Planned Novel for NaNoWriMo 2015

For NaNo this year, I'll be working on expanding one of my short stories into a novel, tentatively named Hum in the Highways. I've probably come up with my most promising outline for a story yet, so I'm rather excited to start the actual writing soon to see if it pans out. For now, I'm sharing the one-sentence storyline: an escaped convict battles lycanthropy with the aid of a manipulative cyborg poet.

The short story it's based on was a story I submitted to Writers of the Future at the end of September. The story was written in 2014 but set aside while I worked on other stuff - mostly the larger science-fiction novels that I'll be putting on hold. Then I expanded it into a full short story after joining the August writing prompt contest hosted by Eugene Writer's Anonymous. It was a high-tech fairy tale theme for that prompt, but my story insisted on remaining very noir in attitude and significantly post-apocalyptic in terms of tech.

It's definitely another case of me reveling in stories that cross-genres, which is no surprise since those are often the stories I enjoy as a reader. That being said, the story is being placed in the Horror/Supernatural genre as its touchstone. I certainly imagine most fans of this story will be fans of that particular genre. The main characters must repeatedly deal with a few horrific and supernatural elements in their attempts to be at peace with their mistakes and external pressures. Looking forward to sharing more in the future.

The other promising approach and change to writing I'm bringing to NaNo this time, is my writing schedule. I'm typically a night person, but that didn't seem to be entirely true anymore for whatever reasons (mostly likely culprits being having kids and starting a job at a kindergarten), so I decided to up and change my schedule. I now aim to get up at 4:30, start writing at 5 (or 5:30 at the very latest), and get in an hour to an hour half of writing every week day morning. My weekend mornings are similar: wake at 4:30, write from 5 or 5:30 until 9 or 10 am (aiming for about 3 hours). So far this schedule has been a great success and I seem to have a lot more energy than I did before. The word count goals for that schedule are 1500 words per day on weekdays, and 3000 words per day on weekends. And of course, challenges will come up, so I will remain flexible enough to carry on and adapt this as needs be.

That's all for now. Good luck to any other writers out there.

-RJKL

EDIT: sharing a few more details, in the form of a few Qs related to the storyline and a list of the major characters.

Storyline: An escaped convict battles lycanthropy with the aid of a manipulative cyborg poet.

Can they fend off the predators that lurk at the end of their careers? Can they avoid the agents that seek to shove them back in prison? Can they save their love from becoming a manipulative game between monsters?

Probably not.


Sum-up of Major Characters:

Atena Maverick is a leader who loves action and hates authority. She's also a hotel maid, a mechanic, a street fighter, and an ex-convict wanted for assault and murder. As she battles lycanthropy and the voices in her head, she's going to do everything in her power to prevent her relationship with Jewels from falling apart. That's the only good thing in her life after all.

Hervé Bijoux, known as Jewels to Atena, is a sexy, manipulative poet, who managed to crush cancer and stay alive thanks to the miracles of a new cyborg body. As a significant creative and social mover for the biggest corporation around, she does her best to balance caring for her bull-headed girlfriend and managing the on-demand rush of her career.

Madoc Rattigan, or Mute as his friends call him, is the sidekick, pervert, do-gooder, and general fuck-up. As an errand-boy and thief, he skates around the horrors of the city and the desert, barely a step away from another prison cell.

Ronald Weston is the manager of a center for juvenile delinquents and an insistent political power, who Atena despises and distrusts.

Cauthes Ganedin is a witch doctor for a gang roaming the barren deserts of the Highways, who Atena doesn't particularly like either.