NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month

[FJismyheadship]

OK Who is doing NaNoWriMo this year? What are you writing about? Can we all be writing buddies and such? I'm gonna TRY and I hope I can make it!

 

Yes, I did just dredge up a thread from 2012 because I didn't know where to post this, and I figured someone somewhere had already started a thread.

 

previous thread: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=4419

[browncoatslytherin]

i've participated before, but lately i've had distractions that just get in the way. in 2012 i was working full time and going to school four days a week, in 2013 i was just a month into a new job that necessitated using the bus (so had to get up early and often got home late, because of where i live and where the job was, plus inclement weather that threw off the bus schedule), and this year i'll be preparing to move again. rats. i have a really great idea for an original story, too :(

[happy atheist]

i've participated before, but lately i've had distractions that just get in the way. in 2012 i was working full time and going to school four days a week, in 2013 i was just a month into a new job that necessitated using the bus (so had to get up early and often got home late, because of where i live and where the job was, plus inclement weather that threw off the bus schedule), and this year i'll be preparing to move again. rats. i have a really great idea for an original story, too :(

Here's a hint: you're allowed to write a novel during any month of the year! There's nothing special about November.

I will not be participating. I'm a NaNo hater. I guess it goes with me being the Fun Killer.

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade with my negativity, but if you ask, I'll share my reasons.

[browncoatslytherin]

Here's a hint: you're allowed to write a novel during any month of the year! There's nothing special about November.

I will not be participating. I'm a NaNo hater. I guess it goes with me being the Fun Killer.

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade with my negativity, but if you ask, I'll share my reasons.

i know, i know, but writing during nano was not only more fun, but provided a lot more motivation for getting in my daily word count. i loved the e-mails of daily encouragement, and i found that the forum activity during the rest of the year pretty much ground to a halt (when i was doing it). and earning that badge feels so awesome!

[dairyfreelife]

i know, i know, but writing during nano was not only more fun, but provided a lot more motivation for getting in my daily word count. i loved the e-mails of daily encouragement, and i found that the forum activity during the rest of the year pretty much ground to a halt (when i was doing it). and earning that badge feels so awesome!

I am going to attempt it this year. I never had the time until this year.

Why do you hate NaNo, HA? I am curious the reasons. Not going to stop from doing it. I am doing it for the motivation to get moving with my writing. Some force with a badge that I did it would be cool. I am conquering a lot this year and I am lazy naturally so yeah to motivation to do draft one. ;)

[RachelB]

I'm not a fiction writer, but I'm trying to goose my dissertation and poetry productivity by trying to keep up with my fiction-writing friends. A word count works well for dissertation writing, and I'm committing to writing a poem draft every day during November.

[crazyforkate]

I think I might be joining you guys. We'll see how things are come Nov 1, but I've got some ideas and it might be good to explore them... :think:

[browncoatslytherin]

I think I might be joining you guys. We'll see how things are come Nov 1, but I've got some ideas and it might be good to explore them... :think:

one year i did something a little different and actually did a series of short stories. it was a fun little break from writing all the same stories. i happened to have a lot on the back burner all throughout the year, so it was good to get it all out. :lol:

[happy atheist]

I am going to attempt it this year. I never had the time until this year.

Why do you hate NaNo, HA? I am curious the reasons. Not going to stop from doing it. I am doing it for the motivation to get moving with my writing. Some force with a badge that I did it would be cool. I am conquering a lot this year and I am lazy naturally so yeah to motivation to do draft one. ;)

This is going to make me sound super bitchy and arrogant. But oh well. :snooty:

Why do I hate NaNo? Let me count the ways!

I write all the time. (And not in my patented FJ terse manner. I use long sentences and everything!) In order to be any good at writing, you need to practice. You need to do it a lot and you need to do it regularly.

I think that the whole "write 50,000 words in a month!" thing stresses quantity over quality.

Disclaimer: I am not trying to personally insult anyone who does NaNo. I have not read your stuff (unless you're in my critique group, which you're not). I don't know if your stuff meets my definition of good. Your stuff might be awesome!

