Thank you to everyone who contributed ideas and comments for things to include and books to read as genre research! This is a list of the blurbs for the first drafts as they stand…
January
Caligula’s Blog (Historical fiction)
The day to day thoughts of an Ancient Roman Emperor as he descends into madness – or does he?
Always a fan of revisionist history, I tried to toe the line between the fun but probably inaccurate accounts of Caligula as totally deranged and the more recent versions of him as perfectly reasonable but misunderstood. He lived so long ago there are no primary sources, so we’ll never know for sure what he was really like. But he’s really fun to write about.
February 
Murder in the Theatre (Murder Mystery)
The Chief Exec of a theatre is mysteriously murdered. Everyone has a motive and nobody has an alibi… so whodunnit?
March
I started with the very vague premise “Would like the hero to be an older gent. Beyond that, I am open to suggestions.” I was given a name for this gent by a lady on Twitter, and drafted:
The Trial of Victor McGlynn (Western)
OAP Victor McGlynn sees his life on the estate through a prism of old Westerns, so when bandits start terrorising decent local folks he decides to take a stand.
April
Having spent many happy hours slagging off paranormal romance, it was time to put my money where my mouth is and have a try. It was really hard. The detritus I ended up with was tentatively called:
Vampires in Love (Romance)
Jennifer has serious angst. Unwittingly involved in a love triangle, stalked by a troll with father issues, and to cap it all she’s a vampire – so her hormones will be in flux for the rest of eternity.
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May
I started out with no ideas for this other than a dragon should be involved. I ended up with:
Archie and the Dragon (Fantasy)
Can sheep do magic? Can dragons control their appetite? Can horrible ballet dancing cousins ever change their ways? You’ll find the answers to all these questions and more in this story.
June
I decided to take the experience and contacts gained from two years of attempting to break into freelance journalism and incorporate them into a humorous and topical book about the changing state of the industry. It is provisionally called:
Michty (Scottish)
When the Newdruim Chronicle goes under, the editorial team decide to set up a dynamic new gossip website. Trouble is, none of them know any gossip. Or how to use the internet. But that isn’t going to stop them…
July
I’ve wanted to write for children almost since I was one, and the idea for these characters had been floating around in the back of my head since at least 2006. But when it came to doing it I was burnt out, and I’m really unhappy with the current version of:
Amelia Trousers and Snooky Jim (8-10 year olds)
Chris never paid much attention to his next door neighbour, but when he returns a lost cat he is plunged into an adventure involving a moving house, talking animals, and a tiny, angry wizard.
August
I tend towards the future dystopia in my sci fi reading (that and Douglas Adams, but I wanted to try something a bit more serious). Unfortunately I kept changing my mind about this future, which needs a lot more thought than I had time to give it in a month at all, never mind book festival month in Edinburgh. It was the first manuscript of the year that became a series of ideas and planning with less pretense of narrative the further I got. So, that is the current state of:
The Future Contingent (Science Fiction)
In the future, everyone is slim and beautiful. In the future, everyone is clever and emotionally sensitive. In the future, the world is divided into societies so separate they don’t even know about each other. Until now.
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September
I decided to write some realistic, sarcastic, UK chick lit. It lacks coherent plot too. But I’m optimistic there is a kernel of good in:
Sex and Auld Reekie (Humour/Chick Lit)
Just like Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and the other one; Annie, Beth, Lauren and me are living the high life as glamorous young professionals without a care. Or not. This is what Sex and the City could have been like if it was set in Scotland and starred human women.
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October
So much writing advice I’ve read this year said to perfect the short story before bashing on with a novel or nine. This seemed the perfect genre to work on a short story collection.
The Nephrop and Other Stories (Horror)
A fisherman searches for his one true love, a shop assistant faints at the sight of wrists, and a spider remembers his long lost brother. These are just some of the weird and wonderful stories in this horror collection for Hallowe’en.
November
National Novel Writing Month, the event that sparked the 12 books idea, came upon us once again. I began work on a literary opus:
Bad Poetry (Literary Fiction)
Balding, recently divorced Middle Manager by day; dynamic performance poet by night – that’s how Ronnie describes himself in his lonely-hearts ad. Through the power of language (and open mic events) he is putting his life back together.
