Well, I want to write something but I don't know what to write. It's one of those times when you feel you need to do something, but either don't know what or you don't feel like doing anything.

So maybe I shall write a bit about writing. Or rather more specifically, the novel(ette) I'm intending to write in November. After all, this blog is basically my limbering up for that little test, so why not expand on that.

With around 21 days to go before I start, I have two plots in mind. Each have their own advantages, but only one can be used for the novel. So what I will have to do is investigate the viability of the two plots and decide which is best for this year. (I can always use the other one at later date if I want.)

  • Working title: "Charmed Life".
    Sean seems to live a "charmed life", but, chafing against determinism, he begins to wonder: who is helping him- and why?
  • No working title, but probably something in Catalan.
    Martin arrives in Barcelona for a hectic week of being a tourist guide for the parents during the day and getting dirty with the locals at night, when reality- and an enigmatic French man- intrudes...

Both of these are two stories I've always kind of had in me, so if anything can work for quickly writing 50,000 words of fiction in 30 days, then something that's been bumping around in my head for some time would fit the bill.

The one sentence summary doesn't really do justice to the feel I'm intending for either. Both of them would be first person narrated in linear time. Which has interesting consequences for the "Charmed Life" story, but to say exactly why would be to give away an important element of the plot. So far, "Charmed Life" is the plot I've given more thought to. (ie I gave a bit of thought yesterday evening.) This must be why it's the one with the working title.

In "Charmed Life" we were introduced to someone who I've decided to call Sean. (I might give him an Irish name, and invoke some Irish legends somewhere. You'll see why in a minute.) He is narrating the story from some point in the future. (To whom, I've not yet established. A son or relative? Someone he might have met if the events in the story had not happened?) It starts off reading a bit like someone recalling their memories of childhood. Except that certain things begin to happen that he cannot explain. People (Always one single person at a time) help and/or hinder him and then disappear. Mysterious messages appear from nowhere, apparently from someone who knows him very well. Even more frustratingly, once people and things disappear, it's as if they had never existed: no-one remembers their existence, and only Sean knows differently.

Initally, Sean is not too bothered about these events. These people seem to be on his side: helping him in some subtle way, then disappearing. People say he has a charmed life. If only they knew in what way, but no-one can see what Sean can see. However, as he grows up, he becomes tired of his "friends" interventions, and starts to suspect his life is being manipulated. He starts to rebel against his "friends" in little ways, yet they always seem to be one step ahead. As he becomes more pro-active in his search for independence, his "friends" interventions start to have unexpected effects. By now, he's starting to recognise his "friends" by sight, and starting to realise other things about them. (The actual reason for this is a rather important plot point, so I'm not going to reveal that here.)

The story's basically an idea I had in my head for ages- in it's original form it would make maybe a nice and quirky "high concept" coming of age teen movie, (This was before "Donnie Darko", obviously.) with the timescale of the story restricted to the character's last couple of years in secondary school. The version I intend to write (if I write it.) will be a bit more epic (Starting from early childhood up to the first year of university) and episodic (Various key points at the characters life.), and the "revelation", which would have been revealed early on in the movie as a humorous "high concept" will be kept to near the end of the novel version, which will seem much more ominous and mysterious. Also, as I sketched out the ideas yesterday, I realised that the concept touches on ideas of determinism versus independence. If someone knew what was best for you, would you follow their advice? Even if they were always right? There's also the apparently supernatural element. (I said "apparently" for a good reason, by the way.) What happens to someone around whom impossible things just happens? Especially if nobody else knows about it? Although I might have a supernatural feel to it, I would not want to write it in a fantasy/sf style, but in a straight-ahead conversational style in a near contemporary setting. In fact, the tone will be reasonably adult. (If someone's having their life steered by others as they come of age, obviously sex and maybe even drugs are going to have to come into it as some point.) I've sketched out the basic characters and some "mysterious happenings". I will probably have to expand a bit on the timeline and basic scene breakdown next.

That's less of a problem with the Barcelona story, as I know it will cover the events of a week. (How long Martin's on holiday.) The basic premise is that Martin's on a week's holiday in Barcelona, and so are his parents. This is their first time in a city he's been many times before, they're staying in their own hotel, while he stays at a rented out apartment. So of course, when he's not showing his parents around the sights of Barca, he's out on the town getting horny with the locals. Then two things happens: One, he strikes up a friendship with an enigmatic French man that starts to become something more intense and interesting, and secondly one of his parents gets injured and he has to handle arrangements. Plotwise, there's not much to it other than the events and how they change the way Martin sees things. The events are a mix of various events that have either happened to me or other people I know, and if neccessary embroidered or rewritten to fit in with the overall story. And there is of course the major character of the city of Barcelona itself. This story would be quite adult and un-apologetically explicit in parts. (Basically the whole week is supposed to be an intense rollercoaster ride, so why hold back on the sex?) I've still to work out if I have enough in this plot to sustain 50,000 words. But that's for another day...