The October Crush - Plots, Hooks, and Frustration

Okay, so I have known NaNoWriMo is coming up for awhile (you know beings that November happens generally around the same time each year) so I have been really thinking about what I want to write this year for a few months now.  I have even gotten to the point where I have an ending finalized, most the cast (without names) decided upon, and even a generic beginning ready to be pumped out come November 1st.

Then it STRUCK!!!

My idea sucks/I have no plot/My idea could win awards for generic-ness

Pick one and I have fretted about it the past few days.  I really think every author or NaNoWriMo-er has as well.

BUT!!!

There is one thing I am learning - even if it sucks write it anyways, so the first idea is completely scrapped yet.  I have decided to put it on the back burner for a week and brainstorm a couple back up plans.  Typically when I brainstorm I will come up with an idea that won't work for the piece I want to work but it would do create for another and vice versa.  This is what I am hoping will happen.  So far I have come up with two decent plots but no inspiration for the original.  Now at the October days dwindle away I am concerned with getting my planning done.  So today's homework - nail down which of the three I will do and stash the others for later.

Idea 1 -

This is the one I have thought about on and off for a few months now.

Character list

• MC - A male king.  He is nicknamed the Bastard King because his father (the old king) had him with a ______ and it wasn't never acknowledged.  The MC over threw his father and took the throne to usher in a time of relative peace.  He grew up in the military but is a peace junkie -- Ooo character conflict
• FMC - A female princess.  She has no name either.  Her people love her yadda yadda, strong female character etc.  On and she dies in the opening basically.  Her role doesn't end here though.  She awake up in this sort of inbetween world where evil and magic is afoot.  The same evil and magic that killed her and framed MC.
• Family and Friends of MC and FMC - blah blah
• FMC's killer - He is killed shortly after the opening and ends up in the same worlds as FMC.  She helps him out and they  travel together.  She doesn't know his dirty secret.  Ooo more conflict
• Bad Guys - The general list of bad guys is the third nation that lives to the south.  They haven't really been heard from for years but they set the events into motion because they want the two north places to kill themselves against each other so they can sweep in to take over the world.  They also might be trying to bring back magic/a mad god/ or something like that.

Plot - MC is framed for FMC's death.  The two nations fight though MC is pulling his punches in battles because he doesn't want to kill his love's people.  He is hoping he can find the real killer and stop the war before it goes to far.  FMC is trying to get back to the world of the living.  In the inbetween world she learns why she was killed and if she doesn't stop the war something worse will come.

Oh goodness that is so bland!!!  See I told you I was suffering lol.

Idea 2 -

This idea is actually an expansion of a very short story I wrote earlier this year.

Plot - Every living creature has magic inside of them.  Humans exploit this fact by capturing sprites to sell their magic.  The FMC is a young girl who is very good at catching this tricky creatures.  One night she is the one captured by a Soulhunter (don't know what they really do yet besides capture FMCs).  MC is the girl's brother and he sets off to save her.

As I planned more of this it turned into a middle grade work and I don't know if that is what I want to really write.

Idea 3 -

Okay this idea came to me last night.

Setting - The world is segmented.  The good gods were tired of everyone fighting wars etc so they encapsulated each people.  This happened a few hundred years ago.  At the segment borders is just stone flat lands that extend forever.  Some people who venture a little ways beyond the border claim to see ghosts or hear whispers.  At each border is a large gate called the Mord Gate (the name popped in my head and stuck).  The door in the gate is a solid piece of stone and can be opened.

Plot - The MC lives in one of this segments.  Her segment is a fairly large flat plains area with a massive chasm in the middle of it.  Her people live in this chasm by building their homes into the earth (Meza Verde style basically).  One day she is out harvesting grass (her people are masterfully weavers) with her sickle by the Mord Gate when there is a knock of the other side.  When she investigated she somehow opens it.  In rush two people that are fight each other.  MC helps the one that looks like he is being attack and kills the attacker with her sickle.  The new character is grateful but does something that destroys the gate and the border vanishes - in its place is a segment.  It turns out the man she killed was the ruler (the other guy is the ruler's brother).  She is arrested and taken to the new segment - must escape yadda yadda.

