General Writing

[Maxine MagicFox]

Okay... I know this takes place in November, but it's my favorite thing of the year and not only that but I had trouble sleeping last night and... my mind somehow landed on this event and I got to thinking about it.

:3 Does anyone else participate? For those that don't know, is National Novle Writing Month where ANY country can participate in reaching a word goal of 50000 words, which is only a threshold as I've seen people on the forums attempt to have a personal goal of writing three 50000 word stories. o_O; I'm not that good.

I've only participated twice now. My first one... didn't make it to 50000, but last year's did. :3 Yay!

You don't get anything for it other than a nice printable certificate. And it's not really the point.

Anyways, the last two times I participated I focused on the story I wanted the week before and then after picking it, I waited until 12am 11/1 to start writing anything. I think this year I wanna be different. I think I want to start go ahead and writing some notes up and seeing if this time I actually can't write a structured short novella that could be publishable. Two months in advance ought to be able to give me enough time to write up some notes (remember, not allowed to work on the actual "story" but notes are fine) and chart things out.

Anyways.... anyone else going to participate with me this year? I never have buddies that I know and simply make friends with people on the forum during that initial week of planning. :3 It's fun buddy-ing up and trying to give each other support. T-T Three of my buddies left me in the dust and two others... didn't succeed. *sigh* So it goes.

Edit: Oh and of course, I LOVE making siggies to show off in the forums. Though, last year, the forums were so overloaded that they didn't want to work. Hopefully they'll fix the forum issue this year.

[Kinokokao]

Hm, I gave it a try one year and got maybe 12K words in the first week before I was distracted by something shiny.
My first "published" fanfic was around 45K and I wrote it in 15 days, so I know it's possible for me.

Maybe I'll work on the fantasy story I've got floating around in my head. Even if I don't get 50K I'll at least get a start. >_>; I might just pick my favorite scenes and write them out, or since this is a planned novel, do a sketchy outline that might end up being 50K.

The (very) rough plot:
[spoiler]
Prince Aleksander is a third son of the King and never expected to rule. When he's young (haven't decided how young, early teens maybe) there's a sudden coup against the royal family. His father, older sister and two older brothers are all executed, but Alek is somehow spared. He ends up fleeing a great distance over mountain/woods (I have an idea for him to get sucked under a frozen river, thus avoiding capture, and popping out somewhere downstream semi-unconscious)
He's "rescued" but a strange, reclusive man only known as Meir who lives all alone in a small log cabin homestead. Eventually, Alek discovers Meir's odd past. He's from a foreign land. He doesn't remember much of his past before the Curse. He angered a mage who, in retaliation, cursed Meir to a wolf's form. Meir wanders the wilderness until he finds an old woodwitch who lives in a small log cabin. The woodwitch is able to modify the curse and tie it to the moon; when the moon is full, Meir is all-wolf in his mind. During a new moon, he's all-Meir. He has some control over when he body changes, except during the full moon when the slightest provocation will set off his reaction.
The woodwitch dies of winter fever, and Meir's been living alone in the cabin for several years until Alek shows up.
Well Alek grows up and learns skills more useful than if he'd been coddled at court. The princeling learns to set traps, cleave wood, plant and harvest, to make him own clothes and sheer sheep. He and Meir travel sometimes to the tiny village to trade and, during one such trip, hear that Alek's Uncle, the Duke, has returned from overseas and reclaimed the throne.
Alek wants to return and re-establish his old life. He begs a reluctant Meir to come with him. The story then becomes about Alek and Meir dealing with court intrigued, the Uncle's possible traitorous hand in the coup, and Meir's determination to find the mage who cursed him and get the hex removed.
[/spoiler]

So yeah. That's the general idea. It's a bit of a twist on a werewolf story, except Meir's wolf form isn't a vicious monster. I'm borrowing some inspiration from The Wolf Hunt by Gillian Bradshaw, which is like my favorite werewolf story ever as well as one of my favoritest books.

[Maxine MagicFox]

I think you should try! I'd love to read it if you decide to let people do so.

^_^ I think it's just such a fun activity to at least ATTEMPT to do. Even if you don't succeed in 50k, you still come out with a sense of accomplishment and enjoyment.

Hrrrm... I think I'll spend tomorrow coming up with story ideas. I'll present you guys with them.

Mine are never fleshed out really nice at first. They come in many forms. From a few sentences that might/not appear anywhere in the story to a basic concept. Varying sizes.

I DO have three ideas left over from last year:

one idea:
[spoiler]"Greetings gentlemen! The name's Hana Yavir. I deal in commodities that you are no longer interested in. Sell them to me and I will grant you a single wish. I'll take everything from gems, to tables, to even - human souls. What deal would you like to make with me?"

