You’re ankle-deep in your NaNoWriMo novel, I’m guessing, by now.
So, this seems like a good time to ask: how goes it? It’s still early. How’s the energy? The vibe? Is it working for you? Anything not working? Be in terms of schedule, story, character, plot, theme, caffeine levels, general pantslessness, heinous fuckery, and the likes?
Give us an update. How goes NaNoWriMo for you so far?
Anything anyone can help with?
Shonnerz says:
My story sucks! It simply refuses to come together. I’m certain that herding rabid cats would be easier and more fun. I’m going to scrap it (for now) and start something new tomorrow.
November 4, 2013 — 12:05 AM
Ben Wintersteen says:
Not too shabby. trying something new… no supernatural or sci-fi stuff in this one. It is a challenge. I am up to about 8k, after a pre-reader lit a fire to create a better introduction. We will see how it goes.
My biggest issue is that it is entirely from a third-person point of view in the present tense, and I have trouble distinguishing what happens when the character thinks about the past while in the present. But that’s just grammar 😉
November 4, 2013 — 12:06 AM
doverwhitecliff says:
On par with six thousandish words, but oy…I have discovered that I am so not a pantser and my outline is woefully inadequate. Going to have to beef it up or end up down a rabbit hole with an angry ferret-badger with hungry fangs… Sigh.
November 4, 2013 — 12:06 AM
Ian Rose says:
Pretty well, so far. Starting on a Friday was a bit rough, because I always write more on weekdays (when I have a metric shit-ton of other things, but each on a schedule with known breaks between) than on weekends, where commitments are fewer but the time between them less solid. Still, I wrote 5200 words over the last three days, which is more than I would have if I wasn’t competing with friends and pushing for a 60-75k month. I also had an idea I really like for a separate story today and wrote it down and filed it for later. I will finish my shit. I will. Finish. My. Shit.
November 4, 2013 — 12:07 AM
darksilvertree says:
The first chapter went good, because I had everything planned out. Now I can’t seem to put together fluff sentences just for word count. But I’m still excited about the idea and I’m trying not to focus too much on the fact that I have a lot of catching up to do.
November 4, 2013 — 12:14 AM
Michala Tyann says:
I’m being entertained for sure. I had a character who wasn’t on my outline pop up in today’s writing and I instantly fell in love. Then as I was developing their storyline realized that they are going to die…why do the best ones always have to die. 🙂 I’ve decided I need a Chuck Wendig action figure because everything Wendig inspires me to write more fervently. 🙂
November 4, 2013 — 12:15 AM
agirlwhowrites says:
I second the Chuck Wendig action figure motion. I’ll take 5.
November 4, 2013 — 12:22 AM
Bill says:
Right now I’m ahead, by two and a half days. I’m feeling really good about it. Almost 3k a day so far. The words are flowing easy this time because I’m using an outline. It’s extremely helpful to know what comes next, and also what the end will be.
November 4, 2013 — 12:26 AM
Kathleen S. Allen says:
Ah. Yes. I did my usual “I’ll start this story.” No, wait. This one. Oh, I guess I’ll go back to the first idea. Hence, I am behind on my word count.
November 4, 2013 — 12:31 AM
Lene L. says:
I’m 2500 words in and don’t know where to enter the word progress as I see other people doing, not very computer savvy…. help!
November 4, 2013 — 12:41 AM
Megan Linden says:
When you’re logged in on the NaNo site, at the top of the page you can see “Update Word Count” (next to your mailbox, Help and Search) – click on that and enter whatever number you have by now. And then you just update it as often as you want (they encourage you to do it daily).
November 4, 2013 — 7:09 AM
Lisa says:
You just click ‘Update Word Count’ and enter the number. It’s on the white bar at the top right, next to you username and the little envelope symbol! 🙂
(Or you can go to ‘My NaNoWriMo’ and select ‘Check Word Count’ and then copy you whole story into the window and it will count your words and then update your progress.)
