What Can Make Good All the Bad That's Been Done ?

[dotinthesky]

The first draft of anything is shit.
- Hemingway

So, is anyone doing NaNoWriMo this year?

I'm torn. I'm all out of faith, this is how I feel: on one hand, I'm cold and lying naked on the floor - I promised myself last year I wouldn't put myself through a month-long sado-masochistic exercise again; on the other hand, I've never been able to complete the challenge - it would be nice if this year I hit 50,000 words in one month. I want to be that man brought to life.

Also, I'm unsure as to whether I should start with no idea in place, or get a plotline ready beforehand.

Here are some story ideas chugging at the back of my mind:

• A murder is committed in the ozbus. One of the 40 passengers did it. But who?


• The OzBus accidentally hits a time-travelling hotspot and all the passengers (including bus) are sent to Pangea Ultima. It's Planet of the Apes meets Jurassic Park.


• Every day, in the month of November, I visit a different diner in London and write about the place - the food, the characters, etc. 50,000 words split into 30 chapters. How hard can that be? (apart from hauling ass each day to a different location?)


• The choose-your-own-adventure idea which I came up with last year but never followed through.


• A horrific creature stalks London's canals, living off the innocent flesh that happens to walk (or cycle) by at night. It's up to a gang of hoodies to stop the monster (I wanted originally to make a short-film out of this, but maybe it deserves the NaNoWriMo treatment beforehand.) It helps that I live near canals, so can go for walks in search of inspiration.

Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? Commiserations?

Comments

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

So, as usual, I will be spurning this flagellation fest. But I like your Diner In London idea. True diners or any kind of food? If you want, break it down into several different kinds of meal, like breakfast/lunch/dinner or different kind of atmosphere or whatever. Make it have scope and scale, give it a sense of meaning in life, a purpose. Then, only then will it truly prosper. Because if you give a book idea a fish, it will stink for a day, but if you teach that book idea to fish, then it will bring you back many little fishes.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

It wouldn't be anything food-oriented; more about the ambience, the characters, etc. But I don't know if I have the energy and funds to do it for a whole month. Plus, I'd have to write it by hand then type it out later, making the task twice as hard!

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty...

Teddy Roosevelt may have been a masochist, but I understand what he's saying.

The funds part is a bit of a downer, though.