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Post by Siana Blackwood on Sept 4, 2012 2:41:13 GMT -5
Earlier, I jokingly challenged Agent Double Oh Zero to finish the first book of her Dark Arcana series before I finished Doom, the final book of my Seeker series. It was definitely a joke - although I've been working on Doom since June, I'd turn in my 'writer' card and call myself 'recovering ex-writer' if I couldn't write the last 2300 words before the end of the year.
However, the idea doesn't necessarily have to be a joke. It seems like most of us have one big idea that's been hanging over our heads during 2012, or perhaps even longer. That's the "WIP-from-hell".
So I was thinking that maybe we could all get together and go on the attack, picking a WIP-from-hell each and trying to finish a chunk of it by the end of the year - a complete first draft if it's a standalone or a complete draft of book 1 if it's a series.
Er... I guess I need to add some discussion questions, don't I? How about...
Do you have a WIP-from-hell?
Do you think you could finish a draft by December 31st?
Would knowing you have friends trying to do the same thing make it easier/more fun/more likely to be a success etc.?
Do you have suggestions, variations or improvements to this initial (pantsed) idea? Seriously, I made this up as I went along and I'm bound to have said something ridiculous.
(This is posted on both AofE and NaNoPlotMo because I don't know where everyone is more likely to see it. You don't have to reply in both places.)
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Post by nanogeekette on Sept 4, 2012 12:35:28 GMT -5
Oh lordy, I have a WIP that I started back in December 2011ish that I haven't worked on since February or March! Ugh I forgot how many chapters I am in.
I just might do this. I'll think about it.
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Post by Agent Double Oh Zero on Sept 4, 2012 13:58:45 GMT -5
Yes to all of those questions, and I think that is a pretty good challenge. It makes total sense. :-)
Oh, and even though this is a 'race', anyone who finishes their draft wins! This will be a looser challenge than a typical wrimo. The primary goal here is not to rack up as many words as possible, but to hit 'the end' on your story. (For me, that means no more patchwork scene scrap heaps!) If you have something started, rewrites are allowed. Oh, and it doesn't necessarily have to be the first book of your series, if you have one. It just has to be a book, whether standalone, or any book of your series that is giving you hell. (Although Book 1 tends to be the worst.)
I'm in, if anyone else is up for it. I put up the first book of my quintet, Dark Arcana (most likely The Octodyne Inheritance).
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Post by Siana Blackwood on Sept 5, 2012 0:10:02 GMT -5
After thinking about it overnight, I'm not sure which story counts as my WIP-from-hell, so I'm going to do one of those rambling list posts and see what happens.
Seeker would definitely qualify except that once I've finished Doom I'll need to sit on it for a while before I'm ready to start plotting out any kind of rewrite. I'd probably call that one of my major projects for 2013.
The ignored-since-2010 Frozen Tear might count. I'd have to really kick on with the planning, but a full plan plus a Part 1 is possible by the end of the year.
Dark Star... Now that one almost qualifies as the stage beyond WIP-from-hell. It's the one I've worked on for the last ten years and although I finally have a complete first draft it needs massive expansion and probably some kind of extension so I can actually tie things up. The trouble is that Dark Star is huge. I'm not sure three months is long enough to re-plan it, let alone write a significant chunk.
The other option is Parhelius. It's some kind of evolution of three separate ideas, two of which have existed in some form for the past two or three years. Parhelius gains extra points for the fact that one of its three source ideas is Dispersion, which is the story I tried to pick up when I joined NaNoPlotMo.
Oh, and then there's Death Metal Magic. I'm not sure I'd count it as a WIP just yet, because although it has DNA from some earlier ideas I'm thinking of it as a separate entity. Besides, at the moment I'm thinking I'll probably use it for JanNoWriMo.
Dark Star, Frozen Tear and Parhelius all have a claim to the title of The Project for the rest of the year. There's the Monster, the Ignored and... well, I don't really know what to call Parhelius. The Singularity, maybe. It seems to be exhibiting certain black hole-like characteristics.
