posted
Evidently I was caught in a continuum where past years merged with this year... I created one. So, everyone, please introduce yourself over there with your username here so we know who you are, and feel free to buddy with abandon! Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I just wanted to say that whether I can or do win this year, I am so happy that I did it in 2004. Back then, there was no question of having the time, but it was a matter of priority.
Perhaps I will experiment with dictating my novel while I drive to and from work. If I can find my recorder.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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So... I really can't start writing until Nov 1st, eh?
I've been plotting more and more, and have an almost complete plot - though more gets added every day. Still no real ending... the one I've envisioned would probably require a sequel to be written just to encompass it.
I have one character fleshed out to aboug 30%, and two more that I know will be in the story. I have a long way to go in that department - though I think I will limit it to a single main character, a decent sized group of secondary characters, and a host of tertiary ones.
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Woo! Pro writer Keith R.A. DeCandido (Star Trek books, Serenity novelization, etc) has a book due at the end of November anyway, so he signed up at NaNoWriMo. Talk about peer pressure; he's used to pumping out thousands of words a day and he has to finish on time, so keeping up with him will be a challenge. Here's his profile.Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
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It is, and has been. They've been working on speeding things up - which is why the search functions aren't there right now -- but they're getting slammed with visitors. They're too popular!
Things should settle down a bit after the 1st.
Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I've got my plot (mostly) and am now working on characters.
I know the essentially backstory and motivation for my main character, but I need to work on the details... like personality, occupation, favorite breakfast food, number of freckles, etc...
As for supplementary characters, they're all pretty much relegated to roles, still - character's adopted father, nursemaid, friend, crazy old scholar guy, bug lady, etc.
Characters definitely need some work. Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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I'm doing it this year. I'm gonna take full advantage of the "No plot? No problem!" idea. I plan to just start typing and see where the words take me. I think it will be fantasy, but I'm not sure. I'd like to start it out in the real world and only very gradually introduce the fantastic elements.
Also, I think I'm going to go with the Dracula style: letters, diary entries, newspaper articles, etc.
Posts: 1735 | Registered: Oct 2004
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Less than a day! For me, anyway - I've got 15 hours and 16 minutes to go... Although, really, I won't start writing until morning - no way am I starting at midnight - so yeah, it's a day. *cough*
One day to go! Woo hoooo!
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
Of course, Nov 1st is looking to be my busiest and most jam-packed day at work (meetings and training and such), and I likely won't be able to get home until hours after I normally do.
And today I have so little to do that I could even start writing *at* work if I wanted to.
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: For the last two years I've started ambitious nanowrimo stories and have always felt daunted and didn't complete them.
So this year I'm going to finish the story I just started writing last week. It'll probably end up being closer to 35,000-40,000 words, if that.
I know it doesn't satisfy the technical goals of the program, but getting SOMETHING accomplished is better than trying something big and stopping before I even start. So I think it satisfies the spirit of NaNoWriMo.
My story is called Carvin Hedridge. It's about a guy who happens upon a lost village when he gets lost. Something there calls to him and he stays for awhile to explore, and soon ends up defending the village from a great threat. In the end he finds the village is a lot more than it first appeared. I don't want to give too much away in case anyone wants to read it.
I was thinking about your story when I was driving to Omaha last night on a business trip. I passed by a sign that said "Maple River Junction" but I read it as "Magic River Junction." (It's in Carroll County, Iowa.) MapPosts: 2034 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Woot! I actually wrote more than my daily goal. I have no idea how to wrap up my second scene, but I get to sleep on it. Come on, subconcious. Gimme something to work with. 8)
How'd everyone do Day 1?
Posts: 2283 | Registered: Dec 2003
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I actually wrote about 2,000 words today! Sadly, I doubt I will have as much time as I had today ever again.
Posts: 3420 | Registered: Jun 2002
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431 words, including a list of the MC's family. But, I attended a 7-hour copy editing workshop and drove 3 1/2 hours home afterward. I got a bit of a late start.
Posts: 2034 | Registered: Apr 2004
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quote:Originally posted by FlyingCow: I think quidscribis should hit 50k by the end of the week at the rate she's going.
