I know I could have made a thread for this... but really it's the wrong forums in the first place.. so I try to keep my not at all LD related shit in my blog.
So, over the weekend I had a (seemed like it at the time anyway) fantastic idea for a new stand-alone novel. And I decided that working on it might give me to boost I need to care about my main series again.
But, I'm like 300 words in and have a massive issue - somewhere along the lines this book has turned into a mystery. I don't write that stuff generally because I'm not actually smart enough to pull it off. I'm too straight forward. But, I'm here now. I even have a general plan for this book, and that's probably a first. But I have no ending.
See, my main character is dead. Not a vampire or a zombie. But at some point during her life her body got stuck in time, and no longer functions. No heartbeat, can't eat, doesn't need to breathe, doesn't age, you get the idea. I don't know why this happened.
I also have a haunted house at the bottom of a lake that is somehow the key to all of this. I know already that as she swims down to the house her memories will return to her and blah blah. (Everyone else who tries to reach the house dies, because it's not really there. But that's another matter.)
But what does she find in the house?
Should I end the book by letting her finally have her death?
Or just by getting her body to restart/ she starts aging and breathing again?
Is the house hers, or someone elses?
Maybe the house is shifted in time to protect an object?
Other completely random ideas are also welcomed.
I know, I should go to the NaNo forums for this, but I like it better here.
Should I end the book by letting her finally have her death?
Or just by getting her body to restart/ she starts aging and breathing again?
In regards to this, I would say it depends on whether or not you plan to publish or if this piece is for you and you only to get back into the groove of writing. I don't like to say write to an audience, but the thing about people is that most people love a happy ending. One of my novels ended up getting a rejection in part because I was not willing to re-work the ending. I was in love with the way I ended my book, and so it's become a piece for my personal collection. I can see where it would leave people feeling ill at ease or something other than the fuzzy good feeling a lot of people want to feel at the end of a damn good book, and so I've decided that it's my baby and maybe there's a market for it, but I haven't found it. So one thing is to consider is if you want this piece to be something that reflects you and what you want for it, in which case I say go with whichever makes your heart sing, but if you want this piece to be something that's more broadly accepted, go for that she starts aging and breathing again.
Pan's Labyrinth was AMAZING , love that film!