds with one stone so I won't have to miss out on noveling.
----------Draco's book review blog
39,890 / 50,000
Oct 12, 2009 - 16 52
Title: The working one I've used is "The Seventh," and although that doesn't make any sense in any context anymore, that's what I'm calling it right now.
Concept: Kenneth White is a mostly ordinary 16-year-old with extrordinarily bad luck. When he moves to Rochester, MN, he hopes to get a fresh start on things, but his bad luck finds him once again. He joins a largely reviled school club filled with an unpleasant cast of stereotypes; then, on a field trip as part of the club, he somehow gets turned into a... magical thing that relies on human souls for sustenance. (I'm still working that part out, if you can't tell.) If he doesn't want to become a murderer--and he doesn't--he has to go ghost-hunting and eat those instead. With the help of some other magical people, Kenneth goes on a brave and noble quest to balance a largely ordinary high school life with magical hijinks.
Genre: Fantasy/Supernatural...? and drama, by turns.
Personal word count goal: 50k. This will be my fourth attempt at this, and I've won twice before, but last year wasn't nearly so hot. So just "winning" is important to me.
41,082 / 50,000
Oct 12, 2009 - 17 11
Title: N/A, still working on that...
Plot/concept: A college student became attached to characters within her mind when she was stuck in a coma. As soon as she resurfaced, she developed Munchausen syndrome, trying to get into hospitals and induce another illness that would just let her see her friends again. Psychologists diagnose her with an array of disorders, but she knows that he couldn't have possibly imagined such a world on her own.
Genre(s): Fiction, fantasy (?)
Personal word goal: 50K (This is my first try at NaNoWriMo, so I figure I won't push unless something really strikes me!)
29,022 / 50,000
Oct 12, 2009 - 20 45
Title: hahaha, like I ever have titles! (working on this, seriously!)
Plot/concept: MC (because I never come up with character names until the last minute, either) is 21 years old, a former equestrian star, whose true love is harness racing. Her three year old colt (her best friend, who she has been training since she was 18) is in an important race, and coming down the stretch, poised to take the lead and win, when an earth-shattering thunderclap comes out of nowhere and spooks the horse, causing him to throw off his driver and break his ankle. As MC rushes out to the track to comfort him in his final moments, he speaks to her. She later learns that the thunderclap was the result of a portal from a different world opening into her own, and the tragedy of her best friend's death has allowed her to speak to horses, including the ones across the portal who tell her that she must be their foretold One who will save them from the evil forces seeking to destroy and control their land. Lots of details to work out here!
And at some point, she'll probably meet a nice boy who likes horses also, and they will fall in love :)
Genre(s): fantasy, young adult
Personal word goal: 50k by the end of November 29, which would be a miracle for me (I've completed my novels as late as 11:52pm on the 30th!), but I basically have to do, because I'm working on November 30. Boo.
----------(banner made by the amazing ThisIsRocketScience)
928 / 50,000
Oct 12, 2009 - 21 43
Title: Wabowski's Lab
Plot/concept: Pre-apocalyptic story about Dr. Louis Wabowski, a present-day scientist working in a lab to cure a mild disease accidentally creates a deadly virus that is highly contagious. As he researches into it more he gains confidence in his life and begins to take steps forward- asking out a co-worker, making possibly his first real friend ever, buying a motorcycle... his life seems to get better from this accidental discovery. But instead of destroying the virus, he holds onto it, and once his new life falls apart he contemplates unleashing it and ultimately does.
Genre(s): I don't even know... Sci-fi? Literary? Other?
Personal word goal: 50k (I've never made it yet and I've been at it two years!)
3,871 / 50,000
Oct 12, 2009 - 23 09
Title: Apocalypse Past
Plot/Concept: It is revealed that Vampires are real and have been through history. Many years and an apocalypse later we find our story. Humans are the minority in the world as Vampires are not the only predators. There are cannibalistic humans who seem closer to horrific zombies than humans. There are also militant post-humans, creatures who have been genetically modified to fight off the vampires and be immune to their kiss, though they too have become monsters to be feared.
Plot of survival and possible victory that proves humans are still the dominant race on Earth.
