It's almost the middle of the month, and we are all getting a little deeper into our novels. Probably a few of us are starting to feel confident in our plots, others probably at least have an idea of what the story is about. I thought it might be nice for us to share a few details about our stories with one another, if only for the sake of procrastination.
So here's another Botrytis survey:
What's the title of your book, how did you come up with it?
Describe your plot in 3 words or less:
Tell us three things about your main character:
Your first sentence:
Your worst sentence so far:
Your best sentence so far:
What's the greatest challenge you've encountered this month?
What's your favorite thing about your novel?
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50,228 / 50,000
Nov 13, 2007 - 13 08
What's the title of your book, how did you come up with it?
*****The title of my book is "If only it could be." This saying is something I have been using since calling the police on my now ex husband and going through some issues post divorce. It fit the direction of where I wanted this funny, sad and uplifting story to go.
Describe your plot in 3 words or less: ***** Being happy always.
Tell us three things about your main character: *****She is me and the person I want to become in the next ten years. Funny as all get out as far as I am concerned.
Your first sentence:***** "As I sit on the porch over looking the vast, green farm land before me I can’t help but wonder how I got here."
Your worst sentence so far:***** I don't know. I find writing conversation between characters difficult and very challenging.
Your best sentence so far:***** "He realizes by the look on my face that this cup of coffee isn’t going anywhere near his lips so he’d better get his own."
What's the greatest challenge you've encountered this month?***** Balancing the funny with the sad and showing how it can turn around on a dime.
What's your favorite thing about your novel? *****Balancing the funny with the sad and showing how it can turn around on a dime.
50,037 / 50,000
Nov 14, 2007 - 10 18
What's the title of your book, how did you come up with it? -- Killing the Light, a title which I've blatently stolen from a song by BRMC (one of my favorite bands).
Describe your plot in 3 words or less -- War and Angst.
Tell us three things about your main character -- He's gay. He has amnesia. His mother and father were the same person.
Your first sentence -- something about bright lights stabbing at Joshua's eyes. I don't remember (and I'm at work so don't have it in front of me. *pout*)
Your worst sentence so far -- there are lots of them, just point at the page and you'll find one, particularly in the sex scene.
Your best sentence so far -- er, not sure I've got one just yet.
What's the greatest challenge you've encountered this month? -- Overcoming my bad experience from last year. I should not have participated. There was simply too much going on in RL. Yet I pressed on and end up with a very bad story that I had to pad with a short story that was totally unrelated and lots of gratuitous sex and violence. I was extremely unhappy with the result and gunshy about giving it another go.
What's your favorite thing about your novel? -- It's not as painful as I thought it would be. And it's been secretly growing a plot while I wasn't looking. :)
51,235 / 50,000
Nov 14, 2007 - 12 56
Ok, I'm sorry, I know I said share a *little* about your novel, but you've piqued my interest. Care to explain your character's familial situation?
50,037 / 50,000
Nov 14, 2007 - 16 33
Sorry, Botrytis. That's as much as I know right now. I had one explanation in mind -- that his mother was mysteriously impregnated and after Joshua was born, began to live life as a man out of shame (weird cultural thing, social taboos having been broken or something). I'm not so sure that's right any more, but because Joshua doesn't remember anything, it's something that hasn't surfaced so I haven't had a chance to play with it. But I've got a lot of words left to get down. :)
50,047 / 50,000
Nov 14, 2007 - 20 19
Hi!
What's the title of your book, how did you come up with it?
I have no idea yet. I've played with several. Titles like: The Critic, The Rose Thorn, Love Lies Bleeding...
Not really sure what to go with. It's a traditional Regency romance and I'm trying to restrain my natural inclination to include a murder so that, for once, it can actually fit in the Regency mold. The hero is a critic and the heroine is a poetess he lambasted years before they met. Poor sods.
Describe your plot in 3 words or less:
Okay, sort of just did. The hero--a literary critic--did the unspeakable to the heroine--a poetess. He told the truth about her poems. She was quite crushed and refused to publish anything since. They meet, not realizing their respective secret identifies. And then the aunt of the heroine runs away with the gardener--her fiercest competitor for champion rooster at the village fair. :-)
Tell us three things about your main character:
She's a poetess with an abysmal lack of self confidence. She lives with her aunt who is a fanatic poultry keeper. She falls in love with her worst enemy--the critic next door.
Your first sentence:
The carriage turned onto the wide, gravel drive leading to Mapleton Hall.
Your worst sentence so far:
[see above] (it's a first-freaking-draft, what do you want?)
Your best sentence so far:
There was style and there was silly and it would never do to confuse the two.
What's the greatest challenge you've encountered this month?
Trying not to kill any characters off--always an easy way out for me and a good way to raise the word count.
