Post by: Doomblade187 on October 19, 2013, 10:23:39 pm
If you have anything you want me to put on the OP, just ask, and I'll get around to it.
If you don't know what NaNoWriMo is/are new to it, look below:
Spoiler: All You Really Need to Know About NaNoWriMo (click to show/hide)
Links of Note:
nanowrimo.org (http://nanowrimo.org/)
nanocountdown.com (http://nanocountdown.com/)
Spoiler: Writing Tracker Widgets (From those who want them up here) (click to show/hide)
Post by: monk12 on October 19, 2013, 10:44:29 pm
On the plus side, while last year I only had a working title ("Stuff Happens and Junk") this time around I have a legit title: "Harald the Hero." Still a little underwhelming, but it fits the plot and is probably the best title I'll come up with.
Post by: Skyrunner on October 19, 2013, 11:10:40 pm
Post by: Xantalos on October 19, 2013, 11:15:07 pm
Post by: Darkmere on October 19, 2013, 11:36:34 pm
Post by: Willfor on October 19, 2013, 11:46:45 pm
... wait. O_o;
Post by: lue on October 20, 2013, 12:52:41 am
I've also a charter of a fake secret organization written up that I wrote during the last couple of months of high school last year, the organization being prime novel material. Part of me says "YES GO FOR IT", while the rest of me says "you'll be bored in a week".
I think I might just go for it, but if anyone reading this can predict how much joy I'd derive from this, that would be swell.
*and four more not-novels.
Post by: Darkmere on October 20, 2013, 01:01:43 am
Should I try this?
Why not? Worst that can happen is you don't finish.
Post by: lue on October 20, 2013, 01:12:03 am
That's what mind my said as I was writing that post :DShould I try this?
Why not? Worst that can happen is you don't finish.
Post by: Descan on October 20, 2013, 02:10:01 am
Post by: sjm9876 on October 20, 2013, 02:12:03 am
Post by: NobodyPro on October 20, 2013, 02:16:11 am
Maybe I can hammer out something rough-edged in six days.
Post by: Sappho on October 20, 2013, 04:11:52 am
"If you only write when you're inspired, you might make a fairly decent poet, but you will never be a novelist."
I've started and never finished many novels. I have finished many short stories but almost none worth publishing - they all needed more work and I get bored and forget about projects too easily. It's time I finished something. I have some notes and a very loose plan. I'll keep thinking about it and see what I come up with.
Post by: Digital Hellhound on October 20, 2013, 05:16:32 am
Post by: USEC_OFFICER on October 20, 2013, 09:42:58 am
Post by: Caz on October 20, 2013, 10:12:47 am
Nano name is 'cazp', feel free to buddy me.
Post by: Doomblade187 on October 20, 2013, 10:48:25 am
Post by: lue on October 20, 2013, 03:52:16 pm
I'm "rnddim" for those who wish to add me as a buddy.
EDIT: I think I'm off to a good start. I just opened up five tabs on various interesting threads I spotted in their forums.
Post by: Un67 on October 20, 2013, 03:56:04 pm
Post by: kilakan on October 20, 2013, 04:14:24 pm
Post by: Aqizzar on October 20, 2013, 04:58:50 pm
The problem is, I have absolutely no idea what I would write. I've considered using a plot generator to give me a hook and see what happens, but I get the feeling anything I try to write as a contained story on a brand new concept would just be some high-concept narrative that fills a lot of paragraphs but never really goes anywhere. I've also got a ton of other shit I want to be doing that a month of focus would kill even more than laziness already has.
Also, isn't the definition of a novel 40,000 words? I seem to remember that being the standard for NaNoWriMo in years past, why is it 50,000 now?
Post by: Willfor on October 20, 2013, 05:03:03 pm
Post by: Aqizzar on October 20, 2013, 05:07:25 pm
I'd say it makes the task sound more daunting, but I suppose 25% more than 40k isn't that big a difference if you can make it to 40k anyway.
Post by: itisnotlogical on October 20, 2013, 11:08:38 pm
Post by: Darkmere on October 20, 2013, 11:23:16 pm
Post by: Sirus on October 20, 2013, 11:44:03 pm
Post by: Skyrunner on October 21, 2013, 01:25:00 am
Post by: SirAaronIII on October 21, 2013, 01:30:47 am
Sadly, don't think I'll join this year because I'm busy-busy but PTW anyway.
Post by: Sappho on October 21, 2013, 01:48:40 am
Post by: Darkmere on October 21, 2013, 02:42:58 am
I just spent a couple hours doing a rough character sheet and chronology for ~20 major events in my novel, so I'm enthusiastic, tired, and off to a decent start I think. the notes .doc came out to exactly 1337 words. Tomorrow... world-building!
Post by: anzki4 on October 21, 2013, 03:02:33 am
Post by: Caz on October 21, 2013, 06:36:56 am
I just spent a couple hours doing a rough character sheet and chronology for ~20 major events in my novel, so I'm enthusiastic, tired, and off to a decent start I think. the notes .doc came out to exactly 1337 words. Tomorrow... world-building!
Woah, organised. I've wrote a 4-line synopsis and will wing it from there. :P
Post by: Kashyyk on October 21, 2013, 08:09:10 am
Post by: USEC_OFFICER on October 21, 2013, 08:17:36 am
And, uh... I'm definitely not going to go write up a plot sheet right now.
Post by: notquitethere on October 21, 2013, 09:15:21 am
Post by: sjm9876 on October 21, 2013, 11:23:05 am
Post by: Sirus on October 21, 2013, 11:36:48 am
Post by: notquitethere on October 21, 2013, 11:39:21 am
I just spent a couple hours doing a rough character sheet and chronology for ~20 major events in my novel, so I'm enthusiastic, tired, and off to a decent start I think. the notes .doc came out to exactly 1337 words. Tomorrow... world-building!Do you have a particular schema you follow for these notes or are you just writing down what comes to you as it comes?
Post by: inEQUALITY on October 21, 2013, 12:23:47 pm
This year I'm putting more effort into it. Or planning to. I guess I'll have to see how that pans out. :P
Post by: Zanzetkuken The Great on October 21, 2013, 12:29:10 pm
Post by: Darkmere on October 21, 2013, 01:23:53 pm
I just spent a couple hours doing a rough character sheet and chronology for ~20 major events in my novel, so I'm enthusiastic, tired, and off to a decent start I think. the notes .doc came out to exactly 1337 words. Tomorrow... world-building!Do you have a particular schema you follow for these notes or are you just writing down what comes to you as it comes?
I... sort of write what comes out as it comes to me, while organizing it in an outline format once most of it is down. Here's the general idea I used for Crawl, my nano novel:
Spoiler: for length (click to show/hide)
Once that's out, if interesting things come to me I just add it where it should reasonably go. The world-building documents will probably look and read like small dungeon maps of a D&D module, with mostly environment details that I can reference later on for consistency of details and setting.
I should point out that I have to do this to keep me focused and on-task later when crunch-time shows up and I can't afford to faff about re-plotting stuff that doesn't quite "fit" in mid-November. The more I get done now, the more I can focus on getting from A to B in a timely fashion later.
Post by: Zanzetkuken The Great on October 21, 2013, 03:43:56 pm
Post by: Sirus on October 21, 2013, 03:45:58 pm
Post by: Xantalos on October 21, 2013, 04:02:08 pm
Post by: Caz on October 21, 2013, 07:51:09 pm
Also, are we doing that IRC channel for word war purposes like last year? They really help to get the wordflow going, imo.
Post by: Darkmere on October 21, 2013, 10:40:45 pm
Post by: lue on October 21, 2013, 10:47:34 pm
Post by: sjm9876 on October 22, 2013, 12:50:21 pm
What do you guys listen to when you write - if anything? Right now I'm digging the atmospheric orchestral tunes by Dan Johansen (http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/491990).Depends on the scene. Something rock based usually, anything from acoustic to metal depending on the pace.
Post by: cango on October 22, 2013, 02:49:25 pm
Post by: monk12 on October 22, 2013, 02:52:11 pm
is there a prize for winning this?
Self-satisfaction
Post by: cango on October 22, 2013, 02:55:16 pm
is there a prize for winning this?
Self-satisfaction
then i will just link my work in this thread
Post by: majikero on October 22, 2013, 03:26:01 pm
Post by: Sirus on October 22, 2013, 03:57:07 pm
Post by: monk12 on October 22, 2013, 04:13:57 pm
Post by: Un67 on October 22, 2013, 05:23:19 pm
Some helpful links:
http://www.litlift.com/ - Story planning website, you can write chapter outlines, characters, settings, and other things that I may have forgotten. Very useful.
http://client02.chat.mibbit.com/#nano@irc.darkmyst.net/ - IRC we used last year.
Post by: lue on October 22, 2013, 05:45:23 pm
(And at some point I'll go through this thread and buddy everyone I haven't yet.)
Post by: WillowLuman on October 22, 2013, 05:47:30 pm
Post by: Doomblade187 on October 22, 2013, 08:51:25 pm
Post by: inEQUALITY on October 23, 2013, 03:41:33 pm
What do you guys listen to when you write - if anything? Right now I'm digging the atmospheric orchestral tunes by Dan Johansen (http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/491990).
When I'm writing scifi, I listen to dubstep mixes almost exclusively; with fantasy, I usually have the 'epic music mega mixes' from youtube playing in the background.
Post by: lue on October 23, 2013, 04:11:43 pm
I think I might have to walk away from that organization for this novel, but then I have no clue what else to do. I think I may need to sit down tonight, type out every single story idea and fragment and secret cabal and who-knows-what is floating around in my brain, and then sort it all out.
Grr.
Post by: Sirus on October 23, 2013, 04:13:51 pm
Post by: Lectorog on October 23, 2013, 04:33:34 pm
The problem there is that I'm thinking too much about the secret organization, and I have no idea which story about it to tell. (And, because it'll be the first story I concretely set down about it, it would also irreversibly shape how future stories with that organization involved turn out. No pressure.)Just think about them doing normal stuff and what would happen from there. That's generally the smoothest transition for new readers.
If there's something about the story that you'd prefer went a different way, or didn't happen at all, just change it later. Continuity is overrated.
So how worried should I be about historical accuracy in a novel featuring Romans in Space? Not aliens with a culture similar to the Romans, mind, but the actual Ancient Roman Empire in space.Not at all, because the ancient Roman Empire could never have been In Space in its exact form?
Post by: Flying Dice on October 23, 2013, 04:34:24 pm
So how worried should I be about historical accuracy in a novel featuring Romans in Space? Not aliens with a culture similar to the Romans, mind, but the actual Ancient Roman Empire in space.I'm about 95% sure it has already been done. Not just the legion mentioned in passing in The Excalibur Alternative, either. That's the nice part about using historical entities in Alt-Hist/future settings: you can play with their cultural norms and artifacts all you want while handwaving the mistakes as intentional changes. You can call your beamswords gladii and nobody will bat an eye. :P
____
I've got a novel idea for a novel and a few ideas for novel-length fanfics, but I've got a ton of papers due midway through November, so between that and my inherent laziness I'm not sure how much will get written.
Post by: lue on October 23, 2013, 04:38:05 pm
So how worried should I be about historical accuracy in a novel featuring Romans in Space? Not aliens with a culture similar to the Romans, mind, but the actual Ancient Roman Empire in space.
The easy way out we be to say: towards the end of the Roman Empire, there was the original Western Empire, the Eastern Empire, and a Spacebound Empire. Then any inaccuracies can be chalked up to "it's a different sect of the empire" :P
After all, Douglas Adams transitioned from "dead in space" to "miraculous rescue". :) I'll be sure to take that "normal stuff and see what happens" advice into account when sorting out my idea center later.The problem there is that I'm thinking too much about the secret organization, and I have no idea which story about it to tell. (And, because it'll be the first story I concretely set down about it, it would also irreversibly shape how future stories with that organization involved turn out. No pressure.)Just think about them doing normal stuff and what would happen from there. That's generally the smoothest transition for new readers.
If there's something about the story that you'd prefer went a different way, or didn't happen at all, just change it later. Continuity is overrated.
Post by: Sirus on October 23, 2013, 04:40:19 pm
Really? Damn, I was afraid of that but I guess I shouldn't be overly-surprised. Oh well, its still the best idea I have at the moment :PSo how worried should I be about historical accuracy in a novel featuring Romans in Space? Not aliens with a culture similar to the Romans, mind, but the actual Ancient Roman Empire in space.I'm about 95% sure it has already been done. Not just the legion mentioned in passing in The Excalibur Alternative, either. That's the nice part about using historical entities in Alt-Hist/future settings: you can play with their cultural norms and artifacts all you want while handwaving the mistakes as intentional changes. You can call your beamswords gladii and nobody will bat an eye. :P
No beamswords, but similar uniforms for the soldiers and similar army organization. Probably the biggest difference will be that soldiers are enlisted and equipped by the government rather than doing the historical thing and providing their own.
Post by: USEC_OFFICER on October 23, 2013, 04:53:26 pm
No beamswords, but similar uniforms for the soldiers and similar army organization. Probably the biggest difference will be that soldiers are enlisted and equipped by the government rather than doing the historical thing and providing their own.
In that case I'd try to be as accurate as possible to add in as much background flavour as possible. And if you have to make up ranks/info (I doubt that the Roman army was well organized for space combat) then try to fit them into the existing structure as much as possible. Alternatively introduce some Marian-like reforms into the backstory and completely restructure the army organization/structure while keeping some of the old names for the ranks. I could easily see both methods working well.
Post by: Flying Dice on October 23, 2013, 05:01:16 pm
Oh, no worries. It's more than fresh enough to work. Now, if you were writing yet another "zomg zombies" novel...Really? Damn, I was afraid of that but I guess I shouldn't be overly-surprised. Oh well, its still the best idea I have at the moment :PSo how worried should I be about historical accuracy in a novel featuring Romans in Space? Not aliens with a culture similar to the Romans, mind, but the actual Ancient Roman Empire in space.I'm about 95% sure it has already been done. Not just the legion mentioned in passing in The Excalibur Alternative, either. That's the nice part about using historical entities in Alt-Hist/future settings: you can play with their cultural norms and artifacts all you want while handwaving the mistakes as intentional changes. You can call your beamswords gladii and nobody will bat an eye. :P
No beamswords, but similar uniforms for the soldiers and similar army organization. Probably the biggest difference will be that soldiers are enlisted and equipped by the government rather than doing the historical thing and providing their own.
Post by: Sirus on October 23, 2013, 05:08:36 pm
Post by: WillowLuman on October 23, 2013, 05:17:02 pm
Post by: Descan on October 23, 2013, 05:50:24 pm
Post by: Sirus on October 23, 2013, 05:56:49 pm
I'd like to see a Mali Space Empire, or at least an Arabic Space Empire.Would have been my second option, but they aren't as instantly identifiable as the Roman Legionnaires and I don't know as much about them.
Post by: majikero on October 23, 2013, 08:30:18 pm
I'm not really sure where to go with the first one but the demon lord idea can be episodic with various "Hero of the week" showing up.
Post by: inEQUALITY on October 23, 2013, 09:37:36 pm
The main things I have to consider are: how have local fauna and flora adapted to such extremes (if they exist at all in any significant way), what natural resources have drawn colonists to the planet, how the planet can actually experience such extremes in such a short of time ('seasons' changing within a matter of days), what problems erupt, and how issues are dealt with especially once the extreme deep freeze settles in.
I think it'll be an interesting situation to explore. :D
Post by: Darkmere on October 23, 2013, 09:41:57 pm
So how worried should I be about historical accuracy in a novel featuring Romans in Space? Not aliens with a culture similar to the Romans, mind, but the actual Ancient Roman Empire in space.
*shrug* everything's been done before (the one I have in mind was a series about space rome vs every hitler from every universe where the nazis won. I forget the name). Don't worry about it, because you won't find an original idea that makes any kind of sense. Do what you wish, as accurate or not as you wish. Pedants will complain regardless; what matters is telling the story you want to tell the way you want to tell it.
Post by: Flying Dice on October 24, 2013, 12:38:45 am
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Xantalos on October 24, 2013, 12:40:15 am
Post by: Darkmere on October 24, 2013, 12:49:09 am
Hold on. You guys actually work out the things you're writing on before you start writing?
It beats the hell outta wasting time during the deadline guessing what should go somewhere to bloat wordcount.
I've actually not heard of a serious fiction writer who didn't have some kind of pre-write organization.
Post by: Xantalos on October 24, 2013, 12:52:56 am
Post by: Flying Dice on October 24, 2013, 12:54:39 am
Similarly, my ratio of time spent editing/proofreading/nitpicking/mentally falling apart at the seams because that sentence is WRONG and I don't know how to make it RIGHT to writing is something like 3,720:1.
If you figure out where those ratios are from without google, good on ya.
Post by: Darkmere on October 24, 2013, 01:47:24 am
Maybe I should actually try that instead of writing everything off the cuff.
My fiction professor was a dickbag, so I actually used to write entirely like that out of righteous spite (I got higher scores the less I worked on projects, topping out at literally starting 3 hours before the class and getting top marks). Then I realized his opinion was shit and started writing things I actually enjoyed, with notes and outlines ahead of time. My personal opinion of the quality greatly improved, so I count it a success.
In other news, I wrote a dreadfully inadequate synopsis for my novel. It's completely generic and boring.
Quote
An amnesiac soldier wakes up in an abandoned bunker and must traverse a perilous wasteland to recover secrets about her past.
I'm at a loss, though. The character's self-discovery is supposed to be part of the plot kick-off, so I can't name her or really SAY anything about the setup in a blurb. How far into a plot do you folks think is acceptable for a teaser?
