So, those of you doing NaNoWriMo — how’s it going? Still in? Not in any longer? What’s the scoop? Is there anything anyone here can help you with to get you past this last week’s worth of feverish squirrel-bitten wordsmithy? Also, feel free to take a favorite sentence or even a paragraph from your work and drop it into the comments below.
Swing into the comments space and talk it out.
Ask questions.
Yell at the clouds.
Drop some mad rhymes.
I mean, if you have mad rhymes to drop.
With one week to go, how flows the NaNoWriMo?
SEE? MAD RHYMES.
Let this be a community sounding wall.
Joan Koehler says:
I hate my plot, hate my characters, and have decided that I have no talent at all. So I guess everything’s about normal. @9K more words to go and I’m done.
November 24, 2014 — 8:19 AM
Jenn Collins (@JennyKnox13) says:
Sounds about right for this time of November.
November 24, 2014 — 9:41 AM
addy95 says:
hey you can always kill them 🙂
November 24, 2014 — 10:20 AM
Matt Black says:
That’s gotta be one of my favorite parts of writing. I can just say “SHUT THE F%@# UP JIMMY” and then have a robot dinosaur eat his head. So satisfying.
November 24, 2014 — 2:11 PM
ChelseaIRL says:
I’m usually in the same boat, but this year, I just feel like I’m taking too long to get to the middle. I may never finish this book, trapped writing character building scenes forever.
November 24, 2014 — 10:27 AM
leedunning says:
I think I’m too far from the finish to get to the 50,000 word mark – I just broke 30,000. Some of what I’ve written pretty decent, a lot of it needs major surgery, and some needs to be lopped off entirely. I did end up killing off a character that I hadn’t planned on. I think I’ll keep her dead – she adds more to the story that way.
November 24, 2014 — 10:37 AM
mccicc says:
Lee, can you write about 2,800 every day until Nov. 30? If you can, then you’ll finish. Don’t forget that character development/sketches, dreams, background, flashbacks and, my personal favorite, the Traveling Shovel of Death are all valid word-padding techniques. What I’ve found is these whimsical techniques added under word-count pressure have added some really interesting scenes and ideas to my book. Sometimes more IS more when doing a first draft.
November 24, 2014 — 11:11 AM
Elisabeth Kauffman says:
Totally. It doesn’t have to be pretty, it just has to be written, yeah? So throw in everything AND the kitchen sink and then see what comes out after editing 😉
November 24, 2014 — 12:16 PM
Kristin says:
Oh hun don’t worry you are far further than I at not even 15K yet and I’m still plugging even though I’m ready to jump off a big cliff.
November 24, 2014 — 12:18 PM
Elisabeth Kauffman says:
Oh man I am so with you…so I think I’m just going to throw in something totally unexpected now, because hey…it can’t get any worse! And probably if it gets weirder it’ll get better! Ha!
November 24, 2014 — 11:07 AM
mccicc says:
Elisabeth, you said it!
November 24, 2014 — 11:12 AM
mccicc says:
Joan, I’m with ya. But, I’m determined. I think I’ve just been “scared” to make the story bolder and nastier and more complex than it is. I hope to really throw in some curve balls in the next week of writing.
November 24, 2014 — 11:13 AM
dhsayers says:
There had to be reason you sat down to write. What was that reason? Hold on to it, and don’t let one failure be the reason you give up. I think Thomas Jefferson is constantly quoted as having said “I am a great believer in luck, the harder I work, the luckier I get.” Writing is hard-goddamn-work. Keep working 🙂
November 24, 2014 — 5:36 PM
tracikenworth says:
I dropped out early (after 3 days) but still managed to finish my first draft yesterday. It’s horrible: warts and all, but it’s a start. That’s more than I had before. Now to let it rest before attempting to pull into some semblance of decency.
November 24, 2014 — 8:20 AM
KVeldman says:
Still alive, still kicking. I didn’t start until the 14th, so I’m a little behind at only 19,000 words, but I was busy damnit. Anyway here’s a paragraph from chapter 5 of my current Urban Fantasy-ish NaNovel:
I wake up the next morning on the couch. My whole body is sore, presumably from getting the shit kicked out of me by whack-job cultists. I take a minute to get my situation straight in my head. I’m stuck in some little town in Indiana which, as far as I’ve seen, is an apartment building and a Wal-Mart. I have no car, limited money, some sweaters, some tighty-whities, and a headache. I have a shitty apartment where I can sleep, and there may or may not be a monster attack happening sometime soon. Excellent.
