Evolution of Stories

Andrea Grey is a supervillain. 

She was once a normal woman. As normal as it can get when you can throw around acid, anyway. She had problems, like her inability to control her abilities, her mother in the hospital, and no way to pay the rapidly growing bills. When Blackbourne Industries offered her a job with great health benefits and training to hone her powers… she snapped it up quickly, no questions asked. Soon she was a skilled security guard, occasionally lent to the city to help with problems. 

But then she started fighting superheroes.

It turns out her new employers aren’t as altruistic as they seemed, using the shipments she protects for far less than noble purposes. The superheroes are struggling to dig up the truth, and the closer they come the more dangerous it becomes for her and her mom. As the situation grows more and more unstable, it becomes clear to her that she’s going to have to choose between doing what’s right… and keeping her mother alive. 



Nobody's Hero did not start off with this synopsis.  It actually started off with a teenage girl with superpowers--that have pretty much stayed the same, excepting the addition of empathy--who was stealing food from warehouses that was originally meant to go to her family anyway.  She dealt with a group of superheroes--teens, as well--who pretty much treated her as a villain before they helped her out and accepted her as part of the group.

That was it.  No real villain, unless you count her.  Just a story about a girl with short black hair in a tough situation learning how to deal with things.  I think I even tried turning it into a comic at some point, and the opening fight switched from a warehouse to a supermarket where she was stealing some food off the shelf.  Seriously.  A superhero fight in the middle of a store simply because one decided to steal a can of peas.

I am so glad it's matured.

I tackled it a little bit later, and those few paragraphs turned into a woman at a warehouse (that much has never changed) waiting for an ambush she felt in her gut was going to happen.  Her hair was now long, platinum blond and wavy and she had light grey eyes.  She was still a villain, but now she was working for an actual bad guy.  I didn't really gather the whole blackmailing bit until much more recently when I watched The Dark Knight and saw Two-Face terrifying a cop who helped the Mob because they paid her mother's hospital bills.

Then the pieces started flowing together.  The main character is stuck between a rock and a hard place, there are people who want to stop her and her boss, and she has a good heart underneath it all that's struggling against the ruthlessness of it all.  

But that's where it stayed at for months until I started getting excited about Nanowrimo.  Two months before, I began putting in plot, made the evil man in charge of a large company, and had an idea of at least one of the things she was going to have to struggle and fight for.

I wrote 50k of it this last nanowrimo, and it need even more major reworking (the description won't quite fit the story anymore, but it'll still be really close).  Scenes will be restructured and so will some plot, and the main character won't be quite so lonely/antisocial.  She'll have at least ONE friend before the story actually starts.  In that 50k her love interest changed.

So yeah.  If you're stuck and can't think of anything to write on, take a peek at some old stories you may have started as a freshmen in high school.  Try and see if there's an idea in them worth salvaging, and tweak it.  What you find yourself with might well turn into an idea worthy of a published book.  Who knows, maybe it'll end up like Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion and find itself being turned into a movie before it even hits the shelves (good luck, but hey, it could happen again)    

Day 29: WINNER!

Wordcount:  50,382/48,333

I left for Thanksgiving with 3k to write and a hope to use someone else's computer (my laptop is broken, remember?) and I returned today with 3k to write.

AND I DID IT.  I had parentals screaming at me to do my college work and a snoopy brother who tattled on me the whole time, but I did it.  And now I have a WINNER! banner to prove my awesomeness, even though they chewed me out and tattled on me the whole time it was printing.

To be honest, it really spoiled the happy feelings I had over winning.  I still have plenty of time to work on both projects, but now I feel really bad about the whole situation.  No regrets about winning and still having awesome grades, but yeah.

Anyway, I won't depress anyone anymore, and I will say that I have been doing a good job of keeping up on everything.  I will say that it has been a stressful month juggling school, work, and Nano, and that I'm not sure if I will do the whole 12 months thing because I don't want to have to deal with this all year long.  It doesn't seem worth it when I have a half a story here that seems like a good gem all on its own, and family relations to re-establish.

December I will use to edit my story, and I will work on an X-Men fanfic.

