I did have a moment of panic, for no good reason I might add. I classify myself as an action/thriller writer... which means my work has to have a fast pace and it has to keep moving 100 percent of the time.

Well, this Nano novel is a departure for me. I'm working on a treasure hunting story. Anyway, I had one chapter that was mostly dialogue. To me, that's normally a bad sign. Now I bundled all that dialogue with plot development (IE: the characters were rummaging around the sewers of Istanbul), but still... it gave me a bit of a panic.

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3854977

Edited to fix the link (it was missing the ht at the beginning).

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Rats can't get on the Nano web site.

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I was reading some of the older posts and saw someone had written this. In my current sleep-deprived state it struck me as wildly amusing. My first thought was "They have a rule for that??"

Plot.

It gave me an idea for the competitions we have here on the site. Instead of working on style and wordcount, I'm proposing a contest that focuses squarely on plot. Give each participant a list of key words. Their goal is to write an entire story... but using plot only.

In other words, their story might look like this:

Protag in car accident. Nearly knocked out. Briefcase stolen. Police seem useless. Protag goes to private investigator, who overcharges. PI goes to talk to a street source. Knocks on door; it drifts open. Source is dead on her bed. He checks for pulse; gunshots rip through window...

So on, so forth. Forget worrying about style or voice. Write the entire story from a plot perspective only.

Edited to add: LD there are instructions in their FAQ about how to scramble the text so that the words are still counted but the text is incomprehensible. I don't think I'm going to bother though.

Nice Pep talk. Nice some pro writers are involved with Nano.

Does anyone else feel like they have taken an eight hour final for their favorite class for five day's straight?

My brain is tired, my creating muscles are jelly, and the Halloween candy is all gone.

I cannot continue at this pace.

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18,342
Does anyone else feel like they have taken an eight hour final for their favorite class for five day's straight?

My brain is tired, my creating muscles are jelly, and the Halloween candy is all gone.

I cannot continue at this pace.

~Sheena-powered by chocolate-

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In a word, no.

Not for a month but I've done this before. Well three or four years ago it was for a month but recently I spent a two week vacation writing. I was alone, my wife was still working and my daughter was at her grandparents for the day. I had a couple of other things to do so it wasn't all writing but it was mostly. I even opted not to go to a movie so I could write.

But I can see if you're not used to it how that many words in that short of time could make one's creative juices low. NaNo has some interesting forums you might find helpful, so relax for an evening or two and look them over. And/or check out Michael Stackpole's web site and/or reread the pep E-mails.

One day was over 3,000 and one just under 3,000 but three were under 2500. Today even with being a Saturday, with an extra hour, will probably be less than 2,500.

My MC is on her second date with the guy who helped her rescue four children and one adult from a wrecked car.

Hmmm, I was just thinking about how she has to use her magic to save them from attackers from the Summerlands and that he carries a gun.
Maybe he's a FBI agent or just someone who carries large amounts of cash so he has a permit. I haven't decided yet.

But I need a new name for Summerlands, it's been used as has never never and Fariye.

My MC is about to go one her third date with a certain guy. I'm debating if this is the night she is attacked and has defend herself and her date even though he helps. I need to start closing in on her main adventure. This is her third adventure, each one is getting more dangerous with more at stake and the only one not involving children. I thought about putting in one more where she has to rescue children but I don't think I will have time. If I do I may go back an add it. Or wait 'till Nov is done and I go back over the novel--it will have to be lengthened.

Didn't do so good yesterday and today with my word count but still over 15,000 words. So I'm not doing too bad over all.

If I figured it right one third of the way is slightly under 17,000 words. One fourth is 12,500.

Nice numbers at this stage I think.

I've had the story I'm working on now in my head since May and I'm finding that it's a *much* easier story to write than many of my other Nano projects, because there's been a lot of time for things to just stew up there in the Great Gray Mass.

Now if I could only put more hours of butt-in-chair in, I might actually have this thing farther along!

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If you don't have a villain, you might be able to use someone who is a "good guy" but who has goals that interfere with those of your MC. That way, they can keep being obstacles to each other, and your antagonist (instead of villain) can be more complex and rounded than many villains end up being.

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Edited to add:

And who knows? It might be useful in your project after all.

I was able to clock 2400 before 10:30 AM, which I think is going to be key for me. I felt much better about what I was writing and more connected, and best of all - now I don't have the "I have to write" albatross around my neck this afternoon/evening. Instead it can be "I want to write" and do so for my own reasons. Yes, I play mind games with myself during Nano. But hey - to each his/her own.

The timing is funny because my little group just finished a section wher they had just made it over the ice field of a secret pass and am now descending into the equivalent of Mordor. No rings in this one, but the heroine basically has the powers of the Master Mage but can't remember spells to use them.

With the 50K out of the way, I can let up just a bit. The last third of the book will be exciting even for me as it comes out of my fingers and onto the screen.

Not quite up there as much as some but I got 23 and a half thousand words.

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The last third of the book will be exciting even for me as it comes out of my fingers and onto the screen.

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Good job there