quote:

---

Oh, hey, does anyone know anything about wills and trusts? My MC's mother is killed by her lover, the supposed father to my MC. I want to have her set up my MC's trust & care arranged so that the lover benefits with the kids living and is severely penalized if he offs the kid, too.

---

Okay, I am not an attorney, but then I don't think this is really giving legal advice. It probably depends at least a little on where your characters are. I would have her set up a trust for the children, with the remainder, if the children die before adulthood, going to a charity. The lover can be paid out of the trust for taking care of the kids. But he won't get a dime if they die. Of course, she'd have to name someone other than the lover as trustee to keep him from raiding the trust.

quote:

---

Now, google mail aka gmail has a free word processor program sort of similar to word if you want to set up a gmail account you can work online and save it online, too.

---

I'm not quite half done with my novel, so I will continue apace. Well maybe not at quite the same pace, but I'll keep piling on the words.

I'm actually pleased with how this is coming out. The story continues to surprise. An amazon-type warrior-ette showed up that I didn't plan for. She ended up giving my hero a token that he will use later when she lies moldering in the jungle. Also this weekend saw a three thousand year old woman giving our hero a gift. Another tool for his future. Sound corny beyond belief?

Perhaps, but that's NaNoWriMo for you.

Great work everybody! We survived the first week. Hooray!

The end of the week had slowed to a crawl but I spent all day today writing. My total right now is 17,724 words.

Ten things I learned in my first week of NaNoWriMo:

1) I don't actually write any faster, but I get more done because I'm not being picky about word choice and I am moving ever forward.

2) What I'm writing isn't that bad, but the above is easier to do if I assume that any and all words are going to get rewritten anyway.

3) I CAN go back and add a line or two here and there if I think of it later. I don't consider that editing. That's writing and I don't want to forget the idea. It would take me as long to make a note as it does just to add a line, so I just add it.

4) My boyfriend is awesome and patient and supportive. He's there when I need him and gives me space when I need to write. I couldn't ask to be with anyone better. I need to make sure he knows how much I appreciate him, especially during NaNo.

5) It's easier to focus if I take my netbook to Starbucks and keep the WiFi turned off.

6) I need to limit the number of 'brain' games I can play online when I'm taking a break/procrastinating.

7) Eating and sleeping are necessary.

8) It's best if I leave off with an idea for the next scene and type it in the space where it's going to start. Then I already have a direction for the next day and don't feel so much pressure when I sit down wanting to churn out 2000 words.

9) Caffeine is good.

10) If I can't find a block of time, a couple hundred words here and a couple hundred words there still help to keep me on track. It all counts.

What have you learned?

To answer Genevieve's question...
I've learned that pushing ahead is a good thing.

Ideas birth new ideas and if you don't stop you won't ever have too.

I also have learned that I am fully capable of doing this writing dream if I really put my mind to it and not much can stop me but me.

I've also learned that there is a lot I don't know but that I'm ready to learn.

I've also learned some of the same things genevive42 has learned--especially that it's best if I stop writing at the beginning of a new scene instead of at the end of the last scene. It helps me to pick right back up without doing much rereading, which is very important because my inner editor just can't stand reading it yet.

BUT--genevive42 says that if she can't find a block of time, a couple hundred words is good. That doesn't work so good for me right now. Things go much more smoothly if I type for at least 2 hours (maybe 1, if I'm in a crunch), and use those smaller blocks of time to do a little research, get to know a character better and just generally get myself so excited to write the story that it pours out when I finally sit down.

The other thing I'm learning is that my writing is better if I've been eating healthily, I'm pretty caught up on my sleep and I've exercised some.

The best thing I've done is start taking a leisurely quarter mile walk before I start a major writing session (and I only got lost the one time).

I don't have loads of time to write--only six to eight hours a week that don't involve losing sleep, but so far I've only needed to stay up really late one time (and that's probably the section I'll end up deleting completely).

What I have learned is that I can narrate really quickly. I think the main reason I am over 20K is because there is not really much dialogue in my story. If I had a lot of dialogue I suspect my word count would be not nearly so high.

