# The NaNoWriMo Support Group for Novice Novel Writers with Too Much Time Thread! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 7, 2004, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanowrimo-support-group-for-novice-novel-writers-with-too-much-time-thread/268081 "2004-10-07T19:41:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2004, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanowrimo-support-group-for-novice-novel-writers-with-too-much-time-thread/268081/161 "2004-11-03T23:14:39Z")
I haven’t written anything today. Bad FilmGeek. I just want to go home, curl up on the couch with a mug of hot chocolate and cuddle with my sweetie. That’s because it’s 45 degrees and raining. Blech. ---
**Author:** ![lel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8797f3/32.png) [@lel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lel)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanowrimo-support-group-for-novice-novel-writers-with-too-much-time-thread/268081/162 "2004-11-04T00:59:45Z")
Anyone else’s characters taking the story into their own hands and doing whatever they want to with it? 4000 words along, and my characters are doing, well, whatever they want to do. It’s both exhiliarating and annyoing at the same time! ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanowrimo-support-group-for-novice-novel-writers-with-too-much-time-thread/268081/163 "2004-11-04T04:47:08Z")
I’m a ten-percenter. 5005 and first person is saving my bacon in a big way. Yay for first person! ---
**Author:** ![Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9dc877/32.png) [@Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightwatch_Trailer)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanowrimo-support-group-for-novice-novel-writers-with-too-much-time-thread/268081/164 "2004-11-04T05:30:41Z")
1. Behind at the moment, but not by much; hopefully I’ll drum up enough enthusiasm to write some more tonight. Honestly, I don’t know where my story is going. I just can’t write an interesting long scene… ---
**Author:** ![Kerrigan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/49beb7/32.png) [@Kerrigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kerrigan)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanowrimo-support-group-for-novice-novel-writers-with-too-much-time-thread/268081/165 "2004-11-04T05:36:44Z")
1. Shh. I’m off to a late start. I didn’t end up writing last year and this time I’m determined to do _something._ I wrote three sentences and got distracted, but I have at least an idea for where it’s going. Maybe it’ll take up one chapter. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9dc877/32.png) [@Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightwatch_Trailer)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanowrimo-support-group-for-novice-novel-writers-with-too-much-time-thread/268081/166 "2004-11-04T07:30:34Z")
Yesss. I’m back on track with 5028 words and a dream sequence. If all the time I spent posting was instead used for writing my novel, I’d be halfway through already… ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanowrimo-support-group-for-novice-novel-writers-with-too-much-time-thread/268081/167 "2004-11-04T14:17:46Z")
> [@lel](#): > > Anyone else’s characters taking the story into their own hands and doing whatever they want to with it? Not yet. I was imagining a scary part between the opening sequence and her salvation; but I really don’t think I can do scary, so she found a sort-of oasis instead. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanowrimo-support-group-for-novice-novel-writers-with-too-much-time-thread/268081/168 "2004-11-04T14:22:59Z")
I stayed up all night (Bad Drae!) but I now have 11,000 words. I don’t know, however, if they make any sense. ---
**Author:** ![smartini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/22d042/32.png) [@smartini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smartini)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanowrimo-support-group-for-novice-novel-writers-with-too-much-time-thread/268081/169 "2004-11-04T14:35:16Z")
Still 0 words here 🙂 It’s kind of how I operate though so I am not freaking yet. I see some free time heading my way over the weekend so I should have a number to post soon. Lots of development going on in my head while I am doing other things for now. Is anyone using the forums on the NaNoWriMo site? Are they helpful enough to warrant the time? I’m a little worried that if I get hung up there also it will just eat up my spare time. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanowrimo-support-group-for-novice-novel-writers-with-too-much-time-thread/268081/170 "2004-11-04T14:52:45Z")
> [@smartini](#): > > Is anyone using the forums on the NaNoWriMo site? Are they helpful enough to warrant the time? The one factual question I had was answered promptly and by a number of people, so I say yes, they’re useful. But then again, there’s a whole lot of fora that waste just as much time as the Dope. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanowrimo-support-group-for-novice-novel-writers-with-too-much-time-thread/268081/171 "2004-11-04T14:53:55Z")
> [@smartini](#): > > Is anyone using the forums on the NaNoWriMo site? Are they helpful enough to warrant the time? > > I’m a little worried that if I get hung up there also it will just eat up my spare time. :eek: I don’t find them fascinating enough to be a time waster, but they can be helpful. For example, yesterday I posted a question about what can make a car squeak when you climb in it, and within ten minutes I had the answer. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanowrimo-support-group-for-novice-novel-writers-with-too-much-time-thread/268081/172 "2004-11-04T20:07:09Z")
