National Novel Writing Month 2005--Who's In?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

I signed up earlier this week for my first attempt at it. I wanted to last year, but my job barely gave me enough time to eat, much less write. A couple of my friends are doing it this year as well.

Does anyone have or know how to find the link to that article that horrible humorless woman wrote about NaNoWriMo and how the people involved weren’t real writers, unlike her? I did a search on the SDMB but couldn’t find the thread about it. I want to find it because part of the reason I’m doing it is just to spite her.

22

Let’s see, that would be 1667 words per day, with the last day having 1657. Maybe I’ll give it a shot. It sounds like fun.

23

(From someone has not read the article) Isn’t that the point? I may be wrong in assuming this, but isn’t the whole thing all about amateur writers?

24

Yeah, that is the point, and she completely and totally missed it. The article is here; I’d just been looking on the SDMB and didn’t think to search on Google for it. There was a thread about it on here which I can’t find now.

25

Ooo! Me! I’m in! I registered the first day. I didn’t find out about it (for some reason, I just never opened the appropriate threads last year) until about November 28 or so last year. So I and a friend did it over our Christmas break. Both of us wrote almost our entire books in a week. But that was when we didn’t have anything else to do. We both signed up for this year. I’m excited! I think I’m writing a romantic comedy, almost a chick flick thing. Very unmasculine of me, I know, but I’ve gots ideas running through my head.

26

Wow, that lady so completely missed the point it would be laughable, if she hadn’t made me so furious.

27

After reading the article:
Wow. She did miss the point.
As to the OP:
I would be in for writing 50,000 words in one month, but between all this calculus, and all this physics, and all this other college stuff, I wouldn’t have the time.

28

Gah! This woman has a serious bug up her arse.

Not only does she completely miss the point of this, but she suffers from a severe case of that tragic condition known as “art-EEES-tistic arrogance.” She obviously has a snooty view of “common folk” who labor at day jobs and have social lives. And, while I confess to not being a ‘real’ writer myself, I do work in publishing with ‘real’ writers, and can say with some conviction - most ‘writers’ with this attitude are sanctimonious idiot hacks who write self-indulgent drivel.

But, of course, I didn’t need to say that - just read her pathetic screed.
I’d like to read some of the novels she’s written though - I’ll bet they’re unintentionally hilarious.

29

I’m in. I already have characters, a plot and an opening line (that first popped into my head while looking at the cover of a boardgame box, and from which the entire story grew). I’m going to do this if it kills me.

30

That might be the dumbest thing I’ve ever read. ‘In our next entry, Kobe Bryant explains why youth rec leagues are an insult to professional basketball players in the NBA.’ :rolleyes:

I guess this woman went to college and graduated with a degree in Novel Writing. I may be mistaken, but I thought most people start out doing something else, write novels in their spare time, then get them published. Isn’t the “get off your ass and do it” spirit part of what makes that possible? People who are already writing for a living are not the target of this thing. They already have the motivation and the experience, and possibly the talent. I do something else professionally, and I did NaNoWriMo last year because I had a novel I wanted to write anyway and the event seemed like a good excuse to get working on it.

31

I’m in . . . sort of.

I’ve always heard the maxim, “write what you know.” I decided to set my novel in the Tudor era, because I’m a Tudor history buff. I’m now learning what I don’t know, which is a depressingly large number of things.

I have to research everything. I mentioned a little girl had boots, so I had to go look up what shoes looked like at the time. A convent features in the story, so I spent hours reading about different religious orders. I’ve combed the 'net for old recipes, what books were available at the time, studied word origins to make sure I’m not using any which post-date the time period and myriad other things. I spend a little time writing, too.

I can’t bullshit my way through this the way that so many authors do, broadly brushing over details hoping the reader won’t notice. Well, when I’m reading, I notice it.

Since this book will likely never see the light of day, I’m mainly writing it for myself, and I’m my harshest critic.

32

I’m in. Not a clue what to write or even if I’ll get anywhere 50,000 words… We’ll see what November brings.

GT

33

I always wanted to do it. But wouldn’t you know, in Australia November is not just National Novel Writing Month, but National Final Exam Month too? Gaaah.

34

I’ll be doing it for the fourth time.

I sort of have to take exception to the idea that “nothing of worth is created during Nano.” My second book (written 2003) became my graduate thesis, and the first chunk of it is currently in a manila folder with an agent’s address on it, waiting to be sent off on my lunch break on Monday. Of course, there’s almost nothing left of the original manuscript in the revision, but it has the same characters and ideas. And if it wasn’t for Nano, I never would have explored those ideas or put them down. In many ways, Nano was the impetus for going to grad school and thinking seriously about my writing and of writing as a career.

