Who's doing NaNoWriMo this year?

[molecule]

Any FJers giving NaNoWriMo a whirl?

[littlemommy]

Me, in a way...not really doing a novel, but participate on a fanfic site where a big group of us are doing NaNoWriMo with our stories. I spent most of my writing time on day 1 just kind of staring into space. Off to a rip roaring start!

[molecule]

I tried it five years ago on a whim and didn't even start until the 2nd or 3rd. I had no clue what I was going to write but made it to about 16,000 words. This year I actually wrote an outline and came up with an idea ahead of time. I've discovered that 1) I'm no further ahead than I would have been without an outline, and 2) I have zero imagination. Gonna be a long month.

[clueliss]

I meant to plan, or outline or something.  But October got away from me.  This is my busy time of year at work.  (Late September through Mid-February).  I was going to do this.  I signed up to do this.  I thought I knew what I was going to do.  And nope.  Then I wasn't going to do this and then today driving to work characters were babbling away.  So I started.  Not o what I had planned on.  Something else.  it will be a big honking out of order mess.  We'll see how far I get (and I do have wins under my belt).  I've re-crunched my numbers and 1786 words/day for today and the rest of the month (since I missed the first two days).  

[browncoatslytherin]

On 11/3/2017 at 1:13 PM, littlemommy said:

Me, in a way...not really doing a novel, but participate on a fanfic site where a big group of us are doing NaNoWriMo with our stories. I spent most of my writing time on day 1 just kind of staring into space. Off to a rip roaring start!

which fanfic site? i'm doing something similar with my wip fics, though so far one fic (a new one, go figure) has been taking up most of my word count. whoops lol. i really need to deviate my attention soon here, cuz i have some that are coming up on a month since i updated and i don't like to go more than a month between updates.

[littlemommy]

I post on both fanfiction.net and archive of our own. I’ve got about 6k words on a story but I highly suspect that 5,900 of them are really awful. Luckily one of the people from my group is being encouraging via email. That’s one of the greatest things about the internet—here I am in Virginia and someone in Sweden is emailing me positive thoughts.

[molecule]

I've decided that if I reach 35,000 words by the end of the month, I'll feel good about myself. I'm trying to write one or two chapters each day, making sure I have a couple notes or the first few sentences of the next chapter before exit Scrivener.

[browncoatslytherin]

23 hours ago, littlemommy said:

I post on both fanfiction.net and archive of our own. I’ve got about 6k words on a story but I highly suspect that 5,900 of them are really awful. Luckily one of the people from my group is being encouraging via email. That’s one of the greatest things about the internet—here I am in Virginia and someone in Sweden is emailing me positive thoughts.

that's awesome! and, honestly, when you're doing something like nano, you're not striving for a complete story, just a first draft you can go back and edit to your heart's content. so don't worry about it being crap, you've gotten stuff written, and that's what is important right now!

 

i'm also on ao3, too.  i had an ffnet account, but i lost the login info and i no longer have access to the same e-mail. i fell in love with ao3's layout anyway, so i transferred most of my stuff over there. the ao3 fb group is a lifesaver, i swear, in all things writing. if you get a chance to look me up on the site, my primary pseud there is emmadilla (ShotgunOpera for my old stuff, to match my ffnet username).

 

my current word count: 16,723. but a lot of what is fueling those numbers is a skyrim role-play, the part of which i'm writing i've already played *in game*, so it's not like i'm making it up out of thin air, like some of my other stories. that does make it just a tad easier.  

[clueliss]

I prefer the term Zero Draft.  A term I learned in an online writing class earlier this year.   The zero draft is where you tell yourself the story.  From there you can for. The first draft.  Although I’m not sure what to consider the mess I have going.

[browncoatslytherin]

haha, i've not heard that term before, but it sounds pretty spot on! sometimes the hardest part really is just getting it out in the first place. i've been getting better at it (even finishing a couple of multi-chapter fics, huzzah), but sometimes i still just need that *push* that nano seems to give me.

[hisboyelroy]

I LOVE the term zero draft! I think it was Dan Harmon who called throwing out ideas that weren't meant for consumption "spit drafts," as in you just spit out your idea, which is how I usually to refer to those first attempts. 

I've never successfully done nanowrimo because I always forget about it and start too late in the month, lol. But I've been very good about writing lately-- I've actually written more this year than I have since I was a teenager (Thanks correct medical diagnosis!) and I hope to keep it up. So maybe I'll dust off my old account, idk. Is it against the spirit of the rules to start nanowrimo in the middle of a WIP fanfic and just continue slogging? It's a big one and probably still won't be finished if I did 1.5k a day. 

 

 

[browncoatslytherin]

not at all, the only "rules" for nanowrimo is that you write. i'm using it to motivate me in updating (and possibly finishing at least one) of my wip fics. so i'd say you're good to go.  

[littlemommy]

2 minutes ago, hisboyelroy said:

I LOVE the term zero draft! I think it was Dan Harmon who called throwing out ideas that weren't meant for consumption "spit drafts," as in you just spit out your idea, which is how I usually to refer to those first attempts. 

I've never successfully done nanowrimo because I always forget about it and start too late in the month, lol. But I've been very good about writing lately-- I've actually written more this year than I have since I was a teenager (Thanks correct medical diagnosis!) and I hope to keep it up. So maybe I'll dust off my old account, idk. Is it against the spirit of the rules to start nanowrimo in the middle of a WIP fanfic and just continue slogging? It's a big one and probably still won't be finished if I did 1.5k a day. 