And the character chart: Hair: Red. Eye Color: Green. Age: 11 years. Physical defects: missing her ring finger on her right hand. Personality: Sly, confident, immoral, LOVES valuables that are not necessarily money. Some psychic abilities from sensing danger, premonitions, or her biggest - able to sense a person's deepest fears and what they hold most dear. Other: Won a card game against a demon (cheating, even!) and now holds the demon as a servant. In trade for the persons' most precious objects, that they tend to deem as no longer relevant in their lives, the demon will grant them a wish.[/spoiler]

Second (and these are all just taken right off my lj blog):
[spoiler]Leia sniffed the air. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t the town she had left so long ago. For one thing, the air back then was filled with the scent of sea brine. Now, the scent seemed so far away, smothered by the scents of hot breads, fruit, and fish that wafted from the stalls that lined the streets.

That wasn’t right either. There were never this many houses all clumped together. Of course there were houses, but they had been simple huddles. The mere makings of a fishing community. Now the straw huddles had been replaced by buildings of brick and moor or painted wood. The sandy streets were now cobble-stoned, even.

Leia sighed. This wasn’t what she had had in mind when she dreamed of returning home. She wondered if, at least, the old tavern was still there.

Crossing the street, Leia wondered at the marvels, trying to take it all in and accept that this was her new home. She was barely aware of the three men that were following her until they were upon her.

“Hey, kid,” one of the men growled.

Leia rolled her eyes and looked up. The man could only have been compared to a tree trunk. His arms were as big as hams and he easily broke seven feet. His shirt was stretched taunt across his fat belly which hung out, hiding the belt of his pants. Leia flinched away in disgust. “You got a problem, baldy.”

The man gritted his teeth and pounded his fist into his left hand. “No, but I’d say you do. Why don’t you show us what’s in the bag.”

Leia sighed, unsoldering the bag from her shoulder. Not only had her hometown been overridden by poorly constructed houses, but also by fat, balding men with a bad sense of ownership. “You don’t really want to know what’s in this bag,” she warned. “And I’m not particularly interested in showing you.”

I never got far enough but she was going to call upon a sword and kick the guys' asses and the item in the bag, that she was going to bring to a demon trader, was a sleeping young girl/boy demon (wouldn't that be heavy, Leia?) but the trade would go sour and the demon would wake up and Leia would be stuck with it.[/spoiler]

And then this one:
[spoiler]Irene wakes up with serious amnesia and finds herself in a dungeon. Something is talking to her when she gets captured. It helps free her and even unlocks a few doors and lures guards away “hold on, I’ll get rid of him for you.” The voice slowly lures her not towards the entrance, but deeper and deeper down into the dungeon, “I want to be rescued, too,” it says. She finds the object and rescues it, discovering that it is a thin, delicate straight blade.

Is able to shift the worlds - can enter them through book portals or is even able to walk through the shadows and join them together. If it exists she can make it so. The villain is constantly hunting her down, preventing her at all turns from re-entering her one true world. Villain claims that she was exiled from it - sends a young boy her age she keep a close eye on her at all times. They along with other companions discover that they were at one time Gods to their world and that they have been overthrown.

Story has a LOT of references to Roman and Greek mythology without ever naming them by name or making perfect analogies (and even has Norse influences). The impossible and the dream like is very real. Moutains can speak, turning into dragons or giants. So on and so forth.[/spoiler]

I like the first one and last one (the last one was ALMOST the one I chose for last year). Unsure about the other one. I'll come up with newer ideas tomorrow and then throw some darts at them or something :3

[Kinokokao]

The first one sounds very XXXHolic. I like it, though, and I see that being a good character to work with. You'd get to do mini-arcs and such.
I like the last one, too... have you ever thought of doing it as a screenplay? It just sounds like it'd be an awesome anime or trippy Last Unicorn style thing.

Maxine, let's do this! I wish I had a scanner, though. I'm not a very good artist, but some of my maps look pretty decent. I just can't decide on what sort of climate/biome I want for Alek's kingdom. XD I totally over analyze everything for my stories since I'm a total research nut. I once had the idea to write a story about a Spartan and a Druid... so I spent three months reading everything I could get my hands on about both societies. I ultimately dropped the project. >_>;

I'm toying around with the idea of changing the Alek character to a girl to make it more 'mainstream.' I really like gay fantasy, though, and I'm thinking of doing it in a very subtle Stalking Darkness-style.

