Camp NaNoWriMo is almost upon us. And guess who will be attempting it again?
THIS GIRL RIGHT HEREEEEE.
Although I failed April’s Camp because of various reasons (I was in the midst of moving house, I had no internet, I was obsessed with certain faces), I will participate in July’s Camp and succeed. (That’s the plan.)
I thought for this “hey, I’m participating in Camp NaNo again” post, I’d talk about the stuff I’ve written. I never really intended to start writing novels. All the stuff I’ve written were just short stories, and when I went to do my senior thesis, I realized all these short stories were basically part of a bigger novel. What novel? No idea. But I realized how short stories were no longer a feasible option because I just wanted to expand on it even more. It was very eye-opening.
I’ve started five novels (but I’ve never actually finished them which is an absolutely damn shame), which all I have code names and generic synopses.
- Pandora
It was originally a short story that I decided to expand on for my senior thesis. Pandora was a semi-satirical story about a mother expecting a lot out of their child because of the name they gave their child. Family dynamics, naming and the power it has are a huge part of the story. It is somewhat humorous because of the over-the-top nature of the mother’s actions, but it’s weirdly on point. I haven’t looked at it since I turned in my thesis because eeek! It took a lot out of me.
Inspired by Firefly (which is an awesome show that everybody should go watch). It’s a joint story I started writing with my best friend for NaNoWriMo last year. It’s a YA novel, told from alternating point of views. I feel like teenage bounty hunters in space in the distant future is pretty explanatory (and awesome!). I was (still am) pretty pumped about this. I had to do soooo much research as I wrote. Very stressful times. My best friend and I basically Facetimed each other every day to have word sprints. And it worked beautifully! We both managed to write 50,000 words of stuff (half of which will probably not be used). Yayyyyy.
I had written about it over here, but this story had been in my head for a while, and I finally attempted to write it for my senior thesis, but I decided against it after the first draft because of time issues. I picked it back up for April’s Camp. My Ghost/Detective story is about “an agoraphobic main character who is forced out of her apartment to figure out why a ghost is haunting her. It’s almost like a detective-ghost story, but not really because the focus isn’t so much about the paranormal aspect of it, but more about the character development. It’s about the main character getting out of her shell and finding herself.” One of these days, I will get back to it.
- HEIST BBS
Oh yes, my precious heist babies! I’m a huge fan of heists and found families, and I wanted to attempt at writing my own. I haven’t flushed out the plot, but it’s basically like Heist Society with The Secret History twist. Bored rich young adults, deciding to steal priceless art works for fun. Fun is had. Betrayal happens. Possibly a murder or two occurs along the way. (Just thinking about it makes me pumped!) I’ve already casted the roles with my favorite actors and actresses in my head, and I’m super excited about it! I just haven’t had the time to sit down, research, and properly write it.
This is my story for July’s Camp NaNo! It’s about two young woman who become penpals (from across the country) and become wrapped up in each other’s lives. They start to rely on each other as they face their lives, their work, their family, their love life together. The chapters alternate between the two characters with emails they’ve written to each other in between each chapter (sort of like setting up what’s to come next)! Like my HEIST BBS story, I already know which actresses would play the two main characters.
Let’s be honest, this doesn’t sound like the most intriguing plot. The story is technically two weeks old, whereas all my previous stories have been stewing in my brain for years, so you have to give me that. I feel like at the end of July, I’ll have a pretty good synopsis to convince you all of its awesomeness. Just you wait.
Thinking about all of my stories make me wish I could write all of them right now. Ha.
For July’s Camp NaNoWriMo, I’m setting my word count goal to 15,000. I think it’ll be less pressure, and I can always adjust it as I go along. If you’re participating as well, want to be my cabin mates? This is me! Let me know and I’ll invite you to a private cabin! (Though I’m not sure if it’ll work well. We shall see.)
GO GO GO YAY CAMP NANOWRIMO!
I’m kind of motivated to participate, but I’m not great at creative writing. I mean maybe I should try? I don’t knowwwww. It’s kind of scary. But anyways, wow you’ve written SO MUCH! I would love to read some of it hahaha. Short stories are cool :D
Lol certain faces :P Uh huh uh huh.
Oooo I do like the simple concept of Pandora and the weight of a name and the power it holds.
The moment I saw space and then you and your BFF co-wrote it I went ‘Wait a min… are you two secretly Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner with a bit of Mindee Arnett thrown in?’ LOL. BUT EEEPPP YAY YOU TWO WON NANO WOOOOOT!
You totally need to get back to doing your Ghost/Detective story, it sounds gooood and I love that you’re concentrating on the character development because although it sounds awesome in the paranormal department but there’s so much potential for the character too.
