The next “Badge” I received on NaNoWriMo was a Writing Badge, rewarded for announcing my novel on the site. I chose the Event date, which is November 2014. I provided the novel title: Idle Hands
Next it asked for the Novel Genre and provided 18 choices ranging from Adventure to Young Adult. Idle Hands is a dark comedy-thriller, but that wasn’t a category, so I simply chose “thriller/suspense.”
Next it asked me to upload a cover .jpg for the book (see, I knew that would come in handy).
It asked for a short synopsis next. I have a short three-page “treatment” that delves into the relationship between the three main characters, the two turning points, the two twists, and the climax, but that sounds too long to be defined as a “short synopsis” so I cut excerpts from it and arrived at this as a synopsis for Idle Hands:
“Brad is a Jewish entrepreneur who is approaching 40, unmarried, and lacking confidence in spite of his success with an internet matchmaking service he founded and programmed (initially to simply help with his own dating woes). And before he knew it, it became successful and he became a millionaire. But it wasn’t enough. And on the cusp of a full-blown mid-life crisis, Brad meets Fenderson Quinn, a charismatic and unpredictable 27 year-old millionaire who sold his own company for $750 million dollars when he was 25. Neither Brad nor Fender have to work, and with too much money and too much time on their hands, their devil-may-care attitude leads to a fast friendship punctuated by an ever-increasing sense of danger that culminates in murder, mayhem, and malevolence.”
Next it asked for a novel excerpt, which seemed odd since I haven’t written it yet (aren’t we supposed to wait until November 1, NaNoWriMo?). So I left that blank and will fill it in later, after I’ve written my first word count (no reason to start early when it doesn’t officially count, right)?
Then I clicked “Save” and BOOM, collected my first Writing Badge: You’ve Got a Novel.
The next badges are Adding a Writing Buddy and Updating Your Word Count, and since it looks like that second one needs to wait until November also, I’ll be looking for a buddy.
Our Executive VP at Outskirts Press is participating in this year’s NaNoWriMo, too, so I’ll be adding Kelly to get my next badge.
President of Outskirts Press 