November 4, 2013 — 7:53 AM
Leah D says:
The “Word Count Update” box doesn’t appear until you “create a novel”, that is: give it a name/working title and a synopsis under the section “my novels”. After you’ve done that you have the Update box right at the top of the page next to your name. Hope that solves your problem. Good luck! 🙂
November 4, 2013 — 8:10 AM
Lene L. says:
This did it. Thanks!!! And thanks to all the other people as well for giving me a hand!
November 4, 2013 — 10:31 PM
Jesse says:
Go to ‘My Nanowrimo’ and then from the drop down menu pick ‘Check Word Count’ then copy and paste your novel into the box that pops up
November 4, 2013 — 9:03 AM
Erica Cosminsky says:
I do have a question and no idea where to ask it. This is my second NaNo (I failed last November badly and I am not working on that same book this year.) I have also done two camp NaNos and I have 37,619 words already written. When going into this challenge, how do I keep an accurate word count? (I’m not always the most linear writer. I have my novel broken into four separate documents right now so I can pick up at different points in the story line.) It would be easy to write 20,000 words and cheat with the validation but I am really determined to actually finish this novel.
November 4, 2013 — 12:43 AM
1WriteWay says:
I had the issue in the July camp when I realized I really needed to finish one novel in order to continue with the other. I would write in the separate documents and then copy and paste what I had written into a new document. It’s the new document that I used for word validation. It doesn’t matter if the document doesn’t make any sense (mine certainly didn’t); the NaNo word validation tool only checks for word count, not content. Hope this helps 🙂
November 4, 2013 — 7:35 AM
F. A. Real H. says:
Thanks for asking! I’ve just discovered that I can’t write a fucking novel straight (meaning, in this case, from beginning to end) and that the only way I can make it work is by outlining and then writing the story in the following ungodly order: Act III => Act II.2 => Act II.1
I know: I’m screwed 😛
November 4, 2013 — 12:56 AM
1WriteWay says:
No, you’re not screwed. I’ve met a few other NaNo writers (including myself) who have written the novel “out of order.” For me, it’s always about just keeping writing, so if what’s at the forefront of my mine is the last scene, then I write that scene and then go back to the beginning, or wherever I had left off. You write your novel however you need to. It doesn’t have to be linear 🙂
November 4, 2013 — 7:38 AM
caitlin says:
It’s going well so far. I’m at 13.5 k and know pretty well where my story is going but it’s taken longer to get to introducing my new characters than I thought. Probably after 15k or so. Am enjoying it. Have been tempted to write more than 3k a day but I don’t wanna burn myself out…don’t wanna jinx it, but it’s my bestNano start ever!
November 4, 2013 — 12:59 AM
Jessica says:
I am pretty excited, actually. My story seems to be falling in place, and I’m aiming to hit 10k before bed tonight (California time). I’m so, -so- glad I decided to buckle down and do it this year.
November 4, 2013 — 1:05 AM
Cass says:
Appalling. No writing happening in this household.Toddler decided to bring home one of those crazy daycare zombie viruses and I am currently blobbing from the bed to the lounge in a puddle of my own goop. Brain function at an all time low and I smell like a combination of honey, lemon, eucalyptus and oddly wet cat. Might be koala flu or heaven forbid wombat flu!
November 4, 2013 — 1:14 AM
Chelsea (@ChelseaisIRL) says:
I fell behind (already! i know!) for a moment there, but I just caught up. now to try for some sort of lead. 🙂
November 4, 2013 — 1:33 AM
Sparky says:
I’m a bit of a mixed case. On the one hand the story I started with, the one I had plotted out and done so much research for, was going nowhere. Every word was like pulling a tooth. The world flat, the characters little more than cutouts. So I quit. The story is clearly not ready for prime time and no one is paying me for this so I can leave it to mature a bit more in my head.
But I wasn’t quitting NaNo. Oh no. Now bereft of an outline or plan I plunged ahead, writing a sequel to last year’s urban fantasy. And this is going smoothly. Trouble may come down the road, but for now I am just over 5k and the words are coming, if not always easily then at least with regularity.