I like to spend longer blocks of time writing. I find that my mind is sort of like a flywheel. It takes a bit of time to get the wheel spinning, but once it does, the ideas flow. It does get a little hard to sleep sometimes because at the end of a writing session at night, the wheel continues to spin.

Short sessions barely get the wheel spinning, for me. I would imagine if you look at my scenes, they are shorter in the beginning of a writing session.

1. No T.V. while writing. My husband usually leaves the T.V. on in the background while playing WOW. When I try to write with the T.V. on my rate drops from 1000 words/hour to 100. Music seems to be fine though.

2. Every little bit counts. A couple hundred words here or there on nights when I only have 1/2 hour of free time has really helped me stay on track. It keeps me thinking about the novel even if I can't write it until later.

3. I have ADD. Not really. But I've found I can only sit and write for about an hour and a half before I need a break. I'm not bored with the story, I just can't maintain focus for that long. Sometimes just going upstairs to get a snack is enough, sometimes I take a longer break to do yard/housework.

Kayti, you mentioned printing the document. I only wish I could. I'm out of ink right now, and since a new cartridge costs me the equivilent of a days wage (I realise that doesn't sound a lot, but to me, its way too much) I can't afford one at the moment. I'm not even sure, with Christmas on its way, if I'll have one by the time I need to print my next WotF story. I also remembered last night I have an online back-up store that came with my anti-virus software, if only I knew how to find it, so should have a copy there if the worst come to the worst.

As for lessons learned. This is my forth NaNo and it has taught me that I can write a much better story this way. Better as in, every word is relevent to the story. There are no long winded pages of narative that would later be cut. I also work better to a deadline, even if it is really a self imposed one. No, I couldn't write like this all year round--though I used to when I first started writing many years ago, I would write three to ten thousand words a day, every day, but then, most of it is now in the trash can.

As for length of writing session, I can write either way. On my days off from work, I aim to write 200 words an hour, every hour, which usually takes me ten minutes to write. But I can also have four and five hour breaks, and have an hour session where I'll get 1000-1500 words down. I certainly can't write for more than an hour at a time. I get kind of tense if I write for too long, and need to go do something else for a while, even if its some housework.

Also, if I'm watching a TV show, I like to rattle of a hundred or so words in the advert break. If I watch a couple of hour long shows, which is usually on a Thursday evening, I can soon get eight or nine hundred words down on the page, and still watch my show. Plus I don't have watch the dreadful adverts.

Considering the migraine I've had since friday, that I now think is a virus since my son has it too, has been hampering my ability to focus, I'm about to break the 21,000 word mark. But to be honest, I'll be glad when its all over!

1) Just write. It might not come out exactly as I saw it in my head, but then I can't get my head published some day.

2) Just write. Ideas look better on paper than swirling around in the nether.

3) Just write. You can't edit a blank piece of paper.

4) Just write. Editing sucks anyway.

quote:

---

Thanks, Meredith! That is what I figured. The executor of the trust is someone who has deep suspicion of the lover so that works out well.

---

quote:

---

Kayti, you mentioned printing the document. I only wish I could. I'm out of ink right now, and since a new cartridge costs me the equivilent of a days wage (I realise that doesn't sound a lot, but to me, its way too much) I can't afford one at the moment. I'm not even sure, with Christmas on its way, if I'll have one by the time I need to print my next WotF story. I also remembered last night I have an online back-up store that came with my anti-virus software, if only I knew how to find it, so should have a copy there if the worst come to the worst.

---

I actually do have ADD and I would rob a bank for an hour and a half of focus. I try so hard to keep my BIC but still find myself realizing something that needs my attention right away, like loading the dishwasher at three in the morning. I actually sometimes start writing another story in the middle of the one I'm working on. (I know I'm bad but I delete most of them, so I'm actually doing more words than is up there, but I think writing half another novel inside of my real novel is cheating.)

I do love this, writing this book feels like I'm opening a tap and it just gushes out, like it did when I was a kid. I'm also getting writer's highs like you wouldn't believe and I'm sitting on a writer's headache right now, all of this means I'm doing good. I did the math and at 6000 words and twenty two days left to do it I have exactly 2000 words a day to go. Just thought that was funny.

