Countdown to NNWM 2012 − 25 Days!

[ladyseishou]

25 days until the start of NNWM


I hold any writer sufficiently justified who is himself in love with his theme.

~ Henry James



Theme is the answer to your story’s question. As simple and as big as that, Nano Writer. What’s yours?

Comments

[lexicalcrow]

Mine's 'apocalyptic dystopian madness'. I don't think I'd have anything close to a solid story idea if I hadn't had that at the start of the month. I actually really know what I'm writing now. :D

[ladyseishou]

Very cool! I'm almost afraid to ask... but you know I have to... is there something that you want to say about "apocalyptic dystopian madness"? Is this something that is mankind's inevitable fate? Can we stop it? Do we deserve it? Is it something that is actually engineered in our DNA to drive us to this madness?

[lexicalcrow]

I'm still in the process of really figuring it out, but it's definitely inspired by, well, an awful lot of things, particularly in today's society. Politics and other related things, for the most part. Now with added zombies! I may be working through a lot of societal angst with this one. ;)

That, and, IDK, apocalypses are inherently irrational, I think, and the inability to explain it away triggers all sorts of bad things in humanity. Everyone's in survival mode, and probably shock too, and it's the sort of situation where the State can step in, invoking protection rights, and do whatever they like to further their own agenda with little protest, if there's enough of a State infrastructure left to invoke such powers. My apocalypse was halted before the world ended, but what did happen was enough to trigger that, I think. That's kind of what I'm aiming for, at any rate.

[ladyseishou]

Sounds like a plan ;-)

[hab318princess]

I suspect the theme would be 'breaking down boundaries'

[ladyseishou]

Oh a great theme! Will your story be about how to break down boundaries or why it's a good idea to break through boundaries, perhaps even a necessary thing? Or boundaries, some boundaries anyway, are important to keep?

[hab318princess]

In this case the protagonists find themselves breaking down boundaries unwittingly (I've got a gay Royal Prince falling in love and how society, the press, etc reacts to this) the lover a bit wary of having to fight for this - and maybe the way they choose their battles

[ladyseishou]

So some boundaries are made to be broken and some are needed to make sure we all get along fairly - cool!

[celestinenox]

Well, now that I think I've changed my mind for the first time this season on what I'll write, the theme is "revenge." :D

[ladyseishou]

Well now's a good time to change your mind when there's plenty of breathing space to work things out! Revenge is a good start! Is there something specific you would like to say about revenge? It's a good idea? The need for revenge is a common thing we all share as human beings? Revenge is never a good idea in the end?

[celestinenox]

Nope, nothing specific. I won't know what I'm saying until I get to the end. I'm a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants type of writer.

[ladyseishou]

Cool!

[paceisthetrick]

I guess mine would be, "what happened there?" A look at the reality behind the facade presented to the public.

[ladyseishou]

So something like "there's always more to it than meets the eye"? Good, good. Very cool!

[lap_otter]

So my questions were

"Is a person ever more than a person?"
"Is a person ever less than a person?"
"Does Sherlock Holmes have human feelings?"
"Is it possible to imagine one's way into understanding another, and if not, is it worth trying anyway?"

which are all ways of asking about the way we imagine each other. The answers are "no" "no" "yes" and "not entirely, but yes". I think if you glom them all together into one question and answer, it has to be "how should we imagine each other?" "complexly."

[ladyseishou]

I love the psychological/philosophical aspects of your questions! Your final question does speak to a basic human need - to understand and connect to one another even if we protest we do not need or understand other people or know someone who claims they do not need us.

And the best, most enduring, most resonant stories are basically at the heart of it, about what it means to be human. It is a complex equation!

This is a great start!

[serpentrose]

For some unknown reason I found myself thinking of Holmes this morning after I woke. Specifically I was thinking it would be interesting to read a story in which he is presented as being on the autism spectrum. Aspies are often seen as lacking in empathy when the disconnect is in how they express the empathy. I'm thinking that could fit in a Holmes Story. (I haven't read any of them in quite a while, so I can't be certain how good a fit it would be)

[lap_otter]

I think that could fit very well into a Holmes story! I've read one or two that are based on the new BBC series rather than the original ACD stories; unfortunately, at the moment, I can only find two: Lost Words by Qwyzm and Mine by a Right by too many stars to count. Unfortunately I couldn't find the one I was looking for, a longer one that went into some more detail, but these two are both brilliant as well. Fair warning: Lost Words is a WIP still in its early days, and unfortunately the updates are slow.