“It’s finally here! It’s finally here!” – Me, running around my house this morning.
It seems like forever ago that I first announced Novel Boot Camp. I asked for topic ideas, your most common editing problems, and I spent hours upon hours (upon hours) writing and perfecting the course. Whew! It almost felt like Boot Camp was never going to arrive!
But here we are at the kickoff party – you with your manuscripts in hand and me ready to do nothing but eat, breathe, and sleep (or not sleep) Novel Boot Camp for the next month. It’s going to be a wild ride!
Before things get too crazy and some of you are inevitably reduced to tears with a bloody manuscript in your hands, let me say that the excitement and enthusiasm for Novel Boot Camp has reminded me of why I do what I do. It is the passion and dedication of writers like you that keeps me blogging, editing, and mentoring. You guys are the greatest!
To celebrate the kickoff party, keep meeting up with writing friends and critique partners (though I know some of you are at more than capacity in that department!) and let your friends and family know that you’ll be putting your pen where your passion is and might be a bit busier (and crazier) than usual. In order to keep the blog comments focused on the workshop, post your kickoff party excitement on Twitter and the FB group.
And now on to our first workshop!
Workshop #1: Genre Guessing Game
June 30 – July 6
For our first workshop, I want to focus on the most important aspect of editing – seeing your novel from the outside.
This is no easy task! You’ve toiled and slaved over your novel. You know it inside and out. If you’ve been editing it long enough, you can probably recite passages from heart. All of that is lovely and wonderful and passionate, but terrible for editing.
So for this first workshop, I want you to send your book out into the world – just a tiny piece of it – to see how it’s perceived by those outside yourself, by the people who know nothing about it.
Participants will submit the first 200 words of their manuscript. Guessers will attempt to identify the genre, tone, and basic plot of the novel. The objective is to have a bit of fun while exploring how your manuscript looks from the outside. Do people think your romantic comedy is a horror/thriller? Do readers expect your story of redemption to be a story of revenge?
Remember that how the Boot Campers perceive your novel is likely how agents and editors will perceive it too. We’ll be talking about why the reader’s perception of the first page is important in our first lecture tomorrow.
Warning: This is a new and totally untested workshop process. Please bare with me if there are any technical kinks or if things seem awkward. I wanted to do something unique so I hope it works!
How to Play the Genre Guessing Game
***Read the FULL directions and follow them or you will not be eligible to participate!***
Firstly, I understand that not all readers are comfortable sharing their work online. If you do not want to submit, you may still participate in the guessing.
How to Submit Your Opening
To streamline the process, decrease cheating, and increase participation, I will be posting all of the first pages anonymously (meaning that no one other than me will know whose first page is whose). If you attempt to submit your own first page, it will be deleted!
The submitted novel openings will be posted as quickly as possible, but since it must be done manually, there will likely be some delay.
Submit your novel’s opening in the form below. It will go to my email and I will manually post the first 200 words only (not your name, genre, tone, etc.) into the comments section.
Note that your novel’s opening is the very first 200 words. If you open with a prologue, use that rather than your first chapter.
How to Guess the Genre
In the comments section below this post, leave a reply to the novel openings submitted and post some or all of the following:
- Guess the Genre – Is it a contemporary romance? A YA paranormal? A horror/science fiction hybrid? Post your best guess. If you think it’s middle grade or young adult, please also include a genre (adventure, comedy, romance, etc.).
- Guess the Tone – What do you think the overall tone of this novel is? Is it creepy? Heartwarming? Spiritual? Disturbing? In other words, what adjective would you use to describe the book?
- Guess the Basic Plot – What do you think this novel is going to be about? What do you expect to happen?
- Do NOT post a critique of the opening or any comments about the writing quality or style. We will have a novel opening critique later in the month.
Please do not post your guesses anonymously unless you do not want to be eligible to win the prize for best guesser!
Sample comment/guess: I think this is a middle grade adventure story with a dark tone. I expect it to be about how the main character learns to overcome his fear of the water to defeat a sea monster.
What Should Writers Take Away?
