Ideas

I've got characters (which is in some ways an improvement over previous years), but I've got no plot as of yet. :D

Random scenes, on the other hand, keep bubbling to the surface.

Have you got many ideas yet? :o

Plenty of ideas, too many really. Three different plots, with lots of scenes for each. Sadly none can overlap so I'm going to have to decide which one to go with, and which two to leave stewing for a little longer.

My idea is currently set in a victorian/steampunk/fantasy setting. Basically a police officer starts to investigate a strange case which leads him into all sorts of trouble.

I was going to go into it blindly this year, but the more I think about it the more is coming to me. That's okay, and whatever I have is only a loose idea anyway. So... Here's what I have so far:

Think of it like this. I have a thin string of main plotline which sort of runs down the middle of the novel like a backbone: The government has put a crackdown on “inappropriate fun”, and this includs things like candy, and sideshows, right?

You see, this is obviously going to create friction. So, these two main characters, Allouez Caine (aka AC, the good guy) and Rouge Noir (the bad guy), are fighting for different sides. AC is part of a travelling side show/carnival, the money from which funds this MASSIVE candy emporium, right? So, of course Rouge, and her brother, Blue, who are working for the government (kind of) have to get rid of them because of this ‘inappropriate fun’ which they can’t afford to let keep corrupting the world. She sends a team to airlift the emporium out of it's place, and it's taken some place far away, confiscated and hidden.

The main bulk of the plot is basically driven by the side show (including lots of carnival freaks and AC and the owners of the emporium) travelling all over to try and find the emporium so they can rescue "nameless character" who sends out their paychecks, and get the government to lift the ban on fun. Throughout the whole thing AC and Rouge will be posting in blogs and videoblogs and stuff with their plans, under the impression that nobody can see it. Of course, AC will discover the “private” part of a blog she has been arguing against on the topic of appropriate vs. inappropriate fun for years, and it’ll be Rouge’s blog with all these details about where the emporium is etc.

There will basically be this massive epic showdown at the end, where there is a battle and one side will win. The winning side will gain jurisdiction over Fun.

Ah. That got more long winded than I'd planned.... Sorry. ^_^'

You do realise that words written now don't count towards nano... right? ;)

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"All my Blades are broken Oran, and all I've got left are the fading fragments of the dreams that he's stolen from me."

I thought I'd have a go this year and came hunting to see if anyone local was joining in. Found you lot. :)

Really good to know there are people in Nottingham doing this, and some of you have blogs and DA accounts (Kachi nice work, fav’ed some stuff as it’s great, hope you don’t mind :) ). Even better to know people like science fiction. I was so hoping I wouldn’t find a load of Elves. ;)

Oh, and yes, I have an idea. Just working on the plot at the moment. If it all goes well I’ll be starting the sprint on 1st November. Really looking forward to it.

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Leigh

Writing, blog and stuff at www.leighbarlow.com

Ah, but since when has wordcount ever been a problem for me? ;)

xD

Well, I'm writing a direct continuation of what I wrote last year. It seems that what starts with NaNo, must finish with NaNo.

But if anyone's actually interested in what I wrote last year (since I didn't come to any meetings, and only posted a few posts in here :P), it's an unconventional fantasy with no villain, and no violent confrontations. In actual fact it's about a group of people who are tricked by a slightly mad sorceress and end up stuck in a land ruled by the Phoenix, where nothing is as it seems and illusions are constantly shifting and changing. And there's a forest with a mind of its own.

It's more character driven than anything, but the characters are ultimately trying to escape alive, however the sorceress still wants them to do what she wants. You could say she's the villain, but she's not evil. Just demented.

I think I'm going to have another go at one of the ideas I never got anywhere with due to stupidly long commutes and moving house.

Take the reincarnations of an evil wizard, and the heros who defeated him. Introduce an evil cult trying to finish what the wizard started, oh and let them find out who they are during the story...

I've got three possible stories...one of which has at least three versions. I've already got two novels on the go, one of which is kind of continuing with the characters I used in my nano novel last year.

Let's see, there's one that would probably consist mostly of flashbacks, um, one that's using a few characters from my first ever completed novel...and then there's the other one that I'm planning a bit of now...between posting on here and updating an online newsletter. It's the third one with at least three versions, though that said, the second one I mentioned has a fair few as well.

I haven't settled on one yet, but I've still got most of a month for that.

My hero will be a character from one of my short stories. The story was about one day in his life. The novel will carry on from there. No idea what is going to happen to him yet, but I'm sure it will come, he's an enigmatic character.

No idea at this point. My first instinct is to have a crack at a fanfic piece.

But there's another part of me that wants to try and get something down for a fantasy story that's been running in my head for ages. Well - actually I mean 'story' in the loosest sense. As is so often the case with me, I have a fair bit of background and history material for the world, but no real semblance of a worthwhile plot barring a sketchy beginning and a ropey end. Middles have always been my biggest problem.

Then of course there's the option of coming up with some entirely new characters and situation, stick 'em down and see what they do.

Hopefully I can make this decision before the end of November.

I have been thinking of doing a semi-sequel to my 2005 Nano, with the two characters from that appearing as part of a larger cast. I've had some ideas for other characters, sub-plots and settings, but I am lacking the crucial Big Plot.

I really wanted to be better-prepared this year, since I'm hoping to make an attempt on 100k, so I've got some serious thinking to do.

