posted
Hi all, I'm a newly registered member here, although I've been a reader of the boards for a while - it's how I discovered NaNoWriMo in the first place. I just wanted to throw my name into the fray, and wish everyone good luck!
Title: Angels (tentative, although it hasn't changed in the two years since I created the idea)
Synopsis: In a world of uncertainty and fear people feel powerless in the face of danger that seems ever present. When people with power beyond that of mortal men come into the light of day, some try to band together to change the world for the better. In the face of religious strife, economic frailty, warring nations and global terrorism, even they struggle to make their mark on the world.
The idea came to me as "What would Superman do if there were no supervillains in the world?", although it has changed significantly since then, that is still a good summary of the basic premise.
posted
2122 words, just came up with an awesome way to introduce one of the primary forces of conflict, wahoo.
Already have my MC's mom's disapproval running, her introversion established, that she's a good big sister, jealous of the perfect kids at school, and misses an old friend who doesn't play the same video game she does. Feeling like I've accomplished much, after a terrifyingly slow start.
posted
I sleep tonight with 6500+ words under my belt.
The quality is OK, but I mostly enjoy seeing the story unfold. I have an outline with over 60 scenes, but my scenes aren't matching up too well as I intended on introducing another POV and it didn't work with the flow.
With NaNo, you have to make quick decisions on story direction.
Congratulations to all those who got started. It took me an hour to work up the gumption to get going (I watched NFL football while I thought.
posted
Managed 4200+ words on my first day. My characters are writing themselves and making the story. I can't really judge on how good it is but I'm really happy with my output and I don't even think I'm done writing today. The great thing is I've only introduced 4 characters so far and they've all become interesting to me. I think that's a good sign.
EDIT: I hate when I misspell things.
[This message has been edited by Joseph Forrest (edited November 02, 2009).]
posted
I got to 3440 words and it took most of my day. I'm finding it a slow start. I am happy with what I've written though.
I have an ensemble cast and because of the structure of my story any one of them may be the pov character depending on the situation. I don't switch between them haphazardly, only when it makes sense. But I was getting to know each of them today. I started with the ship's Captain and then the First Officer and so on, down the line. That way, each one got an introduction and some time as the pov character.
The thing is, when I write a character I really have to get into their head. I think this is what slowed me down. I'm hoping that as I get to know them it will be smoother. Also, until this morning I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to start. The rest is actually mapped out better. Now, if I could just find a way to end the first chapter.
Well, I introduced six characters and a pet and I will start their first adventure tomorrow.
Congrats to all that have started and good luck to us all!
posted
I'm feeling sheepish at 2005 words. It looks like everyone is off to a tremendous start! I'm enjoying what I've written so far, although most of it wouldn't make it through my editor's gauntlet. I start right off the bat with backstory--my character is trying to figure out why her sister is sending her such bizarre letters, and she is thinking about the things her sister is writing. I think it's interesting, but possibly not the best way to start a book. Hey, who let that editor out of the closet? Get back in there! Sorry about that. It won't happen again.
Posts: 938 | Registered: May 2008
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posted
I got in a ton more writing yesterday than I expected... which is probably for the best since I don't think I'm going to be able to do that again any time soon :-)
Posts: 715 | Registered: Nov 2007
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posted
My goal was actually higher. I wanted to hit 4000-5000 words. I had the WHOLE day set aside. Really, I was just trying to give myself a cushion to cover an off day. If you can pull off 2000 words a day that will give you five rest days this month and you'll still be golden. You're doing fine.
I did manage to find the cap to the first chapter this morning and am now at 3559 words. I will try and steal bits of time while I'm at work and put in a few words there. Fortunately, I can do that and even if the boss walks in I won't be in trouble. He's actually quite supportive of my crazy quest. Unfortunately, it's Monday which means the ordering needs to get done and we're usually pretty busy for the first half of the day. The second half is anyone's guess.
posted
It's been a while since I started a new novel with all new characters, and I'm finding I am having the same problem that I've had before--my main character, a spunky gal named Tess--isn't so spunky yet. She just lets everyone walk right over her. I guess it takes a few chapters before my characters really start to act like themselves. They are just so shell shocked to find themselves out of my brain and out in the open. It's also hard to be amusing when I feel tired. And I do feel tired.
