Let me introduce you to my NaNoWriMo project: THEATRE OF CURIOUS ACTS.
Oh, and by the way – I’m cheating. The ‘Theatre of Curious Acts’ is a set of intertwined stories set over a century – three novellas and two short stories – all heading toward the same conclusion. The basic premise is:
The Grim Reaper is a girl, her name is Olivia and her pale horse is a pirate ship. When Daniel Cole, a shell-shocked WW1 soldier, is transported to the surreal otherworld where she resides, he ruins her and her sisters plans for the coming apocalypse.
So we have:
Part One: Shrapnel From a Broken Smile
A ghost story. It’s 2008, the once glorious ‘Theatre of Curious Acts’ is derelict and provides the perfect playground for a boy out to impress a girl.
Part Two: Paper Dragons
In 1918 a group of WW1 Soldiers head out to the Theatre of Curious Acts for a fabled ‘Paper Dragon’ show. They are transported to a surreal otherworld where Daniel Cole and Swan Ecklund are beguiled by two sisters – Olivia and Blanche.
Part Three: (The man with) One Yellow Shoe
It is 1985 and Harvey Cadell (one of our soldiers from ‘Paper Dragons’) has returned to the theatre, which is now a cinema, to catch one last performance before he dies. And in the hope he will find a door back to that otherworld and some of his lost friends. Instead he meets The Collector of Memories and finds himself trapped in a movie.
Part Four: Monstrous Interlude
It’s 1955 and during the showing of a B-movie a monster escapes. It is up to ‘The Collector of Memories’ to put it back.
Part Five: Anticipating Pitchforks
Daniel Cole returns from the otherworld just in time for Armageddon. Oh, and he’s arrived on Olivia’s pirate ship and her sisters are following in their own transport: a zeppelin, a battleship and a train.
12 comments:
Your outline is a lot more in depth than mine is. I am debating about adding more detail to mine- Just to be safe.
That is a really amazing and awesome project! And not cheating at all--it all combines into a novel, right? So you've written a novel when you finish it!
Excellent idea, Cate - it looks like it's going to be fabulous!
Very nice. I like the five act structure of course. It looks like your November will be quite fun. ;)
I've thought about it - but I don't know. . . I'm still thinking.
Jamie - There is also the fear with an indepth outline can make for a boring write - I wouldn't worry.
KC - I still feel like I'm cheating, but I've been emersed in short stories & short MG novels this year that I wasn't certain I could crank out 50,000 of one full story in a month. :( Plus everyone should cheat at least once a month.
Cheers, Jodi :)
Aaron, let's hope so.
Kim - do it. :)
Wow. That's not cheating. That's fabulous!
Sounds very very cool. Your outline is much more thorough that the 6 hand written pages of notes I have for my own endeavor.
Cheers, Carrie :)
Barry, it's what's written on those 6 pages that matters.
This looks like so much fun. My only complaint is that we won't get to read it right away! Totally something I'd eat up with a spoon.
Thanks, Katey :)
That's interesting. My NaNoWriMo novel's title is Olivia, and it's about a young prophet of the same name. You're already ahead of me in wordcount, too. :(
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