Nano Planning Sheet—Sayonara Sweetheart

Preliminary Planning Sheet

I have a title (with a possibility of a trilogy) and a genre.

so far I have three characters: Celia March, Rica March, Josie March.

there is an unnamed male character also; still thinking of a name

(I have 4,500 words of journal entries for these 3 characters, done as a character writing marathon over the weekend. I've been using the "Inner Outings" deck of journal cards and writing a journal entry as the character. This work is only pre-writing and will not be part of the final story which will be written in November. I will probably post the entries in this folder because I need to back up the files on my home pc. Don't want to lose all that hard work.)

My goal this year for Nano is to not *only* complete 50,000 words. My goal is to FINISH the story. So I will be doing a bit more planning.

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NaNovel Planning, Part 2

Title: Sayonara Sweetheart

Genre: modern, contemporary (ok, if you really have to label it: "literary fiction")

Characters:

Celia March
Rica March XXXX (Celia's sister
Josie XXX (Rica's daughter)
Owen Ellis (potential love interest for Celia)
XXXX XXXXXX (Josie's boyfriend)
assorted other friends of Josie's

Premise: Family means no one gets left behind. OR No one is perfect, not even the "good girl."


NaNo To-Do List:

Decide how many chapters (done, 15)

Decide on word count needed to make chapters (done, 1667 per day; 1 chapter done every other day)

Plan plot. (done, roughly)

Research "scenes." (done)

Do more character development (working on it)

10-15 page character bio (?)

What does each character carry around with them?

first sentence

final sentence (done)

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Chapter Breakdown

15 Chapters, 3,333 words per chapter

1667 words per day (1 chapter every 2 days)

Chapter 1 = This chapter will be the setup. I will introduce Celia; the story will be told from Celia's viewpoint, at least in this version. Now I have had a few ideas: start off with an accident involving Josie and she needs Celia's help because she is afraid of involving her mother; start off with Josie calling her and having Celia come pick her up in a separate state, again because she is afraid of calling her mother; I'm unsure as to how to begin, actually. I may switch viewpoints every chapter, but this first chapter is all about Celia. It will be important to show that Celia wants to fix everything without doing too many flashbacks. (I also thought of maybe starting with Celia and Rica in a hospital waiting room, waiting to see if Josie will survive her accident [or overdose], but then I thought that flashbacking the whole story would be lame; but I thought maybe a prologue where the reader sees how worried the two sisters are; unknown is whether or not the other sisters will appear in this story). Although Josie will not want her to, Celia will call Rica and let her know what is going on. It is very late at night when Josie calls. Celia worries about her job and the fact that her boss will not like that she is missing work to attend to family duties. She and her boss have had a rather rough relationship since she had to take care of both of her sick parents a few years back. Also, she was able to work from home back then, but the boss felt that her work suffered as a result of staying at home, so she will not be allowed to work from home any longer. She is a [?????? some kind of job you can do from home but really need to be in an office to do; virtual assistant maybe?]

Chapter 2 = This chapter will be from Josie's viewpoint. She will be with some friends and her boyfriend (who is the one who gives her drugs) who have taken her across state lines for drugs and/or to run away. She does not want to run away; she loves her family, even though it is messed up. She desperately wants her mother's attention because she feels left out of her mother's life, and she is also tired of taking care of her mother. She has sworn to herself that she will not end up like her mother, but she is on the road to that kind of life, if she continues to use drugs. After calling Celia, one of "friends" puts her in a compromising situation, but the pull of the drugs are stronger than the pull of normalcy at this point.

Chapter 3 = This chapter will be from Rica's viewpoint. Rica is scared to death that Josie "ran away." She tells Celia that she and Josie had a fight over a curfew issue, and that Josie just left the house with no word as to where she was going. She loves her daughter very much and wants Celia to fix this for them. Celia will go to Rica's house and confront her about how she knows that Josie is on drugs and how Rica is either blind or stupid to her daughter's pain. They have a huge argument, not only about Josie, but Celia lets slip how she paid off Rex, Rica's ex-husband and Josie's father, to leave them alone so that Rica and Josie could have a normal life. Celia leaves to pick up Josie, after telling Rica that Rica needs to fix the problem herself. Rica is furious, but does not know if she should go herself or just let Celia go pick up Josie. Rica is dumbfounded at the revelation that Celia paid off her ex.

Chapter 4 = This chapter will be from Celia's viewpoint. Celia is infuriated at Rica's stubborness, and at her own willingness to fix their problems; she had told Rica to solve her own problems. Nevertheless, she heads out to the interstate to go to where Josie is. She is tired of taking care of them, and very nearly hits a guy on a motorcycle as she drives in a kind of blind rage, with other things on her mind. Enter Owen. She and Owen end up stopping at a nearby all-night coffee shop. They talk for a long time and eventually, Celia throws caution to the wind and spends the night with him. In a moment, she falls deeply and completely in love with Owen and his tender affections. Although she was desperately worried about Josie, she decides that it can wait a few hours.

Chapter 5 = Josie is close to being raped, but her need for meth is so bad that she lets the person have sex with her. (It is not her first time.) She then does more drugs after the incident is over, to kill the memories and the pain of needing the drugs. So eventually she wakes up and faces herself and her friends. She sees how wasted and useless her so-called friends are, and she realizes she needs help. Celia hasn't made it there yet, but she calls her mother.