The reader’s perception of your novel is more important than your own. Keep an eye on your novel’s opening this week to see how Boot Campers perceive your work. Is it right in line with your vision or way off?
Is the novel going to deliver what readers seem to expect? We’ll be talking about the importance of the first page’s promise in our first lecture tomorrow.
Prize – Free Edit of Your First 1,000 Words!
This workshop will have two winners! Due to the labor involved in posting, moderating, and then judging the posts, it may take me until after Novel Boot Camp to choose and notify the winners. How long it takes depends on the level of participation.
Award for the Best Guesser: This prize will go to the Novel Boot Camper with guessing power from the gods. In other words: the camper with the most correct guesses.
Award for the Best Opening: This prize will go to the opening that had its novel, genre, and basic plot guessed correctly the most often.
Both winners will receive a free edit of their first 1,000 words.
Connect with Other Novel Boot Camp Participants
Need a writing friend? Got a question? Need a shoulder to cry on? We’re there for you!
I will be answering writing and editing questions on our Twitter hashtag as time allows. Due to the insane volume of emails I’m receiving, I cannot provide free advice or assistance via email. Thank you!
What is Novel Boot Camp?
Novel Boot Camp is a free online novel writing course focused on identifying and correcting problems in your novel. Learn more about Novel Boot Camp and find past (and future) posts here.
Ellen Brock 
Crystal uncurled the slip of paper, comparing the number on it with the number above the door in front of her. She looked from the paper to the door and back again, until she was sure that they matched. Her mind felt blurred after a night of poor sleep, and it was hard to focus. She’d already made one silly mistake that day.
”Um . . . can I help you?”
Crystal’s attention jerked to the teenager now standing in the doorway. The movement jarred a headache that was starting, and Crystal flinched before she managed to compose herself. ”I’m looking for the the textiles workshop.” She crumpled the paper in one hand, nervously adjusting the strap of her bag with the other.
”That is this room.” The boy who’d asked if she needed help nodded at the space behind him. ”You’re kind of early, but you can come in.”
Crystal followed him inside, studying the room. It was like her sewing room at home, all second-hand furniture and masses of fabric and thread. Crystal hadn’t been sure about attending a workshop – despite her mom’s assurance that it would a good experience – and the familiar setting took the edge off her nerves.
Genre: YA
Tone: Nervous/unsure
Plot Guess:
Crystal just moved and is in a new school with new people. she meets new friends and a love interest. maybe,she has a dream to become a clothing designer and she realizes her dream really lies elsewhere and the story is about her finding her way through teenage life.
Young adult. Anxious. Crystal is growing up and experiencing life on her terms.
Genre: YA Fantasy
Tone: mysterious
Plot: Not all is as it first seems. Reader will follow Crystal’s journey uncovering secrets.
Genre: YA
Tone: Angst, realistic
Plot: A story of self-discovery for Crystal.
YA – Romance – a story of self discovery
Young Adult Romance/ coming of age Crystal falls in love with the textiles instructor only to be rebuffed due to her age, but she pours all her feels into making some really incredible art and meets the instructor’s son who initially doesn’t appreciate the artform but eventually falls for her and her quilts
GENRE: YA Historical Romance
TONE: Anticipatory
BASIC PLOT: Crystal is off to Begin Her Life, Find Herself, and Fall In Love. Hang on for the ride.
Genre: YA Coming of Age
Tone: Apprehensive
Plot: New experiences bring Crystal a new outlook and she becomes more confident .
G: YA romance
T: Light
P: Crystal doesn’t have many friends, she’s a quiet girl and has a hard time socializing. Her mam thinks that she will find new friends with similar interests during the course. She falls for the teenage boy but is to shy to approach him. Crystal admires him from distance and wishing that she was braver.
YA romance
anticipatory, anxious
Crystal is nervous and awkward, and would rather stay at home. she likely has experienced something traumatic that makes her reluctant to socialize and/or develop relationships. She joins this workshop at her mother’s insistence and finds that her mother had been right. She has a talent for design and, while attending the workshop, she meets a boy who becomes her love interest. Only he has his own problems to overcome as well.