This will be my blog, despite the lack of 12 months even after just one.

But hey.  I WON NANO FOR THE FIRST TIME EVAR.

So instead of 12 months filled with 50k each month, it'll be 12 months of working on my nano story/ies.  :D    This is so exciting!  And when I finally get my computer fixed, I'll have scrivener and this will make it SO MUCH BETTER.

Now.  To order my nano shirt.

*celebrate*

Day 26

6,157 words to go.  

Eeeh!

I'm thinking about just powering through and finishing tonight, but I'm not quite convinced I'll be able to, or even if I should.  Still.  

I WILL get that Winner shirt.  >___>  *determined*

Here is an awesome excerpt from my novel to tide you over for the next few days.  :D  EPIC FIGHTING.  SORT OF.  READ IT ANYWAY.

“Let’s give them a few seconds to get to the viewing platform, then we’ll start.”

I nodded.

It felt like it took eons to wait for them to get there.  After what felt like hours but was probably more like 30 seconds, Dragon lifted his hand up to his ear and asked, “You ready yet?”

I could hear a small murmur come from his ear bud—they really needed to get better ones.  At least Amazon’s had fallen out and onto rain covered gravel before it started blasting out Boss’s calls for the world to hear.

“Alright,” he said, and automatically launched at me.

Remembering the way he tackled me that first night at the warehouses, I stepped back and let him whiz by.  He was good.  He was able to stop himself right before he would’ve crashed into the wall, and turned around.  He had a wide smile on his face.  He had to be testing me.

Apparently I passed the test.

But he propelled himself at me again, and as I stepped to the side I felt his fist connect with my side.  He knew that I was going to try and pull the same trick again, so he’d prepared.  As the air rushed out of me I let myself fall to the ground and roll away.  His fist passed harmlessly over me as I did so, and when I came back up I had both of my blades out and glowing with my plasma acid.  

As he started to move in my direction, I flung the acid covered blade intentionally at his head.  I made sure that it wouldn’t hit him even if he didn’t duck at all, and he did.  His eyebrows were bunched together and I could tell he was focusing on something. 

So was I.  As his fist came at my stomach again and I used my foot to push him away, I realized something.  I’d only ever used my powers to cover my blades whenever I fought near him.  He’d never seen me just fling the acid.  It was always with the dagger flying through the air with it.

He probably thought I could only cover objects with my power and throw them.

This could prove to be very useful.

Dragon and I began to circle each other.  Now I’m not psychic but even I could practically see the gears turning in his head as he processed what we already tried to do to each other.

Then he came at me, low, and grabbed me by the waist.  He tossed me up in the air, and I don’t know how he did it, but he managed to grab my wrist as he flipped me over and twisted my dagger out of my hand.  I had to fight not to grin as I hit the ground and ducked into a roll.  Let him think he bested me for a moment.

Once again we stood, barely nine feet away from each other, and stared one another down.  I made sure not to let a single amount of my glee reach the surface.  My mouth was firmly shut, and could almost be considered a frown.  I squinted my eyes in concentration as if I were trying to come up with a plan that didn’t amount to using my powers. 

We started circling each other again.  After a minute of doing this, I could hear some more chatter from his ear buds.  Were they complaining about how boring this exercise was getting?  Either way, I took this opportunity to fling my acid at him.

He obviously wasn’t prepared.  I had a split second to see utter shock on his face before he brought his arms up to cover it.  What I didn’t quite expect to see was that his uniform didn’t melt at all.  So, apparently they might be under budget, but they probably expected to come and fight me again.  Here or at the warehouse?

After that, he lowered his arms to his side and I could tell that the fight was over.

Day 22

Wordcount:  38,423/38,333

(almost to 40k!  Wheeee!)

Hello there, my fine and fancy non-existant readers. :D  Guess I'm not the next 12 months of Nano star that I've read the other blog on.

I guess maybe I've got to go and give some writing advice.

