What is your novel about?

Australia has long been divided whether there is a credible threat of invasion from the north. In the near future this comes to pass, but any help from the U.S. is impossible because a controversial president has made everything too damned complicated in Europe and the Middle East, and American forces are overextended and therefore unable to render assistance. NO HAPPY ENDINGS!

LOL, I still don't know if I should be writing this novel but the research is so damned interesting and the writing is so much fun. Oh, and FYI, the Aussies aren't as ethical in this story as the goodies might expect them to be.

That sounds certainly unique!

Huh, Australia. I bet there is literally a million things for you to research about that place.
From the government status to exotic animals, I mean, what a definitely different story you could have! D:

Keep going! You never know what gem people might unearth later with your work! ^^

The biggest problem I'm having with it has to do with dialogue: if I write in the style that Australians use, it will not be very user-friendly to non-Australians; if I dial back the colloquialisms, it loses some of it's flavour; if I use too much 'army talk', which I am unfamiliar with (but have some friends who can help me out), then people will find it largely indecipherable.

The technical stuff I can research and the 'exotic animals' are not very exotic to those of us who live here, but I get your drift. The political stuff is boring but I think I can manage, but too much will ruin the story.

The part I do like doing the most is the characterisation, but I will need to cut a lot of my current interactions because otherwise this baby is going to be a 200+K word beast. Way too big! I suppose I can use some of it for another book somewhere down the track.

It's a crime novel set in the Australian tropics: murder, maggots and mayhem

It's an action-adventure, mystery romp set in a universe ruled by galaxy-spanning organisations, during the middle of a land-rush.

A post-post-apocalyptic story of a Narcissistic drug trafficker who recruits/manipulates his dead accomplice's son to get revenge on other old accomplices of his, who he feels have betrayed him by moving on to better lives.

A modern world where people started to develope special powers. The story picks up thirteen years later, after things have settled down, and follows the story of a boy who is told he will be Changing.

Anna Spargo-Ryan said:

My WIP is about female friendship during devastation and historic social change.

It's even less upbeat than it sounds.

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That just made me laugh.

Mine: No one knows she's running, not in her perfect new life. Hiding from her abusive ex is hard, hiding their daughter is even harder.

AverageJane said:

That just made me laugh.

Mine: No one knows she's running, not in her perfect new life. Hiding from her abusive ex is hard, hiding their daughter is even harder.

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I like the bit about the daughter, definitely makes me curious.

My novel is part of an ongoing collection of stories, about agents tracking down fugitives who flee across the universe.

About 750,000 words and 25,000 pages too long.

M/M contemporary based on sibling rivalry.

About to Query: To save his sister from an unethical medical experiment, a teenage boy must agree to become a corporate spy. Gay cyberpunk, basically.

Rough Drafted and in Line for Revision: Fairies are over. Vampires are over. If I squish both of them into one book can I make something that exactly no one will want to read? Let's find out... How about if I add cats? Everyone likes cats, right?

It's a noir about two brothers on the run from the police after a heist gone wrong, with one of them slowly dying from a gunshot wound. The police chief leading the chase is trying to help as much as bring them to justice.

I'm still working on a one-liner. Let's see...

It's a supernatural thriller/historical fantasy with time travel elements. Joseph Cormac, while he is living with his grandparents in Colorado (on account of being an orphan), is contacted by his mother Tala, whom he had seen die when he was 11. He discovers upon meeting her that, not only is she very much alive, but that she has uncovered the truth about his father's death. Before she can tell him more, the Cormac family's guardian goddess swoops in and rescues Joseph from the gods of chaos, who want him because he is a Godslayer. [cue title music]

It's set about 20 years ago, but Joseph and his goddess travel in time to three events in world history where the three gods of chaos are "in the flesh," where their power is most concentrated. It's got a sort of commentary on the 20th-21st century/meaning and purpose of human nature vibe. Very weighty and serious with a lot of allusions to The Divine Comedy, the Aeneid, and works by various philosophers. I like making allusions.

