NovMo '24: Dreamwalker

The title is a placeholder kind of; tbd.


Goals:

• Reach 50,000 words
  
• - Or at least more than I did last year
• Take a look at what others have!
• Have fun!

Brief Synopsis (subject to change):

The world isn't black and white... except to Evelyn. She can't see color at all. And the less than enthusiastic Emyr is forced to help her out. But when Evelyn starts getting sick - really sick - she decides to undergo a dangerous procedure. No one should ever enter their mind; stepping on a single blade of grass could ruin everything. But Emyr watches it all unfold as his ward - the person who considers him a friend - is slowly dying. Does he have what it takes to protect her?

Interesting!! Have you read The Giver? The black and white world reminds me of that! Can other people see color? And why will stepping on a single blade of grass ruin everything?
Looking forward to seeing how this develops!!

Oh no this got lost in my notifications! Thank you @Carlito for your interest!

Yes! I love The Giver! It's one of my favorites. I didn't think about that, but it does remind me of that world, too! I guess my synopsis is a bit confusing...

So, Evelyn is the only one who can't see color. She has a condition called Achromatopsia, which means she can't see any color at all - only shades of gray, in simple terms. So most other people can see color - just like our world! The genre is fairly similar to Realistic Fiction, but there are some fantasy elements... like someone entering their mind. (Kind of like dreaming, but conscious) It's a bit hard to explain, so I'll save you from reading an essay, but it's very risky, a bit like brain surgery is in real life. If you accidentally harm the wrong part of the brain in surgery, even a small part, so much could be affected. That's basically what I meant.

But thank you again!! I hope your baking rom com is going well! It sounds so interesting :O

Elevator Pitch

Emyr is supposed to take care of Evelyn, but how can he do that when he can’t take care of himself? Both struggle with keeping balance in their mind, although for different reasons. Something within Evelyn’s mind needs to be fixed even though she says she’s fine, and Emyr says something is broken, even though he doesn’t need to be fixed. And the only way to “fix” someone’s mind is for them to Dreamwalk - a bit like sleepwalking, but in the dreamscape. And just like sleepwalking, if you trip and fall in your mindscape, you’ll injure yourself. Sometimes permanently.

Main Character


Emyr is honestly a little bit selfish (and hypocritical). He has a hard time seeing what others are feeling, but he wants people to notice him beyond what he does for others. But he is a hard worker - he wants to be a doctor and is aware of the time and energy it takes to do that. He’s also funny - many people enjoy time around him because of his personality.

After the inciting incident, Emyr believes that he isn’t good enough, in a sense, and he believes that something inside him needs to change. In the beginning of the story, he believes he’s so different from everyone else (like many teens), and he thinks that people should work hard to get what they want, and if they don’t, they’re lazy. He assigns characteristics to people in his mind, but doesn’t bother to realize that they can change and are in fact ever-changing people.

Emyr really just wants to be known - he wants to stand out to people in the ways he thinks are important. That's what he wants in the beginning. But later, he wants people to know him. Very similar, but there's a slight difference. From that want, he thinks the only way to be known by people “the right way” is to change himself in some way - and he is aware of many mistakes he's made, and by making himself worthy of being known by others, he atones for some of those mistakes.

The plot is going to show him that people have other perspectives and are changing beings, which this close-minded character struggles with.

Side Character


Evelyn is afraid of a lot of things - kind of a basic thing about her. Scared of her disability, scared of people, scared of candy canes and marshmallows. (But of course she tells no one any of this.) Despite her fears, she wants to get closer with people. Sometimes she hides her fear (a huge central part of herself) because she thinks it will drive people away - the thing she wants most. If she was to get close to someone - actually close on both sides, she might not be as afraid. Sometimes it's just because it's a habit. In the eyes of the story and the plot, she's the inciting incident, basically, in Emyr's life. They're close, especially later on, and are closer friends than either of them realize.

Most Challenging Character


I mean, honestly, it’s two characters. It can be two characters, can’t it? *pleading eyes*

Evelyn is going to be hard. Not only do I have to write her from Emyr’s perspective (and he views her VERY differently than I view her), but also, I really really need to be careful not to make her too similar to another character I already have (which she was based on, so double tricky), but also, I need to be careful to not make her cliche. In my head she’s the classic shy girl cliche, but she’s more than that, okay? She’s my little buddy; I love her. Okay but in addition to all that, she’s colorblind, and I need to be extremely careful not to get anything wrong. Not only would that be misinformation, but it could be hurtful and insensitive. A lot of extra research will be needed, and even then, every single scene with her in it will later have to be checked 47 times before I’ll feel even remotely okay about it. (I’m not 100% sure why I gave her that disability, as I try to avoid them so as not to offend or inaccurately portray someone or something… but, um… it’s important so we’re keeping it.)

And then Emyr… I really just don’t know who he is. He makes no sense to me, and I feel like he has no real character. (Says me who is literally less than two days away from the start of NovMo at the time of writing this… I don’t even know my main character. Classic.) I’ve decided for this story to add an overarching theme to everything that’s centered around him, and it will be hard to fit everything while still giving him room to breathe as a character. The theme honestly might change so I’m not too worried about it, but I’ve found that writing the main character is always the single hardest character for me to write. He’ll take significantly more thought to write, and probably many writing blocks shall originate from him in the coming weeks.

Vibes


A little sketch I did that was supposed to be a sketch but it's a little more than a sketch but not quite a good full scale drawing. It's my main buddies! Yay!

Inspiring Music



When I first heard this song, I didn't like it, but it's grown on me heavily. I love it now. And tiny parts of my character Evelyn are based on this song, including her name.

Inciting Incident


For Emyr, it’s really when he tells Evelyn that he’s not her friend. He didn’t mean it entirely, but he mostly did, and that completely changed their relationship. Even though it’s around the same time that Evelyn’s illness gets worse and is the catalyst for many other things in the plot, their relationship is at the center of it all. (It of course is extremely important.) Most importantly, their relationship leads to Emyr’s character development later on in the story.

The Single Spooktober Challenge I Actually Did


3. How do each of your side characters feel about horror movies?

You’d think that Evelyn would hate them. She’s terrified of so many things in real life, why would she want to see them more? However, she has a morbid fascination with horror movies, and to her, it’s kind of saying that there are scarier things out there. And also, these are all things that she doesn’t have to be afraid of.
I can imagine Emyr’s mother wouldn’t like them, mostly because they were movies and not really caring about the horror aspects. What I have of her so far, she’s very strict and cares about getting things done, but honestly, I need to change her character a lot so that may change XD
Evan (although maybe not in this story) would like horror movies. He thinks they are cool and exciting, but gets annoyed when they don’t make sense logically or scientifically.

Today's Word Count: 1727
Total Word Count: 1727
Snippet:

Evelyn takes the cans of beans from Emyr’s outstretched hands and places them in her own.
And Evelyn certainly does not almost drop them again. But she keeps her grip firm and her mouth shut. She doesn’t want the beans to spill.

Notes:
While I was looking for a snippet, I realized parts here and there were switched between past tense and present tense (It's supposed to be present) so I'll have to keep a closer eye on how my tenses are tensing.
But other than that I'M STILL SO EXCITED CAN YOU BELIEVE NOVMO IS HERE AND WE'RE DOING IT??