So, some of you are probably doing NaNoWriMo.
I’m going to pop this post up and leave it here — this is where you can come and talk about how it’s going (or how it’s not going). You can ask for help or tips or ideas. You can rage and froth and grit your teeth. You can ask for commiseration and hugs and high-fives. You can oil-wrestle? I dunno. Whatever you want to do, you can do it here. Consider this a tiny little slice of community conversation for those of you jumping in and doing National Novel Writing Month this go-around.
How’s it going?
What are you writing?
Will you share the work as you go, or after?
What’s your editing plan?
And so on and so forth. Stop by, say hi, tell everyone what’s up.
Aimee Ogden says:
It is going well so far! I felt good writing yesterday and today, despite my initial worries (I’ve been planning this novel for longer than usual, so there was a lot of pressure building up in my brain before I finally dove off the cliffs of Mount Word-Vomit yesterday.)
I’m writing a fantasy that takes place in a fantastical country based roughly on post-colonial Argentina, that revolves around a widowed queen maneuvering for power against her step-daughter while dealing with foreign powers and a potential immigrant uprising in the capital city. I don’t plan to share it till it’s done, because I make liberal use of placeholder words to keep me from looking up information while mid-writing, and I won’t go back and replace the placeholders with the real deal until after November’s over and I can stomach editing again. (Fun fact: I went to a workshop last year and missed 3-4 placeholders in my writing sample and people were like, “Uh, is this character having a stroke? Why does she keep talking about an elephant?”) I’ll probably leave the novel lie through December thanks to the busy holidays and my certain need to take a break from it for a while after November ends.
My name on the site is aimeebeff if anyone wants writing buddies and/or peer pressure!
November 2, 2015 — 2:46 PM
Josh Neff says:
“I’m writing a fantasy that takes place in a fantastical country based roughly on post-colonial Argentina”
And with that, you’ve hooked me.
November 2, 2015 — 3:51 PM
wordsavant says:
What an awesome hook! Just friended you. Good luck and hope to hear more of your work!
November 3, 2015 — 12:16 PM
Josh Neff says:
I’m writing what I’m calling a Surrealist Art Deco Superhero Fairy Tale. Except that I’m not writing it as a novel but as a bunch of flash fic, vignettes, and maybe some prose-poems that are connected by a setting and cast of characters, but aren’t linear. So I’m currently hopping between three different “chapters”–it was four, but I finished one of them. (Word count can be kind of a pain when the word count grows among different pieces.) This may change as the month goes on, depending on how I feel.
I’m feeling really good about this project. I went to a midnight kickoff party on Saturday night/Sunday morning, wrote for six hours straight, and got more writing done out of the gate than I have in years. I’m also keeping fairly unattached to this in terms of wanting it to be brilliant. This is, at best, a rough first draft, and if I decide to edit and revise it after this month, it will probably end up being vastly different than what I’m doing now. The point is to just get all this stuff out of my head and write a love letter to the superhero comics I grew up reading, the entertainment media of the 1920s-40s, Grant Morrison, Erin Morgenstern, Jedediah Berry, Angela Carter, Catherynne M. Valente, Italo Calvino, Jorge Luis Borges, and L. Frank Baum. My mantra is “Don’t worry about it!” Is this piece too derivative or obviously swiped from my inspirations? Don’t worry about it! Have I used this word too often in the same piece? Don’t worry about it? Are my characters acting consistently through the different pieces? Don’t worry about it! JUST. KEEP. WRITING. I’ve also given myself permission to completely change the nature of this project if I ever get bored with it. No giving up, just make it less boring one way or another and KEEP WRITING.
I’m not sharing what I’m writing with anyone, except for posting occasional pictures like this one: https://instagram.com/p/9jOiTJuHSP/ (And I’m quite proud of the Stags of the Storm. I hope they make it through any potential rewrites.)
