NaNoWriMo '13 - It's here!!!

[Melian_Maia]

‘Twas a dark and stormy night…

In a dark room, somewhere in the world, a writer sits at her computer. Her eyes are bloodshot and empty mugs of caffeinated beverages are scattered around the floor around her desk. Her fingers tremble from lack of sleep as she types furiously, desperate to meet her word goal…

It’s October, which mean that in the next few weeks, many of us will begin to look like the writer I just described. It’s NaNoWriMo Time, whether we’re ready or not!!

This will by my fifth (!!!) year participating, and while I have something that resembles a plot, I don’t have many concrete details and will mostly be winging it. I’m writing a dystopian featuring a girl who makes a deal with Death and inadvertently kills the love interest. Should be a fun one. I’m not sure how much writing I’ll actually get done next month...although I said that last year and ended up writing over 80k. Fingers crossed that I can pull that off again.

For those of you who may not know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, a world-wide, seat of your pants writing program in which the goal is simple. Write a 50,000 word (or more!) novel in the month of November. Thousands of people participate every year and it’s loads of fun. We typically get word wars going in the Member Chat all throughout the month, and it’s great to see your friends meet their goals and celebrate with them.

In preparation for next month, let’s talk NaNo! Are you doing it? Are you a plotter or a pantser? Favourite writing snack and drink? Top tips for getting to 50k? Feel free to leave your NaNo username as well, so we can all connect on the site.

[Gymfan15]

Very nice opening! I applaud you. *clap clap*

I'm not doing NaNo this year, unfortuatly. I ended up sitting out last year due to just starting a new job, and this year I'm in my very first play which would wreck HAVOC on NaNo when you combine it with the fact that Thanksgiving is just after my play wraps. It would be most unwise to try and write with the crazy schedule that I have for November.

I will be rooting all of you on, though! NaNo is CRAZY fun and I can't wait to do it next year.

I'll answer some questions "just because" since I *am* a NaNo vet.

1. Definitely a Plotter. I don't engage in a TON of written "plotting" beforehand, but I defintiely have a fairly clear idea of how I want my story to progress. The four novels that I have written have all been off of stories that I came up with when I was quite young, so they've been stewing around in my brain for years. The plot I was going to do last year, though, was a very rough idea; more like a concept, actually, and I really didn't know how it was going to go at all. That definitely gave me anxiety for the few weeks that I thought I was going to do NaNo, lol.
2. Favorite writing drink is Coke and favorite snack is apple crisp and sour candy. NaNo is always at that time of year when you start to embrace fall AND Halloween candy, so it's a natural choice.
3. My top tip for getting to 50k is set your bar high. Don't aim to JUST complete the minimum word count because if you take a sick day or life gets crazy, you will quickly fall behind and freak out. The first year I did NaNo I didn't set any goals for myself, but QUICKLY engaged in a very impromptu and unofficial word battle with a friend that definitely gave me the extra push to write. I ended up getting 50k in under two weeks.
That being said, pace yourself. Don't plan to do all-nighters EVERY night because that gets old fast and your productivity will be nill. I find that I write best at night, so I gave myself permission to NOT write and do whatever I liked all day, but made the hours of 8p-12p my sacred writing time and would just WRITE with as few distractions as possible. I found that it was easier to concentrate and write when I gave myself a set time limit knowing that I could watch movies or do whatever aaaany time before that and after.

Do word wars. Embrace WriteorDie.com. Don't worry if writing fast means your text is crap; you can FIX it next month, but you can't fix what you haven't written. It is better to have a very rough bundle of words with a beginning AND an end, then no words at all.

Most of all, just HAVE FUN! Like, a LOT of fun. And that feeling of euphoria when you get 50k and then when you write THE END is like no other.

Write on!

[Arwenel]

I was wondering when this thread would get started ...

This will be my 6th year in total doing NaNo; if i hadn't skipped 2011, it would be my 7th.

I'm more of a plotting person. I've done it without outlines beforehand, and while the stories that resulted weren't bad, i'm left with no idea of where to take them. Caffeine doesn't affect me, and i don't have any particular snacks i eat.

Tips for reaching 50k: if reaching 50k is your only goal, then jump around in your story. Switch viewpoint characters -- my first year, i had around 5 viewpoint characters and when i was no longer inspired to write for one of them or got bored i would switch to a different one; not something i would advise for a book you plan on publishing, but it worked for a first-timer who was also in her first semester of college. In other years, i've started working on different stories or jumped ahead in the plot to parts that were more interesting.