It’s a little on the nose but it’s a good example of the the voice and sort of tells you what’s going on.
P.S. 19,000 words is a record for me. **Fist pump**
November 24, 2014 — 8:22 AM
ffflip2014 says:
I’m in awe of you, I haven’t
even tried to read mine since I finished. I’m exhausted.
November 24, 2014 — 10:25 AM
milkaholicclown says:
Way to make your record, K! Your paragraph piqued my interest, keep going!
November 24, 2014 — 10:27 AM
KVeldman says:
Thanks M, I’ll send you a copy when it’s done 🙂
November 24, 2014 — 10:49 AM
Matthew Kane (@matthewkane) says:
As this is my first NaNoWriMo I cheated a little by adapting a first-draft screenplay that I realized could never work as a movie. So with all that to start with, I finished in 18 days. I’ve let it sit until today and then read it. It certainly has plenty of first (or second) draft issues and needs lots of rewriting. But I’m happy with the choices I’ve made, even though many of those choices are unorthodox. I’ll see if readers think those choices are fresh and exciting or too weird and alienating.
November 24, 2014 — 8:29 AM
dhsayers says:
It ain’t cheating, screw their rules 🙂 Never discount something as not being able to work as a movie… look at Twilight or 50 Shades of Grey, they seemed to have worked out just fine. If you like writing screenplays I always recommend Lew Hunter’s Screenwriting 434 great book, very informative, plain language and easy to understand.
November 24, 2014 — 5:38 PM
nmhaupt says:
I just finished taking out all the Brenda Star dialogue, something that constantly plagues me having started out a playwright. I removed all the instances of placeholder words: “as”, “just,” “while,” “because,” and other artifacts of a draft wiring quickly and with a firm grasp of the seat of the pants. Tomorrow I start the day trying to read it all in one sitting, see where my attention flags, where I get lost, where the story loses focus.
November 24, 2014 — 8:34 AM
Sylkvia McIvers says:
hey – what’s wrong with ‘as/just/while/becuase’ ? *is puzzled*
November 24, 2014 — 4:10 PM
Misa says:
Currently at 54,000 and still going.
I am going to finish this damn novel.
November 24, 2014 — 8:42 AM
melorajohnson says:
Woo hoo! You go!
November 24, 2014 — 12:47 PM
Bernice Mills (@jaggedrain) says:
I started NaNo with high hopes.
As is the way of things when I try NaNo, my month has been a disaster – three-day migraines x2, smashed hand x1, horribly ill sister x1 and generally all-sound suckiness. Oh, and Dragon Age: Inquisition came out last week. Which was less awesome than I was hoping for because apparently BioWare has forgotten how to make games for the PC now.
I’ve decided that I will be happy if I can finish the two shorts I’m writing for competitions this month.
November 24, 2014 — 8:49 AM
melorajohnson says:
Here’s a good one – I started a novel about woman who found out she was unexpectedly pregnant five years ago and then on the seventh found out I was pregnant. Yeah, I didn’t make it through that Nano. Whatever you come out with is more than you started out with. Good luck.
November 24, 2014 — 12:49 PM
MakeLifeMemorable says:
2k to go! 2k to go!
Seriously beginning to worry that it won’t end up novel length. I’ll be lucky to get to 65k I think. That’s totally a novel, right?
November 24, 2014 — 8:51 AM
melorajohnson says:
There are some fine short novels of 50,000 and I think if you get over 60,000 it jumps out of the novella range.
November 24, 2014 — 12:47 PM
Kaley says:
Behind. Still in. Will fucking do the thing!
November 24, 2014 — 8:54 AM
Annie Howland says:
NaNoNeurosis: You reach the point in your obsessive noveling where you can’t remember if you actually bathed this week, or just wrote a character that did. Same for taking out the trash and feeding the cat. Everyone around you is praying for December 1st.
