What are you writing this year?

I've tried this both in 2005 and in 2007 and failed, but this year I'm actually going to outline and make character sketches; I'm going to write a romance novel that takes place in a grocery store. It's going to be cheesy and silly and very fun to write, so I am excited!

Aubrey
http://star-shaped.org

I'm writing book 2 of a trilogy. I have a really vague outline which I used last year and it worked out great. By vague I mean "main character meets love interest" or "enter villain" and then I see what happens.

I'm writing about the month or so leading up to Thanksgiving for one extended family. (Mom, five grown kids, a couple grandkids, maybe some cousins, etc.) The siblings all have their own plots/crises going on and they all come to a head when everyone gets together for the holiday.

Kat
http://www.katwithak.com
http://www.partylite.biz/KatieWelsh

Just now, I'm using Scrivener to set up chapters and scenes taking advantage of the "Cork Board" feature to color code the scenes with the POV for that scene/chapter. I putting research information and character sketches in the Research folder.

I hope to be ready with some concrete thoughts about the world building that's going on in the back of the old noggin while hiking the autumnal trails around the farm whilst accompanied by the dogs through the color-filled treelines.

Dave

I'm writing a Romance/Fantasy/Sci-Fi ... ish novel? Heh. I already know what the main plot is going to be, as well as the the four main characters, and two of them even have names! Go me ... or not. I've been wanting to write this forever, so hopefully it'll all come out okay =/ It has a bit of everything; from Romance, to Murder, to secret police to lots-of-other-stuff-I-can't-be-bothered-to-put-down. Man, that was a mouth full.

Disillusioned, The Story of Willa Teague
-It's a fantasy set in a Medieval-esque, fictional place, but there will be no magic or dragons. Bummer, I know. :P
-There will be plenty of conflicts and such, but everything will fall under two unifying theme: The subjectivity of morality and the ideal hero

I have some stuff up already about what I plan to write, but I'll try to briefly describe it here for anyone who's bored or moderately interested ("briefly"). I'm planning on writing a novel from the point of view of a side character from a novel that I'm currently writing. She's not exactly a hero or an obviously exciting person, but I really love her story. I haven't been able to explore it in my in-progress novel very much because she doesn't come into contact with the protagonist very often (I could pull a George R.R. Martin, but I think that may be a bit too ambitious for me ;)). I'm really excited to write more about her and see how things go. If it works out well, I may try to incorporate her into my other novel more.

Basically, she's an unmarried tavern worker who was born into a family of rambunctious rebel men. Her family's tavern is in the capital of a country run by a tyrannical (and oddly cowardly) king who clearly doesn't know how to run a country (letting one's people starve while trying to conquer other places . . . bad idea). It turns out that the tavern is a safe house for rebels. Miss Willa has a lot of ties to interesting characters- a lot of very complicated ties that get her into some trouble. She is basically the heroine that works her magic behind the scenes. That doesn't earn her a place in the history books, but the famous heroes of the rebellion wouldn't have accomplished much without her!

I'm really looking forward to writing about Willa because she's a very clever and intelligent woman. She's sassy and complex, wise beyond her years (she's 25), and I'm hoping that I will be able to write a female protagonist who won't irritate the heck out of every reader that's exposed to her story. ;) *crosses her fingers*

Warning: I'm incapable of writing happy endings. :P

A Thousand Words. A murder mystery. When a well-loved local reporter dies, everyone knows who dunnit--the most hated man in town. But when he also turns up dead, everyone has a motive!

This is a sequel to my '07 novel Framed. The MC's are the owner and staff of an art gallery/frame shop. It feels like it's going to be a series (Still Life, Glazed, Water Colors, Four Square...) linked by art and framing. I have three MC's, the victim is based on a fellow writer, and the perps are my bosses. Oh, and I am so looking forward to bumping them off in weird and gory ways.

Writing is so therapeutic.

Nikki
nikki@nikkiandrewsbooks.com
www.nikkiandrewsbooks.co,m

"If you're stuck being a caterpillar, at least be a spectacular caterpillar."

No clue. Haven't really given it much thought. I usually just sit down and start. I have a little text file with ideas in it, and it usually helps.

Got Mac? Get Storyist!

I'm writing a GLBT coming of age story! Again. I'm sure everyone is shocked. (I do some variety of this most years *laughs*)

This year! For variety! It will feature... KNITTING!

*grins*

Why yes, I am a big geek :)

-----------------------------------------
7th Year Nano Veteran and New Hampshire Municipal Liaison.
You've got questions? I've got answers. Ask away!

http://www.caitirin.net
http://caitirin.livejournal.com

Ooh! That sounds great, Caitirin. I want to read it. (Yes, also a geek.)

Kat
http://www.katwithak.com
http://www.partylite.biz/KatieWelsh

I have no idea. Really. I think I'm going to have to wing it this year, and hope for the best.
I have no free time!

Top of the list is a sequel to Cowboy Boots And City Roots. I had started writing it a few months, but might just start all over and see where it gets me. I didn't get very far, and what I had was yucky.

We'll see, I guess.

Nano 05: Without A Past- ! 52K
Nano 06: So Much More Than Gold and Finding Alaska- ! 115K!
Nano 07: Made To Be Broken and Jersey Heart - 93K!
Nano 08: Cowboy Boots and City Roots-- 53K
Nano 09: ???

Caitrin, so glad to see another GLBT writer! I'm actually writing queer scifi, but close enough. :D

I have no idea!

My first year I wrote People Living Brightly, which was about a group of twenty-something friends and dealing with someone's death. I was really, really proud of that one. My second year, I didn't get anything coherent on the page. Last year I wrote Full of Grace, which was about the war from the perspective of someone on the home front. Semi-not-quite-autobiographical.