December
I’ve been drawing and writing comics for about ten years so decided to finish the year doing just that. Download a PDF of The Falcon King to see how I did.
12 Books in 12 Months 
December 31, 2010 at 4:02 am
Hi Ali,
Well Im useless for all target genres except perhars scifi. A reliable way of squeezing drama out of a dystopian post-apocalypse is the Dawn Of The Dead/Power Rangers template following a protagonist and drip-introducing the disaster through their eyes. Then they pick up survivors with thier own skills, powers and foibles preferrably with one being a traitor, and form an uneasy band of strangers that must work together to survive and in doing so overcome hangups and grow. After theyre all fully developed they either die or discover a big bad baddie and help the original hero batter him. … You could have a pandemic attack of neds and call it Dawn Of The Neds!!
Its a shame I never saw your childrens books, like Daddy Drinks Because You Cry, and You Are Different And Thats Bad, or Pop Goes The Weasel And Other Great Microwave Games.
Just a thought.
From Ed (-8E
December 31, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Thanks Ed!
I like the idea of watching Power Rangers for research, although it’d have to be the classic series I think. None of that new-fangled nonsense.
For some reason Dawn of the Neds sounds strangely familiar, wonder why that could be…?!
January 5, 2011 at 3:27 pm
Wow, what a brave idea. I did nanowrimo on top of an office job and I don’t think I could have managed it without sneaking on during work time. Good luck!
I had a character desciption pop into my head on the bus last night that I can’t use. Perhaps it will be useful for you.
‘She sat primly on the bus with her gloved hand hovering with a tissue close to her mouth. Her face was red with the strain of trying not to cough or sneeze but as the bus braked noisily she allowed herself to cough daintily into the tissue. Everything about her sitting position – knees together, arms crossed – was desgined to make her smaller. Almost invisible.’
January 5, 2011 at 10:28 pm
Thanks Sarah! I think I found nano OK because I had a commute that was an hour each way, so I used that time to get the bulk of my daily word count… but I am a temp, currently without contract so it’s already proving a challenge to get myself into that routine! Still, what doesn’t kill you and all that. Thanks for your character, I’m sure she will appear somewhere!
January 11, 2011 at 11:14 pm
what a great project!
June: James Kelman’s How Late it Was How Late – my favourite Scottish novel, I think. Basically a monologue written in the vernacular that Irving Welsh later took credit for.
August: You could read some John Wyndham – Day of the Triffids and The Midwich Cuckoos are both fabulous Sci Fi classics. Kind of lo-fi sci-fi. Now there’s an idea.
October: one of my favourite books is Dracula. Constructing a narrative out of diary entries / letters written by various characters is carried out to perfection by Stoker in this. Wilkie Collins does a similar thing in The Woman in White (a Victorian Sensation classic – very influential on Sarah Waters who used it in Fingersmith, which is suspense rather than horror, I suppose, but they’re related genres). Anyway, this kind of structure seems to lend itself well to scary stuff – maybe it has something to do with chopping up the narrative to create tension? – so maybe you could have a go at that?
Just a couple of thoughts and I’m abit tired so apologies for the rambling.
Good luck!
January 12, 2011 at 11:42 am
Hi Lizzie, I will have a look at those titles! Currently wondering whether to make October a YA one so I can pay homage to some of the stuff I liked when I was younger… I followed the traditional path from Point Horror to Stephen King. I quite like the thought of a Victorian theme too.
Thanks for reading and posting, I really appreciate it!
January 13, 2011 at 1:14 pm
Hi Ali,
April: how about the modern epistolary novel. A love story entirely in Tweets. Keeps it short and episodic. Lots of reasons why it can never be – from anonymity to impersonation to incest and beyond.
It’s a great project. I’m looking forward to reading them. Good luck.
Alex
January 13, 2011 at 4:26 pm
Thanks Alex, sounds like an interesting premise!
February 2, 2011 at 8:04 pm
I think that your Scottish story should have something to do with a piece of Celtic Jewlery.
March 16, 2011 at 9:09 pm
Nice thought – thank you!
