Plot? What plot?

Well I know I haven't kept at this every day, but part of the reason has been that I'm lazy (but you all knew that already) and I've been working on various aspects of preperation for next month's novel writing frenzy.

So I thought I'd take a break from that today and give you all a little insight into next month's project by giving you a kind of profile of the plot and a couple of the characters that will be featured in the story.

Novel Title: Mark of the Pendragon
Estimated length: 50k+
Your writing experience: bits and pieces of various projects that were started and never finished but are still in the ‘active’ folder including 1 goth/supernatural story, 1 sci-fi trilogy, 1 fantasy epic, …. Um … let’s just say it’s a long list. And a personal NoWriMo challenge from Jan 2006 “Last Voyage of the Strange Twist” (won 50,546 words)

Your genre: Sci-fi/Superhero
New genre? Or old favorite?: Yes
Other genres of your novel: There tends to be a bit of fantasy in all I write
Gonna publish?: TBD
Cliches/archetypes you're including (not necessarily a bad thing!): Mega-Corporate control of government, Oppressive crime cartels and corrupt officials, Crime-fighting ‘superheros’.
Cliches/archetypes you're avoiding: Can’t think of any that I’m officially avoiding….

Main character(s): Jack Anderson
Secondary characters: Sara, Mike, Sentinel, Mr. Black, Eyes, Merl and his cat T.H.
Protagonist(s): Jack
Antagonist(s): Mr. Black
What does your protagonist(s) or main character(s) want most in the world? Justice
Setting: Big city sprawl and all the grime and inhumanity it entails.
Is the setting static or does it shift: Largely static
Based on a place/culture/real-world environment?: Not really
Is a place/culture/real-world environment? (Which): No.

Main Conflict: Organized crime
Sub Conflicts: Various personal issues Jack has
Obstacles in the journey: Apathetic citizens, corrupt government officials, and goons … lots and lots of goons.
Expected resolution(s): What makes you think it gets resolved? ;-)

Summary of plot: The city is big … the lights are bright. People flock to the city like moths to the flame … and generally with the same result. The city is not a shining jewel, but an over crowded, over taxed, under policed nightmare where the worst elements of human society prey on those too poor or weak to protect themselves. The government, seeing things getting out of hand has established a special enforcement squad to focus on rooting out some of the more glaring problems of illegal weapons shipments and narcotics. When the unit gets wiped out in a raid, however, the government decides to cut its losses and pulls the police back to the central core. In the resulting ‘no-man’s land’ one man tries to make a difference … and finds he’s not alone.

Tagline: “Some marks are eternal”

So there you go ... that's the plan anyway ... we'll see if we can keep the characters on task this time and not have them go off on adventures of their own that I didn't plan. *Glares at Destin from 'Last Voyage of the Strange Twist'*

Now let's introduce you to a couple of the characters that I've jotted down some notes for:

Main Character - Officer Jack Anderson

Physical – 5’11”, Muscular/Athletic, Black hair, neat short, clean shaven, blue eyes

Age - 28

Info – City Police officer in the ‘special enforcement’ division. Eldest son of Richard and Sandy Anderson. His mother died in an automotive accident when Jack and his brother were still quite young, his father is still alive and lives in a nice apartment in the city core. Jack’s younger brother, William, is the head of the Research and Development branch of Obsidian Securities, the nation’s leading security corporation and main supplier of both the city and national security forces (both training personnel and equipment). Jack is currently engaged to Sara Ashford, 27, a research scientist. Jack’s occupation as a city police officer, however, is a cover for his work in the new ‘special enforcement’ division that Obsidian has contracted to provide the city. Special Enforcement is a high tech undercover squad that targets organized crime … specifically weapons and drug shipments … specially outfitted Tac Suits provide armor protection, short range sensors, and secure communications during operations.

Technically I'm still working on ole Jack there ... but then again I'll likely still be working on him well into November and (likely beyond). His parents, for example, have been both dead, both alive, mother dead, father corperate CEO, mother dead, father dies at the beginning of the book, both dead but father died shortly before Jack finished his degree, and finally where we are now ... mother died early, father alive and retired. We shall see where it all ends up on November 30 though.....

Supporting Character - Merl

Physical - Elderly man, grey hair, neatly trimmed goatee, grey green eyes, walks with a cane.

Age - 70s

Info - Known mainly as the old man who's 'always been there' Merl is often seen in the company of his long haired white cat, T.H. He lives in a penthouse on the outer edge of the city core that is a virtual museum of historical artifacts over the ages. Tends to wear dark business suits with a red tie and white rose in the lapel. His manor is friendly and easy going, and people generally feel comfortable around him. Many of the local small businesses owe their start to him and many others seek his advise on business matters believing him a successful retired old businessman who is, perhaps, a tad eccentric.

Not sure how much of a place Merl here's going to end up with in the book ... or what his role is going to be over all ... but he just sort of walked into the plot and won't get out of my head so I decided to give him a place in the story ... it was that or kill him, and I can still do that. *evil grin*

So there you go ... an idea of what I'm going to be trying to wring out of my head over the next month. Hopefully at the end of November I can post here saying that I finished and then maybe you'll get a chance to read the work and decide for yourself if I hit the mark or got drug off into a completely different story than what I set out to write.....