nanowrimo.org

It's that time again.

Pens up. Coffee on. Who will be joining me?

My only idea is that I want it to be from the first person.

Well, the gears have been turning, I've got some notes (of course not lines written, can't start until 11/1 ). It's going to be a religious satire.

Come on, surely I'm not the only one who bites off more than she can chew!!!

Come on, surely I'm not the only one who bites off more than she can chew!!!Of course not, I was only trying not to. :p

I had no idea this thing even existed. Sounds like it could be a lot of fun. I used to write a lot as a child, but not anymore.

I half anticipate to lose all interest whatsoever in it very shortly, cause I often get very enthusiastic about something and then lose interest in it after a few days, but who knows? :)

Oh we may only reach 1000 words...but it'd be fun to see what we can do. It's only a month.

This is doable. I wrote a 166 page thesis rough draft in 3 weeks. As vebose as I am, 50,000 words should be a walk in the park, especially if I will be "writing a lot of crap" as they state! Sounds very freeing! I will also send this to my dd's AP lit teacher!



RADD

Plot? I have several ideas, must let them ferment, where's the chocolate?
___________________________


How NaNoWriMo Works (in Ten Easy Steps)

1) Sign up for the event starting October 1, 2006 by clicking the
Sign up Now link at the top of the site.

2) After creating an account, log into it. Click "Edit Profile" in the top tab, and tell us about your writerly self. Then head to the "My NaNoWriMo" section and add a photo, choose some writing buddies, and pick a home region. This tells our computer which NaNoWriMo Regional Lounge to offer you in the forums, which local events calendar and photo links to show you on the Local Events page, and gets you CC'd on emails pertaining to any wild novelist gatherings going on in your area.

3) Begin your novel-planning procrastination by reading through all the great advice and funny stories in the forums. Post some stories and questions of your own. Get excited. Get nervous. Eat lots of chocolate and pamper yourself in preparation for the fiction-fueled escapade to come.

4) On November 1, begin writing your novel. Your goal is to write a 50,000-word novel by midnight, local time, on November 30th. You write on your own computer, using whatever software you prefer.

5) This is not as scary as it sounds.

6) Starting November 1 you can go to your My NaNoWriMo page to post excerpts of your work for others to read, and update your escalating word count.

7) Write like crazy for thirty days. If you write 50,000 words of fiction by midnight, local time, November 30th, you will be added to our hallowed Winner’s Page, and receive a handsome winner’s certificate and web icon. The adding of your name to the Honor Roll of Winners requires that you send in a version of your novel in text format (scrambled for security) to our site to be counted.

8) This is not as scary as it sounds either, and we'll post step-by-step instructions on how to upload your novel to our team of superpowered computational robots (flown in from Germany every year) starting in mid-November.

9) Win or lose, you rock for even trying.

10) That's it! If you have any questions, just check out our FAQs (http://www.nanowrimo.org/modules/xoopsfaq/index.php?cat_id=1). And best of luck in November!

I wish I knew how to attach a counter. We should have a countdown with this thing! Like mugglenet has for the next Harry Potter book or movie.

Doesn't it work out to approximately 1600 words per day? About 70 words per hour? My math is terrible so I'm sure this is off a fair bit.

Let's see, 50,000/30=1,666

Round to 1,700-you are right, EYEforgot! I can talk that many words in about 45 minutes-60 minutes if I stop to think into my voice recorder. Once they are transcribed by my software, I edit them.

Times New Roman 12 double-spaced = about 300-350 words per page depending on how many long words you use. Use 350 most of the time. 1400 words = 4 pages

Convert to Arial 12 and the same # of words will take up 4.5 pages.
Run word count in MS Word or WordPerfect to keep track!

Some organization suggestions:


Margins are set at Left-1.5" the other 3 are 1".
Find the font that is easiest on your eyes!
Make one margin (Right hand if you are right-handed, or vice-a-versa) larger for adding notes when editing if you like!
It is easier on your eyes if you double-space-if you triple space it is easy to edit and write in corrections!
Print on one side because ink makes second side hard to read. Punch holes and keep in binder-won't lose pages.
Always number your pages in case you take one out, you know where to put it.
A separate document folder on computer, for each chapter is helpful too! Then you can cut and paste everything into one file later!
Use tabbed dividers in your binder to separate chapters.
I am collecting other ideas too. Please share!

I will be watching and waiting...and reading...makes me wish I wasn't on meds...so I could join...lol

Question -

Maybe you can help me with this Becky...I haven't found it in the rules yet at the site yet.

