# Na No Wri Mo



## Stratelier (Oct 13, 2009)

. . . you know it's coming . . . .

Who's up for it this year?

For the uninitiated, see: http://www.nanowrimo.org/ .  The single rule is "write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days".  Start on November 1, end on November 30th, and if you've cranked out 50,000 words by then, a winner is you. 

Anyone signed up already?  Thinking of story ideas already?  Or even jotting down notes already?


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## Poetigress (Oct 13, 2009)

Already signed up. Since this is my third time around, I'm giving myself leeway to bend a few of the rules -- for example, right now I'm figuring I'll wind up with three or four smaller projects completed toward the 50K total, instead of a single work.


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## ArielMT (Oct 13, 2009)

I've been jotting down notes for the last year.  I've got a long sci-fi story that absolutely must be blurted out before it drives me mad.  I'm in.  :3


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## Atrak (Oct 13, 2009)

I'm going for it. Because I freetype a lot, I'll probably just start a story and go through 50k words with it, unedited  . I'm not planning or even thinking about what I'm going to type. I'll start thinking about it on November 1, when I sit down to type on the site  .


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## GraemeLion (Oct 13, 2009)

I've got my outline for a novel I'm working through now.  It's probably closer to 100,000 words or so, so when I hit 50k I'll write "And then some other stuff happened. The end." 

And register that to win.  Then I'll finish up the novel


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## Volpino (Oct 13, 2009)

I'm in. Not sure if it will be "Amber's Wolf" or "Following the Fool" Both have a start, but I don't think either would be finished at 50,000 words.

And of course, that makes no sense to anyone. =P


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## M. LeRenard (Oct 13, 2009)

Signed up last month, so I'm in this time.  I've already written an outline, some character descriptions, and come up with a fairly complete setting, so all that's left now is to write the whole thing.  I'm doing a work based off of a dream I had a long time ago (at least a decade ago), which I tried to write back then when I had the dream, but cut it off and went on a writing hiatus for years.  I decided to change a number of things, though, to make it more interesting and with less moronic dream-logic.


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## TakeWalker (Oct 14, 2009)

I'd love to try this sometime. This year seems like it would be a good time to do so, I have lots of free time.

But I swear I had lots of novel ideas earlier in the year and forgot them all. D: I can't think of anything at all that would take me 50k words to explore. And I think this is why I've yet to try Nano.


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## Stratelier (Oct 14, 2009)

Me, this should make my third year.  I am constantly bouncing around ideas for scenes in various stories (some original, some fanfic).  There's Final Fantasy, PokÃ©mon, Power Rangers themes, a scifi theme, a fantasy theme, and then (of course) a sequel to my 2007 Nano.

All this while working a 40-hour per week job.



TakeWalker said:


> This year seems like it would be a good time to do so, I have lots of free time.


Free time is so much not a requirement, you might even call it an "anti"-requirement.



> I can't think of anything at all that would take me 50k words to explore. And I think this is why I've yet to try Nano.



That's the problem I had last year:  My story idea was worth only about 30,000 words by itself, so even with my internal editor on forced hiatus the writing painful because half the time I had no direction for where to go next.

There's a few cures for that, though.  If all else fails just add Ninja....

Love the Nano forums, especially the perennial "Nanoisms" thread where people share all sorts of goofs and blunders that come up in the writing.  Really hard to read more than one page of that thread without falling off the chair from laughing so much.


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## Poetigress (Oct 14, 2009)

TakeWalker said:


> I can't think of anything at all that would take me 50k words to explore. And I think this is why I've yet to try Nano.



Take, just do what I'm doing. I have about 6 ideas lined up, and I'm going to start in on the first one (which I think has the potential to be the longest), write until it's finished, and then move on to the next, until I reach the goal. Some of my ideas might last 10-20 K, some shorter, but in my case I think it's better to do a bunch of short stuff than not do anything at all.


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## Atrak (Oct 14, 2009)

Volpino said:


> I'm in. Not sure if it will be "Amber's Wolf" or "Following the Fool" Both have a start, but I don't think either would be finished at 50,000 words.
> 
> And of course, that makes no sense to anyone. =P


 
It does to me. You have two stories that you've started to write. Hey, if they stop short of 50k, then just keep going past the end of the story  . Tell us what happens AFTER it officially ends  . You never know, it might push your imagination past your known limits  . After all, it's probably harder than you would think to write more after the ending.

You're like, "The...end...Done!"
Then I say, "Okay, now what about the epilogue?"
You groan and collapse  .

Oh, and btw, the longest story I've written so far was a bit over 23k words, so no worries  . I'm not discouraged, and you shouldn't let something like that stop you either. What's the worst that could happen? You plan your stories out online, and they go on to become awesome novels, with their own movies and video games being produced? Okay, maybe that wasn't worst-case, but still  .


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## Atrak (Oct 14, 2009)

Hey...during the summer, I started a trilogy, but didn't get far before I stopped. I had it planned out quite well, and therein might lie the problem  . I can't plan things and write about them very well...but I think I'll give this one another shot. I feel...motivated to do it. I won't look at my past planning, but will freetype it with remnants of the planning in the back of my subconcious. It might turn out quite nicely...


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## prizzle (Oct 14, 2009)

I've tried a few times but always lose interest. However, I do at least improve my word count each year. Last year I got to about 32k. This year I have a good idea for a story, and am trying not to plan it out too much and get burnt out. 