Do not listen when people tell you your idea is terrible.  For one thing, when they outright say that they're just outright being rude.  That, and those people probably just don't like the genre you're writing under.  I saw somebody that was mentioning on a forum that they were going to write a story where a person from our world finds themselves on another planet.  Many published authors have done that, okay.  But the other commenters on the thread stated basically that it was a stupid idea, that it was plain and simply just self-insertion.  You know, those stories where you can basically tell that the author is basically the MC and the whole story is basically a wish to be on another world having amazing adventures?  Yah.

I thought the idea was rough, needed a little refinement, but there was no way I was going to bash it the way these people were.  And the result of their words?  After the first two posts they said, "Oh, okay.  It's stupid.  I'll move on to something else."

For all we know that book they just gave up on writing could've been the next Harry Potter series.

And hey, who hasn't written a book where the MC goes to another world?  I've done it.  Contemplated trying my hand on it again.  And it's a good idea, I just need to find the proper direction.  Pantsing is not the way to go with that one.

Still, if you have someone come up to you and tell you that they have an idea of an epic story of cats fighting evil cardinals (birds) and it sounds completely hokey to you, keep in mind, they're probably not writing for you as an audience.  Encourage them, don't tear down their hopes, dreams and aspirations.  For all you know, you're stopping someone from fulfilling what could've been an awesome destiny.

Day 19

Word Count goal for Day 19:  31,847/31,673

I'm ahead by almost two hundred.

This makes me happy, considering I managed to just finish three days of word counts because I missed two entire days of writing last weekend, and woke up with pretty much half of yesterday's wordcount finished. Went to bed last night with 700 short of being officially caught up. And because I spent two hours last night writing and being distracted being writing, I wrote a bunch of it between midnight and two am. It was about 1:40 am where I gave up and just went to bed.

But yeah. I'm almost 10k past where I made it two years ago (the most I'd ever written on a nano story before Nano2013). I'm so giddy and pleased, and it looks like reaching 50k at the end of the month might actually be possible. I still have a lot to do. I've got school tomorrow and work pretty much directly after. I have Thursday and Friday off from work, so I've got plenty of time to catch up on it if I fall behind (which is something that I've pledged NOT to do for the rest of week three) and hopefully a Catching Fire movie. I'm so excited for that. You gots no idea.

So yeah. Today has been kind of giddy.

Fun characters and good fights. :D

Day 18 (really early!)

Wordcount:  27,399/28,333

At the time I write this, it's 12:30 am on Monday the 18th of November.  The internet is off so I can't post this until later.  I am 934 words away from completing the word goal of the 17th.  It isn't so very far, less than what a teacher normally requires for an essay in college.  In fact, I wrote a 6-8 page essay on Malcolm X in one night at the library the day before it was due.  I got an A on it.  Same thing with a 10 page short story I wrote based off The Frog Prince.  I was up until 3 or 4am on that one.

Yet.

934 seems like an eternity away.

But I must keep writing.  I want to be a published author some day that is able to live off of my words, and if I never finish a novel I'll never see that dream accomplished.

I will finish even if I have to stay up until 2 in the morning writing, lol.  That's what I get for ignoring the computer while I finish reading a good book.

Update:  Wordcount:  28,333/28,333

3 minutes to spare until two in the morning, and very happy.  My eyes want to cross of their own volition, and I'm about to send my character off on what's going to turn out to be a very interesting evening.  She's going to have to work with someone she angered before she knew they would have to work together.

Wheeeee!

Day 13

Daily Wordcount: 22,323/21,671

I've done it.

This is my third official year doing Nanowrimo, and I've done it.

I've written more for this year's Nano than I have for each year previously.  The most I'd gotten before now was 22,050, and that was right around the point where I realized I was stuck and that I'd have to rewrite a huge chunk of story that was going nowhere.

And I'm not concerned about rewriting my story at all right now.  At least, not until I finish the story which should be at least one more month of Nano-ing.  There are some problems with voice and finding the character (In the beginning she had my sense of humor a little bit too much for her character).  

Now she has a whole lot more depth, like a love for horror novels and a really scrawny old cat named Chauncey (whose name I have to correct a few times earlier in the manuscript, later on).

