Some Boy Scouts are going to die. That’s the part of the story Lea Wroblewski already knows.

The rest of it? Give her enough coffee and she’ll make it come out.

The 36-year-old Lincoln attorney is losing herself for a month to caffeine and fiction — the former required to stay awake and produce the latter.

Her November goal? To write a 175-page novel in 30 days.

Sounds tough? She calls it “kind of therapeutic.”

Last November, more than 60,000 participants across the country involved themselves in the same therapy, taking part in National Novel Writing Month.

More than 75,000 are predicted to take on the challenge this month.

Their task began at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. They have until 11:59 p.m. Nov. 30 to channel Hemingway. Chris Baty, a freelance writer in California, is credited for starting the idea back in 1999.

Those who attempt such quick dashes at literary genius call themselves “NaNo novelists.” The thought is that many want to write a book but never make the time. Give someone a deadline, though, and suddenly the words flow.

“Some are pretty critical of the idea that you can write a novel in a month,” Wroblewski says. “We recognize that it’s not a completed work, but it’s a way to jump-start an idea or finally tackle a project.”

A political science major, Wroblewski had long wanted to write about a pregnant county attorney who goes back to discover the history of her adoption.

But it took the NaNo deadline to make words appear. She wrote the story in 2002 and called it “Puppydog Tales.”

Since then, a novel has annually followed — some not as good but always an accomplishment.

“You’re able to call yourself a novelist,” she says. “Not everyone can do that.”

One year, she wrote a novel called “Weapons of Mass Destruction.” It was about a woman going through breast cancer treatment.

She wrote it from three different perspectives and, to this day, won’t let anyone else read it.

The one this month? It’s called “The Popcorn Kernel.” Some Boy Scouts die at a camp. The focus becomes the mothers of the deceased and the survivors — each one finding a different outlet to deal with the grief.

At 9 every night, Wroblewski puts the kids to bed. The next 90 minutes are just for her and the novel.

“I just kind of let myself go, just get the words out,” she says. “If a scene doesn’t work, I just move on to another one.”

Wroblewski has some friends nearby with the same ambitions. Just before November began, she estimated about 100 Nebraskans and 20 Lincolnites would be taking part in the event.

Stacey Goodlett, an employee at the Downtown Embassy Suites, will be taking on her first novel.

She’s written blogs and journals, but this, she says, “is going to be crazy.”

She expects it will be a wild ride, but at least she’s got a title for the book: “Gaiety.”

And a basic premise: A writer falls in love “but there’s all these complications.”

And a name for the main character: Heath.

And while Heath is likely to never obtain the legend of Holden Caulfield, by Nov. 30 he will exist.

And that counts for something.

On the Web

More on National Novel Writing Month is at www.nanowrimo.org. Click on "forums" and the "regional" link at the bottom of that page to find out more about Nebraska writers.

Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7438 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.