I'm excited to get started


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## TakeWalker (Oct 14, 2009)

Poetigress said:


> Take, just do what I'm doing. I have about 6 ideas lined up, and I'm going to start in on the first one (which I think has the potential to be the longest), write until it's finished, and then move on to the next, until I reach the goal. Some of my ideas might last 10-20 K, some shorter, but in my case I think it's better to do a bunch of short stuff than not do anything at all.



That's a good idea, actually.  I guess it's more important to get the 50k words in a month than to write a novel, per se, yes?


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## Atrak (Oct 14, 2009)

prizzle said:


> I've tried a few times but always lose interest. However, I do at least improve my word count each year. Last year I got to about 32k. This year I have a good idea for a story, and am trying not to plan it out too much and get burnt out.
> 
> I'm excited to get started



You're like me, priz  . If I plan something too much, I lose my motivation. That's why I stopped writing the aforementioned trilogy: I planned it too much. Now that I don't remember much of what I planned or wrote, however, I'd like to start it over. I can't wait, either  .


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## Kindar (Oct 15, 2009)

since i can't work on just once story for two days in a row, let alone a month. I'll pass


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## Atrak (Oct 16, 2009)

Kindar, I don't think the goal for this contest is to just write ONE story. It's just to reach 50k words in one month. You can work on twenty stories, if you want. Won't make much sense, but then, making sense isn't the goal, either.


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## Stratelier (Oct 16, 2009)

Kindar said:


> since i can't work on just once story for two days in a row, let alone a month.


That's the #1 reason people fail Nanowrimo, they don't even START writing it in the first place.  I remember seeing a statistics graph around 2007 charting the distribution of Nano population by how many words they accomplished, it was actually quite inspiring and probably the reason I signed up in the first place.

"I don't have any time to work on a story... what the hell, I'm signing up!"

^ My thought process on October 31st, 2007.

Turned out to be the best 55,000 words I ever wrote.


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## ArielMT (Oct 16, 2009)

TRS-80 Model 100, with 24 KB RAM and WriteROM text processor: Check.
Three packs of AA batteries: Check.
Serial null-modem cable with proper connectors on both ends: Check.
Serial comm program on 'Net-enabled PC: Check.
One-second boot time when I can write, and one-second save time when I need to stop: Oh yeah.

Ancient technology for a modern purpose.  Let's see how far we can go. :3


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## nybx4life (Oct 16, 2009)

I didn't sign up yet, but I'll sign in before November.
I have my ideas set up, nothing written down yet.

I don't want to start a single word until it's gametime.


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## TakeWalker (Oct 16, 2009)

I think I finally have an idea. :V So, what's this 'signing up' you're all talking about?


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## M. LeRenard (Oct 16, 2009)

I think you'll figure everything out that you need to know by looking at the website, Take.  There's a register button somewhere around there so you have an account and a place to post your word count every day.


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## Stratelier (Oct 17, 2009)

TakeWalker said:


> I think I finally have an idea. :V So, what's this 'signing up' you're all talking about?



You simply register an account on Nanowrimo.org .  The site has its own share of forums you can hang out at.

Beyond that, it's just wait for November 1st . . . then START!  If you can write 2,000 words a day (regardless of quality -- ease off the backspace and don't even think about editing more than the previous sentence) then you can be done in as early as 25 days (or less).

(Just be aware that Nanowrimo.org suffers a MASSIVE surge of activity the first 2-3 days of November.)


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## FanaticRat (Oct 19, 2009)

Really wanna do it this year, but I can't think of anything worth writing 50,000 pages about...although I still have a bit more time to think of something, right?


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## Scarborough (Oct 19, 2009)

FanaticRat said:


> Really wanna do it this year, but I can't think of anything worth writing 50,000 pages about...although I still have a bit more time to think of something, right?


Well uh fortunately the limit is only 50 000 words.


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## Stratelier (Oct 19, 2009)

Yeah.  If you measured things by pages I doubt even Rowling's at or past 10,000 even with the whole Harry Potter series done and wrapped.


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## Lazarus (Oct 20, 2009)

I did my first NaNoWriMo last year and pooped out at 35k on Thanksgiving. So this year I'm really looking forward to finally "winning". I've got an idea I like, the proper motivation and loads of off-time from work to accomplish it easily.

Maybe someone can get a group going on the NaNoWriMo site and we can all hook-up to watch each other's progress or something.


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## Zeichwolf (Oct 22, 2009)

This is my second year entering NaNoWriMo, but the first year school got me too busy with finals and such to even think about writing. That and my concept kinda failed horribly partway through. I don't even think I made 25,000 words. T_T

So I'm back with a vengeance this year, and I plan to make my goal! Research papers and such aside, I'm aiming for a goal of 1,700+ words a day. I want to be able to say "Hey. I entered NaNoWriMo and won!" It's a bit of a pride point for me as a writer. But I will be there! *Dramatic point*

Also, if we're keeping track of who's who and making a big furry group on NaNoWriMo, I'll be registered as Zeichwolf. Feel free to add me as a friend or whatever. :3


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## TakeWalker (Oct 22, 2009)

I am all geared up for NaNo now.  I'm pumped, I'm psyched and it's still over a week away, plenty of time for me to lose all that energy.


