Fantasy Mystery/Thriller/Spy Novel

Oh man, both your ideas sound completely awesome. I'm doing a somewhat similar combination, so I'm also hoping it'll work alright. Mine started out as "urban fantasy with wizard detectives" and expanded into something with spies, vast conspiracies, corporations as fronts for secret societies, crazy gadgets, and hitmen. My plot is still terribly vague, and I'm sure it'll end up with a lot more random stuff thrown in before I'm done.

Mind if I add you as a buddy? I want to see how this goes!

Thanks August! I've actually changed my mind since last night (probably not the last time that will happen this month!) and am going to re-write (though write from scratch without looking at or using any of what I wrote previously which I hope will fit the nano 'rules'!) my nano from last year. I really want to get it finished once and for all (I basically have five thousand different versions so I'm hoping to write the definitive one this year...)

So basically the story of a thieftaker who can reap souls and is forced into an investigation when someone leaves a body in his bed!

Yours sounds cool, especially the corporations and vast conspiracies! How is your planning coming?

ETA: Of course you can add me as a buddy!

Joel... definitely don' t throw these ideas away.
I want to meld two or more things together too... either characters or genres.
I don' t know yet..

jade

I have most of my characters and set-up figured out, but not a lot of the main plot. I need to do some brainstorming and...find out what interesting things my villains could possibly be doing to cornfields. Because for some reason I feel unable to write this story without a scene of "evil possessed cornfields on the rampage".

Hoping there are some other people writing stories like this who'll see this thread... :D

Count me in! I have characters and character development in my head, and a world taking shape, but I'm already feeling a bit of ennui about the entire concept -- probably because I have a strong feeling of 'it's been done before' about it. We'll see. It's more of an alternate timeline present day mystery than anything too off-beat, which may be my problem.

Hopefully I'll smack it into something that I'm interested in writing before day one rolls around! Meanwhile, all your ideas sound like hella fun, JABrown. Will you be posting as you go, so those of us who are interested can follow along?

August

Thanks very much. As usual, I probably spoke too soon when I said I would be doing the Soulreaper one, since yesterday I had a major breakthrough on the Heart of the Storm idea which I may now decide to do. 1920s tech with classic fantasy races in a thriller type storyline... Yeah, that's sounding better and better. Now I have a pretty good idea on how to develop the classic races (elves, dwarves, trolls, etc...) into a 1920s setting, so I think this might be the one I go for.

"evil possessed cornfields"??! Now that sounds cool! Can't wait to hear more.

holyspigot

I know what you mean - at the end of the day, I think we all worry that what we're doing is deja-vu. Why don't you share a bit more of your idea, we'll be able to give you some feedback on how to change it?

Thanks, glad you enjoyed the ideas! I may post some excerpts each day on my blog - meanwhile, if you want to follow my progress on worldbuilding and plotbuilding, I'll be posting regular updates on there as well :

http://treachery-treason-and-deceit.blogspot.com

So, we've got three or four on this thread now. What about others? Anyone else doing this mash up of genres?

Someone on another thread is doing the STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION episode of Detective Dixon where Capt. Picard goes off to solve a crime in the holodeck and trouble ensues. Your 1920's tech reminds me of this and suddenly... I might see a way to link my last nano (time travel) to my dragon racing story. Oh way joyful fun to mish-mash genres!

jade

My story this year is a Fantasy murder mystery comedy. Yep comedy. There is a company called Villians Inc and people, worlds, countries in need of a villian come to them and hire one. We all know there are unspoken rules for Villians of course some where there is a contract and paper work on these rules. So when a villian suddenly kills off the hero without following the rules first such as he didn't monolog and tell his plot so and so forth the company and the villian are sued. A lawyer must find a way to get the villian off the hook but the villian says he didn't do it.

jadedragon

Glad my idea could help! mix and mash ups are always fun!

Faewing

Wow, that sounds so cool! One of those ideas that you wish you'd come up with first!!! We really do have some fantastic ideas on this thread, can't wait to see how we all do and how they come out!

I am planning to do a Fantasy Mystery set in an Urban Fantasy enviroment.

For a while, I was having trouble with doing the plotting. Traditionally, I have decided on the end of the story and a few key 'tent pole' events. I then work on the plotting to get my story from tent pole to tent pole to end of story.

I then realized that the trouble with my plotting was that a mystery novel needs to be plotted differently. I have now worked out much of the back story of the villian, crimes, and who the detective will be for the story. I am now starting with the detective and asking myself 'How would you do this investigation and where would you go next?'

It is a different style of plotting for me as I am used to having goal posts that I am more fixed upon then trying to push the events through what the MC would know.

BTW the detective for my novel is a guardian fae spirit in the form of a Black Dog that is charged by a Death spirit at the start of the novel to find a girl in a picture. The Black Dog is not even told if the girl is dead or alive when he is given the charge.

I am planning at some point to switch the story a bit into a ghost story though if I do it right, it should not be fully obvious. I am hoping to portray the girl as a ghost that does not realize she is a ghost till the end of the story.

