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Write a novel in November! | NaNoWriMo 2017

C

Cyan

Banned
KojiKnight said:
I'm in. I've been reworking some concepts on a novel that I've been meaning to work on and this seems like the perfect chance (seriously, I have a 10 page outline, compendium, etc I've just not had the drive/want the last year to start putting it all together). Any penalty to get a head start as long as you still do the total writing amount in the month? As in, I still plan to do the total amount of words per the month, but maybe start the first chapter or so.
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There's no penalty, but I will frown at you! :(

Part of the fun is the camaraderie, the sense that we're all in it together. And part of that is the excitement of kicking off at the same time and going through the same things, the initial rush of excitement, supporting each other through the doldrums, that final second wind as we approach the end of the month and of our wordcounts.

You don't have to do it this way--as long as you're separating out what you've already written from what you do during the month, it's ok. But since you haven't started yet anyway, why not just hang on and start with the rest of us?
 
K

KojiKnight

Member
Cyan said:
There's no penalty, but I will frown at you! :(

Part of the fun is the camaraderie, the sense that we're all in it together. And part of that is the excitement of kicking off at the same time and going through the same things, the initial rush of excitement, supporting each other through the doldrums, that final second wind as we approach the end of the month and of our wordcounts.

You don't have to do it this way--as long as you're separating out what you've already written from what you do during the month, it's ok. But since you haven't started yet anyway, why not just hang on and start with the rest of us?
Click to expand...

Hmm... well if you put it that way, I'll start kicking some ideas around for something else. ^_^ No point joining in if it's going to get me frowned at. It's been a year, a few more months (years) isn't going to hurt on that one.
 
C

Cyan

Banned
KojiKnight said:
Hmm... well if you put it that way, I'll start kicking some ideas around for something else. ^_^ No point joining in if it's going to get me frowned at. It's been a year, a few more months (years) isn't going to hurt on that one.
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I think I misunderstood your original post. I thought you meant you hadn't started the actual writing yet, but wanted to start now and continue through NaNo. So I figured just waiting until the start of the event wouldn't be a big deal. If you wrote some already and want to jump in with us so you can get a big push to actually work on it, that's totally fine!

In any case, you don't have to worry about my guilt-tripping. :p The whole point of the event is to get some writing done, and if that means ignoring the "rules" about starting something brand new, that is a-ok.
 
Z

zulux21

Member
Cyan said:
I think I misunderstood your original post. I thought you meant you hadn't started the actual writing yet, but wanted to start now and continue through NaNo. So I figured just waiting until the start of the event wouldn't be a big deal. If you wrote some already and want to jump in with us so you can get a big push to actually work on it, that's totally fine!

In any case, you don't have to worry about my guilt-tripping. :p The whole point of the event is to get some writing done, and if that means ignoring the "rules" about starting something brand new, that is a-ok.
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what if I just do it in oct.

I am on pace in oct.
26726 words through 16 days in oct >.>


w/e I will just do it both months, and prove myself who thought I would need to stop writing to get everything else done wrong... who needs sleep >.>
 
T

The Shadow

Member
I'm in. Just last week I was telling my wife my desire to write a new novel, completely forgetting that NaNoWriMo was next month.

I just need to decide between two stories I have in mind.
 
C

Cyan

Banned
zulux21 said:
what if I just do it in oct.

I am on pace in oct.
26726 words through 16 days in oct >.>


w/e I will just do it both months, and prove myself who thought I would need to stop writing to get everything else done wrong... who needs sleep >.>
Click to expand...

Then I will be very impressed!
 
T

Timu

Member
Ok, I just did the main girls this time for character bios, they're summarized to get to the point.

Good Girls

Awesome Sam-She is the main character that has a lot of making up to do due to her past. In the past she was a tomboy that was selfish and uncaring for people as she just wanted things to go her way. She then realizes she could actually do more with her life and decided to not waste it any further so she decides to change for the better and is now trying to reach a status in her life that will make her awesome, even if she has to go great lengths to achieve that goal. Because of this, she must make various decisions and do them well or else things could get worse for her. Even in the toughest of times, she will try to find a way to get through things even if she has to sacrifice things for the better.