@Flying Dice
Your descriptions sound like clerics, wizards, warlocks, and sorcerers. It's really hard for me to make a call based solely on those mechanics without context (which I completely understand you not wanting to give). If I'm reading it right, all but contractors could essentially do the same things just by tapping their "batteries" in different ways, with a contractor limit being how many critters s/he can get to agree to service. I would find it more interesting if the methods of magic had a larger effect on wielding those abilities. What are the limits of each discipline? Are studious people able to learn multiple disciplines, or are the places of learning insular and distrustful? Do contractors have a set list of "go-to guys" for specific tasks that they all share, or are employees jealously hoarded like True Names?
Post by: WillowLuman on October 24, 2013, 01:59:37 am
A very young supergenius in an otherwise entirely mundane world, trying to make real life more like a comic book. Mad science trying to create heroes/villains, eventually tries clumsy manipulation of sociopolitics. His unwitting older cousin is the protagonist and 3rd person POV focus.
OR
A travelling jester, serving at many courts, tries to spread his idealistic pacifism.
Post by: Darkmere on October 24, 2013, 02:05:24 am
A very young supergenius in an otherwise entirely mundane world, trying to make real life more like a comic book. Mad science trying to create heroes/villains, eventually tries clumsy manipulation of sociopolitics. His unwitting older cousin is the protagonist and 3rd person POV focus.
I think this one has much more cohesive potential unless you're prepared to go full-on Gulliver's Travels with the second, which could also work out well. Judging only by what's given, I'd choose the first.
Post by: Caz on October 24, 2013, 06:59:54 am
Similarly, my ratio of time spent editing/proofreading/nitpicking/mentally falling apart at the seams because that sentence is WRONG and I don't know how to make it RIGHT to writing is something like 3,720:1.
Ah, a writer after my own heart.
Post by: Caz on October 24, 2013, 07:04:05 am
For what it's worth, here's a brief explanation of some of the more esoteric worldbuilding behind the main novel idea I'm working on in the background:Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Sounds super interesting. I love the concept of the four different types of magic users. Magic systems in general are very interested to me. Are the worlds linked together by magic? I.e not in the same plane, but can be reached through some form of magical travel? If so, it's kinda similar about what I'm writing for NaNo - a wanderer who travels through the endless 'binder' of worlds as easily as a normal person walks down the street.
Post by: USEC_OFFICER on October 24, 2013, 07:35:40 am
The only problem I have with the idea is that I'm not entirely sure if I'll be able to fit enough plot bits between the bookends.
Post by: MrWillsauce on October 24, 2013, 07:43:40 am
Post by: notquitethere on October 24, 2013, 09:10:22 am
I wonder if six hundred pages of My Little Pony fan fiction counts as a novel.Yes, but letting anyone read it would be consider cruel and unusual punishment.
Post by: Descan on October 24, 2013, 10:25:44 am
TO THE RESEARCH
Post by: Flying Dice on October 24, 2013, 10:44:04 am
For what it's worth, here's a brief explanation of some of the more esoteric worldbuilding behind the main novel idea I'm working on in the background:Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Sounds super interesting. I love the concept of the four different types of magic users. Magic systems in general are very interested to me. Are the worlds linked together by magic? I.e not in the same plane, but can be reached through some form of magical travel? If so, it's kinda similar about what I'm writing for NaNo - a wanderer who travels through the endless 'binder' of worlds as easily as a normal person walks down the street.
Yes, multiple planes, but the energy requirement for either stable gates or single-use transit is prohibitively high for any single individual. Basically the only worlds that are sending people out regularly are the ones with highly organized magical communities capable of sustaining that sort of drain.
@Flying DiceEeh, the first is explicitly not coming from gods of any sort. They exist, on various levels of existence, but if they're involved with magic users at all, it's through contracting with obscenely powerful individuals. Basically the point is to make them all share enough to have a common frame of reference in terms of the effects of their powers, but the causes are different, as are the methods used to get the desired effect. It's theoretically possible to learn each of the first three, but that would end up making you a sub-par user because you'd at best be able to dedicate 1/3 as much time to any one as a normal user, and as the power levels don't scale linearly...
Your descriptions sound like clerics, wizards, warlocks, and sorcerers. It's really hard for me to make a call based solely on those mechanics without context (which I completely understand you not wanting to give). If I'm reading it right, all but contractors could essentially do the same things just by tapping their "batteries" in different ways, with a contractor limit being how many critters s/he can get to agree to service. I would find it more interesting if the methods of magic had a larger effect on wielding those abilities. What are the limits of each discipline? Are studious people able to learn multiple disciplines, or are the places of learning insular and distrustful? Do contractors have a set list of "go-to guys" for specific tasks that they all share, or are employees jealously hoarded like True Names?
Contracts vary, again, based on the relative power of a contractor and contractee. As a user gains experience with the system, they build a sort of resistance to the effects of a contract, making them monopolize their contractees more. A very weak god or very strong elemental spirit could contract with scores of weaker individuals, but with only one or two powerful ones.
Post by: WillowLuman on October 24, 2013, 12:35:45 pm
I might actually write that novel about an Arabic-descended "western" culture. Or a space-age Arabic culture.
TO THE RESEARCH
Or Native Americans who develop steam technology during the 1400s and colonize Europe.
Post by: monk12 on October 24, 2013, 12:43:13 pm
Hold on. You guys actually work out the things you're writing on before you start writing?
It beats the hell outta wasting time during the deadline guessing what should go somewhere to bloat wordcount.
I've actually not heard of a serious fiction writer who didn't have some kind of pre-write organization.
Last year I didn't, and while I didn't win I did end up with stuff that I liked. Then again, I've never been accused of being a serious fiction writer.
My ratio of time spent plotting/worldbuilding/characterbuilding to writing is something like 725:1.
Similarly, my ratio of time spent editing/proofreading/nitpicking/mentally falling apart at the seams because that sentence is WRONG and I don't know how to make it RIGHT to writing is something like 3,720:1.
If you figure out where those ratios are from without google, good on ya.
Of course, half the point of NaNo is to try and override that "perfect the first time" instinct and just vomit content for a month. If you like it in general, you can go back and edit things to sound less like garbage. If you edit as you go, progress is painfully slow, especially if you have to rewrite down the road.
Not even google helped me.
Which of these do you recommend?
A very young supergenius in an otherwise entirely mundane world, trying to make real life more like a comic book. Mad science trying to create heroes/villains, eventually tries clumsy manipulation of sociopolitics. His unwitting older cousin is the protagonist and 3rd person POV focus.
OR
A travelling jester, serving at many courts, tries to spread his idealistic pacifism.
Supergenius! The other one sounds interesting too, if you can pull it off, but the former sounds like it is both easier and further developed.
Oh my one week till NaNo aw shiiiiii
Post by: lue on October 24, 2013, 01:54:43 pm
Spoiler: "Thus The" (click to show/hide)
Writing this poem-ish thing taught me something about what kind of story I should write. I may prefer to think of stories involving overarching plots and themes and organizations, but I care too much about my conspiratorial organizations to just use them without considering how the story I would write factors in to everything. So I don't want to end up spending weeks trying to work out not only a full plot involving such organizations (because I need to know ahead of time what effects that plot will have on it), but then also working out the future of the organization after the fact.
It seems I'd be better suited towards a Douglas Adams/Terry Pratchett-y type novel. That is to say, very light and humorous, without sacrificing the story.
Post by: Flying Dice on October 25, 2013, 11:18:59 pm
I'm writing a Naruto fanfiction spoofing the canon, most of the common predilections in fanon, working in an M. Night Shyamalan-worthy crossover, and reconstructing the whole damned thing to actually be a (hopefully) interesting mix of political drama, gag comedy, Lovecraftian horror, and continually self-subverting fighting that teeters from grimdark wankery to nearly-as-stupid-as-canon shonen antics. God, the meta is stronk in this one. I mean, I bloody hate the actual work. I hate the fanbase. I hate about 98% of the stories. That's the problem, though, isn't it? There's that untapped potential created by a good idea that's been buried in the ground like a suplexed train mixed with the chance to poke fun at a bunch of wankers (both literal and British), and it calls to me like some sort of addictive, toxic metaphor.
If anyone wants a taste of the horror, I'll post or PM snippets. I finally bother writing something again and this is what I do? I think I must secretly hate myself. XD
Post by: USEC_OFFICER on October 26, 2013, 08:53:15 am
If anyone wants a taste of the horror, I'll post or PM snippets. I finally bother writing something again and this is what I do? I think I must secretly hate myself. XD
Please do. That sounds amazing.
Post by: SilverDragon on October 27, 2013, 11:06:10 pm
Post by: lue on October 27, 2013, 11:42:33 pm
Post by: Darkmere on October 28, 2013, 12:29:10 am
The Snowflake Method of planning (http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/snowflake-method/).
It got me out of a slump, because although it was similar to what I did, I never really went far enough with it before.
@Lue: Sounds very Hitchhiker's guide. I approve.
Post by: Caz on October 28, 2013, 07:21:31 am
How are you guys preparing?
Post by: Digital Hellhound on October 28, 2013, 09:06:29 am
4 days until NaNo... uh oh...
How are you guys preparing?
I think it might be about time to start planning.
Post by: Sirus on October 28, 2013, 09:24:36 am
Post by: Darkmere on October 28, 2013, 10:10:04 am
4 days until NaNo... uh oh...
How are you guys preparing?
10 single-spaced pages of character/plot/setting data so when November comes all I have to do is write on the notes I've done ahead of time. Most of my hard work is already done.
Post by: lue on October 28, 2013, 02:11:17 pm
4 days until NaNo... uh oh...By not thinking about it now that I have a story idea to jump from :) . Trying to keep a sustained interest in NaNo for the entire month is already going to be interesting, no sense making it worse by starting early.
How are you guys preparing?
(Besides, I'm more eager to write than plan, so there's another reason to wait.)
Post by: Kashyyk on October 28, 2013, 02:34:01 pm
Post by: sjm9876 on October 28, 2013, 02:36:36 pm
Post by: sjm9876 on October 28, 2013, 04:42:50 pm
It's a definite possibility.Attempting to suppress the urge to start writing already.Are you me?
Post by: Darkmere on October 28, 2013, 04:43:46 pm
Attempting to suppress the urge to start writing already.Are you me?
That's why I've been doing outlines like mad. It's the same creative process, I'm still writing the same story, it's just not technically in a novel draft format, so it's totally allowed.
Post by: Doomblade187 on October 28, 2013, 09:15:02 pm
I think that you might just be all of us.It's a definite possibility.Attempting to suppress the urge to start writing already.Are you me?
Post by: sjm9876 on October 29, 2013, 08:35:54 am
I am Bay 12. I am Legion.I think that you might just be all of us.It's a definite possibility.Attempting to suppress the urge to start writing already.Are you me?
Post by: inEQUALITY on October 29, 2013, 09:06:32 am
Post by: Sirus on October 29, 2013, 09:10:30 am
Post by: Aqizzar on October 29, 2013, 10:57:00 pm
Well, no ideas that I would hold up to the rigors of NaNoWriMo anyway.
Interestingly, I just met a person last night who has written several short stories and is desperately trying to get published, but never plans to face the challenge. Mainly because it's a challenge best suited for people who don't have full-time jobs.
Post by: quinnr on October 29, 2013, 11:10:35 pm
Am I the only one NOT having to resist the urge to start early? I've been feeling pretty lazy these last few months; I'm using NaNoWriMo to kick my butt back into gear with my writing. :PI had that urge when I remembered NaNo a couple weeks ago, but then I got so busy I have no time to start early, even if I wanted to.
Anyways, anyone check out the WriMoSongs page by Debs and Errol? Pretty awesome, can't see to see what they add as the month goes on:
http://wrimosongs.bandcamp.com/ All song sales are going to have the profit donated to NaNo, too.
Post by: Darkmere on October 29, 2013, 11:27:14 pm
people who don't have full-time jobs.
Sounds like making excuses :)
Someone from my home group is getting married Nov 3rd and going on a week long honeymoon, but still plans to try. There are at least a dozen others who are multi-year winners with full-time jobs, families, and/or are full-time students.
Anyways, anyone check out the WriMoSongs page by Debs and Errol? Pretty awesome, can't see to see what they add as the month goes on:I'll have to check those out in a bit, I stopped by here on break from doing character sheets to see if anyone else had stopped by. I have been reading some of the previous years' archived pep-talks, and they're pretty fun, too.
http://wrimosongs.bandcamp.com/ All song sales are going to have the profit donated to NaNo, too.
Post by: Sappho on October 30, 2013, 06:18:51 am
Post by: Kashyyk on October 30, 2013, 07:26:03 am
Post by: notquitethere on October 30, 2013, 07:56:34 am
Only two days until start! I've got to get all the things I've been meaning to do safely out of the way before Friday.
What's the best time for people to write? Mornings? Evenings? During the day?!
Post by: Sappho on October 30, 2013, 08:16:13 am
Post by: monk12 on October 30, 2013, 08:18:51 am
Post by: Sirus on October 30, 2013, 08:24:48 am
I usually say "RYE-MO" since it reminds me I need to Write Mo' (of my NaNo)This has always been my reasoning.
Post by: inEQUALITY on October 30, 2013, 11:09:56 am
I usually say "RYE-MO" since it reminds me I need to Write Mo' (of my NaNo)
It never occurred to me anyone pronounced it any other way, considering the 'Wri' comes from 'Writing'... But then again, I pronounce it 'NAN-O-RYE-MO', and my version doesn't conform to the same logic for each syllable.
'Ree-Mo' just sounds so alien to me though. Especially when everyone I know in person pronounces it how I do. :P
Post by: Caz on October 30, 2013, 01:29:34 pm
NA-NO-RYE-MO, just like the full phrase is said. I'm British though so maybe that affects things.
This.
Two days. I am ready. Probably. Going to try and get a headstart for the first few days, would be nice to get some word wars going with Bay12 folks.
Post by: quinnr on October 30, 2013, 03:35:27 pm
I say it with the Rye, because "Writing" starts with that sound...
Post by: Flying Dice on October 30, 2013, 03:51:05 pm
Post by: Darkmere on October 31, 2013, 12:02:48 am
In other news, finished up the last bits I wanted to do on character background sheets. My total notes from this week come to about 5500 words, and yet I still feel a bit unprepared. :P
I'm taking the nest 24 hours off, but looking forward to the opening sprint. Cheers!
Post by: sjm9876 on October 31, 2013, 08:15:01 am
WTF brain?!?!
Post by: Caz on October 31, 2013, 09:09:51 am
< 12 hours 'til start, and the urge to write is starting to fade.....
WTF brain?!?!
SNAP OUT OF IT SJM9876
Post by: sjm9876 on October 31, 2013, 10:14:42 am
Post by: WillowLuman on October 31, 2013, 01:33:34 pm
Post by: Sappho on October 31, 2013, 01:37:45 pm
Well, not Halloween so much. More the discount Halloween candy that becomes available once Halloween is over. You wouldn't believe how expensive those fancy Reese's candies are at the import store... (The equivalent of about $5 for a single package that you'd get in line at the supermarket in the states...)
Is anyone else watching the clock and seriously considering staying up all night to get started at midnight? It gets dark so early now, I feel like it must be late, but it's only 7.40.... : (
Post by: WillowLuman on October 31, 2013, 01:42:11 pm
Post by: Caz on October 31, 2013, 02:11:58 pm
Is anyone else watching the clock and seriously considering staying up all night to get started at midnight? It gets dark so early now, I feel like it must be late, but it's only 7.40.... : (
Yep. At midnight it's FULL SPEED AHEAD!!
Post by: Darkmere on October 31, 2013, 04:56:43 pm
Post by: sjm9876 on October 31, 2013, 04:59:05 pm
Post by: Willfor on October 31, 2013, 06:01:35 pm
Spoiler: I am prepared (click to show/hide)
(and cheatinggg >_>)
Post by: Caz on October 31, 2013, 06:10:46 pm
Right, with 3 hours to go, I need sleep. Brilliant fucking timing.
Behold the power of coffee.
Post by: inEQUALITY on October 31, 2013, 06:14:29 pm
Post by: Darkmere on October 31, 2013, 06:35:18 pm
Just under 5 hours to go for me, I'm gonna try to knock out my word count before I head to sleep, and if I have nothing tomorrow, knock out Saturday's word count on Friday. I'm shooting for 2k words per day, give or take 250. So I either I struggle to hit 1750 or stop mid-sentence at 2250... probably the former. :P
Yeah I'm hoping to do about the same. I think it was about 1670 words per day to finish on time, minimum, and I was hoping for at least 2k depending on how much action happens that day. I hate dropping off mid-sentence, though.
Post by: quinnr on October 31, 2013, 06:41:42 pm
Post by: Xantalos on October 31, 2013, 06:58:38 pm
Post by: Willfor on October 31, 2013, 07:01:16 pm
Post by: monk12 on October 31, 2013, 07:18:43 pm
Anyone having second thoughts about their ideas? I'm starting to want to go with something totally new that I haven't been planning for a couple weeks, but that'd probably be a bad idea...
Yes.
So. Any ideas? I procrastinated.
Create a setting which takes the usual tropes of Science Fiction fleet battles- shields, fighter squadrons, energy/system management, deadly environment- and mashes it into a Magitek Steampunk thingy with Airships and a dash of Lovecraftian horror. Add a swashbuckling Pirates of the Caribbean style storyline with a healthy dose of Star Wars IV. Character driven plot is for those who prepare, crazy-premise-and-go is for the rest of us!
"Use your Mana, Luke! The Great Old One can interfere with the Crystals, but it cannot disrupt your innate sorcerous gifts!"
"Luke Skysprinter, this is Sky Command. You've disabled your Divinations Crystal. You won't be able to pierce the Great Old One's illusion-field without it!"
"Sky Command, this is Luke. There's no problem. This will be as easy as shooting flying lemurs back at the Mountaintop Monastary!"
"Arise, my mutagenic Minions! Turn your accursed ships toward the attacking cloud-dwellers! Only in victorious death can you win release from our dark lord Kilkdlibugauh!"