I've actually been feeling quite down about my story. It's not the usual thing I write. I tend to go for a lot of fast paced action, but this has been more leisurely, strolling along for a while, a quick burst of action, and back to strolling. It's going to pick up soon, and the last third will be quite different, but I've not been all that happy with it, but I feel much better now. I explained the entire premise of the story to my seventeen year old son this afternoon, who is very good for bouncing ideas off and giving honest opinion, even if he doesn't read the stories, and he said it sounded very good and even helped me with some ideas for some tricky parts I hadn't quite figured out yet. Ok, it's only my son, but our conversation has given me a boost.

quote:

---

KayTi, Spokane Sunshine and annepin, I've noticed that you haven't posted your word counts over at NaNo. Are you still with us?

---

I uploaded my end-of-yesterday word count (I'm right on pace) and am hoping to get another 1k words in tonight.

I think what I am learning the most is that I'm not making this the priority it should be. I'm finding lots of ways to waste time instead. I think I'm just not particularly into the story yet because we're not into the high action (and because i should have outlined more, sigh.) But also I need to do something different for next year, because writing about life on space ships/in space is starting to grate on my nerves a bit. No characters running through grass or getting stuck out in the rain. Little limiting.

But first I have to go back and change the country a major character is living in, since I realized my first run through was too haphazard. Someone needs to jump across the Atlantic Ocean.

1) I planned much better this year and for me, that has made a world of difference. I have strayed from my outline but that structure helped me understand more readily how the variations will work. More than anything I realize that I am not a pantser and likely will never be, and that's OK.

2) It's OK not to have everything planned! I can still write if there is a bitty piece of research not completed. (rolls eyes- what a dwb)

3) I write better under timed sprints. I am also a member of the RWA FFP (romance writers association fantasy...etc) group. They have an ongoing chat room that runs 45 minute group writing sprints. After the sprint we fess up to what we have done and talk about problems. I love it. I can't google some odd gold rush fact when I am racing the clock.

4) I loooooooove writing. 8) It's fun. That sobering post in the general forum notwithstanding, I hope I can do this for a living some day.

For me, I need at least a wireframe of the story I'm writing.

My first attempt was about pure pantser style. All I did was jot down my character names so I could keep them straight.

My next attempt was very controlled (as a result of Liberty Hall's Midsommer Madness). I found that I didn't get as much into the story as I'd like and I had to plop in additions to the plot both before and after my outline. That one ended up at 90K+ words and is scheduled for a rewrite in Jan.

I seem to have reached a happy medium with my NaNo novel. I spent a lot of time worldbuilding... This actually makes writing as a pantser easier because you don't have to pause to figure out distances or coinages or whatever, which is, to me, a writing impediment. My outline consisted of writing a treatment (pantser style) and sketching out scenes on a spreadsheet that had character names (I tend to forget them as I write) that act as my wireframe.

So I'm not quite halfway through (55K words) and I can write the story to hit certain wireframe points to maintain the MC's growth and progress. I've already realized a new ending is required because the vision of the overarching story is coming together and the project is expanding from heroic to epic fantasy.

Nano has forced me into figuring this out. What is interesting to me is seeing all the different styles and writing experiences shared on this thread. I'm looking forward to lots more in the next 20 days.

I'm here. I have written a bit, although not as much as I should have since I came down with a really nasty bug. Then I had to put some fires out at work, so that has eaten into my free time. I've got about 5,000 words, and plan to catch up within the next few days. I haven't posted my wordcount because I haven't been able to get onto the Nano site for a few days (it's always closed for maintenance when I check). I'm glad I checked here for updates; thanks for thinking of me.

What I've Learned:

quote:

---

nodding disease

---

Just before I set off for work, I go tell teenage son, who didn't get up when I woke him up an hour earlier, that I'm going. Aparently, its my fault he didn't get up, so is the the fact that I forgot to make him a cup of tea, and that his dentist appointment this afternoon is at an unsuitible time for him, because he'll lose out on the time he gets to spend with friends.

All the way to work, I get some not very nice texts from him. I ignore them, since I don't want to deal with this before or at work.