At the beginning of each chapter I'll be quoting from books and songs (and giving credit for the author's of course). Does that go towards my word count?

Absolutely! that is part of the story. I will doing so too as she travels through the books! You have to credit-or it is plagarism. There could be a limit on how much you can quote-google that, memory fails and things change in the law! Besides, you aren't publishing it yet-so it doesn't matter! A publishing house would ensure all copyright law is followed!

Quote away! I think many versions of one of the books you will quote are in the public domain anyway!

RADD
Hey, Aizlyne is on board too! You are both on my NaNo profile friend list!

My characters are talking to me EYE-I think my story is changing-to a museum mystery! I worked for 2 years in a museum and know the workings inside out. It was a small museum and I did a little of everything! Even security. It is much more me friendly I think! The setting will be easy to create and I will mash my characters from people I know and use job descriptions etc for depth. Now, will it be a murder, robbery, or both?

This one excites me and gets my creative juices flowing much more!

RADD

I vote Murder.

I like murder mysteries. :D

Welcome Aizlyne to our month of insanity! :faint:

I am having fun planning the murder! Way too much fun. It has to look like a natural death. The ADD med posts make me think it needs to be a drug interaction-slipped into her coffee or energy drink!

Should she die in the archives or in the office? This one is coming alive-pardon the pun, in my head! I have my list of characters and all the pieces are falling into place! So much fun!

I am blogging my progress. I add some of my forum posts along with other thoughts and plots.
Bookmark it! Bookwormhole (http://nanowrimo-bookwormhole.blogspot.com/)
It will have an ADD link!

Question -

Maybe you can help me with this Becky...I haven't found it in the rules yet at the site yet.

At the beginning of each chapter I'll be quoting from books and songs (and giving credit for the author's of course). Does that go towards my word count?
Ok, found the answer. I'm good. It goes towards my word count and I'm not plagerizing.

However, if I make up a quote than I can't write it until November.

As far as notes: I'm taking the JK Rowling approach...a hodgepodge of note paper. :rolleyes:

ACK! It's tonight! I mean, tomorrow morning! But at midnight, so really early tomorrow morning or really late tonight whichever way you want to look at it!!!

What was I thinking!?

Ok, I'm ok now. I've bitten off more than I can chew but I'm going for it anyways. As I was going over my notes I saw that my humor/satire wasn't terribly funny. My husband informed me that often, satire is funny because it's done so seriously. Let them be funny by just being themselves...only worse.

They're OFF!!! I'm typing like mad!!!

(yeah, this post.) :p

And they're off! The first 1,004 plus words are on paper! And I did it unmedicated!

What will happen when I am on meds? :eek: :faint: :D ;) :eyebrow:

Mine is quite satirical too! When people are a**es, and think they are something else, need I say more?

Now to sleep, perchance to write!

RADD

Read an Excerpt, watch my progress! (http://www.nanowrimo.org/userinfo.php?uid=153620)

I just rented 5 movies to watch for novel inspiration! Plus I went to the USMC recruiting office to get info about women Marines-and hopefully get to talk to one! I checked 8-10 books out of the school library on women in the military, murder mysteries, crime scene stuff, and bought 3 bags of 1/2 price Halloween chocolate-my ration for novel writing month! The coffee is brewing and I am ready to add another 1,000 plus words to my story tonight!

Movies:


The Man
The Almost Perfect Bank Robbery
GI Jane
The Italian Job
The Glass Shield
This is so much fun! It has been a long time since I have felt this alive and motivated! Thanks EYEforgot for posting the information! I never would have known about it otherwise! It has changed my outlook on life in less than a week! I am getting involved in my community because I am learning to take risks-to step out into the unknown-and not worry about failing! I am just going to grab on to the challenges and enjoy the ride! I feel like I did when I went back to grad school! Mentally alive, cognitively challenged, and creatively expressive! This is truly very good medicine for me! I am smiling all the time!

RADD-

I'm so pleased you've found such a great creative outlet. We'll have to find some more for December thru October.

I'm cringing at the research I need to do. "The Apostle" probably needs to be rented. Good movie. Excellent character study. "Saved", or a Billy Graham special, comes to mind. Late night church shows.

The ticker in my signature isn't showing my word count. So I'll have to figure that one out. I want credit for my 360 whole words! :rolleyes:

You might want to change tickers. I had the same one and it didn't work either! I think they might not be working well yet due to the overload on the NaNo servers. They are increasing their capability-the meters seem to work late at night! Right now there are thousands of people posting counts!

Are you going to watch the Steve Martin movie? A comedic satire, it is awesome-even if you can't stand him! What is it called? I am blank! How about JC Superstar? Godspell? Geez-now you know I am old!