I'm trying REALLY hard to stick to my original plan.
Post by: Xantalos on October 31, 2013, 07:20:01 pm
Hmm. Make Jack Sparrow a Jedi/Sith hybrid and have him fuck up a vaguely Haloish universe.
Perfect!
Post by: Darkmere on October 31, 2013, 07:35:48 pm
So. Any ideas? I procrastinated.
Uhmmm. A quick browse of some prompt sites turned up some good ones:
Unsinkable and Undead - A zombie plague erupts on the Titanic
News anchor is told to "spice up the show" and starts making up fake stories.
Take a story you already like and are familiar with, and add monsters (cross-reference: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, both of which are real books)
And a few off the top of my head (I have no idea what you like to write, have a wide selection):
A vegan falls madly in love with a dairy farmer. Mutual values dissonance ensues.
Pick a work you like and write about what happens AFTER the story is resolved.
Sunnytown (country, province, or state) has had perfect weather for 50 years, but suddenly the rain starts and doesn't stop for 3 months. Why? How do they cope?
Vacationers stay in a beautiful old hotel, but it is literally alive (and aware) and all the employees are service parasites.
A generational colony spaceship is sabotaged - but the efforts go unnoticed for 3 generations. What happens to the ship? Do you punish the descendents of the saboteurs?
Post by: Caz on October 31, 2013, 08:12:25 pm
Post by: majikero on October 31, 2013, 08:34:52 pm
Crap what was I going to write again? ???
Post by: inEQUALITY on October 31, 2013, 08:38:24 pm
Yeah I'm hoping to do about the same. I think it was about 1670 words per day to finish on time, minimum, and I was hoping for at least 2k depending on how much action happens that day. I hate dropping off mid-sentence, though.
1667 per day, and you'll come out just over 50k. And eh, I actually prefer dropping of mid-sentence, as it bugs me enough to force me back into writing the next day while giving me more time to plan ahead, short term, for the story. To each their own, though.
I'm still not 100% sure what I'm going to write about, I keep trying to think of new ideas but I feel uninspired.
Post by: USEC_OFFICER on October 31, 2013, 08:40:52 pm
I'm still not 100% sure what I'm going to write about, I keep trying to think of new ideas but I feel uninspired.
I'm swimming in the same boat as you are, my friend. A bunch of half-concepts but no ideas that I really want to write about.
Post by: Caz on October 31, 2013, 08:56:44 pm
Not this time, dammit.
Post by: Sirus on October 31, 2013, 09:19:49 pm
Still, I'll do what I can. If I can beat last year's word count, I'll consider this year a success.
Post by: quinnr on October 31, 2013, 09:28:30 pm
I'm trying to keep to a target of 4-5k words per day for the first week. Having a little room to breathe is great for those days when something comes up and you have to be out all day... Falling behind in nano is usually the reason I give up "oh crap, I have to finish 8k before I'm back up to par?? Whatever, I'll do it next year..."
Not this time, dammit.
My first year (last year), I remember I would just skip days because "Well, it'll only add 30 words per day to my words per day requirement." But then it went to 50, then 100. Eventually I had to write like 10k words a day, and then I gave up. This time it's going to go well, though.
Except I only have one character and a basic plot and I have no idea what else is going to happen and ah!
Post by: inEQUALITY on October 31, 2013, 10:16:13 pm
It's a far-future medieval-esque scifi setting where knowledge of technology, industry, and even history has been lost to time and warfare. Technology is patchwork and vaguely understood at the best of times, unreliable garbage at the worst.
The setting ranges from melange starships, to knights on horseback; from the rarest laser rifle, to the commoner's sword; from the towering skyscrapers of an emperor's personal demesne, to the crumbling walls of a backwater farming colony.
I have to say, I'm excited about this setting. Now I just have to come up with exactly who the character is, the situation he finds himself in, and what goes on from there. :D
Post by: Sirus on October 31, 2013, 10:17:06 pm
horseback infantryWat.
Post by: inEQUALITY on October 31, 2013, 10:22:14 pm
horseback infantryWat.
Meh, corrected it. My mind and my words didn't quite work together well on trying to express what I intended. Brain farts stink. ::)
Post by: monk12 on October 31, 2013, 11:21:00 pm
horseback infantryWat.
Meh, corrected it. My mind and my words didn't quite work together well on trying to express what I intended. Brain farts stink. ::)
To be fair, horseback infantry is a thing; it's the original meaning of the word Dragoon. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragoon) Basically they use the horses to get to the battle quickly, then dismount to fight. They were pretty much gimmicks before ~1600, but I imagine a fair amount of that had to do with the social status associated with horsemanship, which wouldn't be given to conscripts lightly (quite apart from the expense of the feat.) That said, it's easy to think of half a dozen settings where Dragoons would be the order of the day, particularly if they're mounted on speeders and jeeps instead of horses (which would technically be motorized infantry, but heck, Dragoon is a fun word. Dragoon Dragoon Dragoon.)
Also hey, it's NaNo in my time zone! Think I'll go to bed though, I do nothing tomorrow so I'd rather get a good night's sleep and be rested for a day of writing.
Post by: Sappho on November 01, 2013, 02:34:36 am
Typical block, unable to find the words for the first page. And in a few hours I have to go to work for the afternoon. So I'd really like to get started before then...
By the way, here's the description of my story, which I posted on the "Czech Republic and Slovakia" forum on the NaNo site:
Spoiler: Background on and summary of my story. (click to show/hide)
Also, I like that part of the advice in the latest "pep talk" is "Lie to yourself."
Post by: Darkmere on November 01, 2013, 02:42:34 am
@Sappho: Start at the beginning. The kids step off the plane and are greeted by their grandfolks. You get some time to develop the characters before the conflict occurs that sets of the rest of the story in motion that way, and if you want there's room for foreshadowing commentary on Prague from the kids' and elders' perspectives.
Post by: Sappho on November 01, 2013, 03:05:58 am
Anyway, I think it's okay if I write whatever is easiest to write first. Later on I can rearrange things so that the parts in America come at the right time.
It would help if my cat would stay off the damned keyboard!
Post by: sjm9876 on November 01, 2013, 04:05:18 am
EDIT: 2 hours, 2,800 words. I may need to pick up the pace a tad to be able to finish once school starts.
Post by: Gentlefish on November 01, 2013, 10:53:02 am
Post by: Sirus on November 01, 2013, 12:55:40 pm
Post by: Digital Hellhound on November 01, 2013, 12:59:08 pm
Post by: Sappho on November 01, 2013, 01:07:57 pm
I'm up to 1484 now, trying to push through to 2000 but I'll stop short of that if I need to as long as I reach the minimum. There's a meetup of local NaNos in Prague tomorrow at a really cool pub/cafe place, so hopefully I'll make some new friends and get some work done there. Naturally I'll be drinking plenty of beer. Not at all sure if that will make me write more or less. Probably more, but worse. : )
Post by: monk12 on November 01, 2013, 01:29:55 pm
Spoiler: excerpt (click to show/hide)
Also, I got to add the word "kobold" to Open Office's dictionary, so that's a plus!
Post by: Darkmere on November 01, 2013, 02:04:33 pm
Spoiler: Apocalypse Ambience (click to show/hide)
Post by: USEC_OFFICER on November 01, 2013, 02:07:53 pm
Post by: majikero on November 01, 2013, 02:48:58 pm
I guess I'll go with Fantasy Adventure again, but with a good dose of comedy.
Post by: sjm9876 on November 01, 2013, 02:54:59 pm
Post by: majikero on November 01, 2013, 03:16:42 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: USEC_OFFICER on November 01, 2013, 03:19:04 pm
-snip-
I will admit, I chuckled.
Post by: sjm9876 on November 01, 2013, 03:27:06 pm
Am I doing my humor right?Love it :DAn adventure of a wizard, shunned by his peers and banished from his order. For now, it's gonna be a series of adventure stories till I figure out how it ends.Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Sappho on November 01, 2013, 03:35:16 pm
It doesn't help that I haven't finished my research. I was hoping I could meet a particular Czech friend this week and discuss traditional fairy tales, stories, random bits of history, life in a village (I have only lived in Prague), and various other details that I will need, but she was too busy. She said she should be able to find some time next week. I hope so, otherwise I'll surely have to rewrite loads of stuff once I have the correct information.
My "buddy list" on the site seems to feature 2 kinds of users: the ones who have written 4000+ words already and the ones who have hardly started yet. I seem to be the only one who went just a little over the minimum and then stopped. We'll see how it goes. I suppose that in many parts of the world it isn't already 9.30 at night.
I can't resist the temptation to share a snippet as well. It always helps my motivation when I know people are reading something, even if it's unfinished.
Spoiler: Excerpt from Day 1 (click to show/hide)
As a vehement cat lover, I feel it is important to have a character who doesn't like cats so that she can learn the error of her ways over the course of the story. Also, this character is nine years old.
I'm having fun already. : )
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 01, 2013, 03:41:00 pm
Starting is always the hardest part for me. Now that the story is rolling a bit, it should come a little easier. I just have to fight off the desire to edit everything six or seven times before moving on. It's worse than heroin, this editing addiction.
Haha, are you me? Starting on a blank page is infuriating. Sometimes I type motivational sentences, pump myself up, and then start off doing my actual writing. It helps sometimes. This time, though, I forced myself to dive straight in with my story. Also, my internal editor is quite the hellhound too. Incredibly hard to tame. Even tends to break out of his cage, from time to time. It's a struggle. :P
I'm right at 2143 words; decided to cut myself off before I ran out of steam. Going to keep it bottled for the next day. And the next. I'm hoping things work out better than last year, when I petered off after a few days and gave up.
I guess since everyone is giving excerpts, I figure why not throw up a paragraph without any context:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Caz on November 01, 2013, 03:45:05 pm
I like that beginning. All characters must discover the virtues of cats. The main plot in my story is about a guy searching for his beloved cat. Through uncounted dreamworlds.
Which basically means I can take the plot anywhere. Somehow he's in a mental hospital atm. :) Fun, fun...
Post by: Sappho on November 01, 2013, 03:47:04 pm
A bunch of people like to get head-starts in the beginning. It does make me jealous though when I see someone on day 2 or 3 that already has 14000 words. Maniacs.
I like that beginning. All characters must discover the virtues of cats. The main plot in my story is about a guy searching for his beloved cat. Through uncounted dreamworlds.
Which basically means I can take the plot anywhere. Somehow he's in a mental hospital atm. :) Fun, fun...
That... sounds amazing. Want to swap stories? : D
Post by: shadenight123 on November 01, 2013, 04:47:43 pm
And this is Jackass.
I...got up to 12.796.
...
I know I should feel ashamed of myself.
I know.
But...writing fanfiction helps. A lot.
excerpt of "The Investigator
And
The Case of the Missing Brain"
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: WillowLuman on November 01, 2013, 04:49:49 pm
Hallucinations can only help the writing process, yes?
Post by: Digital Hellhound on November 01, 2013, 04:49:56 pm
Post by: shadenight123 on November 01, 2013, 04:52:36 pm
I wrote two 16K chapters.
In a single day. (One finished early in the morning, the other in the afternoon)
It's no wonders I have the writer's cramps though and my wrists ache in moody weather.
Post by: Sappho on November 01, 2013, 04:55:07 pm
I have a very bad cold, I stayed up entirely too late last night, I'm on some fairly strong medication, I haven't eaten anything all day. LET'S DO THIS!
Hallucinations can only help the writing process, yes?
YES.
Post by: Willfor on November 01, 2013, 06:00:58 pm
I'll post my own status later.
Post by: quinnr on November 01, 2013, 07:05:23 pm
Post by: Willfor on November 01, 2013, 07:07:43 pm
Ugh, I have absolutely no free time today, and I only have about 10 words that I'm going to trash because I've decided to write something else, despite planning a bit this time, I decided today that I hate my idea now.It's okay, quinnr. The time I won NaNo, I scrapped my first idea 4 days in, and wrote something else. And still managed to win by a couple of days in the end. You can still catch up and succeed.
Post by: majikero on November 01, 2013, 07:09:32 pm
Post by: FearfulJesuit on November 01, 2013, 07:35:21 pm
Post by: Nirur Torir on November 01, 2013, 07:39:57 pm
But it's already November and I have no plot or characters or vague ideas or anything! Save me, Tv Tropes!
Spoiler: Posting unspoilered Tv Tropes is rude. (click to show/hide)
I can already see some of the threads of things spinning into place. This will either turn like a bad not-fanfic attempting to be too epic .. or something better!
Post by: Gentlefish on November 01, 2013, 07:46:52 pm
Spoiler: Another Story Gen (click to show/hide)
Basically protect the dungeon from a villain whose also their childhood friend, with a messy man whose messes have to be concealed?
Hyep.
Post by: Caz on November 01, 2013, 08:29:45 pm
I'm shadenight123.
And this is Jackass.
I...got up to 12.796.
...
I know I should feel ashamed of myself.
I know.
But...writing fanfiction helps. A lot.
I'm jealous as hell. I've noticed people that write fanfiction can do absurd amounts of great material in little time. I've just never been able to keep up that sort of output without burning out quickly. How do you do it? Is it just practice? Have you always been able to? Show me thy ways, for I am a padawan.
Post by: majikero on November 01, 2013, 08:41:46 pm
Post by: Doomblade187 on November 01, 2013, 09:09:37 pm
Writing fanfiction is like taking a dump. Sometimes, it comes out like diarrhea and sometimes, it's like constipation. The bottom line is that it's crap.Though to be fair, I have read some pretty good (as in well-written) fanfiction.
Post by: Darkmere on November 01, 2013, 09:20:54 pm
Post by: Willfor on November 01, 2013, 09:32:18 pm
Post by: majikero on November 01, 2013, 09:45:49 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: Xantalos on November 01, 2013, 10:08:41 pm
My word count is 1.
Post by: WillowLuman on November 01, 2013, 10:11:21 pm
Post by: Xantalos on November 01, 2013, 10:12:12 pm
Post by: WillowLuman on November 01, 2013, 10:13:25 pm
Post by: Xantalos on November 01, 2013, 10:17:20 pm
Frank.
George.
Georgie.
Post by: Sirus on November 01, 2013, 10:19:44 pm
I get the feeling I'll be using that excuse a lot this year :-\
Post by: Doomblade187 on November 01, 2013, 10:21:41 pm
And yeah, my word count's about 10-ish, due to me having a total block on storyline, as well sudden uncertainty on what I want to write on. I have two starts already written, but I just need to go by this point. Missing tomorrow, though, so I'll be two days behind. Ah well.
Post by: Caz on November 01, 2013, 11:33:41 pm
Post by: WillowLuman on November 01, 2013, 11:35:03 pm
Post by: Xantalos on November 01, 2013, 11:40:08 pm
Post by: Darkmere on November 02, 2013, 12:01:15 am
Post by: JanusTwoface on November 02, 2013, 12:35:26 am
Is anyone else planning on publicly posting their work? It's always interesting to read what others come up with. I'm thinking about blogging mine (see sig), although I'll wait until the first chapter is done before posting this time around. Daily updates are a pain.
Post by: Aqizzar on November 02, 2013, 12:45:31 am
So far the TVTropes random plot generator hasn't given me anything very inspiring.
Post by: Flying Dice on November 02, 2013, 01:55:16 am
The thing is, fanfic isn't there to be good in the first place. It's a place to cut your teeth as a writer as you start your climb up the ladder. You learn how to start and finish a project. Or you learn that you can't hack it and stop writing forever. Sometimes that happens. Nevertheless, you get feedback for what you write many times, and even if it's not good, it gets you used to feedback. It's the kiddie pool area of writing. It's to be used for experience. Thus it doesn't really matter if it's crap or not. It's the stage where it's supposed to be crap as a learning thing.
[/opinions]
That's a pretty recent view, and I think it has a lot to do with some sort of bizarre combination of a misunderstanding of Sturgeon's Revelation, of the reason people write and read fanfiction, and a general unfamiliarity with the subject. I'll grant, certainly, that there is a massive sea of shit, and that it's much more obvious than in other media (particularly those that require investments of time/money). Due to the nature of the beast, it's also damned difficult to sift out genuinely good stuff. That said, though, I've spent probably upwards of 30 hours simply searching for good stories, and I've found a solid core of perhaps 20-30 that are both within my range of interest (more than a few coming from places I didn't expect, and good enough to interest me in the source material; on an unrelated note, there's a broader pool of perhaps as many as 100 stories which, while not publishable, show enough ability that they easily could be with proper editorial assistance) and above professional standards--mind, too, that "professional" writing can be surprisingly terrible, even from respected, published authors.
It's also true that a lot of younger writers these days use it as a jumping-off point (though most don't get beyond the point of "how do i into plot" or "no dun flame pls"), but that is neither the origin nor the heart of the medium. I know of at least three or four active fanfiction authors who are also published novelists in their own right. This is all fairly off topic, however, so I'll cut myself off short.
Post by: Darkmere on November 02, 2013, 02:32:31 am
Post by: shadenight123 on November 02, 2013, 02:45:58 am
At the same time, I wouldn't be able to write half as decently as I do now without having used Fanfiction as a starting point. The only real working tip for anyone wishing to become a writer is to 'write and write'.
So yes, I agree, it doesn't take much to write a 'shitty' story.
Still, better a completed shitty story than no story at all.
Because along the way people will comment on it, which is something you won't normally have. People will say if the story is good or not, if there are some points of the plot that are agonizingly horrible or good and that kind of feedback is the type you'd normally find in those literary clubs where you have to stand up and speak your own point of view.
Only, with the internet and fanfiction, you have something like a pool of at least a good thousand hundreds of potential reviewers. That then translates in reviewers for at least a good ten-to twelve per chapter, and in those ten to twelve reviews, the majority will be about 'please update soon' or 'great story!' but one, or two, will be constructive criticism.
