NaNoWriMo '10 - Stats Up!

[Gymfan15]

NaNoWriMo

Ok, so it's October. But A: the official NaNo site just relaunched for the year, and B:, it's NEVER too early to start geeking/freaking out about the yearly Month Of Madness, so I figured, why not start the thread now and get everyone psyched up about it early? Failure to plan is a plan to failure!

If you've never done or heard about NaNoWriMo before, it can really only be described as a month of sheer writing madness. About 12 or so years ago, someone thought it would be fun to challenge folks to writing a novel of 50,000 words or more during the month of November. The idea was that a lot of people want to write a novel, but they lack time and motivation to do so. So why not give them both, plus a killer deadline? Since then, the idea has just spun off into this huge international phenomenon that gathers hundreds of thousands of writers together for a month of amazing community and support, and each year sees thousands of writers experience the joy that can only come by seeing your very first novel completed.

This will be my third NaNo, and I have to say, each year it gets harder to describe. It's the month you love to hate and hate to love. The beginning, and the end (if you win) can be really euphoric; the most amazing kind of achievement and satisfaction that makes every bit of blood, sweat and tears worth it. But let's not kid anyone; this is WORK. Really really hard work. Many people attempt it, a significant portion never finish. While 50k is considered on the low end for most mainstream novels, it's still a TON of words, and churning out all those words in one month while also balancing life can be VERY challenging.

But the redeeming factor is that you're not doing it alone; there's hundreds of writers to commiserate with and yes, to rejoice with when the blessed day of December 1st finally comes. My theory has always been, if I insist on putting myself through this crazy ordeal, at least I can try and rope as many people as I can to come in and do it with me, so I have plenty of people to moan and groan with.

Last year, NarniaWeb had a VERY impressive showing at NaNo, and I think we had more members participate than we did any other year. We also had an amazing success rate; I believe it was about at 67%. That's REALLY impressive, y'all. I had the most amazing time cheering everyone on last year, and I can't wait to do it again.

If you'd like to read through the Narniaweb NaNo thread from last year, you can find that here. And if you're interested in seeing NWeb's achievement stats, I posted about them here.

I guess I don't have to feel so bad about starting this thread so early, since apparently last year I started it on October 3rd.

Anyway, here's to an amazing month of writing! This year is shaping up to be really amazing; what with new updates to the official NaNoWriMo site, plus a stellar line-up of pep talks (Lemony Snicket is going to give a pep talk this year?!?!? THAT IS A MILLION SHADES OF AWESOME!!!) I can't wait to hear from everyone who has participated in the past, those who plan on participating this year, and especially from our new writers. It will be a month you'll never forget, I promise.

NaNoWriMo, here we come!

[Aslanisthebest]

Oooooh! I've been waiting for this thread since August!

This year I'm actually going to do real planning, possibly an outline, have my facts ready.

'twill be my second year doing it, and perhaps I might actually write a full-length novel instead of just two or three short stories. I'm very psyched for it this year as I really want to pull through, defeat writer's block, and challenge myself in writing a novel. Hurrah for NaNo! *throws hat in the air*

[Arwenel]

This will be my fourth year of NaNoWriMo, and this year i intend to do a bunch of shorter stories instead of one big novel. I have a few ideas jotted down, but now that it's October i suppose i ought to be doing some more work on it.

My first year, my goal was simply to get 50,000 words. The second year, i tried to finish the story i started, but that didn't work out. Last year, i finished one of the two stories i worked on, but i hated the premise, so ... This year, i want to start focusing on writing stuff that maybe i might publish some day. Not that i think that anything i happen to finish this month will be worth publishing, but i want to start thinking that way.

My profile on the NaNoWriMo site is here.

[narnian_at_heart]

I started half way through November last year and got a miserable maybe 1000 words.

This year, I'm going to try it and amazingly, I was driving around today and thinking about John Grisham and my own circumstances right now and got an amazing idea for a novel! So I now what I'm going to write about it!

YAY!!

[malkah]

Hurrah!! *cheers for NaNo '10!*

Last year was my first year doing NaNo, and I had such a fantastic time with word wars, staying up late, and cheering all the other NWebbers on through this crazy, wonderful month! I did reach 50K, which was a lovely feeling, but I didn't finish my novel, mostly due to a lack of any coherent planning or plot.

So this year, I am plotting ahead of time and hopefully, having a finished novel on November 31. And I'm getting really excited about my story idea this year, so I can't wait to jump in!

This is going to be one fun November...

Oh, and for anyone who'd like to be buddies (and isn't already), I'm silver_fire on the NaNo site.

[narnian_at_heart]

And I'm JulieSu on there.

[Mar In Narnia]

NaNoWriMo is almost here! I'm so excited, althought I have a LOT of planning and ploting to do before November 1st. As Gymfan said it's a lot of work, but it's also a lot of fun! So, I encourage everybody to try it!