February 2, 2011 at 8:20 pm
June (8-10) – working in a library i can tell you that most 8 – 10 year olds LOVE ‘Horrid Henry’ by Francesca Simon, a naughty child they can relate to and find funny. Boys mostly like things like ‘Dirty Bertie’, involving burps and farts etc. On the other side they tend to borrow adventure books like the ’39 Clues’ series. Girls always tend to go for ‘Rainbow Fairies’ by Daisy Meadows or ‘Tiara Club’ by Vivien French. princesses and fairies.
March 16, 2011 at 9:10 pm
Thanks Rebecca! I was thinking along the lines of Mr Gum because it appeals to my sense of silliness 🙂 And I’ve often wondered how long it takes to write those Daisy Meadows books! Might manage more than one in a whole month…
March 16, 2011 at 8:16 pm
Hi Ali,
I’ve been meaning to do this for ages, so apologies if the ideas seem random and unconnected…
Re: August. I don’t know if you’ve ever read Kurt Vonnegut, but that would be my suggestion for recommended reading. (I really enjoyed ‘The Sirens of Titan’. And… well, I think we can be pretty sure that Douglas Adams read it at some point.)
Re: April (or perhaps August). Bear with me on this… how about two people who use quantum entanglement to communicate? (I did say ‘bear with me’.)
You may well have heard of quantum entanglement – but if you haven’t, this is quite a nice summary:
‘What is entanglement? It’s a connection between quantum particles, the building blocks of the universe. Once two particles are entangled, a change to one of them is reflected—instantly—in the other, be they in the same lab or light-years apart.’ [There’s more at: http://goo.gl/7rTxa.%5D
Where I’m going with this is that two people could spend the book communicating – and getting to know each other – only to discover at the end that they’re light years apart and (*sniff*) can never meet. That’s right: they’re star-crossed lovers who can’t cross the stars.
OK, maybe it’s a tough sell. But hey – there are plenty of potential titles (including the obvious ‘Entanglement’ and ‘Star-crossed’).
Further info on ‘action at a distance’ (the phenomenon’s name in physics) at http://goo.gl/pAoCT
March 16, 2011 at 9:08 pm
Thanks for these – I haven’t come across quantum entanglement before but it sounds intriguing! Good twist on the star crossed lovers though. Been meaning to read Kurt Vonnegut for ages too so shall use this as an excuse!
Thank you!
July 16, 2011 at 10:55 pm
For December, and lit fiction, how about The Hakawati? It’s beautiful, fun, AND literary. Or Corelli’s Mandolin. OR The English Patient.
July 19, 2011 at 9:35 pm
Thank you, I will do my best to read them all before December comes 🙂
January 10, 2012 at 10:56 pm
Did you succeed in all genres? I’m discovering the genres i have almost-successes (I refuse to use the words “incomplete” or “failure”) are the ones I’ve read the most. Go figure!
January 10, 2012 at 11:11 pm
I’d agree with that to an extent – the one I most wanted to write and I thought would come really easy (the kids book) turned out to be really hard! I don’t think there were any outright failures but literary fiction pretty much turned out as humour and paranormal romance needs a lot of work.. there again they all do!
February 17, 2012 at 2:38 pm
What a cool idea! All the best with the editing!
February 18, 2012 at 11:18 am
Thank you! 🙂
March 24, 2012 at 9:14 pm
Thats very brave to do 12 so well done! I’ve just started proofreading my first finished novel and its dawned on me how much work thats gonna be so lots of luck with all of yours!
October 14, 2012 at 4:02 pm
That is one brave thing! Congratulations! 🙂
October 25, 2015 at 8:01 pm
Oh, wow, I think this is amazing what you’ve done. All of the synopsis look so good. They all seem to have a glimmer of humour in them too. (I recommend books by Terry Pratchett if you haven’t already heard of him.)
It’s so inspiring what you’ve done. I’d like to try it some year!
October 26, 2015 at 8:15 am
Thanks – it’s a fun way to push yourself and develop as a writer, so if you can find time I recommend it! If nothing else it gives you a clear sense of writing voice and what sorts of story come most easily.