"You should use less commas and more periods." "Careful when you make a spoken sentence, because if you finish it with the comma," the reviewer said, "you don't need to put the T of the as a capital letter."
And so on. Yes, fanfiction is a kiddie pool, but it's way better to start in a kiddie pool then start to swim in the ocean, rather than fly down a cliff and smash against the rocks below.
(Btw, I'm Italian. So it's twice as hard for me to write grammatically correct sentences in English...but I try all the same.)
I know I'm far from perfect or even good...but I'll get there. Word after word that I spew I will get there. Writing fanfiction if I have to.
So don't offend the genre. Offend the thirteen year old with hormonal imbalances that suddenly found it interesting to write a story of Harems because they'll never have one in their lives.
Post by: Gentlefish on November 02, 2013, 03:01:26 am
You type better than half of my family :o
Spoiler: Excerpt from my Wri'Mo' (click to show/hide)
Post by: Digital Hellhound on November 02, 2013, 08:46:08 am
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 02, 2013, 01:04:56 pm
Post by: Darkmere on November 02, 2013, 01:55:31 pm
reading about the myriad roles of naval personnel,.
Ain't that the truth. I think research has taken up the biggest part of my "writing time" thus far.
Post by: Digital Hellhound on November 02, 2013, 03:05:04 pm
Sure, I might crash and burn at some point, but it's been very fun so far. Extensive, loving planning can go die in a ditch all I care.
Post by: Caz on November 02, 2013, 03:31:55 pm
Post by: sjm9876 on November 02, 2013, 04:54:11 pm
Post by: WillowLuman on November 02, 2013, 05:08:24 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 02, 2013, 05:30:37 pm
Sure, I might crash and burn at some point, but it's been very fun so far. Extensive, loving planning can go die in a ditch all I care.
Word. Stephen King's methodology of just diving in with a barebones idea works wonders for those of us who can't stand planning things out beyond vague notions.
Post by: majikero on November 02, 2013, 06:22:26 pm
Soup and Ice cream, give me ideas please.
Post by: Sirus on November 02, 2013, 07:42:15 pm
Post by: majikero on November 02, 2013, 09:44:16 pm
Post by: monk12 on November 02, 2013, 10:32:58 pm
Post by: Darkmere on November 02, 2013, 11:01:47 pm
Post by: Sirus on November 02, 2013, 11:10:15 pm
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 02, 2013, 11:48:58 pm
Only 413 words today. Once I get past this boring introductory segment things should hopefully move much faster.
Take my advice with a grain of salt, but you could just establish in your head canon as to what happens during the 'boring segment', and skip ahead to what you want to write; you can fill in the blanks later. NaNoWriMo is all about the word count, and no one said you had to write from front to back. If you get bored writing what averages out to being somewhere a little under two published pages, it's probably a good idea to shake things up a bit.
That's just my two cents though, do whatever's best for you. :P
Post by: Sappho on November 03, 2013, 03:17:02 pm
I update my word count after every paragraph. I am not in the mood to write tonight. But I want those green bars, and I want my beer.
At last. 5,303 words. I am over 10% of the way done with this book (assuming I stop at 50,000). Come here, Budvar, my friend. I am going to drink you.
Post by: Caz on November 03, 2013, 05:00:07 pm
I bought myself a single beer and set it on the desk next to me. I will be allowed to open and drink it only once I have met my word count for the day. Two green bars on the stats page. I want that beer. I try to get my subconscious mind to link the act of writing with the reward of drinking the beer. It doesn't quite work. I know too much.
I update my word count after every paragraph. I am not in the mood to write tonight. But I want those green bars, and I want my beer.
At last. 5,303 words. I am over 10% of the way done with this book (assuming I stop at 50,000). Come here, Budvar, my friend. I am going to drink you.
I've had a similar night, except my reward was a single cancer stick.
Put it out of sight. It'll only distract you until you're complete. I was updating my wordcount every 50 words by the end. :P Finally made it, though. Bring on day 4.
Post by: FearfulJesuit on November 03, 2013, 05:34:09 pm
Post by: WillowLuman on November 03, 2013, 05:34:47 pm
Post by: Doomblade187 on November 03, 2013, 07:19:51 pm
Post by: Caz on November 03, 2013, 07:47:13 pm
I am behind. This is bad. To TVtropes I go to get ideas.
And Doomblade187 was never seen again.
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 03, 2013, 08:17:36 pm
Post by: Gentlefish on November 03, 2013, 08:26:09 pm
Post by: Lectorog on November 03, 2013, 08:45:53 pm
I've got 598. I'm on the same boat as you, Hugo.Yo yo. I've been arguably busy, with non-essay stuff. Nanowrimo is more important than most of my homework.
Post by: monk12 on November 03, 2013, 09:25:05 pm
I am behind. This is bad. To TVtropes I go to get ideas.
And Doomblade187 was never seen again.
And that's a sig if ever I heard one.
Post by: Doomblade187 on November 03, 2013, 10:11:55 pm
And the worst thing is that it was almost true... Yeah, I barely have a hundred words, but at least I'm starting to get a decent idea.I am behind. This is bad. To TVtropes I go to get ideas.
And Doomblade187 was never seen again.
And that's a sig if ever I heard one.
Post by: Xantalos on November 03, 2013, 10:13:43 pm
Yay me.
Post by: Sappho on November 04, 2013, 01:43:11 am
Just get it done, you can get it right later.
Just get it done, you can get it right later.
Just get it done, you can get it right later.
I'm getting a bit nervous now, though, because I'm getting into territory I haven't finished researching yet. The person I was hoping to use for research hasn't answered my request to meet up this week, and I've got a big empty blank space in my head where that part of the story should be.
Post by: Skyrunner on November 04, 2013, 04:30:36 am
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 04, 2013, 12:32:57 pm
Post by: Aqizzar on November 04, 2013, 01:09:48 pm
I am behind. This is bad. To TVtropes I go to get ideas.
And Doomblade187 was never seen again.
Did the same thing myself yesterday, when I decided to use the TVTropes story generator to get ideas. While this wasted an afternoon (I didn't have much free time this weekend anyway), I did at least come out of it with an idea.
Long story short (since I haven't written it yet), a lot of the content won't be too surprising to anyone who's familiar with my old days of megaposting.
Post by: Sappho on November 04, 2013, 01:20:09 pm
I'm considering taking a day trip to that village on a weekend, just to see it with my own eyes. But then I'll feel strange. My friend grew up there, her parents still live there. What if she happens to be there when I visit? I don't intend to tell her I'm going. She's been very unreliable and has let me down several times and I'd prefer to just take a break from her for now. I feel like I'll be invading her space. She's not a very open person. She might be refusing to help me just because she doesn't want to share anything about her life with me.
It's day 4 and I'm already having massive interference from life issues.
I haven't been feeling good today. I'm afraid I won't have it in me to make my word count, and I know myself: once I miss a single day, I'll allow myself to miss more and more. I have to find a way to pound out the words, even if I just write random nonsense that I can fix up later.
Post by: Darkmere on November 04, 2013, 01:29:04 pm
It's day 4 and I'm already having massive interference from life issues.
I haven't been feeling good today. I'm afraid I won't have it in me to make my word count, and I know myself: once I miss a single day, I'll allow myself to miss more and more. I have to find a way to pound out the words, even if I just write random nonsense that I can fix up later.
I say if you need research, go and do it. Don't worry about what might or might not happen if you might see someone. As for the quality concerns, I've kinda had the same concerns, but if it helps at all so does Neil Gaiman. (http://nanowrimo.org/pep-talks/neil-gaiman) Just keep writing and the rest will sort itself out in time.
Post by: Sappho on November 04, 2013, 01:58:37 pm
I am, as he says, putting one word after another today. If I do take a trip to that village, I won't just be saying my research is important. I'll be saying my research for some small details in a novel is so important to me that I'm willing to risk throwing a very large monkey wrench into several long-term personal relationships in order to get it. And the funny thing is, I think that is actually true.
I should just have this video playing on a loop in the background whenever I'm writing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drMuQqLLEe0
Post by: Digital Hellhound on November 04, 2013, 02:05:12 pm
1602 words today, so far. It's actually above my 'this is what you need to finish on time', which is around the 1400s, but I'm gonna aim for around 3000 on most days.
Post by: Sappho on November 04, 2013, 02:50:58 pm
Post by: Aqizzar on November 04, 2013, 03:06:41 pm
Two green bars! I got up to exactly 7000 words. Now to put on a movie and relax at last.
One-seventh done after one-seventh of the month. You have to maintain that just to finish, and I haven't even started yet. Sure, 2000 a day from this point. I can probably do three thousand a day for a week or two, but I think I've already blown it.
Post by: Caz on November 04, 2013, 04:10:12 pm
I'm rapidly running out of plot, though. May have to slow down to consider where I'm actually going with this. :(
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 04, 2013, 04:28:35 pm
I'm rapidly running out of plot, though. May have to slow down to consider where I'm actually going with this. :(
Don't take this the wrong way, but...
Whut. ??? What's your word count that you're running out of plot on Day 4? Either you've written a whole lot fast, or you really do need to pace your scenes more. I'm only now starting my fourth chapter, and I haven't even kicked my plot into full gear yet. It's barely shifted into second gear, really. I'm so ready to get to the meaty parts of my story.
You can do it though! Remember, even attempting NaNoWriMo means...
(http://awesomegifs.com/wp-content/uploads/carl-sagan-youre-awesome.gif)
Post by: Sappho on November 04, 2013, 04:52:36 pm
Also, I'm pretty sure this book is gonna need to be more than 50,000 words long, though I'll be happy if I make that word count at the end of the month.
Post by: Caz on November 04, 2013, 05:05:58 pm
Don't take this the wrong way, but...
Whut. ??? What's your word count that you're running out of plot on Day 4? Either you've written a whole lot fast, or you really do need to pace your scenes more. I'm only now starting my fourth chapter, and I haven't even kicked my plot into full gear yet. It's barely shifted into second gear, really. I'm so ready to get to the meaty parts of my story.
I didn't really come up with much of a plan. More of a spur of the moment idea. I have a vague idea of a few things that'll happen, but no clue on the ending or all of the scenes that'll take me to those places. :P
Post by: Aqizzar on November 04, 2013, 08:48:42 pm
500 hundred words in 45 minutes, 25 days left in the month. If this is any kind of benchmark, I'll need to devote an average of four hours a day to have a hope of reaching the minimum word count.
Guess I'm not having any other projects this month.
EDIT: Goddammit, Jefmajor just posted fourteen hours of himself playing Kerbal Space Program, I shouldn't even have looked. I need that kind of dedication, not distraction!
Post by: WillowLuman on November 04, 2013, 08:52:00 pm
Post by: Doomblade187 on November 04, 2013, 10:23:36 pm
Post by: Aqizzar on November 05, 2013, 01:45:20 am
Sure it's supposed to be ironic, but damn Aq, what is wrong with you?
Post by: Darkmere on November 05, 2013, 02:01:04 am
Post by: Sappho on November 05, 2013, 02:14:52 am
Probably both, I guess.
Post by: Caz on November 05, 2013, 12:16:55 pm
Idea prompts pls. :(
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 05, 2013, 01:05:54 pm
Idea prompts pls. :(
Main character runs into a setting-appropriate minor antagonist - literally. Whatever horrible thing happens as a result to your poor protagonist depends on the setting, and the antagonist you dream up! Go for it! :P
On my end, I breached the 10k mark today, with a daily word count of 2292! It feels good to be over an entire day ahead. If I keep up this average word count (around 2k) I'll reach 60k by the end of November. I may just make that my secondary objective. :D
I've found that getting to bed by midnight, waking up at 8 and spending thirty minutes or so on breakfast and a chapter or two of the book I'm reading helps a lot. I then write for ~4 hours. I take breaks every 60 - 90 minutes; sometimes its just a stretch, other times it's 15 minutes of reading time, but it helps break up the monotony, especially when I get stuck.
I think it also helps that I reward myself with ice cream once I finish up for the day, with the threat of no ice cream if I don't reach the minimum daily goal. I've hit more than the minimum each day, so I think it's working. :P
Post by: Darkmere on November 05, 2013, 02:26:43 pm
Personal preference, of course, but it might be worth a try.
Post by: sjm9876 on November 05, 2013, 02:37:08 pm
Post by: Sappho on November 05, 2013, 03:10:34 pm
I'm torn now. If I force myself to get my word count done, I'll be up far too late. I have a long work day tomorrow and I'll have to do at least part of my writing in the morning or I'll fall behind. On the other hand, if I don't do it, I'll be up half the night torturing myself for not having done it. And if I let myself get away with not writing for one day, it will surely happen again and again until I completely give up.
I suppose I could just type up some absolute nonsense, just to get something down on paper, and change or fix it later when I'm under less pressure. Maybe that would be best.
Post by: Lectorog on November 05, 2013, 03:13:24 pm
Today I discovered cappuccino in the dining hall. Today I had a lot of cappuccino in the dining hall. Today I decided to write more in the dining hall.
Seriously though, writing in restaurants and the like is cliched but good. Take breaks by talking to people; they're likely to provide more inspiration than rehashing video games. Of course, depends on what kind of break you're going for.
Take all of my advice with salt; I'm 6232 words behind. I'm still having fun with it though.
@Sappho: Don't write all of the words for today, just go for half or a quarter.
Post by: Digital Hellhound on November 05, 2013, 03:23:44 pm
Post by: Sappho on November 05, 2013, 03:33:31 pm
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 05, 2013, 03:57:26 pm
480 words so far. I suppose I might make it as long as I don't let myself worry too much about getting the details right. I just came out with a very funny moment that actually made me laugh out loud. Laughing at your own jokes is good motivation. I'm going to get my minimum done after all. Two green bars. Even if it does keep me up late. Better to do it while I can rather than wait until tomorrow and discover I'm too depressed again.
(http://www.troll.me/images/victory-baby/hey-you-can-do-it.jpg)
Don't give up! The hardest part is making yourself just sit down and do it. I struggle with depression as well, and trudging on despite that is one of the hardest things to do, I know. Good to see that you're finding the motivation to keep on keepin' on! Satisfaction of accomplishing something is sweet, sweet ambrosia. It's well worth the effort.
Post by: Sappho on November 05, 2013, 04:00:28 pm
Because it makes me happy, here is the joke that gave me my big push for the evening. It will probably only make sense to Europeans, but that's okay.
Spoiler: American grandkids are visiting their Czech grandparents... (click to show/hide)
Post by: Caz on November 05, 2013, 04:04:45 pm
I try to write for 10-15 mins then break. Word wars help a lot too to replace the "egads what bollocks am I writing?!!?" thoughts with the "AHHHHHHH! I'M WRITING TOO SLOWLY!!" thoughts.
There's word wars starting all the time on the nano forums. Give it a shot.
I reached par for today.... time for TV + snack binge. Yaya.
Post by: Doomblade187 on November 05, 2013, 04:13:34 pm
Post by: Caz on November 05, 2013, 04:21:45 pm
Post by: Sappho on November 05, 2013, 04:29:23 pm
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 05, 2013, 07:36:11 pm
TWO GREEN BARS. 1778 words. I guess all I needed was a good grandfatherly rant about the economy to pad it out for today.
Woot! I swear those two green bars are going to start haunting me in my dreams, demanding I fill them the moment they empty at midnight. Brutal taskmasters, they are. :P
Post by: Doomblade187 on November 05, 2013, 07:50:31 pm
Hm... where exactly are these green bars exactly?TWO GREEN BARS. 1778 words. I guess all I needed was a good grandfatherly rant about the economy to pad it out for today.
Woot! I swear those two green bars are going to start haunting me in my dreams, demanding I fill them the moment they empty at midnight. Brutal taskmasters, they are. :P
Post by: JanusTwoface on November 05, 2013, 07:51:05 pm
So far I've been holding to 2000 words/day, although at this point I have no idea where I'm going next. Discovery writing can be ... interesting. November snuck up on me and I quite literally started with a title and the first sentence and went from there.
Post by: Lectorog on November 05, 2013, 08:20:34 pm
EDIT: Maybe it's the first and the average words/day on the left also being at/above par.
Post by: monk12 on November 05, 2013, 09:05:47 pm
Mine are both blue. /sadface
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 05, 2013, 09:08:18 pm
Post by: Lectorog on November 05, 2013, 09:19:09 pm
Post by: Doomblade187 on November 05, 2013, 09:49:18 pm
The number of people who didn't know shows you how well Bay 12 is doing.Me included. I'm hoping to hit par today, though.
Post by: JanusTwoface on November 05, 2013, 09:50:43 pm
Post by: Lectorog on November 05, 2013, 09:58:37 pm
Spoiler: Can I start a trend? (click to show/hide)
Post by: JanusTwoface on November 05, 2013, 10:15:48 pm
(http://nanowrimo.org/widget/MyMonth/jpverkamp.png)
(There are a bunch of other options)
Theoretically, it should update dynamically, depending on when your browser and possibly the forum (although I doubt it) caches images.
OP, is there any chance you'd want to pull in a bunch of these for anyone participating that doesn't mind? That'd be kind of cool looking. :)
Post by: Aqizzar on November 05, 2013, 10:20:28 pm
The simple fact is that I can only count on six hours of free time on weeknights, and I can never rely on my weekends being completely free. And there's only three of them left. Even with a holiday coming up, I just don't see myself devoting two-thirds of my free time to any one project for the next twenty five days straight.
Uhg.
Post by: Lectorog on November 05, 2013, 10:22:43 pm
Or you could use this: widgets (http://nanowrimo.org/widgets)I actually prefer the info from the stats section to any sets of info available through widgets, but widgets are cool too.
I don't get what some of the colors on mine mean though.