The wind shook her wings, and behind her, the hum of a distant propeller was growing into a bone-shaking roar.
Lani swung her gaze towards the horizon. Pillars of steam rose high into the sky. She watched as towers with their smoldering tops, and buildings, big and small, reach up into the clouds, a belt of outstretched runways followed at their base before the mass of rusty, hissing pipes, coiling around spinning turbines. The Southern Airpost soared high above the sea, and spun closer by the second.
The roar grew louder behind her, and she peered back at the machine, squinting against the beams of sunlight that bounced off of its two crimson wings. The plane was gaining, quick. She couldn’t let it pass, not with the airpost so close.
She squeezed the throttle tight and shoved it forward. She gritted her teeth against the whipping wind as the plane thundered through the sky, and grinned back at the onrushing aircraft. It was still gaining! But not for long. A chuckle crackled through her clenched teeth as she glanced down at the center-stick between her knees and yanked it to the right, but just as the plane began to turn,
Genre: Thriller.
Tone: Adventure and technology.
Plot: Lani is a pilot who becomes involved in some kind of danger that she has to overcome.
Adventurous tone, she will get wreck the plane and get lose somewhere. She’s on the run from something.
Genre: Action
Tone: Competitive
Plot: Racing aeroplanes?
GENRE: Adventure
TONE: Excitement
BASIC PLOT: Follow the Adventures of Air Racing Queen Lani
YA historical thriller. Fun, but a serious subject. Plot: something along the lines of Code Name Verity. Female bucks trend and becomes pilot during war. Shatters the glass ceiling, but makes big sacrifices while doing it
Young Adult Adventure – Steampunk not too dark in tone. Lani has to fight against evil forces as they attempt to corrupt the youth and steal the money of her home just beyond the Southern Airpost
Genre: YA Adventure
Tone: Fast
Plot: Lani has an important letter/message that she needs to deliver. The enemy is after her. The conflict/peace depends on her getting the document safe. She crashes and the story becomes about her adventure – to deliver the letter/message. She’s strong and determined ;o)
G: Adventure
T: Light
P: “their base” made me believe that Lani is in army of some sort. It looks like she is in some sort of competition though. As she’s trying to put the plain down something goes wrong but she manages to stabilize it and still wins the competition. She’s the best pilot at the base, no doubt. Some time later her and her fellow colleagues are off to start another mission. Her plain gets shot down. She survive but now she’s on her own in the enemies territory. Lani has to find her way back to the base without getting killed in the process.
Adventure
danger, excitement
Lani is a pilot whose skill and daring allow her to escape the authorites. We follow Lani as she narrowly averts disaster, bravely fighting for her cause.
It had been one of those sick and twisted turns that life tends to throw our way. Fate was known to be cruel. But this went well beyond that. This bordered on the perverse. To take something so important to a boy, so integral to his being, the symbol of his very existence, and flip it on end and change it’s meaning forever…well, for that I could never forgive.
They had named me Otto. But we had no German ancestry. Or Scandinavian for that matter. We were American. My mother’s family, for several generations; my father’s, for one. His parents were immigrants from Italy, although they had come separately. Young people on a mission to find a better life. Here, they had met and married and raised a family in a new country but still with a strong connection to the old, using their native tongue within the household and teaching it to the children.
Nonno is what I called my grandfather. He spoke English with a thick but charming accent. When he and dad conversed, it was always Italian. My father was fluent in the language, but not in the flair, absent the animated hand gesturing that my grandfather possessed. I understood little of what was said. But there was one thing that I had learned. And it always caught my ear.
The numbers.
I think this is an action story with a dark tone. The main character is out for revenge and uses both his physical strength and his ability to see numbers in an extraordinary way to hunt his enemy.
Genre: Family Life
Tone: Reminiscent
Plot: Coming of age story perhaps?
Young adult, thriller. Curious. Otto will discover what the numbers mean.
The Mathematician, a YA bildungsroman.
GENRE: YA Adventure
TONE: Contemplative
BASIC PLOT: Otto is about to be plunged into the adult world with a vengeance
Young Adult Fantasy/Adventure/Mystery – A coming of age story with gangsters and Goblins and Ghouls (oh my.)