What's your favorite thing about your novel?
The rooster. It was an inspiration.
50,100 / 50,000
Nov 14, 2007 - 23 44
What's the title of your book, how did you come up with it? Lonely Soul. It's inspired from two things - Lonely Souls, a song by Unkle, and my main character, Lonely Joe
Describe your plot in 3 words or less: post apocalyptic romance
Tell us three things about your main character: drifting average Joe
Your first sentence: Joe, Lonely Joe that is, as that's what everyone came to call him, rolled into the town with a breath of fresh air.
Your worst sentence so far: my first sentence! heh. too many wordy details in one go.
Your best sentence so far: The faded light green glass decorations of the coat hooks glinted and glittered in the noon day sun of winter. (too many adjectives, but I still like it)
What's the greatest challenge you've encountered this month? typing in the cold! (since my heater as been out)
What's your favorite thing about your novel? the characters. they're so real to me.
50,837 / 50,000
Nov 15, 2007 - 05 43
Title: Happy Accidents. I came up with it because it's about a woman whose horrific car accident changes her life in ways she has always hoped for.
plot in 3 words: horses, romance, growth
three things about my main character: She's longed for independence for a long time. Pushes people away rather than work things out. Her entire young life was spent competing in professional show jumping, and she hated it.
My First Sentence: "All her life she’d been on a horse; almost all her life she’d hated it."
My worst sentence: There are lots of them... lots of filler and dribble.
My best sentence: I really like my first sentence a lot. My next favorite would be: "The only noticeable change in her was the small smile on her face."
Greatest Challenge: getting past the "I'll never get 50,000 words" ideation and making myself keep plodding along. I've done NaNo the past two years and succeeded, but for some reason this year I'm having to work exceptionally hard to write.
Favorite thing about my novel: I've written a lot of horse stories, but I've never written about someone who hates showing and competing like my main character does in this story. I also really like my main character. I identify with her on many levels.
51,713 / 50,000
Nov 17, 2007 - 20 21
What's the title of your book, how did you come up with it?
My book has a working title of Kin and Spirits. The writing started out as a challenge from my best friend. A mutual acquaintance of ours (aka the biggest jerk in the world) has a novel he's been trying to peddle for decades. In a word it sucks. I kept opening my big mouth and saying even I could do it better and my friend said "Here's your chance!" We're independently writing the same story from our own point of view, will combine the stories after we are done and intend to have it published (even if it's self-published) and send the guy a copy with the dedication A special thanks to he-who-shall-not-be-named. You've shown us what NOT to do, now we'll show you how it SHOULD be done.
Describe your plot in 3 words or less:
Life after war
Tell us three things about your main character:
Dedicated, loyal and sometimes stupid.
Your first sentence:
In the North it was known as the War of Insurrection, the Great Rebellion and the War to Save the Union.
Your worst sentence so far:
Too many to choose from. December will be an interesting month.
Your best sentence so far:
For the moment: As Traveller moved through the throng, the men voiced their love and devotion for the gray man on the gray horse.
What's the greatest challenge you've encountered this month?
The pain of sitting at the computer for any length of time.
What's your favorite thing about your novel?
The challenge of getting historical accuracy in a fictional story.
50,148 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2007 - 14 59
What's the title of your book, how did you come up with it?
Waitresses, Weirdos, and Other Losers. To be honest, it just sort of came to me about three days before Nano started. No real story behind it.
Describe your plot in three words or less: Life sucks
Tell us three things about your main character.
She can't keep a job, her dad is the biggest loser in the whole world, and she has a pet tarantula.
Your first sentance: The rain pounded softly on the windows, little streams of pungent water bleeding through the tiny cracks in the walls of the houses.
Your worst sentance so far: About 2/3 of my novel is bad sentances, so I don't really think I can decide.
Your best sentance so far: Grave dirt didn’t really smell any different then your regular, average Joe dirt.
What's the greatest challenge you've encountered this month?
My characters ganging up on me and making me put in stuff that was definitely not supposed to be there. Especially you Duncan. *glares at Duncan*
What's your favorite thing about your novel?
My strange but awesome dialogue.
53,867 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2007 - 21 04
What's the title of your book, how did you come up with it?
Tooth and Nail. I wanted a title that somehow reflected vampires and a sort of desperate struggle and fighting and still have it be a common turn of phrase. That's what I came up with.
Describe your plot in 3 words or less:
Redneck vampire catfight.
Tell us three things about your main character:
He is territorial, stuck in his ways and terrified of his cousin.
Your first sentence:
I was crossing the clearing two steps behind Clyde, ruining my shoes in the mud and wobbling a little, when he stopped and turned and held up one hand half-way to bring me to a halt.
Your worst sentence so far:
Oh my. Take your pick.