November 24, 2014 — 8:58 AM
ChelseaIRL says:
Yeah, I had a moment yesterday where I realized something didn’t happen in real life, but in my novel. But at least I’m not dreaming my character’s dreams. #totallyprecedented #soweird
November 24, 2014 — 10:22 AM
melorajohnson says:
I find I’m writing in my sleep sometimes. I went to bed thinking that my main character didn’t have enough agency and her love interest was really boring me. I woke up with a scene playing in my head. He’d been shot three times and she had to save him. Amazing what can happen during NaNo.
November 24, 2014 — 12:51 PM
Beth Turnage says:
I’m behind, but closing in on adding 30,000 words to 18,000 words I had before NaNo. I had to take a couple days off from the novel to, ugh, earn some money. (Darn electric company! So greedy.) I also, um traveled halfway across country to visit my sister, thought I did tell her that I would be writing as I visited. But its been great. I struggled with breathing at the top of the rocky mountains while we swam in a hot springs pool, and we had a lovely trip to Denver airport to pick up my sister’s husband on his return from a gaming convention. If you’ve ever tried to pick up or drop off people at Denver, then you can imagine the fun we had. Other than that my single minded devotion to “getting more words in” has nearly alienated all my family, so I must be doing something right.
I’m smack dab in the middle of the story, and it’s flowing. Whether it flows the clear, fragrant streams of a mountain brook, or what goes down the sewage pipes is another story. I like it, but my taste is shit when it comes to my own stories.
One week to go. I’ve got this. I bet you guys do too!
November 24, 2014 — 8:58 AM
Scott says:
Got 4,000 words to go. To finish the NaNoWriMo, that is. The story itself, yeah, that will spool on for probably another 50,000 words AFTER I win NaNoWriMo. As is true with all first drafts, it sucks. But it’s a good start, good foundation. Can’t worry about trying to clean up all the shitty frist draft writing. That comes later. Honestly, I just want to hit the 50k mark by Thanksgiving, so I can enjoy my holiday and not think “Shit, I’m not going to hit the deadline!”
November 24, 2014 — 9:00 AM
runner says:
Still in. Newbie … well, last year’s attempt ended at 10K. Am at 43+ now. Three things I learned so far:
1. The best unpredictable surprising story happens when I’m writing, not just thinking about it.
2. Planning helps. My ‘stuck’ last year was absence of anything but the beginning and a general idea. This time I had beginning, middle, and end. anything else can fit around those.
3. Deadline and goal have helped me violate all my imaginary boundaries – can’t write after …, can’t write more than…, can’t write unless… HA! Not true. Nary a one.
Great learning experience. Very tired. Will finish.
November 24, 2014 — 9:03 AM
ChelseaIRL says:
Don’t you love discovering all those falsehoods are false? So freeing! And, in my experience, you learn something new about yourself and your writing each year. #NaNoFan
November 24, 2014 — 10:31 AM
Amy says:
My novel is 100% pantsed, and it shows. 12 k from the finish line, so a little behind, but with incentives of completion, and a three day weekend, I will hit the word count, if not the end of the story in time.
Will keep pushing until I have a mewling, newborn first draft cradled in my arms. I figure that it deserves that much from me anyhow.
Thanks for the ever present mantra in my head. WRITERS WRITE! It helps on the slow days, and this has been one hell of a ride that I wouldn’t miss for the world, so thanks for being so very inspiring in that terrifying sort of way. 😉
November 24, 2014 — 9:16 AM
Scarlett Kol says:
12,451 words left. Like Joan above I’m hating everything, but that has to do with a last minute plot twist that ended up messing with everything else.
Would be further along but I don’t Nano on weekends so I can edit another project. Half the time I don’t know if I’m trying to increase my word count or decrease it 🙂
November 24, 2014 — 9:21 AM
Peg says:
I typically heavily outline for NaNo, but I realized my first choice was not going to work- I had not researched nearly enough for a story that was to take place in the 1870s, so I switched stories and pantsed it after day 3.
I’m not at all happy with what I’ve written- started as a paranormal YA and is now an espionage thriller or something. But I’m still going to finish the 50k and set it aside for a while and see if I can salvage something out of it later.
My CampNaNo from July though is good. I like it and as soon as I finish this one, I’m going to work on editing that. This will be my 5th novel in a year and of those 5, I have one that I think is publishable, but I’ve had a blast writing them all- until now. This feels like work.
Lesson learned: be ready. Outline. Don’t try to research too much as you’re writing, it bogs down everything.