This year is going pretty darn well.  :D  I've already made it through some hurdles, like wanting to quit early on because I wasn't quite sure if this was the story I wanted to write for Nano, and falling behind thanks to life and illness.  I'm sure I'll have some difficult times ahead.  Work, for one thing, and parents hollering at me to do something around the house. 

Anywho, I'm going to go and back up my novel in case we get a freak blizzard and/or the power cuts out.  So I'll post again at some point the next few days.

Let me leave you with a picture.  A nice one.

Day 12: Part Two

Today's Word Count:  20105/20,000.  :D  

YESH.

Word counts have once again saved the day.  Several 10/15 minute word wars and averaging about 300 words each.  The result? 1.7k, a new villain/character I have no idea what to do with, and the main character in the hospital.

Where her mom already resides due to an unknown disease (shush, I'll figure out which one later).

Tomorrow I might try for 3.2k, plain and simply so that I don't have to worry about typing so much on Thursday, but yeah.  :D  DONE.  BEFORE MIDNIGHT.  

Now I shall go and plug in my word count, and wonder what the heck I'm going to do with an obsidian golem in a superhero story of all things.  Not fantasy.

Day 12

So far:  18,395/20,000

Mmkay, I admit, I haven't been posting as much as I ought to.  BUT I can blame school, work, and just plain not feeling well.

I 've fallen behind twice, and only within the first week.

I hate falling behind.

The first time I fell behind, life got in the way, and I caught up by typing until 2 am, my brain in a fog and only the disappointed voices of my Wrimo Write-in buddies urging me on.  The second time I got sick, and it took the entire day last Sunday to catch up because my story has an attitude problem and doesn't want me to finish.

Work days are especially hard to to do writing, because I have class and a long bus ride (where it's difficult to write anyway because of bus rocking as it hits bumps in the road) writing in a notebook is hard.  Slow.  I used to love it, but that's when I don't have a 50k deadline to meet by the end of the month.

I really wish I had my laptop back.  Must convince Dad to call the tech peoples.

On the bright side, I've found I love Word Wars.  It's actually pretty nice heading to my region's IRC chat, where they pretty much have them going on all day (and I'm still not certain if 'Timmy' is a real person or a program/bot) and I seem to average about 300 words in ten minutes when I'm focused on trying to beat the other people--oddly enough, it works most of the time.

Anywho, I've got to skeedadle because I have to leave to get on the bus in 25 minutes and I still have not had breakfast.  I'll do another update tonight or tomorrow depending on how soon I finish today's/tomorrow's wordcount.  Tooodles!

Day 5

Word Count as of this moment: 6,707.

So last Friday I had just a little over 2000 words and was very proud of myself.

Then on Saturday life got in the way, and I ended the day with maybe a couple hundred more than that.    I write a bunch on Sunday, so I wasn't too far behind, and then yesterday night/way too early this morning I managed to catch up to the word count before I went to sleep at almost 2 am.

And now I have to get to 8,335 today.

I'll be honest, I'm not entirely looking forward to it.  It was a struggle to get to the word count last night and it took a strength that I'm not quite sure belonged to me to finish it.  Right now my character is in the midst of a ginormous flashback (which isn't entirely unnecessary, I swear) to explain how she came to be a superhuman night guard in the first place.  (FYI, she already was a superhuman before she was even hired to be a guard).

GEEEH.

Write-in needed so much right now...

Day One: The Kick-Off Party

Word Count:  2,135

I love nanowrimo.  Honestly, I do.  Sure, there were a couple of people I thought were a little odd, but the ones I stuck with, that I chatted with and quite possibly annoyed a little bit?  They were cool.  They were also from California, the west coast, and one of them even heard of, knew, and had been to some of the cities that I lived in back in Oregon.

This is a rare thing to have when you live in Utah now, trust me.

He also had some really cool writing 'tarot' cards, where when you want inspiration on a plot point, you draw a card and it gives you a prompt.  I drew one at the end right before I left, and ended up getting 'fear'.  I laughed, and he said, "Well that's no problem!"  Given how my story starts out at a warehouse with a superhero fight, yeah.

