Lost in Translation by dreamshadow

[dreamshadow]

Hello hello! Welcome to my 2020 NaNoWriMo Nest 

I'm really excited for NaNo this year, as it's going to my first real attempt in a few years. I'm writing a genre a little outside of my comfort zone, but I'm hoping I'm going to be able to pull it off. And of course, this novel wouldn't be possible without @clevernotbrilliant, who's kindly letting me use the plot of something we'd been working on together

So without further ado, my project!

LOST IN TRANSLATION BY DREAMSHADOW
Goal: 50,000 words
 

Quote

Tor DeSilvia’s friend group has shattered, and they’re all coping in different ways.

First, there’s Lucy Fitzgerald. Lucy’s insistence that everything is normal, even after back-to-back tragedies, is almost insufferable. 

Second, there’s Becka Landers. Becka is hell-bent on proving that Tor’s ex-girlfriend is still alive, despite the fact that the attack on the factory left only three survivors. 

And third, there’s Dan Miller. The chip on Miller’s shoulder is worse than Lucy’s optimism, but Tor can’t seem to stay away from him, no matter how hard she tries. 

When a third attack at a campaign rally forces a senator to publicly reveal himself as a fellow mutant, Tor and her friends will have to band together to take down an enemy bigger than any of them have ever faced on their own. 

Or die trying.

 

MEET THE MAIN CAST

Tor DeSilvia (Danielle Campbell): healing - Tor is our protagonist, just trying to navigate life in the aftershocks of two back-to-back attacks
Dan Miller (Tyler Posey): electricity - her brother’s best friend, sitting somewhere between denial and anger after losing his two best friends in the span of a month
Becka Landers (Alycia Debham-Carey): telepathy - Tor’s best friend, firmly in camp denial 
Juliana Carr (Camila Mendes): mental image manipulation - Tor’s ex-girlfriend; missing, presumed dead
Lucy Fitzgerald (Virginia Gardner): hydrokinesis - her brother’s girlfriend; everything is fine until nothing is fine 
Zack DeSilvia (Cody Christian): pyrokinesis - Tor’s twin brother, lost in one of the mutant attacks
Benjamin Kane (Henry Ian Cusik): turns into steel - Tor’s father, trying to keep it all together while running for senate with hopes to bring equality for both mutants and humans 
Henry Lawson (Johnny Whitworth): telepathy - always one step ahead of Tor and her crew

I've got a lovely Pinterest board +here that will hopefully provide inspiration during the month as I strive to hit the 50k. 

Feel free to drop questions, say hi, poke me about writing, etc! as the month goes on

[Darling_take_off_the_mask]

Hi Jill! Lordddd I love me some mutants/ superheroes. 

What aspect of this is outside your comfort zone? Where did the idea for this story come from? What’s been the biggest planning challenge so far?

Besides Tor, who do you think will be your favorite character to write and why?

Who’s this Henry Lawson dude?

Are there any particular scenes you’re really looking forward to writing?

Do you have any particular way you decided who gets what superpower? Which of these superpowers would you like to have for yourself?

Happy NaNo-ing!

[victoria_anne]

Yay, I'm so excited by this idea!  It sounds like you've got a pretty strong foundation and it's a world you're familiar with, so I can't wait to see how you go!  Good luck, I'll be in the crazy with you! 

[shadowycorner]

Hey Jill

I like your idea of writing about a group of friends who face various challenges with the world and each other.

What do you think makes you enjoy writing ensemble cast stories with characters that are a part of some friend circle?

What are the exciting dynamics of writing a story like that? What about the difficulties?

Any romantic relationships?

Are your characters mutants like in the X-Men series or different in some way?

Really excited for this OF good luck with all and I'm here if you need me for anything!

[dreamshadow]

On 10/29/2020 at 5:58 PM, RonsGirlFriday said:

Hi Jill! Lordddd I love me some mutants/ superheroes. 

What aspect of this is outside your comfort zone? Where did the idea for this story come from? What’s been the biggest planning challenge so far?

Besides Tor, who do you think will be your favorite character to write and why?

Who’s this Henry Lawson dude?

Are there any particular scenes you’re really looking forward to writing?

Do you have any particular way you decided who gets what superpower? Which of these superpowers would you like to have for yourself?

Happy NaNo-ing!

hiii melanie!!  

1a. mostly the action is outside of my comfort zone, tbh. i write primarily character-driven stories, so for this story to have actual action and a real live villain is going to be interesting. i'm excited to see how it goes, though, especially since i have a vague idea for the beginning, middle, and end!

1b. this story actually came directly from an au i was writing with @clevernotbrilliant - the main plot of a mutant being taken/having their memories wiped was the major plot of that, and i've added in a couple of things to make it my own

1c. definitely the action sequences! i have... no idea how to write those

2. i am suuuuper excited to write miller (dan). he's going to be such an asshole at first but i am so, so here for it

3. remember that real live villain person i mentioned earlier?

4. yes! definitely. without getting too spoiler-y, there's a scene where becka's theory might be correct and the group's gotta deal with that. and also literally any miller/tor interaction

5. not really, tbh. just the ones i liked the best went to the main characters, and then what would also best serve the plot/create the best dynamics. as for me, i'd probably love to have telekinesis because i am the epitome of lazy

thank you for these lovely questions!!  