---
So to sum that up, I definitely want to do the challenge. I just have no idea which one of my projects is most deserving of the attention. I'm going to need to do some more thinking about this.
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Post by nanogeekette on Sept 5, 2012 13:45:27 GMT -5
Here's my list of the WIPS-from-hell I'm considering:
Allah's Servant was my first true attempt at writing a novel. My close writing buddies read about 15 to 16 chapters of it and loved it.
unnamed book It's about an abused girl in the country who has slight mental problems. I started this back in late January. Again, what I have is written in 1st POV and I'll probably change that.
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Post by Siana Blackwood on Sept 6, 2012 0:00:00 GMT -5
Freeform, you have the same problem as me. I think the options at this point are:
1) Randomness. Flip a coin and heads is one, tails is the other.
2) Executive decision, which is also how I decide whether or not food is cooked.
3) Poking at both for a little while and seeing which one wakes up and starts talking.
Beware of flipping a coin, though. I tried that some time earlier this year and ended up trying to fix what I knew was my most hopelessly broken story. You really have to be equally in love with both stories before you can commit to a random result.
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Post by nanogeekette on Sept 6, 2012 14:37:25 GMT -5
Methinks.....I'm doing Allah's Servant. The story idea and how I could tweak it excites my Muse so...we'll see how this goes.  Heck, I may do the other novel at the same time too, but we'll see. xD |
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Post by Siana Blackwood on Sept 7, 2012 0:03:43 GMT -5
I'm doing Parhelius, but I'll try to get enough planning done on the others to be able to go on with them in 2013.
2013? No, we can't be almost up to that already!
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Post by Agent Double Oh Zero on Sept 7, 2012 13:13:32 GMT -5
Oooh yes we are! Is it just me, or did 2012 go by really fast? Oh well. Time to begin the Doomsday Countdown, if only so that we can have a 12/21 Wriday XD
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Post by marielaurent2223 on Sept 7, 2012 17:27:39 GMT -5
I will be doing this too.
My WIPS from hell are:
Embrace The Heart: First book from the Embrace series i started last year that i have not finished yet.
Forbidden Moments: First book that is a historical romance set back in the medieval ages.
Undying Love: first book to the Undying love series which is a historical romance series.
High Waters: A stand alone novel about an abused teenage girl who lives with her step brother and goes to school hoping to find freedom from him.
A Twisted Night: Last year's GothNoWriMo novel about a teenage girl who is dared to go to a haunted mansion in the outskirts of the forest where she finds a Incubus who is interested in her.
Mine Before; Mine Forever: A SciFi novel i did last year that deals with a male robot who remembers his human life with finding love with a female Doctor who takes care of him.
Vampire Love: A supernatural romance novel about a teenage girl and her Mother moving into a town where she has dreams of a vampire who saves her in real life.
Mermaid Love: A Greek Mythology novel about a daughter of Poseidon finding love with a mortal King.
Secrets In The Deep: A dark YA novel about a boarding school full of students who are set in groups with the elite having their own secrets and doing ritual killings at night in the dungeon of the school. While one girl hopes to save the students and her life through one of the popular Elites who have an interest in her.
Dreams Of The Death: A Dark YA novel about a group of girls at a sleepover who have dreams of the killer from a legend who comes alive to kill them while leaving three alive to survive when he makes a deal for one of them to come with him to live with him for eternity.
Holiday Murders: A SciFi thriller novel about a young woman held in a high security prison who is convicted for crimes of the men she killed during a blue moon ritual. While being released she hopes to take revenge on the one male who put her in prison while trying to not have feelings for the person who shows an interest in her story about her life.
Unknown Novel: A YA novel about a teenage girl who grows up feeling defensive and going through different abnormal changes in her life that lead to her changing into something different which leads to finding love in a different race.
Alien Fangs: A YA SciFi novel about a girl who is born half alien and half vampire who has human traits who has to fight a war against the enemies of her Mother's home planet who try to invade earth while trying to choose between loving a boy who is from her Dad's race or loving another boy who is from her Mother's home planet in space.
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