For those of you in the know, you might already have that itch going on in the back of your head. October is disappearing faster than I’d rather like. November 1 and all of the joy and horror contained within the days following, is rapidly approaching.
I have been going back and forth this year on whether or not to do it. On the one hand, I’ve been doing Nano since 2002, and I’ve won twice. In a way, I feel like it sucks out a lot of energy around November, negatively impacting my writing for a while during the rest of the year. But, hand #2 reminds me of how absolutely exciting it is to be forging so much Material in so short a time. The hours spent doing things you would otherwise not be doing. It is like a bit of a writer’s vacation, you know? You spend an extra three or so hours in a favourite coffee haunt, or peaceful garden – instead of doing those obnoxious things like chores. Just let it all pile up around you. It’s the decadence that is appealing.
So, who all is “going under” this year? Any ideas yet for what you’ll be writing about?
I don’t know. I’ve never done it, and it feels somehow… wrong to me. I think of it along the lines of 'write your book in 2 weeks!!!" commercial stuff.
I know I’m completely wrong. At any rate, my daytime job would never allow me to.
Ha! It isn’t really a “program,” of that nature. Participation is free, donations go to worthy charities. In fact, ever since they started charities, I’ve always looked at it a bit like a benefit race or walk. You know, those people that run marathons for a cause? Well, it kind of feels that way to me. Right, it is the dollar donations that actually count, but all of the participants bring a greater number of participants and audience, increasing dollars. So it is a group effort.
I am sure not everyone sees it that way, but I feel good knowing I’ve done a little to help the less fortunate in the world get access to knowledge and resources they would otherwise never see in their lifetimes.
The charity aspect makes good sense. It actually made me go and study the website.
I also bought the book (even though I do have the plot).
I’m already at 400,000 words in my current novel… with just as much to go before getting out my axe and trimming it down with utmost brutality. I produce about 10,000 words per week, on average… Maybe I’ll join the fun to ‘switch off my inner editor’
I simply couldn’t do it. Ten thousand words a week, mein gott! My output is a trickle in light of that, let alone NaNo standards. Part of it is that my writing style is in general a very deliberate one—my stuff gets edited about three times before I even write anything down—but even with that taken into consideration, I’m terribly un-prolific. It’s a great effort just to be able to produce words at all.
My ten thousand don’t make much practical sense… if I get 3-4 K out of that splash of verbal diarrhea after a lot of editing, I’m happy.
It’s just that I write by deadlines and under pressure — instead of lunch at work, or while my wife puts the kids to bed, or while everyone still sleeps. The less time I have, the more long-winded I become…
I am definitely more like cruxdestruct. I write very deliberately and self-consciously. Actually, doing Nano helped me a lot in allowing myself more freedom to just get words out, instead of mulling over them for ages. I could not say that the quality of the things I wrote during the subsequent Novembers is up to my usual standards, but the quantity of 80-90% material is such that I was able to take quite a bit of it and turn it into something useful. There were even days when I was writing at 95-100% in the later years, from time to time.
I first did NaNo in 2003 precisely because I am a deliberate and slow writer. I was having trouble getting anywhere; my inner editor slowed down my first draft writing, and I had a tendency to revise before I was finished. It went well, and I even got a story that (despite gaping plot holes) I was reasonably happy with and thought had potential, with a bit of work to fill in the aforementioned holes.
Seriously, try it out. Slam out a first draft, edit it later. Do it at least once, just for the experience of writing in a way that is completely different for you.
Also, don’t worry too much about preparing for it, apart from maybe figuring out how to wheedle somebody else into doing the cooking for you. My first year, I decided to do NaNo the evening of Oct 31.
Yes! I first heard about Nano in 2002, on November 1. I came across it at some site like Metafilter, I don’t even remember. Decided to do it that afternoon with no idea where I was going. No characters, no plot. I got to around 18,000 and then came down with the flu, so my first experiment ended there. I haven’t prepared much since then, though. I made some attempts at preperation, but when it came down to it, I always diverged heavily from the plan. It is very interesting to see where your mind goes when you are working at that pace, with no preparation or starting material.
I think the most pre-prep I’ve ever done is some brainstorming 3-4 days before Nov 1. I periodically brainstorm along the way to figure out what I have and where it’s going, but that’s not prep work
I just got the urge to have a go for 2006. My last writing effort of 50K took 30 months but, as the physicists would say, time is only a concept.
Because planning is “allowed” in NaNoWriMo, I’ve been scribbling down ideas etc for the last week. I’m actually looking forward to getting the story out of my head.
I have no idea if I’ll get 50,000 or 50 words written, but I’ve had a lot of fun so far.
I bantered about back and forth doing it last year, but by the time I made up my mind it was already too late to sign up for it.
I would actually dive into an odd realm to do mine in, for I write mostly fanfiction. I’ve been writing fanfic for 11 years and I’ve occassionally dipped into original fiction, but because I deal with non-fiction for a living I find that my creative energies enjoy crafting fanfiction more.
As for ideas, I’m not entirely too sure. I have several works in progress that I’m hesitant to shove aside for one month to work on something entirely new. But, I have been indulging in a new series called Bleach and my best friend and I made a random comparison to another series we enjoy called Rurouni Kenshin and it’s made a few ideas spark in the back of my mind. My hesitance in writing that one comes with being familiar with all the source material.
There’s also a file of ideas I’ve jotted down that I could also turn to if need.
This is only my 2nd year on wrimo (last year being the first), and I am pretty excited to be doing it again and have been busy recruiting people (and telling them to go d/l scrivener to do it in, at least the mac peoples).
I do know what I’m going to write as I usually do some nutty pre-planning and all that sort of stuff (pretty well along into that now).
Shutting off the inner editor is probably the best part of wrimo. Mostly I write shorts and have to constantly stay on top of what I’m saying and how to keep it within constraints. That and screenplays, where the dialogue has to carry the story development from my side of things… so, yeah, it’s good to have a project where I’m just plunging headlong into ideas.
This will be my third year doing NaNo. I am looking forward to it, althoug my story concept looks weaker and weaker the more I try to figure out the details…
The first year I worked on a novel I had had kicking around for a decade, writing a whole two chapters in that time. I started fresh and got it done quite handily, despite some doldrums in week 2 where the characters kept on having meetings.
Last year I worked on a story idea that I had in a dream. I did chapter outlines for the story arc and knocked out a pretty decent precis for a trilogy.
This year I have done less preparation, and I think I will choose to glory in that rather than fearing it. I was hoping to have some chapter outlines but I won’t get to them now, not even with a week left. I have a plot idea and an MC and that’s about it.
I’m in for Nanowrimo. Scared as anything, but like Amber said (hi Amber, fellow Portlander here), I need something to goose me into just pouring words onto the page.
I decided to actually finish my novel in November instead of starting a new one.
In that novel I’m now at 108,000 words. Another 50 K will put me at the top limit of the size I wanted to have.
Did my “first” 1,200 words during this lunchbreak. Will get another coupla writing hours at home tonight. Incidentally, my wife’s on a 3-weeks biz trip so after the kids are in their beds the evenings are all mine 8)
I’m quite scared of this commitment. It’s a complex historical novel touching many conflict points. But I figured, instead of researching ahead, I’ll fill in the research gaps in December / January…
Got 1,473 words this morning, consisting of the prologue (which will do for now, but needs more) and the beginning of chapter one (in which we reestablish some of the MC’s less suitable addictions). Hope to write more over lunch and at a write-in this evening - aiming for 3k by end of day.
It’s the decadence that is appealing.
(even though I do have the plot).
) but I’m having fun.