I'm toying with the idea but it's pretty intense. However it may be just what I need to start being really productive.
I know that the NaNoWriMo site has its own discussion forums, but I was thinking fellow Hatrackers may want to stick together, since we're the ones with HUBs!
Any comments, particularly from any of you who have already done it? What was it like? How far did you make it? How prepared were you before you started? What did you do that worked? What would you do differently? Are you going to do it again?
posted
I'm doing NaNoWriMo this year. I haven't done it before, but I've done similar writing challenges (ten short stories in ten days springs to mind). They're good, even if you don't finish (or, as in my case, you get the judge to count a page of doodles about SuperDuck and the Atomic Cheese of Doom as a story). Anything that forces you to write large amounts of stuff in a short period of time and get support whilst doing it is a good thing for a writer, regardless of what you wind up creating.
Posts: 253 | Registered: Jan 2004
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posted
I'm debating it, but trying to weigh the benefits against the cost - I probably won't work on anything else at that point, and I have other projects.
You are allowed to make up notes in advance for whatever idea you have - I definitely would do that!
posted
I'm planning on doing nanowrimo, so if there will be a support group I'm all for it. I've realized that 2000 words a day isn't that much. After all the letters and posts and journaling and actual writing I do I am probably easily hitting upwards of 1500 thought out (mildly) words per day minimum. I've got some sort of basic idea for my novel but I am planning on letting it blossom as I go along. (The other novel I'm working on write now I'm comparatively doing a lot of prewriting and editing [sort of] as I go along). I think that the key is going to be not letting yourself slip at all. Just make it something that you are not allowed to skip, no matter how tired or unenthusiastic you are about it (that's straight from the website). I'm very excited about it, so I'll be a part of our support group.
posted
Whoo hoo, there's three of us! Maybe more, if the fence-sitters commit. I've decided to give it a try.
I have had a cool breakthrough, FYI. The novel idea I have that has been giving me fits, now has a potential ending!! This is a big deal because I just couldn't seem to figure out what happened past the midway point of the novel (and I have spent many hours over the past year pondering it). Yesterday I brainstormed out loud with my hubbie in the room, and he provided a couple of very cool ideas, which allowed me to figure out at least one, possibly two, feasible routes through the second half of the novel.
I now feel comfortable attempting the NaNoWriMo because I have a pretty good idea of what I want to write. Now my biggest problem is actually doing it, but I really respond to deadlines, so here's hoping. I should set myself some sort of consequence if I don't make it, I think . . . somehow 40 lashes with a wet noodle probably won't cut it.
2000 words a day does sound rather doable. Typically my short stories end up being between 1700 and 2000 words, and I write a draft in one sitting. So if I can make that my goal, or say 8 to 10 pages a day, I may be able to make it.
The most important thing for me, I don't know about you guys, is to not revise. I have a bad habit of revising a page fourteen times (or so) before writing the next one. But I read a book on revision which says even if you decide to change something really major, like POV character, just change from that point on and fix the beginning later. That really opened me up to just pounding it out without going back and tweaking.
Here's hoping!
[This message has been edited by autumnmuse (edited September 16, 2004).]
posted
Personally, I'm a big fan of bribery. Got to the point (on the book before the one I just finished, and with the job before my current one) where I'd walk into my office with a smoothie or something from Starbucks and my coworkers would say "Oh, you finished another fifty pages today?"
Eeep. Signup in 14 days... midnight on the night of the IgNobel Prizes....
posted
I'm planning on doing the NaNoWriMo too, but I've had problems writing since I got out to Iceland so it's a little more frightening than before.
Posts: 2022 | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
I'm doing it this year if I meet my goals for my current novel project....looks like I'll have draft done in 2-3 weeks and then have several weeks to revise and edit before sending it to readers. I'm hoping to start a rough draft of a new novel in November with everyone else as I bite my nails in anticipation of the feedback of my currrent WIP.
Posts: 3567 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
I plan on trying again this year, last year I found out about it thanks to this forum, and I managed to get about 21,000 words in before I bottomed out. I hope to plan ahead a bit better, get a real story going.
Should be fun at least, I've been looking foward to it ever since last year November.
posted
I have no idea where I'm going to go about half-way through. He might end up in some sort of street battle or something (my stories tend to get violent at time). I've never had much of a problem with revision either. I tend to not revise enough. I'm more of an idea person.
posted
I did Nano for the first time last year and plan on doing it again. I have a story idea (concept might be a better way of putting it) and will spend October prepping for actual novel writing. My goal is to really, no kidding write a bare-bones novel in Nov and then flesh it out in Dec. Last time, I just cranked out 50k without finishing the damn book. Posts: 306 | Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
I'm probably going to give it a try. I read an article about it somewhere (which I can't for the life of me recall) and it sounded like a good way to get started on a new project.