This year, i'm technically a NaNo Rebel as my sister and i are co-writing a story inspired by/based on Portal 2 and Pacific Rim. We do a lot of writing together, so i'm hoping we can at least do more than 50k, to make up for not doing it individually. We've got it planned out pretty well already, and i hope to get a lot more character development and such worked out before November.

Oh, and my username is Arindilwen, if you haven't added me already.

[wild rose]

Hooray for the NaNo thread
This will be my third year doing NaNo and I've decided to do a major shift in my writing, in that this year, unlike the past two years, I won't be writing children's fiction but will go for historical fiction. I've written two historical fiction novels in the past and it was quite catastrophic, I'm hoping this year I will be more successful

I am definitely a plotting person, I had a few times during camp when I just went ahead and wrote without plotting and it was quite a mess, I like to have a plan of what I am doing. This year I am planning and plotting in detail, making a step by step instruction of what is going to happen.

I don't have a favorite snack or drink, I'll eat whatever I get my hands on (provided it has nothing to do with fish )

Tips...um...don't give up haha, even if you feel like it's not coming out, just write a different scene or something, but whatever you do DON'T QUIT!!!!!

[DamselJillPole]

Your story sounds amazing melian_maia

Thanks for the long list of advice Gymfan15 and also from you Arwenel and wild rose. You guys seem to be very experienced and I can't wait to hear from everyone's updates.

This is my first time ever doing NaNoWriMo and I think that this is the correct link to put for my profile
http://nanowrimo.org/participants/hopelesswanderer
I'm hopelesswanderer. I'm not new to writing but am new to the site. I've been wanting to do this for years now but school/ mid-terms always kept me from doing it but now since I'm out I have the time finally

I have three stories that I'm trying to choose from writing so I'm going to ask you for opinions.
One is for fanfiction.net and it's a story idea I've had for a while for the movie Twister. It's based on the main characters college years and how they ended up as tornado chasers.

The two other ones are novels that I want to publish professionally one day but am having writers block for both since I'm still planning them. One is through the eyes of an 18th century young woman who travels to a foreign country and witnesses something she shouldn't thus becoming a vampire. Will be written in first person, and no it's nothing like Twilight nor romantic.

The other is a dystopian that I want to create into a series based into the far future. Won't go into too many details of the story because the idea is very original.

What do yall think? Which one should I do?

Good luck to everyone!

[ForeverFan]

Hurray for October! Which of course is planning month for me as well. I would very much like to do NaNoWriMo again this year, but part of me isn't so sure that I will have the time. Life got quite a lot busier since last November. But I'm still working on a plot line (definitely a plotter here), and my novel is (briefly) a superhero novel set in England during WWI. I have never written a superhero novel before (or, perhaps seen one- I've only seen superhero films and know of the vast array of comic books, which I think might be a better medium for the superhero genre), so it may largely turn out to be spy-historical fiction, etc. Or entirely cheesy.

[Melian_Maia]

Your story sounds amazing melian_maia

Thank you! So do yours. Honestly, I would say go for which ever story you think can take you to 50k. I know that sometimes with stories that are less planned/still in planning stages, inspiration can sort of putter out halfway through the month and then it's like pulling teeth to get to word goals.

Wild, best of luck with your historical fiction! I've never been brave enough to attempt writing one, simply because of the huge amounts of research that goes into it. I suppose I'm just too lazy. What time period is your novel set in, if you don't mind me asking?

ForeverFan, I actually just wrote a superhero novel during CampNaNo in July. It was loads of fun, and so if you ever want to talk plot/throw ideas at someone, my inbox is always open. Also, superhero movies are excellent research for writing if you need an excuse to watch them over and over.

I think I'm almost done plotting out my novel I'm working a bit on world building right now, focusing on funeral traditions...which is always fun. I'm beginning to stockpile my snacks for next month. I've got a couple boxes of tea and some Caribou coffee that's waiting to be made. I'm also looking forward to making chai tea all the time. Mmm. I'm not really going to be having a lot of food snacks this year since I'm not supposed to be eating between meals, but if I do, it'll be the salty and sweet pecans from Trader Joe's. So good.

And since I just realised I hadn't posted my username earlier, I'm Melian.

[ForeverFan]

Melian: That's fantastic! I shall have to take you up on your offer, if it looks like I'll be able to NaNo this year. Definitely. There are probably quite a few aspects on which I've got to think- such as how to do the action scenes, or, if this makes any sense, the big scene where the normal human being becomes superhero. I've seen it, of course, in various films, but I'm wondering if such moments are better shown than described in writing. If you know what I mean.

My username is break_of_day over there, I've probably got a bunch of you all as writing buddies, but if not, feel free to add me.