Your best sentence so far:
I reached over, took his hand, shook it politely and then ground the bones into dust between my fingers.
What's the greatest challenge you've encountered this month?
Balancing time. For whatever reason, this year I've had more demands on my schedule, more distractions and far less ability to spend all day writing on a weekend. Not being able to do it in my usual few-days-of-intense-work style has been very bothersome.
What's your favorite thing about your novel?
My favorite thing: the way my main character and his cousin - also a vampire - are always walking on egg shells around one another in a way that I think very accurately mimics real family relationships.
12,295 / 50,000
Nov 23, 2007 - 23 38
What's the title of your book, how did you come up with it?
"Death on Dragon Island"
I kept telling everyone it was about dragons and murder, so I was locked into that subject by default. I was trying to make a banner for the thing, and after 30 minutes, I couldn't come up with a title, so I just picked something quickly.
Describe your plot in 3 words or less:
Far behind schedule :D (10,000/50,000 words and 7 days left ;_;)
Seriously?
Fantasy Genre Mystery
Tell us three things about your main character:
He's male : The pronoun should have been a give-away.
He's generic : He has no real personality to speak of, other than the average concern that his friends are going to be murdered, or, more exactly, that the murderer of his friends will go unpunished.
He's not especially smart : He's probably not going to be the one that figures everything out.
Your first sentence:
The ocean had never seemed all that bad - when viewed from the stability and safety of the shore.
Your worst sentence so far:
Almost any sentence in the whole thing, really.
Your best sentence so far:
How could he not have known that Errlarn was a girl? Well, she didn't really look like one. (okay, that's two sentences and they're not especially good)
What's the greatest challenge you've encountered this month?
Getting started writing, instead of doing other things. That and the fact that making promotional material for the novel is more fun than actually writing it.
What's your favorite thing about your novel?
My favorite thing is making promotional material for it.
Speaking of promotional material :D
50,020 / 50,000
Nov 25, 2007 - 05 39
What's the title of your book, how did you come up with it?: The Slaughter. It simply seemed to fit the story because that's essentially the whole of what's going on. The word came up a few times in the story itself, so I thought it had some significance.
Describe your plot in 3 words or less: Misunderstood werewolves. :-P
Tell us three things about your main character: She has a very strong spirit, making her more of a leader than she realizes. Her strength and sanity is often grounded in the wonderful relationship she has with her brother. She's destined for a whole lot of tragedy.
Your first sentence: The remote had fallen from her hand as she stared at the TV in utter shock.
Your worst sentence so far: "Boo!" Heh. I don't really know. I've avoided reading any of what I've written except to scan for details that I needed to remember. I compulsively edit if I don't restrain myself.
Your best sentence so far: "Hell, it's a teenage girl with a crush, she'll just find some way to rape me in the middle of it all and claim she only tripped on a rock." All right, so it needs to be reworked a bit, and it's not technically brilliant or anything, but it's funny. When read in context, at least.
...Or not.
What's the greatest challenge you've encountered this month?: I'm disabled and have chronic joint pain, so my fingers/hands/wrists have REALLY hated me for the entirety of this undertaking.
What's your favorite thing about your novel?: The comfortable, loving relationship between my main character and one of her brothers.
25,000 / 50,000
Jan 7, 2008 - 20 04
What's the title of your book, how did you come up with it?
Always in the Band
It's this awesome song by an equally awesome band that I fell in love with. And the chorus says that 'sometimes this dream demands more than I can give it, but even still I don't regret a single minute'. So I was thinking about what dream he could be talking about, and fame came to mind first (probably because that IS what he's talking about), and the plot kind of developed from there.
Describe your plot in 3 words or less:
"New, interesting concept"
Tell us three things about your main character:
He's blinded in a car crash and is never completely okay with it.
He's beyond loyal to his friends and his commitments.
He plays in a bar band at the beginning and can't hold his liquor.
Your first sentence:
(Ignoring the onomatopoeia of the very first sentence...)
Stage manager Blake Sampson grinned as he heard the familiar sound of Chip Jackman approaching.
Your worst sentence so far:
“Thanks. Knowing me and my luck, I would’ve crashed out there.”
Your best sentence so far:
There's TWO, and both of them require the sentence before them to be good!
"I like it, it's like a power ballad without the power." "That's called a ballad, dude."
AND
"It takes a Twinkie exactly forty-five seconds to blow up in a microwave." "You know this... how?" Dave shrugged. "Experience."
What's the greatest challenge you've encountered this month?
Well, it was two months ago, but it was definitely balancing band with the novel-writing process. As you can see from my pathetic word count... I failed miserably at doing so.
What's your favorite thing about your novel?
It's just a new concept for me with a new take on the life of a rock star. I love the characters, they just come to life in my head!