I signed up to participate in Camp NaNoWriMo for the first time this year, setting a very reachable goal of 10,000 words for what was my 2015 NaNo novel, On the Inside Looking In (OTILI). I’m probably 80% through the first draft, but I’ve been “stuck” for a while, only writing a few pages intermittently. OTILI is a project I have a lot of excitement about, though – it’s sort of a YA thriller about returning to the small-town the main character spent her childhood in, only to realize the town has a weird hierarchical order, which apparently was strengthened after the murder of her mother’s classmate. Here’s a draft of a query-like synopsis I jotted down on my iPhone during a hockey game:
Brie Thompson’s mother has disappeared. This isn’t unusual – Carrie Thompson has disappeared and reappeared throughout Brie’s life, leaving her in the care of her step-father. This time is different though: Brie’s maternal grandparents have fought for her custody, and Brie let them win.
Now Brie has been plucked out of her senior year of high school and brought to Bonnyville, Illinois, her childhood home and the small town her mother grew up in. Brie is thrilled to leave her life behind and return to Bonnyville, finally living the life she always wanted to live. She instantly connects with her childhood best friend, Bethany Lewis, the daughter of her mother’s own childhood best friend, Bridgett. Life with Bethany seems perfect…until things start to seem a little too perfect. Weirdly perfect.
It’s minor at first: the town’s weird obsession with order, Bethany’s assurance that Brie must be a cheerleader and follow every high school stereotype, and the utter distaste displayed toward Brie by the honor students in Brie’s AP classes. According to these honor students, Brie is “one of them.” One of the “chosen ones.”
As Brie urges to befriend these classmates, and especially the cute, melancholy Sawyer Hartman, the town’s inner-workings begin to unravel, and at the heart is the unsolved murder of Sawyer’s older sister… a murder Brie’s mother allegedly witnessed 18 years ago, only to later claim she never saw anything at all.
ON THE INSIDE LOOKING IN is the story of a small-town whose residents never leave, trapping everyone in with order and secrets.
I’m so excited by the premise! (Is it normal for a writer to get excited by her own novel’s premise?) Now… if only I could get the ending wrapped up in a nice, tidy manner. It’s going to be a lot to edit, too.
Guess it’s time to get to work!
britney brouwer 