[SummerSnow]

Hello, everyone! It’s awesome to see so many other Nanoers. ^__^
This will be my fifth NaNo (scary!), I believe, and I’m really looking forward to it. I’m also slightly scared, since I have several plot ideas, none of which are completed to the point where I feel comfortable writing a whole novel.
My username is the same on there, as on here, if anyone is interested. Also, if anyone else is on the YWP, that would be awesome!
Melian_Maia : Your novel sounds really interesting. Has it been long in the making or just a random idea that floated into your head?

I guess I shall go ahead and answer the questions:
(1) Um...I try to be a plotter, however I usually forget about my outline on the second day. This year I am going to try to plot it thoroughly and keep it semi-true to the plot. (I’m trying a different type of outline this year, so hopefully that’ll help)
(2) I don’t really eat while writing, seeing as I’m not usually allowed anything messy anywhere near the computer. =P
(3) Um...tips….Well, some things that have helped me in the past:
*Friends who encourage you. Ones who aren’t afraid to say ‘Go write. Or I shall not speak to you ever again!’ (okay, perhaps not that far, but those who do tell you to write and are quite persistent about it are helpful)
*Word Wars! They are amazing, especially if you are competitive or just like writing against/with a friend.
*If you’re having a plot-problem and are stuck, know if you’re procrastinating or are truly stuck. The first, you keep on writing, even if you have no idea what’s coming out…the second, just taking your mind off of it, can really help.
….And that’s pretty much it, except for the obvious ‘Write and don’t give up’.

[Meltintalle]

Yay, NaNo! It makes the goal of finishing a draft that much more appealing.

1. I'm a Pantser in a sea of Plotters, I see. That might change this year, as I am currently attempting to arrange a bunch of scene ideas into an outline.
2. I'm don't eat by the computer either... though if I did I sort of like the idea of having a bag of M&Ms or candy corn.
3. I don't know if it's a good tip or not, but if you're not making any progress forward, there's nothing wrong with going back and adding stuff to scenes you've already written.

I'm meltintalle on the NaNo site.

[Ithilwen]

In preparation for next month, let’s talk NaNo!

Are you doing it?

I'm certainly going to try. Although my previous years didn't turn out too well...

2011 NaNo: Wrote 17K in the first two days. Considered quitting due to over-exhaustion. Was forced to quit on Day 3 due to computer virus.

2012 Camp: Wrote about 5K on the first day. Quit after that due to stress, and not having the book well-planned out enough to know what to write next.

2012 NaNo: Could not participate due to being out-of-state all month.

2013 Camp: Wrote 5K in the first two days. Quit after the second day due to stress.

2013 NaNo: Upcoming.

So, that's not a very good record so far. I seem to always quit after the first couple of days due to stress and discouragement - even though I consistently reached my word count goal. What's more, I've written 105 books outside of NaNo. It's only during NaNo that I seem to have trouble writing. Not sure what's holding me back, but whatever it is, I'm hoping to beat it this year.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?

I'm a hopeless plotter. As soon as I get a book idea, I have to immediately outline and plan and develop everything that I can. So when NaNo comes, I can usually just choose an already semi-developed idea, and develop it a tad more so that it's ready. Camp NaNo 2012 is a good example of what happens when I don't plan my books well enough.

Favourite writing snack and drink?

Whatever's on hand, really. Most NaNoers seem to be stereotyped as obsessively drinking coffee. But I think drinking coffee would make me far too jittery to write.

Top tips for getting to 50k?

Judging by what I wrote above, I'm hardly qualified for giving any tips. But my gameplan this year is to try to write with close friends so that they can motivate me, and I them. And I'm going to try to not take it as seriously as I did previous years and try to just have fun with it. Stress did me in the other years much more than the writing competition itself did.

Feel free to leave your NaNo username as well, so we can all connect on the site.

My username is minionygoodness. Feel free to friend me on there if you haven't yet, my lovely NWers.


EDIT: I forgot to talk about what I'm planning to write this year. I'm still a bit undecided, actually. So I'm preparing two different projects at the same time right now. When NaNo comes, I can choose which one I feel like writing, or I can alternate between both.

The first project is the first book in my sci-fi series, the favorite of all my projects. I came up with the idea on October 10th, 2011. So it is exactly two years old today. Since it's my pet project, I am very excited to work on it. But at the same time, after planning it for so long, I often feel I need a break from it.