Break time: Get some texts, then a phone call from daughter. Mum, there's something wrong with the dog. He's bright red, his skin is all saggy and his face and neck have swollen up. Rushes home from work, gets dog to vet. An allergic reaction. One and half hours of missed work and one £34 injection later, I get home. So today I've earned precisely minus £25. Not good. After I get the dog home, he jumps up, hits the top of his head under the windowsill. I now have swallon faced, bleeding head dog. I then have to go out, to come home to swollen faced, bleeding head, all-over-body knobbly dog. Oh, and I haven't written a single word since this morning.

I have to take angry teenager to dentist soon. I'm not looking forward to that. Hope to get some more words written later; I'm not staking my life on it though.

1. Punch the teenage boy in the mouth. Serves two purposes. He will shut up and respect his mother and the dentist visit will now be required.

2. Put the dog to sleep. I don't mean kill it. I mean put it to sleep...with sleeping pills. Then it won't be able to get into anything to have allergic reactions.

3. Quit your job, because coming home with negative money is bad. Better yet, ask for a raise.

4. Ignore everything I just wrote because I'm only hoping to make you smile a moment and maybe forget about having a bad day.

1)Take the cell phone away for a week. Texting is a privilege. You abuse, you loose it.

Oh, and BTW, if he's over 13, he should know how to boil water. If he doesn't, he's not going to learn any younger, as my father would have said.

2)I am a dog owner. If the dog is crate trained, now is a very good time for the crate. The dog can relax in it's den, won't be stressed, and can't get into any more trouble.

3)Take a deep breath.

Or just have them look suddenly thoughtful. Or just say "Okay."

Or she could just read his assent in his eyes/expression/face.

Today the words came back and I have to say there is something empowering about hitting 30k. I've got a better idea of how I want this one part of my story to go. I am hoping to get another 2k in tonight.

Good luck to everyone, especially those who have had real life setbacks!

Closing in on almost 12,000 words, not bad since I lost almost five days to dumb computer problems.

1. Use the travelling shovel of death.

2. In the next 2 pages, bring your main character to the brink of death.

3. Add a romance (OK, knowing you, you've probably already got one. Now switch it up.)

Kayti--My characters all have to pause and thoughtfully consider the question before nodding. Or they freeze, and have to force themselves to move again. Maybe you should be grateful for the problems you've got.

I cracked 15,000 today. I want to be at 25,000 by Saturday, which will be quite a challenge. BUT, I have a babysitter watching my son for a couple of hours tomorrow, so I'm really hoping to have hit 20,000 twenty four hours from now. My "wow the words are just flowing from my brain" experience is now over. It was very fun while it lasted.

I'm a sucker for challenges. Obsessed? Maybe a little. I was going to watch the Utah Jazz on TV tonight but they sucked so I got in more words than I intended.

My story is moving right along and in the direction I wanted. I just finished one of the BIG turning points tonight and go into uncharted/outlined/figured out territory for the next 20,000 words.

Darklight, sorry to hear about your day. I've had a few myself and have darker days ahead, but I'm clear for the rest of November anyway.

Keep at it, everybody!

Today I had to take my boyfriend to the eye doctor (He is legally blind and has a myriad of problems, all of which are under watch and treatment but only so much can be done.) The thing is, what is usually a rather long appointment went really fast every time I opened up my netbook to work on my NaNo story. I got a few hundred words in while his eyes were dilating but every other time they were super speedy to show up and call him in. Since I was in the middle of a scene when we left we went over to Borders where I finished the scene I was working while he listened to his ipod.

darklight, if you drink I suggest you have one good one at the end of today. Savor it, enjoy it and try to find the humor in the sheer absurdity of the scale of how bad a day could actually be. If it were in a story, it might be funny. Remember, comedy is tragedy that happens to someone else. Maybe make some of it happen to your characters. Here's to a better tomorrow.

quote:

---

Owasm hits 60,700 words.

---

had a bad couple of days with a rotted beam and tub of bondo, but I'm good now...
Oh yeah... lost a few brain cells to bondo...but they were extra anyway.... 8)

Sounds like everyone is having a month, except Owasm who is writing machine.
8)

Keeping writing!!!!

