I think it might be helpful for me to like, Declare my plan for this november to the world, so i can keep myself accountable to try to complete this. I'm going to deviate a bit from the official rules, by counting in schoolwork writing as well as novel writing. I still will keep some separate tallies for myself, to see what my novel-only word count and school-only word counts are, but one of the reasons i'm doing novel november this year in the first place is to properly motivate myself to do my assignments on time, lol. novel-wise, i think the WIP i'm currently most interested in is my science fiction project, currently unnamed. used to have a working title, but i dont like it anymore so its sitting in "unnamed" purgatory until i come up with something. it follows a found family of a few children who found themselves caught up in stakes far higher than any of them ever wanted to be involved with (involving international tensions and conflicts, government-coverups, and literal gods), and the children's rather unqualified adult supervision (two robots, the freshly twentysomething estranged aunt of one of the kids, and an extremely strange alien who insists he's a god). i've had this WIP since i was probably like ten, in some shape or form, possibly earlier but i dont have solid memories that far back, and these characters have been through so many changes and reworks that theyre barely recognizable. I've previously written this for a NaNoWriMo, but i'm planning on starting totally from scratch plot-wise because i wrote myself into so many corners last time. I'd love to hear about what everyone else is planning for this november!

Yay! Good luck with the doing the childhood idea justice! I know what you mean about it becoming almost recognisable. I wrote a short story when I was 13, and those characters and the basic idea ended up a camp nano project a couple years ago (and successfully hit 50K!!!!). So far, I think it's the best novel I've written. I think I've given up trying to edit it into something publishable (maybe I'll try again when I get more experience) but I'm still really proud with how it turned out! This year I'm planning a survival story with science fiction (fantasy?) elements. Basically the same premise as Lost, if you've seen that (a TV show famous for writing itself into corners, so I guess I'll try not to do that. Someone in the forums helped me come up with "Isle Awry", which I kind of find difficult to say... and spell... but I think it's really mystical and cool sounding.

"isle awry" is such a fun and clever name, lol. goodluck with your project! survival stories are so fun, this WIP of mine has aspects of it and i want to bring those in more with this new rework. another WIP of mine focuses a lot more heavily on that, and its one of my favorite ideas ive had. i should return to it sometime

I think, it's a good idea to count your schoolwork to your writing goals, Spider, you have to concentrate and use your writing skills there, just as much as for a novel .oO( of course I have to say that as a mom and grandmom) ... however, I like your idea of the extremely strange alien who insists he's a God - please let us know how it works out for him, or her ... perhaps he isn't really a God but think he is one? perhaps he's really one and no one believes him? good luck to you, Spider, for your project ...

of course, I know 'Lost', Bethany, my husband and I started watching it some years ago but stopped in the middle of it, because we've been so frustrated with all those corners they have stuck themselves in, but we have started watching again, just a few weeks ago ... well - I am writing the third book of a trilogy I started on NaNo back then, when it still existed ... the first two books I have already online on fanfic, and now I hope that I'll get the third one done during this year's Novel November ... it's a Harry Potter fanfic, where they had been locked up in the potions classroom for 21 days, and nearly died, and now, they have to live with the outcome of their trauma, with the help of Snape, of all people ... I'm sometimes writing at home (if my children, grandchildren, husband and dogs let me), and sometimes by the lake, where we have a cabin, and I hope you all have a nice place for writing, too ... good luck to all of you ... evil

evil minded: perhaps he isn't really a God but think he is one? perhaps he's really one and no one believes him? that's what the MC's are trying to figure out! they're all in different camps. of course Opal, our alien, is fully convinced of his own legitimacy. naturally i know the answer, lol, since i've had this story planned out for so long, but the characters aren't there yet. honestly, the real answer to "is opal a god or not" is something i want the story to grapple with. it's kind of hard to give a real answer to that because it requires defining what a god even is. if the only criteria is that he (and his twin) have worshippers, then he totally is one. But that would give the title of "deity" to any old cult leader and that's not quite right either. Opal's very old, and can be very powerful, but he isn't an omniscient creator, so if that's the requirement, he isn't one despite his power being possibly godlike. i myself am agnostic but grew up catholic, and truly believed at one point, so i want to explore the concept of religion and gods and stuff through sci-fi and fantasy in a way that's honest and broad, but still respectful. (though despite all this, that whole existential dilemma isn't really a major focus of the plot so far at allllll, just background flavor. maybe with my new draft i'll try to bring it more to the forefront though. a friend who i infodumped to about this project thought that the worldbuilding and commentary was the most interesting part, and i'm proud of that, so i'm going to focus on bringing that worldbuilding to the front and doing it as much justice as i can.

whoa, that won't be easy, Spider, exploring and writing about religion and Gods in a sci-fi and fantasy story, and make it honest in a respectful way ... definitely possible, but not easy, and I know what I am speaking of, because I am a Christian, but write Harry Potter stories, and I do bring the believing stuff into my stories instead of ignoring it just because it is a Harry Potter story and a believer "shouldn't be writing such" ... :) ... I wish you the best of luck ... evil