Genre: YA Thriller
Tone: Mystery
Plot: The observant Otto is aware of an ancient secret and means to find out more. The reader will follow his journey and uncover the truth of the numbers.
G: Thriller/Adventure/Mystery
T: Serious
P: Otto find out about a family secret that wasn’t meant to be heard by him. Now his on a mission for revenge as forgiveness is not an option. He travels to Italy where he gets involved with mafia as it is the only way to get what he wants.
YA adventure/ thriller
dark, mysterious
Otto discovers a secret, something that has to do with the numbers. This discovery leaves him feeling betrayed and angry. His whole life had been a lie. Angry and betrayed, he is unable to forgive his parents. But he has no choice to accept the truth and the story goes on to tell of how he deals with it.
“The sword!” yelled the crowd, clinking their mugs of ale together.
Taren, watching from the stairwell, shook his head. His father was going to lead his men on another search.
“Once we find it,” said Roland Tarby, his father’s right hand man, “we’ll be one step closer to eradicating the Hadrens and avenging our fallen family members!”
The men yelled in consent and clinked mugs again. Ale sloshed out of them as they were forcefully slammed into one another. Taren was glad he wasn’t the one who would have to clean up the sticky tables and floor in the morning.
He sighed and padded back into the loft. His younger sister, Abigail, was sleeping soundly through the noise below. This was not the first night the two of them were expected to sleep through the army’s ruckus. He laid down on his pallet, closed his eyes, trying to join Abby in sleep, but the yelling was barely muffled by the floorboards. He turned on his side, knowing his night was going to be a long one.
He was almost asleep when the booming started. He bolted upright. Who could be at the door this time of night?
I think this is historical fiction with fantasy elements and a woeful tone. The main character will be pressured by his father to enlist in the army. He refuses but discovers he is the only one who possesses the power to destroy the Hadrens.
Genre: Historical Fiction
Tone: Vengeful
Plot: I think this is going to be about family loyalty and obligations.
Genre: fantasy adventure/drama – it has the Game of Thrones about it
Tone: clear, practical and of the time. a strong male story
Plot: the reader follows Taren as he proves himself the man of the house in a family quest to find the sword and destroy the Hardrens
Young adult. war and adventure. We will learn how Taren and Abigail, born to a leader, grow up during war times.
YA Fantasy adventure in a straightforward tone. When his father and the rest of the army are killed in a single attack, Taren must put aside his grief to protect his family and friends from an oncoming force of evil.
GENRE: Fantasy
TONE: Excitement
BASIC PLOT: Taren will join a quest to find the Sword needed to bring peace to the Kingdom
Young Adult Fantasy/Fiction – dark suspenseful tone – Abby and Taren hold the secret to saving the kingdom and eliminating the Hadrens when the Tarby Clan of warriors is all but laid to waste by the mysterious visitor
Genre: YA Fantasy
Tone: Moody but with moments of lightness
Plot: Young man finds himself torn in a war. He has to protect his sister, get her to safety. He may end up being the hero in the battle.
G: Historical Fantasy
T: serious, dark
P: Taren’s father is being betrayed by one of his men. Whoever is at the door is the traitor. Taren’s father and all the men are killed. The kids survive as no one looked for them in the level below. Both kids are growing up with a hatred in their harts. They train for years to prepare themselves for the battle that will come when they’re ready.
YA historical fantasy/adventure
ominous
Taren has gotten used to chaos and uncertainty in his life, and that’s not about to change any time soon. The late-night visitor brings news that will send them on a dangerous and exciting journey.
King Arkanomen’s vision blurred. He blinked to refocus his eyes on the parchment below. Hundreds of trifling details demanding his attention. A monumental task that presently he lacked the patience for. He stood sighing and began to pace around his small office. Braziers flickered as he past briskly, aptly reflecting his restless mood. Arkanomen pushed through the singular wooden door and left his personal prison. Two guards flanked the door and saluted the King on sight. He nodded his appreciation before moving on.
