NaNoWriMo

[cu-kid9]

I was just curious if anyone else around here is considering participating in the National Novel Writing Month this year...?

I keep going back and forth...I suppose, seeing how I only have one real day left, I should make a decision Although, I've had some pretty persistent writer's block recently. Writing 1,000 words has been difficult -just thinking about writing 50,000 seems impossible at this point.

For anyone who doesn't know about NaNoWriMo, check out their site:

National Novel Writing Month

You can join at any time, but you have to finish your novel by the 30th of November!

[xax]

I'm thinking about it-- I've been meaning to write more for years now, and I've heard that writing daily does wonders for your desire to write. Still, 50,000 words... the longest story I've ever written so far was somewhere around 20k, and that petered out and died before it was even halfway done.

I guess I'll know by tomorrow!

[Guest Knorg]

NO.

[foeofthelance]

Publishing at the company I want to end up getting published at requires minimum 100k words. 50k should be an interesting start. I'll take a swing.

[Solaris]

I wouldn't do it as my stories wouldn't be that big in a month's time even if I tried to write for a month on one story. I like taking my time with my stories and letting the ideas flow without pushing the ideas to come.

My 1985 story took me a year to complete and yet it is barely 50K even now with my edits to it.

I will stick to what I normally do.

Beth

[cu-kid9]

I like taking my time with my stories and letting the ideas flow without pushing the ideas to come.

Normally I'm the same way. I participated last year and fell woefully short.

This year though...jeesh! The first two weeks were agonizing because I kept telling myself there was no way. Fifty thousand in a month?! Most of the stories that I've finished aren't fifty thousand! What the hell did I sign up for?!

Not to mention my characters decided amongst themselves, in some secret meeting that I wasn't invited to, that they were going to take the outline I had been mulling over in October, tear it to pieces, and do a little jig on it

I'm kind of amazed at what I've produced, though. I mean, it's all crap, don't get me wrong -and not that "I think everything I write is crap" kind, but the set your teeth on edge and make you almost nauseous kind. However, it's been kind of nice to tell my inner editor to shut the hell up because I'm going to write as cheesy and awful as I want to for a month straight and there's nothing she can do about it! I'll let her take control in December -if I can stand to look at the novel after that.

I'm around 42,000 words and the end is coming faster than I had anticipated (of both the novel and the month). Hopefully I can make it *crosses fingers*

[shinigamiinochi]

I finished Nanowrimo this year with a 60,000 page work, so no, it's not impossible at all. In fact, I am still working on my nanowrimo. You can find it on this site. It's called Solstice (nudge, nudge)

[cu-kid9]

I inched across the finish line this year! I think I was only 70 words or so over 50,000.

*wipes forehead* But I did it! I'm taking a well-deserved break from it and, hopefully, I'll be able to tackle it again in a few days, get all that connective tissue written. And, though it may not ever do anything but sit on my computer, at least I made it this year.

Congrats on winning NaNoWriMo, shinigamiinochi!

[Kirlaskia]

Hi! A little late to post, but I won Nano with 88,964 words. The story is actually still ongoing and I have been updating regulary still. I have it posted in the Original > Romance section if you get bored and want to read. Its a Planetary Romance (sci-fi, fantasy, romance): Fated Enslavement. ^___^ It is nearly at 104K now.

[scottishfae]

I've never finished a NaNoWriMo, which makes me so sad. My problem is that November is the worst month possible for me to have to sit down and write 50,000+ words. My friends and I are going to do an unofficial NaNoWriMo challenge either in March or July, we haven't decided yet. Hopefully those two months won't prove to be as busy as November.

[Acal]

Well my long term writing project my first novel is only up to 46K after 2 1/2 months, so I doubt i'd be able to get there. If my writing skills improve i might be able to enter it next year.

Also who says you have to do it all in that month? Just pre-write the novel in an earlier month and then sign up at the start and submit at the end?

[Kirlaskia]

Acal: Techinically, for the NaNoWriMo you are supposed to do it in the month. It is to write 50,000 words (from scratch) on Nov 1st - Nov. 30th. So if you write it earlier and submit it in november that would be cheating and kind of defeats the purpose of doing the challenge in the first place.

[cu-kid9]

So if you write it earlier and submit it in november that would be cheating and kind of defeats the purpose of doing the challenge in the first place.

Exactly. The whole point is just to see if you can do it.

This year was the first year I finished. It's a ride, I'll tell you that, full of all kinds of anxiety, frustrations, nervousness, and irritation.

But, it's really fun too. I came up with things I never dreamed I'd come up with. My outline from October got thrown out the first few days in -and a good thing too. I started coming up with plot twists, important background info, and character development that I never thought was possible for me. There are good days and bad days. I had days where I didn't write anything, and then would turn around and write 5,000 words.

People, I think, tend to go about NaNoWriMo the wrong way. Last year, I tried to write everything chronologically. For some people, this works (especially if they already know, chapter by chapter, what's supposed to be going on). But I tend to write by the seat of my pants; I never know exactly where I'm going to end up. Or, if I have some vague idea, I never quite know how I'm going to get there. Writing the story in parts and then going back in and writing all the connecting stuff works best for me. I'm left with kind of a mess at the end of the month, but it's a mess that has, at least to me, some kind of order.

Also, it doesn't have to be good -that's what December is for. During November, you are allowed to write the most obnoxious, ridiculous, cheesiest stuff you want. I'm currently going back through and taking out stupid dialogue and horrid bits of description and re-writing them.

It's a little less like a contest and more of a commitment to yourself. You just say, "I'm going to write 1,700 words everyday for a month," and before you know it, you have a novel. I recommend trying it -you never know what you might come up with.

Congrats on winning, Kirlaskia! I keep spying your story on AFF and keep meaning to check it out, but I just haven't had the time. I'll try to set some aside soon and take a peek.

[Shinju]

Perhaps next year when I'm a little less retarded.

[Acal]

Well i think by that time i'll be 'less retarded' with my writing skills. I have 3 novels planned around over halfway through my planned target for my first one. So maybe i'll enter one of my novels into the comp.

So if you have 50,000 words on Nov 30 when its due to be submitted you have a chance of winning right?

Right now i can't write 50,000 solid words in one story for a month, i've written 45,000 words in about 3 months for one story but probably closer to 70,000 or 80,000 in the 3 months since i've been writing.

[cu-kid9]

So if you have 50,000 words on Nov 30 when its due to be submitted you have a chance of winning right?

If you have 50,000 by November 30th, you win! But you can't start writing until the 1st of November -this means no prose written out. You can have plots, outlines, character descriptions, research, etc. but you can't start writing the actual story until the 1st of the month. You can submit pieces of your work during the entire month (they have bots that will do your word-count for you) so you and other people can see how you're coming along. You can also submit an excerpt so other people can read what you've come up with.

The hardest part, for me anyway, was just writing. If you get bogged down with going back through and editing, you'll never make it. Editing is for December. In November, you just let it all flow out of your fingers, onto the keyboard no matter how stinky it is!

[Solaris]

How does one enter the contest?

I may try my hand at it this year.

Can it be fanfiction or it must be original writing?

I have an idea for a book that I am doing some major research on and I'm thinking it might be a good time to make the attempt at writing it.

Beth

[cu-kid9]

You can go to their site to create an account: National Novel Writing Month. They also do a Script Frenzy Month (which I don't participate in because I can't write scripts) and have programs for youth writing.

And, yep, it can be fanfiction. I think there was a thread there on their forum about that. They consider fanfiction original writing.