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## selkie (Oct 22, 2009)

I can never make my ideas long enough to be a real novel. They just end up being short stories, because I come up with a new idea or blahblahblah whatever.
I'm trying again this year, though!

I'm surprised so many people here are into it. O:


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## Chex (Oct 25, 2009)

This will be my fifth year, and I'm finally getting one of my oldest characters' stories down in text. Here's to a wishful 50k!

(my username there is dragonalchemist, if anyone wants to buddy up.  )


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## M. LeRenard (Oct 25, 2009)

We all ought to throw out our usernames, so we can watch each other's progress.  Mine will be under Frank LeRenard.  I'm going to treat this like a school project, so be on the lookout for procrastination plus a huge rush to finish at the end.
Actually, I'll try to be more consistent than that.  I don't think I could finish if I waited until the last minute.  Maybe I'll shoot for 1800 words a day or so.  Or maybe 1666 and 2/3 words a day.


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## Scarborough (Oct 25, 2009)

My username is Scarborough.

Last time I failed because I started on like Nov. 10. Big mistake. I got unmotivated trying to keep up with like 2000 words/day.


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## ArielMT (Oct 25, 2009)

Just like here, ArielMT.


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## Stratelier (Oct 26, 2009)

I go by "Stratadrake" just about everywhere.

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/242293

Now if only I could remember my password . . . I know it was a mixture of English and 1337, but....


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## TakeWalker (Oct 26, 2009)

Dan Walker


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## Ulfric (Oct 28, 2009)

They have posters for this all over my campus.  Sure, I was gonna sign up anyways.  Should be fun~


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## prizzle (Oct 28, 2009)

See you guys on November 1st!

Prizzle


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## Zeichwolf (Oct 28, 2009)

Can't wait! Zeichwolf


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## Internet Police Chief (Oct 31, 2009)

I'm signed up.

Starts in 30 minutes.


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## TakeWalker (Oct 31, 2009)

I'm out. Take me off your buddy lists or whatever.


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## Stratelier (Nov 1, 2009)

Awww... 

Well, you gotta at least check out the Nanoisms thread, great relief there:
>> http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3263721?page=13

EDIT:  My synopsis up.  Writing to begin shortly.


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## Lazarus (Nov 1, 2009)

In it and tearing it up.


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## Stratelier (Nov 1, 2009)

First Nanoism of my year, occuring even before the 1,000 word mark:



> The emperor nodded, and quickly snaped another shot.



No, there is no Slytherin head of house in this story.  The correct word is actually "snapped" (the emperor is holding a camera).


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## Internet Police Chief (Nov 1, 2009)

I just hit 1667, which is the minimum to write per day to make it to 50,000 by the 30th. Anyone else get in the minimum so far?


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## M. LeRenard (Nov 1, 2009)

I've written 2901 words so far today.  I might even do more later tonight, if I feel like it.
I feel inspired, so I'm not wasting it.


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## ArielMT (Nov 1, 2009)

I was interrupted by three unrelated problems at work today, and I forgot to name some of the major players on the natives' side of my first-contact story, so I'm only at the halfway point for the day.  :/


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## M. LeRenard (Nov 1, 2009)

End of day one, I've got 4526 words.  I don't know how good this is going to end up being, but I'm having a blast writing it so far.  We'll see how long I can keep up this pace.  At least, though, I got a head start.
I can do no more today, however.  I'll start up again tomorrow morning.  I'm making sure to stop in the middle of a chapter, at a place where I really want to keep going.  I think that will make it easier to get started each day.


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## ArielMT (Nov 1, 2009)

I fear that doing that would cause me to forget where I want to take the chapter.  The greater fear is that I'd forget how I want each chapter to flow into the next.

Edit: The story I'm doing is a framed story, and I'm aiming to make the outer story as exciting as the inner story, not merely a container for it.  But I'm really hyped about the inner story and can't wait to reach its first chapter.


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## Zeichwolf (Nov 2, 2009)

Found myself at like 500 words at 11:00PM, and then I hit an epiphany... I went to like 1800 within the next hour. My paws hurt though... T_T

Anyway! Good to see things are off to a great start, let's keep it up. ^^


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## Scarborough (Nov 2, 2009)

I'm closing out today with 3061.



M. Le Renard said:


> End of day one, I've got 4526 words.  I don't know how good this is going to end up being, but I'm having a blast writing it so far.  We'll see how long I can keep up this pace.  At least, though, I got a head start.
> I can do no more today, however.  I'll start up again tomorrow morning.  *I'm making sure to stop in the middle of a chapter, at a place where I really want to keep going.*  I think that will make it easier to get started each day.



I'm stealing this idea.


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## Lazarus (Nov 2, 2009)

I somehow blitzed out 4,680 words, solid ones mind you. I think since I'm in the middle of the chapter, I'll stop where I am and return tomorrow. Sounds like a majority of everyone is having an easy time keeping up with the quota. Rock on folks.

Closing with 5,038.


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## Chex (Nov 2, 2009)

I'm at a good stopping place, raring for tomorrow with 2659. Some of my friends already have nearly 5k


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## Poetigress (Nov 2, 2009)

Lazarus said:


> Sounds like a majority of everyone is having an easy time keeping up with the quota.



*chuckle* That's because this is Week One, and momentum and enthusiasm is running high. Wait for Week Two. 

My goal for yesterday was just 1K; wrote 2K exactly. This while fighting off likely some variety of flu. Today's goal is 2K; hopefully I'll still have enough energy after work to do that much.