I have a concept for a novel wandering around in my head for a while now and am probably going to use nanowrmo to get it down on paper. Good luck to everyone who's going to give it a try!
posted
Sigh...I completely forgot about national novel in a month when I just went and made plans to leave the country the week of Thanksgiving. I did the same thing last year which is why I didn't participate.
Oh well...I'll do a novel in 3/4 of a month...just see if I can't!
posted
Hey... Last year, some Nanos-- dare I say most-- had writing buddies. In fact, they called them enemies. Pals who would be no holds barred motivators to help pull through the daily goals to ensure 50,000 by 30 Nov.
Just a thought, but anyone here want to start a Hatrack based Nano circle?
posted
I was kinda hoping that's what this would be. I am very very interested in having an accountability circle. That would help me stay in line. I was thinking a kind of daily (or at least weekly) progress report.
Since I haven't written a novel before, that would let my extroverted tendencies express themselves, by being able to say things like "wow, I was totally stuck on that chapter but I just thought of something for my protagonist to do which gave me three more chapters of material" or something of that ilk; or "I'm totally stuck, any ideas for what could happen after x event?"
Does that sound too intense for you guys? If even one other person is interested in that level of accountability, maybe we could email each other. If a bunch of us, we could probably still do it under this topic, if that's okay with Kathleen. I am not including critiques at all, just stuff to keep us going till we cross the finish line.
posted
I'm not going to be participating myself, but I'd be happy to be someone's "buddy": their moral support, conscience, personal pest and possibly even idea generator, if need be.
posted
I just finished Chris Baty's book No Plot? No Problem! Fun stuff from the creater of NaNoWriMo. I need some Exhuberant Imperfection in my life, and definatly want the chance to send my Internal Editor off to the Kennel for a while. So I just signed up. 50,000 words in 30 days is going to be a phenominal stretch off my usual rate, but the whole idea of the craziness is so appealing, I just have to give it a try.
Posts: 652 | Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
Autumnmuse, you all are welcome to use the forum for a progress report topic--and anything else that can help people meet their writing goals.
Posts: 8826 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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posted
I just signed up as well. In general I seem to have an unfortunate problem with procrastination, so an accountability circle sounds fabulous. I'm in.
Posts: 25 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
One thing I couldn't help noticing from Nano's site that disturbs me . . . while thousands of people have completed the challenge, Chris Baty only lists three published novels from the bunch.
I fully intend to attempt to have my novel published (after revision of course, this challenge is just a first draft for me) but I wonder if doing Nano is signing a death warrant for publishability? Or is it just that none of those people try to publish? Any thoughts?
posted
Hi - I'm new to this site. I saw a post about it on the nano boards and came to check it out.
This is my 4th year doing nano. I don't think it's disturbing that so few nano novels have been published - that isn't really the point. nano is about just writing at all, not necessarily writing well. sometimes that's enough.
I've learned a lot from my nano experiences, and had fun, too. It doesn't bother me a bit that nothing I've produce from that time is even vaguely publishable.
posted
I did NaNo last year and finished by Nov. 17. The novel is in the middle of a rewrite now, but set aside while I do another project. There is a EdMo(editing month) in March but I did not sign up for that. There are a lot more published than three. I read on the forum last night several postings by people who had contracts or pending contracts on their NaNo projects. I think it is a great way to get a rough draft done.
Christine-even if you go away for the holiday(as I am planning) go ahead and sign up. It is a great boost to writing productivity that goes on past November.
posted
I signed up using punahougirl84, to make things simple. Glad to know we have each other to talk about word counts and stuff.
I called Books-a-Million to find out about my shipment since I ordered "No Plot? No Problem!" along with the book for Sims2 and Writers of the Future XX (EricJamesStone has his story published in it!). Turns out they were waiting for a new shipment of the Sims2 book! The lady apologized and set my other books to ship ASAP - maybe I should have ordered it sooner, but I wasn't even sure I was going to do NaNo... oh well.
posted
Actually, I'm going to use the short story I wrote in boot camp 2003. I had it in mind from the start that I wanted to make a novel out of it, because the story was really too big for a short story, but I haven't goten around to it until now. I'm days away from finishing the rewrite of my mystery novel, will spend the rest of October brushing it off, and then will use November to push it out of my mind and move on so I can get a fresh perspective when the month is over.