Genre(s): Sci-fi / Horror
Personal word goal: 50k+, as long as my insomnia will allow me to stay creative, and work will allow me to stay up writing.
----------39,900 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2009 - 07 26
A geoscientist stationed on Mars battles both OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) and the Martian elements. Just this once, his illness leads to a troublesome find, one in which the future of human settlement on Mars may be at stake.
This sounds awesome. And hilarious. =D
46,618 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2009 - 10 08
Title: Something about god being dead, something about the undead of Zombie variety, something about love, a new drug and a black heart. Or something about suicide. Yay!
Plot/concepts: People start killing each other (god being dead) the sign of the end, those who survive are draw to a source of hope. Second one, zombies and music. Third, a black heart is the source of the greatest love imaginable and cleanest drug ever. Love kills. Um, death at ones own hand.
Genre(s): Literary, genre, sci-fi, spiritual, blood-splattering, ha-ha funny, violence and kink.
Personal word goal: anything over 50k. I survived last year and will survive this year even if I have to snort caffeine.
I live in the Mexican War Streets. I'm 33. I love books and music. That's pretty much all I do while being the awesomest Mr. Mom ever. I'm really quite funny in person, not all doom and gloom.
46,618 / 50,000
Oct 23, 2009 - 16 00
Title: Something about god being dead, something about the undead of the Zombie variety, something about love, a new drug and a black heart, or something about suicide. Yay!
Plot/concepts: People start killing each other (god being dead) the sign of the end, those who survive are drawn to a source of hope. Second one, zombies and music. Third, a black heart is the source of the greatest love imaginable and cleanest drug ever, love kills. Um, death by ones own hand.
Genre(s): Literary, genre, sci-fi, spiritual, blood-splattering, ha-ha funny, violence and kink.
Personal word goal: anything over 50k. I survived last year and will survive this year even if I have to snort caffeine.
I live in the Mexican War Streets. I'm 33, married. I love books and music. That's pretty much all I do while being the awesomest Mr. Mom ever. I'm really quite funny in person, not all doom and gloom.
24,893 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2009 - 10 45
Title: Down
Plot/concept: The main character commits suicide and then goes down to Hell and meets the devil, who is surprised that she still has a soul. The main part of the story is her reliving her memories to discover why she is in Hell now in the first place. I've already written 20k of it, and plan on finishing this November.
Genre(s): Mainstream, until I can figure out how to categorize it.
Personal word goal: 50k - With everything I do, I'll be totally surprised if I can get that far.
----------NaNoWriMo '08: Menda - EPIC FAIL - 3.344
JulNoWriMo '09: The Twin Gates - WIN! - 50k+ - WIP
NaNoWriMo '09: blink - 18.555 - WIP
3,871 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2009 - 18 35
Not to harp, but you know that Nannowrimo is about starting a story in November and finishing it by the end. No fair starting the month half-way done with a story. :P
----------22,345 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2009 - 18 55
Thanks, thewonderelf.
It's mostly a serious story, but there will be some "lighter" moments.
----------Habit
Some things just keep you guessing
38,180 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2009 - 23 12
Title: SATAN COP
Plot/concept: Jeremy Nighthawk might have been raised by a Norwegian Black Metal band, but he's still a damn good cop. Or at least he was until he met Bowery Havok, sexy Neoist and possible suspect. He's on strike from art and anything else you'd care to mention, except just maybe MURDER.
Genre: Noird/Weird-Boiled
Personal word goal: it takes me three years to write a novela. If I get to 20k I'll be thrilled.
1,867 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2009 - 07 17
Hi everyone! My first time doing this and this really helps me out. A lot of people have some great ideas! Can't wait for November to come.
Title: The Escape
Plot/concept: (I'm shooting for a Post-Apocalyptic Horror. But that is pretty much all I know so far.)
Genre(s): Fiction, Horror,Drama
Personal word goal: 50k or as many as I can possibly do!
I may post again when I have a better grasp on my idea.
42,006 / 50,000
Oct 17, 2009 - 07 46
any writers out there writing mainstream or literary novels. my story is about an underachieving new york artist who returns to her kentucky home. she's hoping to rejuvenate her creative juices and unexpectantly falls for a reckless airplane pilot.
----------lighteddial