I'm Poetigress on the NaNo site, but I usually don't really update there until it's time to upload the whole thing and verify wordcount, so if anyone cares about my daily progress, I'm going to be posting that to Twitter instead (also same username).


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## Stratelier (Nov 2, 2009)

I always lag behind early in the month . . . past two years as examples, it's usually the 20th before I finally "catch up" to the goal and start getting ahead.  I've made an Excel chart where I put in my cumulative word count at the end of a day, and it calculates everything else.


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## Gavrill (Nov 2, 2009)

Ugh, missed the starting date. I don't think I could churn out that many words either. Just gotta practice! x3


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## Poetigress (Nov 2, 2009)

Stratadrake said:


> I've made an Excel chart where I put in my cumulative word count at the end of a day, and it calculates everything else.



*nods* Me too. (Okay, well, actually my husband made the chart, since I've never done much with Excel, but same thing.) 

It's been really helpful for me to figure out differing goals for various days, rather than trying to do the same amount every day; that way I can work around my work schedule and other commitments, budgeting less for those days and more for my days off, and so on.


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## Atrak (Nov 2, 2009)

I currently do not have internet at home, so I will do the typing there, and upload it at college  . Because of that, I'll be a bit late, and I'll probably start late, as well. I'm finishing a short story for the fall contest first, and then I'll do this  . My name on there is Atrakaj as well  .


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## Stratelier (Nov 3, 2009)

4,000 word stint today bringing me to par with the quota.

Still haven't really finished the opening chapter though, I chose an RPG as source material so the plot is going to be requisitely epic.  Can't play it straight, though....


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## Lazarus (Nov 4, 2009)

5,853 at the end of Day 3, and I'm looking at hitting 7,000+ before I hit the hay. So far the past 72 hours has been a breeze for me.


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## M. LeRenard (Nov 5, 2009)

I'm just shy of 1/4 of the way there.  So far, I'm kicking this contest's butt.  I really had to force myself to write today, though, so I'm guessing this section will be lacking in quality and logic.  But I don't care.  I'm winning.
I think for hilarity's sake, I should post the whole 50,000 words (or whatever I make it to) to my FA account for people to read.  Fact is, if I do anything with this story, it will require much repair, so first publishing rights isn't going to be an issue.  But I don't know if I'll even do anything else with it once it's finished, or if I'll finish it at all.  Any of you guys planning on making a whole piece out of the dreck you're writing right now?


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## Scarborough (Nov 5, 2009)

I plan on doing serious stuff with mine. Not sure if I can use the entire piece, but I think I can excise something better-than-decent.

I'm sitting on around 9500 and going to try and eke another 500 before I go to bed.


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## Stratelier (Nov 5, 2009)

+2,000 earlier today.  So far so good -- even though my "opening chapter" is taking, like, three chapters to write out.


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## wendyw (Nov 5, 2009)

One year I'll have a go at this. This month however I'm moving house and in the middle of all that I'm running a project for another community site which is eating up a lot of my time, so for this year (again) I'll have to sit it out.

Good luck to everybody who is doing it. I hope every one of you hit your targets.


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## nybx4life (Nov 5, 2009)

M. Le Renard said:


> I think for hilarity's sake, I should post the whole 50,000 words (or whatever I make it to) to my FA account for people to read.  Fact is, if I do anything with this story, it will require much repair, so first publishing rights isn't going to be an issue.  But I don't know if I'll even do anything else with it once it's finished, or if I'll finish it at all.  Any of you guys planning on making a whole piece out of the dreck you're writing right now?



Yeah, actually, I am.
I mean, I dunno how you guys are doing so well (probably out of better preparation and luck, and a more open schedule), but I'm going really slow now.

Just over 1k words.


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## ArielMT (Nov 5, 2009)

M. Le Renard said:


> I'm just shy of 1/4 of the way there.  So far, I'm kicking this contest's butt.  I really had to force myself to write today, though, so I'm guessing this section will be lacking in quality and logic.  But I don't care.  I'm winning.



I hate you.  =P

Time is my enemy.  =(



M. Le Renard said:


> I think for hilarity's sake, I should post the whole 50,000 words (or whatever I make it to) to my FA account for people to read.  Fact is, if I do anything with this story, it will require much repair, so first publishing rights isn't going to be an issue.  But I don't know if I'll even do anything else with it once it's finished, or if I'll finish it at all.  Any of you guys planning on making a whole piece out of the dreck you're writing right now?



I'm considering doing the same, posting it online, but what I'm writing couldn't really be classified as furry, so that rules out FA.  I still have plans for my story, so clean-up after the first draft will definitely happen, whether I win or not.


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## M. LeRenard (Nov 5, 2009)

nybx4life said:


> I mean, I dunno how you guys are doing so well (probably out of better preparation and luck, and a more open schedule), but I'm going really slow now.
> 
> Just over 1k words.


I felt good about what I was writing the first couple of days, so I put out a lot, and I forced myself to put out 2000 words yesterday even though I wasn't feeling good about it.  Plus, I do have a lot of free time what with my job being substitute teaching (I haven't been called in in a week).  Hence, I feel like I have no excuse not to write more than the required 1667 words a day.  And I have an outline that I'm following: that makes it easier.  If I get stuck, I just plow on ahead with the original plan whether it's stupid and boring or not.



