Titles & Genres

So I'm sticking with the very unsure title of 'Earth' for nano purposes. Truth be told I really like it when people have banners in their signature (in the nanowrimo forums) and I get jealous. So. Whatever. That being said this years novel is Earth, the first book of a series. The novel I started last year was being called oil, because though there was a lot of themes and things going on in the book, it was mostly about a girl trying to find her place in the world, and then ends up in another world.

My problem now is I need to find a tone, I keep telling people it's Adventure, maybe slightly fantasy, personally I don't see it as fantasy, but as soon as you say Magic I think there's a Liberian out there somewhere that's already throwing it in the Fantasy section. But the theory of magic in my book is more then just some far out ability to make things like up and fight people with it. Magic is the heart and soul of the people, it is their religion their government, it's everything. And that's why they are so astounded and curious about a world where it doesn't exist. Are the people of Earth even human? If they can't do magic then why would they want to be alive? And this plays more into religion, people spend their whole lives living for something that they don't fully understand, they can't see it or touch it but they follow it with such conviction. People of my made up planet, that doesn't have a name yet, don't know where their magic came from, a higher power, is the magic itself a higher power?

So I think my novel isn't so much Fantasy, but looking into so many questions that come about in your young adulthood, your personal worth and impact in the world you live in. So I think honestly I'm gearing towards Young Adult fiction, and as much as I hate myself for it, I would like it to be romantic, I don't want that to define the piece, but I would like it to play a part. Because being young is all about doubting yourself and everything around you, and trying to find someone or something to love. But that's just my opinion.

*Ally

Things I've come to know in the small amount of time I've been around.

I feel this odd tingling of excitment about this year, I went so out of my way to outline and plan, but never actually started, and I'm looking out on almost endless possibilities, my outline remains incomplete but I feel like it's appropriate, yes I could throw down a few ideas just to say it's done, but I think around the end of November, if I'm close to finishing the novel, I'll be glad I left a few things hidden from myself to get excited for.

When I started my first story, the idea actually came when I was sixteen and working in JcPenneys, I worked in the catalog department, and I use to think about a girl unknowingly finding magic at a mundane everyday job. That's how it all started, being excited and seeing magic in the boring old everyday stuff. But I have had such a hard time with it, I literally have notebooks filled with ideas, maps, characters, plots, and they always fell through. One reason is because I over think things which is irrational when writing something bordering fantasy. Don't over think it.

So then I started stretching back further into the background of these characters, why were they where they were, and why are they doing all this, but the story didn't start with them it started with Daniel King, and Margo Fischer. I just hope when I pull them into the world I'm making they are real, and tangible, wanting to carry on with their personal quests as much as I do.

New year, new plot

I'm pretty excited for November, and for National Novel Writing Month. This is my second year, last year went pretty good for a first try, almost 29,000 words, and with a mental break down, a break up, and getting a new job, I can honestly say I was proud. More then that I work on my novel for months after that, adding scenes in a notebook at work, doodling out background stories. One day in particular I started writing about the main characters past, a little big about his mother, and then I started thinking about it all. I started thinking about why I was having such a hard time finishing this novel that I had spent so much time on, I just kept getting caught up on the simpliest things.

And then it hit me, it wasn't the first book, I was starting in the middle of the story and was wondering why I couldn't connect the dots. So this year for Nano I am writing a story that begins with my last main characters father.

It's your basic adventure novel, there's one grand adventure while collecting items for an epic finish, one that has yet to make itself known to me. But it's fallen together wonderfully, I've already thrown together a very rough outline, some character background and even working on a few smaller stories that involve the main characters.

But I still have a to-do list of sorts:

-Draw out map, (playing around in a world you create is fun, but not if you don't know what all is in it)

-Finish outline (still no end in sight, but I have a couple of good ideas I've jotted down on sticky notes)

-Random character names (I found this great generator and I want to print out a bunch, I'm just too horrible at making up names, even if it's for characters I don't care about)

-Pan out the political and religious views of the people in my world.

Sounds easy enough I guess. :)