Tell Me What to Write Ten

As I promised last week, I'm going to let you guys decide what sort of novel I should write for NaNoWriMo 2012. When I first thought of doing this I imagined simply opening up comments to let everyone give me any idea on what they wanted to see me turn into story, but not everyone who stops in here does so because they like me, and we'd probably end up with some unlikely/unworkable/unsavory suggestions and/or some mischief with the ballot box.

This idea also has to be something I genuinely want to write, especially if I'm to generate enough enthusiasm and energy to get it done in a month, for which I don't think I have to apologize. There is nothing drearier than writing a story that you don't want to tell. I don't want to play it safe, but I definitely want to win NaNoWriMo 2012, so starting out with an idea that thrills me and will help make that happen is important.

In the end I decided to make a list of ideas I already have on file that I'd really like to turn into novels, and let you all vote for which one appeals to you the most. This includes ideas with established characters and/or universes as well as some new ideas, so it should be a good range.  And here's the list of:

Ten Things I Can Write for NaNoWriMo 2012

A.  A story set in the new series I've just sold (details of which must remain mysterious until the contract is signed [shortly] and the sale announced [in early November.]  All I can tell you at the moment is that it's a new genre for me.) 

B.  Dark fantasy haunted-house tale set in the Darkyn universe (all-new characters.)

C.  Dark fantasy Kyndred story featuring Valori, Ethan and Nathan from Frostfire.

D.  Dark fantasy story featuring Cristophe Noir from the Lords of the Darkyn trilogy.

E. Paranormal historical romance that takes place in one of Jane Austen's settings.

F. Paranormal modern-day mystery about a psychic ghost writer.

G. Sci-fantasy in a near-future world overtaken and transformed by the vengeful spirits of ancient gods and monsters.

H.  Science fiction novel set in the StarDoc universe featuring Keasa Delaney and Sev Andar from my short story Arcanum.

I. Surprise story (aka make it my choice.)

J. Tales of the Lost Ledger #2, a YA story, featuring Kari Carson and Connor Devlin from Dark of Heart.

If you'd like to see me write one of these stories, vote for it by letter in comments. To keep it fair please vote only once. The idea that collects the most votes by midnight EST on Saturday, October 13, 2012 will be the novel I write for NaNoWriMo; to be announced on Sunday, October 14th.

PBW2K

According to Blogger, tomorrow's post will be the 2000th entry I add to Paperback Writer. My count is 1856 published, but I checked the archives and turns out there are 144 draft posts I've also written that for whatever reason I didn't publish. I think I'll queue them up and take off the next twenty weeks. See you all in October.

Kidding. Would I do that to you guys? Well, at least now you know I can.

I don't do open thread posts (for reasons that would doubtless insult the bloggers who do them) but I like polls and visitor request posts, and whether we're at the two thousandth or eighteen hundred fiftieth mark, I think we're about due for one. So if you don't mind answering some questions:

What writing- or publishing-related topics are you interested in reading here?

Which posts are the most helpful to you?

Would you like to see more humor, less humor, or is the current amount okay?

What can I do to make PBW a better resource for writers?

Readers, anything specific you'd like to see here on the blog?

Disgruntled stalkers, getting tired of coming here every day yet?

Visitors, paying attention now, aren't you?

Want me to shut down the blog after post 2K? If so, why?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you care to make, anonymously or otherwise.

Poll Results

My visitors have voted, and the results of the Kyn Poll 2009 are:

Richard & Elíane: 13
Korvel: 11
John Keller: 10
Phillipe: 10
New characters: 8
Marcella: 6
Guy: 5
Marian: 4
Nick & Gabriel: 4
Luisa: 3
Shalan: 3
Kyan & Melanie: 2
Thierry & Jema: 2
Any character: 1
Armand: 1
Gilanden: 1

Richard & Elíane are the clear winners, so the next Darkyn free e-book will feature a continuation of their storyline (which should be really different from what I've done so far, as well as a decent writing challenge for me.)

Since Korvel came pretty close to tying R&E for the top spot, I thought about having him as a secondary character in the e-book. But honestly, I think Korvel needs his own novel-length story to resolve his issues. I had tentatively planned to feature him as a protagonist in a future Darkyn print standalone (the story would probably include Nick and Gabriel as secondary characters doing what I had Nick and Alex discuss in STN) should that ever come to pass. I don't know right now; I'm going to give it some more thought.

Thank you all for the input. It really helps me to hear what you're thinking and what you'd like to read in the future.

Kyn Poll 2009

I'm planning out my 2009 work schedule, and it looks like I can write at least one, possibly two Darkyn e-books to post on Scribd before the end of the year. These will be just like the other Darkyn free e-books I've published myself; they'll be available to readers all over the globe for reading online, downloading, printing and educational/non-profit distribution. *Note 9/3/10: Since Scribd.com instituted an access fee scam to charge people for downloading e-books, including those I have provided for free for the last ten years, I have removed my free library from their site, and no longer use or recommend using their service. My free reads may be read online or downloaded for free from Google Docs; go to my freebies and free reads page for the links. See my post about this scam here.

Last year you all were kind enough to vote for which characters you wanted to see in my 2008 free e-book, which ended up being Lucan, Sam and Jamys. As before I'd like to write new stories about existing characters and story lines, but now that the series is concluded I thought you all might want to see a new set of characters ala the Juliana trilogy.

So two questions for you this year: would you like to see some existing characters from the Darkyn series in the 2009 e-book, or do you want some brand-new characters this time? If you choose existing characters, who are you interested in reading about this time? (I'm going to rule out Lucan, Sam and Jamys in advance, as they had their turn in Incarnatio last year.)

Warnings and Disclaimers: If you have not yet read Stay the Night, the final book in the series, you may not want to read the other comments to this post because there are bound to be spoilers mentioned. Please remember that Alex and Michael's storyline is now finished and I think after seven books they really deserve a long vacation. I also reserve the right to veto any suggestion because I'm the author, I have a few other things planned for the Darkyn, and that's all I'm going to tell you.

Let me know what you think in comments, and thanks for helping me out with this.