November 4, 2013 — 2:06 AM
Emery McCulley says:
Trying to push myself to write more, but also editing some other work so it slows the process. Sticking to my outline with hopes of getting a chapter done every day or so, though some are longer than others. Have just under 12K words so far. (Have no website yet)
November 4, 2013 — 2:08 AM
caszbrewster says:
I’m behind on word count; but, that happens to me every year and then I have a couple of 5k or 10k days and wa-la, I’m back on track. My novel is an unreliable 1st person POV and I’ve discovered a few tricks on how to thread in a way to explain what’s going on outside of the mentally ill protagonists head, which delighted me. Also, painful to write because I have to take breaks because it feels too easy to write crazy talk. After the break, I’m reading things like Breakfast of Champions, Hunter S. Thompson, and a few choice others to get me back into “crazy viewpoint.” Then I’m adding words, plot bunnies, and I’m another 1,000 words ahead.
November 4, 2013 — 2:10 AM
Charlotte #AmWriting (@literary_lottie) says:
I’m cautiously optimistic: I wrote 6000 words in the first two days thanks to participating in writing sprints on Twitter, and now I have a nice buffer in place in case I have a day or two where the words just aren’t coming. I’ve also made the pleasant discovery that, so long as I know where I want a certain scene to end up so I can write towards that goal, I can easily get down about a 1000 words per hour. I’ve gotten some really good lines in as well, though I already know at least one scene will have to end up on the cutting room floor as it doesn’t really accomplish anything other than introducing the reader to two characters.
I’m less optimistic about how my story is coming together. I have a tendency to get the plot ball rolling really slowly, so I turbo-boosted a shocking plot development to happen very early on, but as a result I don’t think it has the emotional impact it’s supposed to. I need to figure out a way to make readers *care* about my MC who just got almost beaten to death, even though he’s only been in one scene (the one I’ll probably have to scrap) prior to said beating. And THEN there’s the fact that my MC might not actually BE my MC, given the fact that he’s actually in a coma for most of the story…yeah, I didn’t think that one through. I really like him? He’s easily the most developed character? But he’s probably going to be functioning more as the narrator than anything else. (Or…I guess I could have him NOT be in a coma, and just not remember who attacked him….holy SHIT I THINK I JUST FIGURED IT OUT I HAVE TO GO WRITE NOW.)
November 4, 2013 — 2:34 AM
Lee says:
I’m meeting my daily word count goal while trying a new NaNo approach – less planning, more pantsing. I have a solid concept with an evolving protagonist, and my understanding of the story arc is growing, but I haven’t outlined ad nauseum. Although I “won” NaNo in 2011 with outlines, sketches, and beat sheets (oh my!), my process (and subsequently my writing) felt stale and I wanted to shake things up a bit. So, I’ve decided that my NaNo draft is my “zero” draft, and I suspect I will outline AFTER I get the words out. We’ll see how it goes, but for now, it’s going!
November 4, 2013 — 2:45 AM
Fatma Alici says:
Overall things seem to moving along smoothly. For some strange reason I decided to write an Urban Fantasy in a city I’ve never been too. Kind of assbackwards thinking there. At 11,000 and some words the characters are doing fine, the plot is moving at a good pace.
In love with a random character who appeared. And, had an even better idea for a minor one. Hopefully, neither will need to be cut later.
November 4, 2013 — 3:49 AM
Leah D says:
I’m writing a fantasy/adventure and I’ve never even been to the country where the story takes place! So I just made up a city, gave it a kick-ass name, and now I can do whatever I want with it. That solved a lot of problems and cuts down on the research. More time for writing. 🙂 I think loving your characters are a great way to keep writing. Good luck!
November 4, 2013 — 8:23 AM
Fatma Alici says:
I’m hoping the fact it is alternate universe Seattle will save me. Or I might chance the city later on. I figure I can worry about that stuff later.