So yeah. All sort of realistic, coping-with-life type stories. This year I'd sort of like to do something completely different, but... I'm not sure what that is yet!

-Kathleen Ann

"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." -Jack London

I'm writing a science fiction novel set in the same universe as my most recent published short story. It's a military SF family saga (two genres that usually don't go together) about the founding colonists on an empty world. (There are no aliens in this universe.)

Last year's NaNo was the classic SF genre of a novel-in-letters. This year I'm trying for a traditional novel written in order. (I hope.)

The narrator's trip home to China will take some research but I've already written three novels in this universe so much of the research and background is done. (I think.)

This all presumes the narrator cooperates: if he does not show up I'm doomed. (I have an Observation Deck to try and tempt him, and a typewriter ... we'll see how it goes.)

-ElleEs

Author of:
-"The World in His Throat" in M-Brane SF's anthology _Things We Are Not_
-"Gilvaethwy" in _Aoife's Kiss_ #20

"Disillusioned, The Story of Willa Teague?"

Why, her last name is the same as my first. Except likely pronounced differently.

Anyway. This year I'm writing a story that I suppose takes place in the same world as last year's attempt. I'm considering having a guest appearance by the main character from that other story. For ages I've thought I'd have a lot of fun writing a story about the characters of the Bible who were sort of... rejected. In this case, Lucifer, Caine, and as my main character, Judas Iscariot. (Mary Magdalane plays a role too!)

So I'm exploring that. What's terrible is that just a few days ago I had an idea FOR A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT NOVEL! Must... not... give in... to shiny new idea...

Oh, I so understand that!! I had the idea pretty well sorted out. Nice fantasy with cats and churches and demons and all that good stuff. Then last night, up pops an entirely new idea formed around the same title! ("Bridge Cat") No! Silly ideas- go away! LOL

-Mak

If we weren't all crazy, we would go insane.

-Mak

If we weren't all crazy, we would go insane.

My NaNoWriMo blog: http://eyewryte.blogspot.com

No plot, no story, no plan for it. But my book's FORM is known: a fifty-thousand word lipogram. Simply put, I just want to know if I can do it.

Jim Tyrrell - http://jimtyrrell.blogspot.com

I think my novel this year is going to be GLBT-ish. It doesn't start out that way but it will end up there. It's a type of Modern Medieval story, which sounds weird but it's the only describing word I can find for it. I had thought of something like this about 6 years ago but never went any further then the concept. So now I've decided to bring it back to life and try to get 50k words out of it. Though I think I need a better title than "The Ice Cream Shop"

I'm writing a modern fantasy. There's magic and creatuers, but it's all set in modern new england (the Boston area)

"I reject your reality, and substitute my own." - Adam Savage, Mythbuster
"All that glitters is not gold, not all those who wander are lost." J.R.R Tolkein
-------------------
2008: A Dance of Magic § Won! 50,449
2009: Dancing Elements § 0

I'm writing a story about a guy that runs a boarding house where the boarders are an atheist, a Jewish guy, a college student, and an old guy and the arguments about religion they have that spring from that. The owner has a pet finch who he believes is the reincarnation of his long-dead wife. It's basically an exploration of how we as people interface with faith or lack thereof.

http://www.device-magazine.com

Double post. Stupid Comcast.

http://www.device-magazine.com

I've been working on writing/revising the same novel for the past six or seven years, which has meant no WriMo for me until now. I have a bunch of ideas, but the one I'm thinking about doing is a twisted yarn involving a guy who's lost his wife in childbirth and is venturing across the country crossing off items on a list he titled "things I'd do if I lost my wife".

It's a fantasy novel with a hunter race and an empathic race, exploring some of the same territory as "Enemy Mine": learning that perceived differences aren't necessarily so vast, etc.

Mine I've had an idea for a couple of months. It's about a girl who starts a band with her best friends, and becomes famous. Along the way, there is romance, and a heck of a lot of drama.

To tell you the truth, I'm 13, and this story involves attempted rape, so it might be a little hard.

Danielle Mariah
New Hampshire

I love my Ronaldo. :]

jonasisxoxo -- If you have courage, I say go for it.

As for your basic idea, it definitely sounds like something I would want to read.

Thanks! Good luck with your own novel.

Danielle Mariah
New Hampshire

I love my Ronaldo. :]

So, obviously, it's day four, and I've figured out what I'm writing: I'm using the advice we give our ninth graders about writing stories:

1) Write what you know

My story is set in Whitefield (Conway wasn't small enough, heh), in a cabin on a lake that I'm basing largely off my best friend's home. My protagonist and I share a profession (teaching), and a military sibling (because the plot required her to have some army savvy, and the reason I have mine is that I picked it up from my brother, so it worked).

2) Don't make your romances cheesy or overdramatic

So far, there's a pretty standard marriage between two characters, a pretty standard divorce between another two, and we'll see what develops. No cliche gazes into one another's eyes, though, and no spouting of love poetry. No flammable hearts, either. In fact, there will be nothing on fire with anybody's passionate love. Nope. Heh.

3) Make sure your plot goes somewhere

That'll be easy. I have 50,000 words to reach a destination

4) When in doubt, add zombies

That's actually a joke rule that one of the students added. But I took it, heh. It's so prevalent in pop culture right now, I figured I should give writing zombie stuff a try. So my merry band of misfits in a cabin up in Whitefield are trying to survive the zombie apocalypse. The story is the protagonist's journal, so I get to do a lot of stream of consciousness stuff... It's actually turning out to be super fun to write.

So, y'know... when in doubt, add zombies, my people.

-Kathleen Ann

"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." -Jack London

Okay, I just have to ask- what letter are you omitting?