And while I felt like I didn't write a lot while I was there, I still managed to write more than I probably would have on my own, at home.  There were a ton of people there, many of which answered a lot of questions that you wouldn't expect the average person to know, and nobody judged.  (I also got a couple of free drinks--a mango/peach smoothie and a hot chocolate)  There were a couple of creepy people there, but they mostly kept to themselves or simply answered some questions when people asked them.

I ended up with 2,135 words today.  :D  Tomorrow, if I want to wimp out, I'll have to write only 1,199.  So that means I wrote 468 extra today.  It helps when you're at a write-in with a notebook instead of a laptop and don't have a word count telling you that you've done enough, that you don't have to write anymore for the day.

I might write more tonight.  It depends on how I'll feel after getting into mah pjs and watching an episode or two of House Hunters.

And the fight isn't over.  >:)

Here's a lovely picture of Captain America to tide y'all over til tomorrow.  :D

One More Day

One day until NaNoWriMo officially begins.  I've got real life stuff to do, like homework, and currently I've got the Hunger Games playing on Netflix.

I haven't worked a bit on the storyline, and the only REAL thing I've changed about the story is the ethnicity of one of the major players in the story.  It was partly because I read a really awesome article recently that was written by an author about one of her own characters, but also because I realized that this change also made my character a whole lot sexier.

I still have to choose some things, like a few names and the powers of many of the characters, and on Friday (DAY ONE! *screams fangirl-style*) I'm going to be shooting off from the gate at midnight and writing until I've met the daily word quota before I head off to the Kick-Off Party/Write-In.

At the beginning of next month I'll be headed to the TGIO Party (Thank Goodness It's Over) and I'll be  wearing a NaNoWriMo Winner t-shirt or sweatshirt.

It's ONLY 1,667 words per day.  It's not all that much, but it won't feel like that at the end of the first week and start of the second.  If we keep repeating that mantra, however, we WILL be able to finish with at least 50k.

Superheroes, high fantasy, western, steampunk, or even general fiction (aka YA without the fantasy, usually).  It will work.

(Also, I missed Tracy Hickman giving a talk at the LDS Institute of Religion that's at my University today, dangit.  Had to be at another class that's clear across town, and couldn't skip it.  Did you know he was LDS?  Me neither.  Cooool)

NaNo Countdown!

So in celebration of the fact that we have... *looks at calendar* ...four more FULL days till NaNoWriMo begins, I'm going to post a mock-up of some popular songs rewritten with a NaNoWriMo theme.   The first one?

A mock-up of Taio Cruz' Dynamite! (click here for the song!)

I throw my pens up in the air sometimes,

Saying AYO! Gonna Wrimo!

I wanna write all day and make a book,

Saying AYO!  Watch me Wrimo!

I came to write, write, write, write

I hit the keys ‘cause that’s my word count, word count

I’m on a roll don’t wanna stop, stop, stop, stop

Before the ink runs out my pen, pen, pen, pen

Yeah yeah

Cause it goes on and on and on…

And we write on and on and on…

Yeah!

I throw my pens up in the air sometimes,

Saying AYO! Gonna Wrimo!

I wanna write all day and make a book,

Saying AYO!  Watch me Wrimo!

‘Cause we gon’ rock this café

We gon’ write all night

We gon’ scribble it up

Like it’s kryptonite!

‘Cause I emailed you once,

Now I texted you twice

We’re gon’ scribble it up,

Like it’s kryptonite!

It’s time to write, write, write, write

Get out the way of me and my note book, book, book

I’m at the café so I’m gonna look, look, look, look

At my wordcount and sit in my nook, nook, nook, nook

Yeah, yeah

Cause it goes on and on and on…

And we write on and on and on…

I throw my pens up in the air sometimes,

Saying AYO! Gonna Wrimo!

I wanna write all day and make a book,

Saying AYO!  Watch me Wrimo!

‘Cause we gon’ rock this café

We gon’ write all night

We gon’ scribble it up

Like it’s kryptonite!

‘Cause I emailed you once,

Now I texted you twice

We’re gon’ scribble it up,

Like it’s kryptonite!

I’m gonna write it all,

I’m gonna be the first one finishing

Higher over all,

My word count everyone envying

Cause I, I, I, can do it,

And I, I, I, I just wanna finish

I Just wanna finish…

I’m gonna throw my pens in the air!

