That would be NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth. Read about it here. Starts Nov 1.
I started last year and got about halfway through the month due to the discovery that… well, I had nothing to say. :smack:
I may try again this year. I liked the idea of having to produce so many words per day and posting the number. I work well with an assignment and a deadline. I purchased Scrivener software, which is for writers of all kinds and has a NaNoWriMo module–very cool. (I love my techie shit. ) It’s the digital equivalent of the old-time notecards that you rearranged endlessly on your bed until you typed them up on your manual typewriter the night before the paper was due.
We had a little SDMB group over at the NaNoWriMo site. It was fun.
Not technically. I have a screenplay I want to finish the first draft of but have been slack with, so plan to use NaNoWriMo as my motivation to get it done. But that doesn’t quite fit into their rules in terms of word count etc, so I will do it independently.
I don’t think their “rules” matter all that much. It’s a framework, a structure. Like working out independently at a gym with other like-minded people. There’s a sense of camaraderie.
I might. I’m 40,000 words into a novel now, and likely won’t be finished before the end of the month, so I’ll probably use the rest of it to keep me on track. I won’t start a fresh one on Nov. 1, though.
A friend who’s a NaNo veteran has been trying to convince me to do it. Neither of us has any concrete ideas, though, so we’re going to be brainstorming along with a couple other people sometime this week.
I’ve never done it, btw. I love the idea of a Doper group there, though
I have participated now for a few years and I won’t break the streak, though I have been so busy lately that I have not yet built the enthusiasm for it that I usually do. I still have a few weeks to do so though.
I am a “panster” as they say on the site and usually have little idea of what I am going to write other than the first few words or a scene and a genre and it has not had any detrimental effect. So for those of you who are thinking of participating, you really don’t need much, just think of a premise and then figure out as you go along what would logically (or illogically) follow from it.
Hehe. I think you mean “pantser,” as in someone who flies by the seat of his pants. I’m curious about how that has worked out for you. Did you, in fact, write a novel or some shorter work? I envy the people who go into it knowing what they’re going to do. This will only be my second year. I’m like you-- I just jumped into the pool last year, “pants” and all.
I liked having the word goal every day. The Scrivener software’s NaNo module is set up to keep count and I find this structure helpful, having worked toward deadlines all of my career.
Isabel Allende used to say that she started her novels on the same day every year (in January sometime, I think). She’d go into her writing room, light a candle, sit down, and start to write. So there’s something to be said for this method. Especially if you don’t have another method. :rolleyes:
I did it last year and got about 17K words done before I ran out of steam, life intervened and various other things happened…and I was a week late starting it too. This year I have a half-baked plan already so I’m slightly ahead of the game.
I’m thinking about it - I’ve hit my word count twice in Nano but it’s been well over 5 years since I completed my last atrocious novel. I just don’t know where I have the time but may at least give it a start this year.
No. I just finished a novel yesterday, and am working on another, but it’ll probably take me more than a month to finish.
I’m pure pantser. My method is to write a great first chapter (which becomes the engine for the story), then make things hard for the characters and wait for them to figure a way out.
An outline would straightjacket me. I would have plotted one of my characters as a scheming villain; he turned out to be a hero. I had envisioned a scene between two of the characters to end the book; they were both dead 2/3rds of the way through. Another novel was going to be about a search for King Kong; it ended up being about Egyptian gods and the mystique of tall buildings.
That’s just me, of course. Some writers prefer to outline everything. But I like to see what the characters do and say and take things from there.
Yes, you are right, pantser (hey neither word comes up as correct during spell check:D) and it has worked fine for me. I have usually met the 50000 word goal without too much of a problem unless life intervened (like the birth of a child) and many times with more of the story yet to write.
The word goal is something I found to be a really good motivator because it is concrete, whereas a time goal is not, since you need to have a timer or set aside a block of time. With the word goal, I just wrote whenever I had a moment (during lunch breaks, on the train, etc) and at the end of the day could evaluate what how I did. As far as I can tell what I wrote makes logical sense from start to finish, and I don’t just add a dash of something to simply increase word count.
Is great literature? Probably not, but the one novel that I shared with family and friends was well received, so at least it was readable (or they are much nicer than I remember)…
Try to carve out some time to write every day. Make it a commitment, and stick with it whenever you can. Don’t let it get pushed aside by other things.
I’ll try again this year. I didn’t know that Scrivener had a module. I’ll have to check that out. I’ll be the sole plotter in the group. I always have at least an outline. I need something to get started with. I also use it to keep moving when I otherwise would claim writer’s block. I usually end up in a completely different place, but the framework helps me get going.
I’m in for Urban Fantasy, unless that SciFi thing I’ve been noodling on suddenly pulls ahead.
I got this book last year for my kindle: No Plot? No Problem!. It’s got some practical stuff in it–geared for writing a novel in 30 days.
Personally, I’d rather read *about *writing than actually write.
Closer to Nov 1, I’ll PM y’all and arrange to join a Buddy List on the NaNo site (if you’re interested-- if not, no prob). Unless someone else wants to take the lead. (My username there is not ThelmaLou.) Look under “My NaNo,” and you’ll see Buddy List.
I suggest setting up a way to save your work in a portable way, for example on a USB key or in the cloud, so that you can write from wherever. Additionally, a good writing tool is very important and your standard word processor is not such a tool. ThelmaLou mentioned Scrivener which is a good program for all kinds of writing projects that I make use of, but I prefer to use a simple distraction-free writing program during NaNoWriMo. There are many out there (just do a search), some of which are free with most including a word count setting to let you know how close you are to your goal. The one I use is TextRoom which has not been updated in years, but still serves me well.
I’m going to try again – used to do it regularly, but then things started happening in November and…
Another plotter here, and I plan to ‘cheat.’ The last year I did it, I ‘finished’ at 50k words but only about 50% of the way through my outline, so this year I will create a sequel.
) It’s the digital equivalent of the old-time notecards that you rearranged endlessly on your bed until you typed them up on your manual typewriter the night before the paper was due.
I always have at least an outline. I need something to get started with. I also use it to keep moving when I otherwise would claim writer’s block. I usually end up in a completely different place, but the framework helps me get going.