Yay! Only 7 days to go!
Some of us have ideas of what we're going to write (for varying values of the word "ideas"). Others of us don't. Or perhaps we have some slight smidgen of an idea but aren't sure how to flesh it out.
If you already have a fully developed idea, great! You're probably ahead of the majority. If you don't, why not post what you have so far and let the rest of us help brainstorm?
If you have absolutely nothing at all, well, there are a few random story generators out there. Here's a few:
http://www.theyfightcrime.org/
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/ - this one has a whole bunch of generators in one site.
http://www.gkbledsoe.com/articles/process/writing_prompt_generator.html
http://www.lifeformz.com/cgi-bin/idea/idea.fcgi
There's more (oh, boy, are there more!), but that's probably enough to get you started. Of course, if one of you has a site you really like and it's not here already, feel free to post it.
My reason for doing this is: the most active thread, by far, is the wordwar thread. That's great! But nobody's talking about their actual novel yet, at least not the regional board. And there's only seven days left. (Aieeeeeeee! Seven days left! Whatever shall I do? *pant pant* (slap self) *pained yelp* Sorry.) So I decided to see if I could prompt some discussion. As it's pretty late right now, I'll talk about my novel ideas later (ie, tomorrow), but if there are any night owls out there who want to get started on the discussion, feel free.
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33,370 / 50,000
Oct 24, 2009 - 22 46
I never know what I am going to write. I used to stress over it to the point I almost couldn't write anything. Then I decided that if I relaxed and just described a scene or an incident, not necessarily using characters by name, it helped me get started. I guess that's how I brainstorm. I am one who just writes. I don't do outlines (never! They confuse the issue with the facts for me!) I don't make notes (well, most of the time I don't). I just write. I can write in the morning, at night, with the tv or radio playing, but silence is usually a distraction for me. My guinea pig has too many comments if I don't have something on. It doesn't bother me. The fact that I have 6 children, all grown now, and 8 grandchildren may play into that a bit! I also was a teacher for many years, teaching creative writing, among other things. It just seems to flow for me, and when I am finished, I am finished.
There are many styles and methods of writing. Each person needs to find what works best for him or her, and stick with that. Don't try to be something you are not. If you need an outline, write one. If you don't, then don't bother. If you need to develop your characters in advance, then, by all means, do so. If not, just enjoy the delight when a new character pops into your story without warning!
Give yourself credit! You can do this! Just find your own best style and go for it! There IS a novel inside your head!
End of pep talk. You can all go to bed now. It's late.
89,320 / 50,000
Oct 24, 2009 - 23 16
I like the Dares thread in the forums for ideas.
http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3264019 (has a link to part two in the first post)
I have used dares before when I had no idea what to write. This year, I've collected another huge pile, and while going through them, I finally formulated an idea for my novel.
A usual dare is to write a character writing for nanowrimo, so that's what I'm going to do! I'm also going to use my original idea, which would've been a struggle to 50k, as the novel inside the novel. So this should be an easy year for me!
Now I'm really psyched for this idea. This time next week, we'll be writing our novels!
----------Banai
ML for Salt Lake City, Utah
AIM, YIM, GTalk, GWave: banai47
Twitter: http://twitter.com/banaifeldstein, http://twitter.com/SLCWriMo
45,000 / 50,000
Oct 25, 2009 - 14 20
I plan to do a space opera-ish story that evokes memories of Buck Rogers in the 25th century. I'm going to use that as a framework for a bunch of "They fight crime" mini-episodes that I've collected. Banai's idea about the dares is a good one. I think I'll go and mine a couple of those as well. Mm-hmm!
My wife has a pretty good idea of her own but I'll let her share it herself.
We're also talking to our kids about doing the YWP. So we're coming up with a lot of writing prompts for them to use during November. We're going to make this a family event, essentially. Should be a lot of fun.
17,274 / 50,000
Oct 26, 2009 - 08 42
I got my idea from a phrase in some old notes (no idea where it came from, what it meant), combined with a fantasy character I had developed for a shared story and never actually used.
Tilara Scarlet, elven diplomat and assassin, will have her origins discovered in Race to 100 Deaths. I couldn't sleep the other night, and finally fleshed out some details. So the blankness of NaNo seems less scary now. This is what I have so far:
The Elven queen sends Tilara and two others to human kingdom. The baron has heard of the elves' abilities (see in dark, need little sleep, agility, high metabolism) and wants one as his personal assassin.
The three are branded with a spell, some of their blood put in a magical vial. If broken before the spell is removed, they die. The baron sets the contest - race to 100 deaths, within a given time (two months?).
Twenty parasites are injected into each of the three. They have to drink the blood of their human victims to feed them, or be consumed themselves. Once the parasite is fed enough (blood from five victims), it comes up to just below the skin. It ejects a venom which marks the skin in a black starburst, then dies. It must be removed by knife, before it dissolves leaving eggs in the bloodstream.
The scars from parasite removal are proof of the deaths. Once all parasites are removed, they may return to the baron. The first will live, the other two will be killed. He only needs one assassin after all.
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Oct 28, 2009 - 21 01
Huh. Lots of possibilities there. Fascinatingly gruesome.
17,274 / 50,000
Oct 29, 2009 - 07 52
Thanks, dagger. It's definitely going to be the darkest story I've written.
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