Dreams of Darkness: Nano Approaches!

So there's only one more day before Nanowrimo begins, and I am excited. Have I mentioned that? Perhaps a few times. So as the sounds of rabid pre-teens dressed as ghosts, vampires and Miley Cyrus fade away down my deceptively dark driveway I thought I would upload the blurb for my novel, and the cover. Perhaps my Miss Havisham-like confinement to the house on a Sunday night and my intense dislike of small children might perhaps make me question my attitudes towards life, tonight I couldn't care less. And why? Because I'm about to write what I hope will be my most well-thought out and fun story yet... in just thirty days.


Yes, I think I can honestly say I have never planned so hard or researched so much for anything I've ever written before. And now that I'm actually here, I'm gripped with a nervous fear; what if I open up Word tomorrow and have absolutely no idea what to write? Worse still, what if I write ten words of such complete and utter garbage that I'm forced to abandon the entire project and take up something less challenging than writing a novel, like piranha-baiting or designing ballerina outfits for small, vicious, and underfed Chihuahuas....

But here it is anyway; because I figure my Nano-induced cold feet may just, in their own way, defeat the whole point of the exercise. Namely, to write 50 000 words in thirty days and just enjoy finishing what I've started for once.


So with this thought in mind, I signed myself up for the Nanowrimo Blog Chain, which can be found here, and took another long look at my blurb and cover (which I must admit I am quite happy with).


So here, for better or worse, is my novel plan. Based on my intense love of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey and Austen's funny yet humane parody of the Gothic novels which were so popular in her own time, I plan to write a parody of the supernatural romance genre which is so popular at the moment. So without further ado, here we go:

There is a formula. It goes like this.


You take one plain and unsuspecting heroine. Separate her from her natural environment. Add her to a small mixing-bowl of a typical small-town high school. Blend lightly. To this mixture add one dark and brooding hero with supernatural cravings and an eye for large mountainous animals. Then separate the two from the rest of the mixture and leave to set.


Mia Sargent knows this formula by heart. So when she is transplanted to the small Australian town of Hemsworth she knows that all of her darkest and most delicious dreams are about to be fulfilled. When Mia meets the dark and reclusive Declan Brown she thinks she's found her romantic hero. If only she could convince him to admit his undying love, burning passion, and unquenchable bloodlust for her very existence. Or maybe even just call her.


But Mia won't let this stop her. She's going to make sure this story goes the way she wants. Even if that means proving that things in Hemsworth are more dangerous than anyone realises.


Sometimes things are exactly as they seem. But just how much trouble can one girl get into to prove herself a heroine?

What fun! So now, with only a few hours between us and the beginning of Nano (it hardly seems real!) I feel a bit better about the whole endeavour.


So there we have it. I've made a number of different covers, but the cover up the top is the final choice, a decision made with the wonderful help of everyone at Scribbler's Abode. Just for fun, though, here are two other potential covers:

This post is part of the Nanowrimo Blogchain.

My profile at Nanowrimo is here.

Nanowrimo novel covers: Images courtesy of Rammkitty-stock and Dazzle-Textures. Design by Milena March.