HGG Community Forums

I've had a young adult/children's fantasy novel rattling around in my head since I was in my 20's (so, off and on for 45-50 years or so). I haven't done a lot of planning in all that time, but I've sometimes considered trying to get it written during this event.

I've been casually doing NaNoWriMo off and on for years now though I've never hit goal. I've been hashing and rehashing a story in my head for some 25 years. I think I'm going to try to hand write it starting next month after my baby moves into his own place. If I do it right I should be about at typing it up by this time next year.

My story begins when a newly certified young wizard travels through a storm to a castle he is fated to visit. When he arrives, the lady of the castle is in the midst of labor and gives birth to twins--a boy and a girl. The wizard is asked to read their natal stars and predicts that these children will, sometime in the future, bring great joy to the kingdom.

Twelve years later the kingdom is in dire trouble. Crops are failing; robber bands are springing up; neighboring kingdoms have become threatening. Once the home to a great many unicorns, these beasts have begun disappearing and now seem to be extinct. It appears that the loss of the unicorns has something to do with these problems. As the king and his children travel across the land, suddenly their caravan is met by the wizard who demands that the children come with him to help remedy the situation.

That much of the story has some shape to it. What I'm not at all certain of is how to continue to the discovery and freeing of the kidnapped unicorns and the restoration of the kingdom's fortunes.

You can clearly see that I've got a long way to go. :D

Thanks for the encouragement, Lallyhop.

@Lallyhop

Sure, if I get anywhere, I'll be glad to share it with you.

@Seaswell Interesting! It sounds like a super cool idea. :D Have you thought about whether the length of time is absolutely necessary? Perhaps by shortening it you might find it easier to work with? Alternatively, as long as those chunks are filled with nothing, you might be able to timeskip relatively easily. Or maybe find more material to fill those chunks of time with? You could turn it into a series instead of one book.

I attempted to do NaPoWriMo in April of this year - I got about 15 poems done, which was plenty for me. I have written a finished draft of a novel - it's around 72k words, written between last summer and this one. However, it definitely feels like two different stories mashed together, since my writing style changed between the years and I'm no longer happy with the plot.

I don't think I can do a full-fledged participation in NaNoWriMo this year - I'm a senior in college and during November my big project will be due, etc. But in the spirit I'd like to go back and revise my novel, because I do have a lot of ideas still kicking around.

Wow, I didn't even know this was a thing. I only have about 6 or 7 novel ideas, so maybe I'll participate this year. Assuming I can find the time, of course. Thanks for bringing it up, Lallyhop.

Many many moons ago, I was encouraged to write by a friend because I kept complaining nobody was telling the story I wanted to read. Once I got started, it was all over but the typing. So, so much typing. ;;)

I began with fanfiction, as many do, and I still write it when the bug bites me. It didn't take me long to realize short fiction is not my forte. The third story I ever wrote was over 250k words, and could have been more if i didn'tburn out on the fandom and run away screaming. Lol. For me, writing a complete story in under 10k is a real challenge, but finding 50k to tell is pretty easy, though I am chronically prone to getting 90% of a truly long story out and then getting blocked for months or even years before I get the ending.

I did NaNo the first time way back at the beginning because a friend was doing it and asked me to play too. I wrote 63k of a post-apocalyptic novel in 19 days, got blocked, and didn't write another word on it for two years. I finally finished it during another NaNo though, fully revised and then topped out at over 110k despite a large chunk of the first version being cut out.

One of my NaNo attempts since that 'win' was a coming-of-age quest novel that no one but me has ever read. I like it, but haven't ever decided what to do with it so it's still just on my Google drive hanging around. The end needs work, I think, but so far it hasn't told me what's wrong. The problem isn't a giant glaring one I can immediately see and be sure of, but it still leaves me feeling something is out of whack. Some day it'll talk to me again though, one way or another.

I also tried writing a sci-fi fantasy novel another year that got about 75k in and then laughed at me and just stopped. I still go back and poke it with sharp sticks sometimes. I really love the main characters and I want to know what happened next. I had vague hints of a lot more story there, but it poofed on me.

And yes, horses were a big part of them all. The first one was a journey on horseback through post-apocalyptic Alabama, but the horses weren't the main focus. The second one, horses are very definitely a big part of the story, characters in their own right, but it was still a story about the people first. The third one, though, the horses are sort of telepathic and I wrote it all from one horse's point of view. Well, until I got blocked and started kicking around ideas with the humans, trying to make the rest talk to me, which didn't actually work. It just gave me something to do while my internet was down. :\">

Guys...I have a problem. I have too many story ideas. How am I supposed to pick one?

@shelteredshadows I write quick scenes a lot as they come to me, picking and choosing the pieces I want to use is easier once their on paper.

@ShelteredShadows Pick your favorite! Or roll a die to pick, but allow yourself to reroll if you don’t like the one that came up. Write your favorite, because writing for yourself and with passion is the surest way to a story the reader will care about.