All I know is that if I write at all this year, I'll not be starting until well into week 2...

...and if I do it's going to be nonfiction... :P

Ooh, how come? :o

After coming up with an idea last week and being spurred on by the meeting on Saturday, here’s the blurb for the story I’m planning. More to follow if things go well.

The Wandering Year

Lucy Flanagan is down on her luck. An officer in the Paragon Police Department (PPD), the promotion that should have been hers has gone to a younger officer who had caught the eye of the Chief. Lucy has never had that big break others seem to get, that is until now.

A ritualised murder in Kings Row, one of the more gang ridden and deprived districts in the city, is a reasonably common occurrence. Everyone else in the department has a more interesting super powered crime to investigate and so the case has landed on Lucy’s desk.

Michael Hermes Aspen is a local radio DJ who's bored with his job. What he's more interested in is the crime fighting he does in the evenings under the superhero name Pentangle. He's started to hear rumours of a new villain in Paragon City who has been drawing people away from the others gangs and the last thing the city needs is another villain group.

What both Lucy and Michael don’t know is that they might be the only people who can stop a villain who could threaten the stability of power in the city.

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The Wandering Year is a detective story set in the world of the MMOG (Massively Multi-player Online Game) City of Heroes. Any relation to PCs is purely coincidental. Title and plot may change drastically between now and 1st November. The fifty thousand word target may or may not be hit. Leigh may be found writing, crying, or sleeping (maybe even all three) on a park bench, on a train or by the sea.

How come?

We've got a family holiday booked... and this time I'm NOT taking a laptop...

Too many.

Always been a problem. ;)

My novel idea this year seems to be a mix between a bunch of different things, but mainly things to do with paranormal investigations. I figured, what am I interested in? What do I know a lot of stuff about because of aforementioned interest? The paranormal. So I figured it would be a good idea for me to put paranormal and writing together again, instead of going off in a lot of different directions (I'm a sucker for romance, but I don't know if I'm any good at writing it... as it goes either a bit too cheesy or too weird).

I suppose if you put "The Addams Family", "Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events" (or whatever it's called), "Poltergeist: The Legacy", "The X-Files", "Supernatural" (I guess, not seen much of it), "The Dresden Files", "Good Omens" and "His Dark Materials" in a blender and mix it up and sprinkle it with some Nancy Drew, Harry Potter, Enid Blyton and Narnia and then add some Douglas Adams for good measure... you might end up somewhere along the lines of what I'm thinking.

The biggest similarity would be "Poltergeist: The Legacy", though. An amazingly brilliant TV-series, which was quite eerie and spooky... which is what I always thought "The X-Files" was lacking... even though XF is still one of my favourite shows (currently watching the whole series on DVD - it's still a great show). I want them to release more PtL seasons as well, as only season 1 is out so far. *pout*

I plan to write a really drippy story fuelled by emotions and philosophy.

And a touch of murder.

Possibly a strange civilisation of people who live in the mountains, called The People With The Painted Faces, inspired by a mix of the song Fire Coming Out Of The Monkey's Head by Gorillaz, and Bruce Parry's Amazon.

It's as convoluted as it sounds.

After the meet on saturday I got inspired and decided to re-visit our Angela D'eath character for NaNowriMo http://www.davewindett.com/creator/angela.html

Made. Me. Cackle.

Mine is an old idea I dragged back from the dead, about an elderly woman who still mourns her murdered husband. Death-obsessed, she finds herself attracted to a man who enjoys hurting her. I intend it to build to a shattering climax, as soon as I've figured out what that'll be.

P.S. I've now set the story in Nottingham. WEST BRIDGFORD FTW

So far, my story has about 4 different parts to it and they don't really go together... and everything I wrote above is pretty much void.

1 - It starts as a written statement, then goes on to become a diary entry. Those two are related.

2 - Then there's a short clip about a family going away, which is where the working title "The Adams Family" comes in, except I've completely scrapped that idea, so I really ought to come up with a more suitable title. I have an Adams in the story still, but he's not a family. He's supposed to be related to the family, but... kind of not using the family now. I think. At least not in that respect.

3 - Here something acually happens. A guy disappears, then reappears somewhere completely different, and two people are sent out to investigate. This part, I nicked off an X-Files story I started writing 12 years ago or so... Unfortunately, I don't know where I have that story, so I don't remember all the details. I just got quite bored with their investigation. Mulder & Scully they ain't. :/

4 - Some BBC4 watching on iPlayer later, and I'm now trying to pursue a more romantic spin on the whole thing. Which seems to be going a bit easier to write. It's pretty atrocious writing so far, but at least it's words. I've hardly read any cheap romance novels so I don't quite know how to be super-cheesy in that particular way, so it's a bit more, umm, realistic than Mills & Boon. So far. But this one seems to be the line of writing which has me interested the most, and the way I think I'll continue, because I've finally managed to describe the house a bit, the organisation, the head of the organisation, and I also know what the romance thing is going to be about. The paranormal stuff will fit nicely inbetween somewhere... I think. Then there's a question of if I use the disappearing act or not, but we shall see. Just a first draft. :)

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NaNoWriMo 2008: "The Adams Family" (working title)
NaNoWriMo 2007: "The Phantom Crystal" - WINNER (52,407)
NaNoWriMo 2006: untitled, abandoned