I have a main character. I have some sketchy plot. I'm not doing an outline for this one (crosses fingers) but I've got a beginning, an end, and a few key scenes in mind so I'm hoping that I can make it work.
But as I understand, the novel in a month isn't supposed to be poetry but a rough draft, and that's exactly what I'm doing!
I am still trying to decide which story I am going to work on. I have a short story that I am expanding, and the basic outlines of another that's a little further developed.
A whole novel in a month eh? That bar is sooooo high!
posted
I've got very rough ideas of characters, plot, and setting based on a couple of ideas I've been stewing on a few months. I'm anticipating generating the most rough of rough drafts. The arrival of dancing squirrels at some point is almost a given.
I'm not to worried about the non-published percentages. Any book generated during NaNoWriMo probably needs serious revision(s) and polishing. That's going to cut of many people, who may not put in the rest of the leg work after the initial burst. Then add the long query/response cycle times, and the math would say that only books from two or three years ago would really have hit the place where "published" is possilbe. Factor in the usual odds, and you won't get a huge number.
BTW, I'm GinaZ over a NaNoWriMo. GZ was appearently too short (silly 3 character minimum!).
posted
I'm just good old bladeofwords (I love how nobody has ever had that name used). I'm planning on writing a memoir of highschool so I've got my plot and characters and everything buried down there somewhere I just have to drag them all back out again.
posted
I'm also autumnmuse over there. I'm feeling pretty good about my plot, characters, and milieu. I am making my goal to finish my first draft completely, which hopefully will be longer than 50k, we'll see how it goes. I am also going to shoot for finishing prior to Thanksgiving so I can enjoy the holiday with my folks. I haven't told my family (except my husband, of course) that I am doing Nano. Everyone is always getting on me when I talk about my stories, because they say I never actually write them down. Well this summer I have gotten a ton better about that, and I am looking forward to casually mentioning, around the turkey at Thanksgiving, that I just finished my novel.
[This message has been edited by autumnmuse (edited October 06, 2004).]
posted
Does anyone know what percentage of novels are published in general? Not the NaNoWriMo ones, but just in general? 1% might actually be a reasonable percentage.
Posts: 2022 | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
I'd love to finish before Thanksgiving - I also have not told my family other than my husband. But because I have other things I should be doing too, that might wait a month.
.03% of submitted manuscripts are publshed (3 of 10,000). She's used actual research on her site (she writes sf/f). Her section on publishers is worth reading.
According to an article on www.writersdigest.com, possibly only 1 tenth of 1% of submitted manuscripts are of publishable quality. Not that that applies to "Big Names" who can sell less than top-rate quality on their name alone.
It is hard to break in, but obviously it is done. Just be better than your favorite author!
Scary scary numbers. I rather assumed that novel sales would be held down by the small number of people ever actually finishing one, but perhaps it is that they finish and send it off before it is really ready to go.
posted
I have a solution for all of you worried about Thanksgiving interupting NaNo, just celebrate it this weekend like us Canucks! Then it's done and out of the way Posts: 1473 | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
Christine...I'm glad you're going to revisit your bootcamp story. It was a really good idea.
I'm going to work on Haven, a young adult paranormal novel. And seeing as I'm one of those unfortunates slaving away for the man over Thanksgiving...it shouldn't be a problem (unless I've got a lot of catching up to do...)
posted
With NaNoWriMo only four sleeps away, I thought I'd revive this thread and ask if anyone would be interested in starting two threads.
The first for those who aren't doing NaNo, but are willing to help those who are. For example, if you want to be a NaNo buddy, put a post offering your services. Anyone needing a buddy can look at the list and e-mail a request for help.
The second for those who are doing NaNo. Asking for help on a particular segment, posting updates on projects, looking for motivation, etc.
What does everyone think? I know we talked about it a while ago, so are there people still interested in forming a Hatrack NaNoWriMo support group?
posted
I'm curious as to what being a buddy would entail. Not that I'm necesssarily interested in becoming a buddy (I know too many people participating), more an intellectual curiosity.
Posts: 8322 | Registered: Aug 1999
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posted
Being buddy would mean offering encouragement, asking for updates ("So, did you reach your goal today?" type things), helping with brainstroming, and other side-kick tasks. Posts: 1473 | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
I'm still going to try it, but since I've had to scale my writing goals back here I seriously doubt that I'll get anywhere near 50,000 words. Plus my husband is coming out to visit and I haven't seen him in two and a half months. A few other things might be occupying my time.
Posts: 2022 | Registered: Jul 2003
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