October Novels to Prep

I have several novel ideas and I've picked a few to prep during October. Out of them I will prepare a few using the exercises from the October NaNoWriMo Prep Challenge from Writing.com. I have them posted over on my other writing blog, .

Books to prep but not write for NaNo:
Tattle Tell sequel
Standing Ground sequel

As much as I love the mutant series, I think it would be better to wait a little longer before I actually write either book 2. I still have to cement out the main plot in each one anyways. In december I'm going to edit book 1 from each, YA(ish) and adult, along with any other novels I have finished. Yay for editing month but for now, need to figure out what I'll write in November.


I have decided to prep .... oh wait, I haven't decided yet. Yikes! Prep starts on Saturday and I still don't know which one exactly I'm going to prepare for NaNoWriMo. And the consensus from friends is... there is no consensus. Some love the romance idea, others want the urban fantasy, and I added another to the list even though it wasn't on the blog post I made initially. Do I go with a type of character and genre I have written before, or do I go with an age group I write but haven't succeeded with nano before or do I try something completely different for nano and just hope I can make it this year.

I'm really tempted between the elemental fae, the urban fantasy, a futuristic YA and the musician. So many great choices but I hope to cut it down to two to prep during October. Have lots to think about in the next day and a half.

Pros and Cons of 2011 Ideas for NaNo

Here are the ideas I'm considering for NaNoWriMo this year and the pros/cons of each idea. I may pick the top three and prep all three during October to figure out which one I want to do by November 1.


Young Adult

The female teen one: Pros - female main character is something different than what I usually write. Know the basic plot with room to flourish. Could be done as one pov or two, depending how I feel sounds better. Cons - Less practice with a female main character. No success yet with a YA novel during a month writing challenge. Would need research to get the cultural aspects exactly right.
Religious school with teen who doesn't fit in: Pros - New character and an idea that I've had bouncing in my head for almost a year. Different setting than my usual books with potential for 50k words.  Cons - Uncertain if it's the right book to do. Still a young adult book, which I don't have a success rate for yet.

Sequel to Tattle Tell: Pros - Characters I'm already familiar with from my second attempt at NaNo. Heightened stakes from book 1 so that there is plenty to write. One of my favorite series so far that I'm working on. Cons - Don't have plot completely figured out yet. It's a sequel and the first book hasn't been sent out yet. Failed when tried writing book 1 for NaNo.

Fantasy/Sci-fi/Dystopian/etc

Djinn type character trying to find his place: Dynamic characters with a cross of the features that were found in successful years. Most of plot is figured out with plenty of wiggle room. One viewpoint character. Cons - Plot isn't completely set. Uncertain whether this book is one for publishing or not. World still is questionable.

Urban Fantasy in Salt Lake City: An adult one with a female main character. A challenge from an urban fantasy tweet chat with fun prospects. Have lived in Utah and know some of the area plus will be visiting there soon. Cons - Haven't really written urban fantasy

Almost steampunk like story: Pros - Story I've had in my head for over a year. Started worldbuilding on this blog and in a word document. Looking forward to writing about fae characters. Fun character dynamics. Cons - Haven't finished the worldbuilding yet or even gotten close. Some questionable elements of the plot still.

Sequel to Standing Ground: Pros - The first book went very well for MarNo, since I wrote 67k. Noah is a great character that people love and the first book is almost ready to be sent out. Know how it begins exactly. Cons - Most of the plot isn't figured out yet. Again, a sequel when the first book hasn't been edited yet let alone sent out.

Romance/non-fantasy/other

Sent to middle of nowhere: Pros - Have had success with a romance before. This is an older idea in comparison to some of the others. Know enough about the country to have the setting down. Cons - Another age difference romance when I haven't finished Thomas/Kyle. Plot is a bit iffy and don't know if the story stands out enough.

What to Write for NaNoWriMo

It is already almost time for National Novel Writing Month and I haven't picked out a novel yet. What do I write this year?

Quick recap of my NaNoWriMo attempts:


2006 - First year and I attempted a not so original story about the president's son and "special service" guy falling for each other. Wrote maybe a few thousand words.
2007 - Tried to write 20k words but only made it to about 15k on the teen mutant first book. It was in first person and took till 2009 for me to finish the very short first draft.
2008 - Changed directions and wrote the first draft of a romance/erotica novel based from a scene I developed from a dream I had. Made it to 50k during November and finished the last few thousand of the novel in December.
2009 - Didn't take part in NaNo though I wanted to but life interrupted.
2010 - Wrote 50k in 13 days of an epic fantasy novel. Still haven't finished the first draft.


