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Novel Writing-Age: NaNoWriMo 2007

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I'm just going to wing it... I have to write a few other stupid papers this month for some classes, but I think that'll just help me.
 
Iceman said:
I'm still waffling between two major storylines. AAAAAAAARGH
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firex said:
I'm just going to wing it... I have to write a few other stupid papers this month
for some classes, but I think that'll just help me.
Click to expand...

I was stuck between two major storylines too, and I STILL haven't decided yet. However, I'm tempted to wing it. I think I may be aiming too high -- It's not as if my NaNovel will be a work of art, anyway. Two days left =X

I think I'll just go with the idea based on Dragonball/Journey to the West. All my more original ideas just end up being 'deeper' than I originally intended, and I don't really have the skill/intelligence to explore certain themes.

So yah, DBZ. Lol.
 
I'm down, though I have no idea how far I'll get. Never wrote anything nearly that long, but I've had this plot in my head for over three years, and this may be just the thing I need to start trying to make sense of it all.


Edit: SN is stahsky
 
Meandering dream sequences, character sketches left 'as is', arbitrary descriptive passages that go on forever, dialog that reads like a screenplay, and assloads of flashbacks.

That's about the only way I'm going to get this done.


(Oh! Might just go for a Sliding Doors kind of effect, so I can get two main branches out of my storyline. That'll help more than a bit.)
 
This is going to be interesting. I've decided on the setting, but I'm still trying to come up with an interesting plot. I guess I'll wing it for a bit.

Also, I'm SpudBud on the site, too.
 
Updated the first post again (and added FAQ). It was damned ugly. Participants are in alphabetical order right now, but once we start getting some word counts in, it'll become a leaderboard.

Our foreign brethren will be starting soon! In mere hours, Day One of NaNoWriMo begins!

Edit: Oh, also there's a new plan for the leaderboard: Google docs. (see first post for details)
 
It's the last three hours till it starts, and I'm still stressing out over the plot, with no plan to speak of. I'm thinking "fuck it, I'll wing it"
 
I'd *love* to get in on this, but why must it be November? :(

End of term and all that jazz. I've already got a lot of writing to do, and the sad thing is that it won't even matter, since I'm withdrawing after the end of the semester (grad school, already got my degree chumps).
 
My roommate got back from a NNWM meetup last night with a software recommendation he got from one of the MLs at the event.

http://www.baara.com/q10/

It's a full screen text editor that's tailored to writers. It's actually a pretty cool full-screen text editor in general, highly configurable, and portable. Windows only though.
 
aoi tsuki said:
My roommate got back from a NNWM meetup last night with a software recommendation he got from one of the MLs at the event.

http://www.baara.com/q10/

It's a full screen text editor that's tailored to writers. It's actually a pretty cool full-screen text editor in general, highly configurable, and portable. Windows only though.
Click to expand...

Wow, that program is awesome. I wasn't going to check it out, because I couldn't imagine why I would need anything beyond the regular Word, but I was wrong. The typing sound effect is a nice touch too, and makes the process satisfying.
 
aoi tsuki said:
My roommate got back from a NNWM meetup last night with a software recommendation he got from one of the MLs at the event.

http://www.baara.com/q10/

It's a full screen text editor that's tailored to writers. It's actually a pretty cool full-screen text editor in general, highly configurable, and portable. Windows only though.
Click to expand...

Wow, that's pretty cool. I think I'll be using that. Thanks.

Anyway, I'm not feeling very confident about reaching 50,000 words, but I'd be happy with even 20,000-25,000. Also, it isn't my first language, but I'm still going to write in English. I've always preferred the English language over my own when it comes to literature.
 
That Q10 program is pretty cool, I'm definitely going to use it. The dark background and simple features are going to come in pretty handy when you're eyes feel like they are bleeding at 2AM.

Still have no idea what I'm going to write about. Suppose I'd better have a bit of a think now as to what my strategy is going to.

Edit: And so it begins (in my part of the world). I have already written 300 words of utter shit - only 49300 to go.
 
Q10 looks cool - no Mac version though :(

Of course, the kind of text editor to use is very dependent on one's style of working. Some prefer blankness and something not distracting at all. Others like an actual word processor. I like writing in Pages, it's not nearly as cluttered and distracting visually as Word.

Then, some like to have the organizational stuff about their story at their fingertips. I might try out this program:

Scrivener

Probably won't try and use it for stuff tomorrow - oh god it starts tomorrow!!! - but I might give it a whirl after the marathon month for some short stories initially and see if I like it. I still tend to do my notes and stuff with real paper and pencil and find having it all on screen like that a little distracting when I'm actually writing.
 
teiresias said:
Q10 looks cool - no Mac version though :(

Of course, the kind of text editor to use is very dependent on one's style of working. Some prefer blankness and something not distracting at all. Others like an actual word processor. I like writing in Pages, it's not nearly as cluttered and distracting visually as Word.

