The World from Scratch: My CampNaNo Project

5:35 AM Gemma Fitz 2 Comments

So, I think it's time to fill you in as to what I'm working on when it comes to writing. No, I'm not just a robotic blogger, spewing out random advice onto this little space of mine-- I'm a writer. I may not be a published writer, or even a very good writer, but I am a writer.

Which means I write stuff, and it's time you got a peek at what I'm writing.
Excuse my lousy cover. I wanted something very different from this-- I had it perfectly planned out in my mind-- but the picture I had imagined didn't exist and I can't draw, so-- I guess that's life. Maybe I'll get one of my artist friends to draw me a cover one of these days.

So, anyway, this month I'll be working on a story I've entitled The World from Scratch. Here's a nice pretty synopsis that should be longer and less sucky.

Three computer scientists, two architects, a weapons specialist, a doctor, a nuclear physicist, and an artist have been given the ultimate task: building a brand new world-- inside their dreams. But when Abbie Rigg's subconscious creates a dangerous psychopath within the Dream State, the technology that was meant to save the world might well destroy it.

Basically, it's a story about dreaming, about weird technology, and about really amazingly smart people. (Do you have any idea how inferior you feel when your characters are supposed to be smarter than you?)

Genre? It's kind of New Adult-- or more like New Adult characters in a very Young Adult story (I'm not sure how that's going to work out). It's very definitely science fiction, but it's also something of a fairy tale retelling-- that's right, it's futuristic Sleeping Beauty set inside her dreams. And the Prince is there too (only he's not a prince-- sorry).
The setting is fun, because it's basically whatever Abbie's subconscious decides it should be. This means that you get cherry blossoms in November and snow in June and everything is weird and confusing but the characters don't even notice because Abbie's dreaming and you don't notice how unrealistic stuff is when you're dreaming.
The hero/protagonist/point-of-view character, James, is an artist. (Which is nice for NaNo, because it allows me to go into great detail about any little thing I feel like describing, because it's him talking, and he notices those things. It really helps with the word count, even if I'll have to cut all the random descriptions out in editing. I'm such a cheater, aren't I?) He's also the equivalent of the prince from the fairy tale and I've never really done romance before, so that's interesting. *cough* Hopefully I don't botch the whole thing, but I think that's hoping a little much, don't you?
Character-wise, he's absolutely adorkable and just a little bit boring (I need to fix this). He's a cute-ly out of place member of the team-- while everyone else is thinking about the science and technology and etc, etc, etc he's just noticing how nice everything looks and how difficult that scene would be to paint and isn't that grouping of trees just perfect? 
I am very proud of this picture.
Abbie, the love interest, is a weapons specialist, not a princess. After all, I did have to remove all the fairy tale aspects, didn't I? (I do like fairy tales, I promise. Just not as much as I like sci-fi.) Also, her subconscious accidentally turns the dream into a nightmare, which results in her not only being the love interest and FMC, but also the antagonist. Which is interesting to write about. She's super practical, totally goal driven, always focused on the details, and would rather work alone than with a team.
Keiran is "only" a secondary character, but he bears mentioning because he's adorable. He's a software developer and probably James's best friend. He's funny and smart, thinks through everything logically, and is usually at least one step ahead of everybody else (often enough two or three steps). And he's Irish, which is always a plus.
There are lots of other characters, too, but those are the three important ones. (In case you were wondering, all three characters I mentioned are between the ages of 20 and 25. All the other characters are older.)

I'll leave you with a couple quotes (because quotes are cool).
Yup, I misspelled Rubik's. My bad.
In case you haven't noticed, "nightmares" and "bad guys" are running themes. Also Rubik's cubes, when it comes to Keiran.

So now you know a little bit (or a lot) about my story. Hopefully it wasn't too boring. I would say that hopefully it doesn't suck too much, but that's way to much to hope for-- it quite obviously does.

So, what do you think? Should I let you know what I'm working on more often or should I go back to being the robotic blogger? And what do you think of this fairy-tale retelling trend? They seem to be getting very popular, and I'm not sure if I'm a fan or not (in spite of the fact I'm writing one).

2 comments:

  1. This story sounds fascinating. I really hope you'll let me Beta it. :D *pleading puppy eyes*

    And although James sounds really cool, I just fell in love with Keiran. Too late. It's all up with me. *dies*

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    1. Hmm... I'll let you know about betaing when I get it to a point where it's decent enough for anyone to read. o_o As of right now, I don't want to let anyone near it for fear it's awfulness will kill him.

      YES. You're supposed to fall in love with Keiran. He's adorable. I should just rewrite the whole thing and make it about him. *flails*

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