Tough Tiffany-She is Samantha's main friend and is considered to be a tough black chick that can kick your ass if you mess with her. Normally she's a caring person, but try your best to not upset her since you wouldn't like her when she's angry. By far the most normal person of the group, she tries to get them together even when hell breaks loose. Her knowledge of men is also stronger since she mainly hangs out with guys compared to the other girls.

Abnormal Abigail-Another of Sam's friends that is the hipster, emo and goth chick of the group. She's also an outsider to most people due to her insane personality and strange beliefs that makes her beyond abnormal. Because of that, she has a hard time fitting in with most people. Armed with an knife, she uses it for self defense and to cut herself from time to time. She also doesn't mind pain and suffering, as long as she can live through it that is. Due to all of this along with being abused at a younger age, she is by far the strangest of the group.

Crazy Carmen-Compared to Sam's other friends, this Mexican chick is by far the happiest in the group. She just wants everyone to be calm, happy and live peacefully. However, she is against a lot of things like racism, sexism, misogyny, bigotry, and homophobia. She is crazy due to how she handles tough situations and how happy she acts towards people as well. She is also very attractive and sometimes uses that to her advantage against people, usually to help them unless someone upsets her. She also prefers to hang out with girls over guys for various reasons.

Bad Girls

Stuck Up Lindsey-She is the main antagonist and the leader of her group of bad girls. By far the worst person Samantha has ever met, she will attack her not only at school but other places like the park and such to make her life a living hell, making fun of her and such. Due to the fact that she thinks Samantha is just a wannabe good girl than an actual normal and cool person, she will consistently attack her until Sam gives up and admit who she is rather than what she is trying to be. She is also considered to be a stuck up bitch due to her attitude and the fact that she also not only attacked other people but tortured them as well.

Random Sandy-She is Lindsey's main friend who is also a tough British chick. The random part of her name is due to the fact that she says and does random things that will catch anyone off guard and normally use it as a surprise. She can also be reckless towards people as well even if it allows her to have an advantage given the situation to take control of things much easier than usual. She uses her strength to put down anyone as well whenever she can do it.

Sexy Natasha-This Russian chick is considered to be the sexiest of the group. She uses her looks to trick men and women into thinking they will have a good time hanging with her when in fact she will just attack them and go for their weak spots. She can be a tricky one to deal with if you're not careful around her. Besides that, she can be either chill or nasty towards people depending on the situation. Also, she is a slut who likes to have sex whenever possible.

Deadly Yuki-She is one of the most violent chicks in the group. This Japanese chick uses a sword and while not kill her victims, she would leave her mark on them and wants their blood to spill as well. She uses her sword to cut parts of her victims to make them fear her and weaken them. When she's not being violent, she can have a bad attitude towards people and believes she's better than them when in reality she's just a sick girl like the rest of them.

Other characters can have bios but they are mostly side characters.
 
P

Petit Melon

Member
While looking over my outline last night I realized I need to completely rework my second lead's arc. I'm thankful to have noticed this now rather than during NaNo, but on the other hand... fourteen days is not much time to get this done :<
 
W

W-00

Member
A week ago I decided to use the Inktober prompt list as a basis for a series of short stories (around 1000 words each) to try to get the writing juices flowing before November.

I'm still only on the third story, so... so much for writing a story for each remaining prompt. However, I've written over 8500 words in that time. Two of the stories just really got away from me. That averages below the daily word count for NaNoWriMo, but I only really wrote on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Monday I wrote just over a thousand words combined, so on the other days I averaged well above the target.

I think what I've learned from this little test is that I only write well during 'candy' scenes (the stuff you really want to write). That was the reason for the initial delay - the story took too long to get to the good stuff. I pretty much started off with the good stuff for the other two, and they've flowed really well (the most recent slowdown might partly be because I don't want the third story to end and keep trying to think of ways to extend it).

