July 2021: Sloane

My current placeholder name is "Sloane" - the name of one of my protagonists. It's sort of been my placeholder ever since I created Sloane's character, and the title of my Google Doc has been 'sloane story'. I will be definitely changing this down the line, but so far nothing has jumped out at me for a potential title so the project is untitled at the moment! I've been brainstorming, though, so maybe I will settle on one as Camp NaNo goes on.

THE PROJECT: The YA fantasy story follows two sisters, their relationship strained by the absence of their father, each hurting and coping in their own ways. Includes: fairies (!!!), a secret club, school paper, angry sisters, a bit of romance, and a private school intertwined with history and magic.

Eden Weaver founded his academy in 1920. Not only is Eden Weaver Academy one of the top private high schools in the country for its stellar academics, but there's always been something captivating by its architecture, its surrounding wilderness, and its magical charm.

Sloane is a senior at Eden Weaver. She's the editor of her school newspaper, top 5 in her class, and spends her Friday nights poring over articles, AP assignments, and her college app essays. She doesn't like to talk about what happened.

Lucy is Sloane's younger sister--though only by one year. She spends her Friday nights at parties, or hanging out with Logan, or locked in her room with the music on full volume. She doesn't try to talk to Sloane anymore.

Astrid is the mysterious girl who captures both of the sisters' attention.

MY GOALS: My Camp NaNo goal is 20,000 words which puts me at about 645 per day! Otherwise, my other goals are:
- just get started writing!! I'm not sure how far 20k will get me, but I just want to get over the daunting hurdle of starting
- in the process, maybe flesh out my plan for the resolution a bit more?? (lol)
- don't get hung up on writing woes - remember that it's just a first draft

PROMPT 1: WORLD-BUILDING

This novel is YA fantasy, though not high fantasy. Rather, most of the events that take place are in the real world, with the fantastical elements intermingling in the world. Fairies--the main magical element of the story--reside in safe havens around the world. The fairies are loosely based off of the Seelie and Unseelie Court mythologies. Eden Weaver Academy is located in an imaginary east-coast city, positioned in a cozy secluded area by the woods and is the primary setting of the story.

PROMPT 2: THE BEGINNING

Sloane, the ever diligent and ambitious student misses a deadline for a school project. Meanwhile, Lucy simply tells her to shake it off. This illustrates the rising tensions between the two sisters and their contrasting ways of dealing with their feelings. It's also gonna (hopefully) establish the setting of their fancy school. I'm not sure yet how soon I want to reveal the absence of their father, but that's something I want to hit somewhere near the beginning--though I'm thinking against doing it too early. Fairies don't come in quite yet

PROMPT 3: THE VILLAIN

On some level, the antagonist of the story are feelings, and Sloane and Lucy work to grapple with their own feelings, each others', and their friend's. One of the main conflicts throughout the whole story is their fractured relationship with each other, formed from feelings of anger, jealousy, and loneliness. However, on a larger scale, the main "villain" of the story is the threat to the fairy population located near Eden Weaver Academy. There's a bit more detail to it than that, but that's the general gist.

PROMPT 4: SUPPORTING CHARACTERS

Astrid!! aka my beautiful lovely baby. will come back to this!

Spoiler

Name: Astrid
Age: 17
Height: 5'6
Eye colour: gray/green
Physical appearance: Dull, thick blonde hair, usually worn in two side fishtail braids. Freckles. Cupid's bow, downturned eyes and thick eyebrows. rbf sometimes
Strange or unique physical attributes: sometimes her freckles may sparkle
Favourite clothing style/outfit: BROWN SKIRT AND BOOTS! cardigan over a white blouse.
Where do they live? What is it like there?
Defining gestures/movements:
Things about their appearance they would most like to change: she's pretty confident in her skin
Speaking style: Airy and cheerful
Pet peeves: when some of the kids at school use others for homework
Fondest memory:
Hobbies/interests:
Special skills/abilities:
Insecurities:
Quirks/eccentricities:
Temperament:
Negative traits:
Things that upset them.
Things that embarrass them:
This character is highly opinionated about:
Any phobias?
Things that make then happy:
Family (describe):
Deepest, darkest secret:
Reason they have kept this secret for so long:
Other people's opinions of this character:
Favourite bands/songs/types of music:
Favourite movies:
Favourite TV shows:
Favourite books:
Favourite foods:
Favourite sports/sports teams:
Political views:
Religion/philosophy of life:
Physical health:
Dream holiday:
Description of their house:
Description of their room:
Any pets?
Best thing that has ever happened to this character:
Worst thing that has ever happened to this character:
Superstitions:
Three words to describe this character:
If a song played every time this character walked into a room, what song would it be?

PROMPT 5: THE PLOT

*my more detailed plot outline is in a separate document, and it's pretty long and has some details I still wanna keep to myself, so I'm just gonna copy/paste my description for now.

The YA fantasy story follows two sisters, their relationship strained by the absence of their father, each hurting and coping in their own ways. Includes: fairies (!!!), a secret club, school paper, angry sisters, a bit of romance, and a private school intertwined with history and magic.

Eden Weaver founded his academy in 1920. Not only is Eden Weaver Academy one of the top private high schools in the country for its stellar academics, but there's always been something captivating by its architecture, its surrounding wilderness, and its magical charm.

Sloane is a senior at Eden Weaver. She's the editor of her school newspaper, top 5 in her class, and spends her Friday nights poring over articles, AP assignments, and her college app essays. She doesn't like to talk about what happened.

Lucy is Sloane's younger sister--though only by one year. She spends her Friday nights at parties, or hanging out with Logan, or locked in her room with the music on full volume. She doesn't try to talk to Sloane anymore.

Astrid is the mysterious girl who captures both of the sisters' attention.

+ FAIRIES!!

PROMPT 6: THE STRUCTURE

Only 2 days to go and I'm still debating whether or not I want to take the single POV or multiple POV path. :sob: I'm going to go for 3rd person, though I'm struggling with deciding if I want to go 3rd person limited (and only within Sloane), or 3rd person limited (that switches between Sloane's and Lucy's perspectives).

Also, as Sloane works for her paper (and is a present aspect of the story)--maybe I could include some of the storytelling through the school papers. Something that was just sparked by this prompt. It'll be something I consider as I half-pants my way through this LOL.

Rain! Your blurb is interesting! I want to learn more about Sloane, Lucy, that mysterious girl, and of course the location of the Academy. The story seems like there is more than meets the eye and I think that is the case with your plot as well. 20k is a nice goal (it's the same goal I have) so I give you a thumbs up and good luck on starting the project! It really is super difficult, but you can do it! You'll get to 20k in no time.

Oooh very curious to learn more!! I'll be excited to see how this develops.
And I love the idea of making one of your goals just STARTING. I always tell myself, especially with first drafts, that it doesn't have to be good it just has to exist. And that mental hurdle sometimes isn't always easy to jump to, but I think it can help take some pressure off. You got this!! 💜💜

Hey Rain!! We're halfway there!! Any progress towards that 20k?

@Carlito Ah yes!! I'm at 9000 right now and hoping to hit 9600 by tonight. Progress so far has been pretty smooth (And much less overwhelming than NaNoWriMo 50k, haha).