Anyone else started thinking about Nano? [2015]

[crich70]

Originally Posted by hoichi

Your (or mine) first draft might as well end up a spectacularly bad bastardized hybrid of your own original ideas. Whatever that means. At this point in history there's hardly a character, setting or plot turn that haven't been done multiple times before. It's how you spin it and whether or not it all comes together nicely.
But, yeah, I wouldn't worry about it before December. That's why first draft is often called sh***y draft: it's just a start.


I'd say, if you do lose your sleep, at least sit down and write

Yep. Books aren't written they're re-written. I don't think there is a writer anywhere who can just sit down and write out a story that doesn't need any editing to make it work well. I'd say it's not unlike a sculptor creating a statue. First he/she has to do the rough shaping of the statue (the 1st draft) and then they have to carve out the details and smooth the surface of the work (editing).

[KimaPrince]

Originally Posted by hoichi

I'd say, if you do lose your sleep, at least sit down and write

Ah, yes. That's what I meant, people loose sleep over NaNo cause they stay up late trying to reach their word count.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by KimaPrince

Ah, yes. That's what I meant, people loose sleep over NaNo cause they stay up late trying to reach their word count.

And risk making themselves sick over stressing about reaching the 50k mark on time.

[Graham]

Originally Posted by crich70

And risk making themselves sick over stressing about reaching the 50k mark on time.

And in spite of that, they still have a wonderful, heady time.

Badgerboy, get involved in your local NaNo forum during November, for motivation and the fun of it. (*)

There'll be people way behind where you are in your word count, and other people waaayyy out ahead. Seriously: 200k words???!!!

It doesn't really matter whether your 50k is new and original. What matters is what will happen naturally: after 50k words your writing will have improved.

(*) I just noticed that your local forum is my local forum. They were a fun bunch when I did NaNo two years ago, with those close enough meeting up in a coffee house in Leeds for writing sessions.

Graham

[cromag]

Good luck, guys!

(I, for one, was born with a short story mindset. I've got some ideas, but no novel length ones!)

[hoichi]

Originally Posted by cromag

Good luck, guys!

(I, for one, was born with a short story mindset. I've got some ideas, but no novel length ones!)

And best of luck to you too!

As for mindsets, I know I'm novelist material. I tend to think slow and I tend to think big. As in, I start thinking of a situation and end up with a pretty complicated universe.
A Russian writer once said that short stories are harder and take longer to master than novels. Maybe not for everyone, but I know what he means. It's like the difference between a movie and a photograph. You can have a movie that consists of moderately pretty or even merely adequate images but still tells a good story. But for a photograph to be good, that single image has to be special. And learning to see those special images might take time for us misty-minded novelists
Anyway, I'm not sure it's against the NaNo rules to write a few short stories instead of a novel. You might even pretend you're writing a cycle And/or put your stories in the same universe (if that makes any sense for your ideas).

[BookCat]

Seems like I started this thread and then abandoned it! I've been practising calligraphy and handwriting lots and waiting for an 'idea' to hit. A few hours ago, I had the beginnings of a possible plotline. I'm going to write this more as a kind of therapy than as an attempt to write a "best selling" novel. Last year, I couldn't participate in Nano because of the house move; I might write, fictionally, about things which have happened since then. Hence the therapy.
I won Nano in 2010, tried again in 2012 but failed due to illness, so this will be my third attempt.
I generally use the Outline View in Word, which is more useful than many realise, to outline and write the novel, but use some freeware called Papel to gather together ideas. Character and location details are kept in OneNote. I do the actual writing in Write or Die then copy and paste this into the relevant part of the Word Outline.
Good luck everyone who participates.

[crich70]

Almost time for the fun to begin. It's 9:34 pm here. Just a bit over 2 hrs to go til NaNoWriMo 2014 starts!

[Iphinome]

30 mins and then ready set NaNoWriMo.

[KimaPrince]

Stayed up past midnight to plug in my first 2,115 words before going to bed at around 2:30am. Up at 9 and about three hours later have gotten to 3,995. That number was frustrating as I had just written 'Chapter Two' to find out I was only 5 words away from 4,000.

[crich70]

I'm off to a slow start this 1st day at only 241 words so far but they are good words I think.

[Iphinome]

Originally Posted by crich70

I'm off to a slow start this 1st day at only 241 words so far but they are good words I think.

Yes getting into the groove can take a few days. Keep at it. You can do it.

1832 words here for day one.

[hoichi]

I've made about 270 words before I went to sleep the first night and the next night I had my first 2 thousand. Not too motivated today, but then it's not even 9 p.m. down here and I already have about 400 words. There's still time for a happy ending.

[KimaPrince]

Attended a write-in event at a local library today. Gained about 1,700 words for the day and am already over 7,000 total. I think I have too much time on my hands....

[Lazybones]

14,991 so far, but I've had to get off to a good start since the end of the month looks pretty busy for me.

This is my fourth year participating, and it's still a lot of fun. My current book is actually a prequel to my first NaNoWriMo book that I wrote in 2011.

There's an interesting NPR discussion panel show on NaNoWriMo at http://onpoint.wbur.org/2014/11/06/n...eative-fiction.