What Can Make Good All the Bad That's Been Done ?

[commonpeople1]

The first draft of anything is shit.
- Hemingway

So, is anyone doing NaNoWriMo this year?

I'm torn. I'm all out of faith, this is how I feel: on one hand, I'm cold and lying naked on the floor - I promised myself last year I wouldn't put myself through a month-long sado-masochistic exercise again; on the other hand, I've never been able to complete the challenge - it would be nice if this year I hit 50,000 words in one month. I want to be that man brought to life.

Also, I'm unsure as to whether I should start with no idea in place, or get a plotline ready beforehand.

Here are some story ideas chugging at the back of my mind:

• A murder is committed in the ozbus. One of the 40 passengers did it. But who?


• The OzBus accidentally hits a time-travelling hotspot and all the passengers (including bus) are sent to Pangea Ultima. It's Planet of the Apes meets Jurassic Park.


• Every day, in the month of November, I visit a different diner in London and write about the place - the food, the characters, etc. 50,000 words split into 30 chapters. How hard can that be? (apart from hauling ass each day to a different location?)


• The choose-your-own-adventure idea which I came up with last year but never followed through.


• A horrific creature stalks London's canals, living off the innocent flesh that happens to walk (or cycle) by at night. It's up to a gang of hoodies to stop the monster (I wanted originally to make a short-film out of this, but maybe it deserves the NaNoWriMo treatment beforehand.) It helps that I live near canals, so can go for walks in search of inspiration.

Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? Commiserations?

Comments

[canudiglett]

I still haven't finished writing the book I started in January 2006, so I don't think so. I might just finish aforesaid book, though.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Didn't you make a promise to me or something that you would finish it last year?

[canudiglett]

Yeah. I didn't do it.

[amberholic.livejournal.com]

I like all of the ideas, particularly the first and the last one.

[suede.livejournal.com]

I love the choose-your-own-adventure idea! And the oz killer too!!!

[annakey.livejournal.com]

Some murders are committed in the ozbus. 39 of the 40 passengers are dead. It is up to the one remaining survivor to solve the mystery and escape with his life. With hilarious consequences.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

So it's like a 50,000 word monologue?

[rojagato.livejournal.com]

From the point of view of the murderer.

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

so it's basically Survivor. crap, not the show.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Are you doing it this year?

[pixxers.livejournal.com]

Every year I think about NaNo and wonder if I would enjoy the writing more if I were participating in a group activity where there will be guarenteed support and encouragement. And then I remember that I'm crap at group activities and all the encouragment in the world doesn't help a chronic procrastinator.

I have to write two novellas this year, anyway. :D

And as much as I'd love a choose-your-own-adventure tale, I'd love to read the London diner one. Lovelovelove.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

If I had encouragement and support, I'd have a better chance of finishing it. In a way, the NaNo website is good for that, though it can also turn into procrastination.

Good luck with the novellas. How long will each be, more or less?

[woodsrule.livejournal.com]

Aye - the diner one is genius

[amanda-mary.livejournal.com]

Could the OzBus murder scenario involve Natalie Imbruglia? I don't know why that suddenly came to mind ... .

[moveslikegiallo.livejournal.com]

You stole my question.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Will you be doing it this year?

[moveslikegiallo.livejournal.com]

... I didn't notice your mood icon before. Was that there earlier?

And, um. Probably not. I don't know. I have a screenplay for a 2-minute short that I'm supposed to have written by now but haven't started; a novel from last year that I haven't finished, and an idea that wants me to write it in November, but which can shut up and sit down because, no no no.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, mood icon has been there since the beginning. :-)

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

The OzBus aims to reach Australia, and Natalie is an Ozzie...

[kevyn-kronycles.livejournal.com]

I think the murder aboard the Ozbus was already solved by Jessica Fletcher ;) You may want to try the time travelling idea

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Maybe Jessica Fletcher has time-travelling powers, and she accidentally sends the whole bus into the future?

[naturalbornkaos.livejournal.com]

I'm just over half way through finishing my new book. To start another one in a few weeks time would just kill me! Otherwise, I'd probably give it another shot. It's always an interesting challenge.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Is this still the Two Sisters story, or a new one?

[naturalbornkaos.livejournal.com]

This one's totally new. Very, very different.

[rozallin.livejournal.com]

Hmm. How about the Ozbus travelling through a politically unstable country and they emerge from their tents to find themselves in a country at war and the British Embassy has closed for safety, so they need to rely on each over for survival and to get home?

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Well, they are actually stranded right now in Tehran and screaming mutiny! So not too far off...

By the way, happy birthday! :-)

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

So, as usual, I will be spurning this flagellation fest. But I like your Diner In London idea. True diners or any kind of food? If you want, break it down into several different kinds of meal, like breakfast/lunch/dinner or different kind of atmosphere or whatever. Make it have scope and scale, give it a sense of meaning in life, a purpose. Then, only then will it truly prosper. Because if you give a book idea a fish, it will stink for a day, but if you teach that book idea to fish, then it will bring you back many little fishes.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

It wouldn't be anything food-oriented; more about the ambience, the characters, etc. But I don't know if I have the energy and funds to do it for a whole month. Plus, I'd have to write it by hand then type it out later, making the task twice as hard!

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty...

Teddy Roosevelt may have been a masochist, but I understand what he's saying.

The funds part is a bit of a downer, though.

[woodsrule.livejournal.com]

Go for it, CP. BE that man.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

CP?!?!

[woodsrule.livejournal.com]

Sorry, was meant to be an affectionate abbreviation of commonpeople... I won't use it again I promise!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Ohhh! I don't mind then. :-)