Last year, completely without planning to, I spent NaNoWriMo writing a book about zombies. A gamebook about zombies, written for adults actually, called Undead Rising, where the reader has the option to choose her path along the way, changing the story for every reader. (You might have heard of a certain series of gamebooks for kids that carry a very catchy but copyrighted name…)
It was a ton of fun to write and I truly believe it stands a chance of getting published–and I even had two agents ask for full manuscripts six months ago (but I’m still waiting to hear back…)–and everyone I’ve allowed to read it has loved it. Even the two people who are friends-of-friends but are obsessed with zombies. Even they liked it, and that’s exactly who I’d want to like it, forget everyone else.
But now it is time for another National Novel Writing Month and… I’m not sure what to do. Help me pick?
If I’m going to try to keep to the same tongue-in-cheek style as Undead Rising, the monster/bad guys need to have a lot of pop culture that I can draw from (mock endlessly). I’m just not sure which one is best.
M.E. Kinkade 
Mermaids. In fact, take it one step further: French Mermaids. Fluffy little aprons, poorly-hiding scaly lower-bodies. Infiltrating the unclean homes of the world’s elite.
Your mind is a scary place.
So my ideas must be fit for a scary book!
Indeed! Original mermaids are soul-sucking, pointy-toothed, sailor-singing seductresses. The floofy apron would just be a modernization!
Goblins. Not D&D goblins, but more like Labyrinth goblins, malicious creatures with high intelligence, some magical abilities, ranging from near human looking to completely bizarre. Give them the ability to use and monkeywrench human technology.
Suppose that a goblin army just started coming up out of a hole in the ground in some random place, say, Fort Wayne, IN, and began taking over cities with a mixture of stealth, magic, stolen human technology, and inhuman combat abilities.
You can make them both humorous and frightening, and give them pretty much whatever strange powers you want. The traditional vulnerabilities would be sunlight and iron, but they can find ways to guard against both of those. I can’t think of anyone else who has done them.
Ooh, that’s good, too. Plus we’d have to fold in the goblins from Spider-Man, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.
That’s just it, you can make all different kinds of goblins, while still sticking to one monster.
That is the plan!
I like the pirate, but must be computer type geek pirates!
All pirates are under consideration!