November 4, 2013 — 5:46 PM
Jamie Briggs says:
This is my third NaNoWriMo, and I honestly have never finished a single one. I always say I will but always end up weeping on my couch and watching Dawson’s Creek reruns. I’m at a little over 5k right now and I can’t be certain as to whether I should keep pantsing it or write a bit of an outline. It’s definitely getting a little harder to write when I have no idea where I’m going. Any input? Should I keep plugging away or should I take a breather and outline some shit?
November 4, 2013 — 4:01 AM
Rebecca Douglass says:
Well, I’m normally a pantser, and this is my first NaNo. . . But I outlined modestly for this one (because it’s a mystery and pantsing a mystery makes for an editing nightmare and don’t ask me how I know that!), and it really does seem to be helping so far (nearly 8000 words of so far). Give it a try, even if it’s just to write down where you start, where you want it to end up, and a few key points along the way. Think of the outline as writing prompts. I’ll bet it will be worth taking a day or so to do it.
November 4, 2013 — 10:26 AM
Cindy says:
After a couple of years of tanking early, I feel like I can make it this time around. I’m at almost 7k, and its all holding together fine so far. Am going to my very first (after 10 years of doing this crazy November writing thing) write-in tonight. So excited!
November 4, 2013 — 4:47 AM
Dave Higgins says:
I am having great difficulty not participating.
Each year I like to start the year with an experiment in new writing technique. As I ended last year with more unfinished projects than I started, this year’s tweak was to only have no more than one novel and one short story at first draft stage at any one time. It has been great for getting things finished, so I chose to go the full year.
But part of my brain keeps whispering that I could park everything this month and do NaNo.
November 4, 2013 — 5:18 AM
abuzzinid says:
Was pumped, felt great–hit wall of dread. Thank god for the outline (first time not pantsing). 2449 the first day, now struggling to keep focus.
Being the passenger in a car today for ten hours with random talk radio or 70’s music playing made it a little hard to concentrate on vicious death scenes and carnage. But in my world, the driver picks the station…and changes the station every time I get comfortable with it.
I’m 6668 words in and feeling good. Or is that exhaustion setting in?
Keep up the cheer-leading, Chuck.
November 4, 2013 — 5:29 AM
James says:
The story is sound. The outline is as solid as something written on paper can be. My primary hindrance, sadly, has been outside issues. You know the phrase “when it rains, it pours?” Well, I am soaked down to my Dark Knight underoos with “life.”
Luckily I’ll be making it all up this week.
November 4, 2013 — 5:37 AM
Michelle Hunt says:
This is my first time, and I’m happy to say that at the beginning of Day 4, I’m doing OK. It’s not as hard as I dreaded. Of course, my writing sucks and I have no idea what I’m doing, but my outline is holding and I feel OK. Of course, I binged and tried to get a lot of words done over the weekend because my work life is crazy busy these days, so I’m nervous about what’s going to happen this week.
Good luck to everyone else! I hope you finding time to write works out for you!
November 4, 2013 — 5:59 AM
Ria (Bibliotropic) says:
Well, after a false start on the first day (though I’m still counting those words even if I won’t use them, because dammit, I wrote them!), things are going pretty well. I managed almost 5000 words one day, but the other days seem to average at about 2000.
I’m lucky that I can write at work, between phone calls. Doing that usually lets me get between 3000-4000 words done over the course of a shift, so even if they aren’t the best words I’ve ever written, at least they’re words and I can go back and polish and edit everything later. So, still chugging along!
November 4, 2013 — 6:45 AM
Nina Niskanen says:
I spent the first three days at Wolrd Fantasy Convention and now I’m down with a cold so I’m only at 5000 words today when I had planned to be at at least 8000 to form a buffer for the later weeks.
November 4, 2013 — 6:46 AM
tishpiper says:
My first time and it’s a slow start. My story is non-fiction and got bogged down reading some research. But still plodding along. Thanks for asking and good luck all!
November 4, 2013 — 6:47 AM
Ross Warren says:
3000 words behind, but have a complete framework planned out and starting to flow now.
