intro/tenative synopsis

So, here's my plan so far:

There is a girl, in her teens, probably 9th or 10th grade. She lives in a small, older town, and has been friends with the same people for as long as she can remember, everyone's been friends since kindergarten. I'm pretty sure she's beginning to feel she doesn't have as much in common with them as she's always assumed - they've all grown up together, but their interests and hers are matching less as time goes on, and she feels like there's got to be more than the life they all lead. So she's quietly trying to sort out where she wants to be, talking with other people, writing things down in a journal, and later online (on seperate accounts from the ones her friends know), trying to sort out her identity apart from all of them, still torn between loyalty to them and her past in general and what she thinks she wants to become.

I think she just moved into a different house (for reasons so far undecided), and has a room of her own, with a small attic attached to it. (Basically, Matt's old room on Iva Mae, with that little door in his wall that led into the attic space. I'm still in love with the possibilities of that little space, I spent the better part of an October in there the year we spooked it all up.) So she has a refuge of her own, at least. It's an older house, so while it's new to her, there's the strong sense of layers of past lives there, it feels warm and lived-in. (Yes I'm still in love with last year's NaNo/my capstone, hee.)

The part of this story I've had in mind the longest (the seed of which actually came up while brainstorming for BtD) is this: Part of the wall in the small, forgotten room is covered in wallpaper (yes I still need to rationalize this), which is just beginning to peel away. While in the attic one day, the girl happens to see a scrap of a drawing/painting? I think painting, beneath the wallpaper. Upon peeling it away, she finds a full image, probably several images linked together, a faded mural on the old wall. Not sure what exactly it's going to be of, but, something evocative, anyway, that hints at the person who painted it long ago.

Several more little pieces of someone who lived there before will turn up like this, gradually leading to the girl finding a full diary - of a girl, probably a few years older than herself, who lived in the room a hundred years before (yes I have a hang-up). Sitting in the same room, reading her story, she's obviously going to feel a very strong connection with the girl... and, being nearly the same age, there are of course going to be similar situations they each have to face, and the girl in the present will find comfort in the girl from the past.

I have a few specific issues in mind that I think they're going to both go through.. Sexuality's always fun, let's run with that - I'd like this girl to learn and understand all the things I'd never even considered in high school, yay for writing-as-therapy. ^^; Friendships changing, of course, strength enough to be yourself in spite of what others say.. alright this is all sounding very cliché, and truth be told, I'm a little worried about that, but, my strength lies in the specifics. I know I can go at something that's been done plenty of times before, and just by it being me writing it, with my, uh, unique outlook on things, I know it'll be something different.

I think I've finally decided and am going to go with first-person - thus, the journal she keeps. I don't know if I'm going to walk around inside her head or not. I like writing what someone else writes - people tend to be more coherent, and more florid, when they write than at any other time. (Alright so basically it's an excuse to let me occasionally slip back into my pretty writing, with touches of older usages and generous descriptions and artsyness.) In any case, the past-girl's diary will be in first person, and there, I can write old-fashioned to my heart's content. ;)

... ...and y'know, after writing all this out, I feel like I've a better handle on what I'm doing, this actually looks like a story! I'm still worried about the main character, worried about making her too much myself or too much Mel (apologies in advance, but you're going to get pestered with random questions, as you're my age-reference XD), but after a few good long brainstorms, I'm feeling a little better. Also, I've found that listening to people on the bus, or on campus, or at work, gives me all sorts of different personality types to reference and get glimpses of, so I think I'll be okay.

Commenting will be left open to EVERYONE (I handle spam manually), blogger account or no blogger account, named or anonymous, so pleeeease please please feel free to comment about anything at all. Suggestions and critiques are ALWAYS appreciated, and even the smallest praise will keep the fragile artist ego intact. Even just a note that you're reading will be a much bigger encouragement than you can imagine. Also feel free to scream at me to get back on track with my word counts - this is the first year I've had to balance writing with an actual job, as well as all the random chores of keeping an apartment something short of a pigsty. And I can't write during work, until with classes in the past, heh. ^^; Going to try typing it all this year, rather than handwrite and then type it all in, I think that ate up an awful lot of my time and energy in the past, and given that I'll be here (or probably occasionally on campus) when writing, there's no need to do it that way.

Wish me luck!!! I'm pretty determined to make it this year. :)