A NaNoWriMo-worthy idea? Has this been done before?

mfarraday · Oct 23, 2012

Hi,

I am almost done with my Sea Monster project, which I've been working on since August, it's a short story I wrote, and I'm finally happy with the more active voice it's developed and with the ending, which has the twist I wanted. I am looking for a new idea, and have been wondering about doing NaNoWriMo for the first time, and I just had an idea today.

Does this sound like it's been done before?

Girl meets boy, they've both had a hard life up til now, but they find they are kindred spirits. Girl wishes she had met boy earlier, and she gets her wish, because of some mystic inteference from the universe. She lives her childhood over with him nearby. Then, on the same day when she originally wished for a different life, the boy ends up dying. She goes back to the wishing place alone, and wishes she'd never met him. She goes back to her childhood AGAIN and this time leads a lonely, isolated life.

She gets to old age, and she makes another wish, that she hadn't been so lonely.

She goes back to her original life-plan, where she'd had such a brief/fleeting meeting with the wonderful boy, and decides to accept her life as-is, and not to wish anything at all.

Did I give it all away? I always do this, get super-excited about a story idea and then tell everyone under the sun about it. I am so excited! Maybe I can do NaNoWriMo. I am just worried about getting confused or head-hopping in my story, not too good at preventing that yet...

Anyway just blathering...I always need to talk about my ideas...thanks for listening...

Bailey_Montagne · Oct 23, 2012

I've never heard of a story quite like that. It sounds sad!

>>>>I am just worried about getting confused or head-hopping in my story, not too good at preventing that yet...

Well, the point of NaNoWriMo is to write without worrying too much about getting it done perfectly. Just get the words out, you know? So try to think about those things later. Or you could do like you're doing, and plan ahead....

mfarraday · Oct 23, 2012

does it really sound like a sad story? hmm...i wasn't thinking of it like a tragic story. but i think you're right...

i have about a week to outline if i decide this is the story! a week to plan!

Kerosene · Oct 23, 2012

Maybe this should be moved to the Sandbox.

Had this been done before? Probably. You can break down stories enough to find similarities.
But each story, even between drafts, are completely different from each other no matter what.

So just write the damn story.

To the idea, I fail at that she falls in love with the older man, but wishes to be with him earlier. The problem lies, in that it (mostly) takes 20 years for the personality (thus, person) to level out. So to wish to be with the same man, as a child, would mean she's not meeting the same man she fell in love with, but just some random kid, who might, become the man of her dreams (and with her influence, he probably won't become that).

Bailey_Montagne · Oct 23, 2012

Well, it would depend how you write it if it's sad or not. And sometimes sad stories can be wonderful. Why not write it to please yourself?

Best of luck with the outlining (if you decide to do it). Outlining doesn't seem to work for me, but many people use it for NaNo.

mfarraday · Oct 23, 2012

I will write it! I will write the DAMN STORY!!!

VeronicaX · Oct 23, 2012

Sounds sad, yes, and maybe a tad confusing and somewhat predictable ending? Depends on how you write it, of course. If you have a good feeling about it--go for it!

I also hope to be able to do the NaNoWriMo challenge this year, by the way! Good luck

sciencewarrior · Oct 23, 2012

Will you interweave the narration of the timelines? It would make sense, if the MC doesn't remember her "past lives" until she's back in the wishing place.

mfarraday · Oct 23, 2012

VeronicaX said:
Sounds sad, yes, and maybe a tad confusing and somewhat predictable ending?

Could be predictable, I agree. Unless I figure out how to twist it somehow...

mfarraday · Oct 23, 2012

sciencewarrior said:
Will you interweave the narration of the timelines? It would make sense, if the MC doesn't remember her "past lives" until she's back in the wishing place.

That was something I was wondering about. Will she remember her past lives or not? Will it affect her later decisions?

Will the telling of the story be like...a mosaic, telling different relevant parts, sprinkling them together? or a linear line of narration: first life, second life, third life?

Wouldn't this work better as a novella or a short story? Who wants to read along for her entire life when she's the least happy? Reading about that would be dull. It's really the interaction with the boy that I would write about, correct?

