NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month

[Arntonach]

November's still a ways away, but I thought to kickstart this thread now since some people are actively planning ahead for the event. It'd be cool to see who amongst us can pull this off, especially with that dreaded FFR game looming overhead.

I guess a participation list is in order:
1. Antronach (me )
2. MrPopadopalis25
3. Netjet!
4. cedolad
5. redsea
6. James May
7. Zageron
8. Wayward Vagabond

I've had an idea for a novel brewing in my head for the past couple of months and I'm going to use this event as an excuse to get a first draft done. Besides, that certificate of completion and 5 free paperback copies sounds pretty nifty.

So who's in?

EDIT: if I don't get someone and you're an anal mod, just add them in I don't mind you hijack my OP.

[Netjet!]

I try to do this every year but lose the motivation. However, this year I actually have a topic in mind so I'll sign up

[Cavernio]

Never done it, but I seriously need to get my 2nd novel written. I doubt I'd participate in any official capacity though.

[Choofers]

Ugh, I really want to do this this year, but it's up in the air currently. I've had a few ideas for a novel.

[redsea]

Does it have to be finished in the month of Nov? or do we start in Nov?

[cedolad]

I actually have been working on a story idea, haven't started writing yet, just getting general concepts and structuring figured out, I'll make an attempt at this

[devonin]

Teaching you to write for a completely unpublishable length, with the idea that cramming words onto paper, no matter their quality, is more important than writing well. And doing it on a timescale that for most people means they need to stop doing anything else besides throw themselves at doing so? I'll pass.

As a professional reader/reviewer, lemme say that I would be much happier seeing something like NaNoWriMo clocking in at a lower word count that left you with a publishable short story or novella instead of this middle-of-the-road "too long for a short story, too short for a novel" format.

[L.B.D.D]

dang i have a bunch of friends who've been doing nanowrimo for like at least 6-7 years or more.. i didnt expect peeps from ffr to be doing it too

[Cavernio]

"publishable short-story" is an oxymoron
Actually I have a short story I plan to send to TOR, it being the only thing I've made ANY progress on in the past, oh, more than a year. Only half done it.

50k words/month isn't too much, ~20 weekdays, ~2,500 words a day? When I actually DID write most of my still unedited novel, I aimed for 10k words/week. Of course I'm not going to get into the quality of the writing of it, but if I hadn't placed some sort of pressure on myself for actual word count or 'get this next section written', it'd probably still be unwritten. The idea is that written is better than unwritten. Written, you can go over and rework, and that's far less challenging/daunting than creating nothing out of thin air.
I think the most help that something like this could be to me, (someone who would not have to stop their regular life in order to participate), is momentum. Like right now, I hardly give this novel I want to write much passing thought. But if I make it a mandatory part of most of my days, I will eventually naturally be thinking about it during my off-time, making the actual writing of it that much easier as I'll know what I want to write before sitting down to write it. Writing when you have lots of downtime means more work, overall, that I'll have to put into it as I try to recapture the story.
Besides which, I'm sure there's lots of people who start this who don't actually finish but put just as much work into their novels as people who do meet the word goal.
Also, a short word goal of 'good' writing makes it totally subjective, so can't really know if you've succeeded at it. Just like giving a score to something, giving a solid, measurable goal is a push that many people respond well to. To make the best use of such a motivator, you need to make that word count goal sufficiently high. 25k words is just too easily attainable for a month. 1k words are like, what, a couple hours if you're into the writing? And as already said, it WILL make people worry that their writing isn't good enough.

But I'm still lukewarm on participating myself in something like this. Seems more like a time to AVOID coffee shops where other wannabe authors will be sitting and writing. I don't think I want some sort of camaraderie, if only in spirit, for writing. Seems backwards.

[devonin]

Most people who have the necessary experience with fiction to generate something that isn't garbage, but who aren't already making a living from their writing, also have jobs, or kids, or both, and 2500 words a day is pretty much impossible in the 2 or 3 hours they have in excess of getting ready for work, being at work, getting home from work, preparing meals, keeping house etc etc.

I'd be curious to see how many people who complete NaNoWriMo in a given year are over 24, and either have no job, or are stay-at-home parents.

[redsea]

Could I maybe tweak it a little bit? Can I set the goal of writing a narrative poem (something similar to Lord Byron's "Mazeppa") in the month of November? Minimum of 20 pages?

This just seems a lot more doable with my schedule.

[devonin]

Well you can do whatever you want, but NaNoWriMo isn't an FFR thing, it's a pre-existing thing that has been running for years, and to do NaNoWriMo, you have to do a 50,000 word novel in one month.

[James May]

I'm actually getting drafts up for a novel that I'm planning on writing. 1940s noir-styled novel and sci-fi novels are in progress of character developments and plot is in progress. Might do the noir one first and then sci-fi next year. First time doing this so let's see how this goes heh.

Edit: actually I'm going to be writing a satire. Essentially poking fun at the misfortune of politics and democratic society.

[Zageron]

I'll be participating as well. I've yet to finished, but I've done a Nano and Camp Nano so far.

[James May]

Originally Posted by Zageron

I'll be participating as well. I've yet to finished, but I've done a Nano and Camp Nano so far.

\o/

[Wayward Vagabond]

i was with zag in the irc a couple of times last year for nanowrimo

im going to attempt again this year

[squeesfan]

I haven't done this for a few years now. Work will get in the way, as my shift times often vary, but I would love to give this a go again. It would be a good excuse to start writing again, as I haven't written anything since burning out finishing my MA a couple of years ago. I have two unfinished short stories that I have brainstormed expanding in the past but am worried I don't have enough substance in them and it would simply look like ego padding.

[ReikonKeiri]

is it cheating if i have 7k words already

[devonin]

Yes.


But seriously, yes.

[Arntonach]

shhh it's called "being a rebel"

But yeah you cheated. Quite honestly I'm a little agitated to start my first draft if only because I keep going over events in the book in my head. I know it's good in the long run but GAH