The villian of the story is a politician that has arranged a summoning/bargain with an irish gypsey to cover his infidelity with a minor and the subsequent death of the minor. The girl in the picture is dead due to collateral damage from the creature that was summoned and is roaming loose in the city.

The spirit of Death's motivation is that it doesn't like supernatural deaths due to magical conjurations as it messes up Death's timetable for people. The Death spirit wants the monster destroyed or returned to its proper place and the girl/ghost brought to where it can recognize its death. A ghost that does not recognize it is dead can not properly be collected or moved on.

Anyways, that is what I have figured out so far.

2007 The Lieutenant of Fairies (won!)
2008 The Captain of the Dammed (won!)
2009 Black Dog (let the games begin!)

Hey everyone. =)

Well, I'm actually playing around with a few ideas right now, but the one that I'm leaning towards has to do with a mix of pirates and magic in a futuristic world. Yeah, its a really complex idea at the moment, but I'm trying to figure out a way to get it into words that would make sense to anyone else. Basically, the pirate and sea-faring world would be split into different groups. The first would be the pirates as you actually think of them (bloodthirsty, savage men who want to find treasure and take over the world). The next group of pirates would be part of a sort-of Federation type thing. So basically they're good pirates that are out to get the horrible pirates. And then there would be a World Navy type thing for the third group, which views all pirates as horrible people who are out to ravage the world. And then types of fairytale people like mermaids and that type of stuff might play a role in it too, I'm not too sure about that. Bringing in the magic type stuff, there will be Witches and Wizards on all of the sides, which would make everything a ton more interesting. Uhm... what else. Oh, there're be some type of Sea Academy to train future Federation pirates, or something like that.

Sorry, that probably seems extremely random. But, generally it'll be fantasy, with adventure and mystery, all thrown together. I think, at least. Now, I just have to get on major outlining and character stuff. =/

I'm writing a fantasy mystery/thriller.

@JABrown

I would have, except somewhere between boredom and sheer crankiness at the cliche of it all, I scrapped it and started from scratch. So now I have characters, a sort-of locale, a genre, and no plot. I think what I will do is create cover art and procrastinate doing anything constructive because that is totally how one makes progress in outlining a novel. Go, me!

My fantasy story has a large mystery/thriller element in it. Basically, the story involves there being eight "heroes," but when the time comes to collect these heroes, sixteen candidates who meet the criteria turn up. The mystery/thriller element comes in here when everyone must figure out who is genuine, and who is a doppelganger. No one knows who is who, not even the doppelgangers themselves.

Should be interesting to write. I'm looking forward to it.

2006: The Red Raven (Pure Fantasy) - 6k
2007: Kismet Knot (Fantasy/Adventure) - 30k
2008: The Scarlet Twins (Fantasy/Parody) - 10k
2009: To Paint a Butterfly (Short Stories) - See Wordcount

I can totally relate to your difficulties plotting - a mystery definitely does take a whole other way of looking at things to work it out, though I would think that tentpoles would still apply but more in the sense of lightposts guiding the detective towards the final resolution.

As for your idea - wow! I'm always amazed every year how many hugely original ideas there are floating around here, and your's is definitely one of them. How does the Dog go about doing the investigating though? I'm assuming he can't ask questions?

Anyway, it sounds really interesting, I look forward to seeing how it develops!

Hi and welcome!

Wow, some cool ideas in there, though it is definitely a bit rough for now (to be expected this early in the game in October). Sounds like you have a really interesting set of factions to throw together. Do you have any ideas where the main characters are going to be (which faction I mean) or are you going to be doing multiple POVs from all sides?

Look forward to hearing how you're getting on with the outlining and character stuff!

LOL! Well, the title sounds good!

Hell, having characters is a great first step. Throw em together, see what you've got and generally it's plot (Yes I know that rhimed and it sounded like Mary Poppins, and no it wasn't intentional! :) )

So you got any further in your planning and plotting?

The story I'm considering doing is a fantasy murder mystery; I describe it as Law & Order meets Dungeons & Dragons. Set in a modern-day world + fantasy races/critters and magic. My two graveyard shift detectives are an elf and a vampire.

/

I actually made some progress today on my commute home, which was great for Nano but maybe not so good for the other drivers on the freeway with me. (To the woman driving the silver SUV, sorry about that. And the bald man driving the blue Prius. And the very cranky man driving that Mustang. And the guy on the bicycle. I'm really sorry about your shoe, dude.)

I have the beginnings of a plot now, and now I have to start putting it into an actual, uh, progression. Snowflake method, I think. Maybe. Hm.

Yes, I have all manner of intrigue going on in a fantasy setting. All of my characters are in, or are closely related to someone who is in, the national government of my land. So I have a fertile breeding ground for mayhem and chaos and... well, you get the idea.

I suppose in a way I have tent poles or guiding lights but they are different in the mystery novel plotting. I was instead having to decide things connected to the backstory. For example, I had to work out what crime or crimes had occured. I had to work out who had done the crimes and why. I had to figure out if there was any consequences of those crimes. The answers to those questions went on an idea sheet of the background plot.