November 24, 2014 — 9:22 AM
KVeldman says:
Wow, congrats everyone, sounds like you are all getting pretty close. Well done!
November 24, 2014 — 9:22 AM
Firebabe5150 says:
So this is my first NaNoWriMo, and I started out without any particular expectations. Got off to a reasonable start, wobbled around during the second week, then hit my stride hard in the third week and have been doing a steady 2000+ words a day average ever since. I’ll definitely have 50K words by the end of the month, but this story is going to take a lot more than that to tell. My characters are relentless and will not leave me alone. I’m like “Guys — bathroom! Food!” They laugh and make me write two more pages before I can have a twinkie.
She shrugged. “Never been a big fan of love poems. Or, as a colleague of mine once called them, ‘a bunch o’ fluff and twaddle.’ He was Scottish, which explains a lot. They’re a practical people, the Scotts. Not got a lot of time for comparing women to stars, and flowers, and sunrises, and whatnot.”
November 24, 2014 — 9:33 AM
SCBowling says:
42,444 words so far mostly bad writing I’m sure…not allowing myself to read it yet. I do like the habit it is creating in making time to write each night. Realized that the 50,000 words is attainable but for this project “winning” will only represent a third of the finished work. Really enjoying the process even if it never sees the light of day.
November 24, 2014 — 9:37 AM
Jenn Collins (@JennyKnox13) says:
So I took 12 days off in the middle (I know!) to finish a final final (not final) edit of my last manuscript. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that I really love my NaNo WIP and I think it is worth seeing through to the end. So while I may not “win” by NaNo standards, I’m exciting to pound this draft out and see how it looks.
November 24, 2014 — 9:40 AM
mckkenzie says:
First, let me admit that I’m a total NaNoWriMo cheater. I decided to use this month to finish a book I’ve been working on (on and off) for about two years. That said, I’m really, really close to finished! With the holiday and all, I may bleed over into December, but that’s totally okay with me at this point! Very random excerpt below. Looking for an excerpt taught me that 1) it’s a good way to identify parts that aren’t good and 2) my characters sure do swear a lot.
“He creeped you out? You mean you were scared of him?” Kurt asked with a smirk.
Sam punched him in the shoulder. “Fuck you, man, I was eight! What were you scared of when you were eight?”
“Being used as a human sacrifice,” Kurt answered, his face entirely serious.
“What?”
“Yeah, some time I’ll tell you about the people I come from. But back to your story please.”
November 24, 2014 — 9:48 AM
smkay70 says:
Just over 30,000 words in, which makes me feel awesome. 20,000 words still do go, which makes me wanna pee my pants.
November 24, 2014 — 9:53 AM
smkay70 says:
Uh, TO go.
November 24, 2014 — 10:15 AM
Deanmcsmith says:
I decided at the start of the year that I wouldn’t be doing nanowrimo this time around, the memory of the time commitment it took last year is still too fresh. Congratulations and a whole lot of respect for anyone attempting it this year, keep going you’re all amazing 🙂
November 24, 2014 — 9:56 AM
Kaal Alexander Rosser says:
Did about 4k at the start, then life did a thing, as it does. Work: writing, editing, yadda; council screwing around and setting up the finances on the new place.
So I gave up. Until the day before yesterday.
I’ve got eight clear days, forty-six thousand words to write, it’s cold, and sunglasses aren’t a factor.
Fuckit.
Mo-check?
WRITE!
And write I did. About 500 words. BUT, I picked up the MCs voice, again, and yesterday I did around 6.5k.
Today, I’m batting 600-ish with 8.6 overs to go (sorry, I can’t translate into baseball — I do 45 minute sessions with 5 minute breaks in between and a 45 minute break every 4 sessions), after an extended lunch break.
By my reckoning on my normal wordcount rate, I should be able to top 6k again today. If I keep that up, it puts me in spitting distance of the finish line — to mix metaphors most horribly.
Never too late to try, eh?
HFBL
K
November 24, 2014 — 9:57 AM
K. Czechowski says:
It’s crap, it’s crap, ohmygawd it’s crap… but it’s 45k words of crap!
