I have a plot!
so, I can start writing tonight. (In the past, I’ve started at midnight on the 1st… but then, I also had days of no writing. Not going to happen this year. No matter what, I’m doing at least 500 words before calling it a day. Even if they’re spectacularly stupid words.)
It’s going to be more than a bit dialogue-y, but I hope that’ll smooth out.
I’ve got a plot, a couple of characters, and some rough ideas about scenes and stuff, which is exactly what I had two weeks ago when I decided I was in. I was supposed to spend some time over the last two weeks outlining and developing, but I didn’t. (ARGH! Sometimes, I really hate me.) So I’m torn…do I start writing tonight, or start trying to notecard so that I can write in a couple of days?? Actually, I think I know where I want to start, so maybe I could try to write about 1000 words or so to fill in my opening scene(s), then get busy with the notecards. HOW CAN IT BE NOVEMBER 1 ALREADY?? WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITHOUT AN OUTLINE??
Please, somebody, tell me I haven’t already shot myself in the foot here. whimper
You know a lot of writers don’t use outlines at all, right? I didn’t have an outline last year and made my 50,000 words without a problem. OTOH, I also don’t write stories in order (ever) so how much use I’d get out of an outline is questionable. I write lots of notes on possible scenes, though.
In three NaNos, this is the first time I’ve ever made an outline. I’ve jotted down story notes before, but never an actual outline.
And last year, I started an entire new novel on November 4th. You can totally make up a couple days. 
Alright. My new chair is assembled, my document is open, my notecards are before me. I need to pee and get a drink, and then I … (insert dramatic music) … begin.
Whew! Thanks for the support, folks. On my commute home I tried to mentally rehearse some “scene one” stuff and I’ve been writing since I got home. 395 words in an hour, but I still hope to hit at least 1000 before I quit for the night. Problem is, I’m slightly stuck at the moment. Also, I think I’m writing pretty ghastly prose. But I’ll try not to think about that.
I should write down more of my ideas–I have a lot that I want to put in (mostly pokes at mythology, literature, and general cultural things) but many of them don’t come in until later in my novel, so I’m worried I might forget them. While the first part I’m not really sure how it should go. I’m having a lot of fun with ideas, I’m just far from the point of being able to actually use many of them.
For you people having trouble, here’s a little suggestion.
Add ninjas.
And then get the ninjas to kill your Inner Editor.
Remember, good isn’t the point, just write. Give your character a dream or something, just enough word count to get through today. Have them listen to a song, and remember something from their past.
For the Americans, have them remember Halloween. Other places, pick a recent holiday. Remember what it was like in your childhood, and then have your characters remember it.
Relevance? That’s for some other month. This month is for fun.
And wordcount.
2,785 words of wonderful, glorious, unparalleled, thesaurical crap. Man, I love November.
Stuck at 570. Started wanting it to be good so I took a break. May try to pump out another 500 or so words of drek, just so I don’t feel like I’m falling too far behind. Anybody else finding the NaNoWriMo page excruciatingly slow to load?
2,048. Total crap, but it’s my crap.
1940 at the moment, but I hope to get another couple of hundred before I go to sleep.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but for me the day ends whenever I fall into bed, so if I write until 3 a.m. (hah) all those words go into Day One. <shrug>
4400 words now, and, rather surprisingly, going strong.
No outline. I’ve got some ideas, and some notes (formed from old and marginally competent short stories) but nothing solid. It looks like I’m going to find out what happens right along with my characters!
This should be interesting!
I hope to churn out a bunch more tonight, since I’m back on shift Thursday night, lasting until Tuesday night. Work will drop my output hugely I imagine (12 hour shifts’ll do that), and then I’ve got visiting parents to look forward to.
No idea if I can do this, but I’m going to try, damnit.
2111, and I’m going to bed.
An excerpt
It’s so bad, and I’m having so much fun.
The first couple days of November are always bad. It’ll speed up as the month goes along.
Geez, I am so jealous of you guys right now. I only have 248 words. Not exactly a strong start. But I did only have about 20 minutes.
Well, it’s only the first day. I should be able to make it up over the weekend.
That’s 248 more than I have.
Now I’m jealous of you!
Day one and I discovered I definitely need privacy to write. I can’t do it while my husband is around, too many distractions and I feel too self-conscious. I’m going to move into the guest bedroom and use the junky computer that we have our guild’s Ventrilo server running on (World of Warcraft stuff).
I did go back and accumulate a lot of old material I had from which I wanted to reference, so I did “work”, but no original words yet.
I found a widget for my blog that shames me by showing how far behind I am already.
Ack.