What I Wrote For #NaNoWriMo 2021

December 01, 2021

What I Wrote For #NaNoWriMo 2021

Long time no blog! I had a crazy fall season, but I am SO THANKFUL to be heading into December - a time to relax and recuperate from a...less than stellar 2021 year. I'm particularly excited to dive into Christmas and into a Lord of the Rings reread.

BUT, before we can have holidays, we have #NaNoWriMo! And what better way to rejoin the blogosphere than with a recap of my '21 NaNo project...

QUARTER PAST MIDNIGHT

YA Sci-fi // Standalone

A boy who never misses a shot.

A girl who can kill with a wink.

An enemy who will stop at nothing to control them and keep them from the truth.

Jasper Harker is a professional hitman, the nephew of Marcus Russo, notorious leader of Las Vegas’ Panther gang. Though born into a Gifted family and surrounded by Gifted mobsters, Jasper has never developed powers of his own, and longs to prove himself to his hardened uncle. At his insistence, Jasper is given a mission to kidnap the daughter of rival gang lord, Peter Andromeda - the Spider. But complications arise when Jasper learns that Mia too is Gifted, with a nearly unstoppable power, and she has her own mission in mind.

Thrown into a disastrous, wild road trip down the California coastline, Jasper and Mia quickly learn that the criminal underworld they have grown up in is not all it seems, and the allies and enemies they have always understood may be hiding more than they ever knew.

I picked this out of my plot bunnies last minute, so it was uh, interesting to say the least trying to figure out what I was doing with just a few weeks of October left to prep.

What inspired Quarter Past Midnight?

This was a combination of inspiration. A bit of Pulp Fiction aesthetic, with the idea of gang members inheriting superhuman powers and how that would play out in 90's California/Nevada.

Who is/are the MC(s)?

My POV character is Jasper Harker, nephew of notorious leader of the Panther gang, Marcus Russo. Though Jasper is an experienced hitman and member of his uncle's mob, he is not Gifted like the majority of his uncle's men, and has spent his life proving that he is the equal of Gifted individuals after the loss of his parents to gang violence. He accepts a job to kidnap Mia Andromeda, the daughter of rival gang lord, Peter Andromeda, and that's where our secondary MC comes in...

Mia is the daughter of Peter Andromeda, leader of LA's Spider gang. Unfortunately for Jasper, Mia is Gifted, and far more powerful than he knew, with telepathic and telekinetic powers. The ensuing roadtrip down the California coast as uneasy allies is full of soul-searching and survival.

What is the target audience for this story?

I'm aiming for older YA! It's got a sci-fi/action blend going too.

What is the opening sentence?

"It was still too warm in the hitman’s car, even with the windows down, even with the sun sunk below the horizon."

This is the current opening sentence but in my writing I realized I may have to go back and start a little earlier in the story, but these were the first words I put down for NaNo.

What do I think of the characters and who is my favorite to write about?

I've honestly really been enjoying writing about Jasper and Mia both. Especially the slow-burn relationship they developed over the course of the story. It's really fun working with a character who can read minds and move things with her own mind, and how that affects their relationship and level of trust, as well as how they go about surviving their situation as fugitives of both the law and their gang families.

Jasper himself has a host of personal issues that have been fun to explore through the prism of a couple on the run. You can even get a bit of a Bonnie and Clyde vibe going in this story.

What are my plans with this story?

Publishing someday! I haven't fully finished the draft so who knows when that will ever happen as I have quite a few other things in the works before this one. But I am super happy that it's out on the table and ready to go in the future when I have the time for it.

What was my NaNo writing process? And did I win?

It was mostly pretty good! For the majority of the month, up until the last week, I was fully on track with my 1600 words per day and keeping a good rhythm. I had several incredibly busy days near the end of the month but finished up strong with the almost 8k I had fallen behind on doing a write-in with a friend. I was so glad to get it finished yesterday and hit the 50k! Though I'm not actually finished the story, I am definitely ready for a breather through December.