			
				ArielMT said:
			
		

> I hate you. =P
> 
> Time is my enemy. =(


You could always lose sleep over it.    I often get the most done in the morning, actually, so maybe you could wake up early and write for an hour before work.


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## Lazarus (Nov 5, 2009)

M. Le Renard said:


> Any of you guys planning on making a whole piece out of the dreck you're writing right now?



I had been planning for a few months what I was going to write, so it will be a complete stand-alone piece. After heavy editing and revisions I plan to shop it around and see where it can get me.


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## M. LeRenard (Nov 6, 2009)

So who else is starting to feel like what they're writing is a miserable pile of crap?  It's insane how many corners I'm cutting to keep up this pace.  I feel like I'm just taking my characters and shoving them through the plot whether they like it or not.


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## Stratelier (Nov 6, 2009)

M. Le Renard said:


> So who else is starting to feel like what they're writing is a miserable pile of crap?


Join the club, it happens to everybody.  It's truly amazing just how many degrees of crap there are. 

EDIT:  Ack, I had to go back and give my first major battle a double-take.  Just a few minor edits here and there (honestly), added a good +1,000 to the chapter.  But this is Nano, I'm not SUPPOSED to be EDITING, I should be WRITING!  Gah!


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## Mojotaian (Nov 7, 2009)

Haven't signed up yet, but would like to... too late?


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## Atrak (Nov 7, 2009)

Nope, only too late when November ends  .


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## Bobmuffins (Nov 7, 2009)

Heh, I'd be doing this if I had any ideas at all whatsoever.

My dad's doing it though, he's having a bit of trouble finding time to do it, but he's up to date with it at the moment, I believe.


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## Stratelier (Nov 7, 2009)

From my writing today:


> The incident would be recorded in Imperial communication as "mission accomplished; no survivors".


It wasn't a suicide mission, really.

I also fell apart laughing in a Nano forums discussion about "hard" vs. "soft" Sci-Fi:



			
				Stratadrake said:
			
		

> The science in my novel has the consistency of peanut butter -- neither hard nor soft, and a bit nutty.



... That Came Out Wrong.


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## Sarhea (Nov 9, 2009)

Oh lordy...NaNoWriMo...this is my first year trying this...and...oh heck.  I literally dreamed up an awesome idea days before it started.  I'm really excited about it too.  It's fun making stuff up as I go, even though I've got the whole story outlined in my head.

The problem?  Well, it's now day 8, I'm 14,000 words into my novel, and it's still just the prequel.  Is that bad?  I've pretty much come to the conclusion that the story is going to be at least a trilogy.  And at the rate that I'm going, each book is going to be several hundred pages long.  Most of it is probably utter crap that will need some serious editing, but damn...

All I know is that this is going to be WAAAYYYY longer than 50K words....


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## M. LeRenard (Nov 9, 2009)

Well, since most novels are more than 50000 words anyway, I don't think it's a problem to not be done with the story by the time you reach that amount.  Once you reach your 50k at the end of November, you call that a good start and then just keep going, I guess.
But yeah... 50000 words is really only the equivalent of maybe 100 pages or so (in standard print, I think), so probably pretty much everyone is bound to not be done with the whole story by that point.  I don't know if I will be or not; I'm at 18000 words and I'm at bullet point 11 out of 21 on my outline, so I could actually make it.  But I feel like I'm really rushing the story, too, so I could see it expanding in editing.
Either way, it's absolutely nothing to worry about.


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## Stratelier (Nov 9, 2009)

Sarhea said:


> I literally dreamed up an awesome idea days before it started.


Join the club -- I did that in 2007, closing the end of the month at 55,000 words (concluded!) and the same overall experience.



> The problem?  Well, it's now day 8, I'm 14,000 words into my novel, and it's still just the prequel.


That sounds just like me this year (odd, is there an echo in here or is it just me?).  I've written about 12,000 words through yesterday (couldn't write today) and I'm still on what basically amounts to the _opening scene_.  Judging by my source material it'll probably be January before everything's said and done plot-wise.


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## nybx4life (Nov 9, 2009)

At least you guys are good when it comes to word count.

I'm WAY behind (by about 10,000 words, or somewhere in that amount)

But either I have some confidence in what I'm writing (or conceited arrogance), or my work is actually pretty good, considering it's rushed way beyond comfort.


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## Sarhea (Nov 9, 2009)

Wow, I'm so glad I'm not alone, lol.

I've been sitting here writing at a decent clip, and all the while there's this little nagging voice in the back of my head that keeps me wondering if I'm starting this thing all wrong.  But seeing as I know this thing is going to be long, I guess it's not uncommon for the opening scene to take a few pages. 

Gah, the prologue I'm writing basically takes place 10 years before the real story starts.  I HATE HATE HATE writing flashbacks, and the stuff I'm writing is fairly important to the story...maybe after i get the whole book hammered out I can find another way to write that beginning part, but for the moment, doing a prologue seemed to be my best option...errr..it got me writing anyway

But I will most definitely be one of the ones writing long after Nov 30 has passed.  I only hope I can get this vision in my head to come out on paper...I have issues with communication between my brain and my hand...I've already committed one NaNo no no...I revised a section because it wasn't right and it was preventing me from continuing Oo

I may have to make use of that critique thread once I get this chapter done, hopefully today.


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## RoseHexwit (Nov 10, 2009)

Grr. I'm ridiculously behind. I'm doing better than I did last year, though (I finished just short of 22,000 words).