Joe Kelly said:

My novel is part of an ongoing collection of stories, about agents tracking down fugitives who flee across the universe.

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Sounds nicely Mike Resnicky.

Following centuries of strife and chaos, peace and prosperity has come to humanities new home in the Elpis star system. A Golden Age of sorts, or so Detective Chyou Loukori had always though. That is until a routine case of corporate theft by the crew the crew of the Pyceria’s Purse turned her world upside down. Threatening to expose the greatest mystery of the ages, what really happened to the Destino Colony ship. A mystery that everyone would kill to control.

Something I've been working on and off for a while.

One-liner: A con artist whose body has been swindled comes back among the living to investigate why his sham went haywire only to discover he fell victim to an Afterworld deception that turned sour.

Logline: Marvin Tucker Joyce Yeardley is the living proof you can evade death and taxes but not your destiny.

-cb

Of Smoke and Iron is my second novel (First one currently trunked).

I first had the idea for this novel back in 2013 when listening to the guys over at Writing Excuses talking about the idea of taking existing fairy tales and reworking them.

What began as a fairly simple idea, steampunk Red Riding Hood, slowly morphed into a much broader story. The other thing that happened while writing the outline, was that some of the important cultural issues of our time broke wide open within the speculative fiction and gaming communities. Issues of implicit and explicit gender and racial bias, discrimination and exclusion withing our little niche of society.

I'm trying to challenge many of the hidden biases in my own brain as I write this novel.

So what is it about? A young man who has led an extremely privileged life coming up against the hard reality of losing it all and realizing that he doesn't like who he is at the core. There is also a sub theme about how your chosen family can often become much more important to you than the one you were born with.

Gillhoughly said:

.When I started out and got that question, I'd launch into a description of the opening and wander off into plot points. Their eyes glazed over with remarkable speed. I soon boiled it down to one line and let their imaginations fill in the rest.

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This is exactly what happens to me when I talk about my novel.
With a 330,000 word novel, it's hard to summarize in one sentence four main story-lines... I've been trying, though.
One (long) line: Set in a future where human values are more important than technology, my novel weaves a science-fiction world with a story of love, friendship and tolerance.

In a time before civilization, a blob whos head caught on fire when it got a bit too curious at a forest fire one day now has to deal with other blobs taking a liking to its burning head and its warm properties, and maybe, just maybe learn how to befriend them.

spinnakersteve said:

New member, first post. Just completed novel about a modern, newly de-regulated Chinese oil Baron who discovers a new source of power. He intends to provide free Power to the masses, overthrowing the Chinese government and setting himself up as the reincarnation of the most powerful Chinese emperor; Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor.

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Welcome!

some industrious bloke who's trying to overthrow the goverment by pretending to be the reincarnation of an ancient figure of legend, where have I heard that before...

Two opposing groups believe their way is the only way to save the world from the return of a devastating disease, but just one is right, and it's up to Super Duck to make sure that one isn't blown to pieces.

A crooked politician kills his wife and replaces her, through plastic surgery, with his girlfriend - but the girlfriend's BFF who discovers the truth is targeted by the politician's hitgirl and is on the run for her life.

porlock said:

A crooked politician kills his wife and replaces her, through plastic surgery, with his girlfriend - but the girlfriend's BFF who discovers the truth is targeted by the politician's hitgirl and is on the run for her life.

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If the politican wanted to get rid of his wife why didn't he just divorce her?

NoirSuede said:

If the politican wanted to get rid of his wife why didn't he just divorce her?

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Because he was into some crooked things that would have ruined his life and career and his wife was about to blow the whistle. He would have lost millions.

My present novel is called PREACHER'S SWEAT.

Gavin Preacher agrees to help an ex-girlfriend find a missing person. What he uncovers is a dangerous web of secrets and treachery that could bury him in the process.