Bay 12 Games Forum
Finally... => Creative Projects => Topic started by: Twinwolf on October 08, 2017, 01:59:38 pm
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About time for our NaNoWriMo2017 thread, come to think of it
the hour approaches, ready your sword!
I wonder who will make the thread this year.
Me.
What's National Novel Writing Month?
Very simple really - National Novel Writing Month (https://nanowrimo.org/) (NaNoWriMo) can be described in just 5 words: November. 50k words. Write.
The goal is to put down 50,000 words in just a month. Daunting, yes. Crazy, yes. Fun, also yes. Just write whatever, no plot no problem just have ninjas jump at your character (you should be able to get a page or two out of the characters wondering "why ninjas" at least!), as long as it gets on the page. This isn't about writing a perfect novel. This is about writing 50k words of a first draft that's probably going to go under heavy revision before it sees the light of day. Or you could do more than 50k. It's mostly for your own satisfaction after all.
Why put the thread up now?
Very simple really. Preparation is helpful for many! Or you can just throw out ideas, or talk about it, or set up a discord server (I might. There is one already but it's super chaotic so just a bay12 one might be nice.)
Winnings?
Well, there's a "winner goodies" section at the end on the official site, if you win, with a bunch of promotional offers from the sponsors, but the primary prize is the satisfaction and the knowledge you can put words to the page.
Other links
NaNo Countdown: http://nanocountdown.com/
Older Threads: 2016 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=161111.msg7218089#msg7218089) 2015 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=153572.0) 2014 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=144886.msg5744295#msg5744295) 2013 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=132259.msg4700987#msg4700987) 2012 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=117442.msg3676510#msg3676510)
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Older Threads: 2016 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=161111.msg7218089#msg7218089) 2015 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=153572.0) 2014 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=144886.msg5744295#msg5744295) 2013 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=132259.msg4700987#msg4700987) 2012 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=117442.msg3676510#msg3676510)
There's also 2009 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=42628.msg787872#msg787872), 2010 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=68261.msg1637545#msg1637545) and 2011 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=95254.msg2704408#msg2704408)! Found them while checking if there was a thread for this year earlier.
Anyone have an idea of what they're going to write? I'm already pretty busy this November so adding NaNo into it will turn it into a hectic frenzy. Sounds fun to me.
Edit:
We should all remember this Willfor quote for when NaNo is over.
The writer's natural tendency is to eat their (written) child moments after its birth is complete. Unfortunately, that child must be raised (editted) and not eaten.
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May as well, I suppose? 50,000 words is a bit daunting mind, given other commitments.
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I've little to do this November, so this could be fun to try. A long time ago, writing 50 words for a homework assignment was hard for me, but I like to imagine I've got better over time. At the very least, I know how not to write a text.
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I suppose I should stop being a huge piece of shit and actually try for it this year.
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PTW
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I suppose I should stop being a huge piece of shit and actually try for it this year.
Boy, second that.
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Personally (as one may have gleaned from me starting the thread) I'll be doing it again this year.
While I won, I wasn't happy with what I wrote. Rather than mope about that I'm using it as a learning experience and going to do better this year and plan so I don't run into my problem of "wat do" again. For example, on a reread my main issue was that the protagonist was hugely passive and reactive, partly an issue of lack of planning - she didn't do a whole lot of protagonist-ing at all, and it was too the detriment of the story because it made it boring, a string of things happening that the protagonist doesn't try to do much about.
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I will try to do it this year, again. I will almost certainly fail again, because exams are still in November. But hey, worth a shot.
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I'm gonna try my hand at it this year. Should be fun.
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I suppose I should stop being a huge piece of shit and actually try for it this year.
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I'm gonna try my hand at it this year. Should be fun.
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For a group of people dedicated to writing large creative works, we sure do like just copying other people.
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Plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery.
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I agree. As I always say:
Plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery.
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I agree. As I always say:
Plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery.
Unrelated but the link in the OP is broken.
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I intend to be writing this time around.
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Why not, I'll give it a shot ontop of my compilers and game design class. Should be a hoot!
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I know better, but I signed up anyway. I have a week off in November where I'll have to house sit for my parents, so that ought to give me plenty of time to work on it. In theory at least.
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So to convince myself I'm really going to do this, I created a Discord server (https://discord.gg/gYCM2V4). Come on in so we can all have more fun writing and support when we need it!
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2 days before it starts and I haven't even written out a plan. 2017 will be a pantser year.
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I tried outlining but just couldn't do it. Every time I go to write a story of substantial length I try to write an outline first, but I can just never form a coherent one. Looks like it won't be any different this time, especially since I'm pretty much out of time to outline.
