Hey all! Avirii the flying squirrel here.

As it's the beginning of October, it's also the time of year I have to choose whether or not to pursue NaNoWriMo -- National Novel Writing Month's -- annual challenge to complete a novel during the month of November. It doesn't have to be good, they say, the point is just to write, and then feel good about yourself once it's all over. I've chickened out so many times before it feels silly to consider this year (especially with my music studies and Pokemon coming out soon), but I think I'm going to give it an honest-to-goodness shot.

It helps that I already know what my novel will be about. It's going to be called "Awesome Possum," and it will be a fantasy adventure about a boy who contracts a virus that gives him the ability to transform into a real-life opossum with a variety of lackluster superpowers (think Spiderman, but hopelessly lame). As he and his girlfriend search for the cure, he has to foil the plans of a renegade scientist trying to be the world's worst supervillain... but time is running out as every transformation takes away a little more of the boy's human identity, replacing it with that of an opossum. It's a romance, a dark comedy, and an exploration on the themes of transformation and destiny.

Of course, all stories are about transformation; a story doesn't even HAPPEN unless a character changes, or they cause their circumstances to change. Plot is, in effect, action and change. I often like to underpin this basic literary fact by incorporating a literal transformation into my stories for my characters, changing them to be a different gender, a different age, or even a different species! It's a great writing exercise to try out because it throws all sorts of interesting obstacles in your way as a writer, as well as providing opportunities for comedy and drama. Transformation is all about seeing the world from a different point of view--something some would say is the motivation for reading and writing fiction to begin with. It's much more than a sexual fetish!

To prepare for NaNoWriMo, I'm hoping to write two or three transformation-themed short stories before November begins, in addition to preparing the outline for the novel itself. I might even draw some pictures and compose some themes for it in the meantime! And I know I literally just said that transformation wasn't just a sexual fetish, but some of these might actually be adult in nature (it's just fun to write that cute n' naughty kind of stuff)!

I hope you'll enjoy my submissions over the next few weeks and look forward to the completed version of Awesome Possum! Good luck to everyone else who is attempting this awesome challenge!

Love,

Avirii Skyberry ::~