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[Bananakin]

So the question on my mind right now, as a first-timer, is how much you should be "in love" with your story idea when doing NaNo.

It strikes me that loving the idea too much wouldn't be good, because you'd end up feeling that you had to make it perfect, and you'd never get enough words down. My internal editor is hard enough to turn off as it is; I don't want to make him care too much about the story.

On the other hand, writing 50000 words in a month is - I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume - a very long and difficult task, and you have to stay motivated. Choose a story that you're only meh about and you risk losing interest halfway through and having it become a tortuous slog to the finish line (or worse, you just end up quitting).

I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts on the matter. My plan at the moment is to go with a story idea I had that I'm not that attached to, but one that I still think will be fun to write. It started out as a silly bedtime story I was telling my girlfriend when she was stressed. I think I can expand it out to a NaNo-sized novel (although who knows, I've never done this before). I think the key will be to make the writing process fun and enjoyable for myself, so it'll be a fairly lighthearted story - adventure-y, won't take itself too seriously. That kind of thing. We'll see how it goes, I guess.

Spoiler

I have a bad feeling about this

 

[Ashes]

That kinda depends on subject matter.

 

[Loona]

Brainfart for those who don't know what to write: tackle that classic OT GAF topic - a script for a Wonder Woman movie!

 

[Vagabundo]

My story is going to be a small little slice of life story about alien hive workers learning shortly after a revolution that overthrows their queen that unbeknownst to them, they've been part of a galactic civilization's war machine for millenia.

This little plot summery goes so well with your avatar...

 

[Jackben]

My story is going to be a small little slice of life story about alien hive workers learning shortly after a revolution that overthrows their queen that unbeknownst to them, they've been part of a galactic civilization's war machine for millenia.

This makes me think of the Buggers from Ender's Game.

 

[EverythingShiny]

Anyone else taking time off from work? I just requested off the 1st and 4th. I'm hoping to get a head start, as I am quite determined to win this year.

I downloaded Scrivener over the weekend and it's awesome. Thanks for recommending it, Cyan. Even if I don't win NaNo, I'll still end up buying it. It's a great tool.

 

[FelixOrion]

I get this viewpoint, but at the same time I'd be more inclined to be out and about during the summer, whereas in November I can justify staying inside and working on the novel much better.

Then make it January.

 

[Ashes]

Then make it January.

When aren't there students in some such country doing exams?

 

[Cyan]

So the question on my mind right now, as a first-timer, is how much you should be "in love" with your story idea when doing NaNo.

It strikes me that loving the idea too much wouldn't be good, because you'd end up feeling that you had to make it perfect, and you'd never get enough words down. My internal editor is hard enough to turn off as it is; I don't want to make him care too much about the story.

On the other hand, writing 50000 words in a month is - I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume - a very long and difficult task, and you have to stay motivated. Choose a story that you're only meh about and you risk losing interest halfway through and having it become a tortuous slog to the finish line (or worse, you just end up quitting).

Pick the story you are most excited about, and ride the tiger.

 

[FelixOrion]

When aren't there students in some such country doing exams?

'Merica is the only country that matters, let's be real

 

[Gazoinks]

Random tip for new NaNoers: One tip you see show up a lot among NaNoers is a variation of "When bored, ninjas attack". Now obviously you don't need to literally make ninjas attack your characters, but the point is that if you feel like you're stagnating, make something happen! There's nothing more dangerous than feeling like you have nothing interesting to write, and something pulled out of thin air is better than nothing at all. You can always go back and edit it afterwards.

 

[Jackben]

Thank you for elucidating Cyan. Didn't mean to start a rules war I just misunderstood. My bad.

Another thing I was wondering though is what makes a program like Scrivener so good? What's wrong with good old Microsoft word?

 

[Mike M]

Thank you for elucidating Cyan. Didn't mean to start a rules war I just misunderstood. My bad.

Another thing I was wondering though is what makes a program like Scrivener so good? What's wrong with good old Microsoft word?

Scrivener's got some bells and whistles like a character name generator, the ability to organize and rearrange scenes, store research material and character sketches and stuff, and then compile everything and spit out the result in manuscript format. There's nothing wrong with Word, Scrivener is just strictly gravy and icing.