I went to the video store today and just browsed the shelves! There are more movies on my list-Clue for one, and the HS libraray is wonderful to allow me to borrow books! I even borrowed 2 first mystery novels I discovered quite by accident! I got another because I like the first person way she tells her real crime solving stories! Other books will help me learn how others write dialogue.

It is amazing how much you can do in a few extra minutes. I was waiting for my passport pictures at Walgreens today and had 15 minutes-pulled out an index card and compiled a list of info about investigating and investigators! I love the cards-ADD friendly. When writing-pull out only the cards I need-characters, scenes, plot sketches-I can stay focused much easier!

I now have a little bag of chocolates for each writing day! Yes, I am a bit organized ocassionally-I divided them equally into little zip bags and hid them from the family!

EYE-any words are good words! YEAH!!!! I think it will go in fits and starts! Go for it! I am off to the movies and scanning a book or two at the same time. Don't you just love being able to do the ADD multi-task? Normals must have to really struggle. Aww, the poor undistracted things! :( I love the ones I live with though!

RADD

*gggggrrruuuuunnnnttttt* 437 *pant pant pant*

but my thingy says over 2000. It's bragging on me. Just ignore it.

I got started yesterday and have written a little more than a page.

It's set in 1930's London and among regency landed gentry (think Jane Austen). There's some kind of time travel involved.

ooo coooool. Will you be posting excerpts?

How is everyone doing? My novel is evolving-The ADD distractibility is interesting-chasing butterflies is creating an interesting book! I am now writing the arguments two genres are having about how I should right the story. I think they will kill each other in the end! :D Updated title:

Murder in the Museum: Well-Endowed, a Seriously Silly Tale told by a NaNoWriMo virgin who develops multiple genre disorder while listening to the voices in her head.

LOL

You're very silly. However you get to 50K is what counts, and having fun.

I am so stuck. For some reason my brain and emotions don't want to go down this thought process. Maybe I picked the wrong topic. I'm going to give it a couple more days, then start re-brainstorming.

Here is a line I copied directly out of of minister's column in the newspaper. It was about worship and musical instruments-I thought of you and copied it! Hope it might jump start you a bit!

There are very few people who find the organ to be an instrument of evil, but that wasn’t always so.


Last night the creative juices were flowing but today I am merely a vast wasteland of random thoughts.
-- Peckeroy

Just write! don't worry about order, logic, or anything. Pick a scene, character, location, event, anything. Write as much as you can in 10 minutes. Lather, rinse, repeat! Pretty soon, 50,000 words. You are making a puzzle right now! Editing later will be when you put it together! Dam the torpedoes and full speed ahead! Just get words on paper!

RADD

:)

thanks darlin', I see you're off to an excellent start and having oodles of fun with it. I picked back up today. Editing is just irrisistable to me and I'm fighting the urge...hard.

Plotting on. (and having fun)

Oh, and thanks for about the minister, yes indeed I have heard of all of that ....stuff.

I know! I am learning fast! That is why my word count is going up. If I am thinking something story related, it goes in the document-to be used, trashed, edited-who knows!

Just go on! Don't worry about it making sense! Free write! Make sense later!

You can do it!!!!
:D Think preying mantis! :D
I know you can-believe you me!
Rah Rah, EYEforgot!

What would I do without you?

Be bored? :D

It is not about 50,000 words! You already have more words written than when you started! That is a success! Each word is a celebration!

Hey, I am seriously thinking of getting certified to teach English-Always thought that would be awesome! writing and literature! My english teachers were terrific! And, they really did teach me how to write-although it might not seem obvious when reading some of my posts. :)

Write on!

Want a word challenge tonight or this afternoon? Write as fast as we can-me by hand-for 15 minutes? PM me to set up time if you like! spelling, puntuation, grammar, etc do not count! just words and getting ideas down. I will pick either a character or an event! Such as the sorority girl drunken initiation shopping cart race dare that kills and innocent bystander-and is made to look like an accident-and yes, I am seriously wacked! But I had to write the serious stuff before I could get satirical or funny-weird, made me nuts, but it worked. Try writing it seriously first-then keep the serious stuff for padding and rewrite the scene to make it satirical. I discovered this through bull in a china shop blundering and drowning in conflicting thoughts! I even wrote down my thoughts about the story line-the voices arguing in my head. It is all fodder for the wood chopper of editing-after NaNoWriMo ends!

PM me-I have some other info for you too!

RADD

ooo coooool. Will you be posting excerpts?It's not totally unprobable.

