Last night was one of my nights out. I don’t get a lot, but they do come now and then. I couldn’t stay out as late as I normally do, because I have to depart for The Undisclosed Location rather early today–about 8 AM my time, rather than 5 PM or so, as I normally do–because of work related . . . “stuff”. That’s all I’ll say on that matter.
When I drive home–this time, about 11:30 PM–the roads are somewhat clear, and I my thoughts can race along with my vehicle. This latest time, the roads were really clear, and it was pretty much a long stretch of flying through the darkness. The last month or so, there hasn’t been a lot there to race; the thoughts have been empty, with no inspiration or feel present.
Not last night. No, not this time. I had thought, good thoughts . . .
It was time to think of Yogjakarta.
Now, this probably doesn’t mean anything to you. Some of you, the more geography minded, will recognize the name of a city on the island of Java in Indonesia; some of you might even know the city resides within it’s own special district, or that it sits some 28 kilometers from Mount Merapi, the most active volcano in Indonesia, and the city is pretty much flipping off Merapi on a daily basis, daring it to take them out.
What none of you know, at least until now, is that my NaNoWriMo novel is going there.
Last year I wrote Kuntilanak, a horror story that I self published. And, yes, it’s a good horror story, one you can find on Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon. Originally I was going to write it for a Halloween collection, but after being told the collection was really looking for things about a thousand words long, I decided to strike out on my own because, at that point, I’d already figured on a story that was going to run over fifteen thousand words.
The rest is, as they say, history.
So a while back I started thinking about what I could do for NaNo. I’m still not certain if I can do it, but I’m going to give it a try. Why? Because I want to. I did it last year, try it again this year. And it allows me more grist for the mill that might be publication, so why not?
But what to do? Well, last year I had the notion that maybe I should continue the story of the characters from Kuntilanak, bring them back together and let them ponder another supernatural mystery. And that’s what I wanted to do . . .
Only last night, the idea began jelling.
I knew how to get my healer from Bali onto the scene. I figured out how he could meet up with his friend, the woman who is a paranormal investigator and a Muslim. I figured out much of the set up. I figured out how the mystery could develop, and how things that shouldn’t be transpiring in Jogyakarta did.
Pretty good for just thirty minutes of driving.
So now, I gotta do a time line. I gotta do my research. And, I gotta come up with a title. ”Cause, you know, November isn’t that far away.
It’s the 21st Century, and you gotta be ready–if you wanna write.
