Friday, October 28, 2016

What's Easily Missed--My NaNoWriMo Novel

Because my brain likes to torture me, I've switched to an entirely different NaNoWriMo novel idea within the past week. Which means I scrambled to vaguely write out a plot. Which also means I procrastinated a lot on Pinterest. Which means I've looked a little something like this:


So anyways.

Cait from "Paper Fury" and Sky from "Further Up and Further In" host a linkup every month called "Beautiful People" to help you learn more about your characters. This month is "Beautiful Books," which helps you to learn more about your NaNoWriMo before November hits (AND IT'S IN FOUR DAYS, PEOPLE, THIS IS NOT A DRILL).

1. What inspired the idea for your novel, and how long have you had the idea?

Rain from "Ivyclad Ideas" wrote about gothic novel tropes over the summer and it got me thinking about things like possibly haunted libraries and hags and nightmares, which collided with my recent obsession with musicals, which brewed for a while in the back of my mind. But of course it only came crashing to the forefront of my mind once I managed to completely plot out an entirely different novel idea.

Isn't deciding to write a totally vague novel idea in 30 days SO much more better than writing one that's already plotted out???

2. Describe what your novel is about!


What's Easily Missed is a YA fantasy romance with a gothic/horror twist featuring a decaying and possibly haunted library, hags, nightmares that have the possibility of being manipulated, a high school production of "Les Misérables," puppiespuppiespuppies, British boys, and magic normalized in everyday human society. For example, every single Starbucks is primarily run by fairies, who can not only add shots of caramel syrup to your coffee, but shots of charisma.

3. What is your book’s aesthetic?

I'll show you a few pictures, but you can also see the whole Pinterest board HERE. 


4. Introduce us to your characters!

Meredith Lockheart - Protagonist, still healing from her brother's death, going after her dream of being on Broadway, extremely claustrophobic, works at a possibly haunted library, keeps a collection of fun mugs and fun socks, likes coffee and waffles, has things to say but nobody seems to hear her say them.


Levi Waters - Love interest, nerdy, optimistic, likes to think he's smooth and charming but really he's more likely to stick his foot in his mouth and knock over a lamp while he's at it, inspiring, appears in seemingly random places (like in Meredith's nightmares, for example), likes junk food and crossword puzzles and tea.


5. How do you prepare to write? (Outline, research, chocolate, howling, etc.?)

I relentlessly outline for days on end while guzzling something like coffee or tea, I grumble a little, I pretend I'm being productive while creating my Pinterest board, and then I collapse a few days before November to give my brain a rest so I can write something semi-good.

6. What are you looking forward to about this novel?

All the quirky little details! I'm excited to figure out which fun socks Meredith is going to wear each day, how many musicals I can sneakily reference, what books Levi and Meredith read in the library, what food they'll eat, what mischief Meredith's dogs (Gavroche--or Gavvy, for short--and Ogie) will get into, etc.

7. List 3 things about your novel’s setting.

The book will mostly be set in three places.

1. The library, which is slowly falling apart.
2. The theater in Meredith's school, which has always been her safe place but hasn't been quite the same lately.
3. Meredith's house, where she's usually curled up in her room with a good book, her dogs, and a Broadway musical soundtrack playing.

8. What’s your character’s goal and who (or what) stands in the way?


Let's do another list (because who doesn't love lists?).

Goals:
1. To get through her senior year and be happy again, because she's tired of feeling sad.
2. To be heard, because she has things to say.
3. To have the spotlight on her in the musical, because the stage can help her say those things.

What stands in her way:

1. She's still so heartbroken.
2. Nobody seems to hear her, no matter how hard she tries.
3. Georgia Pynes, who, as much as Meredith hates to admit it, is just as good of an actress as she is.


9. How does your protagonist change by the end of the novel?

Spoiler alert much? ;)



10. What are your book’s themes? How do you want readers to feel when the story is over?

I don't like to plan out themes too much, because I think that's something that happens naturally. If you try to force a theme into a book where it doesn't belong, readers will notice. Themes emerge when the story is right.

But like most of my books, I like my stories to have an ambiguous ending that's bittersweet with a hopeful undertone. I know the ending of this book will have a big question mark and a fill-in-the-blank ending that only the readers can fill in.

Your turn! What's your NaNo novel about? Leave a comment!

6 comments:

Hannah said...

I approve highly of magical shots of charisma. ;)
This sounds AWESOME! It has magic. But it also has school. So is it fantasy? Is it contemporary? Quirky little details are the best! I love it when I'm reading something and a character walks in wearing Spiderman leggings, or glances across the room and sees a girl reading Naruto, or picks up Little Women from their bookshelf.
Glad you liked the Gothic trope posts. :) I was struggling to find things to blog about, so I fell back on what I knew from A-level.

CG @ Paper Fury said...

Yayy for gothic libraries THAT SOUNDS SO AWESOME. I LOVE ANY KIND OF BOOK TO DO WITH LIBRARIES!! And your characters look adorable. :')
(Oh and the questions are intended to be spoilers...they're more to help make sure we writers know our goals, kind of thing?)

Boquinha said...

Love the Tina Fey GIF. She's awesome.

That Starbucks? Genius! All the details? Super cute and fun. The dogs' names? Made me smile. I like how there are mash-ups of Gothic novels and your recent interests, because HOW FUN IS THAT?!?

Have to admit that #3 (goals/things standing in the way) reminds me of Glee. :P But I suppose that's not surprising in a story about high school and theater and musicals.

This looks like something you'll have so much fun writing! Levi's descriptions brought to mind Chris Hemsworth in Ghostbusters (the awkward clumsiness while still beings super good looking). Levi sounds smarter than that, though. :)

The Magic Violinist said...

@Rain

Wouldn't it be great to get that at your local coffee shop?! Ooh, or a shot of energy! (Hold up, that's just called coffee . . .)

Yes, urban fantasy! It's one of my favorite sub-genres of fantasy, because I love contemporary and I love magic, so it's the perfect blend.

Me, too! It really makes me connect with a story and its author, because I feel like we have this secret thing in common now.

That's always a good plan when you don't know what else to write. And hey, maybe you inspired more people to write gothic stuff.

@Cait

Aww, thanks! I think every single one of my books has a library in it at SOME point. They're just too awesome to pass up.

Hehe, I answered the question in my head, that way I still knew what I was doing. ;)

@Boquinha

Thanks! :) I actually found that idea on Pinterest forever ago and hadn't had a chance to use it. I feel like the dogs are going to be little troublemakers with those names, though. Think of the shenanigans . . .

LOL, hopefully it's a little less melodramatic than Glee and a little more fantastical. :P

Ha, yes, exactly! A smart version of Kevin. That's totally how he is.

Jolly said...

Your novel sounds so interesting! Gothic Libraries! That's so cool...
Anyway, after reading your post I really want to read your novel..:-)
-Jollygirl @ https://reflectionsofajollygirl.blogspot.com

The Magic Violinist said...

@Jollygirl

Aw, thanks! :) I'm having lots of fun with my crumbling library. Everything just keeps falling apart.