nanowrimo

[spiral]

Has anybody here ever attempted a nanowrimo? Ever finished one?

nanowrimo is National Novel Writing Month. It happens every November. The aim is to write a 50,000 draft for a novel in one calendar month (around 1600 words per day average).

It's a good way to get motivated and do some writing, and it lasts just long enough to keep interest. Week one is said to be ok, week two is said to be painful, week three is a blur, apparently, and week four makes you want to yodle with joy that you're soon going to finish writing a novel!

It doesn't have to be good. It's just an excuse for creative abandon.

I'm taking part in nanowrimo this year. There is a website with forums and a daily podcast once the event begins and regional functionality to help you find local "write-ins" etc.

Why not take a look?

www.nanowrimo.org

;D

[TheZebraShakes™]

Didn't theudjat or somebody post this same thread at the same time last year

I can't write that much, nevermind doing it with a straight face.

[TheUdjat]

Yep, I did. Though this month I might actually try to write something for it (usually I'm already in the middle of something). The cruise will kind of interrupt the process, though. Hopefully not too much.

50k words is no big deal.

[Japic]

Yah, I can't write a post much less a novel some days, but good luck to those of you who try. Let us know if you write something and are willing to share.

Oct 10, 2008 22:14:06 GMT -5 TheUdjat said:

The cruise will kind of interrupt the process, though. Hopefully not too much.

No worries about the cruise Udjat, you won't want to see a computer for those 7 days. Unplugging from everything is the most relaxing part of getting away.

[K Man]

Japic's lying, they have a computer in the library and you can get your fix...for .40 cents a minute for access. Maybe you can write a story about a man who went penniless trying to write a story on a cruise ship.

[TheUdjat]

Oct 13, 2008 10:02:24 GMT -5 Japic said:

No worries about the cruise Udjat, you won't want to see a computer for those 7 days. Unplugging from everything is the most relaxing part of getting away.

This is pretty much my point. That's a quarter of my writing time gone. I'm not particularly upset about it, since I expect the cruise to be AWESOME, but it will make nanowrimo a bit more challenging.

But hell, I wrote close to 300,000 words in 3 months, with editing. I can do 50,000 without editing in 21 days.

[spiral]

300,000 in 3 months, with editing, is prolific. If you can write that quick with editing, it doesn't matter if 3/4 of your books are utter crap, you're going to get lucky once a year and get published. If you can do a good job at that speed - well, look out Stephen King.

For nanowrimo, I'm writing a psychological horror about a couple who raise their children in isolation from the outside world. They believe they can start a "new foundation", and make a new start in the mountains living separate from the dirty "diseased" world they tell their children exists beyond the borders of their land. However, the real world comes calling one day when a light aircraft crashes near their home, and the father is almost killed while rescuing the plane's two survivors. Injured, and confined to his bed, his grip over the family loosens - and as the children help their mother care for the crash survivors, they slowly learn that all they have been told is not entirely true... how do they react? (after years of being drilled in a very militant/survivalist manner). !?! =)

[TheUdjat]

Oct 16, 2008 4:54:53 GMT -5 spiral said:

300,000 in 3 months, with editing, is prolific. If you can write that quick with editing, it doesn't matter if 3/4 of your books are utter crap, you're going to get lucky once a year and get published. If you can do a good job at that speed - well, look out Stephen King.

Yeah, if I could do that all year round, I'd rock. But the other months of the year are often not so successful. I was highly inspired to write that piece, and unfortunately have not been able to quite duplicate my success since then (I've had a lot of false starts this Spring and Summer).

I appear to write best from about October to April. I haven't participated in the last two NaNoWriMo's because I failed to qualify by starting stories in late October rather than early November. What can I say? I write when I'm inspired.

But I've got some ammunition I've been saving up for this year, so we'll see how it goes. I'm looking at a modern supernatural story with a non-standard kind of protagonist (that's all I'll say for now). Maybe I'll get past 5 chapters this time, unlike my last 6 or so projects.

For nanowrimo, I'm writing a psychological horror about a couple who raise their children in isolation from the outside world. They believe they can start a "new foundation", and make a new start in the mountains living separate from the dirty "diseased" world they tell their children exists beyond the borders of their land. However, the real world comes calling one day when a light aircraft crashes near their home, and the father is almost killed while rescuing the plane's two survivors. Injured, and confined to his bed, his grip over the family loosens - and as the children help their mother care for the crash survivors, they slowly learn that all they have been told is not entirely true... how do they react? (after years of being drilled in a very militant/survivalist manner). !?! =)

Sounds nice and gritty and odd. I'm curious to see where you'll take it! It definitely sounds like your kind of story.

[spiral]

It definitely sounds like your kind of story.

There's a witch in them thar mountains !!! =p