NaNoWriMo 2011!

tigerblob · 19-10-2011 1:07am #1

Who's taking part? Have you got a plan of any description yet? I thought I'd start a thread so we can all lean on each other when times get tough!

tadcan · 19-10-2011 2:34pm

I signed up for it. Have a title and a vague story. Began writing it a few years ago. Going to give it another go.

harrythehat · 19-10-2011 4:09pm

I signed up, but I think I might be in over my head already. Over 1,600 words a day while I'm already quite stressed about "real work". Might give it a go anyway though.

Antilles · 19-10-2011 6:50pm

I'm doing it. I've been plotting all October

Blush_01 · 19-10-2011 11:13pm

Finally going to attempt NaNoWriMo. Might be foolhardy considering my current level of sleep deprivation, but hey, what doesn't kill us...?

Tym · 19-10-2011 11:40pm

I'm doing UNI and I have a load of Essays and assighnment (3 or 4) due Late October/ November. Do you think i'd be able to do NAWMO?

pickarooney · 20-10-2011 7:19am

I know it goes strictly against the student ethos but why not just due the assignments now and you'll have plenty of time for NaNoWriMo?

harrythehat · 20-10-2011 12:47pm

Hilarious comment Pickarooney. Out of the question, clearly!

tigerblob · 20-10-2011 3:54pm

I definitely think it's possible if you're in college, even when you have loads of work to do think of the amount of time you spend on the internet or watching TV. That could be used to write your novel instead!

harrythehat · 20-10-2011 4:37pm

I guess that could be said of me too. I work 7:30-3 but I suppose I do spend a lot of evening time on boards/facebook that could be utilised better!

finno26 · 20-10-2011 8:08pm

bring it on!!!!!!

The writing is ready to roll. I had thought about cheating and starting tomorrow, but I suppose I can use the next eleven days to crystalize the idea in me skull.

Antilles · 20-10-2011 8:43pm

This will be my third NaNoWriMo.

First time through I decided to follow the "seat of the pants" method. I had a plot idea but no clue where it would go. I sat down on November 1st and started writing and after thirty days, had reached 50,000 words. Unfortunately the story had a meandering plot that didn't hang together, plot holes in every chapter, sub-plots which had no resolution and an ending that came about only because I was tired of the story and didn't want to keep writing after November 30th.

Second time, I did a little bit more prep work. I had my idea and ten key points in the plot that I knew I wanted to hit. This attempt was much better. The story began in the right place, ended in the right place and had a decent flow. I reached 50,000 words again and did some editing but eventually I decided that while I was happier with the result, I'd need to spend months finishing the edit. The story just wasn't good enough to warrant that much work, so it's been left in my Writing folder untouched ever since.

This time, I've done an insane amount of research. I've got the entire plot nailed down, scene by scene, and I know my characters inside-out. I'm going to spend the rest of October polishing the plot so that it's as good as I can make it. The story is a big one so I know I won't finish it in November but that's okay because this is the first time I'm doing NaNoWriMo with the goal of having a publishable work once the story is done.

finno26 · 20-10-2011 9:27pm

Antilles wrote: »

This will be my third NaNoWriMo.

First time through I decided to follow the "seat of the pants" method. I had a plot idea but no clue where it would go. I sat down on November 1st and started writing and after thirty days, had reached 50,000 words. Unfortunately the story had a meandering plot that didn't hang together, plot holes in every chapter, sub-plots which had no resolution and an ending that came about only because I was tired of the story and didn't want to keep writing after November 30th.

Second time, I did a little bit more prep work. I had my idea and ten key points in the plot that I knew I wanted to hit. This attempt was much better. The story began in the right place, ended in the right place and had a decent flow. I reached 50,000 words again and did some editing but eventually I decided that while I was happier with the result, I'd need to spend months finishing the edit. The story just wasn't good enough to warrant that much work, so it's been left in my Writing folder untouched ever since.

This time, I've done an insane amount of research. I've got the entire plot nailed down, scene by scene, and I know my characters inside-out. I'm going to spend the rest of October polishing the plot so that it's as good as I can make it. The story is a big one so I know I won't finish it in November but that's okay because this is the first time I'm doing NaNoWriMo with the goal of having a publishable work once the story is done.

good for you... wishing you all the best with it.

I on the other hand, tend to let the Muse put things together as I go along. Maybe not an ideal way to go about things but if it works for Stephen King then it can't be all bad.

Tym · 20-10-2011 10:15pm

Sure i'll give it a go. I've more spare time than most who work full time. I'll do assignments and NANOWRM. Yeah!

Arlecchina · 21-10-2011 8:46am

Glad to hear I'm not alone in this insanity.

I'm eyeing your detailed planning methods with envy, Antilles. I'm still poking at plots with a sharp stick to see which twitches most. Only ten days to decide on one and cobble together some sort of rough outline!

CD. · 21-10-2011 2:13pm

I'm gonna give it a go this year, did it a few years ago and got to the 50,000 but it didn't really make sense so it's pretty much discarded.