2011 NaNoWriMo

What do I write this year? I have so many options that I'm not sure which one I am going to go with, but here are some potentials. I'm even going to categorize a little bit.

Young Adult

- Young female (middle eastern) is trying to find herself between the modern US world and the culture her family was raised upon. Her mom would like her to not forget their heritage but at times she thinks her mom old fashioned and holding her back. She finds herself transported to somewhere in the past, taking someone else's place. Modern has a different meaning and her new family is even more conservative. The mother is working on marrying her off. Yet in the world she finds friends to show her the way and begins to realize how much she took for granted certain aspects. And also learns to appreciate some of the old ways.

- Teen boy(gay) is kicked out of his school and the only place that will take him is a Christian school that is very small. At first he doesn't get along with anyone and struggles with himself along with worrying about going to court for his past issues. Teacher guy tries to help by making him join the band that performs for their church sessions on sundays and other days. He is given the electric guitar to play. Has no idea what's going on or how the group actually competes and that it's a big deal at first. It does give him something to focus on since he likes music even though it's all Christian music.

- Sequel to Tattle Tell
Ephram and Isaac are still friends and on a new adventure. New schools, keeping secrets and trying to make friends while figuring out themselves as they get older. They are now 15 and without parents to help, they have a lot to figure out. Plus they have a new goal: to help other mutants from discrimination and pain but it's not an easy goal.


Fantasy/Sci-fi/Dystopian/etc

- Djinn type MC that is hunted unless a master takes him in. There is a political campaign to get a djinn/magic-weilder on a board/counsel but any who are nominated are killed at once. The master who does take the MC is rich and has a goal, offering him the prize of freedom (controlled) if he achieves the impossible task of finding a wish granter that is considered a myth.

- Urban Fantasy - Salt Lake City
Demon slayer, female, hired by the church. Deals with religion, gender issues, and other stuff. Teams up with a RM (return missionary) male who has a personal demon(gay) but also has experience dealing with demons and not going crazy or isn't too scared. Has to find the right demons that are responsible for the troubles that were being caused against church members.

- The one that has steampunk elements but is just fantasy. It starts with two guys who meet and have a night stand. One is a wood faery from a ship, the other is a top militia man who is brought to the ship trying to catch a criminal who has been just out of his reach for months. The enemy has something against the militia/mage man. The faery joins him to help catch the guy and complications ensue.

- Sequel to Standing Ground
Noah has gotten some time from his last adventure and now has to make a decision. He can either join the group he has avoided for years or allow the government to try to control him and his abilities. The only way to avoid that decision is to leave and he is going to do it right, taking a group of renegades with him. And the adventure just starts there.

Romance/non-fantasy/other

- Rich young man is sent to farmlands to live in hotel, away from his father and his young third wife. He gets in a scuff and some other males in the 20's leave him up in the mountains where a rancher finds him. They fall in love, eventually.



Those are ones I am considering for now, but who knows what I will pick by November. I know I sure have no idea. Next post I will maybe do the pros and cons of each novel.

Characters Introduced by Noah and Lucas

Here is a character introduction post from The Character Cafe blog. I'm going to be bringing all those posts over here slowly since the Character Cafe is closing. Enjoy.


 Since we are actually doing two posts for introductions I have two main characters for this post, and one of them is going to introduce others from his world since he has already guest posted before about just himself. Or at least, back when he was at the end of book 3, which is why I'm speaking first. Since I have only the first draft of book 1 in his series done, and because some of the characters involved are teens (posting on this blog as well in the next introduction), I'm going to have him post from where he was at in book 1 (Standing Ground). The old post can be found here: Noah's guest post.  If this gets long, my apologies, for I have to let the second main character speak, Lucas, because I can't have him and Elijah in the same post yet even though they are the two main characters of a paranormal romance. So, with all that said, here is Noah and his introduction of important people from book 1.

Noah

Noah: Hello. *gives a quick wave* I am Noah, a genetic mutant from Dawn's books. We were once a guest, so I'm happy to be a more permanent member of the blog now. Last time I posted mostly about my mutation and some of the struggles I go through in this series but I think this time I'll talk about those that are involved with me. We're only talking the first section of troubles, right?