How is everyone doing? My novel is evolving-The ADD distractibility is interesting-chasing butterflies is creating an interesting book! I am now writing the arguments two genres are having about how I should right the story. I think they will kill each other in the end! :D Updated title:

Murder in the Museum: Well-Endowed, a Seriously Silly Tale told by a NaNoWriMo virgin who develops multiple genre disorder while listening to the voices in her head.What a great idea!

I would enjoy reading it if you decide to publish an excerpt of it.

Who knows? I might just let some people read a polished draft to get their reactions. Attachments are soooo nice!

Anyone NaNo'er on here want to share a section as an attachment through email? Or post your book profile link on the NaNo site and put an excerpt in there! A round robin critique and idea group?

I've decided I don't care much if I reach the 50 000 words by the end of November goal. It's enjoyable anyway, and sometimes more words than less just don't sound good. Like I thought about changing an "it's" to "it is", but I didn't like the sound of it.

I think if we go back and try to deliberately do those things we'll never get far. I think it's better to just go into whacked detail about everything. I'm still on the Forward.

This month is about words, not grammar, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, or anything else. Just write and write and write-don't edit. Just have fun and forget all the rules. Then use what you have and rework it!

Skip around! Anytime you find yourself making "rules" to follow, break them immediately by doing what ever it is!

I am working on characters tonight! Using Astrological signs-lots of great descriptors, and Myers-Briggs! Picking the ones that fit with my character's personality. Printing them out and then using that to jump start my brain. You don't have to believe in astrology or anything-it is just an interesting source to help you out!

Just have fun! That's what it is about! Eat chocolate, drink coffee or whatever and write. Oh, see if there is a NaNo group near enough and go to a write in! They are a blast and are like a booster shot!

Write on! Now, I need to sign off and write something! :D

To each their own.

If I write differently than I feel like just to reach 50 000 then I follow rules too, right? :eyebrow: And not even my own.

I'm just glad this thing has got me writing again, and I might try to reach some certain number, but it's really not that important.

I didn't lose all interest in it 2 days after I signed up. That's good in my book.

~Peace out~

Death #2-chapter excerpts
........The ribbon untied easily, he opened the journal. Brasseries, she had sketched brasseries! Wide-eyed, he turned the page, another brasserie. The sketches were as free-spirited as her butterflies, her watercolor painting was more skillfull than ever. The artwork was beautiful, unexpected, but beautiful. Looking closely at the details, her journal entries told a story as strange as any writer could devise........

.........Airborne, Philip, startled for the second time this morning, looked up at his friend. Staring down at him was a face, its owner wore a menacing frown, a perfect replica of a Greek tragedy mask. There was time for only one question, “Why”? Landing on the Ernest Trova sculpture, the impact killed him instantly, the puzzled expression on his face became his death mask. Trova’s sculpture, looked down at the body of the man lying there. The irony of this death did not escaped the watchful eye of “The Falling Man” sculpture. He had heard about another death earlier that year. News does not travel fast between artifacts and artworks, but it does travel. Even in his cold metal he felt a shudder of fear. Why were they the sole witnesses to death? Falling Man, his face permanently welded to always look west, wondered which sculpture would begin the slow moving announcement of a second death..........

Thanks for the journal idea Grade A! Did you know it would be a record of shoplifted brasseries, stolen by a college president?
RADD-truly a twisted sister!

Over 21 000 words! You've come a long way on your writitng journey. :)

I love this sentence:

News does not travel fast between artifacts and artworks, but it does travel.

Thank you! CC! Funny, the more I write, the easier it gets. I figured out how to plot my novel-it is very ADD friendly and keeps me limited to one scene/chapter at a time. Amazing how much I can produce now! Still pinching myself! 27000+ Tomorrow, even more! I know where I am going with this and my characters really like to tell me what to do! They are keeping who dunit a secret though!

Tomorrow, I write from 2:45 till 5pm all alone-no interruptions!
Remember, anything you write is more than you started with!

I did it! I went over 50,000 words this morning! Or should I say late Friday night? I never went to bed! Now I can lay me down to sleep! Pinch me, I really did it and in fewer than 30 days. Wow. Love that ADD hyperfocus. I was not sure I would make it November 1st.

Cleaning house when I wake up!

RADD

Thanks for posting the information EYEforgot! I needed this challenge.

Happy to contribute to a passion.

As for me...eh...I did better than last year. :)
Maybe next year I'll make it to 2000.

Congratulations , RADDmom! :)

It's great to hear, see others getting passionate about things. Makes me smile in an inspired way. :)

I didn't get very far, but it was fun while it lasted.