Posts: 938 | Registered: May 2008
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posted
I feel so behind. I wrote 2178 words today, but it was a slow start. I usually love beginning novels, and can pop out a ton of information, but not this time. I had a hard time finding a good place to start, and how to introduce my main character the right way. It was rough going for a while, I had a lot of false starts. I couldn't choose a format for the longest time, I kept wanting to write in first person, but I know that's the wrong choice for this story, because I have to shift PoV's so much.
I ended up starting in a completely different POV than I planned, because the beginning wasn't working the way I wanted it to. The starting POV is through a character I didn't know existed before today, but now is crucial to the storyline. How did that happen?
I do like how it is coming out though. I think I found the right beginning.
It is so awesome to force myself to write. It's cool when it does finally work out. ~Sheena
Is it sad that it is my first day into it, and people are already telling me to hang in there?
I feel good. I'm glad I kept going. If it wasn't for nano, I would have quit a half hour into it and would never have discovered this cool new character.
Write till you bleed, people. Write till you bleed. ~Sheena
posted
Good job everyone! I'm puffing along at 3500 words today. Pretty much on track. I have my first two chapters complete. I'm sticking pretty close to the Heroes Journey pattern so these are in the Ordinary World and mostly setup for the first Call to adventure.
I'm trying to write a scene/chapter a day since most of those are ~ 1500-3000 words. I figure if I can do that, then I will be thinking in scenes- kind of like complete thoughts. The scene tomorrow is big - my MC moves from 1991 (normal) to 1849 (adventure). And I have to describe a big fire. I've written the fire scene a couple of times already but don't like any of them so I am starting from scratch.
posted
Chapters? You're doing chapters? I consider that editing. I guess we know why I am spinning through this. Though today didn't flow as quickly as yesterday. It was still fun, and probably another 3500 words. Tomorrow some of the tension building is going to happen, I think.
Posts: 168 | Registered: Apr 2009
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Don't worry about slow starts. This is the first time I've ever gotten past page 35. I'm totally used to writing short stories so I hope I don't crap out halfway through.
Biggest thing keeping me going is seeing what everyone else is doing. The little element of competition is keeping me chugging along. I want to be able to say I completed this even if I do end up writing a complete piece of crap. Hopefully, I can edit and let other people here help me out and come out with something quality.
So, encouragement is a good thing. Even this early.
quote:Chapters? You're doing chapters? I consider that editing.
Maybe. Though I consider it a good way to subdivide. Keeps the thoughts organized.
Day two, and I've gotten my total up to 7130. Just in time for Monday Night Football to ruin my productivity. Hopefully this streak continues. I'd be real pleased with a 3550-word average if it lasts a big chunk of this month!
posted
Aaargh! It's been too busy at work to get anything done on the book and you all are writing away and I'm stuck on the West Coast and not able to get home and write until 7pm.
By the way, I work in scenes and chapters too. I usually write a scene, take a break, write the next one, take a break. etc. I can't afford such breaks tonight, or for the rest of November.
posted
I just put chapters in automatically. I don't know how I could write without at least some scene breaks, and some of those scene breaks are naturally bigger than the others, hence chapter breaks.
I'm really annoyed at my characters right now. They keep talking and talking and talking, and I just want to get them out of the nightclub so I can blow up a car in their faces! Move it already! :-)
posted
I didn't do any division of chapters and such last year, and as you can imagine my story ended up a mess. This year I'm breaking up my scenes.
3k more completed. I wrote two really depressing scenes today. One of them was unplanned, but I think it will be good. One of my characters witnessed something that motivates the way he thinks and acts in the future. Yay for nano-driven spontaneity.
posted
2456 today, giving me a little 1244 word buffer. I like me them buffers. I need them for the days life gets in the way and I write no words.
I've just introduced the major conflict. All the grown-ups on board are asleep and our intrepid main character is starting to figure out that this is a big honking deal.
posted
I'm sittin' on 526 which is about five hundred more words than I got last month so I'm happy as a freshly stuffed goose. Today I slacked off because I bought a new dinky laptop that I can fit in my manpurse so I can write on the run. I also only had my frist thoughts about this book a few days ago so I still have a lot of brain work to do on it. But I'm not worried, my mind doesn't let me miss deadlines, even if it takes building a time machine to do it.
Posts: 1895 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
5200 words tonight between watching Major League baseball, the NFL and the NBA all at the same time.
I'm up to 11,700 words.
New characters. I've invented medieval army life and some of the rules that go with it. My outline is still whacked out, but my main character is still about where he should be.
I think and write in scenes, so that's what I outlined at the beginning to give the novel an overall structure. For me, chapters end up being somewhat arbitrary and depend on how the scenes come out.
