NaNoWriMo

[bobtheenchantedone]

Here's a thread for talking about NaNo. Speaking of which, who is doing it this year? I am, of course, and so is Random. Anyone else?

If you are doing NaNo, don't forget to sign up for word wars! There's the traditional Elsewhere vs. Salt Lake war (which is a private war and requires an invite key I can give you), a BYU vs. UoU vs. UVU war, a gender war, and others, plus it's very easy to create one yourself.

[Unit of Energy]

I'm planning on doing NaNo, but I can't guarantee that I'll finish, this year is looking to be a little crazy.

[Dragon Lady]

I'm considering, but a little freaked out that it starts tomorrow, since I don't have a fleshed out plot at all.

[Dead Cat]

If there wasn't a "no starting from scratch" rule, I think I would. The project I mentioned on the other thread has gone from 10 to 14k since I posted there. Not exactly NaNo rates, but at least the rate is increasing.

Just out of curiosity, (question addressed to all) what is your book's basic premise?

[bobtheenchantedone]

I'm considering, but a little freaked out that it starts tomorrow, since I don't have a fleshed out plot at all.

I only had a fleshed out plot my first year. This year I haven't even decided what I'm going to write about yet. I finally chose two ideas this morning, and now I need to choose which one to do, and neither one has anything beyond a couple of characters and a scene, not even a plot. : D

[Dragon Lady]

I'm considering, but a little freaked out that it starts tomorrow, since I don't have a fleshed out plot at all.

I only had a fleshed out plot my first year. This year I haven't even decided what I'm going to write about yet. I finally chose two ideas this morning, and now I need to choose which one to do, and neither one has anything beyond a couple of characters and a scene, not even a plot. : D

Yeah, but you have practice at writing. I've written several papers without thinking about them beforehand, but that's about it. And I've never written fiction. Well, except once in a chat at work. That was pretty entertaining.

[bobtheenchantedone]

I'm considering, but a little freaked out that it starts tomorrow, since I don't have a fleshed out plot at all.

I only had a fleshed out plot my first year. This year I haven't even decided what I'm going to write about yet. I finally chose two ideas this morning, and now I need to choose which one to do, and neither one has anything beyond a couple of characters and a scene, not even a plot. : D

Yeah, but you have practice at writing. I've written several papers without thinking about them beforehand, but that's about it. And I've never written fiction. Well, except once in a chat at work. That was pretty entertaining.

You'd be surprised what you can do under the spell of NaNo! Come on, try! Everyone is doing it!

(You should just submit now. I have convinced many a person to do NaNo. I'm quite the veteran convincer.)

[Dragon Lady]

I'm still considering it. Yellow says I should do it. I'm also a little nervous about what it's gonna do to the state of my house. Haha. I guess I'll see tomorrow how ambitious I'm feeling.

[C is for]

I'm super happily not doing it this year. I only wrote about 1000 words last year (I know) and this year I'm far too happily busy in my Last Author Standing competition (Harry Potter style). And also my two Harry Potter classes (Missing Moments in Year Seven and MWPP). And occasionally other writing ventures (usually of the Harry Potter variety). It'll take me a while to get back into original fiction, I'm afraid.

But! I totally encourage everyone else to at least try it! It's great fun and pretty much everyone here is an awesome writer. So go for it.

[Dragon Lady]

Harry Potter classes?!

Oh, also, I decided to do it. Mostly because tonight as I was crocheting a rug I realized what I could write about. Kind of a based-on-a-true-story-of-my-dating-life kind of story. I know, I know. It's lame and cliche to write about your own life. And I'm a little nervous that if it ever did make it as a real book that these boys would read and somehow for whatever reason, get offended. (Not that I plan on being offensive at all. But what if I get something wrong?) But I'm not gonna worry about that now. For now, it'll just be a fun story to help me remember all the details and get it out on paper. Except, not really on paper.

Now the trick is going to be writing that much while also getting all the crochet projects done that I need to get done, and keeping meals on the table, and keeping my house clean, and not neglecting Dragon Baby.

[bobtheenchantedone]

Hooray, Dragon Lady!

[Emiliana]

I'm in! This is my first attempt at NaNoWriMo, but my third attempt at a novel. I've written one or two semi-decent short stories in the last four years, but mostly I have sloppy half-finished scraps of things that never materialize into anything.