Working out that and giving my detectivve a starting point which was a picture of a girl, was able to keep me from wandering all over the place while working out the series of events in the story. (I did a rough copy spread out on paper first; so, I could scribble in notes all over the place as I added in more clues and thoughts. I am now retyping that draft plot with that information in a bit more organized sections to make it easier to refer to when I go to write the story).

I also did some reading through of back issues of newspapers and wierd news clippings looking for interesting ideas that I could adapt and steal. For example, I saw an item where a person deliberately through rocks at a crowd to anger them and get them to come and attack him. Evidently he was planning to join the UFC but he had never been in a fight before. He thought it would be a good idea to anger people to come and beat him up. I have taken that source idea and changed the person into a 'Vampire Hunter'. The person has no experience with vampire hunting but figures that if he can survive getting into a vampire hunt then he can do well in a professional UFC style martial arts arena.

I also took a story of police busting up someone who was betting on cannaries that were being made to do fights and replaced the cannaries with little fairies.

So, why I'd like to take credit for some of the creativity of the ideas; the truth is the real world is way wierder and I just slap on some fantasy paint to try and disguise the original story.

When it comes to the dog interacting with people, I am using the fae nature to give human qualities for interaction. Humans will see basically a slightly shorter human that they are talking with instead of the dog (unless the fae chooses to be seen as more animal). This comes from the glamour aspect of the fae generating an illusion to cover its appearance and items that it is seen interacting with. I get to play with the character being able to do double roles of human contact and animal contact.

The detective can for example use his dog nose to follow a trail at one point in the story but that won't solve the mystery. The detective also spies on a group of the girl's friends after interacting with them to see if they do anything to try and contact the girl. The detective also at times goes and speaks to the local gargoyle population because they work as the equivalent of police in the supernatural world (usually have a great view from a tall tower to observe events going on below and connection with cathedrals as guardians make them a good choice for the role).

Anyways, the rough plot is done and I am half way through the re-write on the plot. Always more details to add in or observations and connections being made that were not in the original rough draft to make the mystery flow better.

For example, I had been listening to the novel (on CD) of 'The Amulet of Samarkand' by Johnathan Stroud (a really good fantasy novel by the sounds of it and I am half way through). He mentions in the novel the Tower of London of his novel having remembrances strung up on the outside of prisoners that were executed (like the old idea of decapitated heads being left to hang from the bridge). I decided after listening to that bit of story that my Goblin Town should have some reminders placed of people that have been punished for serious crimes committed in Goblin Town.

Best of wishes with your NaNo!

2007 The Lieutenant of Fairies (won!)
2008 The Captain of the Dammed (won!)

2007 The Lieutenant of Fairies (won!)
2008 The Captain of the Dammed (won!)
2009 Black Dog (let the games begin!)

Yeah, It's kind-of hard to explain it in a few paragraphs; it's all very complicated in my mind. But that's alright, I'll work out eventually, I hope. My FMC is going to be a sailor's daughter, who gets caught up in one or both of the Pirate groups (I haven't worked that out yet). Her father & brother are both involved with the World Navy, so that's a conflict right there. Meanwhile, her best friend is stuck in their hometown, on land, so as of what I have planned, you won't see much of the best friend, you'll only hear about her (and from her) through letters that they send back and forth. There's going to be at least one main captain and crew in each section, though I'm going to have to plan out more eventually.

And I'm still tossing around the idea of who I want her to fall in love with. At first, I thought maybe it would be cool to have her fall in love with a young, good pirate. But, somehow in my mind, it seems that the prospect of having her fall in love with a younger pirate on the other side seems quite appealing. So that's still up in the air at the moment. Any suggestions/comments/tips to help? I'd appreciate them a ton.

I'm doing a modern/urban fantasy with thriller or suspense elements. The antagonist is a murderer who's using a rare type of very dangerous magic, and the main character is trying to find and eliminate them. Every few chapters will be "journal entries" or case studies concerning someone who's being affected by the antagonist's magic. There are some elements of conspiracy in the form of genetic experiments involving magic.

So a couple of days from D-day... How is everyone's planning coming?

I'm kinda doing one, combining murder mystery/urban fantasy/vampires and the supernatural world. Should be fun! It's a rewrite/second draft of last years.

Cri Du Crouer - Cry of the Heart

An urban fantasy/vampire tale/murder mystery set in modern day Paris.

NaNo Winner 2008: Cri Du Crouer first draft 53K
NaNo Winnder 2007: Crossing Over 58K

Hi Alex

Wow, sounds interesting. I'm also working on a total rewrite/second draft of last year's nanonovel. Wanna be buddies? :)

Joel

I'm not doing a fantasy mystery this year, although I did last. That said, I have a plotbunny eating my brain for a fantasy mystery/thriller set in the Jazz Age. Monsters and radios and gaslights and speakeasies, oh my!

We're all trying to hit 50k...but sometimes you've got something shorter in you.
Got a story of 15k or less that's dying to be seen?
Set it free at www.Catchn.net