NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month

[Serilliant]

Happy almost-November everyone! And you know what November means. No, not turkey. Well, yes it does...but it also means National Novel Writing Month (http://www.nanowrimo.org).

If you've not heard of this, it's a month where people worldwide (though mostly in the US) get together and commit to writing a novel starting from scratch on November 1st, and (hopefully) ending with at least 50,000 words (or roughly 175 pages) midnight November 30th. This has been going on for a while now, and almost 60,000 people participated last year. You can even find people in your region and join up with them at a coffee shop or something and have a writing session. San Diego has over 600 people writing with a group event going on at least three times a week.

Now as much as I'd hate to pull writers away from Althanas, this is a pretty cool and fun once-a-month experience. The philosophy is not to create something publish-worthy, or even read-worthy. The creators say to aim for "not making someone vomit". And even admit, "make no mistake: you will be writing a lot of crap". It's an easy going (albeit lofty) goal to aim for this month and is a great way to get some practice. It doesn't matter how good you are or how old you are, all that matters is that you want to write.

Go join up if you're interested and we can help to keep each other motivated and monitor each other's progress. Only two short days left to get an idea and be ready for November!

[Elrundir]

I always forget about this thing until it's too late. It's just as well, I'd never actually do it anyway. The only stories I've ever written are RPs and fanfictions and that won't be changing anytime soon. :p

[Serilliant]

Not too late. I just learned about it for the first time this morning and I'll still be participating. And fantasy is a perfectly acceptable genre.

[Traveler]

This certainly sounds like fun, I would be interested in seeing if I could actually write so much that I can work around my daily "obstacles" and actually hit 50,000 words.

[nekoprince]

I think I'm going to do it. If antyhing, then just as a way to write out a few ideas I don't really want to bring to Althanas. They'd fit, but too much effort to fully bring them.

Either way, I've signed up, and I'm now gonna try and see just how far along can I get before dieing off.

[Witchblade]

They have one in London England, but nothing in Canada.

This blows...

[Ashiakin]

I'd like to do this. I have an idea I've been tossing around in my head for a novel (nothing serious, just something I'd like to write out.) This seems like a good opportunity. Still, I'm not sure I'll have the time. I'm going to be gone every weekend in November. Plus I have stuff to do here. I suppose I'll decide tomorrow.

[AdventWings]

...Wow. I'm glad I took the time to actually stop by here just in time to see you put this up.

Ideas, ideas... Between college, Althanas, Art and various game addictions I have a ton of ideas waiting to be unleashed upon the world. One is very much fleshed out and rarin' to go. Just no motivation from the aforementioned tripwires.

Now I have an excuse to actually commit to something besides studying. :D

Count me in! This won't affect my activity a whole lot, except maybe give it a secondary boost in inspiration. :D

ADD: Where do I sign up? :D
EDIT: Oh, I see it. =P

[Ayithe Solete]

Sounds really interesting, i'd probably have a go but in all honesty i have enough to be getting on with.

Maybe i'll try another year, i'll have to stick to my own stuff on here for now. :)

[Atzar]

I'm in, I've got something in mind for a story... we'll see how far it goes.

[Krugor]

It seems there's a Regional Lounge for Holland & Belgium. Well, that changes things...I'm definitely in! :)

[Eleazar]

My friend is actually taking this Novel Writing Month seriously, she's writing a full-fledged novel and trying to finish it by the end of November. She's lucky to actually be able to do that though, with school and all.

I took this the chance for me to write again!

[Rylius]

We made this a family event! Although my mom's beating me already at 12,000 words. I think my brother's still beating me. I'm slacking :( But yeah, I'm in this too. Not doing very well, but I will prevail over laziness! ...eventually.

My big problem is resisting the urge to redo everything I've done so it's better. It's not about writing a good novel, it's about writing a novel in a month. Remember that! Though if you hate what you're writing, you'll never get anywhere. Still, yay copious amounts of free time.

[Traveler]

That last bit sounds like pretty good advice. I am off to an incredibly slow start (Search for EBMinion if you want to see my excerpt) but I am enjoying what I'm writing currently. My biggest problem seems to be this conflict of interests I'm having. I have other projects that are within a hair's breadth of completion, and it doesn't seem worth it to put them off for another month in exchange for NaNoWriMo. In other words I'm working hard so that I can have both, but there's no guarantee that I'll hit the 50,000 mark at this rate.

Anyone else have a progress report?

--1,458 words

[Serilliant]

I've been doing really well, but then hit a few days that made me fall behind. I'm roughly at 10,000 words right now. Whatever it says in my signature.