Can't wait for it to start!

[Gymfan15]

I've gone ahead and started a thread for NWebbers on the NaNo site; you can see it here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3702615 It would be great if everyone who plans to participate could post there, so I can easily "buddy" everyone!

[FencerforJesus]

I would love to do Nano this year, but there is absolutely no way I can fit it into my schedule. This year is my senior graduation year and the instructor for the computer science equivalent of a senior project declared us to be insane or stupid to attempt to work or take any other classes during his class. I'm taking three other classes so that alone has me busy to where I don't have time to start another project. Besides any writing project I do attempt during the rest of this semester is (IMO right now) far more important than NaNO: getting publishing. I expect to be hearing from Lighthouse any time with an editor, confirmation of contract (which I sent in at the beginning of the week) and be on the way to seeing my book in print.

That being said, all you others attempting the insane I have three words of advice: GO FOR IT!!!!! I have succeeded in doing the challenge (50k+ in 30 days), even if it wasn't officially with Nano, so I know what it is like. It is doable, even during school. Have a great time, get those creative juices flowing, and PRAY against any form of Writer's Block or Writer's Burn-out. It's going to be a blast as you isolate yourselves from the rest of the world and write, write, write.

[Liberty Hoffman]

hmmm, I might try this.....I got an idea for a story from a dream I had lol

[stardf29]

I'll be doing NaNo this year. However, for various reasons, I won't be talking about what I'm writing anywhere on public forums. Those interested can PM me and if I feel comfortable telling you about it, I will.

[stargazer]

I think my first exposure to NaNo was from its fans here on NarniaWeb, but last year was the first time I actually participated. I went in with a definite plot in mind, but didn't get to 50k in November (though it was over 72k when finally finished). With Thanksgiving visits to relatives and preparations for Christmas, November just isn't quite the best month for me to try this. [/excuse]

But I'm going to give it another shot this year - even if I don't 'win' I enjoy the experience and it gives me another month to explore and expand the universe of my Ditto Story characters a little more. Just lately my muse slapped me with another plot idea for this year; I'm planning on running with it even though it doesn't grab me like last year's did.

And I'd echo the advice of others here: go for it, even if you're uncertain about plots or characters or even whether you'll be able to finish. NaNo isn't about a finely-polished work - at least not at first - but more about the writing itself. The editing and polishing can come later.

[Queen Susan]

I've been waiting for this thread since August!

Haha, same here! I checked last year's thread to see when I should expect this year's...

I'm planning on participating this year again. I'm not super happy about last year's results... But oh well. This year I aim to do better. I don't have a really clear idea yet. Just a few different, vague ideas. But it's better then having NONE. Who knows, we'll see how it goes. A LOT has happened in MY life during the past year... So I think the past year will affect my writing greatly. We'll see how it goes.

[Meltintalle]

This will be my third year doing NaNoWriMo.

Each year, I've done a little bit better job preparing than the year before, but unless I try a re-write from scratch of last years novel (which I am considering) I don't have a plan for this year yet.

Ideas, yes, but no plan. So if anyone has ideas on how to plan plans, that'd be cool.

[Nioniel]

I'm so excited for NaNo this year! I've currently got a FULL gr 12 courseload so I have no idea how I'm going to manage, but I'm going to try all the same. This will be my third year.

The last two years I somehow won, though the first year I was planning a surprise birthday party for my mom and last year I turned 16 and was planning my birthday party. My birthday's on the last day on the month so that's always a bit hard. Last year I was really busy all month and managed to get to November 30th with 10,000 words left... and then went shopping with some friends for my birthday and only validated my novel with two minutes to spare. That was fuuun. And both years I started out with NO idea what I was doing. November 1st came up and I just started writing and both years whatever came out somehow developed into a story. My first was about a prince, tea, crazy monkeys, street urchins, aliens and time travelling, and my second novel was about a princess, ninjas, assassins, pirates, and slaves. This year I want ninjas, assassins, and street urchins.

I think I'm Nioniel on the NaNo site.

[sweeetlilgurlie]

I have absolutely no idea what I'm writing this year. At all.

I have ideas--one is a murky Thumbelina retelling and the other is one I just thought of about a girl who finds clues to her past in old fairytales, but who knows? I'm blank.

I was considering writing an audio drama of one of my favorite novels--rebelling and all that. Sheesh, I should look at my idea notebook.....

I'm really busy this fall, though. I have to get some writing stuff together to send to colleges by late november. So perhaps NaNo will just be a sideproject this year and the main goal will be writing every day to finish my portfolio.

GOOD HEAVENS! A peptalk by Lemony Snicket?!?!? I have to read it! I must write so he is peptalking to me! Lemony Snicket! He's the greatest of EVER!