This writer's rant reminds me of why I don't tell others in detail about my own ideas. I'm a stubborn control freak when it comes to writing fiction. Because my thought is this: if you want the plot to go one way, then why don't you write your own story?
Storytelling, I think, is an inherently selfish art as the storyteller is imposing his or her interpretation and viewpoint onto the narrative. Someone else trying to inject their ideas into the story is like having someone standing up in the middle of a lecture about life in a traveling circus and saying, "Hey, why don't you just skip all this boring stuff about your childhood and talk about how you feel about clowns?" There's a point where taking in too much input will dilute the author's own unique take on the story.
As for current progress on preparations for my Nanowrimo story: I still do not have an outline. I have, however, borrowed books from the library on German history and folklore. I felt a little guilty slinking out of there with my stash--because if I ran across anyone I knew between my trip from the library to my car, they'd think I was even more nuts than I already am. Also, for astronomical accuracy, I've been looking up moon phases as this will be important. If anyone wants to guess when the story is going to start, it's going to be on a date that is on a new moon, several months after Waterloo.
At this point, the first scene is very vivid in my mind, but I am still searching for words that might describe it.