Pens, pens in the air!

Toss my pens I in the air!

I throw my pens up in the air sometimes,

Saying AYO! Gonna Wrimo!

I wanna write all day and make a book,

Saying AYO!  Watch me Wrimo!

‘Cause we gon’ rock this café

We gon’ write all night

We gon’ scribble it up

Like it’s kryptonite!

‘Cause I emailed you once,

Now I texted you twice

We’re gon’ scribble it up,

Like it’s kryptonite!

Back. Up. Your. Stories.

So a couple of weeks ago my computer went funky and gave me the loading circle of death whenever I tried to click on something.  A couple of hard boots and a disc check later, and it was fine.  Then this last Thursday... it started up again.  I left my computer on all night, and in the morning it was still pulling the loading circle of death.  So I had my father--and yes, I do live at home still *nods*--call Dell, and they spent about a half an hour to an actual hour figuring out the problem.  Two more hours, and there's nothing on my computer but the original factory settings.

As of now, my computer's fine.  I need to re-update the graphics driver, but I haven't gotten the loading circle for a while. 

My point is, all I had time to salvage was my notes for my college courses, plus whatever I already had on my flash drives beforehand.  All of my fanfictions, short stories, and--oh my goodness, my title list... they're all gone.  So I would suggest every day to back up your story at least once, or more.  Tomorrow you might have an issue on your computer that might require you to do what I did. 

Now I just need to figure out where that darn flash drive disappeared off to.  >>

Writing Spaces

Writing spaces.  LOADS of people want to be the quintessential writer, sitting in coffee-shops amidst crowds and conversation, or sitting at home and sipping a cup of hot cocoa while the world makes its noises elsewhere. 

My dream?  I'd like to have an office.  A place with a large desk, shelves everywhere for books and knickknacks, and a decent computer (doesn't matter if it's a laptop or desktop).  Preferably on the top floor--if there's more than one--and with a door so that it doesn't feel as if just anyone can barge into my writing space.

One problem?  I don't know if that's the perfect writing space for me.  I like people and I like noise, so I would either have to have music playing in the background with a dog or cat sitting at my feet, or go somewhere with people, like the coffee-shop. 

Other people can't concentrate if there's even the slightest noise.  I've read an article where the author actually stated that when his son starts blasting music in the house he has to go and hide in the shed, because he writes to a certain internal rhythm, and any tunes just mess with that.  If you know who I'm talking about and have read the article, very much kudos to you. 

What I'm trying to say is that not everyone is the same.  Some people may write the best in a library with trees outside the window that are dancing in the wind.  Others may write best at home while they're sitting on the toilet.  Some write better really early in the morning, and others at night.   Don't try too hard to find a writing spot.  Often times the best places to write are the ones you pick unintentionally.  I'm not saying 'stay put'.  Go to different places--be sure to make sure they are SAFE places--and see how well you write.  Write in the morning before school, in the after noon, at night right before you go to bed.

For now, I'm going to hop on a bus and head home.  And maybe I'll go ahead and write in the mean time.

(picture above taken from the HGTV website)

Wiiiidgets!

Yep.  That is this year's Nanowrimo theme.  8-bit.  They have all sorts of neat little things like this for people to post on blogs and wherever, and they also have little word count widgets.

This one is mine, specifically.  And at the moment it says I've written no words because Nanowrimo hasn't officially started yet.

A few weeks ago, before they wiped the forums and such in preparation for this year, I was surfing several of the forums.  I was looking at the 'Plot Surgery' section in particular, the area of the site where people go to get help.  In one of the threads, somebody posted how they needed help on a particular part of their story where a person goes from our world and finds themselves in another one.
Most of the people hated the idea.  They said it was yet another one of those 'self-fulfillment' stories where all the author is doing is showing us how much they want to go and wish themselves away to a magical world where they can have an epic adventure.

After a few posts, the original poster agreed and abandoned their story.  Like that.