I'm actually concerned that the real problem is a lack of plot or major pacing issues, but I guess I'll find out as I write.
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National Novel Writing Month starts in a few hours for the U.S. and has already started in some places, so good luck all!
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332 words so far!
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If I know my luck, tomorrow will be such a long and exhausting shift that I'll have zero energy or time for writing. If that happens I might as well throw in the towel.
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Day 1 word total: 1880. Turns out this isn't as hard as I thought it would be. 50000 is a lot, but the words do come just as long as I focus on the scene and let the characters live their own lives.
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I managed 553 after midnight, but before bed. That's a decent start for today, but I can tell that I'm going to be so busy that I'm going to get behind. Let's hope that the week I have off later this month will be productive and I can catch back up.
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Forgot about this.
Word count: 0
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1,809 so far. Good start! Better than last year, when I started on the second :P
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Hit my target and then some! 1,750 word so far. I'll probably do a bit more before turning in for the night, but this is the best start I've had in years. I'm not even done with the prologue yet.
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1714. I was on a roll, but I started late and need sleep. Nonetheless, it begins.
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1212 words so far and only a vague idea of where to go at this point in the story. This is going to be a massive challenge considering I'm also a GM and player in a set of active online RPGs that previously took up much of my free time.
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Two days of goal-exceeding in a row. I think this is the best I've ever done in NaNoWriMo.
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Getting words out is like drawing blood from a stone the last few days. Hopefully I get back in the swing of things or I really have no chance at this.
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Third day, broke 5k on schedule.
I've found that doing this NaNoWriMo thing, "word sprints", drastically increases my writing pace. I normally write 1k/hr but doing those I average 400/10 minutes. It's basically just a contest of "who can write the most in this period of time".
Edit: Annd now I've cracked 7k, so I'm ahead. Gonna try to get a good lead on this. I am already doing soooo much better than last year.
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I'm at around 4K words now when I need to hit 10K today to stay on target. I've been falling further and further behind every day. :(
I can't write unless I have privacy, which I really don't most of the day. And when I do have some privacy, I'm usually extremely busy or extremely sleepy. I really should have known better than to try this.
Still, I'll see it through to the end of the month. However far I get, I get.
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Day 6, 10000 broken. This isn't going badly at all.
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Oh god I forgot completely about this. *glances at current writing commitments*
Dammit. Can't manage a try this year, but I'm cheering y'all on!
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Power outage combined with a long shift at work killed any shot at writing today.
And so my slide into failure begins...
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Shockingly enough I'm on three consecutive days of being a full day or more ahead. Going soooo much better than last year, I might finish early as opposed to at 11:30 PM November 30th after writing 9k in one day.
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I finally hit the daily word target and then some yesterday, but I'm still over 5,000 words short of the target for today. I should have a little more time than usual tonight, so I need to make the best of it.
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Mid point is today, and I'm doing better than I thought I would be. I'm only behind about 3,000 words from the overall target of 25,000 total. I think I'm going to make it after all.
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300 words short of the goal - should break 25k today.
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Just validated at 50,177 words, two whole days early. Anyone else still going?
Sorry I haven't posted much this year, it's been busier than usual for me.
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Still trying every day, though I plateaued around 14000, at the end of my first act. I've only got a bit every day since then.
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Mine crashed and burned. I'm doing the "3 essays, 3 weeks" challenge. Hah...hah...haaaaa.
I got about 10,000 done, but that's all.
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Sitting around 43k here. I might finish, might not. College applications have been very draining towards the end of this.
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I'm 5k into an anthology of vignettes. My total on the days I've actually written is good, there are just only two or three of them. :P
I'm wondering if I can drive for 20k like a madman over the next couple of days. There are too many things I want to get done by the end of the month, though. @_@
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What I've learned this Nanowrimo: I shouldn't write what I want to read. I should write what I want to write. There's a difference.
What basically happened was I started work on this idea that I would really enjoy reading, but found it too boring to focus on to write. And later in the month, I decided to write a grimdark fantasy short story and all of a sudden 3000 words, in one day. If I could do that every one of November's 30 days, I would have way more than 50000 words.
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Another year failed. Did my best so far though! Nearly 10k words before repeated long days and holiday stress put an end to major writing.
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November was, overall, a very challenging month to write in, but I succeeded in getting just over 50K words done today.
Sadly, I pretty much hate every bit of the story I wrote, and it's only about 2/3 done. Finishing it would be very hard at this point now that I'm not under time pressure, so I'm not sure it'll get done.
Maybe I'll try redrafting it next year during the next NaNoWriMo.
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Ended up finishing by the skin of my teeth. I like a good amount of what I've written but it definitely needs editing - which I will do later.