NaNoWriMo FTW!

Woohoo for November being so close, no? This is the first year I'll be competing in NaNoWriMo and I want to know who else is! *prods Elinox* I remember you were participating last year. The ninjas and pirates story? How'd that turn out, anyway?
So, who else is going to be undertaking the challenge? I know with all the creative people on here, there has to be a few who are going to do it. Who has done it before? Any advice for a newbie to the whole thing? At this point I simply have the novel in question plotted out via those lovely creations known as index cards, but I haven't done any other prep work. (My beloved thylacine has been researching her rear off to make sure hers has the right flavour.) Incidentally, I'm doing a little rooting on her behalf, so here's another weird question: what did you imagine when you were a kid? Not just imaginary friends, but did anyone create their own imaginary worlds? Particular stories that you were the hero/ine of? Creatures you made up?
Tell me! I'm insatiably curious and I always want to know more!

Noooooooo!!!

I've got too much homework to participate!

freelanceangel Wrote:*prods Elinox* I remember you were participating last year. The ninjas and pirates story? How'd that turn out, anyway?

*grumblegrumble* It didn't. I got to about 17,000 words and for some reason, openoffice corrupted my file and I lost everything. <!-- s:evil: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_evil.gif" alt=":evil:" title="Evil or Very Mad" /><!-- s:evil: -->

freelanceangel Wrote:Who has done it before?

This will be my third year. So hopefully I'll get all the way through it this time!

freelanceangel Wrote:Any advice for a newbie to the whole thing?

I got farther last year than I had my first year because I had an outline of what I wanted to write about. My first year I just winged it. This year my plan is to go into even more detailed preparation during October; a detailed outline, character sheets, etc.

I just have to figure out what type of story I want to write, that's all.

I've done it twice before, but only once I count as finishing.

My advice: Do whatever planning you need to (preferably ahead of time), but when you get to it, write. Just write. Don't edit and don't delete. Make sure that no matter what else happens, you write SOMETHING each day. Whether you're ahead or behind on words, even if you don't feel good. (I mean, unless you're unconscious or dying.)

*fidgets* We're not sure if we will, this year. We're still working hard on what's killed most of our long pieces - keeping a coherent plot with appropriate pacing - and NaNo isn't really the place to work on that. Plus we're in the middle of writing a for-practice story and we can't use that for NaNo.

At the same time...we want to do it again. So I'm not sure what'll happen yet.

-Val

House Hesson Wrote:*fidgets* We're not sure if we will, this year. We're still working hard on what's killed most of our long pieces - keeping a coherent plot with appropriate pacing - and NaNo isn't really the place to work on that. Plus we're in the middle of writing a for-practice story and we can't use that for NaNo.

At the same time...we want to do it again. So I'm not sure what'll happen yet.

-Val

If you'd like to use your for-practice story, December is actually NaNoFiMo, or National Novel Finishing Month. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.nanofimo.org/">http://www.nanofimo.org/</a><!-- m --> My beloved thylacine did a lot of prowling, and found out there's another NaNoWriMo in June, AND a Novel Editing Month, too! *claps* Totally ftw! I plan on using December as motivation to edit/finish a novel I've been working on for... oh, three years now, I think.
Thanks for all of the great tips, everyone! I actually have plotted out the storyline already, and the characters are old favourites, so I've got their motivations, histories, etc all well established. Turns out, to get 50,000 words in 30 days, I'll have to write a minimum of 1,666.66 words per day. *eye-twitch* It'll certainly be the most...grueling writing project I've undertaken, but hey, with a deadline and the big 'Write In Your NaNoWriMo Today!!' banner I'm making for my study, I might be able to remember to write. ^_^ You know, vampyre_smiles, that's what I have the hardest time doing. Just *writing.* I'll get to a certain point, make the mistake of reading what I just wrote, consider it horrible and delete the whole thing. Anyone have any suggestions on how to avoid low-esteem writer syndrome?

So who's getting excited *read nervous* about NaNoWriMo starting this Sunday?

Elinox Wrote:So who's getting excited *read nervous* about NaNoWriMo starting this Sunday?

Oh gods yes. Today someone said something about two days until Halloween and I freaked out inside. I also got a random flash of insight about one of our characters and had some more ideas for plot, but...still. Sunday.

-Shainin