Planning, Plotting, Pondering

[kaasirpent]

Do you smell that? That telltale sharp tang in the air? Leaves starting to decompose, a faint smell of wood smoke, maybe some hot soup cooking on the stove?

See the sky? That brilliant blue¹ that all but screams "Heeeeeere's Autumn!" Those leaves just starting to turn?

Feel that little nip in the air?²

Have you had the first Pumpkin Spice Latté of the season?

NaNoWriMo is at hand.

I've talked before about what my plans are for this year. To quickly reiterate: Instead of yet another novel, I intend to write 26 short stories of 2000 words on average. Each one will have a title beginning with a different letter of the alphabet.

Each night this week when I get into bed, I've been going over all the possibilities for a small set of the titles, trying to figure out what the plot is going to be for those stories. Without some idea, I'll just be staring at a blank screen on that day with a title at the top.

Staring back at me. Mocking me.

So far, I'm fairly sure what the stories are for the following titles:

A Is for Angel
B Is for Bard
C Is for Clowns that Creep Through the Yard

D Is for Dragon
E Is for Earth

OK, so that's not a lot to show for two nights of contemplation, but . . . it's a start. I just have 21 more letters to go. And a rhyme to find for a word beginning with "z" . . .

Hm. All of those listed above but "D Is for Dragon" are dark. That one I'm going to try to make humorous. "B Is for Bard" could turn humorous . . . If I let it.

I've also randomly decided that it would be a neat idea if the main characters in each story have names matching the letter. So my Angel in question might be Ariel . . . or Asmodeus. My Bard might be named Bruce or Barney.

I toyed with the idea of making the Dragon Daryl. You know, Daryl Dragon? <crickets chirping>

But then I thought that might be too cutesy even for what I hope turns out to be kind of a lighthearted, funny tale of a dragon, a damsel, and a brave knight-errant bent on the slaying of Daryl. I mean the dragon. Who is almost certainly not going to be named Daryl. Probably.

So . . . !Daryl The Dragon, Darlene the Damsel, and Dirk the Knight?

I'll keep working on that.

What has really surprised me is that I've actually retained the story ideas when I wake up the next morning. Usually, when I fall asleep without writing a story idea down, it's consigned forever to the æther. And the æther doesn't have a backup drive.

Silly æther.

So, anyway . . . yeah. NaNoWriMo. Collection of short stories. Science fiction, horror, fantasy, paranormal. Humor, serious, grotesque.

Stay tuned.

---

1. OK, well, the sky would be a brilliant, vibrant shade of blue if it weren't overcast and raining right now in Atlanta.
2. No, not the one you get as the cold drops of water hit you from the dreary clouds above.

Comments

[cfred.livejournal.com]

I toyed with the idea of making the Dragon Daryl. You know, Daryl Dragon?

M Is for Muskrat
N Is for Nausea :)

Alphabet Soup

[izmeina.livejournal.com]

What! No Cthulhu???? :(

This is such a fun idea. You really must get your snakie fangs on the book Animalia by Graeme Base
The ultimate alphabetical inspiration
Could not find S on google images but C (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TWANKGAsK8E/TTksJl6qZhI/AAAAAAAACic/wSSYZwWDW-o/s1600/cats.jpeg) will give you an idea

But for those pesky letters at the end of the alphabet, here are some Izzie offerings

T is for tentacles to tickle and squeeze
U is for undead who make your blood (skin) freeze
V is for venom - a blood curdling drink
W is for Wall Street where the goblins all slink
X is for rays that make you glow in the dark

Y is for yowie - an Australian beast
Z is for Zombie - on flesh they do feast

[elims.livejournal.com]

LOVE the idea!!!! Love it, love it, love it.

[kaasirpent]

According to the official rules of NaNoWriMo, I'll be going "rogue" by not doing an actual novel, and shouldn't count it as a win if I do make it to 50,000 words.

However, based on forum activity for "short story collections," I'll be in very good, roguely company.