As June starts to wind down, there comes a time when I need to sit down and think about what I am writing for July. I know, I know, I've posted the general synopsis of what I'm doing everywhere so that I can stay motivated to write that piece. Still, I think it would probably help to sit down and just blather on the Internet about things that have been brewing in my head for, well, who knows how long.
BLATHER WARNING: TL;DR AHOY!
I suppose I should dedicate this post to talking about the seed in my mind that this idea sprouted from. I actually first thought of the idea around the middle of JulNoWriMo last year, when I was in the midst of writing my satirical
noir detective novel about Humphy Bogart, the alcoholic, chain-smoking teddy bear. I was enamored enough with what I was writing at the time, though, that I kind of shoved the new idea onto the back burner. I tried to write a rough sketch of the idea in November for NaNoWriMo, but with the addition of actually
hard homework sets and the start of college and actually
being social for a change, I really couldn't find the time.
Now that I've sufficiently teased the idea, I suppose I should actually tell you what the idea was, huh? To preface this entire discussion (and hopefully make me seem less like a talentless, borrowing hack), please bear in mind that I am...
inspired a lot by what I read and watch. I suppose the best way to describe it is that the art I experience in my daily life is a major force that drives me to try and
make art. (Not claiming that what I write is art; far from it. I can only hope that one day, I will actually be capable of creating something that makes the world more beautiful, whether that be through chemistry or writing.)
Anyway, I was rambling pretentiously more than I usually do back there. Let's get back on track.
So originally, the idea for my current JulNo began as something a bit similar to (at least, what I know of) a
Doctor Who-style relationship in which two people are "out-of-sync" with one another due to time travel and each encounter between them occurs at different times in each individual's time stream. After reading
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, I realized that I also wanted to write an epic romance, so the original concept turned into an epic romance across time in which the two participants are at different stages in their relationship to one another every time they interact.
General concept: check.
General plot outline: still fairly simple to devise.
(SPOILERS AHOY!) A teenage girl, passionless and disconnected from the world, is sent by her overbearing mother to live with her father all the way across the United States for the summer. She is also forced by her mother to take part in a residential science camp of sorts that starts a few days after she arrives in California, in which she stays in dormitories during the weekdays and lives at home on weekends. During those few days before camp starts, she wanders the neighborhood surrounding her father's house and comes across a wooded park with a small creek running through it. (This next part was actually extremely vivid in my conception of the story!) She finds a bridge crossing the stream and, walking onto it, sits down, her legs dangling over the edge, feet a couple feet (lol) above the surface of the water. She kicks aimlessly a few times before her foot comes into contact with something solid...and completely bowls over a guy who was skulking under the bridge, knocking him into the water.
And so, girl meets boy...but boy already recognizes girl for some reason. He thoroughly perplexes her, bringing up strange, fairly nerdy topics for conversation (including the titular relativity), before leaving abruptly. She finds this occurrence strange but mostly forgets about it in the rush to get to camp...until she sees the boy at camp. Recognizing him, she walks up to him and jokingly references her last encounter with him.
...except he doesn't remember it at all. This is the first time he has ever met her, and (from his point of view) he's thoroughly justified in his confusion. She is, justifiably, a little miffed and she reminds him of their conversation, perhaps making a crack about a concussion. He doesn't really recognize any of it, though his ears perk up a little at her mention of their discussion of relativity. He seems lost in thought for a time before abruptly telling her that he has to leave and hurrying away, for he has just had an epiphany about something that will eventually lead to his building of the time machine.
From there, we spend some time with the girl getting to know her absent father and some other people at camp, though remaining relatively disconnected still from all of it, while the guy continues to act strangely aloof. Then, suddenly, one day he approaches her out of the blue, eagerly suggesting that they go on an adventure!
And what happens next is so brilliant! The [spoiler] ends up [spoiler], which leaves [spoiler] terribly [spoiler], and [spoiler] is the only [spoiler] that can possibly [spoiler].
I know, I know. I'm a jerk. xD It's been really helpful to just vent about what happens in what essentially boils down to Act I of my novel. I'm feeling more pumped already about JulNoWriMo!
Next post, I may talk either about music and what big ideas are motivating my JulNo this summer or I may talk a bit about my characters. We'll see what I feel like writing about when the time comes.