November 2, 2015 — 3:01 PM
Coffee2words says:
Things are going well. For the first time in my NaNo career (of three attempts) I’m actually ahead of the word count. YAY!
I’m sitting at about 5400 words to start day 3 in Aus, with a plan to get as close to 7,000 words as possible by end of today.
For anyone who is writing horror, feel free to buddy req me: Lynxie83
November 2, 2015 — 4:07 PM
otterpoet says:
Good luck! The key to writing a horror-themed project in this sort of setting it to give yourself plenty of carrot-scenes to keep you wading through the rest of the narrative.
November 2, 2015 — 6:04 PM
Coffee2words says:
So far it seems to be going well. I don’t like the character in this scene but that’s the point. 🙂
I will probably share some less ‘adult’ content pieces on Twitter in the coming weeks, or put some WIPs on my blog or Facebook page if I feel the urge. I might also consider doing some NaNo piece swaps with fellow horror writers in December 😀
November 2, 2015 — 7:27 PM
jbwiseauthor says:
I am writing. That’s something right? I really like what I have so far about my story, but I feel like I don’t have enough of a grasp on it to be able to create an even semi-cohesive first draft. I fear I’m going to end up in the complete overhaul rewrite after Nano is over. :0(
Creating an entire world– new words, government, names and plot line– is pretty damn impossible in thirty days. Why, oh why did I change my story the last week of October? Eh, maybe it will turn out amazing?
Anyone else have a regret of pantsing?
November 2, 2015 — 5:01 PM
C.M. Simpson says:
Not yet… 6k in, and trying to work out where I want to end up, but there’s this whole world of discovery thing occurring. Of course, if I can’t work out the end by the 20k mark, things might just get difficult.
November 2, 2015 — 8:20 PM
otterpoet says:
Back in the day, I wrote a commission for about 60K words in the space of two weeks. I don’t recall much of the experience – other than the gibbering and nightmares at the end. Most of it was punctuated with too much coffee and wintry walks to the local Wendy’s for meat-substitute. So, if I can survive that, I may as well try to do as much in twice the time 😉
And, the way I look at it, if I do this I’ll have the bones of a novel by the end of it… or, at the very least, a bunch of carrot-scenes to get me through the major slough later on.
I’ll be working on my FaeNoir murder mystery – set in my City of Dark Miracles – featuring unseelie, angels, revenge, corruption, and jazz.
November 2, 2015 — 5:42 PM
Don't Want To Write says:
I’m going for the 1700 words every evening. I have nothing but a rough story, my wits and the urge to wear sunglasses when it’s dark outside. Figure I’ll get plenty of time in December to rewrite — nothing much going on then, is there?
November 2, 2015 — 6:14 PM
C.M. Simpson says:
I’m panstering this year, due to study and a serious brain freeze when I tried to come up with something new for NaNo. I’m aiming at a modest 2k each day until the exams are done in a fortnight’s time, and I’ve made that for the first two days, with the third day shaping up okay. So far, looks like I’m writing a fantasy young adult-adult crossover novel. I’ve shared the opening three paragraphs, but the next lot of sharing I’ll do will be when I publish it in mid-next-year. I edit as I go, but I will give the novel a rest for four weeks before going back and doing another edit. With any luck, I’ll be able to find a couple of betas who’ll do an exchange edit. Otherwise, I’ll go through it twice in the raw while doing the initial format, and then a few more times when checking it on CreateSpace. Usually by the end of that process I’ve caught 99% of the problems… usually. I’m enjoying it, and driving home the point to myself that I don’t need to always ‘feel inspired’ to write, or to have a plan, but that I just have to sit my a.. myself down in the writing seat and get to it. Now, I *know* this, but NaNo is a great way to remind myself either that I’m human and life happens, or that I can; it all depends on which way the cards fall during the month. In the meantime, I try to live up to that reputation of being hardheaded… er, *determined* and get the writing done, while enjoying the story that emerges. If anyone wants to buddy up this NaNo, I’m cmsimpson. And good luck!
