Well, I finally decided that I will participate in NaNoWriMo, despite my crazy schedule. I’ve been wanting to do it for a long time but never worked up the guts. But I was thinking, “Hey, Nick, you ran a half-marathon a few weeks ago, why not do the literary equivalent?”
After much hemming and hawing, I decided, “Sure, why not?”
But I work better with reader input. So here’s my challenge to you, dear reader. Look through my flash fictions and suggest one I should expand into a full scale novel. I don’t mind a challenge. Throw out several suggestions. We’ll have a poll in a bit and I’ll do the story you guys choose. And, my plan is to have polls through the writing process to allow the readers to give input in where the story goes.So, as you see, I need your help. You’ve got three weeks. Get to it.
Updates (10-11-10):
I’ve decided to keep a running list of suggestions. After a week or so I’ll make a poll so everyone can vote. Here’s the current suggestions.
- Out of Time – suggested by Timothy Deal – Unfortunately, I don’t have a sample of it here, but Out of Time was a short-lived serial about three people stuck who had fallen outside of time and were doomed to lived without interacting with all the other normal timelines. The twist was, however, that the most recent outcast, Mark, I believe, actually had the ability to Incarnate–that is, to become part of any timeline, but he didn’t know he had this ability. Lots of cool ideas in this one.
- Four Till Boom! – picked from my flash fiction collection – For those who aren’t familiar with the 30+ flash fictions in my collection, I thought I’d suggest a few that might easily grab people’s attention. This is action/adventure done comic book style. Could be lots of fun to extent.
- Dinner at Twilight – obliquely suggested by Natasha – I asked my wife which story she’s like t o see extended. She mentioned this one, though she was hesitant because the original stands very well by itself. Certainly, it would be an interesting novel.
More Updates (10-12-10):
- The Fiery Demise of Chuck Norris – suggested by Deb Hayden (my mom) – A humorous story about little boy Freddie and his love of Chuck Norris. I won’t spoil the ending if you haven’t read it, but the continuation of the story of Freddie would certainly be a humorous novel. As I remember, several people on Facebook said at the time the story came out they’d like to read more about Freddie.
- …What You Wish For – suggested by Natasha Hayden (my wife) – A dark fairy tale with Arthurian overtones. An expansion of this story would be intriguing, and filled with drama and possibly tragedy. From a writing point of view, lots of potential.
- Between – me again – Okay, okay, so I need to stop giving options. Still, “Between” would provide the start of a science fiction novel half about getting home and half about a crew at risk from one of its own. Traditional plot start, sure, but I’ve never tried my hand at it yet.
Even More Updates (10-16-10):
- Zorsam – from Nathan – For a pulp fiction project I was involved in a year or two ago, I invented a barbarian character. He’s an amalgamation of Conan, Tarzan, and Samson. There’s been one 30,000 word story written about him with the help of Nathan Marchand and Aaron Brosman, but there’s certainly room for more.
More sure to come! Add your own suggestions!
I’ll get back to your question later. Right now I just want to say that I’m jealous of your WordPress. It’s better than mine! We must talk about how you made it this cool, so I can do the same for mine.
Well, after spending a year at digitalnovelists.com, I had some idea what I wanted. I’ve had previous experience with WordPress, and I’ve spent bits of free time over teh last few months adding to and tweaking this website. Plus, Natasha gets me all the pictures. There was quiet a lot of set-up.
Here’s an idea, though not one from your flash fictions or anything on this site: You could complete Out of Time, our short-lived time travel serial. That story had a lot of ideas, but as often seems to be the case with multi-author serials, it struggled to maintain a sense of direction. Could be just the springboard you need for NaNoWriMo!
I considered that, too, and I may still, but I’d almost like to try something in which I have nothing invested, so I’m free to write with abandon, with no expectation of it having to be “good.” 😉 I think I still hope to do something with Out of Time. But…I do like the idea.
I think that you should expand “The Fiery Demise of Chuck Norris”. I loved that short story and would love to read more about what led up to it and so forth. It was such a fun story.
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Nick Hayden, Nick Hayden. Nick Hayden said: I need your help! Decide what I'm going to write for National Novel Writing Month! http://fb.me/JKVKdkMQ […]
Actually, I might change my vote to expand on Four til Boom since that means we could get an entire superhero novel out of you. 😀 And you have had some experience writing in that genre for our pulp fiction project.
Tim, I should mention that at one time you also wanted more info on “The Web of Worlds.”
Changed my mind. I really think you should do What You Wish For. I think that’s what it’s called, something like that. Anyway, it’s the one where the princess unwittingly promises her firstborn child to a witch in exchange for getting the man she desires.
Obviously, I misremembered the story, but I’m still for it. Actually, she wants the witch to get rid of the man who killed her lover, the father of a child barely conceived in her womb. Come on, people. That would be an awesome story. Sounds like the type of young adult stuff I horde when Summer gets her boxes of free advance reader’s copies.
As we discussed last night, I think you should write another story about your barbarian hero, Zorsam. I’d love to see him come back.