Though not at the same time.

That would be... Wrong.

 

[Bananakin]

Another thing I was wondering though is what makes a program like Scrivener so good? What's wrong with good old Microsoft word?

I'm also curious about this. Not skeptical mind you, just intrigued.

 

[toddhunter]

I'm also curious about this. Not skeptical mind you, just intrigued.

It is kind of like saying what is the difference between a text editor with syntax highlighting and a full IDE? Not much for a small project because you will not need all the extra features.

But as things grow and get more complicated you will want more tools. In scrivener the tools are there ready (I'd imagine you can get the same things for word, but if they are ready to go it helps).

For the record though I just use plain old word. This is mostly because I feel comfortable, but also because every damn tool for after seems to want word docs and exporting from another program can be frustratingly problematic. One thing I do recommend checking out is the Pro Writing Aid plugin http://prowritingaid.com/en/App/Office. It isn't going to help a great deal in Nano (and is probably counter-productive), but I like running it over things I've written to spot any potential problems.

 

[LuffyZoro]

Alright, I'll do it. I came up with an idea I thought seemed fun enough, and I'll be doing it in a series of short stories so I don't get too burned out on any one particular part.

Basically, people started developing superpowers two years ago. Where are they now?

 

[Santiako]

I think I'll write a short story several times, each time in an alternate reality.

 

[fredrancour]

So the question on my mind right now, as a first-timer, is how much you should be "in love" with your story idea when doing NaNo.

It strikes me that loving the idea too much wouldn't be good, because you'd end up feeling that you had to make it perfect, and you'd never get enough words down. My internal editor is hard enough to turn off as it is; I don't want to make him care too much about the story.

On the other hand, writing 50000 words in a month is - I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume - a very long and difficult task, and you have to stay motivated. Choose a story that you're only meh about and you risk losing interest halfway through and having it become a tortuous slog to the finish line (or worse, you just end up quitting).

I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts on the matter. My plan at the moment is to go with a story idea I had that I'm not that attached to, but one that I still think will be fun to write. It started out as a silly bedtime story I was telling my girlfriend when she was stressed. I think I can expand it out to a NaNo-sized novel (although who knows, I've never done this before). I think the key will be to make the writing process fun and enjoyable for myself, so it'll be a fairly lighthearted story - adventure-y, won't take itself too seriously. That kind of thing. We'll see how it goes, I guess.

Spoiler

I have a bad feeling about this

Use the better one. Ideas are cheap. Never hold them back. There'll always be more later. If it turns out this one really does shit on all other ideas you have in the future, you can revisit it when you're a better writer and do some editing or an extenisve rewrite.

 

[Protein]

I'm in as well.

 

[meijiko]

Wow, it looks like we already passed last year's number of participants. Hopefully that means more will complete this year.

 

[Valerie Cherish]

Didn't see my name on the list, but I'm in.

NaNoWriMo Profile Page.

 

[Mike M]

Didn't see my name on the list, but I'm in.

NaNoWriMo Profile Page.

Really need Nezumi's list linked somewhere, it's already good and buried.

 

[Nezumi]

Didn't see my name on the list, but I'm in.

NaNoWriMo Profile Page.

You're on it now

For the people who want on the list, please just link your profile or post your NaNo-User name and I will add you!

 

[Jintor]

I had a weird idea about a Parks and Rec/The Office style documentary about a secret world-saving paramilitary organisation like XCOM or the MIB or something

 

[Wurst]

Someone asked a few pages back. I got 5 copies printed of my first Nano with the free createspace winning offer.

Novel was utter crap and a mess. But the folks who read it enjoyed it anyway.
I was grinning like it was Christmas when I finally held my first novel in my hands.

 

[bengraven]

God, that looks like it would be fun. I'm going to try and finish mine and do it this year. Would be great to feel it in my hands.


So I'm thinking post apocalyptic and fun - I proposed these ideas to a friend of mine, so I'm certainly not trying to be a pitch man, but what do you guys think?