November 2, 2015 — 6:44 PM
@C_N_Martin says:
My story is 100% complete. In my head. Kind of.
November 2, 2015 — 6:47 PM
BR Kyle says:
It’s going okay thus far, I’m making the daily word counts but I meant to do a couple of character profiles written down and a basic plot outline by now, I’m definitely not a pantser so I’m freaking out a little, however I’ll knuckle down and get it done
November 2, 2015 — 7:11 PM
mariahavix says:
I’m doing ok so far. I’m up to 7K words. I always do ok at the start. Finishing strong is where I have the problem. I always finish, but with a whimper. I’d like to have a solid end to edit rather than editing the first 2/3 of the book and redoing the last third entirely. Or worse, giving up on the book because the last third is so weak.
I am writing the second in what I hope will be an urban fantasy trilogy about magic, technology and learning to love change or die.
Share after. Only after. After much edit. All the edit.
Edit. I’ll likely wait until January. I’ve got 2 shorts I want to polish and put up on my site (I posted my first audio short and it went over pretty well for me so I’m inspired to go again). Plus I need to write some more shorts and take a break on editing.
It’s really cool to see some names here that I’ve seen on the nano forums.
November 2, 2015 — 7:37 PM
Fatma Alici says:
Nanowrimo this year is probably going to pretty rough. Usually, it is isn’t out the realm of possibly I write a decent chunk of words every month. Not quite, 50,000 or anything, but it only a bit of push. However, I was in a car accident a while back. I thought I’d recovered, but then a lingering, not so bad injury has gone crazy bad. Sitting up is painful which makes writing a bit difficult. It came up kind of suddenly and I already planned out Nanowrimo, freakin bad time body. Can’t you go into freak out mod at a better time, like never?
I’m a definitely a planner, though that planning due to lack of time, has become fairly pantsing. The plot is getting modified as I lumber forward. Its rocky place for me. I like to have everything planned out. Usually so I can completely set itn fire, and make up a new one.
We’ll see how it goes, and good luck to everyone.
November 3, 2015 — 1:51 AM
dianadiehl1 says:
Fatma, you have my sympathies. I could suggest lots of makeshift remedies, but I’m sure you’ve tried all those. So here’s your challenge: working outside your comfort zone (not just the physical part–the planning part.) You are on rocky ground with a mountain in front of you. Maybe you can incorporate some of this into the character growth of your MC? You and s/he can go through it together.
I’m cheering for you!
November 3, 2015 — 3:40 PM
Fatma Alici says:
Thanks for your sympathy. My doctor is sending me to physical therapy so I hope things start taking a turn for the better soon.
November 7, 2015 — 6:21 PM
Ashlie says:
Is anyone editing this year? I finished last year and then picked away at my novel all year long, and I’m typing my printed and marked up first draft into a new document, so still shooting for 50K words, but it’s SO hard because you lose the “get the crap on the page” mindset.
November 3, 2015 — 6:09 AM
MakeLifeMemorable says:
Turns out my MC has a ton of anger issues I knew NOTHING about prior to writing her. Isn’t it weird when that happens? It explains so much, too…
November 3, 2015 — 8:40 AM
Lynn C-H (Goth Kitty Lady) says:
It is weird, but I love it when that kind of thing happens.
November 3, 2015 — 9:05 AM
Lynn C-H (Goth Kitty Lady) says:
I got around 800 words in on the first day of NaNo before a character I’d only planned on having in a few chapters of the story suddenly turned into a first-person narrating character and filled up the rest of the day’s word count. On the second day he named himself Daniel Darling (?!?) and started developing a much different personality than the one I’d had planned for him. By that afternoon he had friends and they’d started developing personalities too, and a rogue government scientist they call Doc Wolvie made an appearance. Because the government was harassing Danny and the boys and it went a little too far (okay, a lot too far) and Doc threatened to turn anyone who came after *him* into a star-nosed mole person, which he would totally do because he’s somewhat unethical and possibly kind of nuts. Personally, I’m starting to wonder if Doc is only a few steps away from monologuing at his enemies when he captures them, and if you’ve ever seen a star-nosed mole you know why.
