I’ve got several ideas for novels as well as short stories, poems, etc all of which are usually completely bizarre and have a recurring cod motif.
I’ll post some sometime 
Well, here we are at 7 hours 23 minutes into the contest and I haven’t started one word.
I have to get two kids dressed, driven to school , work at one school, bring the other home, probably put a dog to sleep in the very near future (any day that I can mentally do the deed this week. - where is the 'crying emoticon? - ) and prepare for my husband’s birthday tomorrow. Oh, and figure out who to vote for.
Not to forget the small miniscule detail that I am going to loan my laptop to my FIL after he has surgery and cannot get out of bed at all for 6 weeks. oh my poor mother in law.
All things considered, I am not worried.
I figured that since waking up in the middle of the night and not falling back to sleep is my modus operandi, that last night I’d get started for sure. I slept like a log.
Hmm. Well, it’s gone 15:00 on the first day and I have writer’s block. Still haven’t managed to start.
This could be a problem.
I see a story line in there somewhere 
I’ve got my opening line. If I cut and paste it sixteen thousand times, I’m done!
I’ve been thinking about topics to right about, but I know I want to right sci fi or fantasy, just not sure which specific topic. One idea was to write about two half-gods. One who is almost omniscient otherwise a normal human, and the other who is almost omnipotent but otherwise otherwise a normal human. I had the idea of omniscient person playing the perfect game of chess in tournaments, and people accusing him/her of being a computer (because perfect play in the endgame has been found and is baffling sometimes.)
My other idea is merely a setting nothing else. I’ve tried to write things starting with that setting but I’ve struggled. Its a darkly lit entryway to a huge mansion with a few candles and comfortable chairs, and the most grandiose grandfather clock you’ve ever known. And its always midnight when I think of that setting. I thought of making that one into a mystery novel. Revolving around the clock somehow.
On Friday, I had two stories that had already been started, and had made it to at least 15K words apiece. Yes, I know that’s cheating.
But yesterday, on the drive from Maine to New Jersey after a much-needed weekend away, I came up with a totally new idea. Now I’ve got notes but no word count, and when I came into work this morning, I discovered that I’m now going to be doing the work of two people, and have no hope of sneaking a bit of writing time in between tasks. Which means every waking moment not at work will be spent at my home computer, writing feverishly and ignoring cats, housework, and my favorite TV shows. 
The problem I’ve got now, which seems insurmountable, is that I’ve got five possible names for my main character, but I’m still not sure what to call her. This will drive me insane, because I can’t write her until I know her name.
Anyhow, good luck, everyone, and I look forward to watching us all slowly self-destruct over the month. The best writers are the crazy writers.
I’m like that too. Glad I’m not alone! On the plus side, I had an idea for the character I just introduced yesterday, and her name - I have several characters with double initials - ended up being an important part of who she is.
Gah.
Well, I finally named my main character (Angie Schneider). I’ve had a plotline in mind for a few months, so that part might be okay.
Now, Angie needs to come out and play. Perhaps if I lay a trail of candies to my computer?
I started last night, and it went much the way I thought it would - it’s horrible and short.
But at least I started. Where the other 49500 words are going to come from, I don’t know.
Phew. I managed to start. I did this by ditching my original storyline as way too hard to write on a time limit and am now just coming up with stuff as I write and vaguely trying to fit a handful of ideas into the storyline. It’ll be crap, but unlike my other ideas it will actually get written.
I’m up to just over a thousand words at the moment.
832 down 49,168 to go :eek:
Not too bad for a hour or so work (who am I kidding, this is going to be impossible, isn’t it?)
If it makes you feel any better, at 13 hours in, I have precisely three words–two of which are “Chapter One.”
At least I figured out my MC’s name. I’m enjoying my research so much that I just know when I sit down to start writing, I will draw a complete and total blank. I am sharpening kitchen knives in preparation for hara-kiri later this evening.
Has anyone noticed NaNoWriMo.org being down? It wouldn’t load for me a few minutes ago.
I finally picked a topic, and I’ve got chapter one done with 2375 words. Most of it has written itself so far. I’m going to have to do a lot of military research eventually for a second draft. Lots of military references, but its still sci fi.
I’m signed up for this. Tonight’s going to be tricky, but I can do it. I’ve already got a basic outline and plot, and so it’ll just be getting it into some semblance of a story and on paper. I just got a new laptop, so as soon as I get my car back (damn Kia!), I’ll head over to Borders for the afternoons and do some typing. It’ll get me back into the schedule of writing like I used to do instead of whenever I feel like it.
This is also giving me some time to take a break from getting my current YA novel edited and out to agents. I need a break from that. It’ll be fun to start fresh with new characters and stories.
Good luck, everyone!
Ava
Okay, so how fast can a zombie shamble? I’m not looking for the sprinting of 28 Days Later, nor the slow inevitability of Romero’s original, but more of a slow jog. That’d be, what, 5 mph? I gotta get a good estimate for how many musket volleys can be expected before hand-to-hand combat…
Thank you, Draelin!
For the first two words in my novel. I misread your Chapter One as Clutter Won. Actually, I got a large portion of plot out of that misread, too.
I think that’s what the “Character and Plot Realism Q&A” section of their Forum is for.
African or European zombie?