1) Blood Drive: zombie/vampire hybrids have collapsed civilization. In the middle of small town Midwest is a town called Sweet Creek. For over a hundred years it’s been a “reservation” set up by the government for vampires, with the promise of them never leaving town and always being supplied blood. Some vampires are thousands of years old, some are fairly young. They actually have a normal community going, despite the bi-monthly blood bank deliveries. Then after society collapses and the supplies stop arriving, most of the group leaves to wreak havoc and get their blood fix on the survivors. A young vampire and his little family has to try and decide whether they should go feral or make a deal with other communities. He drives his family (some of which can’t go out during the day due to the sun) around a wasteland facing raiders, good people who don’t understand them, and the weird vampire-zombies that are everywhere, especially after dark.

2) Extant: dinosaurs! A scientist learns how to sequence DNA from bones and build a creature using extant dna and fillers. He also incorporates growth hormones so his creatures can grow up fast. He starts by bringing back endangered species like rhinos and condors, but eventually gets to mammals like sabertooth tigers and mammoths. After 10 years he’s making dinosaurs. Dinosaurs are a huge deal and to meet demand his growth hormones can create a full grown Brachiosaurus in just 3 years. Within 20 years of discovering his technique there’s dozens of dinosaur zoos in every state and every country of the world, even Antarctica and it’s a triple digit billion dollar business. The original scientist takes his family to darkest Africa with a breeding pair of raptors (who are, like in real life, only as high as your knee and actually about as dangerous as a fox or coyote – in fact incredibly friendly). When they return to civilization several years later, it’s nothing. It seems that in the process of sequencing ancient dna we also brought to life a 100 million year old virus with zero cure. The human race is basically dead by Captain Tripps. Dinosaurs rule the earth! Basically walking dead meets Jurassic park as they try and survive.

3) Something else

 

[Ashes]

3. Something else.

Those are pretty crappy ideas.

Spoiler

gotcha! 1 is awesome. It's got more potential I feel

 

[Cyan]

#1 feels like it's got more potential. Feels like it could use more of a throughline, though. Like, is there some specific goal beyond just "survive"? Is there a place they're trying to go where they think they might be safe? Is there some kind of main villain chasing them? Do they desperately need to find some specific type of supply to keep one of the children alive? Basically I feel like there's a beginning and something of a middle there, but not really a place to go for an ending yet, because there's no clear goal or objective that they're striving for.

 

[Cyan]

Another thing I was wondering though is what makes a program like Scrivener so good? What's wrong with good old Microsoft word?

I actually typically do most of my writing in Notepad. Just pure text and nothing else. Bit of a nuisance when I want to use italics or whatever, but I like it.

What I like about Scrivener is that it's a terrific organization tool. It lets you keep character files, setting files, any kind of research stuff all in one place and at your fingertips. It has a lot of options for how to view those things, including splitscreens so you can be writing and consulting your notes at the same time. It gives you multiple levels of organization, and lets you move scenes and chapters around really easily. It also lets you easily see things like (assuming you put the data in) how many POV chapters you have from each character and where, scenes vs sequels, and whatever other info you want to put in.

There are a few other useful tools, like the name generator, but my view on it is that it's a high-level organization tool. It lets you zoom out or zoom in on your story as needed.

 

[Gazoinks]

I'll restate my recommendation for FocusWriter for anyone looking for a nice minimalist writing tool. Probably the best one I've found.

 

[The Atticus]

I'll give this a go:

1) A mid-forties lady trucker is sidetracked on her downtime by a plea by old friends to find their lost daughter while she travels through the heartlands of America, all the while picking up distress/crisis calls from desperate souls, including the lost that seem determined to act on behalf of the Devil.

or

2) A young Bolivian girl attempts to resolve the differences of an old couple in her village, whom are the last two speakers of a dying language from a "lost" civilization. The unknown cause of their argument has caused much interest from local media and moderate interest worldwide. Arouna refutes advice from her elders and takes it upon herself to discover the enigmatic pasts of an extinct culture.

 

[Gazoinks]

I'll give this a go:

1)A mid-forties lady trucker is sidetracked on her downtime by a plea by old friends to find their lost daughter while she travels through the heartlands of America, all the while picking up distress/crisis calls from desperate souls, including the lost that seem determined to act on behalf of the Devil.

or

2)A young Bolivian girl attempts to resolve the differences of an old couple in her village, whom are the last two speakers of a dying language from a "lost" civilization. The unknown cause of their argument has caused much interest from local media and moderate interest worldwide. Arouna refutes advice from her elders and takes it upon herself to discover the enigmatic pasts of an extinct culture.

