Buffy has suggested a blog tie-in with National Novel Writing Month. Which is November. The main reason a lot of people don't attempt to write a novel in November is because they can't get started. They don't have any ideas. So why shouldn't we use the same method we've used a few times for query exercises? Use a random number generator to select one of the fake plots on this blog, and turn it into a novel. Countless times people have commented that they would read one of the fakes plots if someone wrote it.
Because some of the fakes are jokes or for nonfiction books, you'll be allowed to select from among at least 25 fakes. Go to http://www.random.org/integers/ Set it up to choose five random numbers between 1 and 562. Those are your Face-Lift numbers. Find them in the blog archives. You'll have at least 25 fake plots. Choose one. Report back as soon as you've chosen. I'll post the plots that have been chosen, so you can avoid choosing the same one. Make sure you're choosing a fake and not the real plot.
If you wish, you may write the first 500 words of your novel before November and submit them for comments from the minions. We'll let you know if we're hooked already.
While it's true that the fake plots are intended to be funny, and you may be someone who doesn't write humor, keep in mind that some of the fake plots are funny only if you know the title of the real book. As you'll have a different title, you should be able to come up with something more serious if you prefer it that way.
I'm hoping to post at least five fake plots that have been chosen for novels within the next twenty-four hours, so get to work. I'll post them below as they come in. Include your name or don't, as you wish.
Chosen Plots for NaNoWriMo Novels
1. The post card was addressed to his deceased father, the return address from a place called Fantasaria. Soon, Steven finds himself in a magical realm full of talking plants, evil flesh-eating clouds, and unicorns. Also, Irish hitmen. --Shell 1
2. After George's boating accident leaves him blind, he fears he'll have to give up his career as a NASCAR driver. Can Mary, his lovely pit crew leader, convince him to keep driving? --Evil Editor
3. Wisecracking PI Dirk Beefhead hasn't had a case in months when "it" walks into his office. Sure, it was probably sent to Earth to destroy mankind. But the rent wasn't gonna pay itself. --Freddie
4. At Dogs N. Katz Grooming Service, no one could figure out why the new cat washer, Brock, wasn't off modeling Calvin Kleins in New York. When Old Lady Jones finds Brock head down in the cat bath, the town finds a whole mess of suspects that need investigating. -Minion GIR
15 comments:
Ah. Wish I could. This sounds like a great idea. But I've got to finish my WIP by Dec 1. So I'll be working on that through November.
NaNoWriMo was quite the experience that I thought I'd never want to repeat (even though I learned a heck of a lot from it). This makes it very tempting. Or is it procrastinating working on my WIP that's tempting?
I might take you up on your offer if I can't come up with a suitable plot before November.
My mission, as the anon. contributor of numerous of these allegedly humorous fake plots, is to provide an apparently much-needed public service for authors who have been taking themselves and reality much too seriously. So please, people, take one of my silly plots and write something ridiculous for a change.
I may do that Dirk Beefhead one. If I remember correctly, that was one of my better fake plots.
(doing NaNo for real)
Hey, THIS is for real. And ten to one the plot you'd get off the blog is better than the one you're planning to use.
Now I have guilt over not doing NaNoWriMo AND not choosing a plot from here so you can post it, EE. Thanks a lot.
I am going to be brave & give this a try! *gulps*
I have done precious little writing at the moment (life has been getting in the way) this should be a great cure.
My plot is:
The post card was addressed to his deceased father, the return address from a place called Fantasaria. Soon, Steven finds himself in a magical realm full of talking plants, evil flesh-eating clouds, and unicorns. Also, Irish hitmen.
My writing exercise "Interrogation #5" with Harry Fishbein On October 5th, 08 and my writing exercise of Dec 2, 07 (inspector Weannous reporting for duty...) ganged up on me and put flesh and blood to the fake query from March 22, 2008. It's not exactly the same plot but it's already 11,000 words this week.
I won't cheat NaNoWriMo with this start. I'll just write the story.
It's not cheating if we already know the fake plot we want to use, is it, EE? I'm just dying to write something about a character named Dirk Beefhead.
go for it/.
I want to do NaNoWriMo for real, and I am trying to choose between two plots I've done some mental work on:
1. Ever wonder what happened to Cinderella's stepsisters after she married the Prince? Especially the one whose godmother was a witch?
2. When two ghosts--a dashing Regency duke and a modern feminist scholar--set out to solve their own murders, it's a pity they can't get along with each other, especially since the murders were obviously plotted by the same hand.
I'm thinking of doing a children's book this Nano so I'll pass on the fake plots. I'm not sure that getting started is the problem for me: it's writing 2000 words a day for a whole month. (Well, 1667 if you want to be pedantic about it.)
It's technically cheating to write any of the story before November. I'm concentrating on trying to work out who my characters are and how the plot might develop. Every year I think that my story is not as bad as previous years. Until January when I try to edit it.
Hey, you inspired me! I'm gonna do NaNoWriMo. But I kinda came up with my own plot...I'm sorry. It sounds like it could be a GTP though...
As for plot #4, obviously self-inflicted. Anyone who takes a job washing cats has GOT to have suicidal tendencies.
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