This corridor was lavishly decorated compared to his simple office. Multiple tapestries in close proximity hung above a purple and gold trimmed carpet stretching around the corner to the right and left. Suits of armor similar to Arkanomen’s lined the stone walls in pairs. This time of night the halls were nearly vacant, the servants mostly asleep. The King only saw his Imperial Legionnaires. Each saluting or greeting as he passed, loyal members of the Southern Kingdom all.
“Your Majesty!” a voice ahead called.
Historical fiction. Woeful. King Arkanomen is old and tired. Perhaps there is a danger brewing in the Southern Kingdom that will breathe new life in the old king.
Genre: fantasy
Tone: light
Plot: King Arkanomen is caught up in minor bureaucratic matters, the ordinary fair of his day-to-day work, when he receives news of a rebellion or of an assault from his old enemy, the Northern Kingdom. He is swiftly driven out of the castle, and has to regain the kingdom with the help of his loyal Queen.
Epic Fantasy. When King Arkanomen is killed in a military coup, a young guard, the only remaining one still loyal to the king, must save the king’s family (including the spunky, beautiful princess) before the Southern Kingdom turns into a cruel dictatorship.
GENRE: Fantasy
TONE: Frustration
BASIC PLOT: The King is like an old bear waking from hibernation. Experience tells him that somewhere out there the wolves re already foraging…
Adult Fantasy/Adventure Serious tone, not too dark, but certainly not a comedy. Arkanomen is met with a threat- a curse- that only morning dew collected from a sacred flower the morning of a full moon can cure. It’s a race against time- and evil forces set to take over the kingdom
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Tone: Restless
Plot: Something will happen to make the King’s life more interesting.
Genre: Fantasy Fiction
Tone: Serious
Plot: Growing tired of hiding away in the castle. He may be the last of his line but he wants to feel alive again. He hates being away from battle, but be careful what you wish for… the enemy will be upon you soon enough.
G: Historical Fantasy
T: not too serious but not light either
P: The King is tired of his daily tasks that all look the same to him, his bored with his life. This is not what he thought it would be when he took over the kingdom. His unaware of the danger that awaits.
Adult historical fiction
serious
King Arkanomen is a man in power, but has grown weary of the details that come along with the job. There are more important things on his mind. There is unrest in the kingdom, and he should be out there dealing with it himself, instead of in his office, playing around with parchment. He receives some news that reinforces these feelings-things are getting worse, it’s time to act.
Prologue
Dear Liam,
this is it. There’s not much left to say. I hate waking up and I love being asleep. I wanna sleep forever. I’m sorry, I’m just so tired.
People always tell me to stay strong, not to give up, but they have no idea how hard that can be. They can’t simply expect me to be strong when they can’t even imagine what my life is like. People have judged me all my life, you’re my brother, you know that like no one else. Even the ones who didn’t know me, they judged me. They know the facade I show them. They know the things on the outside. I don’t let them in, I only show them the side of me that I’ve worked hard on to fool them. People hate not knowing personal facts about you so they make them up, based on what you let them see. The rest is their judgment and their imagination.
This life I’m living feels wrong. And I don’t know how to do this anymore. It’s a struggle to get up every morning. I drag myself out of bed because I have to, but I don’t want to. I don’t wanna live this life anymore.
Realistic. Sad. Whoever is writing to Liam is depressed, perhaps suicidal. Hopefully, help is on the way as this person finds courage in a crazy world.
GENRE: YA Romance
TONE: Fatalistic
BASIC PLOT: The brother of Liam is crying for help to his brother as he sinks into despair. Events are about capture the brother and whisk him away to find a reason to live in a quest to save the woman he will fall in love with.
Young Adult Fantasy/adventure serious tone Liam and his brother have special gifts/powers which they have kept hidden from the world and some situation/event forces them to reveal themselves to the world and then they have to fight to prove they are in fact “good”
G: Fantasy
T: Sad
P: Liam’s sister (?) is giving up on her life. She’s about to commit suicide. Probably they lost their parents, that’s way people telling her to stay strong. Their family is important, well knowing. She had to keep up the appearance because that’s what was expected of them. Every time she forced herself to smile she was slowly dieing inside. It’s up to Liam to save her and give her reason to live.