Keep it up! 28 days to go!
[This message has been edited by Owasm (edited November 03, 2009).]
posted
It was slow going. I was having trouble letting go and not worrying too much about what I was putting down. Then, somewhere around 1:30am it started to take off.
It is now 3:00am and I had better get to bed before I pull a true all-nighter and am wasted at work tomorrow. (Like I won't be anyway.)
I actually know what's going to happen in the rest of this section, but I'm losing it. I need sleep. Hopefully the flow will continue tomorrow.
posted
Realized that trying to figure out how to get from in the house to out on the adventure was taking too much time. I'm skipping it completely and moving on to the good stuff.
There was also a whole backstory between two characters that they didn't tell me about until late last night. Good grief people. We're on a deadling here.
And finally, realized that not all my characters are human. This should have been obvious way before now, but I'm kind of slow that way.
So, I didn't get a ton written, but I should make up for it today.
posted
Day 1 was great, Day 2 was a bomb. Only 500 words and the associated "what did I get myself into?" panic. I slept on it though, and reading about all your progress has inspired me to get back in there. Today was supposed to be a no-writing day (fencing takes up all evening) but I'll try to sneak in another 500 words.
I did learn something yesterday though - no TV during writing time.
posted
I'm hoping this holds but after hitting the groove last night at 1:30 am, I can't stop thinking about my story. Twice on my commute this morning I had to voice memo ideas on my cell phone so I wouldn't lose them. I have a good picture of what's coming next and I can't wait to get home and write.
posted
I had a decent day one, getting through 2000 of my planned 2500 words before opting to take a break. Day two was a bad day, even though I got 1300 words done and hit Nano's suggested quote, I ended up backtracking and erasing 600 words. Some of you might be shouting, No! Don't listen to your inner editor! but that doesn't really work for everyone. My inner editor is also my inner storyteller, and it didn't just tell me I had a poorly written passage, but that it was detrimental to my work in the long run. Backing down yesterday allowed me to recompose myself and have several bursts of inspiration in the time between, leading to a productive Day 3. I ended up redefining an important character in my second attempt, and I think I saved myself some serious tragedy in the process (in the work, not in the story itself, I would never shy away from tragedy in the fiction )
I now plan to carry on and see if I can't catch up to my originally intended rate of 2500 words a day.
[This message has been edited by ArmadonRK (edited November 03, 2009).]
posted
I am about to go back and change something, too. It's one of those "crap, I forgot I had decided that character was out of commission" issues. I'm going to go fix it, then extend the scene. If I leave it unfixed it will annoy me literally every day until the end.
On the up side (in a weird-twisted-this-only-makes-sense-if-you're-doing-Nano kind of way) the project I was thinking was going to come through today did not, so I'm not going to have paying work for the next couple days, so...I have more time to write!
posted
Yes Owasm, what secret 'Spice' are you using to pad those numbers...?
Seriously, I hope no one is going to judge themselves by their output. Use Nanowrimo as it fits your writing. There are no losers (okay some you are losers) only more and less successful number counters. Last year I got 15000 words done in November. I didn't cry that I hadn't reached 50K, 15K was my best month by far. I was far more interested in the barriers I was able to take down from my own writing. Use the successes you do achieve and do try for 50k, just don't get down if you don't make it. Success is what you take away from the experience. Maybe, when I have completed 50k in a month, I will sneak back in the dark of night and erase this wishy-washy message. Until then good luck and have a blast.
posted
Wow, it sounds like everyone is having a good week.
quote:Can I borrow that time machine when you're done with it?
I'll have one of those when the story is done but you have to walk through a wall of flame to turn it on....LOL!!!
I'm happy that I'm turning out a couple of really solid scenes each day and those are going to translate well into chapters or parts of chapters. I've also been taking some time at the end of the day to plan the next days writing so I have the night to sleep on what the rascals will be up to in the next chapter/scenes. So far ( three days in) this seems to be working for me...
Leslie
[This message has been edited by LAJD (edited November 03, 2009).]
posted
Note to self: A scene-based outline in chronological order, covering all the main points, would be a useful step in prepping for Nano.
Sigh.
I did a lot of prep...but not all the right KIND of prep. It'll pick up, just laughing at myself and realizing that a more detailed outline, as much as I fight against the idea, is the thing that I need in my writing life.
posted
this is how we learn, right? I'm amazed by all of you out there! I've gotten about 2300 words down.