Disclaimers aside, I think that NaNo encourages the wrong kind of writing. For a novel to be good it needs to be planned and plotted and outlined. Thought needs to be given to every element of a story, from setting to characters to plot to symbolism. The race to the finish line mentality required to win NaNo doesn't allow time for any of that. What you (general you) end up with at the end of NaNo is not a publishable manuscript (heck, 50,000 does not even qualify as a novel in my opinion). Most people will not then have the knowledge, tools, time, and dedication to take their NaNo manuscript and make it publishable. Editing and revision are hugely necessary steps and I think NaNo sort of brushes them aside.

tl;dr

HA is a writing snob who thinks NaNo is a gimmick

[browncoatslytherin]

Disclaimers aside, I think that NaNo encourages the wrong kind of writing. For a novel to be good it needs to be planned and plotted and outlined. Thought needs to be given to every element of a story, from setting to characters to plot to symbolism. The race to the finish line mentality required to win NaNo doesn't allow time for any of that. What you (general you) end up with at the end of NaNo is not a publishable manuscript (heck, 50,000 does not even qualify as a novel in my opinion). Most people will not then have the knowledge, tools, time, and dedication to take their NaNo manuscript and make it publishable. Editing and revision are hugely necessary steps and I think NaNo sort of brushes them aside.

i do agree with those points, which is where i think the individual writer qualities come into play. certainly there are participating writers who just write write write and don't consider the quality of the writing and then don't really do shit with it, and those people irk the bejeezus out of me because i always considered nano to be the start of a story, not the completion of one. i definitely wouldn't say my initial end results of nano is publishable by december 1st, but i've at least gotten out a story that i've actually plotted out for several months. i never started on november 1st with the barest of ideas in mind, my writing group and i always spent the time leading up to the 1st plotting what we wanted to do, maybe doing some researching, and then used the motivation to get it all out so we could see it before we did editing. we called december "editing month" because we spent time going through our story (or stories, in my case, for one year) and editing, revising, and sometimes completely rewriting.

with adhd, i'm the queen of procrastination, so getting a story finished is an achievement in and of itself :lol: i also really love the editing process as well (maybe even more than the writing itself sometimes) so the next month after nano is the time i really looked forward to.

tl;dr, i agree and disagree, and am not trying to change anyone's mind regarding participating or not participating in nano, just shedding a little more light on my own experiences with it and how i use it. :dance:

[happy atheist]

I have no desire to start a rumble over NaNoWriMo. :wink-penguin:

If it works for you, have fun. It's just totally not for me.

[FJismyheadship]

I'm doing mine in a journal format. I'm just not so good with leading into a story properly. I ramble on entirely too long and by the time I get to the good part, you would have already lost interest with me trying to describe what I'm trying to describe. For some reason, a journal format is easier... Maybe because its taking it on a day by day basis.

I too have ADHD and suck at trying to get stuff done. Unless there's a true purpose behind it... I made a friend of mine a doll that looked like her, and that thing was hard, but it was her birthday present and dammit I'm gonna finish it! It forced me to be creative and actually get the thing done by a deadline. Its a lot easier for me to drop out of Nano halfway through than it is to stop the damn doll. I guess cause I wanted my friend to have something special.

[happy atheist]

I'm doing mine in a journal format. I'm just not so good with leading into a story properly. I ramble on entirely too long and by the time I get to the good part, you would have already lost interest with me trying to describe what I'm trying to describe. For some reason, a journal format is easier... Maybe because its taking it on a day by day basis.

I too have ADHD and suck at trying to get stuff done. Unless there's a true purpose behind it... I made a friend of mine a doll that looked like her, and that thing was hard, but it was her birthday present and dammit I'm gonna finish it! It forced me to be creative and actually get the thing done by a deadline. Its a lot easier for me to drop out of Nano halfway through than it is to stop the damn doll. I guess cause I wanted my friend to have something special.

Do you mean that the story will be told as journal entries? Or that you will treat writing it like you're writing in a journal and then later pull the parts you like and put them in a more traditional format?

[FJismyheadship]

It will be told as a journal.

I used to read the Dear America series and loved that way of telling the story.

[happy atheist]

It will be told as a journal.

I used to read the Dear America series and loved that way of telling the story.

Do you have a plot/subject/topic in mind, or are you just going to wing it?

[browncoatslytherin]

It will be told as a journal.

