The 50:50 NaNo Project, by apondinabluebox

[suzy turquoise blue]

The 50:50 NaNo Project v2
an attempt by apondinabluebox

It’s that time of year again. Tinsel decks the shelves of shopping aisles everywhere, semi-wanted Christmas markets are popping up on my Facebook feed (wanted because sometimes you can get incredibly cool stuff, not wanted because I’m poor and shouldn’t be spending money), and the pages of the calendar are turning closer to that night of the year where I terrify the living daylights out of the neighbourhood’s small children for having the audacity to disturb my last-minute plotting dilemmas — okay, okay, that last one’s a lie.  I solemnly swear that no small children have or will be harmed in my pursuit to finally, finally win NaNoWriMo.

You see, every year I keep attempting NaNo, and every year something goes catastrophically wrong mid-November and throws all writing out of the window. There was the year I started a new job and moved towns, the year I lost my job, the year I had a major mental health crisis — you get the drift. But, this NaNo, I’m hoping to do differently. I can’t control RL; all I can do is hope that whoever throws those major life events at me sees how rubbish 2019 has been and gives me a long-awaited win, but what I can control is what I write.

Therefore, the 50:50 NaNo Project.

You may have guessed, but this project is exactly what it says on the tin: 50% fanfiction and 50% original fiction. In previous years, I’ve attempted to write only fanfic or only OF, never both at once (or so I can remember) so I’m hoping that this will be the year I break the cycle of unlucky with something new. I’ll be writing two one-shots for the fanfic side of things, and working on an OF novel (most likely drafting odd scenes to try and figure out whose voice(s) should tell the story).

And now, here’s what you’ve been waiting for:

TINSEL QUEEN
approx 15k

[summary yet to be written]

I came up with the idea for this one-shot back at the end of August, but didn’t have the time to commit to it back then, so decided it was best to write during NaNo. The one-shot features a year in the life of Molly Weasley following a sexual assault on her, exploring her internalised self-blame, the power imbalance between Molly and her assaulter (a superior at the Ministry), what happens when his behaviour is exposed, Molly disclosing to various people, etc. As much as I’d love to write a ‘Molly discloses and her assaulter rots in Azkaban forever’ story, I feel like it’s important to be realistic and show how the path to survival can be rockier than expected.

I have high hopes for Tinsel Queen, because the entire one-shot is completely outlined and the featured characters are ones that have lived in my head for a little while, so I won’t be coming up with new things from scratch except maybe working out where her assaulter sits on the creepy scale.

—

SHUT UP AND KISS ME
approx 5k

[summary redacted]

This one-shot is a Christmas gift so I can’t talk too much about it, because spoilers.  Shut Up and Kiss Me is a working title, unconfirmed because I don’t know if it’ll completely fit with the finished result — I have zero plot and a sort-of idea of what I want the ending to be, but no idea how I’m going to get there. I’m pinning all my hopes on midnight ramblings and caffeinated words to make this the awesome fic that my giftee deserves to read. Heeeeelp.

—

MIDNIGHT OVER BROADWAY
approx 20k

[summary yet to be written; spot the theme?]

This novel was, I think, 2017’s NaNo, but my muse fled me and I ended up writing other things in an attempt to get words down on the page. I’m hoping for better success this year, because although I’d planned to write a different OF, it occurred to me that the theatre is a central theme in this novel and my new part-time job during November is in a theatre, so what better than to use my RL experience as a way of getting words down? I’m hoping to be fairly flexible and write out of order,  in different tenses, from various POVs, anything to get a rough draft that I can use to figure out what it is I want to write (because the original plot is very confused).

Meet the Characters:

Berlioz Bennett
Deaf, university dropout, makes rash decisions, Gryffindor. Has never met his famous dad and until recently, settled for social media stalking, but after he dropped out of uni, didn’t want to tell his mum and stepdad so boarded a flight to New York City instead. As you do.

Tahlia Walker
CODA (Child of Deaf Adults), friendship mediator, vlogger and campaigner for plus-size POC representation. Literally the awesomest. Berlioz’s bestie. Works various minimum wage jobs to pay the bills and save for travelling. Hufflepuff.

Alex Vane
(oral) deaf, very oniony, dislikes change, Slytherin. Tahlia’s flatmate/roommate. Works backstage on a major Broadway play, had dreams of being an actor but is convinced his deafness means he can’t. Berlioz’s potential love interest (if they ever get along). Ends up helping Berlioz research The Showman using his proximity to find out info.

‘The Showman’ (real name TBD)
Hearing, is either French or has French heritage, has zero deaf awareness. Well-known actor starring in a major Broadway play. Sometimes a pretentious git. Ravenclaw. Whether he knows he has a kid is TBD.

‘Mrs B’ (real name TBD)
Hard of hearing, Berlioz’s mum, Hufflepuff people-pleaser. Has recently married a douchecanoe. Ableist/audist towards Berlioz on occasion, mostly misguided through lack of understanding of his POV and her internal conflict between her husband and son.

The Basic Plot:

Berlioz arrives in NYC after a spur of the moment flight, eager to meet his long lost father for the first time. At the last minute, he chickens out, realising that there’s so much he doesn’t know. Did The Showman not know that Berlioz existed — or did he not want a Deaf son? He decides that the best way to approach The Showman is to research him first, in person and not through social media, and luckily his best friend Tahlia lives in NYC so he goes to her for help.

