Young Writers Society

hungry girls

Genre: Adult contemporary fantasy(-romance) with YA crossover potential
Word Count: getting higher all the time
Pitch: Megan Callaghan joins a fantasy fellowship in the hopes of breaking a curse that doesn't allow her to eat any of her favorite foods.


Megan Callaghan has a dead-end job, no plan, and now, thanks to an irate customer, a curse: she can't eat tasty foods. But when a fellowship of fantasy heroes hires her, she gets a chance for adventure—and to break her curse.

Unfortunately, Megan doesn't know anything about curse-breaking. Or quests. Or fighting jerk-face enchanters who curse you when your coffee shop runs out of their favorite breakfast sandwich. And now she faces an even bigger challenge: to somehow not be the world's most awkward person while surrounded by a fellowship of cute people she's maybe falling in love with.

Especially the dark-eyed, knife-wielding, poetry-reading nonbinary ranger who might be falling in love with her, too.

Status: Drafting

omg I would read this in a heartbeat! I'm so excited to see how this goes!!

@JabberHut thanks! I need to do a write-up of the road so far and my goals, because I am,,,like,,,72k in already (seriously thought I'd be done before November but NO AS IT TURNS OUT), but it's a fun story full of queer pining and food-based angst!

the goal

Obviously the official goal for NaNoWriMo is 50,000 words in one month, but Hungry Girls is already 72,000 words aaaaaand I'm hoping I don't have 50,000 words left. My whole goal is to finish the novel. And I have no clue how many more words that will take, especially since I'll be slowly drafting through October as well.

But my goal is to finish the first draft.

PlanMo Journal Challenge

Join the Official PlanMo Club to start your own thread and complete the journal challenge!

1. World-building! What world do your characters live in? A fantasy world? A sci-fi world? The real world? If in the real world--what place? What makes the world your characters live in unique? Describe in your thread what your world looks like.

2. Have a think about your opening scene. Write about what plot points will be hit and what information will be shared in your first scene, or first scene that you consider to be important.

Originally I skipped this one since we're already 72,000 words into the story, but eventually I added it for the sake of having a complete PlanMo Journal.

3. Don't neglect your villain. We may spend less time with this character, but it is crucial to the existence of the plot that your character's opposition be as believable and interesting as possible. For this challenge, either write about your antagonist's aims, characteristics, flaws, fears etc or, if you're feeling musical, write a lament-style song for them.

4. Fill out the following questionnaire from the NaNo site about at least one of your side characters, though the more you do the more prepared you will be.


5. Two alternatives for outlining your plot: 1. Draw them as a graph, 2. Write a list of everything important that happens and in the margins make note of what happens in between.

I opted for the list with notes in the margins.

6. Think of at least one way in which the structure of your story could be interesting. You don't necessarily have to use this in your story, but it can be useful to have a think about if it's something that just hadn't occurred to you.

7. Post a brief outline of your plot on the club wall then go around all the other posts asking questions and suggesting plot holes that the author might want to correct.

I opted for a synopsis rather than an outline since I could use the practice, I'm so far into the story, and I had already planned to try writing a synopsis prior to revisions.

8. Give a rough outline of the key moment in your story so far. What is that one scene you're really, really excited to write?

9. Really dig into your main character. Write their motives and what is holding them back. What is the conflict in their way from reaching their desired goal?

10. Questions! Post some questions in your entry, then, since is the end of the journal, go round other finished journals answering questions with your thoughts. This month is likely to lead to different realisations for different people, or maybe some people are more experienced with NaNo than others. Either way, we are sure that if you ask a question of the YWS hivemind, the YWS hivemind will answer.

World-Building

Hungry Girls takes place in the world of the Chosen Grandma story, i.e. the real world with some modifications - the most significant of which is that magic exists and everyone knows about it. Because I'm lazy, magic changes history minimally: the details are different but the general outcomes are the same (except for certain particular ones I wanted to change just because). This world is all about the juxtaposition of the fantastical with the mundane. This story could only take place in just such a world.

As is my somewhat annoying habit, the story takes place in various places across the country: it starts in Michigan, where Megan lives and works as a barista; heads to the greater DC area for some investigation; and doubles back to Ohio, where the final showdown will take place because I like to show the Midwest some love (by which I mean I like to set things in Midwestern towns on fire in my stories).

The biggest consideration in this story is the Council of Wizards. Do I know exactly what they do or what effect they have on things in general? No. Do I need to figure thought eventually and clarify it in revisions? Yes, alas. Am I going to bother doing that now? Lol, no.

