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Discussion: Anyone else doing NaNoWriMo this year?
I'm definitely doing NaNoWriMo this year. It'll be a sequel to my previous book, A Circlet of Stones. I already know that title and have all the chapters roughly planned out. I can't wait for November!
I've got a new thriller planned. Called, The Wizard of Pioneer Square, it tells the story of what happens when the homeless start making money by taking the cans and bottles from people's recycle bins and someone starts killing them. NaNoWriMo is, as Cloister says, a kick in the pants. It is also a way to motivate yourself to get that novel done.
I'm very torn this year and fear that I will not have an effective entry for NaNoWriMo. I've been planning a book for several months, but it is no where near to being ready to write and unfortunately, contrary to what Cloister says, I don't have time in the next two months to plan. My back-up story (Stocks & Bondage) is the third in the Dag Hamaar/Deb Riley mysteries. I may start it, but I don't have the confidence this year that I'll be able to wrap it up in November. I've won the past four years and put an extra novel in a year ago for good measure. But I realy have to start polishing some of these up and getting them in the old submission bin!
Wayzgoose
Hey, nobody said that your first draft has to be good. Ready or not, at least in writing it (the one you've been planning, that is) you'll figure out what ought to be in it even if you can't manage to put that in it the first time around.
But you're right. I too have been dragging my heels on getting last year's NaNo effort cleaned up. How about this: I'll race you to being the first one with two entries in the Submissions area!
Sign up for National Novel Writing Month at www.nanowrimo.org starting October 1!
Cloister's active submissions:
The Fallen
I won't be able to do. Can't travel right now.
The cool thing about NaNoWriMo is that you can do it from the comfort of whereever you are. At the very minimum, all you need to do is write 50,000 words in November. Of course, it is more fun if you can log on to the website and share your experiences with the thousands of others doing the same thing.
Gary
I'm sure that for people who write regularly NaNoWriMo is just fantastic but I just can't get past the thought of horrible pain as you try to cram the sheer volume of typing necessary for a novel into a month. Can you even feel your hands afterwards?
You've gotta suffer for your art. Blurry eyes, sleep deprevation, carpal tunnel - That's what you get for trying to entertain people. The scary part is that I've come to like it. It's like being an adrenaline junkie, but instead of a bungie cord, I have three chapters to get done before I gotta meet with the court appointed shrink.
Frank
Fhoyt's active submissions:
Daphne's Footprints
Yeah but you use Aquavit to numb the pain. you must have it the hardest though since you don't have your own computer. 50,000 words in a month typed at random on any free computer? Now that's extreme.
Weirdly, in terms of the physical work of typing, cramming a whole novel into a month isn't really that hard. I've found that I can do about 1000 words an hour of first draft material that doesn't totally suck (and I've heard from people who go considerably faster than that). So, in 50 to 60 hours over the month--call it two hours a day--you can put out a novel.
Fhoyt's right, though, the wrists do suffer a bit. But, that's why god invented ergonomic keyboards and wrist-braces, right? Works for me, anyway...
Sign up for National Novel Writing Month at www.nanowrimo.org starting October 1!
Cloister's active submissions:
The Fallen
I won't have the time. I'm busy re-editing my manuscript with some help. BTW, Cloister, you might want to check it out my excerpt and tell me what you think. I understand now what you were talking about with the dialogue.
I'm working furiously myself to edit last year's manuscript before NaNoWriMo starts. If I don't finish it before starting the next one, I know I never will. And darn it, it's too good a story to let that happen!
I just looked again at your submission. I posted about it in the discussion thread for it.
Sign up for National Novel Writing Month at www.nanowrimo.org starting October 1!
Cloister's active submissions:
The Fallen
I'd enter Nanowrimo but the maximum word count is 50000. My novel's around 80000 so I guess I wouldn't qualify. I did some minute changes that should clarify a few points.
No no. the MINIMUM word count to "win" is 50k. My first NaNoWriMo novel came in at 110k. It has something to do with the industry standards for novels versus novellas. I think that short stories go from 0 to 17500 words, novellas go from 17500 to 45000 or something, and novels are anything longer than that. So NaNoWriMo (what with "novel" being in its name and all) sets the bar for winning in the low end of the range for being a novel.
Sign up for National Novel Writing Month at www.nanowrimo.org starting October 1!
Cloister's active submissions:
The Fallen
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I'm a total NaNoWriMo junkie, so I pretty well have to. This year I'm doing a sci-fi/horror story. What are you planning?
And for those who haven't tried NaNoWriMo, what are you waiting for? It's a kick in the pants, I tell you. And you have plenty of time between now and November 1st (when it starts) to plan out a story.
Cloister's active submissions:
The Fallen