I get my ideas from all sorts of crazy nonsense. I've been working on this general idea off-and-on for 8 months... sorta. It's something like six entirely different storylines that all ended up running together. I like the werewolf idea, but original the Meir-type character (all right, I'll say it. the seme) was a modern vampire.
I'm really torn because I like both ideas. Ultimately it boils down to liking fantasy better than modern day. I'm so hopeless about anything after the Treaty of Versailles -- and huge blotchy patches of 'I don't give a fuck' about American History anything. >_>;

[Maxine MagicFox]

[Maxine MagicFox]

SO! This is what I came up with SO FAR and it's only 12. BUT, I have a feeling I came up with the one that I really REALLY like... I'll let you see if you can spot which one it is XD

Ideas for NaNoWriMo 2008:

#1) Helen Ymir:
Child with ability to take seemingly worthless possessions to grant a person their desires, but in doing so, the person realizes that what he gave up is often what he prized most.
Episodic in nature.

#2) Gods/Goddesses:
A mysterious woman wakes up in a cell. She escapes through the help of a disembodied voice. She begins to escape from her captors by going through worlds that each look alike but are vastly different than each other. Is a goddess herself. Anything is possible in these worlds. Including talking trees and mountains.

#3) wandering adventurers
Orphan girl and her friend (imaginary??) leave their homeland and go across the world, writing journal entries of their myriad adventures or rather the adventures of others. Story is peppered with actual “story” and then random journal entries.

#4) mystery of seven friends
Teenage girl wakes up in a strange place. Seven people said she fell from the sky. They each also have strange circumstances arriving at the place. The closer she tries to get with them, despite them being close friends, the stranger things surrounding them become. ß wtf? Meh… too involved… no clue where to even go with that.

#5) Servant girl to powerful wandering sorcerer
Teenage girl is given as an “offering” to appease a dragon people believe that have taken up space in their nearby cave. She is dumped within the cave which is then subsequently sealed off, leaving her no choice but to press onwards.
Turns out while it ‘was’ a dragon - it was actually a Sorcerer (her age... and very charming... and possibly a very bad skirt chaser) who got lost, crashed, and had a broken wing that he had to wait until was mended. He finds it very amusing that she was his offering and decides to take her.
She has several adventures/misadventures while going along with his wild schemes and trying to fix whatever the guy has damaged. > At one point he creates the Midas hand and turns half of his body to gold. Then there’s the time that he went to test out his goblin repellant. She then gets her ownself in trouble when she creates a love potion for a customer, but things go haywire and she has an entire harem of guys after her. The Sorcerer fixes it but oddly he never seemed to be affected… was it cause he‘s a sorcerer or … nah….! Oh and then there’s the story where he’s accidentally turned his little brother into a golem…
Very light, loose, and funny. Maybe a few cutsie lovie moments as well.

^ Yeah... you can always tell when I REALLY like an idea...

BTW, Kino, do you already have a profile on NaNo?
Here's mine: http://www.nanowrimo.org/user/155287 ... AT LEAST I didn't call myself MagicFox... I only call myself Maxine on there... bah... I need to be more original with my screennames....

[TeslaNewton]

I really want to do this but I don't know if I have the time or the talent. Maybe this year! If I finally get off my lazy (and possible blocked) ass.

[Maxine MagicFox]

:3 Come on Tesla!! You should!! XD Post your ideas and just see how far you get. I'm not even sure if I will be able to make it this year with my classes and all. But, it's still just fun to try and to, more than anything, share your ideas with people on the forums and to get help and to just show off.

And, hell, who cares about talent? No one even has to SEE it if you don't want them to. That's the best part.

[Kinokokao]

No, I don't think so. I might have signed up for one forever ago when I was going as the alias Violet for everything.

The Sorcerer idea sounds perfect for an anime -- or collection of short stories. I'm not sure how it'd tie together as a novel but then again it could be something like Summon the Keeper by Tanya Huff.
Claire is a Keeper -- a sort of metaphysical guardian (modern day magician, really) who ends up having to run a B&B with a hole to Hell in the basement. The story meanders through the different guests who arrive (the Greek Gods, a vampire, etc) while dealing with the overarching problem of Claire being "stuck" on the site, her torn interest in Jacques (the ghost of a French-Canadian sailor) and the pure-hearted Newfie Dean -- oh, and that hole to Hell in the basement that keeps trying to escape.

So, if you were able to tie some overarching plot into the episodes, I could see that working out quite well!

Let's see, I guess if you break my story down:
The Romance is like I said, very subtle, but with later repercussions and court-drama as Alek advances through the ranks of nobility. A reoccurring theme I like to visit it that of the gay noble since there's so many great historic examples.
I'm framing this idea of something of a series or at least a fantasy world I can work with. I'm thinking of something with the 1st book being about them meeting and Alek dealing with the coup (I'm thinking some sort of Civil Protectorate ala England) and the aftermath of it. The mage that cursed Meir is the Ultimate Villain in a sense... and somehow tied in with everything. It just depends on the length of the story and where it's logical end would be, plot-wise. Anyway, the Romance wouldn't be a huge issue until later books. A stronger issue would be the closeness of Meir to Alek -- especially since he starts out just some guy Alek drags into civilization -- or possible a "pet" wolf (or both?)