 

 

Why not? If the point is to write, then writing anything is good! Sometimes finishing something that has been in progress and stalled a long time can be even more intimidating that starting something new. I say go for it!

I have high hopes for tomorrow, because I have to drive my kids to their weekly music lesson. Because their teacher moved away and we wanted to stick with him, the drive is about an hour each way. I typically do my best thinking/plot pointing during that drive, because I can’t distract myself with anything else. Besides, you know, *driving*. 

[hisboyelroy]

Okay, I'm in. Dusted off my old account! 

[molecule]

I also use the "zero draft" term, and I have no problems with my drafts being very drafty (i.e., full of holes). Just today I wrote something like, "Write in some details about the crappy TV show she is watching to set things up for the dream she is going to have once I figure out what the dream is." My notes to myself about pieces of the story count, as far as I'm concerned.

[clueliss]

I learned the term from writer Linda Rodriguez.   I may also like that spit ball draft term.

[littlemommy]

11 hours ago, browncoatslytherin said:

i'm also on ao3, too.  i had an ffnet account, but i lost the login info and i no longer have access to the same e-mail. i fell in love with ao3's layout anyway, so i transferred most of my stuff over there. the ao3 fb group is a lifesaver, i swear, in all things writing. if you get a chance to look me up on the site, my primary pseud there is emmadilla (ShotgunOpera for my old stuff, to match my ffnet username).

Found you! I read the first chap of one of your Avengers fics—that’s the fandom I’m in, too, somehow.  Actually, I know how. I wanted to write, I wanted to write something I knew something about, and my boys had just finished watching a bazillion episdoes of “The Avengers” on Netflix. Yes, all of my knowledge comes from a cartoon, and later the movies (and I haven’t even watched all of them, because I suck). 

So I’m hoping your NaNoWriMo is an Avengers one so I can read it! I also left you a comment because comments are the best. The absolute best. 

[singsingsing]

Hey guys, checking in! I've been doing NaNo every year since 2003. I used to win and lose about once every other year, but for the past 3-4 I've lost every time.  Determined to break the losing streak this year, however! I was really on a roll for the first few days, but then I had a couple of 'blah' days and got behind. Not too far behind, though. I'm at about 9500 words and I'm supposed to be at 15000 today, which is totally doable. So I'll be spending the day trying to catch up on NaNo.

I usually write some sort of historical fantasy, often young adult. I was going to write about adults this year, but then my characters randomly transformed into teenagers before my very eyes.

All right. Off to write 6000 words! 

[littlemommy]

I’m finally getting on a roll as well and have finished a rough draft of a short story. I’m trying to decide if I want to try and crank another first draft out for pure word count or to spend that time revising and improving the first story instead. Maybe a little from column A, a little from column B. 

[browncoatslytherin]

On 11/6/2017 at 7:56 AM, littlemommy said:

Found you! I read the first chap of one of your Avengers fics—that’s the fandom I’m in, too, somehow.  Actually, I know how. I wanted to write, I wanted to write something I knew something about, and my boys had just finished watching a bazillion episdoes of “The Avengers” on Netflix. Yes, all of my knowledge comes from a cartoon, and later the movies (and I haven’t even watched all of them, because I suck). 

So I’m hoping your NaNoWriMo is an Avengers one so I can read it! I also left you a comment because comments are the best. The absolute best. 

ah, so that was you! haha. well, my nano is really just motivation for updating all of my wip fics (and my personal goal is to finish at least one, and I'm within two chapters of doing so with one of my supernatural fics!). i did just update the second installment of that avengers story, though.  so, avengers stuff is definitely included.

 

current word count: 29,365.

[browncoatslytherin]

i just posted the next to last chapter for one of my wip fics! i am SO CLOSE to my personal goal of finishing at least one of my ongoing stories. ahhhhh i'm gonna be so excited once i finish! (and yet sad because i love the character i'm writing)

 

current total word count for nano: 32,582

[browncoatslytherin]

anyone feel like they're stalling? my word count is sitting at 36,641, which is progress, but i haven't actually finished a chapter for one story yet. instead, i've been going between like three different stories and writing stuff for each one but not completing anything yet. urg. i'm starting to get really annoyed with myself lol. i mean, i guess it's a good thing that i'm writing SOMETHING, but i'd still like to be FINISHING something.

[clueliss]

I hit 25k today.  It is not fiction.  It is more the mad ramblings of a lunatic assembled into a single file.  It is getting my mind back to a place where once the 50k is complete I can set about the work of plot, character and writing at a pace that makes much more sense.

[littlemommy]

I’m nowhere close to a specific wordcount, but I did get the first half of a planned out, written, and edited story posted. I was pretty happy about that—I’ll get the second half done next week and consider it a success.

[browncoatslytherin]

i hit 40,540 words today, but MORE IMPORTANTLY, i finally finished one of my wip fics, which was one of my personal goals for nano! i feel incredibly accomplished, as even though it was a fairly short story (nine chapters, which for my fics, if it's not a one-shot, it's closer to an epic lol), it's finished and i can move on to working on other fics (which, i've been working on two other fics today).