Hmm....just thinking out loud.

dangerousbill · Oct 24, 2012

mfarraday said:
Does this sound like it's been done before?

Not to me, but nearly every story has been done before. Don't worry about it; it will still be a different story than any written before in history. The characters and setting will make it different, not the plot.

Great theme: don't mess with the timeline!

gothicangel · Oct 24, 2012

Ideas are ten-a-penny. They are only worth a damn when they are written.

So just write it, and stop over thinking.

jeffo20 · Oct 24, 2012

It sounds somewhat like the film, The Butterfly Effect, in which the main character keeps changing points in his past in an effort to fix his present/future.

Don't let that stop you, though. You have your own take on things, so write it.

Will she remember her past lives or not? Will it affect her later decisions?

Seems to me she has to remember something; it makes her choice (change her life, or not) more of a decision, rather than a blind wish. To me, that's more compelling.

Erin Kelly · Oct 24, 2012

One thing I've learned over the years: Don't blab too much or too often to too many people about works-in-progress. You can easily talk yourself out of it, or others will talk you out of it. And you run the risk of talking so much about it that it loses its luster and you lose your motivation. Have one or two people whose opinions you really trust. And like the others said: Outline and write! It sounds like a compelling idea to me.

Also: Just about every story has been written before. But not every story has been written by YOU!

: )

Rhoda Nightingale · Oct 24, 2012

It's NaNo. It doesn't matter. Just get your 50k!

Susan Coffin · Oct 24, 2012

Mfarrady,

Just write the story. Girl meets boy has been done over and over, but your twist sounds really interesting!

angeluscado · Oct 24, 2012

I agree with jeffo20, it does sound a bit like The Butterfly Effect. And, like him, I'm saying that you shouldn't let that stop you.

It's not the plot that makes a story great, but the execution.

Quentin Nokov · Oct 24, 2012

Give the story a chance. It sounds interesting to me. I like the whole idea of kindred spirits and time-travel. I would totally read it ;D You should be excited over the story it sounds like it would be fun to write. The summary sounds a little confusing, but I think once it's written it'll be fine.

Give it a whirl.

Jamesaritchie · Oct 24, 2012

Rhoda Nightingale said:
It's NaNo. It doesn't matter. Just get your 50k!

If it doesn't matter, why write it at all? NaNo shouldn't be an opportunity to waste a month writing crap you'll never use.

Sage · Oct 24, 2012

Jamesaritchie said:
If it doesn't matter, why write it at all? NaNo shouldn't be an opportunity to waste a month writing crap you'll never use.

No, but NaNo is a good time to experiment with an idea(/genre/POV/tense/style, etc.) that you're not sure will work. If it turns into crap you'll never use, then you've only wasted a month, but you'll know the result instead of just wondering.

dangerousbill · Oct 24, 2012

Erin Kelly said:
One thing I've learned over the years: Don't blab too much or too often to too many people about works-in-progress. You can easily talk yourself out of it, or others will talk you out of it. And you run the risk of talking so much about it that it loses its luster and you lose your motivation.

Yes, a thousand times, yes.

I've shelved two or three novels because I talked about them too much, or had them critiqued while still in progress, until they died in a welter of contradictory ideas.

mfarraday · Oct 24, 2012

I did, in fact, stop writing a novella last year after having it critiqued. But thinking back on it, it was because I had too many problems with it and became confused. I thought it was because it had been critiqued too much at the time. Now I know better.

I do try to write things in their entirety before having them critted too much, now, just in case. But I have a better idea of what my weaknesses are as a writer, and how to fix them now, so I am less likely to stop altogether.

I probably do talk about my projects too much. But it's all ok.

Thanks everyone for the encouragement!

rwm4768 · Oct 24, 2012

It sounds like it could be an interesting book. Go for it!

mfarraday · Oct 24, 2012

Thanks, I will!

I have to resist the urge to turn this into a short story...

Dreity · Oct 24, 2012

I used to wish I could have gone to high school with my husband, and he's about 5 1/2 years older than me, so I find the premise interesting.

Good luck! NaNo is great for experimenting Nike-style.

A NaNoWriMo-worthy idea? Has this been done before?

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