At any rate, the council exists. And,,,they have, like, certain rules and regulations, like there are certain ways they can't use magic no matter what. Not because they're incapable of doing so but because they've all agreed using magic in those ways is Bad and they're not going to do it. This is not a suggestion. If you use magic in banned ways, you get kicked off the council. Depending on the particular circumstances, you might also face criminal charges or other consequences.

Villain

Charles "Chip" Edgeworth. Yes. That is our villain's name. He's also known as Angry Breakfast Sandwich Guy, for reasons that will not be discussed here.

Anyway.

The ~Dramatic Backstory~

Chip had a seat on the council of wizards that he was all set to inherit, but there's a process: apply, interview, demonstrate. During his interview he talked about deregulation of magic, which he framed in terms of "think how much more we could do oh uh you know for people if we weren't so limited" but the wizards were like "um actually it sounds like you just want to be able to exercise unlimited power in anyway you see fit, hard pass." Even Chip's dad voted against him, which led to feelings of guilt that will be relevant later.

Chip's response to this (internally, it's not like he TELLS the council) is basically "FINE!!! I'LL START MY OWN COUNCIL!!! NYEH!!!" It's partly out of the personal affront and partly because he wants the power and connections of the council plus the ability to use whatever the hell magic he wants.

The point is to a) get this set up as basically a privatized council of wizards to b) deregulate magic so Chip can c) do,,,something nefarious. Do I know what this nefarious something is? No. Do I need to figure it out eventually and clarify it in revisions? Yes, alas. Am I going to bother doing that now? Lol, no.

The point is, bigger fish and all that. I'm just not sure what the bigger fish are right at this moment.

The ~Evil Scheme~

By the time Our Story begins, Chip has founded Wizards Inc, advertised as an ~exclusive club~ for enchanters, invitation-only. He's been recruiting other rejects of the council BUT bc they're all rejects no one takes them seriously. They need some council members for that sweet sweet ~respectability~ (and power and connections), but none of the council members will defect to their janky evil country club.

Sooooo Chip schmoozes his way into proximity with various council members and mind-whammies them into leaving the council and joining Wizards Inc. To the council, they seem to have simply disappeared.

(Since you were obviously wondering: yes, mind control is one of the uses of magic that is absolutely banned by the council.)

Dad is aware of this and very unhappy about it, but he's only half-heartedly tried to get Chip to stop because he Feels Bad™ about voting against Chip's council membership and ultimately feels like this is all his fault for doing just that. He comforts himself like "oh well at least he's not hurting them."

However, when Philostratus—the wizard who hired Our Heroes to find out why council members are disappearing—starts carefully poking around on his own, dad's like "um yo not to alarm you but philostratus has been asking around about you." Once Philostratus disappears too, dad realizes Chip probably abducted him, so that's his fault too, only more directly. Woooo. Good going, dad.

Since Philostratus has wound up on Chip's radar, the fellowship (i.e. Our Heroes) also wind up on his radar. Which becomes a problem not only because Chip obviously sees them as a potential obstacle but because in their confrontation he realizes that Charlie is a Force and could totally come in handy—after all, Charlie applied to the council too (although for different reasons), but unlike the willing members of Wizards Inc, he actually gets in.

Other Considerations

Also, Chip is the jerkface who cursed Megan and Trey so they can't eat delicious foods anymore.