From this, I believe that in theory I can manage NaNoWriMo. I just need to come up with a story that is all 'candy' scenes. I don't really have any ideas for that. I mean, there's the story I wanted to write last year (basically a bunch of short stories that later flowed together to reach a single conclusion), but if that was going to work it probably would have worked last year. I need to come up with a better idea.
 
M

MilkBeard

Member
Phew. Just got through a complete editing pass on the 52k words I wrote last year. I've already applied half of it to the master document, but I'm tired and will take a day break.

Editing is tiring work, lol.
 
Z

zethren

Banned
Sign me up for this!

I've got a story idea I've been wanting to put to paper, and this is the perfect excuse to jump into it.
 
L

Landford

Banned
Im In. Will write about my space station opera about mercenary clones who fight in battlezones around a mutant infested earth so they can get money to buy shiny things in a paradise space station called Valhalla.
 
Luschient

Luschient

Member
So am I the only crazy one here that doesn't use some kind of story outline or plot arc?

I typically get a general idea for a story, think on it for a while, get the "main parts" of the story I want to hit, then just start writing. All the story details end up working themselves out and I'm generally fairly happy with how the book ends up. I also don't seem to do a ton of rewriting, typically the first draft (for the most part) of each chapter is my best attempt.
 
M

midramble

Pizza, Bourbon, and Thanos
Luschient said:
So am I the only crazy one here that doesn't use some kind of story outline or plot arc?

I typically get a general idea for a story, think on it for a while, get the "main parts" of the story I want to hit, then just start writing. All the story details end up working themselves out and I'm generally fairly happy with how the book ends up. I also don't seem to do a ton of rewriting, typically the first draft (for the most part) of each chapter is my best attempt.
Click to expand...

That's pantsing. It's quite common. I just can't do it. Rather, I do it but never succeed when I do.
 
Z

zulux21

Member
Luschient said:
So am I the only crazy one here that doesn't use some kind of story outline or plot arc?

I typically get a general idea for a story, think on it for a while, get the "main parts" of the story I want to hit, then just start writing. All the story details end up working themselves out and I'm generally fairly happy with how the book ends up. I also don't seem to do a ton of rewriting, typically the first draft (for the most part) of each chapter is my best attempt.
Click to expand...

I tend to loosely plan out my arcs. knowing the major points, and then as I am writing slowly add more details I want to hit, typically only seriously planning about 1k words in advance.

basically I will process a scene in my head for a bit, write it out, and then process the next scene before doing it.

I don't like doing hard outlines because I tend to let my characters run wild, letting their personalities take me where they want to go instead of where I want to force them, requiring me to find ways to motivate them to go on the correct path. (or sometimes giving up on that path and going down a different route)

The current arc I am working on in my story has required a bit more planning, but even then, I am still winging a lot of it in moment, my outline merely having stuff like "Character C has conflict with small group" in my outline and then resolving that entire conflict on the fly.
 
S

Shoeless

Member
Luschient said:
So am I the only crazy one here that doesn't use some kind of story outline or plot arc?

I typically get a general idea for a story, think on it for a while, get the "main parts" of the story I want to hit, then just start writing. All the story details end up working themselves out and I'm generally fairly happy with how the book ends up. I also don't seem to do a ton of rewriting, typically the first draft (for the most part) of each chapter is my best attempt.
Click to expand...

Nah, this is me as well. I usually only start with an incident or two, and then write to see how the rest of it pans out. There will still be a second draft once beta readers get through it, and even a possible third draft once my agent has gotten eyes on it and made her comments, but for the most part the bulk of the novel is formed in the first draft, and the later drafts are just ironing out some issues with plot or character.
 
A

Apple Turnover

Banned
Luschient said:
So am I the only crazy one here that doesn't use some kind of story outline or plot arc?

I typically get a general idea for a story, think on it for a while, get the "main parts" of the story I want to hit, then just start writing. All the story details end up working themselves out and I'm generally fairly happy with how the book ends up. I also don't seem to do a ton of rewriting, typically the first draft (for the most part) of each chapter is my best attempt.
Click to expand...