(http://nanowrimo.org/widget/MyMonth/lectorog.png)
Post by: Doomblade187 on November 05, 2013, 10:59:05 pm
(http://nanowrimo.org/widget/MyMonth/doomblade187.png)
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 05, 2013, 11:07:04 pm
Somehow 20% sounds better to me than 1/5 the way done. I like it.
EDIT: To reiterate, my name on NaNoWriMo is HiddenTruth. It's a name I've used in a small handful of other places.
Post by: Lectorog on November 05, 2013, 11:16:11 pm
Post by: monk12 on November 05, 2013, 11:27:30 pm
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Still didn't get two green bars (click to show/hide)
Post by: Lectorog on November 05, 2013, 11:41:36 pm
@monk12: You're quite close to getting that top green bar!
EDIT: Almost half a percent of all my words have "fuck" in them.
Post by: monk12 on November 05, 2013, 11:44:08 pm
Post by: JanusTwoface on November 06, 2013, 12:23:17 am
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Good news: It updates!
Bad news: Aw, now there's a red day. :(
Post by: sjm9876 on November 06, 2013, 02:57:29 am
(http://nanowrimo.org/widget/MyMonth/sjm9876,days,pc.png)
Ouch.
Post by: Sappho on November 06, 2013, 03:29:47 am
A new strategy for me: actually, it's better if what I write now is not very good. If I write carefully and set down stuff that I really like, then later, when I realize that half of it needs to be cut or rewritten entirely, I will be upset. Better to have it really rough now and then I won't feel bad about fixing it later.
I always put in too much detail for everything. I will definitely have to cut large portions of it later. Don't want it to be good stuff!
Post by: Caz on November 06, 2013, 08:22:11 am
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 06, 2013, 08:27:48 am
(http://nanowrimo.org/widget/MyMonth/sjm9876,days,pc.png)
Ouch.
I, erm, think you misquoted me (read: forgot to get rid of the quote code). :P
I finally finish my word count, get my two green bars, go to bed. Wake up in the morning, and the damn things are blue again! IT NEVER ENDS!
A new strategy for me: actually, it's better if what I write now is not very good. If I write carefully and set down stuff that I really like, then later, when I realize that half of it needs to be cut or rewritten entirely, I will be upset. Better to have it really rough now and then I won't feel bad about fixing it later.
I always put in too much detail for everything. I will definitely have to cut large portions of it later. Don't want it to be good stuff!
Same here. It's difficult not to get an ego and feel like Robert Heinlen - notorious for being able to publish his first drafts, and often cited as an example of how not to go about the editing process - and remember that the first draft is supposed to be rather rough. I feel like I've written a few good lines and paragraphs here and there in my 10k so far, but I just know when I come back to edit this thing early next year that I'm going to have this exact facial expression when I read: ???
Post by: Digital Hellhound on November 06, 2013, 11:07:36 am
Post by: WillowLuman on November 06, 2013, 11:14:20 am
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 06, 2013, 01:03:38 pm
My plot is finally picking up steam; I think it's high time for lasers to start flying, and for things to start exploding. :P
Post by: Sappho on November 06, 2013, 01:10:04 pm
Hopefully it'll pass. It usually does. I'll be so upset with myself if I crash and don't finish my word count...
Post by: Caz on November 06, 2013, 01:34:51 pm
Do writing. How. :(
Post by: Aqizzar on November 06, 2013, 02:24:47 pm
2200 word-average per chapter isn't too bad really. Break up the work into chapters, break up the chapter into concepts, break up the concept into supporting details, bulk out the detail with lots of flavor text, and it'll be just like bullshitting term papers in school. I used to bullshit term papers in my sleep, I could easily break 1500-2000 words in one late night, and that was with a modicum of research. Trade the research for more writing time and the academic language for naturalistic prose, and I know exactly what I'm doing.
I just have to write twenty two more of them by the end of the month, starting tonight...
Post by: JanusTwoface on November 06, 2013, 02:25:45 pm
Computational Demonology
Chapter 1 - The Book (http://blog.jverkamp.com/2013/11/06/chapter-1-the-book/)
Post by: sjm9876 on November 06, 2013, 03:06:49 pm
And the mate I was doing it with has finished. How the hell?
Post by: Sappho on November 06, 2013, 03:27:09 pm
(http://nanowrimo.org/widget/MyMonth/kotshka.png)
9:30 pm. Another night where I finish right before bed. When I wake up, they will be blue again, and that widget will have a red box on it.
I have to say, though. Usually when I'm feeling the way I've been feeling lately, I'm not able to do things like this, no matter how badly I want to. Even though I'm having a hard time, I'm actually doing this. Even though I'm already starting to feel like I'm writing garbage, it's not good enough, I should be capable of better... At least I'm doing it. I can always fix it later. I'm not sure how I'm finding it in myself to do this. But I'm glad I started, that's for sure.
Post by: shadenight123 on November 06, 2013, 03:37:57 pm
I write without putting down a single plot point.
Literally.
I can't write any story that has an 'infrastructure'. I grow bored and stop.
I create the world and the characters...and then I let them interact with one another to form stories.
At the present I'm watching my story apparently grab a sort-of utterly creepy Dracula-remake trying to get inspiration through a muse, and a Merlin-like wannabe investigator torturing a young girl for reasons so unknown I don't know them (yet) either.
But all is well.
And maybe I need a psychiatrist.
...
Muse, stop. Please. Stahp.
*Snippet of normal interaction between 'Basileus' (the Investigator) and 'Lyara' (The Protagonist)*
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 06, 2013, 04:04:52 pm
Holy shit, I can't believe it.
(http://nanowrimo.org/widget/MyMonth/kotshka.png)
9:30 pm. Another night where I finish right before bed. When I wake up, they will be blue again, and that widget will have a red box on it.
I have to say, though. Usually when I'm feeling the way I've been feeling lately, I'm not able to do things like this, no matter how badly I want to. Even though I'm having a hard time, I'm actually doing this. Even though I'm already starting to feel like I'm writing garbage, it's not good enough, I should be capable of better... At least I'm doing it. I can always fix it later. I'm not sure how I'm finding it in myself to do this. But I'm glad I started, that's for sure.
Internet High-Five.
That pesky internal editor is a tough nut to keep under wraps sometimes, but it's well worth it. There will be plenty of time after you've finished, sat back to relax, and then reread your work before he - or she, if your internal editor just so happens to be so - should be let out of its cage. :D
I've also noticed you're the only one of the people listed under my Writing Buddies on NaNo that have hit the 10k mark yet. You're succeeding where plenty of others, who likely don't have to deal with the same sort of problems, are failing! Seems encouraging! Encouragement in others' failure may seem vicious, but it's encouragement nonetheless. :P
Post by: Doomblade187 on November 06, 2013, 06:21:13 pm
And now to write essays and then work on NaNo.
Post by: Caz on November 06, 2013, 07:05:41 pm
C'est example
"Snakes erupt from her face, and black tar runs down bloodless eye-sockets. The walls come alive with chanting priests standing on a podium of dismembered hands. Alive hands, with reaching fingers. The fingernails sail off like confetti in the air, twirling in a windless room."
All of my wat.
Post by: Xantalos on November 06, 2013, 07:15:48 pm
I'M ON A ROLL
And now watch as I bust out 49000 words in the last 3 days.
Post by: Gentlefish on November 06, 2013, 07:34:21 pm
Snatched par in the 2 minutes before the 'next day' began. Word warring a friend near-constantly for an hour certainly does the trick, even if the whole 2k is some of the more puerile nonsense I've written this year.
C'est example
"Snakes erupt from her face, and black tar runs down bloodless eye-sockets. The walls come alive with chanting priests standing on a podium of dismembered hands. Alive hands, with reaching fingers. The fingernails sail off like confetti in the air, twirling in a windless room."
All of my wat.
sounds like nightvale.
Post by: Doomblade187 on November 06, 2013, 11:19:22 pm
3869 words as of this post.
Post by: Sappho on November 07, 2013, 03:43:06 am
Sadly, it's already 9:40 and I have to leave for work in less than an hour, and still need to get ready and pack a lunch, as well as clean out the cat box. So I only have about 20 minutes to actually write. Work is starting to seem like nothing more than a pesky interruption to my writing time. I hope my motivation will stay so high in the afternoon/evening, when I'm tired out from the first and second graders I have to teach today.
I also woke up with some ideas on how to fix the structure a bit, make it flow better. But that will require editing, so I've decided that I may only go back and change these things once I've already hit my word count for today.
Happy writing, everyone! Remember, if I can overcome sleep attacks, depression, and a full time job to hit my word count, you can do it too! Just get it done, you can get it right later! : D
Post by: Darkmere on November 07, 2013, 03:57:02 am
After a week of painful delays and late starts and frustrating plot setups, I just wrote my 9,731st word. I will break 10,000, finish Act 1, finish my main arc setup, and introduce a major character tomorrow. I can't wait.
Brain shutting down. Entering sleep mode.....
Post by: WillowLuman on November 07, 2013, 04:07:07 am
Post by: Gentlefish on November 07, 2013, 05:42:44 am
first and second graders I have to teach today.
Wow you're a teacher? You have my greatest respect and also most sincere apology if you work in the US.
Okay. Enough procratinating. I have a physics lab and one class tomorrow. Easy.
Energy drinks and gummy snacks and pringles. Acquired.
All-night writing party commences.
Post by: Sappho on November 07, 2013, 11:09:15 am
first and second graders I have to teach today.
Wow you're a teacher? You have my greatest respect and also most sincere apology if you work in the US.
I'm not in the US. I'm in Prague. Actually my job is pretty great, but extremely exhausting. As I feared, I am just home from work (took 30 minutes longer than usual to get home because of an accident on one of the roads by the tram line) and completely exhausted and brain fogged. The day was far more chaotic than usual due to an open house at the school (parents sticking their heads in, rooms getting swapped around, etc.) and it was just too much. Now all I want to do is go to bed, but I've barely started writing for the day.
The good news is, I found a web site where I can stream classic Czech films, ones that never got mainstream enough for me to download them otherwise. There are generally no subtitles, but since they're mostly children's films, I should manage to understand enough. There are a lot of fairy tales that I can use as research for my book. And it's always cool when you can watch a bunch of Czech films as research for a book and not feel guilty about it at all (though obviously it doesn't relieve me of my word count obligation).
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 07, 2013, 01:14:47 pm
Still, it's nothing compared to the insanely high word counts some people have of hundreds of thousands and thereabouts. I won't say they're cheating or writing extraordinary rubbish or anything like that - that's apparently against the rules of NaNo ::) - so I'll just say that I wonder what sort of "arcane magicks" they've discovered that I don't know about. :P
Anyway, I introduced a third perspective character, injecting a new chapter between the first and second. I'll finish that up tomorrow, as I ended today mid-sentence most of the way through this new chapter. Not sure if next I'll interject yet another chapter or two with her as the perspective character between existing chapters, or continue where I left off in what's now the fifth chapter. I think it's the fifth chapter now. It'll end up changing eventually anyway, I'm sure.
Post by: Digital Hellhound on November 07, 2013, 01:16:47 pm
Post by: Sappho on November 07, 2013, 01:46:01 pm
So this is the first day in a week that I'm done writing well before bedtime. I can enjoy my beer and watch a movie without feeling like I should be either writing or sleeping!
Post by: sjm9876 on November 07, 2013, 04:29:11 pm
Post by: Flying Dice on November 07, 2013, 05:10:20 pm
Post by: Willfor on November 07, 2013, 07:04:42 pm
Still, it's nothing compared to the insanely high word counts some people have of hundreds of thousands and thereabouts. I won't say they're cheating or writing extraordinary rubbish or anything like that - that's apparently against the rules of NaNo ::) - so I'll just say that I wonder what sort of "arcane magicks" they've discovered that I don't know about. :PThere are people who can stream-of-conscious a writing session, and just type whatever comes into their head for hours on end. If you are one of these strange people, and you can type about 70 words a minute, you can write about 4,200 words an hour. If you can write for five hours a day at that speed, you can write 21,000 words a day. These people exist, and they write during NaNo. Many of them aren't writing anything they want to publish, they're just writing for fun. The key thing to understand is that these people are the exception to the rule, but they still exist within our sightlines, tempting us to feel bad about ourselves, and bad in general. It's tempting, but ultimately problematic because you're not racing against them. You're racing against 50,000. You win if you cross the line, and you don't get any title other than "winner" no matter how many extra words you cross that line by.
Myself, I know that if I force it I can hit 5,000 words a day. It leaves me burned out, hateful, unable to continue very easily. I can comfortably write about 2,000 words a day before mental fatigue really becomes a concern, so that challenge for NaNo for me is mostly trying to keep myself consistent and to write every day.
Got home from work not to long ago, so I'm taking a break. Starting off from 11.3k today. The clock is catching up to me.
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 07, 2013, 08:00:05 pm
There are people who can stream-of-conscious a writing session, and just type whatever comes into their head for hours on end. If you are one of these strange people, and you can type about 70 words a minute, you can write about 4,200 words an hour. If you can write for five hours a day at that speed, you can write 21,000 words a day. These people exist, and they write during NaNo. Many of them aren't writing anything they want to publish, they're just writing for fun. The key thing to understand is that these people are the exception to the rule, but they still exist within our sightlines, tempting us to feel bad about ourselves, and bad in general. It's tempting, but ultimately problematic because you're not racing against them. You're racing against 50,000. You win if you cross the line, and you don't get any title other than "winner" no matter how many extra words you cross that line by.
I still find it silly. 150000 in 30 days? You know, that's fine I guess, if you can devote 8 hours a day. Not quality work, but fine if you feel like suffering through it. But there are people shooting for a quarter of a million. People with 125000 on day 3. People doing 50k in one day at the last minute. It feels like some kind of pointless joke.
They don't make me feel bad, though. Maybe a little irate. But if anything, really, they make me feel good. Good in that I know that when NaNo finishes up, I might just be able to say "Yeah, maybe I can do this. Maybe I can actually achieve my dreams of being a writer." And I know some of them - most, probably - won't be able to say that at the end of the month. That makes me feel alright, if a little frustrated. It's National Novel Writing Month. I just wish people would stay true to the spirit of the challenge, and not game it like they do.
I guess I just let it get too personal for me. I want to be a writer. Have since I was a kid, writing my first ever short stories. I fell in love with the art. I forsook it for a while, but I came back. This is my chance to prove I can be a writer. Some of us are keeping up a dogged determination to make our way through this. Breaking new ground for ourselves. To get somewhere with it. The proper way. And these people are making a silly game out of it. It's almost insulting. ::)
At the end of the day though, so to speak, their 'fun' ends with November; as for me, nothing stops November 30th. I'm going to keep writing. And then when I've moved on to other things, and written more, I'll come back and rewrite. And I'll do it again for everything else. I'll become a writer. And that's reward enough for me.
Whew, I feel a little better now. Getting that off my chest was nice. :P
Post by: Willfor on November 07, 2013, 08:29:51 pm
And my internal writer is like, "No, no, you don't understand, I need to setup like 40 different characters and they're all important to the plot, and I need three viewpoint characters, and I'm doing so well giving them unique voices, and if I can just finish this first draft I can go back and maybe take out all that exposition maybe??? But then I can't setup 40 characters because that's a lot of things I need to setup and FUCK"
"See??? Do you SEE what I'm dealing with here??? No amount of editing is going to make your first four chapters readable without someone throwing your book across the room! Why can't you just for once give me a story with less than 20 characters? Why can't you for once, just fucking once, give me a story with something like, 10 characters? You get 10,000 words per character to explain 10 characters. Is that so fucking hard?"
"But then I can't setup a train wreck! A forty car pileup on a highway where everyone's going 200 km/h, and there's a 40-way intersection about 3/4ths through the book, and there's this massive confluence of plot that makes everyone who reads it just sort of sit there, watching as all these cars I've setup slowly plow towards the most fucking terrible event they can imagine, and I make them love all these characters, and so they're sitting there going 'no, no he wouldn't. he wouldn't actually make them all hit this intersection at the same time. no. no. no turn around. please no, turn around. TURN AROUND. TURN AROUND YOU FUCKERS CAN'T YOU SEE THE INTERSECTION? NOOOOOOOOO'."
"Okay. But they've already thrown your book away at the 1/10th point. So. They aren't actually doing that. Look at them tossing your book in the trash. no. no don't do it. no don't throw it away. nooooooooooo"
"You don't have to mock me. Remember that you're still me, right? Just the really bad part of me?"
"You mean the one that has to put up with all your shit? Yeah. Good luck making anything worthwhile without me. Just. Ugh. Finish this book, okay? Just stop fucking expositing everywhere. It's disgusting."
":("
--
That was actually kinda therapeutic, so I'm going to leave it there . . .
Post by: Aqizzar on November 07, 2013, 09:59:15 pm
There are people who can stream-of-conscious a writing session, and just type whatever comes into their head for hours on end. If you are one of these strange people, and you can type about 70 words a minute, you can write about 4,200 words an hour. If you can write for five hours a day at that speed, you can write 21,000 words a day. These people exist, and they write during NaNo. Many of them aren't writing anything they want to publish, they're just writing for fun. The key thing to understand is that these people are the exception to the rule, but they still exist within our sightlines, tempting us to feel bad about ourselves, and bad in general. It's tempting, but ultimately problematic because you're not racing against them. You're racing against 50,000. You win if you cross the line, and you don't get any title other than "winner" no matter how many extra words you cross that line by.
I still find it silly. 150000 in 30 days? You know, that's fine I guess, if you can devote 8 hours a day. Not quality work, but fine if you feel like suffering through it. But there are people shooting for a quarter of a million. People with 125000 on day 3. People doing 50k in one day at the last minute. It feels like some kind of pointless joke.
I look at them the same as those people who have three doctorates by age 20. I choose to ignore them, because the universe is a happier place if I don't know they exist.