Idea 3 came quickly and I want to explore it some.

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So there you have it.  My three ideas that I must decide between and come to a answer by midnight tonight. If anyone has any suggestions let me know...please!

The October Crush - Planning for NaNoWriMo

Resources - Part One!

Goodness it is already October!  That means NaNoWriMo is just around the corner and I have decided that this is my year.

I have decided I am going to use October to the best of my benefit.  This includes outlining (phrase/snowflake/etc), plot diagrams, character sheets, and just about anything else I can find that people use.  Obviously most people don't go over board through all of this, but I figure if I am going to find a method that works for me I should try as many that make sense.

Another resource I just found is Brandon Sanderson's, a favorite author of mine, creative writing course from BU online at Write About Dragons.  The course work involves 50k words written of a new novel.  Obviously the students would be doing this during the course but since NaNoWriMo is just around the corner I decided to watch and take notes through all the lectures and put them into practice for November.

Throughout October as I go through these different resources I will post about how well I feel each one has prepared me for November, and HOPEFULLY, through it all be able to mush the parts I like together into something of my own going forward.

A bit of flash writing

So originally this was a story that I adapted to be a fan fic for the game Rift Planes of Telara.  Really the main markers of it being fan fic is the names used - but really it could adapted for any setting, but beings that the story was inspired by it I have still left the names intact.  This was written several months ago.

Read below the break and let me know what you think.

Why the Writing? Why the Blog?

Why the Writing?

My life is very satisfying.  I have a loving partner, a job (though it barely pays the bills), three beautiful cats, and roof over my head.  I never go hungry, my bills are paid - though not nearly on time; I all around don't want for much, but something is missing...

DRAMA!!

Everyone says that they hate drama in their life, myself included.  They hate it in the workplace, at home, and just everywhere in general.  If every hates drama though, than why is it what we crave.  Movies and tv shows are filled with the stuff, and we all know how well those do.  These dramas make millions and attract just as many people as followers.  People line up days early before a hit movie releases, or tune in week after week to find out what their favorite characters are in for next.  The same is just as true for books.  None of these would be successful mediums of entertainment if they portrayed lives similar to our own.  People want to experience, from a distance the impossible, things that they would never be even equip to handle in their own lives.

I am just like everyone else, I crave these impossible dramas.  I love (though at times hate) watching and reading my favorite characters live through the impossible.  Even when everything start to fall in place, and I am hoping against everything that there may finally be a happy ending, I know and yearn for the moment when everything falls to pieces.  I thrive on these moments, they get me through my work days.  They are why I dump a ton of money (relative to how much a I make hehe) into tv, movies, and of course books every year.  The creator's of these moments hold a sway in my life that I can never give up, but now its my turn.

Being able to pull tears of sadness or joy, cheers and cries, this sort of power is the tool of a masterful creator of drama.  In my writing I yearn to be able to create those moments that when everything is about to fall apart - everyone is on the edge of their seats - I can put it together as a tease just to break it in their faces.  They will hate it on one side for the characters that have become close friends not getting what they should, but will love it because it is the excitement that would never fly in their real lives.  I can stand back and say - I created that, I wrote that, I killed that main character.

That is why I want to write - to have my creation loved and hated all at once, to be able to inject that dramatic fix into everyone's world.

Why the Blog?

I know how my dramas play out.  I know the twists and turns, so much to a point that they are no longer dramatic.  The only why to keep the adventure alive is to share it.

So that is what I will do!

I will be posting my adventures in creation.  Snippets, planning, finished projects, triumphs, and my disappointments.

Plus I am hoping it will keep me motivated, because something has to.

Anyways, that is my first post.  I will come again tomorrow, and sometime in the following days I will posts bits of my work and we will see where it goes from there.