November 4, 2013 — 6:51 AM
Andrew F. Butters says:
My loose outline was promptly jettisoned by the bottom of page 5. I now have a prologue that is rapidly becoming 25% of a novel that will be 80% gutted on first edit. It’s possible that I’ll win NaNo by mid November and then continue to blather words onto the page until Groundhog Day and then spend the rest of 2014 figuring out what the hell to do about it.
November 4, 2013 — 6:53 AM
Nick Bryan (@NickMB) says:
Got really into my story and started feeling the characters’ feelings on Saturday. Made my way past a tricky plot obstacle and was feeling good. Yesterday felt a lot like just pounding out from a distance. I’m hoping today will tilt things back the right way.
Word count going good though. Thanks for the NaNo dialogues posts, they help me but I’m not sure why.
November 4, 2013 — 6:55 AM
Pete says:
Apparently I’m not doing NaNoWriMo this year. Again. My participation has been a little spotty the last few years, but I have a project I do want to tackle; so far, though, I haven’t felt the slightest urge to attempt it. Other stuff to do, I guess… 🙂
November 4, 2013 — 7:01 AM
kaytee says:
This morning I did it even though I wasn’t feeling it, so I’m still on schedule. I’m happy with that.
November 4, 2013 — 7:03 AM
Nathan Hall says:
Feeling pretty good so far, I’ve stayed on task using music + coffitivity, which simulates the background noise of a coffee shop, library, etc (what, you expect me to go out in PUBLIC to get those things?). Found that doing 15 minute sprints are very productive with 5-10 minute breaks in between for reading what I’ve just written.
One looming-on-the-horizon monster for me: I’m going to need to work more on the outline to prevent me from sitting at the keyboard trying not to succumb to endless waves of anxiety.
November 4, 2013 — 7:07 AM
Katy Mann says:
The “big” novel isn’t turning out to have enough meat on its bones, but I’ve come up with two other ideas that I’ll be putting on paper. I’ve already written something that I’ve been meaning to write for a long time. So it’s been great, though not in the way of churning out a novel. As several of the folks above said, this experience should help with getting a longer work out next time around.
I’ve gone to several local events (two before 11/1) already, and I have three write-ins that I plan to attend each week. They really help. Somehow being in a room with a bunch of fellow Word Nerds, and hearing someone say, “Write for 40 minutes. Ready, Go!” really gets the old juices flowing.
Thanks for asking.
We had a 9 year old with us yesterday. His month’s goal is/was 5,000 words, and yesterday he passed 3,000.
November 4, 2013 — 7:09 AM
Megan Linden says:
It’s going. I’m behind, but I knew I was going to be, since my best friend was visiting for the long weekend. I wish it was going more smoothly, but I think I need to just get into the flow of the story and it will be okay.
And how’s your novel going?
November 4, 2013 — 7:17 AM
Misa Buckley says:
I’m working on two projects, both roughly outlined, and… am getting nowhere fast.
Going to BTFO though.
November 4, 2013 — 7:25 AM
Dan Schwent says:
Word wise, I’m doing great at 9900. The story is going good but I don’t know if it has enough juice to make it much past 50k. I was hoping to make it to 80k.
November 4, 2013 — 7:26 AM
Kastil says:
I’m on target, stopping at a little above 6400 words yesterday. My goal is the 1667 each day and if I go over, even better. It’s too early to know if the words will still flow easy once I get to the 25k mark. That’s usually when I go into full blown panic mode. However, my stress levels are low this year so maybe not.
I think if my character wasn’t so interesting to get into to write his story, then I’d be in trouble. I even went to a local write-in at the library. I was pleased that they didn’t do this thing called ‘socializing’ other than to introduce ourselves and how far we traveled.