NaNoWriMo Character Questionnaire

Name: Zafira Durrani
Age: early 20s
Height: tiny
Eye colour: dark brown
Physical appearance: short and athletic, medium brown skin, dark brown eyes, inky lashes, slightly aquiline nose, black hair in an undercut
Strange or unique physical attributes: not much to speak of unless you count the undercut lol
Favourite clothing style/outfit: black. anything black. usually loose black pants and layers of black shirts or a black shirt plus jacket plus scarves. black and layers.
Where does ze live? What is it like there? Detroit with hir parents when ze's not on a quest
Defining gestures/movements: scowling, crossing hir arms, walking around with hir hands in hir jacket pockets
Things about hir appearance ze would most like to change: hir nose, and also ze wouldn't mind being taller
Speaking style: not even sure what this means, but typically brief
Pet peeves: lol people
Fondest memory: hearing hir grandfather talk about Middle Eastern art
Hobbies/interests: art, poetry, knives
Special skills/abilities: knife-throwing, stabbing, shooting, oil pastels, painting
Insecurities: being vulnerable/opening up, that people won't like hir if ze does so
Quirks/eccentricities: I mean there's the whole "accessorizes with knives" thing
Temperament: more or less constantly annoyed with everything and everyone
Negative traits: difficulty opening up, difficulty being nice even with people ze likes/wants to like hir, quick temper
Things that upset hir: letting hir temper get the better of hir when ze wants to be nice and good to certain people, death in general, rejection in general even though ze tries to act like it's nbd
Things that embarrass hir: literally anything ze says or does when actually attempting to open up or be vulnerable, being caught in a kind act
This character is highly opinionated about: the fact that coffee should be drunk black
Any phobias? heights, thunderstorms
Things that make hir happy: art galleries, the poetry of Ifti Nasim, beautiful sunsets and sunrises, a good cup of coffee (black, of course)
Family (describe): Christian mom and Muslim dad, neither particularly devout; extended family that's a bit more devout, but Zafira's never really figured out which religion speaks to hir more, if it's either of them and not something else or nothing at all. only child; parents had trouble conceiving, Zafira was basically a miracle, then there were some miscarriages, then they stopped trying. many aunts, uncles, and cousins on both sides, but Zafira was never closer to anyone than her paternal grandfather, now deceased.
Deepest, darkest secret: jokes that ze gave up art bc stabbing things is more fun, but really gave up art bc ze couldn't bear it anymore once her grandfather died
Reason ze has kept this secret for so long: lol who's ze gonna tell??? as far as ze's concerned, no one needs to know. plus, ze doesn't like being vulnerable. ze's convinced this somehow gives people power over hir, and ze's unwilling to give it. plus it hurts hir just to talk about it.
Other people's opinions of this character: the fellowship loves and accepts hir, even if most of them find hir exasperating in hir determined mysteriousness; hir extended family is similar, while hir parents' exasperation is minimal and they know ze's softer than ze lets on; people in general are confused by and/or a bit frightened of hir; Megan finds hir inexplicably attractive.
Favourite bands/songs/types of music: eclectic but generally likes sadder sounds
Favourite movies: Disney Renaissance and beyond
Favourite TV shows: secretly loves The Good Place but would never admit this
Favourite books: poetry books, especially the works of Ifti Nasim
Favourite foods: anything hir mom or grandmother make, plus mashed potatoes
Favourite sports/sports teams: literally doesn't care about sports, would prefer to see a knife-throwing competition
Political views: progressive
Religion/philosophy of life: covered this under family but basically raised between Christianity and Islam but without particularly devout influences in either; general philosophy, inherited from hir paternal grandfather (who was more deboutly Muslim but struggled in his faith after his wife's death), is to be kind and to help those who need it (even though ze is generally annoyed with everything and doesn't like people)
Physical health: ...fine?
Dream holiday:
Description of hir house: ze lives with hir parents when not on a quest, a cozy two-story in Detroit
Description of hir room: small and dim, lit predominantly with fairy lights when ze's home, bed tucked in the corner and covered in a fluffy, dark quilt, favorite poems written out in calligraphy and framed on hir walls, floor usually a semi-mess of books, knives, and the odd art supply
Any pets? ze's on the road too much and also too scared of a pet dying, although hir parents have a cat ze loves on when ze's home
Best thing that has ever happened to this character: objectively, joining the fellowship, although ze would disagree. but then ze wouldn't be able to tell you what the best thing was.
Worst thing that has ever happened to this character: hir grandfather's death
Superstitions: believes in ghosts and is p sure ze saw one once, but ze's terrified that ze might someday see the ghost of someone ze cares about, which would somehow be more upsetting than them being gone forever
Three words to describe this character: stabby, grumpy, secretive
If a song played every time this character walked into a room, what song would it be? heartbeats by the knife (cover by Jose Gonzalez), wait for it from hamilton, jailhouse tango from chicago, makedamnsure by taking back sunday, or blood by mcr

Plot

I went with the option to write down the major plot points and then fill in the rest in the margins, but I only did the remaining plot, not the plot from start to finish. Image descriptions in the spoilers.

Structure

Skipping the plot prompt for now because it's a) in progress and b) in my journal. Since I went with the option to write down major plot points and fill the rest in in the margins, I figure I'll do pictures for that one, once it's done.

ANYWAY.

Obviously 72k into the story I'm not suddenly going to change the structure. I could. But I'm not quite that chaotic. So Hungry Girls is told in the usual way.

But I feel like if I were to play with the structure, I'd write the story in the form of personal literature - mostly diary entries from Megan, but also text messages, letters, emails, maybe even bits and pieces of a contract or something. Receipts. Signage.

Dang.

That actually sounds pretty fun.

We'll see what happens in revisions, I guess.