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## Sarhea (Nov 10, 2009)

Gah, I've hit a few bumps in the road that are distracting me....I hit 15,500 words and I'm going blank, even though I can see the whole damn scene in my head.  I can't get myself to type it out...I'm going to have to kill my internet and the distraction it causes-I've only written roughly 500-600 words in two day...not good...


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## Scarborough (Nov 10, 2009)

Sarhea said:


> Gah, the prologue I'm writing basically takes place 10 years before the real story starts.  I HATE HATE HATE writing flashbacks, and the stuff I'm writing is fairly important to the story...maybe after i get the whole book hammered out I can find another way to write that beginning part, but for the moment, doing a prologue seemed to be my best option...errr..it got me writing anyway


Funny. I love flashbacks. I'm trying to write this thing with as few flashbacks as possible and from a single POV and it's terribly difficult.

I'm sitting on 22k+ and every time I open my word document, I'm like, Dammit I don't want to write.

And when I finish I'm like, That felt amazing. Huh.


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## Thou Dog (Nov 11, 2009)

My longest story so far was about 35kw. I thought it was halfway to decently well-written, but the story itself was pretty terrible (a la "Oh god, what am I reading? What the hell, author, what the hell...?"). A few people liked it, most didn't, I removed it as being inappropriate for FA's fairly cheery and sane atmosphere.

How do you come up with story ideas? I mean, how does one do it? For myself, I can't write a damned word until I get an "Aha!" moment, usually in the shower. But inspiration-block is something I face quite often.

I mean, I guess I could take more showers. I'd be more productive,  even if my beard wouldn't have time to dry.


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## M. LeRenard (Nov 11, 2009)

Scarborough said:
			
		

> I'm sitting on 22k+ and every time I open my word document, I'm like, Dammit I don't want to write.
> 
> And when I finish I'm like, That felt amazing. Huh.


Same thing's happening to me (though I'm only at 20k, since I didn't write at all yesterday).  I found out that it helps me to get started if I change up my normal writing routine a little bit.  Like, today I listened to music while writing, which I almost never do, but for some reason now it made it easier to get started and to keep going.  So maybe try introducing a little chaos.
It's kind of like exercise, isn't it?



			
				Thou Dog said:
			
		

> How do you come up with story ideas? I mean, how does one do it?


The age-old question that no author ever knows how to answer.
Mine's based on an incredibly vivid dream I had a long time ago.  I usually have a hard time coming up with ideas as well, though.  Or, good ideas, at least.


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## Atrak (Nov 11, 2009)

*shrug* The subconscious mind gather information gathered by your five senses, as well as mental images, such as ones formed from reading novels, and pulls from each to create an idea. Because the subconscious controls this, you can have ideas in two different ways, dreams, or just spontaneous ones that just pop into your head randomly.

That was entirely based on my thoughts, and had no basis in fact whatsoever, except that, if I am correct, part of my idea came from facts about the mind  . I did not, however, google this, and it is probably wrong. *shrug*

(look at my sig)


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## Lazarus (Nov 11, 2009)

Work has held me up over the past few days and I'm now nearly 7,000 words behind. But since today is a holiday and I'm needed nowhere, I have all day to catch-up, and here I go.


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## Sarhea (Nov 11, 2009)

Scarborough said:


> Funny. I love flashbacks. I'm trying to write this thing with as few flashbacks as possible and from a single POV and it's terribly difficult.




Flashbacks work great for some-I hate writing them cause they trip me up and I end up running off on so weird tangent...So I mainly hate writing them cause I fail miserably at making them work and flow properly.  

Gah, I'm getting so far behind now.  I wish I could forget that I know what happens later in the story and write the stuff I need to write now.  I'm finding myself daydreaming about stuff that happens later in the story, and then my train of thought derails on what I'm currently trying to write...oh god, i'm rambling...sooo tired...


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## Atrak (Nov 13, 2009)

This is where free-typing reigns supreme  . When I write a story, I force myself away from the future,and focus only on what is happening NOW. I attempt to merge with my protagonist, and to not only write what he/she's feeling, but *how* he/she's feeling. When I'm not writing, I daydream about a different story  .


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## Stratelier (Nov 13, 2009)

"Method writing", then.  It can be useful, but I try to avoid it because I tend to wind up explaining and debating backstory technicals with myself and never get anywhere.


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## M. LeRenard (Nov 14, 2009)

Just hit the big 50% mark.
This is weird, but my left pinky is actually getting sore from typing so much.


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## Zeichwolf (Nov 14, 2009)

Sadly enough, I've dropped, as I've mentioned in Poetigress' thread. Papers came due around 7k words and since then my muse for writing has died along with my word count. Good luck to the rest of you!


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## FireFeathers (Nov 14, 2009)

I'm doing it for the first time this year; Started late, but  i'm at about 32k, hitting the wall a bit. Though i've got a few days to let my mind simmer and dig around in it later on.  Thankfully, i've been planning this story for years, and my writing muse decieded to kick it into overtime right around the 5th of November.  Hopefully, i'll be able to finish, even though i should be using this time to do my final portfolio for college.


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## Stratelier (Nov 14, 2009)

Suffered a lack of inspiration last night, couldn't even write 100 words because I had _no freakin' clue_ how to narrate the scene I had in mind.

