The last place Simon expected to wake up was on an alien spaceship, but there are worse ways to start a NaNo novel…
This is the daily posting of my 2016 NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) attempt at a novel. It’s a brand new world and new fictives and although I gave a shot at planning things (see: Chasing Falling Stars), it’s another pantsing effort. So MuseFics away! 🙂
Read at your own risk/amusement: There will most likely be spelling and grammatical errors afoot as well as flat out bad writing, info dumps, plot holes, contradictions/retcons, uneven characterization and pacing.
Daily Wordcount: 750
Total Wordcount: 909 (includes Title, Chapter Headers, etc.)
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A Beginning Of Sorts
“Well, this isn’t a good sign.” Simon watched the Writer snore on the sofa and the story began to fade into existence. “This is my first NaNoWriMo, but I sort of expected that she’d at least be awake.” He was alone, Cat and Ship had yet to reappear after the close of Chasing Falling Stars and the Muse was once again curled up with her tablet reading fan fiction.
“Real Life trumps imaginary life,” pointed out the Muse, reluctantly looking up from her goofing off. “The whole ‘write every day’ shtick is great and all, but some days the story gets the short end of the stick.”
“So what, we just work on the story without her?”
“Pretty much,” the Muse got up out of her comfy chair and went over to the desk where the Writer had spent October trying (and failing) to come up with a plot. “So, did she ever mention how we’re starting this thing?”
“I’ve been kidnapped by a spaceship, I was assuming we’d start from that.” Simon deftly summoned his own comfy chair into existence and pulled a soda out of the interdimensional space between the cushions.
“Yeah, but we don’t have to.” The Muse shuffled through the notes. “Look, we could start with the evening before you get kidnapped– set up your normal life on Earth and maybe have you thinking something ironic before going to sleep.”
“Or we could start on the ship a few weeks after I get kidnapped,” Simon countered. “I know you like in medias res, but we don’t know where the story is yet so how can we possibly start in the middle? Also, anything from Earth would be completely irrelevant to the rest of the story.”
“December is for editing, November is for dumping random ideas on paper and seeing what comes out.”
“Which would seems to indicate that we need to start on Earth, even if we throw it out later. ” Simon watched as the Muse finally resurfaced with his character sheet. “Wow, that is really really blank.”
“Yeah, so far you basically amount to a tall, dark, handsome, psychopathic recluse that writes self-help books. You don’t even have a last name.” The Muse flipped the page over to check, but there was nothing written on the back. With a sigh she grabbed a pen and started filling things in. “Pick a last name.”
“Simon is a last name,” he pointed out.
“Wait, so you want that as a last name or you are seriously suggesting Simon Simon?”
He shrugged, “Hey, at least it’s memorable.”
The Muse rolled her eyes and wrote it down anyways. “Describe your house, we need a setting.”
“A cabin off in the woods on the side of a mountain somewhere. Away from people, but somewhere I can get decent satellite internet. Solar panels, rainwater gathering, all the basics of living off the grid, because ‘side of mountain’. I’ll go with a nice off-road vehicle instead of a helicopter because I’m nowhere near that rich. Just well enough off that I could build the cabin and escape the stupidity of the rest of humanity.”
“So the whole ‘kidnapped by a spaceship’ really isn’t going to bother you as much, is it.” The Muse shook her head, but added to the notes. “Takes all kinds.”
“We’re starting out with me ending the day and then going to sleep, right?” Simon looked over at the piles of notes. “What else do we need for that? Assuming we can get her to wake up.” He glanced over at the Writer, but she was still snoring.
“I think we’re good.” The Muse looked down at the notes. “A lot of this will just be basic character background building, so it’s going to depend more on making it not sound like an exposition dump. We need to establish your current life and your personality, then we can move to the ship and folks will have some expectations of how you’ll react.”
“I’m still not sure how I’ll react,” Simon objected with a sigh. “Look, this sounds like an interesting idea and I get that this is rough draft and we’re going to go through a bunch of rough spots, but I’m honestly not sure there’s going to be a good story arc that ties all this madness together. I’m a planner. I like plans. This is just…” He waved a hand at the piles of paper. “Madness.”
“Welcome to NaNo.” The Muse grinned and went to wake up their Writer.
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