Subject: First Time
Author:
Posted on: 2013-09-24 22:23:00 UTC
A friend of mine has entered it for the last few years now and I've peered over her shoulder enough times to know what it's about and whats going on.
This year however I'm going to have a go at it for myself (hopefully) so hints and tips would be greatly appreciated.
I am speaking, of course, of the glorious month of November, that shining, sleep-deprived, caffeinated, frantic scrabbling word-laden epoch we call interNational Novel Writing Month, when we all trade in our sanity (or what remains of it) for the pursuit of novel-writing, and the quest to put 50,000 words together in something resembling a novel in just 30 days.
In other/fewer words: it's NaNoWriMo!
Are you planning to do it this year? If so, do you have a plot? Or anything vaguely resembling a plan? Have you done it before? Have you ever won? Have you anything like words of wisdom or folly for those of us crazy enough to be throwing our hats in this year?
For my part, I'll be participating this year - it's been enough years that November would feel just a bit empty if I didn't. I managed to pull off the full fifty thousand for the first time last year, though the finished work was not something I'd bother committing to a physical page. This year, I've got a new plan involving the peaking and downfall of a pre- Ice Age civilization that evolves, or devolves, into the species we now know as crows.
I have, over the past five years or so of my life, become a follower of the writing advice of the inhumanly amazing Neil Gaiman, which usually boils down to this: keep writing, even when - especially when - it would be easier not to. This was his pep talk a few years back.
And, lastly, sorry I've not been around much. I was rather busy the past few weeks, then went back to the east coast to visit family, during which journey my laptop screen cracked. So I'll be trying to fix that, as well, in the next few weeks. I shall be intermittently poking about here and in the IRC in the meantime.
I had fun doing it last year, but it might be that I will be too overloaded with work and term exams to do it. So probably not.
Well, I'm working on a novel as it is, a sort of film noir story in a prestigious university, so I could probably use NaNo as a prompt.
CURSE YOU WRITING GODS!
My deepest sympathies - and, as an aside, you might consider writing it out longhand and transcribing it with a library or school computer. If I can't find a new screen for my laptop in the next month, that's what I'll be doing. It's somewhat more time-consuming, but it gives you an interesting set of drafts as well.
The only problem is that keeping track of the numbers would be AWFUL. (Also I still haven't found the library down here...)
I've done it every year since 2009, and managed to cross the finish line every time, through sheer will power and copious amounts of crap writing.
I haven't decided this year if I'll work on either of my two epics -ridiculously long stories that are nowhere near close to done - or start something new with one of the myriad of plotbunnies that have been popping into my head.
Either way, feel free to buddy me, my NaNo name is, surprise surprise, DrewMarigold. Shocking, I know. :P
As far as tips go, I like word sprints/word wars - set a time limit 15-20 minutes, and compete with someone else to see who can get the most words written in that time. I also like writeordie.com and writtenkitten.com. They're both helpful for solo word sprints, when no one else is online.
I have not decided if I am going to give it a go this year. I don't particularly have anything going on during November, just don't know if I want to go for the 50k.
If I did try it again, I have two potential plots. 1) Strange new creatures are causing trouble in my fantasy world and a group of adventurers is sent to figure out what they are and where they come from. Adventure ensues. 2) The next part of Catastrophe Theory (not a novel, I know, but writing, none the less).
If I do it, the plan is to write it out on paper. I can't be trusted with an internet connection while I'm writing. I'll need to buy a new notebook, if I decide to get it done.
I've done it a couple of times, though I can't remember exactly which years. They all blend together a bit. I've never even come close to winning. I've never been what one might call a "prolific writer". It takes me forever to write anything and I get distracted by new ideas all the time.
Words of wisdom, I've got.
1) Find a place to call your Writing Workspace. When you are in that place, you do nothing but write. You don't eat in there. You don't make phone calls. When you are in that place, you write. Stick to that.
2) Find a way to limit distractions. Unplug the internet. Switch to paper and pen, like me, if you can't be trusted. Make a special playlist that doesn't have any words (words are all right if you can't understand them). Lock your roommates in a closet. Whatever you need to do.
3) This last one is the most important. Get plenty of sleep, stay hydrated, and remember to eat well.
-Phobos
...but the truth is that I just have too much going on IRL to be able to do it this year. I'll definitely think about it next year, though.
I won't be participating directly, but I will be supporting someone else very strongly. Lycaenion, one of our old members who now merely lurks occasionally, is doing NANO and her story will focus on a character from an original D&D setting that she and I have been working on for the past year.