November 24, 2014 — 10:07 AM
Kaal Alexander Rosser says:
That’s good! It’s meant to be crap. It’s the sodallth draft! Words now, story later. 🙂
November 24, 2014 — 10:14 AM
yahalomi65 says:
Yell at the clouds. this I love best
November 24, 2014 — 10:11 AM
milkaholicclown says:
The apple-headed Unites are appalled. Yes, we eat man’s best friend. They ask why we don’t devour our own stillborn, as if it were just the same. Shit. Stillborns would be as rare here as in the rest of the world if we still had a fucking hospital. This is siege warfare is what it is. They’ve put a jester cap on us. Now they stand pointing and they laugh, “Who’s the tough guy now?”
“You got the gypsy curse. You wanted to secede? Well have fun with that. Have fun cutting your way through the red tape. Go ahead, usurp the big puppet throne right before you transverse the toxic smoke river. Then it’s time to scale the barbed smart fences, dodge the dead eye kill-turrets and flyin hell horses just bored as fuck and waiting to light up your big ol’ juicy ass. “zing, zing zing!” See how fast you can run!”
She smiled then caught him neatly in the face with the dead rat.
****
I haven’t been playing by the rules this year. I didn’t start working on it till about a week ago and I already had about 15k words. I’m up to just over 35k now. I expect I’ll have the 50k before the end of the month, but this book will be closer to 100k. Still, progress is progress.
November 24, 2014 — 10:12 AM
KVeldman says:
Way to go! Drop that rule-book and do what you want. I love the your voice in this excerpt and definitely got curious about what the context is. Great job!
November 24, 2014 — 11:26 AM
ffflip2014 says:
From my NaNoWriMo book: Atchafalaya Sings Alouette (written in 25 days unedited lol!)
The smaller boy stood outside of the store while his friend went inside. He looked very unhappy.
“Cooter said.” hey ya kid, I’m Cooter, what you all miserable about? I can help you make a couple dollars to buy candy.”
The kid answered. “ no sir, I be alright.
“Hey kid, you mean you’re just gonna let that boy tell ya what to do, and don’t you want what he has?”
“No sir, I be alright.”
“Kid, you don’t get it, if you always let him treat you like that, you always be a whiny, little bahbin piece of crap! Jus a poutin’ all de time.”
“ I ain’t no little bahbin, And I cain lick most a de kids in my class.”
“Ha Ha Ha,” laughed Cooter, “you got some spirit. You know, you remind me of my nephew, he likes to hunt, he even gots some really big gator traps in hopin’ te get Parrain.”
“ Who’s Parrain? “ asked the kid.
“ What! Hee haw! you don’t know Parrain? why he’s the biggest meanest gator ever was, over sixteen feet long!”
“ Wow, sixteen feet long? that be the biggest ever! You seen im?”
“ Oh ye, oh ye, Said Cooter. He sit right in my river, by my house. You wanna see im.?”
“ well, I don’t think i’m lowed sir, I have to go home soon.”
“ Oh, to bad, He was just sunnin’ hiself today when I was lookin out my window. But hey, I gotta idee,I’ll call your mama, en,tell her where ye goin, and if she say ok, den it’s ok. cause I think she want ye to see the Parrain.”
“ How you gonna call ?”
“ I just havta go into the store here, my friend works der, ye stay here. Oh, what’s her name? and yours?” Cooter started across the street.
“I’m Jacob!” the boy yelled across the street. “ Ma’s name’s Bitsy.”
Cooter walked across the street and went into the first store, he peered out the window, and when a few minutes passed, he came out.
“Its all set,” He said. “ You can come wit me an see the Parrian. And oh, you gonna see a really really something.”
Jacob reluctantly followed Cooter. But he was fascinated by the thought of seeing the biggest alligator ever.
“ Bein’ that my car broke, an is in de shop, we travelin’ de free mans way,” Cooter stuck his thumb out to hitchhike.
Jacob balked, “ I’m thinking maybe I kin come another day.” And he backed away from Cooter a bit.
Cooter grabbed his hand. “Now, Now” He said calmly. “ If you don’t like it, I’ll bring you right back. I Promised your mama Bitsy. Promised you would bring back some smoked gator too.”
Still not sure, but wanting to believe this man, Jacob followed him. He could feel a hard pit forming in his stomach.
Walking along the main road backward, Jacob was waiting for a chance that someone would stop and notice that they didn’t look right together. Maybe someone would stop and challenge Cooter about why he was hitchhiking with this scared looking kid.