I've got a few major story beats loosely defined, and the motivations for my hero(es) and villain, but that's it really. Haven't even named them yet
 
A

Aiii

So not worth it
Discovery writer here. So I prefer to wing it, just a general premise and a few characters (vaguely defined) and whatever pops into my brain as November approaches. Good to go.
 
K

kevin1025

Banned
I tend to go between discovery and outline, depending on the thing being written. But every thing I've ever written has always been out of order, writing whatever piece I feel like on the day. I've never been able to write linearly. But then half the fun in the latter part of the first draft is piecing it all together. It's worked out on the ten or so books I've written so far, haha.
 
P

Petit Melon

Member
I plan because when I don't the book is a clusterfuck during editing. I love editing but fixing problems that can easily be avoided by planning beforehand drives me to insanity. It also keeps me from having blocks because I always know where to go. Any spontaneous ideas require review or redoing the outline. The few novels I've tried pantsing ended in ruin or not worth the time it would take to make them even remotely workable.


I'm not alone! And for practically the same reasons. Too bad I'm not half the writer he is.
 
F

FlowersisBritish

fleurs n'est pas britannique
I prefer to have at least an idea of the next three chapters if I can, with bullet-pointed moments mapping out what I want to happen. To give context, I tend to have maybe twenty points of minor events in a chapter and I go from there. If I'm feeling really excited about a chapter, sometimes I come up with a set of dialogue or a really good description or just a good paragraph, and I write it in where I think it should go but I usually end up moving it. My points are numerous but at the same time rough so if I want to change them I can without changing the structure of the chapter too much. Though I am not opposed to tossing out future chapters if I don't like the direction I'm going (which I've done with the last two novels I wrote and oh boy, changing direction is rough).

Also thanks for the kind words from people a few pages ago, feeling a lot better. Still kind of want to do a different novel which I still need to get an idea for. I kinda want to do a dark fantasy but it's not usually my genre so I'm afraid I'll burn out in the downtime.
 
K

Kalentan

Member
I've done a fair bit of art work for my story and now I've begun the outlining and character process. Going well thus far.

I think for chapter outline length I'm going about 3 paragraphs per chapter all relating to something within that chapter (obviously.) I think it gives me just enough of a guideline while also having chances to put some stuff I come up with on the fly rather than being too rigid once the actual writing begins.

Surprisingly I found myself able to type quite quickly on an iPad without needing a keyboard. May still get one but I manged to write around 700 words of it without feeling hindered.
 
A

Aiii

So not worth it
I cut off a chunk from the top of my ring finger yesterday, it's all wrapped up in bandages now and I reckon it won't be good for typing for another few weeks, so I'm down a finger and positioning on the keyboard is a bit of a bitch.I still type alright, but not nearly the 90 wpm I generally average.

So yeah, that's not ideal two weeks out from nano. :)
 
B

Blue Ninja

Member
I'm going to try it. I've got a shitton of story ideas, so I'm picking the one that I've mostly thought out already. Knowing myself and my writing style, it'll spin horribly out of control, but I need to try this regardless. :D
 
V

Voras

Member
Count me in. Last year was the first year that I was able to finish after a handful of previous attempts. Hopefully I can manage two years in a row.
 
D

Delio

Member
Was away on a trip but ive been story planning this whole time. Im really excited for a more horror like story i have planned so far.
 
G

Grudy

Member
I've been ignoring this thread until I resolved some lore problems I had with my current project and I've been really going at it so I can have some planning time for Nano before it starts. Finally got done with it today and ended up with something I'm happy with. Took me 2 months just to write ~5k words
KuGsj.gif


I better get some inspiration tomorrow or I'm screwed
e5YuU.gif
 
K

kevin1025

Banned
Master Milk said:
i'm not excited for this at all
Click to expand...

How come?!

Aiii said:
I cut off a chunk from the top of my ring finger yesterday, it's all wrapped up in bandages now and I reckon it won't be good for typing for another few weeks, so I'm down a finger and positioning on the keyboard is a bit of a bitch.I still type alright, but not nearly the 90 wpm I generally average.

