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Post by ♥ Lulu on Oct 27, 2010 9:46:42 GMT -5
Fifth year of doing NaNo, and no matter how important the school year is, or how much work I have to do, I just can't resist! This year I'm doing a collection of short stories. I thought it might be the easier option given how busy November will be for me; turns out, it's even harder. Like trying to plot out 15 novels in one go XD They all link together, though, the stories, as explained in the synopsis; Once upon a time there was a planet called Earth. A lonely planet in a galaxy of stars presumed uninhabited or unreachable. So many stars and planets so many light years away that even with their shuttles, spaceships, they could not get to them. And after a millennium of trying, that little planet was ready to give up – that was before the first bomb dropped. And war began to ravage the small, insignificant speck in the universe. Unequipped to deal with modern warfare that alien life forms had spent thousands of years perfected, half the population was obliterated while scientists and politicians alike raced to adapt to new negotiation techniques, and, above that, to whole a new level of weapons. And so came the “safe” bombs, the s-pods, the inter-galactic Arctic missiles, the Webster rifles. Slowly but surely, that small planet learnt to fight back. Thirst is not just the story of Earth as it prepares to enter what will be the biggest war of their planet’s lifetime, but also the story of its people, of the humans who must fight for it, and of those left behind, but still damaged by it. Bridging the gap between drama and science fiction, it follows the lives of everyone involved; from a soldier on his way to the battlefields and a husband left behind by his wife and children, to a necrophiliac making the most of the bodies building up, and a power-hungry politician whose career is being ripped apart. Yeah. So I have some of it planned, the world half-built, some weapons developed etc. I only have two stories properly planned though, although I'm hoping to spend the next few days changing that :3 I cannot even tell you how hyped I am for this year. |
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Post by Shadaras on Oct 27, 2010 10:52:35 GMT -5
This sounds awesome. =D I shall be looking forward to hearing more about this. ^_^
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Post by Chao on Oct 27, 2010 12:31:01 GMT -5
Wow, just reading your Synopsis made my mind come alive with all the possible short stories there might be... the people they might feature... the scientist, the politician, the delusional pacifist, the lovers, the orphan, the stray cat, the astronomer, the priest, the newborn and his parents, the nurse/doctor, the graduate who's life is taking a drastic turn, the crazy conspiracy spouting drunk who finally feels justified, the old lady...
Ahem, yeah, I think I might have just gotten run away with this awesome idea.
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Post by Rikku on Oct 28, 2010 0:15:25 GMT -5
... =D! This does indeed sound awesome. And seeing your thread was like '^_^ omg another person doing NaNo! ... they are leaving it a little late but no matter!' And there is so many possibilities to this! Lots of small, fragile stories nestled inside the larger one. <3 Muchfun.
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Post by ♥ Lulu on Oct 28, 2010 10:16:13 GMT -5
Shade - Thank you lovely <3 There should be more up soonish as I get everything finalised and all.
Nifen - Wow XD You really did let your imagination run there! I do have a few things you mentioned (the politician, the scientist, the concietious objector etc) but I like the idea of the point of view of a stray cat during an off-planet war, aha. Thank you, I'm glad you liked it!
Rikku - Yeah, and I'm crazy for doing so XD No time this year. But I'm excited that so many NTWFers are doing it, particular since I love the stuff you guys write <3 Thanks, I'm still working out the nitty gritty of it, but I hope it does turn into something half decent XD
In other news, I got an e-mail yesterday;
So yeah, my title/synopsis is being put forward for 30 Days, 30 Covers! It's probably not going to be chosen by the designers, but I don't care =D I'm just unbelievably flattered that they chose mine - and that someone nominated me. I'm guessing they saw me posting around the science fiction forum XD
This has also added a little extra motivation to my train to finish this the best I can :3 Roll on November 1st!