Dawn: Right.

Dominic

Noah: Okay. I had just finished a double major in physics and military science. The last part was because my father insisted and he did pay for the schooling but I really wanted to study physics to give myself a better understanding of energy. I can control it but don't like people knowing what I am capable of doing. I spent the last several years living in two locations: my parents' house and my best friend's apartment (Dominic) that they helped pay for. Dominic has been my best friend since we were in school. He's also a mutant though his power is a confusing type of prophetic dreaming that requires he be asleep more often than not. In fact, he'd say hello right now but he's sleeping.

Noah: Then there is my boyfriend Sebastian, though he hates to be called by his full first name. He prefers to be called Bastian. I met him at the beginning of when Dawn started writing the story. At first, he's a bit nervous and in less shape because he didn't work out too much and preferred to study or read. His major was philosophy but then he joins the military and things change. Some of the changes were better than others. He isn't a mutant though, and at first he didn't think I was either despite how I look. I should have told him as it probably would have turned out better than him finding out the way he did but it turns out he doesn't care that I am.

Bastian

Noah: Finally, there are a few that I'd like to mention but don't worry, there aren't any pictures of them yet. These are important if you consider the whole story and not just what gets placed in book 1, though readers meet them there. They are the first set of "rogue mutants" I ever meet, though they certainly aren't the last ones. Two of them were once friends, though after a falling out they had to leave the school so I hadn't seen them since we were teens. First is the somewhat leader, Ty. He is a bit of a jerk and he would often get me into trouble. Ty had to leave because they wanted to stop him from using his mutation too often because he was what could be called a copy cat as he could imitate almost any other mutation if given the opportunity. Along with him as the weather controller, Kelvin, who had trouble controlling his emotions and thus sometimes the weather. The new ones they bring are Michael and Camile. Camile seems to be a bit hard edged and she controls wind. On the other hand, Michael seems very nice compared to the others and he's kind of cute... I mean, he umm controls both fire and ice. Not sure how they all met up but when they get around to telling their side of things I may find out.

Noah: That's all I will mention for now since I'm taking up a lot of space and there is still the demon who is supposed to introduce himself this post. Sorry about rambling and I'm sure I'll be posting again soon.

Lucas

Lucas: Umm, hi. *puts hands in pocket and looks around* This is a bit different. I've done the chats before on that twitter thing and once in a regular chat room but this is my first blog. Guess it'll be nice to do something outside the whole demon crap I have to deal with nowadays. Being a demon sucks. Don't let anyone fool you with all that chat about fire and eternal heat with no snow because it's a lie! I'm stuck in Detroit where I spend my days freezing cold. Other than that, I guess things could be worse considering. Hard to believe that not having a belief in God would put me here but I'm doing my best to make due with the whole situation. Other than the whole, non-dead type thing, being a demon is rather boring. I don't shoot fire from my hands or anything cool like that. Right now, I'm living on another demons couch and we work without pay delivering messages around the area. Aside from the cold, there is a feeling of emptiness that I'm still trying to figure out. It's a dull aching type of emptiness and I definitely have no direction. For now, I'm lost but can only hope that until whatever rapture type disaster comes for my marked soul that I can make the best of this "life" as a demon.  That's all I really have to say for now. *walks away*

First Insecure Writer's Support Group Post

This is going to be a bit of a contradictory post. The main topic is the Insecure Writer's Support Group but I also want to mention something awesome first.

The awesome part: this blog has 200 followers and it took less than 2 years. I'm so excited. And now that I have more time to blog, I will maybe even get more followers. Thank you everyone that is following this blog. I really appreciate it. You all are awesome!

Now to the main topic.

Here is the information about the group, first, the Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG) from Alex J. Cavanaugh's blog.
http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/p/insecure-writers-support-group.html

"Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer."


Now for the part about me. My insecurity for this post is the question, Will I finish anything to send out?

I am one who does many projects at once, and that makes it hard to finish anything. That time factor always seems to make me anxious because I have to do things that draw in an income since I'm an adult (surprised? lol) but at the same time, I love writing whenever I can. But I've spent 5 years working on writing so far and I haven't sent a single query out. I don't have a book ready yet. So, sometimes I am insecure about whether I will ever make it or not.

Anyone else feel like that? Make sure to check out some of the others but don't worry, you don't have to read every blog cause there are so many. ;-)

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