Although ... I have no intention of making it to 50,000 words. My goal is a far-more-modest 15,000 words. I just know myself well enough to know that if I try to write 1,600 words a day, I'm going to get burnt out in about two days and never touch the silly thing again. When I was in working on my senior seminar paper last year, which wound up at about 30 pages, I had quite a bit of success writing 500 words a day, six days a week, until I reached the end. So I figure a similar approach will work here!

My novel is a going to be a kids' fantasy book about a peasant girl who's raising a dragon illegally -- only nobles are allowed to have dragons. The first 500 words are crummy and cliche, but hey! That's what NaNoWriMo is about, right?

Dragon Lady, I'm excited that you're participating. I loved your hilarious anecdotes when you wrote for the Board (in fact, I was the one who asked http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/38567/ a few years ago!).

[Dragon Lady]

Dragon Lady, I'm excited that you're participating. I loved your hilarious anecdotes when you wrote for the Board (in fact, I was the one who asked http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/38567/ a few years ago!).

Hah! I was convinced at that point that anything could make a great story if you just gave it the appropriate attention. I haven't told stories like that for years. Maybe this will be a good motivator to get me back into it. Btw, thanks for asking that question, then linking it here. I hadn't read those stories in ages. It was fun to reminisce again.

Also, I'm up to about … 40 words. And then Dragon Baby finished her breakfast and I had to stop.

[Emiliana]

I haven't told stories like that for years.

You are depriving the world. I insist that you tell stories!

In other news, I hadn't done much (creative) writing since I graduated a year and a half ago and it's nice to know I still can. I've noticed, even in just two days, that suddenly the world has so much more potential for lunacy. I'm convinced that my dogs just have us fooled into thinking they're stupid mutts, when in reality they're criminal masterminds! My own mind is an entertaining place again!

[Dragon Lady]

I haven't told stories like that for years.

You are depriving the world. I insist that you tell stories!

I don't have much of an outlet for it anymore. Sure, I have a blog, but at least with the Board, people asked questions that reminded me of those stories. My blog is just me spewing things out.

[NerdGirl]

This year I am having thesis writing month. But I think I will do it next year, because I actually have a really good story idea.

[Emiliana]

For anyone who wants to answer:
What is your writing process like? Do you work from an outline, or do you just write what comes to you? How much does your final product tend to deviate from what you intended?

[bobtheenchantedone]

Let me answer your question, Emiliana. This will probably be long. I apologize.

This is my fourth year, so I actually have a pretty good idea of what my process is, and it is this: Go in with basically no idea and make it work. Very much a write-what-comes-to-you. My first year, I was using characters and an idea that I'd had in my head for years, but all of the actual scenes to get from point A to point B were made up as I wrote them. Second year I came up with a completely new idea just days out and did little more than hash out a couple of characters and a basic premise before the deadline, then went at it with a will. Again, lots of making things up on the spot. Third year I had a story with characters I didn't know so much about but a story line and several scenes, and as a result the story never really got off the ground. I started it over about five times, changed the viewpoint character three or four times, and was only about halfway through the story when I hit 50,000.

From that list, my guess is that I really need good characters and something for them to do, and the rest follows. This does mean that a lot, and I mean a lot, gets changed. Writing off the top of my head can mean that I think of new things that are better as I write - my first novel ended up being much better than I had imagined. It can also mean that I have "wait, scratch that, go back" moments when I decide that plot points were really not in the story's best interest. It surprised me how much I did this in my first novel, because while I didn't really have the story pinned down, I thought I did have the characters pinned down. But no, their magic system and personalities changed, and all for the better.

One result of my making it all up is that I often end up writing a lot about things that don't matter, most memorably giving the theater group a collective love of laser tag in my second novel and creating a fantastic chocolate shop in my current novel. I spent many many words on things that, frankly, will certainly not make it into any edited versions, and I knew it when I was writing. But to me, that's what NaNo is about: writing whatever comes to mind, just to get it all down and out and to have something to work with later. And having fun. Having fun is good, whether you get it from writing a story for the first time, writing faster than usual, writing along with many other people, or going to bed on the third day of NaNo tired but with 20,000 words under your belt.

The end.

[bobtheenchantedone]

I just hit 50,000 words!!! WHOO-HOO!!

[Tao]

whoa. Well done!

I'm kinda balled up in my own personal world of pain at the moment, so fiction is a bit far from my mind. Though I guess escapist fantasy never had a more willing candidate...