The Meir character and his curse, as the overarching plot, is something I'm struggling to pin down. Currently I like the werewolf idea but I'm just torn over how much to tie it to the moon or not at all. I'd like there to be some definite downside to the curse other than just Meir's complete amnesia. The amnesia is important since at some point in the story Meir regains his memories and that leads to the unraveling/expansion of the plot/quest revolving around the Villain.
Something I've thought of is that Meir is originally stuck as ONLY a wolf, until the woodwitch gives him back his humanity and allows him to turn back into a man. The ability would be optional, but Meir still has amnesia. That is to say, he isn't quite the same man he was before, he just is granted a man's form.
Other ideas is that Meir is burying the woodwitch when he finds Alek or that he is in wolf form. How Alek finds out about the curse is up in the air.

The Alek character is less defined in some ways, but in others pretty solid. He's the slightly stereotypical spoiled Princeling who has to learn how to chop wood at first, but quickly matures and "grows up" into his final character.
I have an idea of his siblings and parents, who get killed in the opening few chapters. I'm not sure what sort of coup/execution to go with... my models in history are the Romanovs, Reign of Terror and English Civil War. Very heavily influenced by the civil war since whatever temporary government pops up, it's quickly replaced by the monarchy being re-established. The idea is that the Uncle is behind the whole scheme since he wants to displace his brother.

[Maxine MagicFox]

Oh, these are just rough drafts. I have no IDEA what the "overarching" plot is yet. Half of the ideas probably wouldn't make it in. Though, I don't know if there would be a real 'plot' like "villain comes and takes over the world and destroys stuff so sorcerer and girl have to defeat him'. I don't get that vibe from this story. I see it more as 'servant girl trying to find her place and trying to understand this sorcerer she has ended up the servant of'. I have the character pegged as "teen" but I'm thinking more of 14. Something exactly like the story you just described.

Though, honestly... I still have NO friggin' idea. I don't even know at this point if I want to go with that story.

I don't know about a 'series' for your idea. It seems like it's stretching it, depending on how you handle it. Dealing with a coup and its aftermath sounds... :\ not something quite interesting enough.

May I suggest a way to tie form to moon? The phases of the moon, perhaps? Like New Moon to Full he is one form, while Full to New he is another. Or you could completely randomize it.

Meh, there's my insignificant suggestion.

[TeslaNewton]

Well, I bookmarked the page. We'll see if I come up with any ideas in the next two months or just do a lot of stream-of-consciousness crap. Or nothing. It is an exciting thought, though.

[Maxine MagicFox]

Stream-of-consciousness is fun, too. Just come up with a random idea and GO.

:3 It's great too because the forums will often have "dares". Meh, I'm not even clever enough to give a good example, but they are often silly things like "have your wizard cast a sneezing spell. Extra points if starts sneezing himself and casts other, more dangerous spells." <-- crappy example, but, you get the idea. A lot of Wrimos will say that if they are stuck, they just stick in a few of these, put in some pointless fillers, and try to find something that leads them off and going again.

Then there are others who... just have fun... http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/1071793

XD

[Kinokokao]

Well, like I said, the overarching plot is a much bigger event just the political upheaval of one country.
I'm thinking something like Meir is involved/find out something he shouldn't, ends up cursed as a means to have his silence hold --> silence is broken when Alek helps him lift the curse (an event which might take place at the end of the first book or maybe mid-way through the second)
The world and its characters is what I speak of when I say series. The first book is a set up of who these people are and where they live... think Sarah Monette or Lynn Flewelling here at they are my models. Alek's troubles at court and the royal succession is just a small part of the larger picture here -- it's what defines him as a character an shapes the events around him, but there's more going on.
Meir's big character influence is the curse and what surrounds it --why he was cursed, who did it, etc.

A lot of these details are so interdependent that it'll take a good outline before I start to realize what needs to happen.

Oh, and for a moment your servant-girl/Sorcerer thing reminded me of Howl's Moving Castle XD

[Maxine MagicFox]

:\ did it? I got that vibe too after re-reading it a while ago, but I don't think so. Not at all. There is no curse on the main character and while the sorcerer does seem to be Howl-ish, in my mind, he's actually not as childish...

-_- can't I write anything that doesn't have an obvious influence from something elsewhere? That wasn't even intentional.

... *has now lost the interest in the idea*

[Kinokokao]

No! Don't say things like that.

Everything everywhere somehow is related to each other. There are only 3/5/7/10 main plots depending on how you slice it, and all fantasy is somehow, somewhere influenced by Tolkein.

There's so shame in it, unless you try to deny it. Being a writer is shamelessly borrowing from those before you.