Writing a novel with no plot is hard.
As you may have read in an earlier update, I after a lot of head scratching and restarts, I finally went with an idea I thought had potential to work.
Unfortunately, in going with that idea, I left a number of plots on the table that I now can't use. Plots that probably would have been a lot easier to flesh out and come to a conclusion with. As it stands right now, I have a weak beginning, a few ideas I want to put in the novel, and no ending.
It's not the world's best position to be in with only a few weeks to go. However, I plan to soldier on, and hope I can come up with a hook to make this at least somewhat interesting; I would hate to have the drawer I put it in when I'm done to be bored with it.
I will tell you what it's about. I won't tell you what the other ideas that I'm not writing are though. There are plenty of plot poachers out there, ready to cash in on my brilliance (I might be a slight bit over paranoid about some things).
It's a story of a teenaged boy's last summer at a swim club before college.
Slightly autobiographical (at least the location and many of the hijinks that ensue), somewhat whimsical, mostly crap.
5 comments:
Couple of anecdotes from my life guarding days you are free to poach (if running low on ideas or just need to fill space):
1. two lifeguards at my pool had sex in the pump room (ugh, awful pun) and made a baby. The baby mamma went her entire freshman year of college successfully hiding that she was up the duff. (not me!) baby named Summer (again, ugh)
2. life guard/ swim coach extraordinaire went to coach in a neighboring development who hadn’t won a swim meet in 11 years. Due to her coaching genius, said team actually won a meet by 4 points, beating the community she grew up in and parents still lived in. Parents’ neighbors not at all amused, deemed traitors at annual pig roast.
3. Cheerios floating boredom issues (see a past comment.)
if you've read any of the Hidden Hollow files, you'll see some of the stuff we got away with at the pool, but I haven't really touched on the interpersonal dynamics of what went on - pretty much due to legal constraints.
Suffice it to say, Sex, drugs and rock and roll however flowed through that swim club. FLOWED.
Sex, drugs and rock and roll . . . write what you know. I just have one request. Don't end it with a drowning . . . maybe a burning, but please, no drowning.
Thanks to you I'm signed on to this craziness as well, and I might have even less viable plot material. More on that when next we meet.
How many words do you have so far?
@nic
definitely not a drowning - nor a burning - nor anything like that. That would kinda ruin the humorous vibe i'm currently working on.
As I posted in an update - I'm like over 5000 words but can't help myself from tinkering with the stuff I've already written. It's a curse.
Keep me updated on yours. If you want to check me out on nanowrimo.com, I'm under Goose42. I put an excerpt up that amazingly I've kept so far in my manuscript.
Could you post a vimeo clip of you reading the story.
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