Tahlia offers Berlioz her sofa to crash on for a peppercorn rent and suggests that Alex can help; when they realise that The Showman and Alex are working on the same play, Berlioz thinks he has the perfect solution. If Alex can gather information about The Showman — maybe ask him a few questions if certain topics come up — then Berlioz will have a better idea of how The Showman will react and perhaps discover the secret of what happened between him and Mrs B.

Alex isn’t on board with the plan. He’s struggling with internalised audism and what he thinks is the loss of his childhood dream, and Berlioz, loud and proud of his Deaf identity, is the opposite of everything he believes in. The two butt heads, a lot, and Tahlia ends up the mediator more often than not.

General idea of the ending: Berlioz meets The Showman (reaction unknown), Alex tackles his internalised audism, and Tahlia’s ending is TBD. I’m toying with the idea of making this novel the first in a trilogy, so… if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to leave them, because I absolutely thrive on questions!

NB: If anyone is puzzled because my numbers don’t add up to 50k, this is your reminder that my writing almost always ends up wildly underestimated.

[victoria_anne]

Hey Isobel! Hope you're well 

These projects sound amazing! I can't wait to hear how you go!

1. Tinsel Queen deals with some heavy subject manner. What do you think some of the challenges for writing this are? And why choose Molly Weasley?

2.

On 10/22/2019 at 11:59 PM, apondinabluebox said:

I’m pinning all my hopes on midnight ramblings and caffeinated words

Somehow this makes it sound even better?  Can you at least tell us who the characters are? 

3. Has your muse returned for Midnight Over Broadway, and have you changed anything? Congratulations on the new job! I'm sure you'll be motivated in that environment!  I remember talking with you about this novel, and it still sounds amazing and I'm still very excited for it! What are you most excited for when it comes to writing this story?

Good luck, Isobel! I look forward to following your progress! 

 

[suzy turquoise blue]

Bianca!! Hello!!

On 10/30/2019 at 5:21 PM, victoria_anne said:

1. Tinsel Queen deals with some heavy subject manner. What do you think some of the challenges for writing this are? And why choose Molly Weasley?

Of my next gen kids, Molly is the most together — everyone else is basically a hot mess, but she’s the one on track to achieve her goals, the one all the adults loved when they were growing up, the one with the (perceived) most to lose. She drives her cousins crazy (in a endearing way) by doing her best to keep them respectable and on the straight and narrow, and is a mumsy person at heart. She thrives on being depended on and being in control, and I feel like that would make it harder for her to disclose what happened to her, at first.

Also, when she does eventually come forward, one of the issues at play is how the Ministry deals with what happened when they find out — not just from a criminal perspective, but how they look after their employees (since there are HR departments which are sorely lacking in how they handle safeguarding of a victim, especially when the assaulter is their superior) and that was another reason to choose Molly, because she’s the only next-gen Weasley with a Ministry career in my headcanon. I could’ve picked an OC or someone from another era, but that would’ve meant developing their background and support system (which amounts to a one-way ticket on board the procrastination train) whereas I have a lot of headcanon about Molly and the other characters already.

I think the most challenging thing about writing Tinsel Queen will be that I want Molly to have a happy ending, but I need to make sure I write that realistically and not “handsome knight in shining armour makes everything okay again” because I want to do this subject justice.

On 10/30/2019 at 5:21 PM, victoria_anne said:

2. Somehow this makes it sound even better?  Can you at least tell us who the characters are? 

All I’ll say is that the one-shot is set in the 20th century.

On 10/30/2019 at 5:21 PM, victoria_anne said:

3. Has your muse returned for Midnight Over Broadway, and have you changed anything? Congratulations on the new job! I'm sure you'll be motivated in that environment!  I remember talking with you about this novel, and it still sounds amazing and I'm still very excited for it! What are you most excited for when it comes to writing this story?

Kind of? I have such a jumble of ideas for MOB that it’s made it difficult to figure out where to start, so I’m hoping that the pressure of getting any words down for NaNo will help me to get past that difficult beginning and figure out the plot. It might be the roughest first draft in all existence but as I’m sure you know, you can’t edit what you don’t have.

And thank you, both for the congratulations and the questions! Here’s hoping that 2019 will be my year!

[800 words of heaven]

On 10/23/2019 at 9:59 AM, apondinabluebox said:

I’m pinning all my hopes on midnight ramblings and caffeinated words

This is sooo relateable! It is day 6 of NaNo and I am struggling with my "late nights" already. Over the last couple of years, I've really focused on improving my sleeping habits, but my procrastination concerning writing and like you, really wanting to win NaNo this year are not compatible! How have you been managing so far?

Tinsel Queen deals with some pretty heavy subject matter. Do you have a self-care plan in place if things get too heavy whilst you're writing it?

On 11/2/2019 at 1:10 AM, apondinabluebox said:

I think the most challenging thing about writing Tinsel Queen will be that I want Molly to have a happy ending, but I need to make sure I write that realistically and not “handsome knight in shining armour makes everything okay again” because I want to do this subject justice.

I really love stories where women save other women. Realistically, this is about women supporting other women in all aspects of life, to me. I would love to see a happy ending for Molly (because I'm a sucker for happy endings), and I believe that fiction is a great place to write aspirational stuff. That kind of fantasy, where justice is served, can be so empowering and hopeful. Your "handsome knight" could be Molly herself and/or a bunch of supportive women around her?