[AdventWings]

Progress report!

Word Count - 16,725 and counting.

I'm supposed to hit 18,000 tonight or else I'm way behind schedule.

Please, no "kick me" signs on my backside. ;)

[Serilliant]

Made a lot of progress tonight after a two day hiatus, but I'm still about 800 words below the average needed to be on track to hit 50,000. The plot is all starting to come together, though, and I'm starting to be able to write a lot more in a single sitting. I'm hoping to take this nice long weekend and give myself a good cushion just in case I get busy again. It's nice knowing to be making such big strides, though. I'm excited.

[Rylius]

*posts "Kick me" signs on everyone*

Like that nice admin-y guy said in the email, if you're thinking of giving up now, don't give up. To be honest, even if you only got 10,000 words, you wrote something, and that's the whole point of this thing. I'm doing relatively horrible (7000ish) but now that I've got a good plot together, it's clicking together more and more. So words of encouragement: don't give up yet!

If you're stuck, I suggest looking back at what you've already written and seeing where you want the book to go. If you can't make where you want the book to go work because of something you've already written, change what you've already written to make it work. A little progress with hope for improvement is far better than being deadlocked with a deadend story. (trust me on that)

This is all funny because I just wrote a couple thousand words... on a new solo quest here. Yay for priorities.

EDIT - I don't have a bunny as my avatar anymore, so nyah.

[Atzar]

Yeah, I lied. I haven't started mine, don't plan to. Just not enough time for that level of commitment, and I'd rather write something of decent quality here than questionable quality there.

Speaking of solos, I have one of my own here. (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=3071) This goes to everybody: if you have a minute and you're interested, take a look and tell me what you think.

EDIT: Hahaha... Duck, Rabbit, Capybara... wow, I'm tired.

[Serilliant]

Duck, Rabbit, Capybara...
Mushroom, mushroom!

[Rylius]

I dare any of you to have one of your characters sing/hum/think the badger song in your novel.

Add: Bonus points if the character is using it to badger someone. Double bonus if the character is actually a badger.

[AdventWings]

NaNo Wordcount update! (Like this is really necessary :D)

33,986 and counting!

What are your word counts? Higher than me, hopefully. ;)

[Serilliant]

29,289. Fell into a huge rut and didn't write for many days. Those weekly e-mails said I'd have difficulty and desires to give up around 20k (I did) and that things would start coming together around 30k (they did). I'm now very, very excited about the progress I'm making. There are about 10k words in there that I'm positive that I'll completely delete and rewrite in the editing phase, but a new direction has blossomed and I'm so anxious to see where it leads me. I'm behind schedule now, but if I can keep having days like to today for the rest of the week, I'll be closing in on 50,000 before the end of the month.

Keep on fighting everyone!

[AdventWings]

Last stretch for the win, all you hard-working warriors of words!

It's the last seven days of November and we are now only moments away from meeting our Book Makers!

All those still plowing through the Fields of Rut and battling the nefarious Siren Songs of Surrender, persevere! We are at the Gates of Victory, shouting for entry and slamming our weary, Carpel-Tunnel Syndrome-ridden fists against its unwavering adamantium barricades. But soon, even the indestructible Writer's Block standing in our way will finally crumble with our combine efforts and we shall finally find respite and fame awaiting, the Pride of writing a 50,000 words masterpiece of our minds and the Honor that we have been true to ourselves through the darkest of hours.

Warriors of the Words... We shall march forward forever more towards Victory...

May the Winds be Fair...

[AdventWings]

Douple-posting, but a neccesary one.

One Althanian over the 50k line, right here! How is everyone doing? :D

[Serilliant]

Made some extraordinary catch-up progress, but running into some troubles these last few days. I've got a lot left to write and a very, very busy season on my horizon, but I'm going to do my best and see if I can pull it off. The story's starting to come to its conclusion now, and it's a conclusion I'm excited to write, so I can see myself pulling it all off in a single sitting soon. I'm far too close to give up now.

[Atzar]

@ Serilliant and everybody else involved: who made it?

[Serilliant]

Made it at the deadline! 50,002 words. It ought to change, though, after NaNoEdiMo (National Novel Editing Month :-D).

For all winners, don't forget that you can get a 100% free softcover, fully illustrated, actual copy of your book at http://www.lulu.com/nanowrimo/index.php. You have until January 19th to upload your manuscript, so get editing, design your cover, and get a memento from your month of hard work.

[Atzar]

Congrats to both AdventWings and Serilliant for hitting their goals!!!

[AdventWings]

Wha? I didn't know that! I'll go see that my manuscript is properly edited. :D