Finished my outline last night, came out to 23 chapters with 112 segments altogether. I've done this plenty of times before, for both academic and creative writing. Just list down all the concepts I want to get across to the reader, then plug in any prose or scenes that come to mind. Basically, I pick all the low-hanging fruit jumping around the outline, then think about how to walk the narrative from one block to another when I run out of spontaneous stuff. I've done this so many times before it's silly.
I wrote 600 words on my lunch break at work. I open up my text at home and just stare at the keyboard. I can't work on anything creative unless it's a distraction from a chore. At work, writing is the distraction. At home, writing is the chore. What the crap.
Post by: Sappho on November 08, 2013, 04:51:40 am
I have also just gotten a copy of Scrivener. I might transfer my writing to that program after today. They have a built-in feature for tracking your word count, overall and per day/session, like the NaNoWriMo site does. That way I can continue motivating myself in the same way even after November ends: make that bar turn GREEN!!!!
Post by: Darkmere on November 08, 2013, 07:53:11 pm
Post by: Caz on November 08, 2013, 08:25:02 pm
I look at them the same as those people who have three doctorates by age 20. I choose to ignore them, because the universe is a happier place if I don't know they exist.
There's something to be said for that philosophy. I think I will adopt it.
Edit: #nano on irc.darkmyst.net was the channel we used before. I'll hang out there if anyone wants to word war or needs a writing cheerleader etc.
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 08, 2013, 10:12:17 pm
Spent a lot of the day doing some research into publishing. Man, it really dashes my hopes. It seems to me that getting into the short story market is 1000x times easier and more likely than the novel fiction markets. There's all of like two or three decent science fiction publishers I found that accept unsolicited manuscripts, and their required word counts are something to the tune of 90000 - 100000 words minimum.
Between that, the likelihood of it taking a year and a half for you to so much as get a rejection slip, the likelihood of receiving said rejection slip, and... well it just feels all for naught to try.
Self-publishing hardly seems any better, being a high inundated market with absolute crap payout even when you toss money at it for professional editing and such, which I can't afford to do anyway.
I'm going to finish this novel, but it's going to have to sit in my hard drive for a while, I think. Once it's done, I'm getting down with short stories. I know I'll have better luck with that, considering just how much more open the field is and how much faster I could produce finished product. I'm not really giving up on my dream of being a semi-successful published author one day, but I'll be lying if I said I had any delusions about it being anything remotely resembling easy or probable. :-\
Post by: Willfor on November 08, 2013, 10:59:06 pm
Unsolicited submissions have become a very hard way to get picked up. Though, getting an agent is not a whole lot easier. On the plus side, their entire job is to make sure that you don't get completely screwed over. So. Kind of worth it, really.
Post by: EnigmaticHat on November 08, 2013, 11:16:39 pm
Unlike last year's computer disaster that ended my attempt within the first hour, this year is going pretty well. I mean I'm behind, but I'm feeling pretty optimistic.
Post by: Lectorog on November 09, 2013, 01:00:51 am
Post by: Darkmere on November 09, 2013, 02:59:53 am
Post by: Skyrunner on November 09, 2013, 09:41:10 am
Nobody there.I look at them the same as those people who have three doctorates by age 20. I choose to ignore them, because the universe is a happier place if I don't know they exist.
There's something to be said for that philosophy. I think I will adopt it.
Edit: #nano on irc.darkmyst.net was the channel we used before. I'll hang out there if anyone wants to word war or needs a writing cheerleader etc.
... not that I'm writing one. :(
Post by: Sappho on November 09, 2013, 09:49:38 am
Post by: Darkmere on November 09, 2013, 10:54:36 am
Post by: Caz on November 09, 2013, 01:25:04 pm
Post by: Digital Hellhound on November 09, 2013, 01:39:08 pm
I don't wanna reread what I wrote today because it is not fun to write while sick, and I imagine the quality varies a bit. Still, it's done! I persevered! Hurray.
Post by: EnigmaticHat on November 09, 2013, 04:10:47 pm
I'm having an emotionally trying day (see my post in the "things that made you sad today" thread if you want details, I'm definitely not going to write it again). I feel completely rotted up and twisted inside, violated, helpless, terrified to face the world. I keep trying to sit down and write but then the events of last night pop back into my head and I lose it all over again. I really hope I can regain control of myself by evening. I don't want the fuckers who made me feel this way to also get control over my creative outlet and stop me from making my word count for the first time. : (
Sorry that happened to you : (
Post by: Darkmere on November 10, 2013, 01:02:12 am
Now off to toss out another thousand towards tomorrow's count.
Post by: Sappho on November 10, 2013, 05:18:27 am
I'm having an emotionally trying day (see my post in the "things that made you sad today" thread if you want details, I'm definitely not going to write it again). I feel completely rotted up and twisted inside, violated, helpless, terrified to face the world. I keep trying to sit down and write but then the events of last night pop back into my head and I lose it all over again. I really hope I can regain control of myself by evening. I don't want the fuckers who made me feel this way to also get control over my creative outlet and stop me from making my word count for the first time. : (
Sorry that happened to you : (
Thanks. I didn't write anything yesterday, but I'm determined to catch up today. Coffee at the ready!
Post by: Aqizzar on November 10, 2013, 09:14:56 am
I only signed on for this challenge because I wanted to see if I could do it, but I realized that if I don't actually care about what I'm working on, it turns into a chore. And when something feels like a chore, I find other things to do instead.
I was already working on a writing project that I want to be writing and was making great progress with right before November. There's also my roguelike to program, that I'm finally past a block with. And I already know that if I had a subject, I could crank out 50000 words in a month - I've done 22000 in two weeks before, and that still wasn't my maximum effort. It just has to be something that I want to do.
So, good luck all. Maybe I'll try again next year.
Post by: Sappho on November 10, 2013, 10:42:23 am
As for me, I have just gotten my two green bars! I wrote 2,735 words today and that got me back up to par despite my rough day yesterday. And I'm bursting to write the next couple of scenes. Maybe I'll keep going and get a head start. Who knows how I'll feel tomorrow...
Post by: Digital Hellhound on November 10, 2013, 10:55:28 am
I've been kept away from writing today. Hoping to get a good late-night spurt going when I get home. Some people on my buddy list are getting past me in wordcount and that's just unacceptable.
Post by: EnigmaticHat on November 10, 2013, 01:57:23 pm
Post by: sjm9876 on November 10, 2013, 02:00:00 pm
Post by: Sappho on November 10, 2013, 02:38:06 pm
Actually the writing itself is doing wonders for me. You know when you're reading, and the book transports you somewhere, and when you stop reading you're actually a little disoriented for a few minutes, like waking up from a dream? I'm finding writing to be that way. My characters are at a Christmas market and I find myself expecting to look outside and see snow falling, I imagine I smell hot spiced wine and cider, I panic for a moment when I realize I haven't bought any Christmas presents yet.
In other words, writing this book is doing me a world of good, and I hope that after November ends, I don't lose this drive to keep writing. I don't even want to play video games or watch films anymore. (Of course, I also don't want to clean or cook or plan my lessons for work anymore.) How lovely it would be if someday I could become a real life professional writer, and no longer have to interrupt my train of thought in order to go to work. : )
As for Scrivener, I've been playing with it a bit. It's rather complicated and the interface is very unintuitive, so if you get it, expect a learning curve (though I imagine that won't scare off most B12ers). It does have a lot of useful tools though. I've already used it to make some notes on parts I wrote before, so I can easily go back and fix them later. It satisfies my internal editor for now, and doesn't mess up my word count by putting extra notes in the text. It also gives you a lot of power to easily and quickly reorganize things, move stuff around, etc. I won't use that so much for this book since I'm just starting at the beginning and writing straight through to the end, but I'll definitely make use of it in the future, whenever I'm writing something out of order.
Post by: Caz on November 10, 2013, 03:33:45 pm
I might take a day off today. I can afford it... probably. Been catching up on sleep instead of writing. Totally worth it. z_z
Post by: Darkmere on November 10, 2013, 03:47:19 pm
I have cut out all of my "free time" for the past week. No video games, no sitting to watch a movie. I keep up with the 2 TV shows I watch, but that's basically all I do when I get home except write. I wake up in the morning and sneak in a few hundred words. I sit down at night for hours to play in this world... my world... because now that I've started I can't leave. My characters speak to each other, and sometimes to me directly, but I don't sit there wondering where to go anymore. I have notes for that - plans and road maps to keep me on track.
Above all, the main (and only) thing NaNo is for is to make you a writer. Writers are people who write things. It's simple. Once you get all the words on the page, one after another after another, and finish what you've started, you've written something. One of the pep talks (Rothfuss, I think) said it best: the shittiest published book is better than the most magnificent masterpiece you turn over and over in your head, fantasizing about it. Because in your head, it isn't a book, or a story, or anything more than an ephemeral idea. For me, taking that shred of an idea and forcing it onto the page makes it real. It's a part of my mind I can pluck out and hand to someone else and say, for once, "Here, this is a part of me I enjoyed. Now it's my gift to you."
Re: Scrivener,
I took a look at the site for it and I like most of what I see. It's far too late for me to go back and port my current novel over to it, but when I win (and I will win), that 50% discount on it is going to get used. Glad to hear you like it.
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 10, 2013, 06:08:28 pm
Today I only wrote 1709 words, and yesterday I wrote none as I was gone all day. I'm still more than a full day ahead of the minimums at 18526, so I'm not feeling too bad about my day off. I'll get back in the rhythm as this week progresses.
The third character I've introduced to my story is finally starting to have her plot get rolling into action and conflict, and faster than the other two have. I like that. It allows me to switch gears between chapters, to pace the reader, without having to switch gears for each character. This not only helps stretch out my word count, but also helps me keep my plot from descending into pure crap. My characters are guiding me, and not the other way around. I'm okay with this.
Also, notably, I have now more than doubled my word count from last year. Last year, I started off strong, but my insane pace died down quickly. I didn't establish a schedule. I didn't make that mistake this year and it's shown in my consistency. I'm pretty satisfied so far, but I can't let myself grow complacent. I gotta keep going. Thankfully, I don't feel tempted not to keep on. :D
Post by: Sappho on November 11, 2013, 02:04:00 pm
My new goal for word count is to beat my "average" daily word count each day. Right now it's at 1801, and I wrote 1935 today. 50,000 words are definitely not going to be enough for this story, so I want to make my goal higher, and this seems a simple way to do it.
Post by: Willfor on November 11, 2013, 02:16:31 pm
That, combined with the fact that it physically hurts to write right now due to my everything being sore from work -- especially my arms and shoulders -- is making it very hard to focus on writing right now.
The only thing I've got going for me right now is the fact that I am in a very easy to write part of the book.
Ugh.
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 11, 2013, 03:29:29 pm
Post by: Willfor on November 11, 2013, 04:18:05 pm
:(
I think it's coffee time.
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 11, 2013, 05:04:28 pm
Some things got better, some things got worse. I've got my motivation back, I think. Though I just hit a chapter break, which always tends to break my flow a little. I'll recover. Unfortunately, every time I get into a good pace writing, my shoulder starts acting up, and preventing me from writing for a minute. It's enough to break me from 1200 words an hour to 800 words an hour.
:(
I think it's coffee time.
Man, 800 wph with an injured shoulder? I manage somewhere around 700 wph, and I'm perfectly healthy. I'm jealous. :P
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 11, 2013, 05:06:02 pm
Post by: Caz on November 11, 2013, 06:54:34 pm
Post by: Lectorog on November 11, 2013, 09:05:05 pm
*with my style of writing I can just put whatever I'm musing about in my head into character after slight modification - even if that's not what I usually do, it's an option for particularly unfortunate days
Drinking too much caffeine+sugar can be almost as detrimental as not having enough. It's best to stick to as straight caffeine as is reasonable - sugar is pretty unreliable.
Post by: Willfor on November 11, 2013, 10:59:20 pm
Spoiler: But it works (click to show/hide)
:|
Post by: Darkmere on November 12, 2013, 12:48:02 am
4,400 word combo!
Wow. That's quite an epic save, hat's off to you!
Post by: Lectorog on November 12, 2013, 01:53:28 am
Post by: WillowLuman on November 12, 2013, 02:02:25 am
Post by: Sappho on November 12, 2013, 02:17:47 am
Not that it can't be saved, but I think I need to push myself past writing all the events of every day. I need to learn how to skip details, something I'm really terrible at. I have to pick out which scenes are important and which can be summarized in a line or two, or not even mentioned at all.
This is my biggest hurdle, I think. I have severely detail-oriented perception, a common trait of autism, and it's nearly impossible for me to "zoom out" and see anything but the precise details I'm focused on. I think I may have to just keep writing every detail, like I'm doing, then later go back and edit it all down. Reduce pages to paragraphs, paragraphs to sentences, keep only the scenes that really add to the story. Which means that this first draft will probably have to be 200,000 words long to actually get the whole story in. : /
Post by: Lectorog on November 12, 2013, 02:34:29 am
Which means that this first draft will probably have to be 200,000 words long to actually get the whole story in. : /I think this is really a good thing, as far as nano is concerned. The point is to get you to write and write. As long as you don't run out of things to write about, you should be happy with your nano performance. Later is the time when you decide what things actually contribute to a good story. Right now, you're just writing about something.
Post by: Darkmere on November 12, 2013, 02:51:21 am
a) 50,000 words before Nov 30
b) finish the book, if I haven't yet.
c) get a beer, watch a movie, play video games, sleep
I just hit a great scene that put me up to 19,390 words. A few more days like this and I'll actually be ahead, for once.
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 12, 2013, 12:21:27 pm
Today was a weird day, in terms of what was written. I finished up the chapter I began yesterday, the last chapter I needed to insert to catch up my recently introduced character to everyone else. Then I finished a chapter I left hanging in order to go back and introduce a new perspective character. Then, I had to write the next chapter that would come in the book; it turned out that it needed to be from my newest protagonist's perspective.
I've been writing about her almost nonstop for days now. I've really gotten to know this character well, more so than the other two. She feels more well-developed, and maybe even more enjoyable to write. But as much as I've enjoyed her initial mini-arc, I really can't wait until her story collides with one of the others' here in the next few chapters. That's when things will really start to heat up - as if lasers and explosions weren't heated enough - and start driving things towards the inevitable climax of the story. :D
Post by: Sappho on November 12, 2013, 03:13:37 pm
Post by: Doomblade187 on November 12, 2013, 05:07:30 pm
At least I'm writing some.
On another note, I wouldn't mind if someone wishes to word war. I could use the competition.
EDIT: Made par today. Happy now, but need to work on my deficit a bit still.
Post by: Darkmere on November 13, 2013, 01:53:04 am
The plot is slowly moving forward, bit by tiny bit, one baby step at a time. I'm speeding up the passage of time a bit, finally, not detailing every single minute of every day. Picking out one or two important things and only detailing them instead. Soon the setting will change, and I think that will help push things along. I hope so!
I've actually kinda run into the opposite problem. My outlines were pretty briskly paced in some areas, and now when I change a major location (since it's basically a survival/adventure/horror, there's no going back where I've already been) I'm reluctant to leave and feel bad that I can't come back. For the big ones, anyway. But I keep on moving, regardless.
1900 words yesterday, with another 600 (hoping for a few more to end the act tonight), bringing my current total to 20,900. Still a bit behind where I'd like, but catching up fairly quickly, for now.
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 13, 2013, 12:11:49 pm
Post by: Caz on November 13, 2013, 03:54:09 pm
Post by: Doomblade187 on November 13, 2013, 10:32:59 pm
Post by: ShoesandHats on November 13, 2013, 11:17:37 pm
Post by: Lectorog on November 13, 2013, 11:21:38 pm
Post by: Darkmere on November 13, 2013, 11:37:08 pm
Week two is a weird time. There's a definite lack of drive, in general.
Yeah. That. It suddenly seems like nothing I'm writing makes sense to me anymore.
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 14, 2013, 08:53:39 am
I'm actually just now getting things in my novel to where I wanted to get to. Though my goal for November is still only 50k, I want to finish this novel out somewhere around 100,000 - 110,000. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to hit that goal, no problem. I jump around between perspectives each chapter/scene change, to keep my narrative fresh. There's two distinct perspectives (with separate plotlines that intertwine in places) that drive the narrative, and one more that frames it with the bigger picture of what's happening. I like how it works out.
'Things That Have Happened In My Story, In Something Approximating The Sequence It Is Written In, Without Too Many Spoilers':
- Emperor agrees to a plan that can save his empire
- Female protag finds out something that gets to her
- Male protag becomes part of a group
- Female protag goes out; encounters people who don't initially trust her. People also make startling statement.
- Male protag goes to a spaceport, setting is fleshed out a little, boards starship.
- Female protag finds statement crazy, but intriguing. Has to fly back to town with people who still only halfway trust her; Imperial forces interrupt, forcing emergency jump.
- Male protag goes through induction to group alongside others; things happen.
- Emperor gives orders to a subordinate, to further the plan
- Male protag is informed of the orders, and his role in them, but first reflects a bit on training.
- Female protag has been brooding; faster than light travel cannot be interrupted once started, nor can messages be sent while traveling faster than light, and these facts make her bad situation worse. Comes to grips with it, however, knowing she would have died had they not jumped. In this same chapter, they arrive at their destination. The people who almost-don't-trust-her realize, by chance, where they arrived is about to be attacked by empire.
I know, I know, it's all vague and whatnot, but I don't want to spoil my plot any more than that. Especially when things can change. :P
Post by: Skyrunner on November 14, 2013, 09:13:54 am
Post by: Sappho on November 14, 2013, 10:57:46 am
Tuesday I got myself a day ahead, so yesterday I didn't make progress but was still up to par. Now I'm a day behind, and I have to write today if I want to catch up. I want to write, but I just can't make my brain focus. My whole body is screaming at me to crawl into bed and sleep for days. Last night I went to bed early and still slept through my alarm this morning and felt exhausted all day.