Synopsis

Rather than a plot outline, I opted for a synopsis, because I wanted to try writing a synopsis prior to revising this time to see if it helps me at all/clarifies anything. This is what I'll be posting on the club wall for feedback. I feel like it seems like there are a lot of plot holes because this isn't a super clear synopsis, but in my defense, I was four drafts deep in the Chosen Grandma story before I attempted a synopsis. This time, I'm only most of the way through a first draft.

Okay. Here we go.



MEGAN CALLAGHAN has a dead-end job as a barista, no dating life, and no notable hobbies. She doesn't mean to be like this: Megan dreams of adventure. But she's so awkward, insecure, and scared of change that nothing can break her out of her rut—not even a curse from an angry customer that leaves her unable to eat anything but gruel.

When a lying customer pushes Megan to leave the coffee shop, she gets a job traveling with and making coffee for a fellowship-for-hire instead, a small group of fighters, healers, and enchanters who go on adventures and quests for clients. Their latest client is a wizard worried about the disappearance of several members of the Council of Wizards: the Council of Wizard governs magic usage and is made up of the best of the best enchanters, enchanters whose power could be disastrous in the wrong hands.

Megan heads to DC with the fellowship to begin their investigation into the disappearance of the wizards. As she gets to know the members of the fellowship better, she finds herself falling for their dark-eyed, knife-wielding, poetry-reading nonbinary ranger, ZAFIRA DURRANI—who might be falling for her, too. But Zafira is prickly and curt, and Megan is awkward and insecure, and despite a shared bed and a covert make-out session, Megan fears she's wrong about everything.

The fellowship's preliminary investigation yields clues that point to a mysterious business called Wizards Inc, run by one CHIP EDGEWORTH: none other, Megan realizes, when she sees his picture on WI's website, than the irate coffee shop customer who cursed her. The fellowship heads to Toledo, the location of WI's headquarters, to investigate further. Before they go, Megan takes the plunge and tells Zafira how she feels. Zafira feels the same way.

A trip to WI leaves the fellowship more mystified than before: it seems like a normal enough business, if a little vague in terms of mission or business plan, but it gives them bad vibes. Worse, when the fellowship's leader calls their client to check in, he can't get ahold of him and begins to fear that the client has also gone missing. The fellowship heads back to WI that night, armed and under cover of darkness, for a fuller and more secret investigation. Despite Megan's protests, they leave her behind for her own safety: she's not trained in any weapons, and after the bad vibes they got earlier, they worry what will happen if there's a fight.

As the night drags on and the fellowship doesn't return, Megan gets increasingly anxious and finally goes after them, armed with nothing but a cup of scalding-hot coffee and a knife from Zafira that she doesn't know how to use. WI is in flames. She can't find anyone but Zafira, who is injured and scared. Megan brings Zafira back to their inn and patches hir up as best she can, using a little magic to help stitch up the wounds.

The rest of the fellowship returns slowly, two of them injured, and missing their enchanter, who stayed behind to fight so the rest of them could escape. Zafira takes a turn for the worse: Megan didn't know it when she cared for Zafira, but Zafira is allergic to magic. Panicked, scared, and certain the fellowship hates her for messing up this badly, Megan sets out to find Chip Edgeworth and their missing enchanter alone.

Megan finds the surviving members of Wizards Inc, the missing council members, and the fellowship's enchanter, under Chip's magical control but fighting it. Chip laughs when she confronts him, off-handedly offering to remove her curse if she'll leave. Megan almost considers it: she isn't a hero; she's not brave; she hardly knows what she's doing here; she's tired of eating nothing but gruel. But she refuses to mess up again, and she cares about the fellowship. She refuses.

Chip doesn't care, figuring he'll just put her under his control like he has the others; maybe she can make them some good coffee for a change. To his surprise, it doesn't work: they're bound by the curse he put on her. At this point it's less hassle to kill her than anything else, but the rest of the fellowship arrives in time to fight him—including Zafira, who's more stable after being cared for by the fellowship healer. Chip and the rest of WI are shut down, and Chip is forced to remove Megan's curse.

Megan feels stupid for not stopping him herself, but her friends tell her there's a reason they work as a fellowship: there's nothing weak or bad about needing help. She did something brave—maybe stupid, but brave—going on a rescue mission alone and confronting the man who cursed her. She did something brave rescuing Zafira from the burning WI headquarters and telling Zafira how she felt. And she should be proud of that.

The fellowship celebrates the end of their job with a feast, and Megan finally gets to eat something that isn't gruel. There is also more smooching with Zafira, probably.