So yeah, that's not ideal two weeks out from nano. :)
Click to expand...

Jeez! I hope all is okay! Best to take your time and have fun, slow and steady could work out!
 
A

Apple Turnover

Banned
Finally started to create and name my characters and organizations.

For the heroes so far, I have Jessica, my heroine, who's a cleric training to join the Goddess Selene's priesthood. Randolph will be the Temple Guard assigned to her. Still working on one or two more heroes.

My villains so far are High Priest Hubairtin, who is a master of disguise, and infiltrated the priestly faction, Selenity Now, and transformed it into a cult.

I also have Judge Judith, who will act as an ally, but is secretly a cultist. Judith will ultimately lead the heroes to The Lettuce Inn, which is a front for a faction that is faithful to Selene - or was, until Hubairtin infiltrated that too.

Really looking forward to actually writing this stuff. November needs to hurry
 
Z

zulux21

Member
Apple Turnover said:
I also have Judge Judith, who will act as an ally, but is secretly a cultist. Judith will ultimately lead the heroes to The Lettuce Inn, which is a front for a faction that is faithful to Selene - or was, until Hubairtin infiltrated that too.
Click to expand...

not really meaning to mock but... I can't resist.

P4WR9vn.png
Click to expand...


I really can't read Judge Judith and not shorten Judith to Judy and thus getting Judge Judy :p
 
Z

zulux21

Member
Apple Turnover said:
That was exactly my intention, so no mockery taken
Click to expand...

That is good then lol.
It would be bad if you came up with the name, thought it was great, only to have some one make a judge judy post to make you realize that it was judge judy :p

I had someone point out that my main characters in the first book were all named after cheese... it was like "what?" then I realized all of the shortened versions of the names did indeed relate to cheeses lol.
 
Z

zulux21

Member
Cyan said:
The worst for me is coming up with a title. I still haven't "officially registered" my novel on the site because it wants a title. Hell, I don't have a title for last year's either. :/
Click to expand...

"Cyan's Untitled Project #5: It's Not Robin's Egg Blue it's Cyan."
 
A

Apple Turnover

Banned
Cyan said:
The worst for me is coming up with a title. I still haven't "officially registered" my novel on the site because it wants a title. Hell, I don't have a title for last year's either. :/
Click to expand...

While I do have a working title, it might as well be "Spoiler Alert!" since it gives away my ending. Actual titles are hard as fuck to come up with
 
L

LSauchelli

Member
Ok, just printed my novel to send to a contest. Already have mapped out three sequels to write during Nanowrimo. I hope I survive this.
 
L

Landford

Banned
Luschient said:
So am I the only crazy one here that doesn't use some kind of story outline or plot arc?

I typically get a general idea for a story, think on it for a while, get the "main parts" of the story I want to hit, then just start writing. All the story details end up working themselves out and I'm generally fairly happy with how the book ends up. I also don't seem to do a ton of rewriting, typically the first draft (for the most part) of each chapter is my best attempt.
Click to expand...

I am mostly the same. I only had the basic premise for my novel, wich was the main character being a princess and a blood sacrifice to keep the sun of her world from dying. It was just it. Now that its 110k words long, there is virtual realities, simulated worlds, sci fi and magic. I dont think I planned more than 30 lines in advance. The story wrote itself.
 
P

Petit Melon

Member
Reworking the outline a fourth time! Some parts feel good. I can work with that! I feel less anxious now. I don't know how pantsers do it!
 
R

RedBoot

Member
Cyan said:
All right, I've finally got names for some of my characters. It's funny, some of my writing buddies are fine just using filler names until they come up with something good, but to me it never really feels concrete until I've got some names in there. Like they're not real people yet. (Also to me names always feel like a part of who the character is and how they work.)
Click to expand...

