So, one of the prompts for the #LGBTQwrimo hashtag calendar over on Twitter for the month of November is to create a novel aesthetic for your WIP (work in progress). I don’t usually do these, but I’m attempting to do all the month’s prompts. So, here is the NA for my current WIP, which is tentatively titled Aaron With an E:
I didn’t really get a chance to break the aesthetic down on Twitter, so I thought I would do so here. So, my novel aesthetic…in six photos. (The six photos are referenced below and are highlighted in the pseudo-synopsis below:
In the top left corner, we have my main character, Aaron. Aaron is going through the discover process of realizing they are non-binary. They are in Grade 7 at Riverside Elementary. Every year Aaron has gone to a different school. Their father does not have his shit together and he’s moved the two of them around from city to city in his attempts to stay employed and sheltered under a roof. Aaron is always the new kid in school. On their first day of school, Aaron finds out that Grade 7s always have a talent show. Every year, there is the annual Riverside’s Got Talent show. The talent comes from the grad 7 class and participation is mandatory. The behind the scenes crew are the grade 8 class. Aaron is lumped in with Conrad and Zack and together the three students need to discover their talent and produce something to showcase it for the competition. Aaron realizes up front that the biggest competition is the hottest boy in the whole class and his group of friends. Billy is the lead singer of the actual band his group comprises of. Aaron has a super crush on him and also fears competing against the hottest band since the beginning of time. Aaron, Zack and Conrad discover a mutual love of manga and graphic novels when they come across The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang in the school library. Each has dabbled in drawing comic books and in a last ditched effort to come up with a talent before the teacher automatically assigns one, the three students decide to create a new comic and turn it into a short video by utilizing each of their talents.
We shall see how this goes.
Happy Nanowrimo’ing, writers!
KEVIN CRAIG 