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Post by Yuka on Oct 28, 2010 10:37:25 GMT -5
I have to say this sounds like a fantastic little idea!  I'd be intrigued to read something like this. Not to mention that if you're stuck/blocked, you can move forward to another story. |
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Post by Kathleen on Oct 28, 2010 12:12:01 GMT -5
A Lulu-NaNo thread! =D Eeeeee. NaNo. ^_^ And, erm, your plot idea of course as previously mentioned sounds fantastic, and extremely clever, and now that I know it's short stories, I am even more excited. For general reasons. ^__^
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Post by Rikku on Oct 28, 2010 21:52:02 GMT -5
Woah! ^_^ It's awesome that you're nominated for 30-covers-30-days, Lulu! I can't wait to see if you get one, I bet it'd look made of awesome. And of course extra motivation is always useful. xD
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Post by ♥ Lulu on Oct 31, 2010 16:31:19 GMT -5
Yuka - Thank you! I'm not sure about that, though, 'cause I tend to write in complete chronology >_> So if I start, I'll have to finish before I move on, I'd imagine. BUT! It does allow me to do whichever I want to do whenever I want, and then put them all together into an order after I'm done, which is exciting!
Kathkitty - XD Love you, silly <3 Thank you ^_^ I'm excited for short stories too!
Rikku - Yeah, I'm still a bit like "whoah" XD I don't know when you get told if they do choose you, though, or if they tell you if they don't, or whatever. :3 But yes, thank you, it does make me grin like a loon.
So! I finished the basic outlines for eight short stories, now - I'll see when I start how many I'll need, because it doesn't include my introduction (titled And All the World Wondered) which is a bit of a history of the world. It's not too indepth, so I can build on it in my short stories, but just the basics about the beginnings of the war etc.
I have not nearly as many notes as I wish I did, and the characters not as thought out but...I'm going have to wing it, I guess. Hopefully I can get on the way with it tomorrow and such even with the fact I have three essays I've barely thought about due in on Wednesday.
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Post by ♥ Lulu on Nov 1, 2010 13:55:11 GMT -5
Okay! So I started at midnight, wrote until around 1k, then stopped so I could sleep before school today. I wrote some in my free periods (interrupted when I was forced to hunt for the coffee, since it had disappeared from our common room's kitchen). I'm just hitting 2,000 words now, so I thought I would just update here with my story. This will probably be further back in the collection when it is put together, but I decided to write it first. It's closer to the drama I'm used to writing, so it means my lack of world building won't impact too heavily upon the details. I'll have to clear this up when I focus on stories with more aspects of it, and that are more obviously sci fi. It's entitled After the Fall after a song by Elvis Costello ( click! for lyrics, but I couldn't find the song itself anywhere D: It's a shame because it is truly beautiful song!) It follows a similar storyline to the song too; lovers repairing after the war (which is how I interpret the song, at least). While I wish I could write a scene as beautiful as the second verse, it'd be stealing the story, so I'm resisting XD But yes. A man returns home from war after a year of service. He's married, but he's having an affair with my female character (tentative name is Lucy, but I don't know if it'll stay that way). But it isn't really what she expects it to be; him sweeping her into his arms, love reignited etc. etc. Instead, it's awkward and uncomfortable. Neither really know what they are doing. He's damaged from the war, she's damaged from loneliness. It sounds terrible reduced to that, but hopefully it'll turn out the way I want XD I'm not sure where it is going to end quite yet, but I'm going for something quiet and unassuming in terms of storywriting, even if I have to edit it to be so in the second draft. Not really sci-fi-ish yet, like I said, although it has many elements of sci-fi weaved in (coms, "logging in", hovercars, etc. etc.). My next story, I think, will be of my politician, who is turning out to be a nicely formed character in my head. He's been recycled, I think, from two years ago, from another NaNo, with certain aspects changed, 'cause I think the Prime Minister in that NaNo is still bitter he didn't get to have his story written XD That'll be a lot more sci-fi-y, so I'm hoping to get ahead on my word count (want to hit 5k today. Not ambitious, so hopefully shall do) so I can take some time out to get my world properly built before I start that one. Excerpts will come if I'm satisfied with any passages...which I'm not yet, so yeah. >> |
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I'd be intrigued to read something like this. Not to mention that if you're stuck/blocked, you can move forward to another story. 