Ooh, these are both good, but I think I slightly favor 1.

 

[MidnightCowboy]

I've always wanted to do this, but I barely even finish short stories as it is. I'm just incapable of producing large amounts of text, I prefer poems because I can (hopefully) get the same point across in a much smaller section. Maybe I need to outline more so that it'll come easier.

 

[mu cephei]

God, that looks like it would be fun. I'm going to try and finish mine and do it this year. Would be great to feel it in my hands.

So I'm thinking post apocalyptic and fun - I proposed these ideas to a friend of mine, so I'm certainly not trying to be a pitch man, but what do you guys think?

I like the second one a lot. It has dinosaurs, 'darkest Africa', lethal viruses, last man (family) on earth. Lots of good stuff. The first, eh vampires. Boo.

I'll give this a go:

1) A mid-forties lady trucker is sidetracked on her downtime by a plea by old friends to find their lost daughter while she travels through the heartlands of America, all the while picking up distress/crisis calls from desperate souls, including the lost that seem determined to act on behalf of the Devil.

or

2) A young Bolivian girl attempts to resolve the differences of an old couple in her village, whom are the last two speakers of a dying language from a "lost" civilization. The unknown cause of their argument has caused much interest from local media and moderate interest worldwide. Arouna refutes advice from her elders and takes it upon herself to discover the enigmatic pasts of an extinct culture.

I think it depends how you write them. The first could be a really commercial urban fantasy/ crime thriller type thing (sounds like a TV show actually). The second one sounds like it could have more potential, but also be a lot more difficult to write.

 

[Cyan]

I'll give this a go:

1) A mid-forties lady trucker is sidetracked on her downtime by a plea by old friends to find their lost daughter while she travels through the heartlands of America, all the while picking up distress/crisis calls from desperate souls, including the lost that seem determined to act on behalf of the Devil.

or

2) A young Bolivian girl attempts to resolve the differences of an old couple in her village, whom are the last two speakers of a dying language from a "lost" civilization. The unknown cause of their argument has caused much interest from local media and moderate interest worldwide. Arouna refutes advice from her elders and takes it upon herself to discover the enigmatic pasts of an extinct culture.

For NaNo, you probably don't want to do something that will require extensive research. Unless you've done it ahead of time! I'd suggest #1. Also has a clear throughline for the plot.

 

[bengraven]

3. Something else.

Those are pretty crappy ideas.

Spoiler

gotcha! 1 is awesome. It's got more potential I feel

Definitely! I think it's a bit of a twist on the typical survival horror thing by making the main characters survivors, but also the horrors.

#1 feels like it's got more potential. Feels like it could use more of a throughline, though. Like, is there some specific goal beyond just "survive"?

Do they desperately need to find some specific type of supply to keep one of the children alive?

I actually created a set of "rules" months ago for them - vampires can breed but also make their own. The oldest and very newest can't handle the sun, but the middle aged ones and some of the youngest "grandsons" can. So imagine these ancient vampires, dependant on large supplies of blood, terrified of the sun...and yet these are your grandparents, your aunts and uncles. Imagine during the day that Dracula is vulnerable, covered in a hood, but during the night it's the kid who is vulnerable. It creates this daily cycle of give and take.

The civilization was brought down by creatures that can also only come out a night. Basically imagine a zombie vampire, for time and explanation's sake. A few could destroy even the most epic powered old vampire, so there's the problem with that as well - it keeps the older vamps on their feet, limiting their ability to leave the nest even at night when they should be able to hunt. So the kids go out during the day and track these zombires out and kill them, I Am Legend-like, but also need to find food for themselves and also need to find blood.

Imagine how fucking frustrating that would be if you're used to being the top of the food chain and arrogant.

Is there a place they're trying to go where they think they might be safe?

Yes, there's another reservation: a larger city this time though, across the border. It's slow going and some don't want to go since it could be a living hell. Imagine a city of vampires where the blood supply ran out.