By Secnarfl aka Frances Laskowski
Have a good chuckle, but remember, it took guts to post this! Secnarfl
I did finish with 53867 words!
November 24, 2014 — 10:20 AM
lynnacfrost says:
I couldn’t chuckle… too creeped out. 0.0
November 25, 2014 — 12:07 AM
ffflip2014 says:
I guess the purpose to writing a book, to illicit feelings in someone, take them to places they wouldn’t dare go, and maybe have a surprise ending where the characters get saved, thus giving the reader some type of relief. I started my book around Halloween, after watching so many Horror stories…
I don’t sit around thinking those creepy thoughts in my normal life.
November 25, 2014 — 7:10 AM
Ensis says:
I finally started enjoying it last week. I’m at about 30k with 20k to go.
I WILL do this because it will be my ninth consecutive NaNoWriMo Win. Hell yeah.
November 24, 2014 — 10:21 AM
Kay Camden says:
I’m just here for the schadenfreude.
November 24, 2014 — 10:27 AM
Ali Hawke says:
I went in with a sketchy plot, noodled around for 10k in the middle to figure it out, and it’s going better now. My characters are doing stuff and it’s making sense.
November 24, 2014 — 10:27 AM
conniecockrell says:
Entered NaNo for the 4th time this year. I’m trying out a new genre for me, cozy mystery. I’m 46K into the book and strangely and unlike previous NaNo’s, I don’t totally hate what I’ve written so far. I have lots of notes in the manuscript, research police procedures, confirm something I said late in the story is the same as what I said early in the story, research how small town coroners work, that sort of thing. I never do research in the middle of the draft. I just make a note and keep writing.
I’ll hit 50K today or tomorrow and will finish the story by the end of the month. I’ll let it sit by itself through December then pick it up to edit sometime in January.
The best thing about doing multiple NaNo’s is that I know I can write about 1K per hour. In 2 hours I can get words in for the day and take another hour to do editing and other writerly stuff. A productive daily routine that doesn’t bankrupt the rest of the day. (Exercising, chores, lunch out with friends, volunteering, etc.)
And congratulations to all of you for leaping into this challenge and getting words on the page and a first draft into your hands. Well done.
November 24, 2014 — 10:29 AM
ffflip2014 says:
I had to read your name, I thought that I wrote your post! you sound so much like me
lol!
November 24, 2014 — 10:32 AM
susielindau says:
Keep going everyone! You have plenty of time. Woohoo!
I finished yesterday and blogged today about the symptoms of NaNoWriMo withdrawal… 🙂
November 24, 2014 — 10:56 AM
mtdecker says:
‘twas the last week of NaNo
I’d fallen behind
But a weekend of writing
Fed my over expressive, compulsive obsessive, sometimes repressive, impulsive regression.
To the point that I wrote… and I wrote… and I wrote.
First 200 to only be 3 days behind,
Then another 3 to get to an even count
With 1K worth of prose I was flying
I was on track, but 500 words would take me to a 3K day.
Then I lost track of time
(and this missive its rhyme)
I wrote some more, and then a friend showed up and I couldn’t leave
And another 700 was pulled from my sleeve.
That night as I sheltered next to my desktop
Another 500 words were popped off.
First to target
Then to round I wrote and I wrote
And then it was only 565 till I was at 4.5K,
Another 200 would put me at 2 under par
But another 5 after that would take me to…
You get the picture.
I played the game of numbers till I had a 5K day
All in all a rather good weekend
But my dog things I shouldn’t quit walking him yet.
November 24, 2014 — 10:58 AM
mccicc says:
This is year 10 for me…and I’m determined to finish 50,000 words so I have more wins than losses over the last decade.
As of last night I’m only at 31,000 words, so I have a lot of writing to do each day to reach the goal. Of course, family members are arriving on Tuesday and staying through Saturday, so I’m going to have to haul butt to reach the goal. My friend who is going away has said I can tell my family that I have to “check on Heather’s house” and then disappear to her place to get some peace and quiet to write for a bit of time. I’m going to take her up on that offer if I can.
I’m not complaining, though. I feel like passing the halfway mark means it’s all downhill from here…in that, it’s like gliding to the finish, rather than going uphill to try to complete the novel. That being said, lots of caffeine and candy are going to help fuel the completion of this tome.
Good luck to everyone else!