Posts: 2185 | Registered: Aug 2007
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posted
I've decided NaNoWriMo is evil. It's like taking a drunk into a bar during happy hour. I just broke the 20K mark. Somebody really needs to confiscate my computer for a few hours....
Posts: 715 | Registered: Nov 2007
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posted
20K?? Wow. I didn't start until Monday, and then I squeezed 2500 pitiful words out. Today I wrote 2500 more, and it was bliss. If only writing was always like that.
Funny/Not so funny story...Today my plan was to write a story about a hike from one town to another. Bright idea...to take a nice, short hike before I start writing. Forgetting that the path was not well marked and forgetting how much I stink at being out in the woods, I ventured forth. And got lost. I wasn't so very lost. But then I remembered that it's hunting season, and I was dressed in blue jeans and a navy blue jacket. I didn't know that my next door neighbor has 2 statues set up in the woods behind his house until one scared the snot out of me. I decided to cut through their yard and out into the road to get home. And then I rocked my writing...the words just spilled out of me and I got as much done as I'd planned to even without the hike. Good stuff.
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It's exciting hearing how everyone else is doing. I read mine so far to my co worker and she is very excited about it, wants to know how it ends. I said, 'Yeah, me too!'.
I did all right today. A lot of stuff came up that kept me from working on this. I am a little past 11.5K words and I am not unhappy at all. If I can finish it in 50K words and not slow down too much, I will have time to edit it some anyway.
I have too much story, though. At this rate there is no way I can pack it into 50K words. What do you do? Just pick out things to eliminate? Or write it up to the point where you satisfy the 50K requirement and don't worry about it? I guess it doesn't matter but I think I will be dissatisfied if I can't bring it to a close.
posted
I have a question. My MC is narrating to someone who is transcribing his story. I am interjecting comments from the person doing the transcription in footnotes. Is this the best way to do this? I started out just making little blocks in italics but that didn't look right to me.
Posts: 168 | Registered: Apr 2009
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quote:What do you do? Just pick out things to eliminate? Or write it up to the point where you satisfy the 50K requirement and don't worry about it? I guess it doesn't matter but I think I will be dissatisfied if I can't bring it to a close.
I would think just write your 50k and go where the story takes you. If after the 50 you feel you need to edit down or add in a few chapters then worry about doing that.
posted
@SavantIdiot - I think footnotes would be perfect. Ever read the Bartolomeus books? They do exactly that.
Also, re: 50K. I don't see 50K as a stopping point. That's just the minimum achievement, not a place to artificially truncate your story. A bunch of people on Codex are shooting for 90K or more. I would just keep writing through the the end, even if that means carrying on to 75K and December, or what have you.
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You can go over 50k, it's just the minimum number of words required to "win" nano. I have friends that have every intention of hitting 100k this month.
I should have just under 3k more tonight. I'm sitting at 2700 with a couple parts left to write.
Kitti - I'll take that computer, along with your words. jk
I'm liking my accidental strategy. I had intended to have a complete outline with each scene, but I think if I had actually reached that point in prepping for nano - I would care too much and nitpick about what I was writing. I have a definite beginning, middle, and end. And a vague idea of what needs to come out during the story.
posted
Sixteen thousand six hundred and fifty five words of laughter, tears, lust and fears. Our hero tonight met his first god. Ain't it grand. It was never in my outline...
Posts: 1608 | Registered: Feb 2009
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posted
I got sleep-napped by my body as soon as I got home from work tonight. Four hours of sleep, a busy day at work (it looks like the holiday busy period is starting) and even with a cup of coffee I couldn't help falling asleep sitting up.
So I got a late start and only managed 1063 words today. I'm going to go to bed before I'm exhausted and hope for more productivity tomorrow, my day off.
Total after day 3: 7194 words
I am finding it really challenging dealing with this ensemble cast. When they're all together I have to juggle the speech tags to keep it straight. When they split up I'm changing the pov character depending on the situation. So I have a lot of different heads to get into.
It's not coming out as humorous as I expected either. I wasn't going for all out silly but this first adventure has little humor. I'm okay with it if it stays more adventure but I will still try to get some good doses of humor in. I do wonder if I've missed being on the right track though. I guess I'll work on figuring that out December 1st.
posted
Oh, and don't forget to post your word count on the NaNo page. Once you're logged in there's a little window in the upper right corner, or you can go to Edit -'Novel Info'.It's fun to see where everyone is, even if some of you make the rest of us jealous. Posts: 1993 | Registered: Jul 2009
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