Key Moment

Being 72k in, I've definitely already hit many key moments. But upcoming, the most important bits are probably Megan going after the fellowship, Megan going after Charlie, and Megan confronting Chip. I am most excited for Megan going after the fellowship and Megan going after Chip, a) because angst and b) because I don't,,,actually,,,know any details re: Megan confronting Chip. So let's do a rough outline of those first two together.

• the fellowship, armed this time, heads back to Wizards Inc's headquarters to investigate in secret, leaving Megan behind bc she's not trained in weaponry and things could be dangerous
• Megan pleads, but Cap is firm about her remaining behind
• as night wears on, however, she gets increasingly anxious when the fellowship doesn't return. at last she goes after them, taking a cup of hot coffee and a knife Zafira left behind as weapons

(Side note: I realize it's odd that she takes a cup of hot coffee as a weapon, but Megan has coffee magic, and she's thinking this is at least something she knows how to use. She figures she can just enchant the coffee to be extra, extra scalding hot and then, like, throw it in someone's face, or something. Just trust me that this makes sense in context.)

• Megan finds the Wizard's Inc building in flames. the only person she can find it Zafira, injured, alone, and terrified. Zafira tells her to just leave hir there: it's not like Megan can heal hir, and maybe the others are already dead. Megan tells hir to stop talking like that, she's obviously not leaving hir behind, the others definitely aren't dead (she hopes, but she's actually incredibly anxious on this point).
• Megan brings Zafira back to their inn and cares for hir as best she can. she doesn't know anything about medicine or healing magic, and she doesn't know if Zafira's allergic to magic anyhow. she stitches hir stab wound up with her sewing kit, eventually deciding to enchant the needle so the stitches will hurt as little as possible. surely just enchanting the needle can't hurt anything.
• Taman returns alone and uninjured. she takes over Zafira's care but is enraged when she learns that Megan used magic on hir—Zafira's allergic. Megan panics and becomes a useless lump in the corner. Rafe returns next, uninjured, with Cap, who has a head wound, and AJ, who has a broken arm. Charlie is gone: Rafe had to leave him behind, fighting, to get the others out. Cap is distraught, not least because he needs care and Taman and Rafe won't let him go back with the state he's in right now.
• Megan learns from Rafe that Taman's so upset not only bc Zafira's magic allergy means she's seriously in danger but bc Taman lost a child when she grew desperate during a bout of illness, used magic in an attempt to heal her child, and only afterward found out about an unknown magic allergy. Far from making Megan feel better that it's not really about her, it makes her feel worse to know that she's triggered such a devastating memory in Taman.
• Panicked, scared for Charlie, sad for the rest of the fellowship, and determined to fix things, Megan heads out to rescue Charlie alone.

Main Character

Megan Callaghan, twenty-something, barista, human disaster. She dreams of adventure, friendship, and romance, but she's insecure, awkward, and anxious about the future, change, and life in general. Even a curse isn't enough to spur her into action. It's not until AJ shows up with a job offer from the fellowship—and one more customer annoys Megan into quitting—that she finally leaves the coffee shop and embarks on adventure.

The fellowship is good for Megan, because they accept her with all her flaws and they're patient with her. AJ is such an overpowering force of positivity and acceptance that Megan relaxes around her, feeling less scared of messing up a friendship than usual and more assured of having someone around when she needs it. Zafira pushes her to stand up for herself and to tell people to heck off when something's none of their business. Charlie relates to her because they're both insecure and anxious, only he's more so, so that sometimes means she actually has to step up and be the bold or comforting one. Cap holds her—like the whole fellowship—to a high standard and expects a lot from her, but he's also patient with her and has her doing things that are within her reach, at least by stretching.

Obviously Megan's still insecure, awkward, and anxious, but it seriously helps that the fellowship welcomes and accepts her and pushes her to do things anyway. She starts taking more risks, like offering to comfort Zafira when ze needs it, talking to Trey, and going after the fellowship when they don't return from Wizards Inc. That said, it's still her insecurities and anxiety that hold her back—although, perhaps ironically, it's also that which pushes her to do her biggest, riskiest thing and go to rescue Charlie alone.

some doodles

Image descriptions in the spoiler below each one.


Megan Callaghan, twentysomething super awkward questioning-but-definitely-somehow-queer barista.




Zafira Durrani, twentysomething stabby nonbinary grump.

I haven't read all of this thread all the way through, but I love how this story builds on the universe you created in Edna's story! I always wanted to see more of the worldbuilding because it was so cool and fascinating, so skimming this thread & seeing that it's set in the same world makes me so excited. <3