You're funny. It'll take at least a week and a half.
I don't know if I'll be able to maintain the momentum - I still haven't finished plotting the story. I'm working on that still. I've got about ten or twelve scenes plotted that I still haven't written, so I've got a few days grace there, but I've got to get to plotting if I'm going to be able to maintain any amount of speed at all. I don't do well at all without plottage in place.
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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5,616 as of this morning, but the early rush is easy. My problem is always the second week when I suddenly run out of all the great ideas I've been percolating and have to start stitching them together somehow.
Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I just folded under the strain like a dollar store umbrella. But good luck to everyone who's still going for it!
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I've discovered, to no surprise whatsoever to me, that I suck at fight scenes. Suck. Completely and totally suck. Kidney punches? What do those feel like? The only fight I've ever been in, I broke the guy's nose and he cried all the way home (I was eight or nine, he was two years older, and he had at least 30 or 40 pounds on me). That's the sum of all my experiences.
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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So don't write fight scenes. Some of the most effective scenes I've read had close to no detail in them.
"After all that, the silly fool insisted on coming at me with his knife. A busy minute later and I was inspecting the markings on the blade with interest as he curled up on the floor, his hands between his legs and his face turning redder than a home-grown tomato."
"I still don't know what happened, but she grabbed my wrist and twisted and it was suddenly very urgent that I hurl myself face-first at the floor."
"He moved, and suddenly my side was screaming at me. If I were trained in such things, I could tell you which organ he punched, but all I know is that is seemed pretty vital at that point."
"His sword blurred. His opponent fell to the ground, with more than one thud."
Just write the situation and the results, adapted to your own style and genre. Depending on the mood you're shooting for, less detail means more for the reader to imagine. The only time I use detail is when it is vitally important for the reader to know what happened (such as Ender's fight scenes, when OSC wanted to show how carefully and conclusively Ender acted).
Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
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It is becoming rapidly obvious to me that the word count is designed to force -- force! -- the inner editor into shrieking blubber in the corner. I'd heard that, but shoot, it's true.
quote:Originally posted by Chris Bridges: The only time I use detail is when it is vitally important for the reader to know what happened (such as Ender's fight scenes, when OSC wanted to show how carefully and conclusively Ender acted).
Waaaall, I never would have guessed the pseudonym was "Chris Bridges," but now it all makes sense.
"The only time I use detail is when it is vitally important for the reader to know what happened. An example of another author doing this would be Ender's fight scenes, when OSC wanted to show how carefully and conclusively Ender acted."
posted
I came up with a brilliant plan for coming up with things to move the story line along. I will take five songs I hear on the radio and write them into my story each day.
I actually thought this up while on a long drive Thursday, but decided not to write them down at that time. You know, 55 mph, after dark ... maybe it's best I keep my hands on the wheel and my eyes on the road. Just a suggestion.
Anyway, since I'm drawing a blank on the five songs from Thursday, I'll just list a few I've heard lately: "Believe" Cher (break-up song) "Big girls don't cry" Fergie (she wants to straighten herself out) "Who knew" Pink (breakup song - he left) "Rockstar" Nickelback (wish fulfillment)
And I got sidetracked trying to think of a fifth one, so I'll end it here. It's 1:15 a.m. and I'm tired, so blame this whole semi-coherent post on a very long day.
My novel is very loosely based on my great-great-grandmother and other ancestors/family members. I'm using family history as sort of a skeleton to build on, but changing names and dates and creating a whole bunch of stuff to explain why certain things happened. My g-g-grandmother was married 3 times. The second marriage, at least, ended in divorce for reason of abandonment, according to another family member who has accessed the divorce record (from the 1890s). So, I'm moving the whole family forward 10 years so that her husband can run off to the Klondike gold rush.
Current word count: 930
Posts: 2034 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Thanks, Chris, about your advice about fight scenes. You're absolutely correct.
quote:It is becoming rapidly obvious to me that the word count is designed to force -- force! -- the inner editor into shrieking blubber in the corner. I'd heard that, but shoot, it's true.
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