In just a few days, I will be starting NaNoWriMo!  It’s a little bit weird because this will be my 11th year doing it, and I can’t believe it’s been for that long.  Definitely long enough that I actually have to think about how long I’ve been doing it.

For those who don’t know what NaNoWriMo is, it is National Novel Writing Month.  It’s a challenge to write 50,000 words in 30 days, and while it can be intense, it’s also something I look forward to doing every year.  I love the community and hearing what other people are doing, and this year in particular, it will be a good distraction and a way to focus on something else for a while.

It’s definitely not for everyone, and even writing something is so much better than writing nothing.  I really do believe that by just deciding to go for it, and to just write something, you’re a winner.  And I’m totally cool with having buddies, so if you’re participating…you can friend me.

I usually have an idea of what I’m writing, and for quite a while I was consistently doing two 50,000 word novels at the same time.  Then came the year I did three, then I did a few different ideas because I burned out after the insane 3 novel year, and since then I’ve stuck with one.  I know I listed fanfic as my genre this year, because that’s what I’m leaning towards, but if it changes, I’m totally going to have to update my novel.

Idea #1: The only original idea I have- a YA in which I have not picked a genre.

I randomly got an idea for a novel set in a boarding school, and my main character is new there.  There are a lot of secrets and mysterious/weird things happening, but I haven’t decided if it’s going to be more either contemporary, mystery, horror or if I want to do paranormal or urban fantasy.  It’s vague enough that if I do it, it can go in any direction, and it could be fun to see where it ends up.

My only hesitation with doing this one is that I don’t know if I’m in the right frame of mind for something completely original.  Even though things are a lot more calm now, I’m still feeling sort of blah and not motivated to do much of anything, and even though I like this idea a lot, I just don’t feel interested enough to actually do it.  I feel like I’d start it and then abandon it for something else.  I do have an outline, though, so maybe I’ll do it for a Camp NaNo or save it for another November.

Now for all the fanfic ideas…which involve shipping Hermione with different Weasleys that are not Ron.

Fanfic Idea #1: Hermione and George

I’ve read quite a few Marriage Law fics, and I always thought the idea was interesting, so I figured I’d try writing my own.  Hermione also goes back to Hogwarts, so there’s also that going on.  This is actually one of the ideas I’m leaning towards, now that I think about it, so there’s a good chance I could pick this one.  I also have this one outlined- at least enough to (hopefully) get me through November.  Where it ends is not the end of the story, but I honestly wanted enough to get me through a month.

FanFic Idea #2: Hermione and Charlie

This one is totally an alternate 7th year where Hermione gets separated from Ron and Harry at Bill and Fleur’s wedding and somehow ends up on the run with Charlie.  It also has what I’m officially calling a NaNo outline- I have enough outlined to get me through the month, even if it’s not completely finished.  It is more finished/complete than my 1st idea, but it’s not completely finished.  This is the other idea I’m leaning towards, so apparently I have narrowed things down without even realizing it.

FanFic Idea #3: Hermione and Percy

This is post-Battle, and the wizarding world is trying to get itself together.  At least, that’s the basic idea.  I only have about half a NaNo-outline, because I sort of hit a wall with outlining.  Which is fine, since I have a couple of other ideas I’m leaning towards.  I think it’s one of those things that just needs to be written.  If the other two fanfic ideas don’t pan out, I think this will be a good back-up.  Or I might do it during Camp NaNo, where I can set my own word count and not have to worry about writing a 50k (or beyond).

And the plot bunnies that I never got around to thinking about!  Well, I do admit to thinking more about some of them than others, but considering how little I’ve done with them, I’m still going to consider them plot bunnies.

Plot Bunny #1: More FanFic…this time with Fred and Hermione

I swear, Weasley twins + Hermione is my favorite non-canon ship, but I’ve been shipping Hermione and Fred since high school.  HIGH SCHOOL, PEOPLE.  That’s a long time, and I did start a Hermione/Fred fanfic at one point in high school.

For this one, I was thinking maybe something starting in her 4th year, around the Yule Ball, but that’s it.  I got distracted by other things and never got around to doing anything with it.  Maybe in December, I’ll come back to it.

Plot Bunny #2: Something YA Contemporary, preferably during summer 

I tried doing this one year, and it didn’t work out, but I so want to do something like this.  I don’t know what exactly, but I’ve had the idea just floating around for ages and I NEED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.  I don’t have enough of an actual idea to actually do something with it, so maybe I need to go back to YA Contemporary to see if something will spark an idea.

Plot Bunny #3: New Adult Romance?

I don’t read a lot of it, and it’s TOTALLY out of my comfort zone, so I’m nervous about doing it.  I have a vague idea of how it ends, and for some reason I want to start with the ending and then you see how things got to that point. But I’m sort of nervous to write romance because I’m not at all comfortable writing it, even though I really like books with romance.  Maybe it’ll end up being more contemporary?  I don’t know but I need to think about it.  Oddly enough, I got the idea to write something in this genre the first time I heard Hello by Adele, so maybe I should think more of the mood I’m going for instead of a genre?  Because contemporary could work for it too, I think.  It depends on what I end up deciding.

Not Exactly A Plot Bunny But It Also Doesn’t Fit Anywhere Else:

Plus the story I’ve worked on for the last couple of NaNo’s.  I still want to do a lot more with it, but my noveling efforts tend to be in November, with some prep in September/October and maybe a half-hearted attempt during a Camp NaNo session.  At the same time, I want to write something different, and I also know that right now, I just want to write fanfic and not focus on something original, because I think that’s where I’m at this year.

I think I’m going to end up deciding which idea I’m going with on Halloween, right before I start writing at midnight. I’m definitely not doing two 50k novels, but maybe 25k of each if I absolutely cannot decide.

Is anyone else doing NaNo this year or has done it in the past? What’s everyone writing this year, if you are?  Maybe you’re not writing but instead doing some other creative project?  I definitely want to hear what really awesome things you’re working on!