The greatest thing is I’m working during commercials when I’m watching hockey win games or my football team thoroughly getting bitch slapped on the field. Plus there’s that addictive Assassin’s Creed game. Ubisoft is always tempting me to fail … and why do the edits come from the publisher in November too? I’ve got this. I’m not failing this year. I’ve failed twice since 2007. One because my laptop died and the other due to extreme stress. No more. I enjoy my extra spending money too much to stop now.
November 4, 2013 — 7:35 AM
Jen Donohue says:
I’m at almost 9k, so pretty happy with that, and that’s on what we’ll call my “main” project.
I also have a secondary project going on, not because I’m crazy but because I don’t want to lose the idea/words. I’m not counting that, just writing when I want.
November 4, 2013 — 7:35 AM
leifthesailor says:
I’ve gotten drunk every night since this started and managed to bang out 9000 words of coherent story. Imagine what I could do sober. I guess I finally hit the 10,000 hours of writing point. Every story you write really does get easier to write so hang in there everyone. Keep up the good work.
November 4, 2013 — 7:35 AM
Bryan says:
How do paragraphs work?
Sincerely,
Bryan
November 4, 2013 — 7:36 AM
Rebecca Douglass says:
Hit “enter”
Anyone else decided that thinking about chapters is just too much and plowing straight on?
November 4, 2013 — 10:31 AM
furrama says:
I don’t like thinking in chapters, I just break up POV shifts and scene changes with double spaces.
November 5, 2013 — 1:24 AM
1WriteWay says:
This is my fourth November NaNo (I’ve also done two camps) and, finally, I’m starting off strong. I have 10,545 words as of this writing, a nice bump over my quota. Course I’m writing out of sequence, some of my blog posts are showing up in my novel, but I’m writing and that’s all I care about right now. Thanks for asking and good luck to everyone!
November 4, 2013 — 7:40 AM
jenphalian says:
This is my first year trying and my first effort to write, and I think it is going well so far. Averaging 3k/day by gamifying word count — scrivener has project goals with progress bars that change color, so every 1k, I gain a level and get cool equipment and bonuses. Thinking of nano in terms of grinding levels instead of writing a novel helps immeasurably.
I wrote a considerable number of notes on characters, setting, and worldbuilding bits ahead of time, and I’ve been thinking about this story for months and months. Everything has started out decently, except for the concept of chapters. I’m just writing along with no clue how those work in terms of length or shape. That’s okay, though, because the most important thing I’ve learned is that I can rewrite after the first draft’s done.
This is a mother-beautiful novel. I’ve had nothing but good thoughts about this novel all month.
November 4, 2013 — 7:42 AM
jacksonkaos says:
I’m having a rough tmie of it. Mostly I think that it’s my schedule. I love the idea behind my steampunk fantasy novel, but by the time I get a chance to write, it’s already 8 or 9 at night, the kids are finally just starting to quiet down in bed, I’m tired and Video Game Addiction rears its fearsome head.
I need to recalibrate something, but I’m not sure what.
November 4, 2013 — 7:59 AM
Rebecca Douglass says:
I sympathize. I don’t do well at night either. Can you get up a half hour earlier and write a few hundred words before breakfast? Maybe that would give more momentum to write in the evening.
November 4, 2013 — 10:34 AM
Ruth says:
This year I created a 12-page chapter outline first. I love it. Everything else about my story is horrible, but at least it’s got a decent plot, the pace is tolerable, and reaching my wordcount goals is easy.
November 4, 2013 — 8:03 AM
Aden says:
Short answer: it goes. I’m not on fire about the whole thing at the moment.(That could also be because it’s too early in the morning and there has been no coffee achieved) I’m very happy with the change of plot my brain decided on at 7pm on Friday. I now love what I am working on. I’ve only had thoughts of regret about hand writing this twice, I say that’s pretty good. My goal was to lay a good foundation down so that the start of this week would not be so daunting…yeah.
Am I on target and caught up? Nope, probably about 1200 words behind but that is okay. Still plenty of month left. Now I start this week with the challenge of working this Nano thing in to my work schedule. This may be the first year where that won’t be a major problem.
November 4, 2013 — 8:07 AM