I've a book that I'm working on at the moment and gonna use it as an excuse to finish it quickly. I have the story mostly there but just need something to give me that final push.

harrythehat · 21-10-2011 4:12pm

Would it be allowed to do a series of short stories totalling 50k words do you think?

tadcan · 21-10-2011 4:25pm

If the stories were in one file it would probably work. A program will count the words at the end of the month.

guyserious · 21-10-2011 4:30pm

Hiya all,

I've meant to do this for the last couple of years, but life kept getting in the way and distracting me.

But this year I'm not letting that happen, and I'm gonna go for it and get this done no matter what

This is pretty much an impulsive decision so I haven't really any outline plan or plot/characters in mind, so I'll probably be sticking fairly close to the writing impulsively under pressure model. I'm not expecting greatness as a result, but maybe something half decent will come out if I do manage to hit the word count.

So best of luck to everyone dong this. I hope it goes well for you all and you get the result you hope for.

Just a quick question. Will anybody be meeting up to chat about their progress? The website says people have write-ins in the states, does this happen at all in Ireland? I live in Dublin so if anybody is doing anything like this in the city (or nearby) I'd be on for getting involved.

tadcan · 21-10-2011 4:32pm

There was a thread on the site about a meetup in the Dublin pub. That has been moved to the history section. I think it had a literary name like the scribe or something.

Tym · 21-10-2011 9:04pm

I've a book that I'm working on at the moment and gonna use it as an excuse to finish it quickly. I have the story mostly there but just need something to give me that final push.

Hi, I think the whole point of it is to start a story from scratch. Well, not from scratch as in no backstory but the wordcount at the start is meant to be zero.

Sure go to your region in the NANOWRIMO site. I found a meeting in my region that way:P

CD. · 22-10-2011 1:39pm

Tym wrote: »

Hi, I think the whole point of it is to start a story from scratch. Well, not from scratch as in no backstory but the wordcount at the start is meant to be zero.

I do have about 20,000 words or so written so far, but the plan is that only what I've written in november will be put into the count box, so I will do 50,000 words in the month, just starting a bit later in the story.

so if I write 1,000 words on day 1, 2,000 on day 2, then my total for november so far would be 3,000.

FewFew · 25-10-2011 11:37am

I'm getting tempted by this. Going to have some more time, so this would be a good way to get myself into daily writing.

Is there any issue with copyright?

finno26 · 25-10-2011 2:05pm

Fewcifur wrote: »

I'm getting tempted by this. Going to have some more time, so this would be a good way to get myself into daily writing.

Is there any issue with copyright?

possibly, if you actually upload your story on the the NaNoWriMo site... I'm just getting into the spirit of the thing and doing it for myself. I WILL NOT be uploading anything on the actual site. Jesus, my computer does have 'word-count' so I don't need a site to tell me I have written 50,00 words.

FewFew · 25-10-2011 2:59pm

finno26 wrote: »

possibly, if you actually upload your story on the the NaNoWriMo site... I'm just getting into the spirit of the thing and doing it for myself. I WILL NOT be uploading anything on the actual site. Jesus, my computer does have 'word-count' so I don't need a site to tell me I have written 50,00 words.

Don't think I'd keep it up if it wasn't public and embracing a collective drive. Hmmm...

Arlecchina · 25-10-2011 4:56pm

If you're worried about uploading your work to the site, you could always obfuscate your text before you run it through their official word count app? They mention this in the FAQ. Apparently no copies of your work are stored on the site; they merely use the upload tool to validate word counts.

iguana · 26-10-2011 4:13pm

I'm going to give this a go. I've done the silly thing of starting a second, third and possibly fourth project while working on my book and it's killing my productivity. I'm brilliant at plotting new ideas enthusiastically but not so great at the hard slog of finishing something sufficiently. Hopefully getting in the spirit of this will help me break the back of the book and then I can concentrate on editing.

desolate sun · 26-10-2011 6:47pm

This is my 4th Nano! Really looking forward to it as I havent written much all year. I am going to do a sequel to a book I wrote 2 years ago.

Every writer is different. Some need to do loads of planning before they can start Chapter 1, others write by the seat of their pants. There is no one-size-fits-all method so do what you like and see what suits you.

I tried both the planning and seat-of-your-pants method and the latter works for me. Although I usually have an inkling of what happens.

For those wanting to write with a busy college schedule, write whenever, wherever you can. You can write on the bus on the way to college, at break time, while waiting in the doctor's waiting room, etc.
Maybe carry a journal around with you or write directly into your phone/smart fone and then send the writing to your email where you can cut and paste into a Word document.

I did this last year when I had a particularly heavy schedule and it's amazing how 500 words here and 600 words there can add up to the total.

Good luck all!

Killer Wench · 29-10-2011 3:12am

I signed up to do it in 2009 and then when time approached, I just couldn't share my story.

Passed last year since I was back in school.

Now that I have finished and have written a 20000 dissertation, I think I can do it this time.

Blush_01 · 01-11-2011 1:08am

Ready... Steady... GO!

Antilles · 01-11-2011 2:04am

I've written my first sentence and now I'm going to bed

NaNoWriMo 2011!

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