November 24, 2014 — 11:00 AM
Mir says:
This is also my year 10! And I’m also behind! High five! We got this!
Unfortunately, rather than being past the halfway point, I think my story just now actually started, making the first 32k or so a rather in-depth prologue. -.-
November 24, 2014 — 11:38 AM
Jessica @ Just a Mum? says:
It’s my first NaNoWriMo – I’m almost 40,000 words in.
I was getting to a point where I felt stuck, and stale, and wanted to set my fictional town on fire and have it all have been a dream. Then I thought I’d lost my files. I felt like someone had died. The files were restored by a heroic man, and I’ve got my second wind. I’ve re-read parts and am pleased to say that I want to keep reading it. There are gaping plot holes, and things I wrote at the beginning that make no sense with where I’ve ended up as the narrative changed, and new characters demanded a voice… but I’m going to end up with a book that *I* at least want to read, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s a damn good start. 🙂
November 24, 2014 — 11:48 AM
Penquillity says:
Day twenty-four
There’s so much more
To write before I’m through.
I’m adding words
That are not words;
So many are just poo.
They’re crap, they’re shit
I’m tired of it!
My brain’s turned into goo.
I have a week
I cannot speak –
I have so much to do.
I’ll write! I’ll pen
The tale again
In that guy’s point of view!
I’ll show those words.
I’ll mold those turds
From first draft to brand new:
Plot, action, arc
Hell, fish that bark
And cannibals that moo.
It is week four
The mind’s no more
The functioning cells are few.
But I’ll push on
‘Til this month’s gone
And 50K’s writ – whew!
Jeannie Leighton – AKA quillandink in Nanoland
November 24, 2014 — 12:14 PM
severina96 says:
WOW, that was hella awesome! and may I say that your nano novel idea sounds awesome too?
November 24, 2014 — 4:31 PM
Kristin says:
I’m still pushing though I’m so far behind… It’s a mess of ridiculousness.. on that note a little more ridiculousness for your intrigue..
“SAM! YOU SON OF A BITCH! GIVE ME BACK MY UNDERWEAR!”
November 24, 2014 — 12:21 PM
mangacat201 says:
I love that sentence (I can’t help but hear Dean Winchester in those words, but that might just be my fanfictionally saturated brain), it evokes so much story with such a simple premise.
November 24, 2014 — 3:23 PM
Kristin says:
Supernatural fan huh? I’ve actually never watched myself, but I hear all good things. 🙂
November 24, 2014 — 9:21 PM
mangacat201 says:
Sure am part of the crazy awesome SPNFamily and you should definitely go and check it out, to say with with the words of our latest Monster of the Week ‘It’s epic’! But be sure to start at the beginning, there are a lot of standalone episodes you can understand well enough without being overly familiar with the series, but the real fun is when you get on the road right where it starts (and then prepare to descend into fandom madness *g*)
November 25, 2014 — 3:02 AM
marylholden says:
No no no NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriYEAR.
November 24, 2014 — 12:21 PM
melorajohnson says:
16,000 words to go and it’s going to be a pull but I’ll make it. For me, that’s about 5 – 20 minute word sprints every day. I do have three write-ins scheduled this week. Two personal and one group. My biggest problem is I don’t see the end of my novel in sight yet and I’m not sure where I’m going from here. I have one more plot point worked out and then I’m flying blind. Some intriguing things have happened on the spur of the moment but I’ll be doing some hard thinking on my commutes about what could happen and what I would like to have happen. I’ve enjoyed this NaNo more than any in the past and I’m looking forward to editing this novel into submission.
November 24, 2014 — 12:44 PM
Fatma Alici says:
I did something I haven’t done before in a nanowrimo. I got half way through the month and realized that I like the book, but it is not the book I want work on. I wanted to work on this complete rewrite of my nano book from last year. And, I’m writing twice as fast, and honestly I’m feeling twice as comfortable with my material.
Yeah, I believe this complete novel, around 85,000 words should be done by the end of December. Which makes me super happy.
November 24, 2014 — 1:45 PM
Sylkvia McIvers says:
I’m at about 40K. And I have no work on the entire thanksgiving weekend, thurs/fri/sun, when I usually have fairly busy day.
SO MAYBE THIS YEAR.