Right now I’m working on last year’s failed Nano, which I’m working on as a lead-in to the real thing. I’ve written 2500 words in the last two days, less than I’ll need to write in November but still something. I plan to send this one to agents too, when it’s finished and revised (i.e. two years from now).

35

You just described my project in everything but details.

A couple months ago I’ve decided to write a novel set in the middle ages. The problem is: It’s an epic, and when I say the middle ages, I mean "870-1350(aprox). This book is going to cover the the middle ages, and be divided into 5 sections, each in a different part. The only saving grace is that It’s only going to be in a single country/area.

Which means I have a HUGE amount of research. Hell, I haven’t finished researching my first stop, the Caroligian Era(“870-920”). And this’ll have to go in pieces. Finish one part up before moving to the next.

Because I want it to be realistic. I have to figure out how people thought and acted at the time. How much power do people have? What are the social mores? What does the Church believe during each period? What is the balance of power? How much paganism is still existant in the culture?"

So I basically have to reasearch each part from scratch before I can write. I can’t just BS through this, or else I’ll realize that there’s no way the 50 pages I just wrote could happen because certain elements were only my assumptions. I’ll be luckly if I finish the caroligian era by Dec.

And don’t get me started on the fact that I’m using this to teach myself character development.

36

Me.

37

Thank you so much for calling my attention to this. I’ve always been too self-critical to write seriously, but something like this has just the right attitude for someone like me. I’ve donated and ordered the inspirational scriptures, heh.

While it’s pretty darned sure that I’d need more than 9 days to psych-up for something like this, I’ll be here cheering you on and beginning the 374 days of psyching myself up for next year.

You guys rock!

38

I did this a couple years ago, when I was on break from school one year.

I was writing a short story when I learned about this. I finished it up withen a week and then wrote the Nano story in the remaing three. I finished with a couple days to spare. Basically, I decided I was never going to publish it and made it a cheesy, fun quest story that ripped off everything. I had copyrighted characters all over the place, stuff stolen from a hundred sources, somewhat verbatium. My characters were stock and the story was trite. But I had so much fun doing it and my characters seemed to flow so well. But it was funny, went quickly and I wish I could do anything else that easily. I eventually edited it and printed it out for my friends to read. So far the people I’ve showed it to have enjoyed it, but I’d never think of publishing it.

A year later, I had started school and began another project, a parody of fantasy, except this time without using copyrighted characters. It was still going to be absurd, mocking cliches of the genre, but I just didn’t have time. I keep meaning to go back and work on it some more. Too bad. I got off to a good start

A small sample of the fantasy one, from the first chapter.

"The Old Ones were, the old ones are and the old ones shall be…oh, wait, wrong legend…here we go…. Once, a long time ago, in a tiny village hidden deep within a beautiful, peaceful valley in the lonely mountains, a child was born. As he grew up, he showed great strength, compassionate nature, tolerance and kindness towards all, wisdom beyond the years of even the oldest men. He was obviously a very special child, the kind that grows up to be a hero and save the world from evil. Many believed that he was the one foretold by ancient legends to lead the world into a new golden age and banish evil from earth forever. 
Having no father, one day he went to the town well to get some water for his mother, who was dying of the plague. As he near the well, he tripped, bashed his head on the side and fell into the well. Soon thereafter, his mother succumbed and so did the rest of the village, likely due to an illness brought on by contaminated well water. An overturned torch burnt the village to the ground not long afterwards, leaving nothing but ashes. 
This story is not about him."

There’s more, but I’ve only got the first chapter.

39

Those are the kind of things that I already know. It’s the little details of life which give me fits.

Which herbs did the apothecary use to try to bring down a fever? Did the nuns in a wealthy convent drink from glass goblets or pewter? What would one use to remove lice? (Would lamp oil do the same job as keroesene?) Which saint has a feast day on a particular date? How would a chicken coop have been constructed?

The lives of the nobility are gloriously documented. If my main character was a princess, I’d be stylin’.

40

I’m so in. This’ll be my first year and my first attemp at a novel, so I’m excited. I’m also nervous, as I don’t have a plot at all yet. I thinking I may make it sort of like a Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs thing… but I’ve really got no idea.

In the spirit of the month, I’ve found this livejournal icon.