Upcoming NaNoWriMo

Hey guys!

So, as some of you will know, I always participate in NaNoWriMo each November and nearly always write some new/different story.

Last year, that meant the start of Irwin's Journey, my current (and all-time) most popular story. Because my other story at the time, Kernstalion was soon to end, I had the space and time to continue Irwin's Journey as my new main story! Seeing as it's far from finished, this will remain like that for a good while longer. It has two storylines that are going to require a good while longer to fully unwind.

So, this means that for NaNoWriMo, I will need to write something that is either: short and to the point - (max 120k words) or something that I can leave and pick up another time (perhaps next year).

Also, due to the interest in Irwin's Journey, I'll continue writing this at the same time, though there will likely be two chapters per week instead of 3. This does mean I might have a harder time finishing NaNoWriMo on RoyalRoad because they don't accept running novels if the chapters are added from a backlog. (Super annoying!) However, as I really appreciate all your support, and this is also currently what pays for most of my writing day, I'm not going to risk half of you leaving because I don't hold up my end of the deal. ;)

Now, on to the story: I wasn't exactly sure what I'd be writing initially, but my son has been bugging me for many months now to write him a Pokémon fanfic. He requested something original, with a Riolu as the starter.

So, unless a great deal of you have another thing you'd love to read about, this will probably be what I'll write for NaNoWriMo.

Now... a few caveats to what I'd be writing. Although I think Pokémon is pretty cool, there are some things I don't enjoy about it, one being the limited agency the humans have in that world. Luckily, there is a story on RR that has come up with a nice way to improve on that by making some trainers sensitive to certain aspects of their Pokémon and giving them abilities. It's based on the concept of aura and is implemented like how Sabrina has psychic powers. So, I'll be using my variation of that concept. Also, I have some issues with how the Pokémon world is set up with mythical and legendary Pokémon. This means I'm going to create a backdrop where those aren't an issue, and the most powerful Pokémon would be pseudo legendaries, like Garchomp etc.

Finally, due to my son's age, the book will be slightly lighter than my usual stories- though luckily at age 11 he understands the concept of danger, pain, and conflict. I also have a rough idea of what the story would be about, including its ending. So, it's not going to be a run-on thing, but likely a finished story between 70k and 120k words.

So- what do you guys think about this? As I said, there is some room for me to change this, so if you have something else you'd like to read, let me know.

- John

PS: For those reading Minglings: I'm currently using all my time dedicated to that story to edit book 2, meaning I barely have time to write. It should be finished in a week or two, after which the first chapter of book four will appear.