2006 NaNovel Profiling

I’m going to reuse here the “novel profiling sheet” I had gathered for NaNo 2005; it was posted on the sci-fi forum, but I doubt one would absolutely need to write sci-fi to be able to summarize her NaNovel with this sheet. Little tweaks here and there were enough to turn it into an appropriate one.

Novel Title: Over Yonder / The Price to Pay (can’t decide at the moment, although Over Yonder seems to stick to me more)
Estimated length: 50k at the very least, of course.
Your writing experience: Short stories (a few published in fanzines), blog articles, technical manuals (it is writing!), the huge project of creating a whole world to host the Wall of Silence trilogy I’ve been working on, and, of course, NaNo 2005!
New genre? Or old favorite?: Fantasy. Both new genre and old favorite. I generally like fantasy, but so far all my attempts at writing it have turned to sci-fi, or at the least science-fantasy.
Any sub-Genres?: Magic Realism, combined to High Fantasy.
Gonna publish?: Who knows! This year again, it’ll all depend on the final first draft, and if I deem it worth editing.
Cliches/archetypes you’re including (not necessarily a bad thing!): Mages. Battlefields. Love story. Sword fights.
Cliches/archetypes you’re avoiding: Quest to save the world. Prophecy. Heroes travelling during a good chunk of the novel. Dragons.
Theme(s): Coming of age. Young love blossoming. What it takes to become a mage.
What we (the readers) will learn: That there’s a price to pay for everything, especially for the highest powers. That what one does for the good of the nation may very well become what will cause its doom. That abusing magic will only result in the sacrifice of one’s loved ones.
Main character(s): Althea, Idan, Lady Amaryllis.
Secondary characters: The Archmage, Taran, King Aubrey.
Protagonist(s): Althea, Idan.
Antagonist(s): Magic itself. War in general. The King and his mad goals, to a lesser extent.
Setting: (names undecided yet) An imaginary world… it hasn’t yet come back to me to reveal me more about how it’s shaped! All I know is that I’m going to name all my cities and villages Providence, Mercy, Perdition, and stuff like that. I just happen to like it–at the moment. Maybe this will change by November. I’m also fiddling with the idea of having it be a cursed world, cursed by the Gods perhaps, and condemned to reenact the same conflicts over and over.
Rough geography: Focus placed on two countries at war, and more specifically on Providence, the capital of one of them, harbouring an Academy of magics where the heroine will be sent.
Races/inhabitants: Humans. Mostly. If there’s something else in it, I’m not sure I’m going to make much use of it anyway. Perhaps only as legends and old folkstales.
Fantasy aspects: Medieval-like setting. Magic (and magic duels and fights). Brutal wars and cunning rulers. Curses. Ancient, absent, half-forgotten Gods.
Conflict: The heroine vs. those who want to mold her into their views. Impossible and condemned love. Hurting the one she loves–the more the love, the more the hurt.
Obstacles in the journey: An odd curse hitting people and causing them to go ‘over yonder’, meaning losing their minds (emotions and memories, and finally the sheer will to live). The old rule of the mages to never get involved in relationships. The ongoing war that won’t seem to stop.
Expected resolution: Nothing good can get out of this. I’m not sure yet of whom I’ll kill, but I’m toying with the idea that there are fates worse than death, and going ‘over yonder’ is one of them, at least for the victim’s relatives. Althea will find her answers, but to get them, she’ll have to pay the price first. Again, it’s not a nice price.

Tags: nanowrimo | novel profiling | planning | writing