The second project is newer, and so all the "New Novel Novelty" hasn't worn off yet. This novel was not conceived in the normal way. Instead it's based on a continued dream I had over the course of many days. In each of the dreams, I would see Elves come to my door at the beginning and announce, "Here's the next part of the story!"; and I would then be immersed into a dream within a dream. And that dream within a dream continued until all the events of the story were made known to me. And now I shall turn it into a novel. In honor of this, I have nicknamed my novel "The Elf-Gift". This backstory may sound pretty crazy, but it's true; and the fact that it's so unusual makes me want to write this book all the more. It's a fantasy, and the one I'm currently listing on my NaNo profile.


~Riella

[daughter of the King]

*is still trying to decide whether or not to join the party*

My first attempt at NaNo was in 2011. I made it to 25k and then had to stop due to an illness that just would not go away. I started another story last year but only got in about 500 words before senior classes caught up with me. I don't have school this year, but I notoriously get really sick in between Thanksgiving and Christmas almost every single year so that might make things a bit difficult again.

I'm a Pantser in a sea of Plotters, I see.

If I do join the party you'll have a fellow Pantser! I usually have a general idea of plot and at least three well-developed characters before I even consider diving in to actually writing a story, but I despise outlines with great passion. Since I write almost entirely for my own enjoyment I don't care if the story all of a sudden takes an unexpected turn, but I do want to have the satisfaction of a complete tale if only so I can read the whole thing instead of just pieces.

As for food, popcorn. Lots and lots of popcorn. Quick, simple, and tasty. My go-to snack for both homework and writing. And tea. Nothing like a good cup of tea. Especially since coffee makes me high.

Well, if I do make an attempt at it, my story is set in world that is overrun with monster-like beasts. Early on in the humans' attempt to prevent the beasts from destroying just about everything it was discovered by accident that a genetic mutation renders certain people immune to the beasts' venom. Since no cure had yet been found, anyone who had this mutation was promptly forced to become fighters. The catch: the genetic mutation is the onset of a neurological disease with no cure. It causes muscle pain, weakness, deformity in the limbs, and breathing problems just to name a few symptoms. So instead of dying from the venom, the fighters are dying from exhaustion. They want to speak out, to stop the way they're being treated, but it's awfully hard to lead a rebellion when you can barely walk. . .

[MountainFireflower]

I'm pooooossibly doing it this year; not sure. If I do, it will be my fifth year participating. (Part of me wants to join so I don't break my streak! )

Like some of you, one reason why I may not do it is stress--I don't know if I want the added pressure of writing 50k in a month when winter is already harder for me. (I have chronic pain and tend to feel worse in the winter.) However, last November was one of the hardest months I've had physically and I managed to win NaNo, so part of me feels like, after that, I can do anything.

I tend to be a mix of plotting and pantsing... I'm typically a pantser, which is a double-edged sword, if you will. Sometimes it's great--I really like letting the story lead me where it will, but then other times it's not-so-great because once I reach the middle/end of the story, I get stuck. Most (actually, all) of my NaNo novels continue to sit on my hard drive somewhere unfinished. Maybe it's just because I don't like ending things, though. I sometimes don't like seeing my favorite novels come to an end, especially ones I've written.

Anyway, that's all I've got for now: it's a possibility that I'll do it. I'll have to come back later and continue discussing this. I will say, though, just the arrival of this thread is bringing back that familiar NaNo excitement again!

[wild rose]

Damsel, your story sound very interseting. So glad you decided to do NaNo this year.
Lia, thanks so much. Yeah, historical fiction does require a lot of research, I'm literaly drowning in it. I've had to research some pretty crazy stuff . My novel is about Christians in the Roman Empire and is set in Rome about a year after the great fire (around 65 AD). I tried coming up with a synopsis for soooooo long, and I sort of came up with something, I'm still not happy with it (I really need to increase my English vocabulary) but here's what it is so far:
Ever since the great fire, Christians have been the talk of Rome. No matter what the conversation, you are sure to touch on them. Camilla has often discussed them, but never actually met one in person, until Avilius. What started out as a game to attract his attention, quickly escalates into a full fledged war between Camilla and Sybylla, as mistress and slave fight for his attentions. Avilius will find his convictions and beliefs challenged by the beautiful and seductive noblewoman, Sybylla must grapple with feelings of jealousy, hate and anger against her rival, who always seems to have the greater advantage in everything. And in a time and place where to confess to be a Christian is to pronounce your own death sentence, Camilla will try and figure out what is it about these strange people that makes them cling so stubbornly to their faith, even when staring in the face of certain death.
I'm working on a cover right now

I’m writing a dystopian featuring a girl who makes a deal with Death and inadvertently kills the love interest. Should be a fun one

wow, that sounds very interesting, should be fun indeed

A superhero novel set in WWI England, that sounds really cool Foreverfan

I’m also slightly scared, since I have several plot ideas, none of which are completed to the point where I feel comfortable writing a whole novel.

