# NaNoWriMo is coming **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 23, 2012, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-is-coming/638651 "2012-10-23T18:59:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-is-coming/638651/1 "2012-10-23T18:59:23Z")
Yeah. So who’s doing it? Like usual I’m doing it. Like usual I’m working on scripts for the comic I eventually want to make, as well as at least one other project. I’m going extra crazy because I’m also doing the unrelated 30 Characters Challenge, where you design 30 people in 30 days. I wanted to get a bunch of them done this month but it hasn’t happened so much, because I got wrapped up in writing _another_ story, one that I want to try to finish before Nano. ---
**Author:** ![Chum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ab097/32.png) [@Chum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chum)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-is-coming/638651/2 "2012-10-23T19:07:29Z")
I’m going to try. I’ve never done it before. The longest thing I’ve ever written was my 40-page senior thesis. As far as creative writing, I’ve only written a handful of short stories. I’m nervous about it, still not feeling 100% committed, and woefully under-prepared. But I want to do it. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-is-coming/638651/3 "2012-10-23T19:08:42Z")
I tried last year and crashed. Gonna do it this year. ---
**Author:** ![Beastly\_Rotter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@Beastly\_Rotter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beastly_Rotter)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-is-coming/638651/4 "2012-10-23T19:12:13Z")
Don’t be shy about asking for advice about characters, dialogue, plots and settings if you need it. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-is-coming/638651/5 "2012-10-23T19:18:43Z")
I’ve said this several times before but this year I’m ACTUALLY doing it. For once in my life I have no excuses: I’ll have enough time, and someone I live with who’s doing it too and will prod me along. So damn, it’s finally going to happen - I’m pumped! ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-is-coming/638651/6 "2012-10-23T20:21:01Z")
I crashed and burned last year, after several ‘wins’. Things are looking even busier than usual over November, I don’t know that I can get any time off, and the kid is taking her first major exams of high school. Of course I’m doing it again. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-is-coming/638651/7 "2012-10-23T20:37:05Z")
I’d love to but I am unfortunately so not-creative that I can’t even think of a storyline to start on. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-is-coming/638651/8 "2012-10-23T21:36:38Z")
I may, just possibly, have time to take a shot this year. Regardless, my usual nudging and naming services will be available. > [@Silver\_Tyger](#): > > I’m going extra crazy because I’m also doing the unrelated 30 Characters Challenge, where you design 30 people in 30 days. Now _that_ is something I don’t think I’d have any trouble completing. It’s right in my worldbuilding wheelhouse. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-is-coming/638651/9 "2012-10-24T03:59:08Z")
I’m doing it as part of my therapy. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-is-coming/638651/10 "2012-10-24T14:40:29Z")
I’m an author already. I don’t think I’ll write a novel, but I might do a picture book. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-is-coming/638651/11 "2012-10-24T14:56:48Z")
Definitely. This year, I’m a local Nanowrimo ML (event organizer) for the first time! (I’ve done ML-ing for the Script Frenzy event several times before.) My idea is still a bit nebulous. I need to flesh out my characters more in the coming week - and maybe figure out an ending. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-is-coming/638651/12 "2012-10-24T15:38:45Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > Now _that_ is something I don’t think I’d have any trouble completing. It’s right in my worldbuilding wheelhouse. So sign up. My intro is [here](http://www.30characters.com/2012/10/19/2012-challenger-silvercat/). ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-is-coming/638651/13 "2012-10-24T17:36:42Z")
I’m in this year, and it’s thanks to E. L. James. Her surprisingly successful incompetence is inspiring. ---
**Author:** ![3\_20\_59\_or\_bust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/47e85d/32.png) [@3\_20\_59\_or\_bust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3_20_59_or_bust)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-is-coming/638651/14 "2012-10-24T18:29:55Z")
I’m in. I finished two years ago, but didn’t even get off the start line last year. Redemption time. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-is-coming/638651/15 "2012-10-24T20:49:08Z")
I just signed up for the first time. I wrote three short novels many years ago, mainly for my own amusement. As a side benefit, I found writing to be remarkably therapeutic during a difficult period in my life. It took between 9 months and 2 years to finish the first draft of each. I can barely imagine writing a 50,000 words in a month, but I’ll give it a shot. I have several ideas that I’ve been toying with for a while. The one I’m leaning toward is a psychological thriller/murder mystery with an emotionally tortured investigator. He has a mysterious–probably violent and possibly criminal–backstory himself. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-is-coming/638651/16 "2012-10-24T22:41:44Z")
I would absolutely love to participate. I’m closer to making it happen this year than I ever have been, but I just don’t have a story. I have a few ideas about how I want the _structure_ of my story to be, but I don’t have a plot worked out. It’s so frustrating. I can write little “episodes” all damn day but then I don’t know how to make a story out of it all. I’m taking a memoir writing class, because that’s the style of book I want to write (even if it’s fiction), but while it’s pushing me to write more, it’s not really helping me to get my ideas organized. Do any of you talented writers have suggestions for books or websites I could turn to for some help? I feel like if I started NaNoWriMo right now, I’d do two days, abandon it, and hate myself. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-is-coming/638651/17 "2012-10-25T04:09:52Z")
I’m in. My first idea didn’t work when I tried to outline, so I have a week to come up with a new one. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-is-coming/638651/18 "2012-10-25T18:10:48Z")
> [@Antigen](#): > > I would absolutely love to participate. I’m closer to making it happen this year than I ever have been, but I just don’t have a story. I have a few ideas about how I want the _structure_ of my story to be, but I don’t have a plot worked out. It’s so frustrating. I can write little “episodes” all damn day but then I don’t know how to make a story out of it all. > > I’m taking a memoir writing class, because that’s the style of book I want to write (even if it’s fiction), but while it’s pushing me to write more, it’s not really helping me to get my ideas organized. Do any of you talented writers have suggestions for books or websites I could turn to for some help? I don’t have any books or sites for you, but I can try to give you a nudge–that’s mostly what I do in these threads. So, you want to write a memoir, and you find it easy to write vignettes. Here are some questions to try to zero in on what you want to write: What kind of person do your vignettes feature? Is there a particular character you like to write about? What kind of setting do they live in–the real world, historical, future, a fantasy world, a horror world? What “flavor” are you shooting for? A slice of life, reflections on political intrigue, a lunatic reciting the eldritch horrors that broke him to an unbelieving world? Or something artsy, like the memoirs of some nonhuman participant in a human environment? Maybe you could start looking for your plot in the details of your vignettes. Try to find some common element that crops up over and over. If you find one, it suggests that that is something you want to write about, so think about its significance, both to the characters and to you. Why is it important? Can you build on its significance? Explore how it came to be? Resolve it in some way? Just some general thoughts. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-is-coming/638651/19 "2012-10-25T19:06:06Z")
I’ll be there! Last year I did it for the first time, completed it, and published my first original novel through CreateSpace. This year I did the June and August ones and finished the second novel in my series. This time I’ve got high hopes for making a good start on the third novel in the trilogy. ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-is-coming/638651/20 "2012-10-26T17:54:27Z")
I’m doing it this year for the first time. I never thought it was possible in the past, but I just finished writing my first novel (needs another edit or two, but I think it will be good for me to set it aside for a while) and wrote 50,000 words between Sept. 21 and Oct. 21, so I now know that it is possible. I have a general plot in mind and hope to get an outline done by Thursday. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nanowrimo-is-coming/638651.md?page=2)