This is a big thing for me as well. I just can't envision them with temp names. I do have a tendency to go Jojo and name them after rock songs though. :p

I need to at least get my MC's name ready before I start. He's sort of the mid point between Top Gun Tom Cruise and Fox McCloud. The SO4 thread in Gaming made me realize Edge Maverick would have been a perfect and terrible name, though obviously I can't use that.
 
S

Scirrocco

Member
I'd like to bounce a couple of story ideas off GAF. I need to narrow down what story I’m doing for NaNo, so I can begin more intensive prepping/outlining. I always have a ton of ideas rattling around my head, and sometimes I get so excited about them I have a hard time realistically judging them, so maybe some outside opinions on which are good or bad, and most easily fleshed out could help narrow it down to something I can really make progress on this nano.

A lot of my ideas are my attempts at taking a fantasy trope and playing with it, to get a more unique idea, so fair warning.

1) A castlevania inspired adventure where the heroes have to travel across a blighted country to defeat a big bad. The idea here is twist on the idea of heroic bloodlines (i.e. like Aragorn or Belmonts, something your ancestor did puts a responsibility on all his descendants). In real life genealogy expands rapidly though, it’s not just one father one son, so here it’s been so long descendants are so common whole units of descendants are sent in until someone succeeds. The main hero finds out they're the product of an affair, and not of the bloodline at all, a fact which becomes important later. Setting would be more greco-roman than medieval fantasy.

2) A world of city states, where because of the presence of large alpha predators (dragons) human society developed differently. The biggest change is war is impossible since large groups of people attract dragon feeding frenzy's, ending badly for both sides. Dragons would be less ancient and wise magical creatures like most fantasy, but a bit more mundane, like flying sharks or T-Rexs. Society itself is more primitive since everyone’s more isolated. The story would be more exploration of this setting, as the main characters travel across it trying to discover their hidden heritage. A lot of potential places to explore new ideas but the main plot I’ve come up with is fairly cliché by itself I’m afraid. I might need to rethink it.

3) Real people in a fairy tale world. Kind of the inverse of a series like Fables or Once upon a time. A great cataclysm forces people from the real world to find refuge in a world of fairy tale characters, having to hide their origin. I got into Fables a lot after playing 'The wolf among us' I’m afraid. This seems simplest, as it would take a lot of standard fairy tales tropes, but it’s my newest idea and one I haven't developed a lot, and while I think the ideas interesting, I’m not sure I’ll stay excited about it to finish it.

4) The only vampire. Yeah vampires are a bit passé now, but I think this is a somewhat original take. Whenever you deal with vampires public about their identity, it usually derails into stories about immortal cabals screwing around with humanity, because that’s basically what would happen if people were immortal. But in this world, there’s just one vampire/supernatural being, who’s public about being a vampire. They were a major historical figure but disappeared long that most people just figured it was a fraud somehow. They suddenly reappear, and the story is about how the world deals with him/her, with a mystery of how it came to be they are the only vampire and why they disappeared in the first place.

Thoughts? Which ideas seem the most interesting? Which seem easiest to get 50k words from?
 
P

Petit Melon

Member
Cyan said:
All right, I've finally got names for some of my characters. It's funny, some of my writing buddies are fine just using filler names until they come up with something good, but to me it never really feels concrete until I've got some names in there. Like they're not real people yet. (Also to me names always feel like a part of who the character is and how they work.)
Click to expand...

I use GirlA, BoyC, ect when I begin brainstorming but after I start outlining it bothers me not to have names. I feel the same about names. They complete the character.
 
W

weemadarthur

Member
Scirrocco said:
Thoughts? Which ideas seem the most interesting? Which seem easiest to get 50k words from?
Click to expand...

1 sounds cool, I'd read it
2 is an interesting world concept, but you have no story outline
3 is undeveloped. Fairy tales already have 'normal' people in them, where's the difference?
4 is a bit odd. I suspect it would taper off into "I fell asleep for a hundred years" and then there's nothing left. Who is even the MC? If the vampire is, where's the mystery part?

For the moment i'd say go with 1 because that's a whole single sentence outline and the others aren't yet.
 
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