I hope you are able to decide on one soon

both your ideas sounds really cool Ithilwen, maybe you could try doing both of them. I wrote two novels last year, it's a little more work, but totally doable.

Most NaNoers seem to be stereotyped as obsessively drinking coffee. But I think drinking coffee would make me far too jittery to write.

Hear, hear, putting aside the fact that I can't drink coffee because of my heart, I still wouldn't drink it cause I don't think I would be able to sit long enough and focused enough to write. Coffee has a very dreadful affect on me

daughter of the king and Mountie, I hope you'll be able to participate

on the NaNo site I go by the username Apye (I'll be budding you, just so you know who it is )

[The Rose-Tree Dryad]

Ugh. I am so on the fence with this. Luckily, it sounds like I'm in good company in that respect.

Here's my story: I participated in NaNoWriMo in 2010 and 2011. While I technically met the word requirement each time, both experiences were unfinished, rambling disasters.

The novel in 2010 ended up being a constellation of different scenes because I was having a difficult time linking the plot together—it was a new story idea that had grown by leaps and bounds in October, leaving some aspects of it very clear and others very fuzzy. Then in 2011, I decided I wouldn't plot at all and hopefully this would avoid the problems of the previous year, but then I ended up working on about six or so different stories, just going wherever my inspiration took me. It was fun and a good time for creativity, but it wasn't really NaNo. In 2012, I decided to skip NaNoWriMo because I was beginning to get the impression that it just wasn't for me.

But in spite of all my reasonable reservations, it's that time of year again and I'm feeling the familiar, wistful tug. Mostly because it brings up memories of the fellowship, fun, word wars and too many cups of spiced tea. There's this nagging prescience that it'll be just like the other two attempts, but I can't help wanting to try against my better judgement anyway.

I've had a few ideas, although they'll all hinge on whether or not I actually have time to participate. Real life has a tendency to be unpredictable and get crazy in a hurry. We'll see.

Since doing NaNo traditionally has never seemed to work very well for me, I've considered being a NaNoRebel and just working on plotting stories instead of actually writing one. . . focusing on character backstories, character profiles, plot and chapter outlines, et cetera. I've always loved the plotting stage of working on a book, and I have a bad habit of carrying around everything I know about a story idea in my head, never writing it down, and this could be a good opportunity to record some of my thoughts before I forget them. I'm thinking of aiming for 50k words for the combined plot notes of two different stories.

My main reservation about this idea, though, is that plotting a story is generally an intensely introspective process for me, and I'm not sure how well it will mesh with the social aspects of NaNo, which is frankly the part of the endeavor that I enjoy the most.

My other, more conventional idea is to do NaNoWriMo normally, and take a fledgeling story idea that's been minimally plotted and refuse to let myself make the story complicated, as I am always wont to do. My current pet plot bunny involves a sort of coming-of-age story about a teenage girl and her dysfunctional family who summer at a broken-down, little-known lake resort. . . and discover that it is riddled with unexplained paranormal phenomena. Dun dun dunnn. I've written quite a bit in the spooky/mystery genre before, but I've never really written a coming-of-age novel, so it could be a good hybrid of familiarity and challenge.

Anyway, at this point I think I'd like to participate but I don't yet know how I'll do it or if I'll be able to do it, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will work out. If y'all have any suggestions or thoughts, I'm open to them! I'll have to see what life looks like when October draws to a close before I make a final decision on whether to take the plunge or not.

Regardless of whether I end up participating or not, I definitely hope to be around with my Unofficially Official NaNoWriMo Pompoms™ to cheer everyone on.

Also, everybody's stories sound completely spankin' awesome.

[Ithilwen]

My current pet plot bunny involves a sort of coming-of-age story about a teenage girl and her dysfunctional family who summer at a broken-down, little-known lake resort. . . and discover that it is riddled with unexplained paranormal phenomena. Dun dun dunnn. I've written quite a bit in the spooky/mystery genre before, but I've never really written a coming-of-age novel, so it could be a good hybrid of familiarity and challenge.

Yes.



Yes.


This sounds amazing. I must read it. Right now. O.O

... Or after NaNo is over.

If y'all have any suggestions or thoughts, I'm open to them!

Welllll... Not sure what kinda suggestions you're looking for. But. If it's suggestions as to how to make it through the month, maybe it would help both of us if we wrote together? As you can see from my track record, I have a habit of giving up far too soon, so I was thinking writing with friends (especially my Quads) would help keep me on track. Maybe it would help you too? We could have little mini write-a-thons together. :3


~Riella