But also they could have got their shit together and may be farming humans, as some of our group suggest, but others in our group refuse to for moral's sake.

Is there some kind of main villain chasing them? Basically I feel like there's a beginning and something of a middle there, but not really a place to go for an ending yet, because there's no clear goal or objective that they're striving for.

They have been hiding forever and people don't even think they exist. So suddenly these vampire creatures appear to destroy civilization - what's the difference between them and our intelligent, morally guided heroes? To a normal human, maybe not.


I think the main thing that drives me to write this is a scene I planned out long ago:

A vampire breaks into a house that's boarded up. He comes upon a young human man. The man is posturing, angry. The vampire can smell that there's a woman and two children hiding in the closet. The vampire reaches slowly into his bag and pulls out some food - he's young and needs solid foods still, but very rarely. He offers them to the man and asks him for something in return.

The man asks what? The vampire slowly pulls out a needle.

Imagine you're a human and don't understand and if you knew the truth imagine how frightening this could be for you.

That's why I would love to write this.

 

[Cyan]

This is good shit, do the vampire one.

 

[bengraven]

This is good shit, do the vampire one.

I'll send you a copy when it's done.

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

Still hustling to try to complete my second draft of last year's NaNovel before even thinking about this year's. So far, I've thrown out two entire chapters wholesale and started them again. Right now, I'm midway through Chapter 8

Spoiler

of 30, somebody hold me!

 

[The Atticus]

Ooh, these are both good, but I think I slightly favor 1.

I think it depends how you write them. The first could be a really commercial urban fantasy/ crime thriller type thing (sounds like a TV show actually). The second one sounds like it could have more potential, but also be a lot more difficult to write.

For NaNo, you probably don't want to do something that will require extensive research. Unless you've done it ahead of time! I'd suggest #1. Also has a clear throughline for the plot.

Thanks for the input! I'm gonna roll with the first scenario unless I get fevered with a new idea. Also I have done research of sorts for the second scenario, as I am somewhat interested in ancient civilizations as well as South American culture, however I can't think of any major plot points apart from the ending. I've got some neat ideas for #1, so I'm excited to start next week. I am a notoriously slow writer so hopefully this will let me open up even if it's trite.

EDIT: Placeholder title is 'Godspeed, GIrl'. Please stop me if that's awful.

 

[Delio]

Oh god i was looking for this thread. Go ahead and toss me down for this. I'm sticking to my guns and writing a 50 chapter Serial novel. Hopefully this goes well enough.

Hopefully I finish again this year and not stop like last.

 

[superdeluxe]

Anyone else taking time off from work? I just requested off the 1st and 4th. I'm hoping to get a head start, as I am quite determined to win this year.

I downloaded Scrivener over the weekend and it's awesome. Thanks for recommending it, Cyan. Even if I don't win NaNo, I'll still end up buying it. It's a great tool.

I'm not, but I do have a 2 hour train commute every day

 

[Hop]

It's not cheating to do the cover artwork before November, right? :x

(I might be a wee bit eager to participate.)

 

[Incendiary]

I think I'm going to write a sequel to my 2011 NaNo story for this round, but I'm not sure. I have quite a few ideas for stories that I've never pulled the trigger on. Since it seems like others are asking about it, I'll put my ideas down here in "back of the book" teaser format since I'm not sure what exactly I want to do.

1. NaNo 2011 Sequel - (Working Title: Time Warp) - (Genre: Urban Fantasy) - Justin Shaw (main character) runs a paranormal detective agency in the college town of Brookland, and a new case has arrived on his doorstep. A woman thinks the company that just hired her husband is working him to death...literally, since he's aged 30 years in the last two weeks. But investigating the corporation isn't Shaw's only problem: representatives from the Wizard Council are in town, determined to bring him in for what they've deemed as illegal use of magic. On top of that, Shaw's new girlfriend is getting more and more inquisitive about what he does and is making it harder for him to keep her out of the paranormal life. There just aren't enough hours in the day, if only Shaw just had some more time...