So I guess the question is, if I let myself just rest today and don't write, will I be able to make up the word count over the weekend? I'm sure I can, but I hate to give myself excuses, even if I am sick... : /
Post by: Digital Hellhound on November 14, 2013, 11:39:06 am
This is especially good after two days of middling progress. I was losing my lead here. Excellento.
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 14, 2013, 12:09:28 pm
Darnit, you've spoiled it too much! Now I shall never read it without the threat of spoilers hanging over my head! D:
:P
Ugh. My drive was not lessening until I got a chest infection. Yesterday when I got home from work I was too drained and dizzy to even make myself dinner, let alone write. Today I'm not feeling any better.
Get yourself some rest if you need it! Pushing yourself too much might only make yourself worse off. NaNoWriMo is great and all, but it's not worth making yourself sick over. Funny enough, despite what non-writers might think, writing does take energy. It's a mental workout, at times. If you're intent on writing without having to catch up, try not to overdo it. Just do a few short snippets, maybe something later on in your story that you would be able to write easily, and just bridge it to what you have later.
Hope you feel better soon!
As for my own progress, I got in 2103 words today, putting me up to 27171. I'm slowly inching my way towards being three days ahead. I'll get there soon enough if I can keep up my pace of at least 2k per day, without missing a day.
I'm pretty happy that things have finally started happening, action-wise. It's different from what I'd previously been writing, so it's taking a little effort to switch gears. I'll get in the groove of it soon though, I think.
Post by: Darkmere on November 14, 2013, 02:13:16 pm
Post by: Doomblade187 on November 14, 2013, 04:16:14 pm
Post by: Willfor on November 14, 2013, 09:24:40 pm
Spoiler: OLD (click to show/hide)
""Huh. This is actually pretty good stuff. You've actually found your legs here. I'm not sure how you're going to fit this into less than 130k words, but according to your plans you're actually getting something kind of fascinating going on."
".___."
"What?"
"I'm so tired from working ALL THE TIME, and coming home and I just don't. I just don't. Want to write. At all."
"But you love this thing. Like, I can palpably feel your love for this thing. The first six chapters are irredeemable exposition, but this is still the best fucking thing you've ever written. And I'm the one who's never on your side! Come on! I know you love it, I am you, I can literally feel the love within you for this story!"
"ugggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
And so I plow forward. 1,200 words so far today. I really need to double that tonight, and pull another 3,000 words out of my ass tomorrow. I need a buffer because my work schedule is going to pound me in the face.
Post by: Darkmere on November 15, 2013, 03:38:36 am
Post by: Sappho on November 15, 2013, 05:04:17 am
I've also got loads of other stuff weighing down at the back of my mind. I've neglected most of my usual life responsibilities for two weeks now for the sake of writing, but I can't put it off forever. I have to do a lot of cleaning. I desperately need to do a load of laundry. I have piles of crap that I need to sort through so I can feel like my home isn't a garbage dump. There's a rotting smell coming from my fridge and I know what it is, and I need to clean the entire refrigerator to get rid of it. I need to make a new batch of kombucha before the current one gets too old. I need to go to the supermarket and cook some actual food rather than shoveling frozen pizzas down my throat and getting myself sick. I need to do some serious organizational work for my job (last week was a mess because all I did was NaNo, no work preparation). And I really need a shower. All these things could take the whole day by themselves, but I also need to reach 25,000 words today, and I'm only at 22,486. I will NOT be behind at the halfway mark.
It's all rather overwhelming. And on top of that, I have to make plans with some friends this weekend who I haven't seen in months, and I really want to go to one of the Prague NaNo meet-ups tomorrow, since I've missed the past two Saturdays.
All that stress makes it tough to focus on writing. Especially since I'm not sure what to write next. I just keep filling in more details of what it's like to live in Prague, the vast majority of which I know will be cut eventually. I can't seem to get the plot moving. Something needs to happen, but I'm not sure what it is.
Put one word after another... Time to watch this video again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drMuQqLLEe0
Post by: Digital Hellhound on November 15, 2013, 07:46:21 am
I've gone whooshing past my 2011 high point (23k), so my confidence levels are just rising. All is joy. I think it's reasonable to think I might actually get through this thing. Granted, test week's creeping up, but I should be fine. NaNo's more important than school anyway.
Post by: Sappho on November 15, 2013, 09:30:32 am
I haven't made it out to go shopping, but maybe I'll just leave that for another day. I have enough food that I won't starve, anyway. And it's gray and cold and shitty outside.
I'm feeling pretty good now. It actually wasn't that hard to catch up, and I even finally found a way to move the plot forward. Something actually happened in the story today, and more is going to happen as I continue. I figured out how to get the characters where they need to go. I'm more convinced than ever that more than half of what I've written so far will eventually be cut, but that doesn't matter. It got me to this point, so it's fine.
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 15, 2013, 04:04:04 pm
I'm currently writing a pseudo-political scene, and have found out some interesting things about characters - both previously mentioned and newly discovered - as well as the setting and plot at large. I find it more interesting to know that my emperor isn't quite an all-powerful, untouchable despot as he could have been, being held accountable by a functioning political system alongside the feudal system of vassals and divine appointments.
I enjoy writing from perspective characters that are all manners of gray: an imperial loyalist who values honor and justice - and, in his naivete, believes the empire truly embodies these things without fail - above all else; an otherwise unremarkable woman with considerable mechanical engineering skills, who gets dragged into the civil war unwittingly, and whose brother is on the other side of the conflict; an emperor who genuinely cares for his people, but often acts in tyrannical ways, and is losing a civil war while having to deal with political fallout from the loyalists that still remain in his government.
Even some of the minor characters are somewhat enjoyable, with their nuances, goals, fears, schemes, and agendas. A young, disciplined, but spiteful Grand Marshall who has ambitions to become emperor himself, unbeknownst to the emperor; a pair of quirky rebels - one unwitting noble, the other a cynical sellsword - who perform important missions for their leader, flying a modified freighter housing a technology the likes of which the galaxy hadn't seen since the days of an era that has become little more than legends and myths; an unhoused centurion-knight who was exiled from his noble family when they sided with the rebellion, and who covers up his sense of lost dignity with cutting remarks and a poor attitude; and lastly, but not least of all, a loyalist High Lord who is willing to take the risk and responsibility of re-birthing an ancient Order that died out centuries before and fights outside the time-honored traditions and unwritten laws of galactic warfare, in a desperate effort to change the tide of the civil war.
Post by: Darkmere on November 16, 2013, 03:35:00 am
But that's not the best thing that happened today. I had a supporting character who only existed in a flashback to have a breakdown and wander off into the savage wasteland to die. Until yesterday, she really was dead, but at some point the character tapped me on the shoulder and demanded to be let back in the story. So in the middle of a mystery-revealing research scene she wandered in on the protagonists and completely hijacked the story for the next chapter and a half. I'm totally going to bring her back if there's a sequel.
Post by: Sappho on November 16, 2013, 04:30:07 pm
To my surprise, her facial expression went from "polite small talk" to "genuinely impressed and interested." I know the difference. I have studied it extensively. She told me it sounds like a book she would very much like to read.
When a person you don't even like very much, who you're pretty sure doesn't like you very much, says that with sincerity in their voice, it's a good boost, let me tell you.
Post by: EnigmaticHat on November 16, 2013, 04:50:53 pm
On the bright side I'm learning my way around Scrivener. It seems very in line with the way I write and edit. It fits the way I write because I jump around and write the parts I want to first, and its structure helps me stay organized within that. It fits the way I edit because I like to chop up my stories and delete/move parts at will, and this makes it as easy as dragging a document to a different folder. Well, and checking to make sure all the writing still matches up.
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 16, 2013, 05:46:23 pm
I guess after I've done nothing but let myself down all my life when it came to my hopes and dreams, finally getting solidly on the track towards fulfilling them is what I needed. I may not be a published author yet, but I'll be damned if anyone can tell me anymore that I'm not a writer. :D
Post by: Darkmere on November 17, 2013, 02:29:13 am
Post by: Skyrunner on November 17, 2013, 02:35:06 am
I know myself and that I'm distractable and write slowly, so I'm going for a 30,000 word goal. I'm at 11,081, aka 4 days behind if I meet my goal today. So... yeah.Scrivener looks very awesome.
On the bright side I'm learning my way around Scrivener. It seems very in line with the way I write and edit. It fits the way I write because I jump around and write the parts I want to first, and its structure helps me stay organized within that. It fits the way I edit because I like to chop up my stories and delete/move parts at will, and this makes it as easy as dragging a document to a different folder. Well, and checking to make sure all the writing still matches up.
Post by: Sappho on November 17, 2013, 02:45:18 am
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 17, 2013, 08:22:44 am
I still use good ol' 2007 Microsoft Works - yup, not even Office, I use Works - for my story in a single document, formatted to make export to ebook formatting easy to do, and if there's any notes I need to keep track of, I use Word Pad docs. I find other word processors to be too cluttered or, worse, too organized. I just can't stand the way things like yWrite and Scrivener are set up for some reason. Atlantis Word Processor is alright, but it's basically Works+ and I still ultimately prefer Works.
I've considered maybe putting some information into LitLift, not that it's really a Word Processor, when I reread my story to begin the second draft a couple weeks/months after my first draft is finished, so I know what needs to be fixed/what happens when I change something. But that's the most fancy I plan on getting with technology for writing this novel.
Unless you count scraping together some sc-ifi stock photos to make cover art for an e-book version, anyway.
Post by: EnigmaticHat on November 17, 2013, 04:39:09 pm
I'm having a small issue with Scrivener, if anyone who uses it might know the answer: I changed the settings so that the default font is Times New Roman rather than that horrid Courier New, but I didn't touch anything else. Now, for some reason, when I start a new document, the ruler is set with the right boundary alllllllll the way to the right of the screen. I want it set at 6", which it was before, but now it doesn't work. I looked back in the settings and the right boundary of the ruler is still at 6", but whenever I create a new scene, I have to manually fix the ruler. Any ideas?Could you reset the settings back to the default and then change the font back to Times New Roman?
Post by: Doomblade187 on November 18, 2013, 11:05:29 pm
Note: I will probably still write this month, just most likely on a different project, and I won't necessarily be trying for the goal. We'll see how it goes. Second-person experimentation can be fun. Or maybe I should shift narration perspectives with characters? Who knows. Oh, the boundless ideas!
Oh, and if we're talking about writing programs, I use Q10 (http://www.baara.com/q10/), with a white on black background scheme. There's no spellcheck that I've gotten to work, though, so it's amusing when you put it into word.
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 19, 2013, 08:09:25 am
Beginning -> Buildup -> Rising Action -> Semi-Climax -> Falling Action -> Rising Action -> Rising Action -> Climax -> Falling Action -> End
I'm currently right at the part before the semi-climax.
It's not like it's Epic Fantasy or anything. The plot takes place in a relatively short period of time, with only a handful of major events. The buildup - sometimes fueled by action, sometimes by dialogue, and sometimes by intrigue - to each of them, however, is what takes up most of the room for me.
I don't do more than a paragraph or two of exposition at any time that I know of, and either way it'll be easy enough to weed it out and seed that information along the rest of the prose in less in-your-face ways. I also don't have really any real 'filler' scenes at this point. If there are any that I find when I go back through, I'll make them more relevant or scrap them.
Everything either drives along character-building or plot-building more than the other, though often a bit of both, and the pace of the scene really determines which gear I'm in. It probably also helps that I shift perspective between three main characters between chapters that are all telling different aspects of the story as it develops.
Post by: Darkmere on November 19, 2013, 10:25:05 am
Yesterday was kind of a shit day for writing, I stared at the screen for two hours blanking on one scene, but when I finally figured it out I typed up 2,000 words in an hour and a half, then collapsed. I like the way the scene turned out, though, and at this point the rest of my novel is already written (despite act 3 and 4 completely deviating from my notes thus far), I just have to type it all up.
word count right now is 32,785, and I'll hit 35k or more during my regular writing time. I'm almost to the home stretch for Nano, despite the fact that my draft will almost certainly exceed 50k by a decent margin.
Post by: Digital Hellhound on November 20, 2013, 07:26:23 am
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 20, 2013, 11:35:06 am
Ended up getting 2073 words in within 2 hours though, so today was... strange for me. A slow start lead to a better than usual writing session. I dread going through that again. It took a lot of effort to motivate myself. I'd heard the quote "A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people," before now, but today I really felt it.
It's not necessarily that it's difficult to write if you're a writer, but it is sometimes difficult to stay determined to write without giving up. For non-writers, its easy to simply give up. They don't have to write. They aren't compelled to do it in the way writers are. I feel like this year I finally crossed that threshold from non-writer to writer, and it feels good.
Post by: Lectorog on November 20, 2013, 11:38:53 am
Post by: Doomblade187 on November 20, 2013, 09:56:08 pm
Post by: Caz on November 20, 2013, 10:08:13 pm
Being a professional is doing it whether or not you're inspired. Casuals only do it when they're inspired.
/sobs quietly in the corner with dozens of unfinished manuscripts :(
Post by: Lectorog on November 20, 2013, 10:50:35 pm
Casuals can get lucky. There are just fewer guarantees.Being a professional is doing it whether or not you're inspired. Casuals only do it when they're inspired./sobs quietly in the corner with dozens of unfinished manuscripts :(
Post by: Willfor on November 21, 2013, 02:44:20 am
The bad news is that I'm not going to hit 50,000 words in November.
The good news is that I'm going to hit 120,000 at some point. I'm hoping February. Actually, I'm hoping January, but that seems a little optimistic unless things change. Mostly: I've had a rough week when it comes to writing, and to make up for it would require more time and energy than the presumption of this being a running thing allows for. But I am still in love with what this book is supposed to be, and it's still the best thing I've ever written. I can't keep working until I'm burned out, and then writing until I'm burned out on my days off. This is a perfect recipe for throwing the book away after the month is over.
Still going to use November as a motivation tool for reaching toward 50,000, just being realistic in the fact that I am not actually going to hit it. I'm thinking 40,000-45,000 right now.
Post by: EnigmaticHat on November 21, 2013, 02:46:10 am
Being a professional is doing it whether or not you're inspired. Casuals only do it when they're inspired. It applies to writing and other forms of art, and pretty much everything.
Pretty sure professional means you get paid.
Post by: Sappho on November 21, 2013, 03:20:08 am
I'm not officially diagnosed with bipolar disorder but I've suspected for years that I have it. Most of the time I tend to be depressed, but then I get these periods, usually not longer than a week or so, when instead of depressed, I go the opposite direction. Some days I get euphoric, but mostly I get terribly anxious, nervous, irritable. My heart rate goes through the roof and I jump at everything. My energy levels go up, but my focus goes way down. All week I have hardly slept, even when I try drinking, smoking cannabis, or drinking sedative tea to knock myself out. I can't stop moving, but I can't really control my movement. Yesterday I had several hours set aside for writing, but instead I pulled up a bunch of karaoke videos on YouTube and started singing and dancing around like I was on stage. For hours. It felt good, but in the back of my mind was always that voice going "YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE WRITING RIGHT NOW, WHAT ARE YOU DOING???" But I couldn't focus on that. I also spent a lot of time thinking about, shall we say, carnal pleasures, even going so far as to make tentative plans to go out and take a strange girl home on the weekend, though I hope I maintain enough rationality and control that I DON'T do that. For anyone who has experienced MDMA (ecstasy), the feeling is very similar. Teeth grinding, rocking back and forth, eyes bugged out, jumping around, talking really fast, but unable to focus on anything or relax.
So now I'm a full day behind, feeling even more jittery than yesterday. Somehow I have to get a double word count done after work later. Trying to focus on preparing my lessons for today - I have parents observing my first grade class - but so far I've just got a head full of amazing ideas and no actual plans. I'm writing this as a sort of stepping stone, hoping it will focus me on doing one task for long enough to write down my plan for the day.
I hope this doesn't last too long. I don't want to be depressed again, but at least when I am, I can usually get things like writing and lesson planning done. Maybe I'll cross my fingers and hope for a happy middle ground where I can just be a person.
Post by: Willfor on November 21, 2013, 03:27:38 am
I'm not officially diagnosed with bipolar disorder but I've suspected for years that I have it.Real talk from someone with undiagnosed-but-very-likely-anxiety-issues, get your mentals evaluated by the pros as soon as reasonable. These are the sorts of things you want to know positively, especially when help is available. I'm definitely going to be taking my own advice on this.
At some point.
Okay, this isn't a very good advice session, imma go to bed.
Post by: Sappho on November 21, 2013, 03:38:19 am
I was in therapy for 14 years when I was younger and they never helped me. They misdiagnosed me with depersonalization disorder, completely missed the (very obvious) autism, and never paid any heed to my sleep issues because "smart people often have trouble sleeping" (same thing they used to dismiss my autism symptoms). Several times I was put on antidepressant medication, but it always only made me worse, so I vowed I'd never take pills again... : / Basically, "professionals" completely failed me in every way, and I'm reluctant to trust them again.
Now, as I'm writing this, I should be eating something and getting ready for work. That's another thing, I'm hardly eating lately. : ( ARG
Post by: Skyrunner on November 21, 2013, 04:23:46 am
Post by: Darkmere on November 21, 2013, 04:48:08 am
In NaNo news, I hit 39,200 words today. in 800 words I'll be down to triple digits away from victory, and I still have a ton of novel to go.
Post by: Sappho on November 21, 2013, 11:43:35 am
The age of having to compare multiple doctors' opinions has come. Especially when it's a psychological syndrome. Doctors seem to have physiological diagnosis nailed down pretty well.