Chapter 6 = Rica takes the call from Josie. She is worried sick. She is not angry with Josie, but she is disappointed in herself at being so blind. They make up and Rica promises Josie that Celia will be there soon. Rica also heads out to meet them. She tells Josie she'll call Celia and tell her that she'll meet them at a halfway point.

Chapter 7 = Celia wakes up in the arms of a near stranger, but she loves how he has made her feel, so safe and protected and loved; Owen has similar feelings, but tells Celia that he could be on the rebound after having just gone through a messy divorce. Rica calls her cell phone and tells her to hurry up and get to Josie and that she'll meet them halfway. There is plenty of awkwardness between Owen and Celia. Celia knows that she has to go, and that there were supposed to be no strings attached. They separate, and Owen says he may look her up sometime if he comes back that way.

Chapter 8 = Josie again. She is feeling very bad, all the drugs have worn off now. Her friends pressure her to take some more drugs, but she tries to refuse them. She gathers up her things and goes to wait outside. But while she was putting the stuff back in her bag, she sees one more little bag of the drug. She decides to smoke the last of it, as a last hurrah. A friend goes outside and sees her lying on the stoop, unresponsive. He calls 911.

Chapter 9 = Celia gets a call on her cell phone. It's the hospital, calling her to let her know that Josie has been taken to the local hospital. She calls Rica and they both meet up at the hospital. Her thoughts are filled with Owen and wondering if he will ever return to be with her again. She replays some of those last moments they were together in her mind. [calls are boring! this chapter needs something else, but I will have to think about what to do here. This is like a bridging chapter, to get from the overdose to the hospital. think more about what to do here.]

Chapter 10 = Rica arrives at the hospital, very scared and apprehensive. She wants a drink, very badly. She wonders if there are any AA meetings she can go to that day. When she sees Celia she wants to run away herself, and let Celia deal with everything, but Celia welcomes her with open arms. Celia is very worried, but she tries to take Rica's mind off the seriousness of the situation. The doctor comes out and tells the family what has happened, and how Josie is. They also talk to a couple of Josie's friends who took her to the hospital. Rica finally realizes she has to be a mother and not a friend to her daughter. Celia realizes that she cannot control what other people do and that she needs to step back from her sister and niece.

Chapter 11 = Josie wakes up and tells her family she is ready to seek help. She wants to be put in rehab and she wants to get well. Her family is very supportive and they help her in every way. Rica starts to apologize for all the ways she has failed her daughter, but Josie stops her, giving her a pass. [this could be a place where Rica reveals her past of being an alcoholic and a slut] She knows they have both been wrong. Celia too apologizes for her presumptuousness in trying to do everything for Rica and Josie, when they were perfectly capable of doing it for themselves.

Chapter 12 = Back at home, a couple of months later, during the holidays maybe, Celia realizes that there might be an unintended consequence of her one-night stand. She and Rica get together for coffee one day and she tells Rica about Owen. Rica promises to stand by her. She struggles with her job and boss during this chapter, and she is under a lot of stress. Perhaps she worries about losing the baby and realizes that she desperately wants this baby, no matter the cost. She wants to be a mother.

Chapter 13 = Josie is close to being released from rehab. The family plans to throw a big welcome home party for her. One of her old druggie friends comes to visit her during a visiting session. They argue, but she realizes that with the support of her family, she does not need this "friend" any more. He gets very pissed off and threatens that he might kill her. She thinks he is just spouting off crap, but he is deadly serious. Perhaps he is afraid that she will tell the police that not only was he dealing drugs to all the high schoolers (he is 19), but that he also coerced her into having sex with him for drugs. Maybe he is also afraid that she will tell the police that he told her that he was going to make her have sex with other men in order to get her daily drugs. [yeah remember she is only 15!] Perhaps since he threatens her, she decides to tell the entire truth to the cops.

Chapter 14 = Celia finds out she is pregnant for sure. She is astonished and fearful at what the future might hold since she will be a single mother. She misses the connection she had with Owen. She gets the call on her cell phone at Rica's house, where they are decorating for the welcome home party. As a result of all these family problems with the baby, Rica and Josie, she also loses her job [or maybe she quits, having gotten fed up enough], so she wonders what is going to happen to her. She starts to freak out, and decides to leave the house for awhile, telling Rica she needs some air; maybe she goes instead to a local lookout sight and plans on jumping because she can't see any way out, even though she loves the unborn child already and she is naturally optimistic. She calls Rica and tells her what has happened. Rica meets up with her and they have a heart to heart talk; eventually they return to the house to decorate for Josie's welcome home party.

Chapter 15 = Josie comes home and so does an uninvited guest. Josie's former boyfriend, the guy who gave her the drugs in the first place, has gone psycho because he found out that there is a warrant out for his arrest, and that Josie told the cops all about their little "arrangement." Waving a pistol around, he threatens the whole family and other friends they invited to the welcome home party. Owen happens to show up and manages to wrest away the weapon from the boyfriend [he called Celia earlier and she told him where she would be]. Someone has called the police and they show up and take away the psycho. At the end, Celia tells Owen that she is expecting a baby and has lost her job as a result of all the family turmoil she has been dealing with in the recent few months. He tells her, as the final line, "Well, babe, things could always be worse," and smiles at her.



— —Yeah, so there are a few plot holes. It's the best I can do for now. As I actually write the damn thing, there will probably be places I go that I can't predict now. I certainly hope so.

Of course, I may chuck this idea and do something completely different when the day rolls around.

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