The scene was that the two MCs are making an escape down a mountainside on a snowmobile, cloudy/snowy night.  The passenger doesn't realize that the MC is following his GPS and driving by night vision, and is getting a little creeped out by how fast he's going.

Seriously, I had no idea how to write that, or what to do to get them across the border into the country next door.  So I ended up with them booking a train and the MC falling asleep for most the trip.

Now I get to introduce the main antagonist... good spurt of writing today.


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## Sarhea (Nov 14, 2009)

Gah, I've hit my 5-6th day of not being able to write much-Life has kicking the crap of me...but I feel inspiration returning finally, and now that all the past week's headaches are out of the way, hopefully I can catch back up.  I'm at 16,110 words...I've got a lot of catching up to do...But I'm so close to finishing this damn prologue-once the real story begins, it will be much easier...

Editing is going to be a real joy once this mess is finished...


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## Zhael (Nov 14, 2009)

I'm going on a writing binge from midnight tonight to midnight tomorrow to catch up 20000 words from starting over a large portion, as it stopped making sense.


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## Poetigress (Nov 14, 2009)

Zhael said:


> I'm going on a writing binge from midnight tonight to midnight tomorrow to catch up 20000 words from starting over a large portion, as it stopped making sense.



Starting over? As in, you deleted what you wrote or otherwise aren't going to count it? Um, if that's the case, no. No, no, no. Type a line across the screen and then keep going in whatever new direction you want. Any words you write during this period, regardless of whether you keep them in the end, still count towards the 50K. (Chris Baty, NaNo's founder, suggests putting unwanted portions in italics and/or changing the font color to white so they 'disappear' but still show up in the word count.)

I mean, go on a writing binge if you want, sure , but it sounds like you're making far more work for yourself than necessary.


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## Scarborough (Nov 14, 2009)

I'm at 30k.

And feel like my writing style keeps changing throughout the whole piece. Bleh. What. Anyone else have this problem? : /


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## Zhael (Nov 14, 2009)

Poetigress said:


> Starting over? As in, you deleted what you wrote or otherwise aren't going to count it? Um, if that's the case, no. No, no, no. Type a line across the screen and then keep going in whatever new direction you want. Any words you write during this period, regardless of whether you keep them in the end, still count towards the 50K. (Chris Baty, NaNo's founder, suggests putting unwanted portions in italics and/or changing the font color to white so they 'disappear' but still show up in the word count.)
> 
> I mean, go on a writing binge if you want, sure , but it sounds like you're making far more work for yourself than necessary.


I deleted it already.... damn... but I took it in a complete different direction when I reached a crossroads of choices, I made the one that made me feel like it wasn't my own work (and I reached a dead end). But regardless, I'm ready to work on this.


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## Stratelier (Nov 14, 2009)

Fun things to do during Nanowrimo:
- Identify as many TV Tropes in your novel as you can.
- Have MS Word auto-summarize your novel to 10 sentences.
- Run excerpts of your novel through "Lost in Translation" and laugh at the incomprehensible results.


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## Thou Dog (Nov 14, 2009)

My writing that I like best starts with just an attractive image - an idea that grabs me and whispers seductively, "You should write about this... It'll be fun."

And then I write.

When the story is long and detailed, I sometimes start right in the middle - _in media res_, as they say. That's why my first submission in the latest series of stories is called "In Media Res". It's set right in the middle, after several important events have already taken place, because that's where the image that grabbed me was set. (The setting was fixed in my head already. I came up with it a few years ago.)


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## Sarhea (Nov 15, 2009)

Gah, I'm finally writing again...I've written nearly 3000 words in the last 4-5 hours; the catch?  I had to abandon the long winded prologue that had bogged me down for the last week.  Over 16K words of useless nothing...I'm keeping them around, to keep my word count up for NaNo, but most likely the entire section will be scrapped when it comes edit time.  

I'm just glad I'm finally writing again and enjoying it...it's about time


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## M. LeRenard (Nov 22, 2009)

I'm wondering if anyone else is having doubts that they'll have enough material to finish the whole 50000 words.  I'm approaching 40000 right now, but my main characters are already at their last destination in their journey.  I don't really know how I'm going to fill up 10000 words from this point onwards, unless I go back to earlier parts of the story and add some bullshit to beef it up a little bit.
See... wouldn't you know, I who usually makes things too long, is now worried that I don't have enough content to make the goal.  It seems a little ironic that I'd actually complete the story (hence writing a 'novel'), but that it wouldn't satisfy the goal of NaNoWriMo, which, last I checked, was to write a novel during the month of November.
So is anyone else coming up short on story?  I figure most people would have too much material for 50000 words.


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## Scarborough (Nov 22, 2009)

I got lucky with this one. I'm sitting on 41k, and am just now getting to where everything's getting more dramatic and fast-paced and tense for the MC. I had set out to write a novel over the summer and ended up with a 29k draft, which I mean is good, but isn't quite novel-length. And most of the stuff I write is disgustingly short (<1000 words).

So uh... no, don't quite have that problem. >.>


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## Lazarus (Nov 22, 2009)

Work has kept me away from the page, so I'm about 10,00 words behind and I don't think I'll have time in the next 9 days to make it up. But I'm happy because 2 years of solid writers block is no more, so this is a success in my eyes, no matter the outcome.

MLR, I'm in that boat. I don't have a story capable of pushing 50k unless I throw in some BS or drag out scenes much too long.