Then, some like to have the organizational stuff about their story at their fingertips. I might try out this program:

Scrivener

Probably won't try and use it for stuff tomorrow - oh god it starts tomorrow!!! - but I might give it a whirl after the marathon month for some short stories initially and see if I like it. I still tend to do my notes and stuff with real paper and pencil and find having it all on screen like that a little distracting when I'm actually writing.
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Boo. My mac is down. Point me in the direction of a PC program like that.
 
Stoney Mason said:
Boo. My mac is down. Point me in the direction of a PC program like that.
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No idea, but another Mac app similar to Scrivener is called CopyWrite.

http://www.bartastechnologies.com/products/copywrite/

They look similar, not sure which would come out on top, though it looks like CopyWrite is a bit more "clinical" and somewhat more cluttered than Scrivener (IMO from just looking at the screenshots).

Of course, for someone that likes the greatest in minimizing distractions there's also WriteRoom for the Mac:

http://hogbaysoftware.com/products/writeroom
 
It's about that time, and I still haven't thought about what I'm going to write. I guess I'll just start writing and see what happens. :\

This can only end badly.

Oh yeah. I'm registered as barelytaking2nd. Don't know why I didn't just use my GAF name instead of a stupid one from high school, but... yeah. There it is.

Good luck, everybody.
 
2350.

Count for the first night.

Not bad.

No idea what the story is going to be.

Had a nice little outline written. Pretty much went out the door once started writing. So now completely winging it.
 
Alright, i'm still thinking of a good plot. I got a story revolving around, but haven't plotted it yet. It won't be a genre fiction, so it'll be difficult. Hahah
 
Woohoo! Started at exactly midnight, wrote for about 15 minutes. Just over 600 words, and it's time for bed (that's over 1% of the way there!).
 
Captain N said:
where do I go to update my word count?
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If you post your final word count for the day in this thread, I'll include it in my daily update of the OP. Unfortunately, everything else I've tried hasn't worked.

Anyone else have any other ideas?
 
It's November 1st!

I didn't start last night as I usually go to bed before midnight, but I'm all set to crank out some sublime lines after work tonight. How about that email from Tom Robbins? He's my favorite living, non-crazy author. I'm pumped now.
 
I'm probably going to fail since I have to write a stupid paper for tomorrow, and another one for next week, and still write this novel. I can't even decide on a basic idea for it, though, and I have so much other stuff to do that I bet I can't even get beyond halfway there.
 
It looks like the word count function isn't up yet on the Nano site. Weird. 1056 so far for me.

Oh, oops, final word count. Well... uh... maybe I just won't update again until tomorrow!

edit again: I'm red on the front page. Is it 'cause I'm special? :)
 
Mike Works said:
i am so hung over right now, why did this contest have to start the morning after halloween :lol
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Fucking exactly! :lol My story is actually starting with my protag having a hangover.

I just started a few minutes ago, btw.
 
aoi tsuki said:
My roommate got back from a NNWM meetup last night with a software recommendation he got from one of the MLs at the event.

http://www.baara.com/q10/

It's a full screen text editor that's tailored to writers. It's actually a pretty cool full-screen text editor in general, highly configurable, and portable. Windows only though.
Click to expand...
Nice

I start writing when I get home from work, today
 
I'm going to play along, but my work schedule is too busy to say I can commit to that length, or any length, really. By play along, I mean I'm going to do as much as I can, and I'm not even going to think about a plot for a few days and just go, and try to piece things together later on once I do think of something.
 
I just wrote 1023 words on my lunch break. This is my first count, and I am done for the day. It started pretty easily, but the more I wrote, the more I wanted to change. Still, I am done for the day as I am busy tonight, hopefully I get more done tomorrow, but still there is always the weekend.
 
GDGF said:
Yeah, leaving things alone is the hardest part. I keep wanting to edit after every paragraph.
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This kind of ties in with the strategy I am using for a plot. I don't plan on rereading anything I write until at least a week (or two) into the exercise, at which point I should have invested enough time into this to want to finish without sabotaging myself too much with editing old shit.
 
Should we post excerpts in this thread? Not saying that I have anything to excerpt yet, but the thing with novels is the first line should really grab you. What is everyones first line?
 
Ugh, I've hit a total brick wall. Perhaps it was a mistake to try and wing it but also think that I should be writing something vaguely interesting. I might just start again and go for the "makes no sense at all, must have been on acid" vibe by literally writing the first thing that comes into my head without any thought for continuity of story or genre.
 
Chony said:
What is everyones first line?
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'Fuck the great American novel. Fuck reality television. Fuck irony. Fuck self-help. Fuck intervention. Fuck Britney Spears. Fuck you for buying into every last bit of it.'
 
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