I used to read the Dear America series and loved that way of telling the story.

i loved reading those! i devoured quite a few of them.

i'm not sure if they were in the same series, but they also had ones "written" by young marie antoinette and anastasia romanova. i couldn't get enough of these kinds of books growing up.

[FJismyheadship]

Do you have a plot/subject/topic in mind, or are you just going to wing it?

I have been considering trying to write a story about a Quiverful girl... but I'm not sure. It has been in my head for a long time, but I'm kind of afraid that I couldn't tell it properly since I only know what I know based on other peoples experiences. I've debated it for a while, but Cynthia Jeub really made me want to do it even more. I just jope I could pull it off.

[FJismyheadship]

i loved reading those! i devoured quite a few of them.

i'm not sure if they were in the same series, but they also had ones "written" by young marie antoinette and anastasia romanova. i couldn't get enough of these kinds of books growing up.

I think they were the same series, I remember the one about Anastasia.

I always tried to get into My Name Is America, but they never quite worked the same way for me. Not sure if it was the writers, or what. Some of them were pretty good, others I thought "This is boring" and put it down.

[dairyfreelife]

I think they were the same series, I remember the one about Anastasia.

I always tried to get into My Name Is America, but they never quite worked the same way for me. Not sure if it was the writers, or what. Some of them were pretty good, others I thought "This is boring" and put it down.

I just gave away all my series. No room for them and do not read them anymore. I hope some child will like them. I read a lot of them back in elementary school. Gave almost all of my Baby-Sitters Club and Little Sister and spin-off Kids in Ms. Colman's Class books along with Junie B. Jones and other children's books away as well. I used to read the Berenstein Bears books, but holy shit, anyone see those lately. They appear to have gotten all crazy Christian. Looks like after Stan died, son Mike took over and he's apparently a fundie-lite guy so now they are not fun themes of going to school or camp or typical kid problems and life, but religious and overly preachy. Some of the old ones could have some preachy themes about being good and eating right and stuff, but not like the new ones, not even close.

Anyway, NaNoWriMo is almost here. About one week away. I am getting myself geared up and planning on how many words to write each day. I am doing minimum 2000. That's partly because I will not be able to write for a couple days of the month, so getting ahead it best. Thanksgiving is totally off-limits. Too busy. Next day and day before will be minimal with writing time as well. I will have to see if I am complete it. I hope so.

[crazyforkate]

I think they were the same series, I remember the one about Anastasia.

I always tried to get into My Name Is America, but they never quite worked the same way for me. Not sure if it was the writers, or what. Some of them were pretty good, others I thought "This is boring" and put it down.

They were published under the same umbrella, along with Dear Canada and I think an Australian equivalent. I would dearly love to re-read them at some point - they were a lot of fun.

Also, Anastasia was by far my favourite. It was responsible for the whole Russian obsession that culminated in my year in Russia. I wound up visiting both her birthplace and her grave. Thanks, Anastasia writer.

[happy atheist]

They were published under the same umbrella, along with Dear Canada and I think an Australian equivalent. I would dearly love to re-read them at some point - they were a lot of fun.

Also, Anastasia was by far my favourite. It was responsible for the whole Russian obsession that culminated in my year in Russia. I wound up visiting both her birthplace and her grave. Thanks, Anastasia writer.

The Peter and Paul Fortress is very cool, but what's with that wacky-ass statue of Peter the Great with the baby head?

[FJismyheadship]

OMG theres a Dear Canada and an Australian equivalent!? Must have! Must read!

I still read Dear America sometimes.

[FJismyheadship]

Would a 12 year old sheltered fundie girl sound the same at 15 or 18?

Can I put Bill Gothard in my story since its labeled fiction or do I need to create a Gothard like character?

[dairyfreelife]

Would a 12 year old sheltered fundie girl sound the same at 15 or 18?

Can I put Bill Gothard in my story since its labeled fiction or do I need to create a Gothard like character?

I'd do a Gothard-like character. Better that way. Leave it suspicious a bit. :D

[crazyforkate]

So, I've given myself a bit of a handicap due to the massive amount of writing needed for my graduate applications, and for the recaps (since I know you can't live without my trenchant commentary on how Modern Family sucks now), but I'm going to make an effort. Two efforts, actually - an original story and a Harry Potter fanfiction, because no matter how old you get, you can never shed the nerdiness!