I spent the last week with my friend Elizabeth and her family, touring D.C. and attending a good friend’s wedding. I took several hundred pictures that I need to sort through and had more fun than should probably be legal, but it’s going to take a while to go get that particular blog post up, so I opted for discussing something else semi-relevant. When I decided to do JuNoWriMo, I dragged Elizabeth down the rabbit hole with me – literally and metaphorically, as over the last week we decided to write our Wonderland novels for JuNoWriMo.

But what about The Meaning of Always?

Lemme tell ya – I planned to do the novel. But the more I pondered and plotted, the bigger it became, and I realized on Saturday that if I wrote TMOA during June, it would be like last year when I tried to write Acceso for NaNo. In short, I wouldn’t be able to give it the time and devotion it deserved. So my plan (currently – we’ll see, as always) is to write This Curious Madness in June and start The Meaning of Always in July, since I still want to take advantage of the summer months.

What is This Curious Madness? Weren’t you doing a Wonderland rewrite last year?

This Curious Madness is a twisted Alice in Wonderland rewrite which I did begin last year, but never finished due to lack of plot. Fortunately, Elizabeth and I made like tornadoes and brainstormed directions for our respective novels, and I feel I can write 50,000 words in this one with only thirty-odd days.

The problem:

I like my books to mean something. I don’t do well when there isn’t a point or a moral to the story. This includes even a Wonderland-twist, which is famous for its nonsensical and whimsical qualities. It’s one of my favorite things and always has been, but if I’m going to attempt to twist it, I’m going to need it to have a point. I have a plot, but there needs to be an underlying foundation for it to rest on – the classic Wonderland was a fairly amoral place. I need morals, and I need something readers – and myself! – can take away from the story. This is something I have to come up with before June starts.

The best part?

It’s Wonderland. I can do whatever I want. I already have the classic characters twisted and changed, and they’re so delightfully creepy and eerily wonderful that I’m absolutely itching to start the book. Also, it’s JuNo – so, like NaNo, I’m open to more beta readers than I usually am. If anybody wants to see the result of this insanity during June, just let me know and I’ll add you to the list of readers! (Unless you seem creepy and threaten to steal the novel at gunpoint, in which case I won’t.)

What about you?

Are you doing JuNoWriMo? Did I convince you to join me in this frabjous foray yet, or did I scare you away from the mere thought of it?