2 Days To Plan

Since I don't have a job and don't plan on being in college by the end of 2010 I've come up with something that will keep me occupied throughout the year. Usually every year I take part in a writing contest/group called NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) which takes place in November. The goal of NaNoWriMo is to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. I've taken part in NaNoWriMo in 2007 and 2009 and I managed to write the 50,000 words for both of those attempts (55,858 for 07 and 50,202 for 09). So, for this year, I've decided that I'm going to attempt to write a 50,000 word novel every month for the entire year.

I have a lot of half started stories that I've done since 2005 and then never gone back to so I'm going to see if I can complete all of these stories over the course of 2010. My aim is to write 5,000 words everyday which will be more than the 1,667 or so words that I need to write each day to get the 50K each month. My overall goal for the end of the year is to have 600,000 words by this time next year but if I keep to my target of 5,000 words each day then I can reach a target of 1,775,000 words which would be an amazing achievement for me.

My plan is to use a combination of old stories that have been half started and new ideas so that I don't end up getting bored before the end of the first month. Currently my list is looking like this:

JANUARY: Love, Life and Friends (Old novel from 2006)
- Chick Literature, Romance
- Story about 4 friends who are in a band, they enter a competition (Battle of the Bands type thing) and there the main character, Hailey, meets one of the other musicians from one of the other bands and becomes friends with him. It's a cheesy love story that I liked at the time but now I cringe when I look over it. There's going to be a lot of that over the course of the year. Basically they go to the competition, two of the friends fall out, girl falls in love with boy, their bands make it to the end of the competition, friends make up, the two bands collaborate...or something along those lines.
- It's currently sitting at six chapters but it will get a complete rewrite over the month.

FEBRUARY: The Art of Life (New Idea)
-Fantasy
-(This is exactly what I wrote when I came up with this idea at around 2am one night) Ordinary girl, artist/writer. One day, discovers that she has special powers: telekenisis/pyrotechnics. A new kid starts to show up everywhere she goes: college/neighbourhood/shops. She gets visited by a strange, eccentric person who warns her that the kid is after her powers. He gives her a gift; a pencil. She's a little unsure of the gift but when she uses it, she discovers that whatever she draws on paper comes to life and whatever she draws on walls; doors, windows, etc. becomes real. She now has to learn how to use the pencil properly before the mysterious stranger finds her and tries to steal her powers and use them to destroy an underground organisation who is out to get them both.
-Currently no word count on this, the idea is still a little jumbled up and it doesn't have a definite storyline to it yet but come February it will do.

MARCH: My American Adventure (New Idea)
- Chick Literature, Comedy, Romance
- (This idea I came up with two days ago, also at around 2am) Scottish girl moves to America to get a job and start a new life. She makes plans to stay with a family in Illinois and then flies out. She arrives and the family want to drive to Tennessee. Girl goes with them but they dump her on a highway in Indiana, leaving her with nothing but the phone in pocket. She keeps walking along the highway and follows rail tracks until she reaches Tennessee. While leaving the train station she bumps into two men who offer to help her. They take her back to their hotel and she cleans herself up. She's attracted to both men and they are both attracted to her. They help her to get a job and the three of them move into a house together in Tennesee. Lots of things happen including one of the guys and the girl dating, the girl being kidnapped by the family that dumped her etc. but in the end the girl and the guy she chooses live happily ever after. Also, not sure whether the other guy dies. (This plan was so much better in my head but once I've researched this enough and sorted out all the kinks in the storyline I think it could be another cringeworthy story.)
- Also no word count on this one so far.

APRIL: The Art Store (New Idea thought up a few months ago)
- Chick Literature, Romance
- Artistic girl moves to new area, finds an art store run by handsome guy. She gets to know him and eventually they start dating. Something happpens that breaks them up. They sort it out, live happily ever after. (Not very good at the summaries as you may have guessed.)
- Did have a little typed up but seem to have lost it so there is currently no word count on this story either.

MAY: The Office (Old Idea from 2008)
- Chick Literature, Romance
- No summary for this one.
- Has a few thousand words written but not a lot.

JUNE: Love Is Blind (Old novel adapted from a Fan Fiction from 2005)
- Chick Literature, Romance, Comedy
- No summary for this one.
- Has a chapter written up but will get rewritten when the time comes.

JULY: Lucky Stars (Old novel from 2007, Green Day Fan Fiction)
- Fan Fiction (No longer a Green Day fan but I do like the story)
- It's about four fans who win a competition and get to tour with Green Day for two months, I think. It doesn't have a definite storyline, I was just writing whatever came into my head at the time.
- Has quite a bit written but will get a complete rewrite.

AUGUST: If Only... (Old novel from 2007)
- Chick Literature, Romance
- No summary for this.
- Has a couple of chapters written.

SEPTEMBER: Lands of Sildoon (Old novel from 2008)
- Fantasy
- No Summary for this.
- Has a little amount written but not a lot.

OCTOBER: Expect the Unexpected (Old novel from 2007, collaborated with a friend on the idea)
- Murder/Mystery
- I don't even know the whole plotline for this myself yet.
- First chapter is written but needs a rewrite.

NOVEMBER: Destiny Approaches (Rewrite of the NaNoWriMo novel I did in 2007)
- Fantasy
- Nilan was just a slave boy who worked in a local tavern, until he started having strange dreams. Dreams that involved strange people and snatches of a past he doesn't remember. Now one of the people from his dreams is staying at the tavern and Nilan is about to become part of an adventure he neve intended to take. (I spent a lot of time on that summary.)
- This one is currently sitting at thousands of words, written in a few different ways, with multiple beginnings. This is why I'm doing the rewrite of this.

DECEMBER: Once Upon A Time (New Idea for a friend)
- Fantasy
- No summary for this.
- I promised an 8 year old that I would write this novel a few years ago and I'm finally going to get around to it. It's currently sitting on 0 words.

So, I have a variety of novels to work on this year and each of them is different in it's own way, although some of them are a little similar in some ways. I'm looking forward to the year ahead. I'm hoping that it will expand my writing technique and vocabulary significantly. I think over the next couple of days I'll research for My American Adventure considering it needs the most research and I won't have a lot of time to do the research in the New Year.