2. (Working Title: Allegro) - (Genre: Thriller) - John Largo is a regular guy that works for slightly above minimum wage at a thrift store in the city. That is, until one day while at the register, he meets a cute pink-haired girl. He gets her name and phone number...but when he calls her the next day, he instead finds himself talking to a mysterious sociopath that calls himself "Allegro." Allegro tells him that unless John follows his instructions and solves the puzzles given to him, he'll kill the girl. Drawn into and forced to play a dangerous game, John has to figure out who this mysterious Allegro is and why he's been chosen, all the while trying desperately to keep the girl he just met alive...

3. (Working Title: Half-Dead) - (Genre: Fantasy/Mystery) - Adam Wickam returned home from work one day to find two mysterious men in his house with his girlfriend. And then one of the men pulled a gun and shot Adam in the head. Normally, that'd be the end of the story. But where it gets interesting is when Adam wakes up and finds his girlfriend and the two strangers gone, replaced by three new strangers. These men call themselves "Course Correctors" and reveal that Adam wasn't supposed to die. They've brought him back in a state between life and death and task him to find the man who killed him and correct what happened in the next 48 hours, otherwise his death will become permanent in the timeline. But Adam has no idea where to start. Who were the men? Where is his girlfriend? He'll have to answer all those questions and more before his time runs out, as he finds himself drawn deep into a world between life and death.

Anyway any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[MetalGuardian]

I just downloaded and got setup in Scrivener. Wow, what a phenomenal tool. It has me so much more hype for November 1st!

Does anyone know how much Scrivener is with the 50% off winner bonus? And I'm assuming it's a one time download fee and not a yearly subscription, yeah?

 

[Incendiary]

It's one time. I downloaded it using the 50% off last year. I think it was like..$20 with the 50%?

 

[Buckethead]

Weird question but how does this work with legal stuff?
They don't have like a secret clause about publishing and handing over rights do they?

Just want to use it so I can push myself to get some stuff done.

 

[Cyan]

Weird question but how does this work with legal stuff?
They don't have like a secret clause about publishing and handing over rights do they?

Just want to use it so I can push myself to get some stuff done.

They have no rights to anything, and they don't keep any of your text when you do a word count or official verification. If you like, prior to uploading for the word count you can scramble your text, changing the letters but keeping the number of words the same.

 

[MetalGuardian]

Does anybody have any tips for coming up with cool names for characters and places and the like? I don't like resorting to random name generators, because it feels like I didn't earn it. On the other hand, dammit, I'm having a real hard time coming up with a name that I love for my main character and for the main HQ that I want to serve as the primary iconic location of the story.

 

[Cyan]

I think I'm going to write a sequel to my 2011 NaNo story for this round, but I'm not sure. I have quite a few ideas for stories that I've never pulled the trigger on. Since it seems like others are asking about it, I'll put my ideas down here in "back of the book" teaser format since I'm not sure what exactly I want to do.

1. NaNo 2011 Sequel - (Working Title: Time Warp) - (Genre: Urban Fantasy) - Justin Shaw (main character) runs a paranormal detective agency in the college town of Brookland, and a new case has arrived on his doorstep. A woman thinks the company that just hired her husband is working him to death...literally, since he's aged 30 years in the last two weeks. But investigating the corporation isn't Shaw's only problem: representatives from the Wizard Council are in town, determined to bring him in for what they've deemed as illegal use of magic. On top of that, Shaw's new girlfriend is getting more and more inquisitive about what he does and is making it harder for him to keep her out of the paranormal life. There just aren't enough hours in the day, if only Shaw just had some more time...

2. (Working Title: Allegro) - (Genre: Thriller) - John Largo is a regular guy that works for slightly above minimum wage at a thrift store in the city. That is, until one day while at the register, he meets a cute pink-haired girl. He gets her name and phone number...but when he calls her the next day, he instead finds himself talking to a mysterious sociopath that calls himself "Allegro." Allegro tells him that unless John follows his instructions and solves the puzzles given to him, he'll kill the girl. Drawn into and forced to play a dangerous game, John has to figure out who this mysterious Allegro is and why he's been chosen, all the while trying desperately to keep the girl he just met alive...

These both sound pretty interesting. 2 sounds a little more unusual, but 1 comes equipped right off the bat with both a clear throughline and several subplots to play with. Since you have a few more ideas for it, I suspect that's the one that interests you more... am I right?