YA
dark, depressing
The story follows Liam and how he deals with the aftermath of losing his brother. Or it may chronicle what happened to lead up to this point.
It was my first time on the surface.
It was the first time any of my people had been on the surface in hundreds of years.
I hid my ship in a deep crevice of jagged rocks under the water and swam to the surface. I was met with a cliff face that extended several meters over my head.
The water crashed against the rocks in waves, pulling me back and then throwing me at them. I grabbed the cliff face as I flew into it, finding tiny crevices to dig my fingers into, and clung to the rock as the waves tried to suck me back out. They were powerful, but nothing I could not handle.
I climbed up the cliff, my movements smooth and easy. Perhaps I was not a hunter, they were the real climbers, but a simple rock wall was easy enough.
The violent waves sprayed my feet as they came crashing back in. So different from the water in our world, which sat calm, clear and quiet. The only sound it made was from the ripple of something swimming, or the splash of an animal diving.
This water pounded against my ears.
Dystopian. Challenging. We will find out why “the people” need to come to the surface after a hundred years.
Fantasy. The narrator is adventuring into territory that his kind hasn’t seen in along time. They are trying to prove themself
Genre: my dystopian vibes are tingling
Tone: light- the hero is off on an adventure
Plot: the hero won’t like what they see when they reach the surface. Something will go terribly wrong and embark them on an amazing quest to bring balance back to the world.
GENRE: YA Fantasy
TONE: exploratory
BASIC PLOT: Our hero is on a voyage of discovery and about to plunge into an adventure that will change the world
Hard Science Fiction Serious in tone with suspense and adventure mixed in.
A race of aliens explores a new world due to catosophre on theirs and is forced to seek the assistance of old enemies or perhaps an unknown race so different from them it is hard to comprehend the similarities
G: Adventure
T: fast pace
P:The MC and his/hers people were forced to live in the other word (underwater?). But now its time that they all come out from hiding. MC is the first one out and his/hers mission is to explore and see is it safe.
Genre: YA Dystopian
Tone: challenging
Plot: Dystopian escape from underwater world. Protagonist will encounter a new world and have difficulty convincing the other people still below the sea.
Fantasy
mysterious
The protagonist is a being that lives beneath the surface of the water, but is able to survive outside the water. The story will follow the narrator as they navigate this strange and unfamilia world.
This is the America I pictured when I decided to come here. The endless plains and mountains, the forlorn SUVs and pickup trucks, rolling through empty wilderness. In the middle of it all, my friends and I, squeezed into the cheapest rental car that the grumpy lady at the airport would give us.
Of course, I knew that going to law school in New York would not look like this. I dreamed of that too, the city that never sleeps. But after two years of never sleeping – whether the reason is caffeine or alcohol (in my case, almost exclusively the former) – you get tired.
“Hey Sophia, when do you want to call your mom?” Maggie breaks the silence and turns back to me.
I pull my eyes from the scenery to look at her.
My grandmother back in Germany has been admitted to hospital two days ago. She’s ninety-two years old and in the final stages of cancer. I almost broke off our holiday and went back early, but my mother persuaded me to stay.
I shrug. “Anytime that’s good to stop. Just before we completely leave civilization.” I smile. “I doubt there’ll be cell phone coverage.”
Genre: NA Contemporary / maybe even Romance
Tone: Fun
Basic plot: Maybe Sophia leaves for law school and gets to know the college life and what’s it really like in NY. She might meet her significant other, maybe her grandma dies while she’s away. She leaves NY to be with her family.
A Romantic adventure. fun and exciting. A group of friends leave the bustle of New York to escape to the great outdoors of the United States.
GENRE: YA Adventure/Romance
TONE: Hopeful/melancholy
BASIC PLOT: Sophia has a foot in both worlds – the past where her Grandmother is dying and the future where her life is about to begin. Only the promise of new romance can resolve the two as Life Goes On
Adult Contemporary Fiction coming of age, serious in tone – the narrator, Sophia, finds herself lost in the wilderness of America, out of touch with herself and who she wanted to be when she arrived in this country- and forced to survive against the odds during which time she discovers who she REALLY is and what she wants to do with her life.