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## Stratelier (Nov 22, 2009)

M. Le Renard said:


> I'm wondering if anyone else is having doubts that they'll have enough material to finish the whole 50000 words.



That happened to me last year.  Several times.  Happening this year too, but to a lesser degree.  I've chosen FF6 for my novel, which has a serious boatload of material, but it's the basic getting-from-point-A-to-B that I'm having trouble with.

I'm sitting just over 31k right now, still mostly slipping below the daily goals.


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## Poetigress (Nov 22, 2009)

MLR, same here. Granted, I started out with the intent of writing more than one project, but it was still disappointing and a little disorienting when the concept that I thought might run for the rest of the month hit "the end" on Thursday. It might have been possible to go back and either add in scenes or take a different path, but I felt more like letting that one sit for a while. So I spent Friday hammering out a 3K draft of a new short story, and yesterday I started a new project that I'll probably hit the finish line with.

My current word count, all projects total, is just under 41K.


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## M. LeRenard (Nov 24, 2009)

Well at least I'm not alone.
Ugh... I can't write tonight.  Just can't do it.  I guess this is why I sprinted those first couple of days; because I knew later on I would run out of juice.  I'm 2 days ahead of schedule right now, so if I take a break tonight, I'll still be 1 day ahead.  I just need to do some serious brainstorming to figure out how to end this stupid thing, because right now I'm positively stumped.


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## nybx4life (Nov 24, 2009)

M. Le Renard said:


> Well at least I'm not alone.
> Ugh... I can't write tonight.  Just can't do it.  I guess this is why I sprinted those first couple of days; because I knew later on I would run out of juice.  I'm 2 days ahead of schedule right now, so if I take a break tonight, I'll still be 1 day ahead.  I just need to do some serious brainstorming to figure out how to end this stupid thing, because right now I'm positively stumped.



At least you're not about 10k words behind.

I got to write big time just to keep up.


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## Sarhea (Nov 25, 2009)

Holy cow...I'm sitting on 44.4K words and I'm finally on a roll.  I've finally made it to the parts of the story that I've been dwelling on for the past few weeks.  It's hard to believe that this story is almost exactly one month old-literally.  

I'm getting really excited for my story, and though NaNo is almost over, I'm only at the beginning of my story.  I hope to at least have the first major section done before the 30th, which by my guestimation is 4-5 more chapters and 20-25K more words...

uh...it could maybe happen, lol.  I've been easily knocking out 4-5k words a day lately, especially lately since my other half is out on the road-no distractions makes for much easier writing.  After a rather rocky start, it feel great to be steaming right along...good luck everyone!


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## Sarhea (Nov 27, 2009)

Oo...i did it...according to NaNo, i got my 50,091 words in (though MS Word says I had 50,480)  34K of it is in my first 6 main chapters, which is roughly 1/4 of the story for the first book.  The other 16K words belong to the long winded prologue, which will end up getting incorporated into the main story as I go.  I started off on a huge bunny trail.  

All I know is that it feels great to have accomplished this.  I've still got a lot of writing to do, and editing is going to be a nightmare.  Going back and reading some of it makes me cringe and want to gouge out my eyes...but I'm loving the basic story.  I'll probably start hanging out more here at the Writer's Bloc, as I have lots of questions-I look forward to learning from you guys...

But I'm glad the NaNo rush is over for me.  I can relax and enjoy writing cause I want to, not because I'm trying to make a deadline.


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## Scarborough (Nov 27, 2009)

Nice, nice. Congrats, Sarhea.

I just reached 50,066 myself. And the story is still ridiculously incomplete. x.X


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## M. LeRenard (Nov 27, 2009)

Whew... I made it.  50,093 words.  And the story is over, too.  Feels good to be finished.
It was pretty fun to write, though, despite some of the rough spots.  I guess at some point I'll post it to my gallery on FA, but right now... I'm just going to let it sit and not think about it for a while.  I'm pretty bushed.  And I don't even want to know what kind of awful shape it's in.  I haven't looked back since I started, so here's to plot holes, spelling errors, typos, and grammatical errors.

Congrats to you other winners as well.  PT hasn't bragged about it yet, but her account says she has also won, so... congrats Poetigress, Sarhea, and Scarborough!
Hopefully we'll get a few more over the next couple of days as well.


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## Lazarus (Nov 27, 2009)

Congrats to you winners! I have to call it a month due to work this weekend and that my story as it stands wont touch 50,000 words. But I've got a solid story I'm happy with and have beaten my long case of writers block to a pulp.


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## Poetigress (Nov 28, 2009)

M. Le Renard said:


> PT hasn't bragged about it yet, but her account says she has also won,



Yeah, I passed the finish line late Wednesday afternoon, made quick posts to Twitter and my LiveJournal, and then in all the Thanksgiving prep, didn't really have time to come back here and to FA to post about it. >^_^< This was definitely a more difficult year for me than the other two were, partly because of lack of planning, partly because of working on more than one project and having to shift gears unexpectedly, but I got a solid short story draft out of it, something that may eventually be a novella or even a novel if I can go back and figure out what it's really meant to be, and a good start on a novella/novelette that I hope to keep working on until it's done.


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## Loup-lacrima (Nov 28, 2009)

Congrats to all who have or are about to win. I entered for the first time this year, but I couldn't finish because of a loss in the family. Next year though!


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