The website offers advice, trackers, message boards, and the like. I don’t utilize the website much – although I do have a profile there – as I’ve not found anything on it to be particularly useful to me, although I admit I haven’t delved too deeply into it.
However, this year I am going to give it a go once again. Only once have I written any story that broke the 20K word barrier, and that was years ago and will not be completed. I’m taking a somewhat different approach this year, drawing on my experience as a teacher in a reform school and some of the rather heart wrenching stories my students have shared with me.
Considering I’m still observing the stay-at-home mandate as best I can, maybe this will give me the time and impetus needed to actually complete something.
That I would like to see. At least if I bought one I wouldn’t have to worry about the optics of hoarding toilet paper. The cost of printer cartridges could be a problem though.
I’m in. I’ve had an account there since 2012 and have tried the challenge three times. I haven’t “won” yet. (For those who are not familiar, everybody who completes 50,000 words in 30 days is considered to be a winner.) In previous years, traveling for Thanksgiving seriously dented my ambitions. This year I’m staying home, so maybe it will be easier.
I’m torn between two story ideas I’ve been mulling over. The first is a science fiction story about a privately funded expedition to another planet that goes horribly wrong. The other is about an amateur genealogist who uncovers a disturbing crime in his family history.
The goal is to write 50,000 words, not necessarily a whole completed book. That usually means writing the first 50,000 words of the first very rough draft of a work that will eventually evolve into a longer and more polished book.
I will participate as I have been for a number of years now and although I have not made 50000 words every time, notably when I had some life events occur during November, it is something that has become easier to reach each time. The trick is not to do any editing, you simply write what comes out of your mind.
Also, having a word count goal is a great way to make it achievable, if you decide to write for an hour, you spend so much time getting your drink just right, finding the right music and responding to that last email that the hour is gone. But if you have a word count goal, then you can’t quit until you reach it.
I participated three times back in the early 2010s, and finished all three times, but haven’t done it since. I’m signed up for this next one, but I’m having trouble getting my ideas organized, and to be honest I’m not sure my mood is right. But I should know by tomorrow morning if I’m doing this one.
I participated in 2014 and that’s how I got a good chunk of my current draft for Killer. I’m thinking of setting a more specific goal to finish the final draft of Killer. I have three chapters left to rewrite. Finishing this thing has been like pulling teeth since I got pregnant and had a baby. So three chapters doesn’t sound like much but it would allow me to move on after six years of toil. I can’t tell you how sick I am of this book.
I went ahead and “signed up” on the NaNoWriMo site as well. I’m not sure what the benefits of signing up are, but I’m Captain_Amazing on the NaNoWriMo site (don’t judge me ).
I remember this, and I hoped you would pop into this thread. I’m glad to hear you (have nearly) finished your book, although I’m somewhat dismayed to hear that you’re sick of it by now.
I made a rather sudden decision to completely change the genre of book I’m writing. For many years I’ve been wanting to write a kind of police procedural / detective book because that’s what I’ve read a lot of and like.
At this point, however, I feel my student’s stories need to be told I need to give them a voice, even if not a straight memoir. I think I may have a shot at pulling this off because, frankly, I have a lot to work with. Hopefully I can do it. I’ll be treading new territory with every paragraph and there will not be as much dialogue as I’m used to writing, which will be difficult for me.
SW, do I remember correctly that you once had a professional editor read, critique, and help tutor you through revisions of your book? Maybe I’m thinking of someone else, but I thought it was you. If so, did you find that service helpful? Worth the cost (although IIRC it was given as a gift)?
While I have you all here, does anyone know of any novels that switch easily between the first and third person? I’m thinking of writing my book in that fashion. I have no idea how it’ll actually come across, but I might try it. I’d like to see some examples, though.
Yes, it was a developmental edit and one of the best decisions I ever made (or rather, my husband made for me, as it was a gift from him.) She really helped me find my way to the kind of stories I wanted to write and to embrace my dark little genre. She helped me understand the structure underlying the whole work. It was a unique kind of help because a lot of it for me personally was about solidifying my voice and identity as a writer. I write weird stuff. She embraced my weird and gave me pointers on how to be excellent at my weird thing.
When it came to brass tacks, I had most of Killer done effectively but she reccomended some things that made it much better. In fact she gave me pages and pages of feedback. If I weren’t so ready for this book to be done I would try to implement all of it, but I just took the big suggestions and ran with them. It was really validating to hear, “this is a real thing, you are really skilled at this, and you should keep doing it.”
If you are interested I can PM you her info. She is an excellent, experienced editor and has studied memoir in depth. She has since become a good friend of mine.
I think it’s normal to get sick of your work eventually. That’s how you know you’re almost done.
That would be great, thank you. I’m really hoping to actually finish my book (well, hit the 50k word goal) this year. Once its done… I have no clue. I’m not a good judge of how “good” my own writing is so it would be nice to have an objective observer give it a go.
I can’t think of any off the top of my head, but I don’t think it should matter what others have done. You should simply try it, that is the point of NaNoWriMo, don’t let what you think are constraints stop you. One year I decided that I would write it using 4 different languages, and I ended up not making the 50000 mark. I don’t know of anyone who has written something quite like that, but I tried it anyway and enjoyed using my brain in that way.
Maybe your approach is not common but that does not mean it is an incorrect approach. In the end you do get a chance to revise afterwards, so you can switch things around or rewrite them. Don’t let what you think should work stop you from putting all of it down on paper. I have a poster here that reads in part NaNoWriMo is…just the beginning.
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