And this kind of spontaneously generating craziness is why I love doing NaNoWriMo. 😀
November 3, 2015 — 9:00 AM
joshuamneff says:
I would seriously pay good money to read this story.
November 3, 2015 — 9:10 AM
dianadiehl1 says:
Where do I order my Doc Wolvie/star-nosed mole T-shirt?
November 3, 2015 — 3:17 PM
Len Berry says:
On day 1, I managed to create a short scene I hadn’t expected. It illustrated one of the hero’s flaws and hinted toward the big scifi war to come.
Anyone have surprise scenes pop up in the writing?
November 3, 2015 — 11:33 AM
dianadiehl1 says:
Help! I’m getting nowhere with this novelization of my screenplay–even though the story is right here in front of me. It’s someone else’s concept, you see, that I wrote to order. Should I scrap it and write MY story, even though I’m behind 3 days????
November 3, 2015 — 3:16 PM
dianadiehl1 says:
This is supposed to be fun, right? RIGHT?!
November 3, 2015 — 3:28 PM
Lynn C-H (Goth Kitty Lady) says:
Yes, it most certainly is supposed to be fun – stressful, but fun. I say scrap it and write YOUR story, you should be able to catch up three days’ worth of words pretty easily if you’re writing happy. 🙂
November 3, 2015 — 8:18 PM
dianadiehl1 says:
Had a breakthrough–I figured out how to import all my character notes, outline, and content into Scrivener. Then a friend told me I’m cheating with my conversion from a screenplay. The 50K had to be all fresh new writing. There is no way I can separate out the precious pieces of dialogue from the original. Checked on the forums and got the answer, “It’s bad form.”
Harrumph. All other ideas are in nascent, pre-outline, barely distinguishable from subconscious dream state form. No character names, no framework at all. We are talking floating in limbo here.
Starting over. From nothing. Panstering (did I type that right) without pants to pantster. This is going to get ugly.
November 3, 2015 — 9:01 PM
Marianne says:
I broke my right hand.
November 3, 2015 — 7:08 PM
Lynn C-H (Goth Kitty Lady) says:
🙁
I’ve never used it myself, but I know there are some other people on here who use speech-to-text software. Or can Siri or Cortana do the typing for you?
November 3, 2015 — 8:20 PM
dianadiehl1 says:
Nooooooooo! Will NaNoWriMo accept a book on tape? You need a good (cheap) personal secretary. Do they exist any more?
November 3, 2015 — 8:54 PM
Anya Evan says:
I’m doing my second year. Writing about a middle age couple who don’t want to be married and go in search of the fountain of youth to forget what happened the last 3 decades or so, and their kids slowly find out about it and go after their parents. It’s kind of psychological-ish and an adventure. I hope I can finish it in time, seeing as it’s finals time. All the extra HOMEWORK!
November 3, 2015 — 9:21 PM
writing, writing, words words words. says:
Love LOVE the sound of this. I can’t wait!
November 3, 2015 — 9:37 PM
Nellie says:
I’m about 1/2 behind as of now. I was intending to catch up so that tomorrow wasn’t so bad but then I get a call that my storage unit and several others was broken into. Granted I doubt I’m missing anything because that’s where I have all my paperbacks stashed. The star wars is in the back and they’d have to do a lot of work to get to it. But I have to take the day off of work to go down and get a form and so that they can get their claim ready for the insurance. So if they were looking for a fast grab, mine wasn’t the one to hit. Either way, inconvenient.
Plus someone was seriously pissing me off today at work.
I need to kill someone off but I’m not at that spot yet. -_-
November 3, 2015 — 10:52 PM