On 10/29/2020 at 10:50 PM, victoria_anne said:

Yay, I'm so excited by this idea!  It sounds like you've got a pretty strong foundation and it's a world you're familiar with, so I can't wait to see how you go!  Good luck, I'll be in the crazy with you! 

ahh thank you! i'm excited to be joining the crazy with you, too

On 10/31/2020 at 9:04 AM, shadowycorner said:

Hey Jill

I like your idea of writing about a group of friends who face various challenges with the world and each other.

What do you think makes you enjoy writing ensemble cast stories with characters that are a part of some friend circle?

What are the exciting dynamics of writing a story like that? What about the difficulties?

Any romantic relationships?

Are your characters mutants like in the X-Men series or different in some way?

Really excited for this OF good luck with all and I'm here if you need me for anything!

howdy eli! 

hmm, i'm not really sure, tbh? i think it's just how they're able to rely on each other and know each other. and it's also kind of how my friend-group from college was like, too, so that's fun

the difficulties is definitely making sure that i don't forget characters exist, so balance. and figuring out who talks more in the groups, etc. i love writing the dynamics, though, and how they help each other grow as the stories progress

definite yes to romantic relationships! miller/tor is gonna be a main thing and becka might have a potential love interest as well lucy, unfortunately, is just a mess

nope, they're basically exactly like the mutants in x-men, mostly because i'm lazy and didn't really think about worldbuilding before i started this

thank you so much for the encouragement and the questions!  

[magemadi]

Oooh Jilllllll you have me super excited for this OF piece with just that summary alone!! Also I totally believe in you and your ability to write in this genre even though it’s out of your comfort zone -- that’ll make you a stronger writer, even if you end up not liking the final project from this month. (That’s what editing is for!) You have some great face claims for all of these characters, and I am also intrigued to see who the villain(s)/antagonist(s) are going to be and how you’ll paint them from the governing point of view versus our main crew.

Are these main characters adults, teenagers, or new-ish adults (i.e. 20s), and how will that choice of age range affect what you want to do plot-wise?

Do you have a general idea of what the world is like in terms of technology/energy usage/transportation? Will that have an effect on where the group can go?

[dreamshadow]

hi madi! sorry for taking so long to reply to these  

On 11/2/2020 at 12:03 AM, magemadi said:

Are these main characters adults, teenagers, or new-ish adults (i.e. 20s), and how will that choice of age range affect what you want to do plot-wise?

they're all newish adults; early 20s. i wanted to be able to give them some life experience and have them trying to find their way post-education and figuring out what they're doing with their lives now. it's kind of fun because they're all still figuring it out (and so am i, so we're figuring it out together )
 

On 11/2/2020 at 12:03 AM, magemadi said:

Do you have a general idea of what the world is like in terms of technology/energy usage/transportation? Will that have an effect on where the group can go?

i... nope  it's definitely pretty close to our modern world, so technology and cell phones and everything exists, but otherwise, i haven't really thought too much about it. which shows when i try to slip some world building stuff into my paragraphs, whooops 

_______________________________________________________

[week 2 update]

my wordcount is just... yikes, y'all. i think i'm at roughly 3,500 words. and i'm just... idk. i'm going to try and see how far i get, but i think this project might be too much out of my comfort zone; or, at least, needs more world building plot before i can really get into it. i don't really know. i feel like i should've just stuck with something easy and contemporary for this nanowrimo, especially since i didn't take into account the us elections and everything. plus, we had some family health stuff (everyone is now okay and no surgery is needed) so after all of that, i'm just not feeling very inspired to write this one. but we'll see!

[dreamshadow]

week 4 update:

man, i totally overhyped myself for nanowrimo this year, guys. i'm trying to let myself be okay with it because life really got in the way this year.

i completely gave up on lost in translastion, which is kind of a bummer, but i did manage to finish two (2) chapters of my chatfic for branwen's challenge. and like, chatfics are so much fun. there are about a billion tropes in it but the main one is a coffee shop au (yes, finally writing that murphy/emma coffee shop fic, just not... what i originally planned ) and it's just nice to let writing be something i enjoy. eventually i might try to write some other stuff (i have an idea for a next gen au), but i want to try to get this as close to finished as possible. it's only gonna be about ~5 chapters and over the span of a week. it features emma's insane caffeine addiction, her twin brother alive and well, and general college shenanigans. here's a little sneak peek but the fic is mostly chaos: 

Quote

1:50pm

emma rhodes: Attachment: 1 image
emma rhodes: so the rivalry continues
emma rhodes: pretty sure he was extra obnoxious because he knew i’m hungover 

raven reyes: oh my god just hook up with him already 

emma rhodes: Attachment: 1 image

raven reyes: what even is that? 

emma rhodes: me giving you the finger

raven reyes: you and james are the fucking worst

emma rhodes: we know

i've written a total of 2,609 words! and that's all within the last two weeks
i ended up leaving lost in translation at 3,898 words, which brings my total for november to 6,507

no where near the 50k i was hoping for, but words are words, and writing chatfics is fun. and actually writing for the challenges i signed up for is nice, so i'm gonna count this november as a win regardless of wordcount numbers