Open Wardrobes

After watching Kelly successfully take on the NaNoWriMo challenge last November (i.e. write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days) I have decided to take up the challenge this year. I've been planning to do so for months, as this year I don't have a Fringe show to prepare for, but I've been stuck on one little snag: no idea for what to write. I've had a few possible novel ideas rattling around, but none of them felt quite right for this. One idea, for example, turned out to be a concept without a story, and as much as I struggled with it, no storyline emerged. Now, part of the purpose of NaNoWriMo is to turn off that internal editor and just WRITE, not worrying about how good it is or isn't (sort of like the 24-Hour Play Festival). And while you cannot start writing until November 1st, you can do all the pre-planning you desire. But you still need a beginning, something that you know will lead somewhere, that spark that gets the action rolling.


And then, on Saturday, a possibility. The germ of a new story emerged, one that instantly intrigued me. Characters started to form that I was curious about. How did they get where they are? How will they react when thrown together? I still had many questions about the story, such as some of the background, and the exact nature of what the main characters want, but it was a start.


Last night I headed over to a nearby coffee shop to sit and try to answer these questions. I made progress in figuring out some of the general background, as well as what happened to the primary character leading up to the story proper. There is still more to figure out, and not much time to do it in (Sunday is November 1st), but I am hopeful that something may come of this. When I sat down to write The Princess and the Moon I had a beginning and decided to follow it wherever it went. My hope with this new idea is to find that solid beginning and do the same. Then we see where it leads.