Nanowrimo '09

You guys, NaNo is the day after tomorrow! I'm so pumped. It's going to be insane because here's what I have to do in November:

-Write an essay
-Finish my Big Question article for Jrn.
-Finish my profile article.
-Finish two books for class.
-Study for a midterm.

Yeah. But I can do it. I always manage somehow. So here's my story idea:

Paige is a slacker university student who is just floating through life but doesn't have any ambition. She has to get a job and decides to become a personal assistant since she figures it won't be too demanding. Turns out that "personal assistant" actually means "sidekick" and she has actually signed up to help resident anti-hero, Claire Queen, in her robberies. Paige accepts because a) She needs the money, and b) Claire will wipe her memory if she doesn't, and c) she gets sweet gadgets. Things are constantly complicated by the appearances of the local superhero, Hurricane, and his sidekick, Obsidian. Hurricane and Claire get kidnapped by a super-villain who has some sort of diabolical plan, and the two sidekicks have to team up to get their bosses back. They're racing against a mercenary, who wants the reward for taking down the super villain. Back in the non-superhero world, Paige struggles to get good enough grades to remain in school and with lying to her family. She also deals with a crush on a guy in her dorm and romantic overtures of a mysterious anti-hero.

It's gonna be awesome, you guys. This is going to play with every comic book trope ever and it's (hopefully) going to be funny. I have a big long document with my outline, a list of page quotes (taken from Deadpool, X-Men, Spiderman, Batman, and Superman comics), a list of writing dares (SO MANY. I'll put some of them down), and a list of jokes to use.

Some writing dares I'm going to use:

-Have your MC try threaten to kill another character with a spoon. When asked why a spoon, the MC must answer with "because it would be painful".

-DARE: Have a character say "I reject your reality and substitute my own!" to another character.
- Bonus points if one of them is the main character
- Double bonus points if they scream it
- Triple bonus points if they run away immediately afterwards

-Include the lines:
"I could get a little nerdy on you. . ."
"You're allowed to have the initial reaction of wanting to punch him in the face."

-Include the following conversation:
Character A: Why would you think I don't like you?
Character B: You sent ninja assassins to kill me. Twice.
Character A: I said I was sorry.
-BP if character A really did hire ninja assassins
-DBP if character A is your MC
-TBP if the assassination attempts are completely justifiable
-QBP if characters A and B hook up at the end of your novel

-Include the line "a little bit of neither."
BP if it makes sense in context.

-I dare you to look up the "Word of the Day" (dictionary.com or wherever) and use that word somewhere in your story for that day.

-Have your villain use a different evil laugh every time s/he appears
+s/he asks the MCs what they think of it
++if the MCs actually give honest critique and tips on how to improve it
+++if this takes 500 words or more
++++if this brings the plot to a screeching halt
+++++ (and cookies) if it's because the villain is new to the business of being evil and also has problems managing his/her minions and coming up with evil plots

--Insert a character who insists on having a life soundtrack, and always has a musician following him/her around.
+ S/he is always correcting the musician. "NO! This is a bad guy I'm talking to! Minor key!"
++ The musician never speaks.
+++ The person is always acquiring new musicians, and has an entire orchestra following him/her around by the end of the book
(according to my notes, this will be either a keytar or a saxophone)

-Have a character who actually has a skeleton in their closet.
BP if, when asked about it, they reply with a very sarcastic "What, you don't have one?"
DBP if they refuse to say anything further about it.

-Bonus: The character says things that would be nonsensical outside of a video game (ex: "His hitpoints are low!)

-Dare: One of your characters pulls off a "CSI: Miami moment".
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sarYH0z948]
BP: The character who's doing this has short red hair.
TBP: They ask someone to borrow their glasses to pull this off.