The Untitled NaNoWriMo Novel of Paranormal Insanity

It's my favorite time of year: NaNoWriMo season! I've spent the past week creating my characters, outlining my novel, and wondering why in the world I can't find a title for it yet. Although most of my ideas are pretty vague, I have a good feeling about this one. On with the questions!

1. What inspired the idea for your novel, and how long have you had the idea?
 
Last year's novel was a total disaster. Between a busy Thanksgiving with relatives, my first semester of studying for finals with my dual enrollment classes, and an overall unpreparedness on my part, I ended up with a flaming pile of 20,000-words worth of garbage. I swear, only 1,000 of those words were salvageable.

So I decided to take the best elements of last year's novel and mush them into this year's novel. I also have four protagonists instead of one, because I always prefer ensemble casts. It's much easier to hop around different chapters if you're feeling stuck with one character.

And the last bit of inspiration came from an overall frustration of the lack of LGBTQ+ teen representation in genre fiction. I love the contemporary books I've read lately with gay teens (Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, History is All You Left Me, etc.), but I'd really love to see that but with more, you know, dragons and ghosts and stuff. So I'm fixing that.

2. Describe what your novel is about!
 
I wrote an extremely rough draft of a blurb. Extremely rough. You've been warned.

Wesley, Sonya, Ryan, and Eleanor are strangers to each other when they each acquire an ability they never asked for. Wesley relies on his precision for his dream of becoming a chef and suddenly gains superhuman strength that he can’t control. Sonya, an out-and-proud lesbian, is cursed with invisibility that acts at random, making her feel like she’s in the closet all over again. Ryan, already nervous about reconciling her stage fright with her passion to sing, obtains the power to see into the future, adding to her anxious mind. Eleanor is confused by her own feelings, but now has to sort through everyone else’s as well as her own when she becomes an emotional telepath.

The school musical is the only thing these four have in common when they’re thrown together. It’s not just the strange things happening in their lives they have to figure out; something weird is happening to the town, too. Houses appear overnight, birds grow second heads, graffiti turns into magic sigils, and the high school’s principal wanders the streets in the early morning. It’s up to four teens, who definitely did not sign up for this, to change things back to the way they were. Or maybe change things for the better.

3. What is your book’s aesthetic? Use words or photos or whatever you like!
 
I am oh-so-very proud of my Pinterest board this year, so you should definitely check that out! But I'll leave you a few pictures as a teaser.

4. Introduce us to each of your characters!
 

Meet Sonya: valedictorian, playing Cosette in the school's production of "Les Misérables," and a Yale-bound actress. She's also extremely superstitious, outgoing, and settled in her sexuality (she's been out as a lesbian all through high school), which is part of why it's so awful when she's cursed with invisibility that acts at random.

This is Eleanor. She's a science whiz with her heart set on becoming a neurosurgeon. Sometime after being cast as Eponine, she found herself falling for Cosette instead of Marius. But right when she started to ask herself what she really felt, she gained the unwanted gift of emotional telepathy, which added everyone else's feelings to the mix.

Wesley has big dreams of being a chef someday, so his house always smells like freshly-baked bread or spices or something unidentifiably delicious. When he's not watching a variety of cooking shows, he's helping out with light and sound for the school musical. Not only does he require precision to cook his masterpieces, but he's also quiet and empathetic, so his sudden superhuman strength is more of a hindrance than a help.

Ryan constantly has to deal with two contrasting parts of herself: she's shy and riddled with stage fright but she also wants to be a singer. Even though she's fully capable of being onstage with Eleanor and Sonya, Ryan stays behind the curtain where she can help with costuming. She can always sing in the safety of her room where her dog is her only audience. Now, though, her newfound ability of seeing the future (well, not the future, but every single possibility of how the future could turn out) only adds to her growing anxiety.

And this is Ryan's dog, Dodie. She's a Havanese and I am not one of those monsters who kills off the dog, so rest assured, Dodie is safe.

5. How do you prepare to write? (Outline, research, stocking up on chocolate, howling, etc.?)
 
All of the above??? Part of my problem last year was I had no outline to follow, so when 15,000 words in I started losing direction, I lost so much direction. The book by the middle resembled nothing like the beginning. This time, I made sure I at least knew how the story started and ended. It may change, but at least now I have something to guide me. I'll probably spend the next month filling in details as I think of them.

6. What are you most looking forward to about this novel?
 
The characters! I love them all so much. (Dodie is definitely my favorite, but shh, don't tell the others that.) I'm also looking forward to channeling my theatre obsession through Sonya and the school musical. My urban witches are also going to be pretty cool, too. They create magic sigils through graffiti.

7. List 3 things about your novel’s setting.
 
1. Not quite right
2. Ever changing
3. Definitely haunted

8. What’s your character’s goal and who (or what) stands in the way?
 
Ha, I already answered this question in the character bios! Internal conflict is one of my favorite ways to handle my stories because I suck so hard at writing good, well-rounded villains, even though I love reading/watching them.

9. How does your protagonist change by the end of the novel?
 
Well that would ruin the whole surprise . . .

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

My themes usually come through more during revisions. Unless you're a very special author who has this down to a science, I've found that when somebody sets out on a mission to carry a theme through a book, it comes across as heavy-handed. I do have a feeling that this novel is going to be breaking a lot of stereotypes, though.

What's your NaNoWriMo book about this year? What are you most excited for? Leave a comment!