I LIKE MURDERS (This makes me sound weirder than I already am doesn’t it? HA!) but so much going on and gah I love it already! But eeek I know how much you love your Heist bbs and your excitement makes me excited! I can’t wait for the day when you write it :3
I’M EXCITED ABOUT YOU’VE GOT MAIL: THE FRIENDSHIP EDITION (okay this codename is really long lol). I will be here for you <3 (plus Seb, Chris & Lee Pace) and you are going to kick ass in July. YOU WILL WRITE ALL THE STUFF *jumps up and down* WE WILL NOT REPEAT APRIL'S FAILURE.
Meh this comment is long enough, I really should just e-mail you the stories I used to write haha because I'm not kidding when I said double digits haha.
I’ve failed NaNoWriMo so many times it isn’t even funny and I don’t even think I can bear the shame of participating and THEN failing again. I just have an incredibly short attention span, so I get bored/distracted easily and do other things instead of writing those 50,000 words. It’s horrible. But whoop — proud of you, Cee! Like Char said, I’m sure you’ll kick those 50,000 words’ asses like it’s nobody’s business!
I think my fav story from the ones you listed down here (though all sounds AWESOME) has to be your Heist bbs — YES please include murders because I can already picture how interesting the story will become with them! And uh… because I like murders too. And violence. And gore. I haz issues. But I promise I’m not a psychopath. ;D And pfft, I don’t care if your short synopsis for You’ve Got Mail sounds boring. I love all these friendship stories. We don’t get enough of them, honestly, ’cause every author thinks a contemporary should have heavy romance in it. Yeah, no, it shouldn’t. And this sounds like something Rainbow Rowell would write… so that’s a plus, right?
Haha, I’m not going to be taking part in NaNo this time round, but you’ll do PERF!
Sorry, I meant those 15,000 words, not 50,000 >.< MY BRAIN.
Ugh, I should totally join Camp Nano because I’ve been writing this story for the longest time and I should have more progres on it! Motivation!
Heist BBS, Pandora and You’ve Got Mail all sound really intriguing! YOU GOT THIS CEE. :D
Yay, Camp NaNoWriMo! I’m not sure if I’m participating in the July session or not because I don’t know what to concentrate on, but I finished a novel during NaNoWriMo last year(though I didn’t technically “win” because I only wrote 47,000 words–I had already written 40,000 before NaNo began), and wrote 30,000 of a contemporary story during the April Camp NaNoWriMo session.
I think all your stories sound excellent but I’m SUPER in love with the ghost/detective one! I want to read it badly!
Last year for NaNo I finished a novel with the working title Death’s Dream Kingdom–set in the English countryside during WWI, Paul(main character) has to save his younger brother from supernatural creatures(wraiths) that have been slowly killing the children across the country, while also adjusting to his older brother’s return from the war as a very different man.
The story I wrote during Camp NaNoWriMo is different–a straight, dark contemporary about three very different teenagers dealing with the aftermath of their lives after surviving a school shooting.
If I do this session of Camp NaNoWriMo, I have no idea what I’ll write! So many stories floating around in my head–the time-traveling teenager whose time-traveling family sells antiques that they collect and decides to travel to the future; the revenge story that is suppose to be a loose adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo; the one in my head about the lost colony of Roanoke and witches; or the adult half-fantasy, half-romance that I’ve been letting stew in my head for years.
Good luck with Camp NaNoWriMo Cee!
I think I’m going to try Camp NaNoWriMo this year! I really like your story idea for this July. It sounds like something I would enjoy reading! My story that I’m going to write is about five college-aged kids who move into an apartment together and it’s narrated by the ‘fly on the wall’ as they go through their lives.
Hi Cee!
It’s cool to find another book blogger who likes writing as much as I do! I myself am considering trying Camp NaNo again, after many failures. I think that my own personal goal would not to necessarily stick with a solid idea throughout but to make sure and write a certain amount of words a day. I think that since it’s summer 3000 should be my goal per day? Maybe only 2000? I haven’t decided yet…
I do have several projects started, and by several, I mean dozens. I always get bored of them at some point or decide that they aren’t good enough or get distracted by something new. I have kept them all, however, and love looking back because they often spark new ideas, and sometimes I even pick up a project again. I think another one of my goals for Camp this year will to be to organize my writing so that I can have clear goals for the remainder of 2014 and for 2015 (only six months away!)
Haha, anyway, thanks for sharing this post! It really re-inspired my love for writing and reminded me how much I enjoy it! If you ever want to message me at Camp, or decide that you want to become cabin mates, (haha) this is me: http://campnanowrimo.org/campers/remedyleaf
–Remy
I love the sound of Pandora and how important a name can be! If I would write a story, it would be a fantasy fairy tale for sure! Combining two of my loves together, hell yes :)