New inspiration
I attended a writing conference this weekend, which was great timing as it gave me inspiration for NaNoWriMo! Different things the speakers said sparked several questions in my head about my plot ideas and characters, and near the end of the conference I ended up writing 3 pages of notes about my 2 ideas. Since I got home, the ideas have continued spinning around in my mind, so I know a lot more about each story now than I did before the conference. Yes!
Not that I'm any more sure what to write! One of the stories, tentatively titled This is the End, features Jessie, a high school junior who writes lyrics for a garage band. I started to question this because the novel I meant to write for NaNoWriMo in 2003 but never really started (Generic Girl 7309) was about a 7th grader who makes a name for herself when she performs an original song at her school talent show. I still want to write that book someday, and thought, "I can't have 2 books about songwriters, can I?" So I started thinking...maybe that is Jessie's back story. Maybe this new book is the sequel to that book that hasn't even been written. Maybe that experience was how she even got to know the people in the band... And then I realized I have yet another barely-started story in my files in which a girl writes a poem. I didn't really have much plot for that one, and I thought, hey, maybe the quirky friend character from that story could be Jessie's best friend in this one, and I could combine all 3 stories into one, blah blah blah. Well, it doesn't really work. If I combine the Generic Girl story into this one, I'll never get to write all the stuff I came up with for that one. But if I still want to write that one sometime, this shouldn't be its sequel, because that's meant to be a light story with an upbeat ending, and this one isn't. This one may be a downer. I expect it would have a hopeful, forward-looking ending, but meanwhile Jessie will be facing a death and difficult relationships, and no one would want to read the Generic Girl story and then found out this is what she had to go through in the future!
So then I have another story, which has no working title. I've only thought of it as Lainie and Jill, since it's about sisters named Lainie and Jill. I changed my title several times during the last NaNoWriMo I completed, but I'm still loath to start without a good working title. Yesterday I thought of the title The Year I Became My Sister, which I like but it's not exactly accurate. It's more like The Year I Tried to Become My Sister, but that's too wordy! Anyway, I had a lot of ideas for this story yesterday. Although the other story appeals to me more, this one seems more ready to start. Lainie has a strong voice in my head, and it's a fast one, so I honestly think the story would flow out faster. She also seems more active in my mind than Jessie at this point, quicker to act to pursue what she wants, so that would also help the plot flow. But I'm not sure she's someone readers would want to spend time with! I fear she'll come across as annoying, or too naive. Also, I had only a basic premise until Saturday, with no other characters besides the two sisters and their parents. Now, I at least have some ideas about where the story could go, and what sorts of things could be at stake. However, the story deals with teen pregnancy (on the surface, though the pregnancy isn't the underlying issue), and if this were to become a polished novel, I'm not sure I'd want my first published novel to be about teen pregnancy! It's not much like other things I'd write, and I'm not sure it's how I'd want to be pegged. But then, if I am going to write about pregnancy, might as well do it while I'm pregnant and remember what it's like! (I expect this to be my last child.)
So, we'll see what I actually do when November rolls around. One problem: you are supposed to start NaNoWriMo novels from scratch on November 1, with no pre-written prose whatsoever. You can have an outline, and notes, and character sketches, but no actual text from the story. But I already have first lines for both of these. Good ones that I don't want to change! My guess is, I'll just start from scratch with different opening lines and add the old ones back in during revisions, but they are such good starting points for me, I think I'll find it hard to start with any other lines.
Not that I'm any more sure what to write! One of the stories, tentatively titled This is the End, features Jessie, a high school junior who writes lyrics for a garage band. I started to question this because the novel I meant to write for NaNoWriMo in 2003 but never really started (Generic Girl 7309) was about a 7th grader who makes a name for herself when she performs an original song at her school talent show. I still want to write that book someday, and thought, "I can't have 2 books about songwriters, can I?" So I started thinking...maybe that is Jessie's back story. Maybe this new book is the sequel to that book that hasn't even been written. Maybe that experience was how she even got to know the people in the band... And then I realized I have yet another barely-started story in my files in which a girl writes a poem. I didn't really have much plot for that one, and I thought, hey, maybe the quirky friend character from that story could be Jessie's best friend in this one, and I could combine all 3 stories into one, blah blah blah. Well, it doesn't really work. If I combine the Generic Girl story into this one, I'll never get to write all the stuff I came up with for that one. But if I still want to write that one sometime, this shouldn't be its sequel, because that's meant to be a light story with an upbeat ending, and this one isn't. This one may be a downer. I expect it would have a hopeful, forward-looking ending, but meanwhile Jessie will be facing a death and difficult relationships, and no one would want to read the Generic Girl story and then found out this is what she had to go through in the future!
So then I have another story, which has no working title. I've only thought of it as Lainie and Jill, since it's about sisters named Lainie and Jill. I changed my title several times during the last NaNoWriMo I completed, but I'm still loath to start without a good working title. Yesterday I thought of the title The Year I Became My Sister, which I like but it's not exactly accurate. It's more like The Year I Tried to Become My Sister, but that's too wordy! Anyway, I had a lot of ideas for this story yesterday. Although the other story appeals to me more, this one seems more ready to start. Lainie has a strong voice in my head, and it's a fast one, so I honestly think the story would flow out faster. She also seems more active in my mind than Jessie at this point, quicker to act to pursue what she wants, so that would also help the plot flow. But I'm not sure she's someone readers would want to spend time with! I fear she'll come across as annoying, or too naive. Also, I had only a basic premise until Saturday, with no other characters besides the two sisters and their parents. Now, I at least have some ideas about where the story could go, and what sorts of things could be at stake. However, the story deals with teen pregnancy (on the surface, though the pregnancy isn't the underlying issue), and if this were to become a polished novel, I'm not sure I'd want my first published novel to be about teen pregnancy! It's not much like other things I'd write, and I'm not sure it's how I'd want to be pegged. But then, if I am going to write about pregnancy, might as well do it while I'm pregnant and remember what it's like! (I expect this to be my last child.)
So, we'll see what I actually do when November rolls around. One problem: you are supposed to start NaNoWriMo novels from scratch on November 1, with no pre-written prose whatsoever. You can have an outline, and notes, and character sketches, but no actual text from the story. But I already have first lines for both of these. Good ones that I don't want to change! My guess is, I'll just start from scratch with different opening lines and add the old ones back in during revisions, but they are such good starting points for me, I think I'll find it hard to start with any other lines.
posted by Alison at
1:51 AM
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