November 24, 2014 — 3:04 PM
mangacat201 says:
Kudos to everyone who attempted and does or does not have a prognosis to succeed. I debated it, but chickened out last minute. But I made a personal pledge to up my wordcount this month with as many stories as it would take and I’ve managed to write about 6-7k on shorts since the 1st, so I’m proud of that. Paragraph from one of those stories that I really like rolling around in my head:
“And this thing with David, it’s… easy and complicated, because they’re them and they’ve been working on so many levels for so long that the new aspect of their relationship that’s started developing in the aftermath of Wellington Farlanes’s last attack has turned out to be just another piece of the puzzle. They already spend a considerable amount of time in each other’s lives, involved in a way that has always been deeper than partners, even friends. It’s not a stretch, it’s not even surprising – Seth is pretty sure there is a betting pool going somewhere on this island – and still, he feels like he’s on shaky ground. Not bad shaky, but still unsettled by the seamless way David fills that space in his heart that says ‘more’, like his name is the thread that closes wounds ripped open by the loss of loved ones, wounds that are held open by the absence of others.”
November 24, 2014 — 3:32 PM
Spark of Sun says:
Ass kicked. On the floor, head flattened out as if crushed by elephant foot. I did not write one word. Too scared. I ist my my precious sky baby and i’ll be damned if i’m dragging it down here to this dirty shit hole.
December, back to the torture of looking into the sky, burning my eyes in the sun, watching my sky baby dance.
November 24, 2014 — 3:33 PM
lynnacfrost says:
That was my experience last year. Told myself I wouldn’t officially participate, just use NaNo as incentive to write. All November. NOT ONE WORD. December too, if I recall correctly. What’s up with that!! o.0
November 25, 2014 — 12:12 AM
Spark of Sun says:
I have no idea whats up with it Lynnac. But i suspect it is sky baby stuff, it is to good to touch.
November 25, 2014 — 1:03 AM
Janiera Eldridge says:
Dropped out last week with no shame. Writing under a deadline is so not for me.
November 24, 2014 — 3:40 PM
Charles W. Jones says:
I finished Saturday night. I found this year, I did my best writing sitting in the dark with the house quiet.As I read this monster, I’m very happy with it. Good luck to everyone!
November 24, 2014 — 3:43 PM
severina96 says:
1k away from teh 50k!!! and hating about everything about my novel…. but hey, that’s kind of the point of nano for me, get it down and make myself like it later one, so I guess everything is quite good
November 24, 2014 — 4:23 PM
Andrea Stanet says:
Just passed the 40K mark and I feel like the last few chapters are pure gibberish. Wondering how I’m going to manage the ending. This is my 8th year doing Nano and the most I’ve ever struggled with it. Actually trying to wrap my brain around the very real possibility that I might get close and not make it this year. But I’m not giving up.
November 24, 2014 — 4:50 PM
Lisa Oliver says:
I decided well before November to write two books this month for the challenge – I must have been out of my freaking mind. But after spending almost 12 hours per day on the computer for 24 days, I have one books finished at almost 70K and I have 70K of my second book done and it WILL be finished by the end of the week. I have never written so much, or spent so much time on my writing, I don’t think ever. But I am doing a happy dance because it is the last week and I will have my two books done and dusted by then.
A sentence from my latest chapter:
“I’m not mating with a poxy rabbit,” Gretchen shrieked and at least a dozen wolves all winced. Wolf hearing is so acute that high pitched noises can be painful, especially at volume.
November 24, 2014 — 5:06 PM
dhsayers says:
I finished the 50K part of the challenge on the 15th, I think mainly because I went to the Night of Writing Dangerously, which was fun and… interesting. At least I knocked out about 20,000 words between the three days. I’m finishing up the last few chapters, sitting right now at 61K with three chapters left. This is a most recent paragraph:
“We are alone. An island of shaking terror amidst all of this chaos. Yelling, screaming, glass breaking, shoving, pushing, jostling, punching, kicking, biting, roaring, crying, shaking, trembling, hiding, swirling vortex of pandemonium. There is a moment where I wonder if she, if we will be swept up in the tide. Plunged beneath the waves of ferocity. Dragged down through the undercurrent of blood and pain. Held there and drowned by it. I wonder if that’s what she wants.”
Full book is here: https://tablo.io/dhsayers/angels-deserve-to-die
November 24, 2014 — 5:40 PM