And so it begins…
Welcome to NaNoWriMo (aka National Novel Writing Month) and Day One.
I spent a healthy chunk of the midnight hour punching out the first bits of what will hopefully be a 50,000 word novel.
And so here’s my first paragraph:
A while ago a friend told me about how he and his buddies would get together and tell outrageous combat stories. He said that the big ones always seemed to start with “So there I was”…and they’d go from there.
There are several links to share today:
National Novel Writing Month
Last Minute Panic (read Deadlines)
Plot Stuff
Setting Stuff
Character Stuff
And here are some possible plot twists:
“There’s something chewy in my coffee.”
A depressed man has a brief, yet life-altering, encounter with a stranger.
There’s a ball of fire rolling through the backyard towards the kitchen window.
The love letters have gone missing.
Someone cannot remember having the large sum of money found in the wallet.
Known existence is a product of the imagination.
“I’ve got to get out of these clothes, fast.”
Pack up the cats and move to a foreign country.
Your character’s best friend has just admitted to killing several people.
Your character is hanging by his/her fingertips…moments from certain doom.
“Either you tell him, or I will.”
An ancient, sealed box has been uncovered during a dig in the back yard.
A lake, a 50 lb. weight, a cable, and a victim.
“Helpful hint: Wait until you’re sober before trying that again.”
So…here’s a good place to check in, rant about the character that’s not moving, ponder the reasons for that writer’s block…and so on…a virtual Write-In as it were.
But keep writing…
x post at the sandbox
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for this year.
Very cool. Met some cool folks working on their various stories. Handed out a few plot twists.
me? not one blessed word 🙁
hope you have an exceptionally productive day tomorrow!
towards the kitchen window… that’s the one i like
i’ve written, partially, one short story called Whiplash. I do plan to finish it sometime in the next decade or so.
the only other story idea i had was about this woman driving home from work. It’s transistion time between fall and winter. dusk meets macadam. sing song flish flash squeek of wipers. but the horizon gets lost in the half light.
traffic slows. then crawls. it’s an accident up ahead. no, not an accident. just a car on the side of the road, cop cars half in the right lane, lights blinking and flashing. the two cops are talking and doing offical police-things.
she’s almost there. she’s about to pass, but… but something makes her pull over. there’s an old man in the car. he had a pain. it hurt so that he stopped on the side of the road. he died moments later. his story fills her head as she walks to his old car, opens the door, leans in and takes her hand across his forehead. Then she presses the flat of her palm on his chest. bud-a-bump bud-a-bump. in the backseat, the old man’s old dog, wagging his tail, says th-woof-you th-woof-you for saving my friend
it’s only as she walks back to her car that the cops notice her. they start walking after her, yelling at her, miss, wait, miss…. suddenly the old man starts moving and making noises. the cops, startled, stop… they’re confused as to which way to go… then run back to the old man in the car.
she gets into her car and drives away.
and that’s it.
I need some help:
Name of a man’s very expensive watch (what’s in vogue now)
Anyone familiar with a Cadillac Escalade and its ride and features (bells and whistles?)
Same for a Chevy 3500 Silverado duelly?
Anyone familiar with medical configured helicopters – especially the BK 117 and the Bell ships – and the usual placement of cardiac monitors, a vent, pulse oximetry and intubation equipment? Who is usually at the patient’s head – medic or RN? Who usually intubated on a medic/RN team?
Anyone familiar with the job titles of a US senator’s top level local office staff?
Thanks for any and all help. Please email responses if you can to aek2013 at columbia dot edu.