NaNoWriMo 2014

[eyeresist]

*bump*

This starts tomorrow! I have convinced a friend to join me, and am looking forward to a manic month of creativity.

I only wish I hadn't put off my planning. That's what I'll be trying to finish tonight....

 

[Mr Light]

I wrote 1050 words yesterday! Only 700 today. Finally entering the final act of my book!

 

[eyeresist]

^ That's about how much I can write per day too. This 1,667/day is really going to test me. The main thing is to avoid the temptation to rewrite, I think.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

When I do a NaNo I generally write 2000-2500 words a day so I'm hoping this year will be about the same. Lets me slack off for a day here and there.

 

[Admiral2]

Gonna try in earnest for the first time this month. Got my idea all worked out in my head...

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Good luck, everyone!

 

[RoJoHen]

I am always at such a disadvantage when this begins. Tonight I will be stuck at work until about 4am, and then I have to work another 12-hour day tomorrow. I really won't have any time (assuming I actually plan to get some sleep) to start my NaNo until Nov 2nd or 3rd, and it's so hard to succeed when you're behind like that right from the start.

 

[Mr Light]

I find it's better to set reasonable, achievable goals than to try to kill yourself. I'm inherently lazy so if I do set myself to do something small I might actually do it rather than just crap out on it. This is how I learned to lose weight as well as write

 

[Random_Spock]

Have to start things up... have some basics written up. But I have to put them up and continue from there.

 

[Smellincoffee]

Day 1, I'm just over 5000 words. I'm trying to speed out of the gate in anticipation of future disruptions. Today involved a little milking, essentially one character moving across town and describing various areas of the city, all of which will be important settings later on.

 

[HIjol]

NaNoWriMo counts quantity, not the quality of whatever people submit. It's to the participants' credit that most of us care if we submit a good story, otherwise we could just throw together 50,000 random words and download our winners' goodies.

This is news to me! I had no idea participants submitted their writing or received any reward. Isn't the writing and mutual encouragement reward enough? What are the prizes?

Nobody actually reads the submissions; you win if the site word-counting software comes up with a minimum of 50,000 words. So it's best to do more than 50,000 to be on the safe side. Last time, I wasn't credited with nearly 100 of the words I'd written, since my word-processing program (Open Office) uses a different system for counting the words.

The freebies for winners include a variety of badges you can download. As for the rest of it, winners get discounts on NaNoWriMo merchandise and writing/screenwriting software sold by their affiliates. Some of the discounts are quite generous. I didn't buy any of the merchandise, though, because of the prohibitive shipping charges to Canada. I did go for the downloadable writing programs, though.

Thanks for the background on the contest and the math, Timewalker! Good luck to you and to all!

 

[Random_Spock]

Did around 200 words up to yesterday, so they didn't count. Today I did 678. Not quite at 1,000, but a decent start. I know when I reach a point when I can't think of anything else to write, that's it's time to put it to bed.

 

[RoJoHen]

Day 1, I'm just over 5000 words. I'm trying to speed out of the gate in anticipation of future disruptions. Today involved a little milking, essentially one character moving across town and describing various areas of the city, all of which will be important settings later on.

Damn. 5000 in one day is impressive. I got to 980 before I had to get ready for work. Better than nothing, but I'm already behind.

 

[Admiral2]

980? I got to all of 300 words before I moved on to other things...

 

[RoJoHen]

The key to succeeding at NaNo is forcing yourself to write, whether you have anything to write or not. It might suck, but eventually the words will start flowing.

 

[Admiral2]

So, you learn to hold a gun to your own head?

 

[Smellincoffee]

Day 1, I'm just over 5000 words. I'm trying to speed out of the gate in anticipation of future disruptions. Today involved a little milking, essentially one character moving across town and describing various areas of the city, all of which will be important settings later on.

Damn. 5000 in one day is impressive. I got to 980 before I had to get ready for work. Better than nothing, but I'm already behind.

One of my friends did over 10,000. She's a veteran, though-- she's done NanNo at least four times before, and has published an actual novel before.

 

[Random_Spock]

The key to succeeding at NaNo is forcing yourself to write, whether you have anything to write or not. It might suck, but eventually the words will start flowing.

Guess I tried and failed at it then . I was trying to do that, and at times it would stop and start. But it was getting rather late.

 

[eyeresist]

Day 1: 1,700 words
Day 2: 2,400 words

But now the working week has started, I don't know how I'll do. Will I just grind to a halt? Watch this space!

Once again, I am glad I've been planning this novel for a while. I know some think planning destroys spontaneity, but I was spontaneous when I was planning, and I'm spontaneous now I'm writing, and the plan gives me the confidence to forge on, knowing I'm not headed down a dead end or spending too much time on things that will turn out to be unimportant. You gotta build the road before you can drive on it!

 

[Mr Light]

I have to extensively plan out everything in advance or I hit a brick wall. I have to know exactly what will happen in a scene and what the scene is, and the beginning and ending of the scene, before I can write it.