G: Contemporary/crime
T: Light at first but that will change
P: Sophia and Maggie find themselves in a situation where they have to fight for survival. The car will brake down in the middle of nowhere. No one is around, phones are to no use. As they are walking on the side of the empty road they witness murder. Now they are the target.
Genre: New Adult
Tone: Fun element turning serious
Plot: something unexpected will happen once they hit the open space with no aid at hand. Have a feeling it will be something dark that she overcomes.
Present
Today is my eighth 29th birthday. Yes. I’ve had eight. And each one has been as painful as the last. Face it: getting old hurts, even when you never die.
Each day that I age, I will anti-age later, so I shouldn’t be upset at my birthday, but I am.
Robert pulls out the vanilla cake at seven in the morning. He bought it at Shaws earlier. I know it’ll be fine, but sometimes I wonder if he even remembers until the day before. I mean, he stuck a lit match in it for a candle. Does that say anything? Maybe that I shouldn’t eat the cake?
“Blow out the… candle,” he says to me. He gives me a practically blank look. I can barely ever see Locklann in him anymore. He isn’t even a big fan of music anymore. Sometimes I wonder if I got the wrong guy, but the council would have told me if that happened, right?
I blow hesitantly on the match. If it falls, there goes the bed. Or the house.
He didn’t inherit Locklann’s intelligence either.
“Come on, Clo. Give it a good hard blow.”
Sci Fi. frustrating for the main character. I think the main character will stop feeling frustrated with repeating her birthday and find a reason to live beyond twenty-eight.
Vampire romance. Regretful tone
GENRE: SF/Post-Apocalyptic
TONE: Despondent
BASIC PLOT: Clo is becoming depressed with her immortality. She sees that it has burned out Robert/Lacklann and worries that she will become a shell like him. She is about to try and upset society to put meaning back into the lives of them all…
Adult Fantasy Fiction/Romance – A vampire story about Clo who rebels against the council’s orders and goes out looking for love on her own.
G: Sci Fi/Romance
T: Sad
P: Clo is tired of living. She still is young and beautiful,which is what everybody wants, wright? but not in her case. She would love to grow old and eventually find peace in death. For many years she enjoyed her existence, mainly because she was shearing it with the love of her life, but now something changed. Her dear Locklann is not the same. He’s not fun to be around anymore. Now as Robert he’s just boring. Later on she finds out that the council made a mistake and was sworn to never admit to it. Robert is not Locklann. Clo finds a new focus in her life. She has to find Locklann and punish whoever lied to her.
Genre: NA Sci-fi
Tone: somber
Plot: Her elected partner isn’t working out as planned. Could the council be wrong about some things? She starts to have doubts about the system and this is the start of some major trouble coming her way.
Faint moonlight danced on the surface of the river as the water hurried downstream. The water here was always in a hurry, eager to leap over the rocks that were just a bit further downstream, too preoccupied to do anything about the leaves and other stowaway debris that blemished it. Or perhaps it didn’t mind these pollutions.
After all, what was a river? Was it only the water, rushing down a predetermined path, or did it include all the stuff floating in it? What about the rocks that paved the way? And what if someone came along carrying an object from afar and tossed it into the river? Did that object then become part of the river, or was it forever to be seen as a foreign invader?
But if the idea of a river included things besides water and a path, then where would the inclusions stop? Could “river” include the group of raccoons that was gathered at its bank? Probably not—who could ever get behind a definition of “river” that included raccoons? But, if it did, would other rivers, not doted enough to boast their own populations of raccoons, be less rivery as a consequence?
Philosophical. Questionning There’s a bigger story brewing under the river.
GENRE: Romance
TONE: Contemplative
BASIC PLOT: Someone is lost in meditation, drawing parallels between the river and their own life. Lost in thought – action will come soon…
Adult Contemporary Fiction tone existential – The narrator is lost in life and examining the natural world in search of self.
Genre: Adult Contemporary
Tone: reflective
Plot: Spiritual awakening? Finding a deeper meaning in life.