Got caught up last night. It’s very weird - I really haven’t ever written any fiction or creative writing at all that I can remember. (two paragraphs in 10th grade, but after that I avoided it entirely - maybe something in elementary school). So I either plod through and write whatever I can, or I get an idea for a scene, write it as best as I can and then it ends. But I know when I read, there are story arcs and character development, and that beginning-middle-end thing. And I don’t know how to do any of that. I don’t really have a plot. I can write a scene, I can write multiple scenes, in fact. But they’re kind of a bunch of middles - it isn’t a story. I am deliberately not reading what I wrote. I am sure that would paralyze me. I am also avoiding contractions like the plague and adding cliches like there was no tomorrow. I need the word count. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanowrimo-support-group-for-novice-novel-writers-with-too-much-time-thread/268081/173 "2004-11-05T03:47:12Z")
I think I’ve hit my first wall. It could just be because I feel like heck, or it could be because I am completely foolish and lame! Aiieee! ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanowrimo-support-group-for-novice-novel-writers-with-too-much-time-thread/268081/174 "2004-11-05T04:18:56Z")
First person is pulling my chestnuts out of the fire big time as well. But my problem is that, to save time, I am making my character close enough to me that people might confuse myself and my character (I have the same problem as well, but at least I can pretend that it really _is_ my character if he does something that’s more like me than like him anyway ;)) 7182 words so far…that’s 14%! And I haven’t even done much exposition: if I do, it will be in the middle, oddly enough. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanowrimo-support-group-for-novice-novel-writers-with-too-much-time-thread/268081/175 "2004-11-05T13:41:32Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > But my problem is that, to save time, I am making my character close enough to me that people might confuse myself and my character (I have the same problem as well, but at least I can pretend that it really _is_ my character if he does something that’s more like me than like him anyway ;)) Any time I write in first person, I might as well just name the character after myself. I feel your pain, but they always say write what you know! 🙂 I have not slept a full night since Halloween. 14,302 and counting. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanowrimo-support-group-for-novice-novel-writers-with-too-much-time-thread/268081/176 "2004-11-05T14:33:13Z")
Barely over 2000, a minimal improvement since day 1. Tuesday was out because of the election, and Wednesday was a lost cause since I slept all afternoon and evening to make up for staying up the previous night. Thursday, damnit, I needed a day off to recover. All of that is just excuse after excuse because I don’t want to launch into detailing the history of what happens over the next two hundred fifty years after the discovery of the Americas and the spread of zombiepox. I mean, it’ll take a lot of thought and research to accurately predict Europe’s reaction. But today, I just had a great idea – when the zombie plague mutates and spreads back to Europe, I can have Guy Fawkes reenactors blow up the zombies when they attack parliament! It’s movie gold, baby! ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanowrimo-support-group-for-novice-novel-writers-with-too-much-time-thread/268081/177 "2004-11-05T14:48:29Z")
Anything with exploding zombies is fine by me! ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanowrimo-support-group-for-novice-novel-writers-with-too-much-time-thread/268081/178 "2004-11-05T15:00:15Z")
> [@lno](#): > > But today, I just had a great idea – when the zombie plague mutates and spreads back to Europe, I can have Guy Fawkes reenactors blow up the zombies when they attack parliament! It’s movie gold, baby! Bonus: You can have Guy constantly correcting people’s pronounciation of his name. Pure comedy, I tell you. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanowrimo-support-group-for-novice-novel-writers-with-too-much-time-thread/268081/179 "2004-11-05T15:05:32Z")
Okay, now I just need to sit down and plot the spread of the zombiepox through the Americas, get a good estimate for the total population at the time, decide whether it can be contained and if native birth rates will provide enough new blood to keep a zombie population intact, or … Oh, hell with it, I’ll just have millions of zombies roaming across North and South America and I’ll work out the logistics later. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanowrimo-support-group-for-novice-novel-writers-with-too-much-time-thread/268081/180 "2004-11-05T17:55:19Z")
Did three days, got over 6k words, and took a day off. So I owe mywelf 2k words. The plan is to make it up over the weekend. I have no zombies, exactly, but I am assembling a god. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanowrimo-support-group-for-novice-novel-writers-with-too-much-time-thread/268081.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nanowrimo-support-group-for-novice-novel-writers-with-too-much-time-thread/268081.md?page=10)