I did my first NaNo in 2009, and my second in 2011 - so how can I break the pattern? Two years is just about long enough to get over NaNo burnout...
I will be breaking a different pattern, though - I'm not going to try and write the third volume of my trilogy, the first two stories in which were my first two NaNos. That, I think, can wait until I've edited at least Volume 1 into some semblence of decency.
But I do have a plan: to be completely crazy. The Kraken-Knights of Wintertide will be riding to bring destruction to the Skyfarms, and I intend to let the whole story descend into ridiculousness as soon as possible. I am (as always) inspired by BeautyID's The Magical Adventures of Ladies and Gentlemen, which she was kind enough to post in its entirety on LJ back when she wrote it (2007!). I highly recommend it for the sheer surrealism.
hS
...but I think I may try this year, if only because this year seems to be about new beginnings for me, the most noticeable of which is that thing called high school. Whether I'll get anything done, however, is the real question, considering my tendency to procrastinate on anything and everything.
Ah well. I have some friends I could probably poke into trying it with me, and it's not as if my life depends on it or anything. *shrug*
-Aila
NaNoWriMo? Never heard of it. Sounds interesting... maybe I'll join
I really can't recommend it enough - even if you don't go for the 50K, a month dedicated to making yourself write, as much as you can, all the time, is a really good thing.
I am doing it this year! It'll be a great tool to beat upon ye olde work-life balance with, and I finally have coworkers who are into NaNo.
I do have a plot! It is plot-shaped and things. Iit goes like this: Not!Hitler makes an evil pact with Not!Sauron and opens a couple hundred portals between Not!Earth and Not!Middle-Earth. Dragons and spitfires dogfight.
I have participated in NaNoWriMo since 2006! I won it in 2006 and 2007, and then came down with a bad case of college. Now that I'm out of college, I hit 30k words in both '11 and '12. This time for sure!
And for advice: Hang out with writers! Poke them mercilessly about their wordcount and get them to poke you back. Having constant botherings to escape is a great motivation to get off the internets and write more words.
Am I planning to do it [again] this year? Yes.
Do I have a plot? No.
Anything resembling a plan? HA! I'm "pantsing" this year. (I didn't get to last year since Fellowship of the Urn was my NaNo)
Done it before? Fifth year and counting.
Won anything? Four years and counting.
Words of wisdom: (see below)
1. Write. Just write. Leave your editor in October and don't look back. You can pick him/her up again in December. They won't mind. No, they'll complain at the mess you made, but then they'll edit to their heart's content.
2. Get a writing buddy that you can do word sprints with. For fifteen to twenty minutes write as much as you can, as fast as you can. IE Word vomit. Doesn't have to be good, just get it down.
3. Give yourself writing rewards. A lot of people do food rewards. That doesn't work for me. I have a few TV shows that I can only get online. I write 500 words, I give myself ten minutes of that TV show, then write another 500 words. Three of those and you're almost at the word minimum.
4. Try and make it to some of the write-ins in your areas. They do word-sprints, plot bingo, and all kinds of other things. And quite often, they're at coffee shops, or places that coffee is. Always good.
5. Don't give up.
My NaNo name is... alswaiter. *shock* PM me if you want there. I'm always up for NaNo stuffs.
A few good writing podcasts I listen to are:
http://www.writingexcuses.com/
http://www.thenarrativebreakdown.com/ - (Drew just found this one)
Want to pick my brain? I'm not a published author by any stretch, but I am a Nano Vet and love to encourage other writers.
~AW~
A friend of mine has entered it for the last few years now and I've peered over her shoulder enough times to know what it's about and whats going on.
This year however I'm going to have a go at it for myself (hopefully) so hints and tips would be greatly appreciated.
So soon already? And I haven't got anything prepared. Again.
I've done NaNoWriMo (or as I like to call it NaNoRhiNo) three times and have managed to squeeze out a victory every time. I've also done Camp NaNo a couple of times.
I'll probably have a go again this year, if I can think of something. And like the other years, I probably won't get any planning done and will have to pants my way through under heavy influence of chocolate and Hans Zimmer music.
My profile name in NaNoWriMo is the same as here, EileenAlphabet, so feel free to add me.
And on the subject of writing advice, I heartily recommend Chuck Wendig. http://terribleminds.com/ (Possibly NSFW. The man has creative swearing and multiple references to pantslessness as a trademark.) He also do great flash fiction challenges every Friday, if you feel the need to stretch your writing muscle to get in shape for November.
hS