What should I write next?

I’ve decided to try NaNo this year, and since I personally believe the best way to attempt NaNo is to be fully prepared, I’m going to work on book 2 for I Have No Name, which ironically, has no name right now. That novel is plotted, planned and thought through, er mostly. There’s a few sticky spots I’m not sure about, but they usually come to me as the words flow through my fingers. Regardless, it’s a far better bet on completion than flying by the seat of pants with one of my barely conceived ideas. Buuuut . . .

I’m also considering the fact that working on book 2 in a series is putting all my eggs in one basket. If I Have No Name isn’t picked up by an agent or a publisher, I need something else to work on. Something else that will hopefully be published. Obviously, a book 2 doesn’t fit that bill. I’ll finish NaNo, and then finish at least a first draft of book 2, but after that, I’d like to start something else.

So here are a few ideas I’ve been percolating. I’m going to be very brief, because I am a little nervous about sharing my ideas, but if you’d like to chime in on what sounds interesting to you, then please do! Oh, and they’re all YA ideas.

1) Jane Eyre meets Lunar Chronicles with assassins thrown in for good measure: A Jane Eyre-like character who’s trained to be an assassin in a fantasy/sci-fi world reminiscent of Lunar Chronicles.

2) X-Men meets Red Dawn meets scary alien ruler guy: I totally have an image for this guy, but I’ll be brief. Picture Voldemort with abs and better fashion sense. But he’s just the bad guy. I’m seeing teens with powers hiding out in an abandoned hotel to fight the alien invasion.

3) Story about an alien whose species doesn’t understand emotion, but crash lands on earth, takes human form and meets a girl.

4) Story about a dance hall girl during WWII who doesn’t believe in the war, but whose boyfriend volunteers. They break up, but the story continues, her at home, him in Europe(?) and then what happens when he returns.

5) Story about a boy in modern American who finds out he’s a fairy changeling and goes on a journey to find his birth mother and get answers. The usual: evil villain, fairy-world domination at stake, mothers possibly dying.

6) Last of the Mohicans re-told in a future/sci-fi environment where home is a space station orbiting earth, while earth is the unexplored frontier after pollution/nuclear meltdowns have changed everything. Hundreds of years into the future and traveling to earth is like exploring North America in the 1700’s.

Well, that’s it. Actually not. I have notebooks of ideas, but this is what I’m sharing. 🙂 Any thoughts? I know I’m being brief and coy, but what appeals to you? What doesn’t? What would you want to see in these stories that I maybe haven’t included? Thanks for your input!