I've had a much better day today, no mishaps, the dog looks like a dog again and my supervisor at work is letting me make up the time I lost yesterday, so I'll be in work earlier saturday and sunday.

quote:

---

I don't know how it is for some of you, but for me the earliest work I do always feels forced. I'm shaping my characters into people they're not, and forcing them to do things against their will.

---

Especially so in this story. That's the beauty of Nanowrimo though--I got sick of the beginning so I jumped ahead and after writing 50+ pages this way I realized that the whole beginning would never happen to this character anyway. That's why I hated it so bad. Still looking for a good starting spot though.

This is the pivotal moment of the novel and I didn't know how it was going to come out. I'm sure I'll have to rewrite more angst and tears and regrets into it, but for NaNo, just words... just words.

I just hope there's not too much telling, but it had its surprises. My MC was supposed to face the world alone, but he's picked up a sidekick. I don't know what this guy's significance will be since he showed up out of the blue.

Had a good session tonight after work, even if it did include a half hour nap in my desk chair with my feet up on the bed.

I finally figured out my soundtrack for this thing. It starts with the soundtrack to Firefly, then it goes to a cd of a Chinese singing trio we picked up while we were there. Then onto Mongolian throat singing, a friend brought that back. And then some mellow Moroccan music. Though I don't know if that one is authentic or just inspired by. I usually prefer very authentic, but this one works as good background music. It ends with the soundtrack to Mr. and Mrs. Smith which has a fun, upbeat element to it.

I am really starting to get into a groove with my characters. The humorous element of my story isn't as strong as I had originally thought it would be but there is a lot of heart I didn't know was there either.

About a month ago I posted a question about figuring out how to determine the main character in an ensemble cast. Well, what I've discovered is that the crew of the ship is the main character. The pov shifts from scene to scene depending on whose pov is the most critical or the most interesting for that scene. But the story is about the crew. No one person is always the center of attention. This started out being a challenge because I had to get into each person's head and I didn't know them all that well yet. Now, even though I'm still learning new things about them, it's flowing much more smoothly. ArmadonRK
is right about that breaking point. There's a section coming up that I can't wait to write. I think it's going to be a lot of fun.

OSC talks somewhere about how your first draft is really just a learning experience and won't bear much resemblance to the final copy. After writing my first novel I couldn't imagine how anyone could go to that much work and then throw it out in the trash as a "learning experience". But this Nanowrimo story I'm really starting to get it. The first time through is really just an oportunity to get all my ideas down, and as I do it, I'm learning about the characters and letting the story take me down unexpected paths that might or might not go somewhere in the end.

The character I've developed by the middle of the story bears little resemblance to the one at the beginning, and so that all needs to change too.

Rather than constantly going back and rewriting, I just make myself a note and ride the story to the conclusion as though it was a galloping horse. By the time I'm done, almost everything about it needs to be changed, but I've learned some incredible things I couldn't have learned any other way. So this is not the time to worry about whether I'm showing or telling, or if the dialogue to exposition ratio is perfect. It's not even about getting the characters names perfect.

When it's done, I'll give it a few months to rest and then try it again. I think that would be the perfect time to outline it and make sure the names are right. Then I can cut and add and do all the things to make it shine.

At least I've got lots to write about tomorrow. I feel this story is just getting going, and I have a lot in front of me. 50,000 words just isn't going to cut it.

If I'd have to say one thing I've learned these last few days, it would be that slow and steady is much better than writing a whole lot in one day, and burning myself out. In previous years of doing NaNo, I've gone for the 'write as much as I can in a day' approach, sometimes 6-7k in a day, but then had some days when I've only managed a few hundred words. This year, I've kept it pretty much to a 2-3k a day, with one exception of a little over 1000 one day, and I think I'm going to get the 50,000 done in less days than I have before.

Unwritten, about knowing things will have to be changed later, but waiting for the rewrite. I agree. I know there are parts I'll have to go back and reorder and add some stuff to. I only hope I actually end up liking this story enough that I think its worth spending more time over when the end of the month comes.

But then I remember that every minute I spent on that story was worth it, and I'm cool again.