I seriously dislike those 'haters'.  When I read the premise, I was sitting on my chair and trying to think of a way to help the person.  The idea was fine.  I had no problem with that as I have a few stories of my own where the MC (main character) gets transported from our world to another.  The story that the person had could've been a bestselling novel if they--and I am laying a little bit of blame on them--had stuck to their idea and defended it.

And I can't even count on both hands how many authors have taken this idea themselves and ran with it.  Brandon Mull and Terry Brooks are only two of them.

So I guess there are two points to this blog.  For one thing, be thoughtful.  Don't bash, flame, or bury someone elses' idea six feet under the ground.  And if you critique someone elses' story, be considerate and watch your wording.  I'd rather have someone question why the bad guy chose a particular person to be his advisor/minion than have them tell me my villain is a complete idiot.

(a lot of people probably thought they were dumb characters too, at first, but now look at them)

Oooutline!

I've actually got quite a bit of the outline already (was totally working on it last month)  It's not much, but it covers the majority of the plot I've got going on in my head.  Here's a tiny example:

"Andrea fights the superheroes."

Yup.  That's it.  It's the beginning, which I wanted to start off with quite a bit of action.  What I'm not saying here is that it's supposed to be her first real day on the job, and that she's part of a team.  That's okay, though, because this outline gives me room to play with that sort of thing.  The key to making a good outline is one that gives you room to deviate.  Trust me.  If you have EVERYTHING detailed out, you're not going to have any fun at all whatsoever.

Once I started out writing an outline, excited and thrilled about putting together what I thought was an awesome story.  Then when I came to the end of the outline for the first book (in what was a trilogy) I hated it.  I just put too much detail in for what I needed at the time.

On another note, I'm not proud of this last part of the outline for my superhero story:

"SHE BLABS ALL TO HIM."

Yeah.  And this is after a really intense scene where she almost kills someone.  I am so going to change that.  Don't know what to yet, as she does need his help, but I'll think of something.  At least I know where the story is going and in general what's going to happen. 

How are y'all doing on your storylines?  Or are you flying by the seat of your pants?  You writing fanfiction?  Adventure?  Fantasy?

What is NaNoWriMo?

Mmkay, so in this post I shall attempt to convey what exactly it is I'm trying to do here.

NaNoWriMo.

National Novel Writing Month.

Every November, thousands of people gather together both online and in real life with the goal of writing 50,000 words.  Usually most people fail, so there's not a ton of pressure, but it's a really great awesome accomplishment to have accomplished.  There's even a website, aptly titled nanowrimo.org, where you can sign up, keep track of your word count, and chat with other people on the forums (you can even find awesome people who will make a novel cover for you!).  At the end there are some prizes which are mostly discounts to pretty neat writing programs designed to help people... well, finish a novel.  There is one though that I think is pretty neat, where you can get five two free copies of your novel from CreateSpace.

It is the 50,000 word goal that I'm going to try to reach each month.  Only in November will my novelling count for the prizes, but I'm going to use this year to write... *calculates* 600,000 words.  And seeing as how I'll technically be done next October (and am determined to do NaNoWriMo EVERY year), I'll end up going through the end of next November too.  So that'll be 650,000.

My goodness.

Am I insane?

Don't answer that.

Next month I'll chronicle my prepping for November, but after that?  Heck, I guess I'll be pantsing (where you write a novel with no outline already having been made).

Novel possiblities?

Anti-Hero Superhero Story
Steampunk vs. Cyberpunk (it's complicated, I'll explain later)
Fairytale Re-telling
Undead Urban Fantasy (another explanation coming)
Zombie Apocalypse Journal
X-Men fanfic (it'll be a good quality fanfic, I swear!)
A totally Halloween themed story.  I love Halloween.  Maybe I'll start that one in February.

So yeah, that's seven.  I'm planning on making the Anti-Hero story around 130,000 words long, but I'll probably stretch that out to 150k to go over three months.  I also probably will not do every single idea I listed out.  Shiny novel ideas will happen, and I may be tempted to follow that idea for a month and see where it leads.

I'm also a full-time college student and part time employee at a sandwich shop.  We'll see how this turns out.

I am definitely insane.

(And according to all reports, the below picture is the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland: China)