It is also the age of me having shitty insurance that only covers one hospital, living in a country where I don't speak much of the language. Sadly, my options are limited, and every time I decide to see a doctor for something, it's an ordeal that takes at least one full day out of my life, often several, which always means missed work (and missed pay). So yes, ideally you are right, but it's not really an option for me to shop around for the right doctor. : /
The mania paid off today. I wrote a completely original lesson plan, including a whole story with illustrations, in about an hour, and the classes were brilliant. My boss came to me afterwards and said the parents who had come to observe us were amazed by how great the lessons were.
I also walked most of the way home (about 45 minutes) to try to burn off some energy. I still can't stop singing and moving around. I don't know if I'll be able to focus on writing. The creativity is there, but the ability to sit still and focus is not. But I have been doing SO WELL this month. I don't want to fall behind so much. One day is already terrible... Two days would take a while to catch up on. I will have to try just sitting in front of the manuscript and see if I can get my brain to do it. If I can get started, maybe I can even catch up quickly, since I have so much energy.
I can feel my body screaming inside though. Hardly any sleep, hardly any food. I know I'm exhausted, but I just can't rest, can't stop moving...
Post by: monk12 on November 21, 2013, 12:36:41 pm
Being a professional is doing it whether or not you're inspired. Casuals only do it when they're inspired. It applies to writing and other forms of art, and pretty much everything.
Pretty sure professional means you get paid.
Exactly, and the thing is, if you want to make a living at writing, you have to write basically constantly forever. Because, y'know, if you don't turn out a completed product at regular intervals, you don't get paid. So while you might luck into the next Harry Potter or Song of Ice and Fire where you can make a go of living off of a mini media empire, the vast, vast majority of professional writers have to perpetually produce books, short stories, blogs, and/or magazine articles to keep afloat (and really, the and is far more likely than the or.) Maybe they save their creative juice for their pet projects, but they still have to write all the rest whether they are inspired or not.
Also oh hey, I haven't posted in here in a while. That's because I failed due to lack of inspiration and planning, and also because I made the mistake of reading what I had written before and actually liked it, in stark contrast to the bloat I was turning out this month for the sake of word count. Next year I'll do more planning and start with a fresh concept. Hopefully I'll get my shit together and finish this one someday, though...
Post by: EnigmaticHat on November 21, 2013, 05:43:09 pm
Being a professional is doing it whether or not you're inspired. Casuals only do it when they're inspired. It applies to writing and other forms of art, and pretty much everything.
Pretty sure professional means you get paid.
Exactly, and the thing is, if you want to make a living at writing, you have to write basically constantly forever. Because, y'know, if you don't turn out a completed product at regular intervals, you don't get paid. So while you might luck into the next Harry Potter or Song of Ice and Fire where you can make a go of living off of a mini media empire, the vast, vast majority of professional writers have to perpetually produce books, short stories, blogs, and/or magazine articles to keep afloat (and really, the and is far more likely than the or.) Maybe they save their creative juice for their pet projects, but they still have to write all the rest whether they are inspired or not.
Yes, but the opposite of professional is not casual. There are plenty of casual writers who write constantly and can force themselves to write whenever (most of them write fanfic). Professional also means a whole bunch of other things besides writing frequently. Skill, luck, connections, marketability, having the free time to learn to write well. It takes a whole lot of things to write professionally, which is why its a hard field to break into.
Sorry, I'm just annoyed because the word "casuals" has no real meaning or common usage outside of videogame elitism. It bothers me to see that word applied to art.
Post by: monk12 on November 21, 2013, 06:58:32 pm
Of course, now I'm not sure if we're talking about the term Casual or the term Professional, but then I remembered that it doesn't really matter, so I can go play videogames. Actually wait no, I'll go write something, even if it isn't NaNo.
Post by: Lectorog on November 21, 2013, 06:59:46 pm
Post by: Digital Hellhound on November 22, 2013, 12:00:24 pm
EDIT: And that was easier than I thought. 10k words remaining, and I shall endeavour to continue this after 50k too, because I'm maybe at the midpoint right now. OH WELL, EVER ONWARDS!
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 22, 2013, 12:54:55 pm
Post by: Sappho on November 22, 2013, 01:19:06 pm
My only hope is that I can calm down before the end of the month and spend a whole day just writing to catch up.
Post by: Darkmere on November 22, 2013, 02:46:49 pm
Sappho, have you considered switching to stream of consciousness writing for now just to keep pace? Maybe not worry so much about rigid structure and just get a bunch of stuff down on the page to work with later? There's the other 11 months of the year to make all the edits your heart desires, when the deadline isn't looming to drain your drive to press onward. There is still plenty of time, don't lose faith.
Post by: Sappho on November 24, 2013, 02:27:31 pm
Actually, not all of the words I wrote were for the novel itself. I hit a wall not long after starting, so I spent some time typing out detailed descriptions of a couple of the characters instead. It's still relevant to the book, even though it won't directly be in the story. I'll use the information in other places, and it was helpful to force myself to analyze the situation in that way so I could figure out how to move the plot along. I hadn't allowed myself to do something like that before since it seemed like cheating to count words that weren't part of the story itself, but I think given the situation I've been in these last few days, it's fair enough, as long as I'm writing, to count it so I could catch up.
Post by: Darkmere on November 24, 2013, 03:44:34 pm
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 25, 2013, 11:59:14 am
Where's everyone else at, at the moment?
Post by: Sappho on November 25, 2013, 01:27:24 pm
Post by: Darkmere on November 25, 2013, 01:39:13 pm
And then *steeples fingers* there will be edits. Lots of edits and expansions. AFTER a day or two off and patting myself on the back.
Post by: Lectorog on November 25, 2013, 02:03:57 pm
Post by: Sappho on November 25, 2013, 04:24:24 pm
I tried contacting a doctor tonight. It turns out that one of the hospitals that accepts my insurance (there's only 3 of them) actually has a psychiatric department. I wrote an email asking if they could help me, and to my surprise, the answer came a mere 20 minutes later: No. The woman wrote that if I really need help, I have to go to a "psychiatric center," which is what I thought I was doing. She said if there's a real crisis, there's a place I can go for emergency help, and gave me the name, but that's all.
This is the problem with my shitty insurance. Only the cheapest of the state hospitals accepts it because it's cheap insurance, so that means they're the hospitals where most people go, and they're too overloaded to provide good care. There's excellent care available at private places, but that costs a lot of extra money.
I can't write any more on this book tonight. When I try to even look at it, it's like my head starts vibrating more and more until I have to look away. STUPID BRAIN YOU SUCK AT YOUR JOB.
Post by: JanusTwoface on November 26, 2013, 03:14:20 am
(http://nanowrimo.org/widget/MyMonth/jpverkamp.png)
Now I really need to down shift a bit. I'm still going to write every day if I can help it, but I just do not have the time to keep up 2000 words a day. Eesh November, why must you test me so...
Post by: Darkmere on November 26, 2013, 03:18:03 am
Epic First Winner For Great Justice!
Congratulations and massive applause!
I'm sitting on 48,200 right now, so I'll join you in striking majestic poses in the winner's circle tomorrow, for sure.
Post by: Sappho on November 26, 2013, 04:12:13 am
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 26, 2013, 12:30:12 pm
Validated winner status, baby! I'm happy beyond belief. There just aren't any words for it. :D
Now the real challenges begin: finishing the novel, writing more stories, and being published. Making a life out of it. Maybe I'll fail, maybe I won't make it, maybe it's hopeless, but if November has proven anything to me, it's that I can write a novel and keep at it day after day. That's all I need to try.
As someone who has been a lazy procrastinator all his life, doing nothing of real worth, winning NaNo has been one of the better moments in my life. Today is a damn good day. :)
Post by: Digital Hellhound on November 26, 2013, 01:52:39 pm
Tempted to go for an epic rush and breach 50k today. Whoo boy.
Post by: WillowLuman on November 26, 2013, 02:06:52 pm
Post by: Sappho on November 26, 2013, 03:29:49 pm
The children are nearing the top of the mountain. Soon Anne will finally find her phone signal, just before a plot twist makes it irrelevant, and she is finally forced to realize that her brother isn't losing his mind after all.
I am doing this. I am making this happen.
Post by: Darkmere on November 26, 2013, 03:42:04 pm
3232 words today!
I am doing this. I am making this happen.
That's awesome, and you're awesome.
Post by: Darkmere on November 26, 2013, 11:18:16 pm
(http://nanowrimo.org/widget/LiveSupporter/darkmere.png)
Totally worth it.
Post by: Sappho on November 27, 2013, 04:13:02 am
3232 words today!
I am doing this. I am making this happen.
That's awesome, and you're awesome.
And YOU'RE awesome, partly for being so encouraging along the way, partly for kicking ass at NaNoWriMo, and partly for being awesome.
Post by: WillowLuman on November 27, 2013, 04:36:34 am
Post by: Digital Hellhound on November 27, 2013, 09:22:18 am
(http://cfiles.nanowrimo.org/nano-2013/files/2013/11/2013-Winner-Facebook-Cover.png)
IT'S PARTY TIME, CHUMPS
There's no better motivation than other people finishing theirs. That's also to all of you who haven't hit 50k yet. But now, WINNER'S PARTY AWW YEAH
Post by: inEQUALITY on November 27, 2013, 09:47:15 am
But now, WINNER'S PARTY AWW YEAH
Hehe, my form of a winner's party was letting myself buy Skyrim from XBL Games on Demand today. I feel like I deserve some kind of reward for having won NaNo. :P
By the way, everyone who's still trying to hit their goal; I'm cheering you on! You guys are awesome and you will make it! :D
Post by: Sappho on November 27, 2013, 04:38:08 pm
I've already decided to reward myself with the purchase of a video game when I win. I had been planning on finally getting Triple Town, but my addiction to that game seems to have worn off. Maybe I'll just watch the Steam sales and grab something nice when it comes up. Most of the games I really want to play aren't released yet... I'm waiting on Stardew Valley and Starbound, but I was going to buy those anyway. I guess my reward should be something I might not have paid for if I hadn't won... Which covers a lot, since I don't usually buy games except in the occasional bundle.
Post by: Skyrunner on November 28, 2013, 11:02:18 pm
Post by: Sirus on November 28, 2013, 11:05:50 pm
Dawn of the 29th day. 48 hours remain :Dfix'd
Post by: Skyrunner on November 28, 2013, 11:11:48 pm
Post by: Willfor on November 28, 2013, 11:12:58 pm
(Penance For Not Finishing NaNoWriMo Novel Writing Month)
Post by: Sappho on November 29, 2013, 12:43:24 pm
I'm going to do it! Mania and all, I have caught back up, and I'm just shy of the finish line now. And to make it even better, I'm finally getting some interesting stuff actually happening in my story. Here's a sample of something I enjoyed writing and I think it will require very little editing when the time comes... I just need to find another word to replace "squirrels" with, because it appears far too often.
Spoiler: Squirrels (click to show/hide)
Post by: Darkmere on November 29, 2013, 01:28:23 pm
Either way, your seat and majestic posing station in the winner's circle awaits!
Post by: Sappho on November 30, 2013, 05:17:46 am
I'm actually tearing up right now. The book is nowhere near finished, of course, but I now have just over 50,000 words, after a single month. I wrote more than 17,000 words in the last week alone, and overcame some serious hurdles to do that. I now know that I am actually capable of sitting down and writing a few thousand words every single day, even when I don't feel like it.
I think I will actually donate to NaNoWriMo in thanks for their excellent web site. And many thanks to all of you on here who kept encouraging me, even when I was feeling awful. You guys are AWESOME.
Post by: Xantalos on November 30, 2013, 05:22:14 am
Ah well. Unless I can write literally all weekend and somehow write 50,000 words in 2 days I don't think I'll be making it this year.
...
I'll let you know how it goes.
Post by: Caz on November 30, 2013, 08:03:11 am
Yes, it is two days until PeFNFiNaNoNoWriMo begins for me.
(Penance For Not Finishing NaNoWriMo Novel Writing Month)
This sounds masochistic enough to get behind. Bring on PeFNFiNaNoNoWriMo!
Congrats to all who kept going btw. You are pro writing powa!
Post by: Aqizzar on November 30, 2013, 07:11:49 pm
Post by: Farmerbob on December 01, 2013, 03:32:53 am
I'm a little too busy writing my novel to participate in Nano this year.
... wait. O_o;
Heheh I was about to say something similar when I realized it's now 01DEC. But that's OK, I got 20 total chapters in at @ 3k words per chapter average, during November, so I'll just say I did it even though I forgot about it.
Speaking of which, I'll link it in it's own thread in this subsection of the forums. I have rarely ever been disappointed in both the quality and the humor of responses on Bay12, so I expect I'll get some good laughs, or good feedback, or both :)
** Edit - decided to spell November right.
Post by: Sappho on December 01, 2013, 03:53:13 am
As an aspiring author who gave up in shame after a week, I just want to give kudos to everyone in these final hours of November. Hope some of this is available to read in full.
I plan to finish my first draft in December (going to try to keep a similar pace as November), then I will make it available for B12ers to read if they want, as thanks for all the support and all that. Of course, it's going to be terrible until I edit it and remove about 50% of the first quarter or so, so read at your own risk. : ) Eventually I will edit it and probably self-publish it, even if it's only in ebook form.
Post by: Darkmere on December 01, 2013, 04:40:41 am
Post by: Farmerbob on December 01, 2013, 04:57:10 am
I just crossed that glorious gray line and got back above par. I have less than 1500 words to write to finish. I'm considering even just pushing through and doing it tonight, but first I'll take a long break. I've been writing about 3000 words per day all week, so 1500 seems like nothing to me now.
I'm going to do it! Mania and all, I have caught back up, and I'm just shy of the finish line now. And to make it even better, I'm finally getting some interesting stuff actually happening in my story. Here's a sample of something I enjoyed writing and I think it will require very little editing when the time comes... I just need to find another word to replace "squirrels" with, because it appears far too often.Spoiler: Squirrels (click to show/hide)
Tree rats. Not sure that fits the image you're trying to give them though. 8)
Could just use "rodents" or a descriptor name for specific invividuals. "crooked-tail", whatever :)
Post by: Willfor on December 01, 2013, 10:15:41 am
Actually since the seed of my novel came from these forums I should probably repost one of the drafts here, once it's done. Unfortunately now that deadline's over I'm pretty irked at what I've done and it needs a lot of edits...like, lots...The time for edits is a week or two after you've finished the first draft, even if there are book breaking problems. Make a couple of notes to yourself about what you want to fix (or a few pages of notes) and move on as if you made those. Having a complete first draft will give you the perspective you need to make major edits that having half a completed manuscript never will, and it will make your editing job a little easier.
--
Started PeFNFiNaNoNoWriMo at midnight, and got 1,182 words before I had to go to bed. So I've got a lead right now. Unfortunately, there is the slight problem that I am working six days this week, something I didn't know about when I decided to kill myself to do this. Work killed NaNo for me, will work kill PeFNNaNo???'
--
Edit: Forgot to say this before: Congratulations to the victors! It was no easy task, and you pulled it off.
Post by: Doomblade187 on December 01, 2013, 10:49:35 am
I really didn't even come close to finishing this year, but at least I got some realizations about my story and universe overall out of it. And you know what that means. It's PeFNFiNaNoNoWriMo time. Which for me means editing my previous story and expanding it to be more awesome.
Post by: Araph on December 01, 2013, 01:24:53 pm
Congrats to everyone who finished! Keep at it to everyone who's doing PeFNFiNaNoWriMo!
Post by: Darkmere on December 01, 2013, 03:16:18 pm
Actually since the seed of my novel came from these forums I should probably repost one of the drafts here, once it's done. Unfortunately now that deadline's over I'm pretty irked at what I've done and it needs a lot of edits...like, lots...The time for edits is a week or two after you've finished the first draft, even if there are book breaking problems. Make a couple of notes to yourself about what you want to fix (or a few pages of notes) and move on as if you made those. Having a complete first draft will give you the perspective you need to make major edits that having half a completed manuscript never will, and it will make your editing job a little easier.
That was the plan. I've had an alpha reader giving me continuity notes the whole way and made a few of my own, so once the whole draft is finished I have the first edit pass lined up and ready to go. I'll probably start sending copies out once the first pass is complete, because I've put in a lot of time and effort making sure it's readable copy. As it stands I'm still something like 15-20k from completion, but lack of a deadline is letting me breathe and plan better so we'll see.
Post by: Digital Hellhound on December 01, 2013, 03:20:40 pm
Post by: Lectorog on December 01, 2013, 08:13:19 pm
Post by: Doomblade187 on December 01, 2013, 10:45:04 pm
That and I really need to start my editing.
Post by: EnigmaticHat on December 01, 2013, 11:47:15 pm
Personal thoughts? Its really hard to do Nano in college. I already did my wimpy 30,000 goal in high school, but now I failed and it wasn't even a particularly busy month. Its not just a time thing, college is a transitional period (in my life at least), and I find my focus split between a lot of things.
The writing is also not my best but, well, that was to be expected. I'm working on a short story for the school lit mag and hopefully writing something tightly edited will re-affirm my faith in my own ability to write sentences that are neither repetitive nor filled with junk words.
Post by: Willfor on December 08, 2013, 07:30:02 pm
Work killed NaNo for me, will work kill PeFNNaNo???'Yes.
.____________.
Post by: Farmerbob on December 09, 2013, 03:40:19 am
I write anywhere from twelve to sixteen hours on days off, but I let myself sleep as long as I can, which is usually around six hours before I wake up.
On the days that I don't write, I've been working on a patent.
On the days I don't feel like writing or doing patent stuff, I fiddle around with Guild Wars 2.
Today's a day off, and I'm casually internet browsing and flipping back and forth to writing.
All this time I now spend writing used to be spent mmo gaming. Recently I discovered that I mostly enjoy writing and being creative as opposed to trying to find games that can entertain my mind. I still dip my toe into gaming now and then as a break where I can just kill things :)