NaNoWriMo 2012!

[Samantha]

Guys, NaNo is in less than a month! How many of us here are going to give it an attempt? I know that a few of us talked earlier in another thread, but I thought it'd be nice to have one official thread for the event, since it's going to be taking up thirty days of our lives. Once it gets underway, we can even use this thread to post word counts and excerpts and keep each other motivated.

For those of you that are doing it, have you come up with an idea for your novel yet? (I haven't.) My school actually has a NaNoWriMo club that I was invited to join because I'm a writing major, but we don't meet for another two weeks. I'm really worried because I don't have a concrete idea. I think some type of journey/adventure would be cool (like epic poetry, but not really), but I don't know. That's all I'm going on right now.

Also, I don't know how I'm going to write 2,000 words a day (1,500 at the very least, but just doing that every day will only end with 45,000 words). I'm not sure if I'll make it.

How about you guys?

[legrande]

I'm going for it! My mid-term minor exams will be over soon and I'm planning on getting properly stuck into my planning during my two weeks October break.

I have a very vague idea for my novel, but I've been playing with it since August and I haven't actually got a proper clue where its plot would be heading, so it needs a lot work. My only definite idea is that my novel'll be set up around the Loch Ness area of Scotland, because I love it there.

I've got no idea how I'm going to tackle the wordcount either... Truth be told, it's the one thing I've been trying not to think about!

This is a really good idea for a thread, though. I was thinking of starting one like this myself, but you beat me to the punch! :L

[LadyofShalott]

I'm going to try it this year. I haven't in the past, but I might this year. Will I be successful? Absolutely probably not! Yeah I know there's that saying that says something like you can only do something if you believe you can, but I know my schedule and how I write too much to believe that I'll actually be able to get a gagillion words out (or however many it is ;D) by the end of November.

Come to think of it, this is a very very bad contest for me to try. I'm a horribly slow writer; I mean, when I sit down to write, I usually get down a few sentences or a few paragraphs, then stop to think of how to continue for about five minutes, resulting in completely lose my train of thought and thinking about anything that happens to pop into my random head. Ten to twenty minutes later I look back down at my paper, remember what I was doing, and spit out another few sentences/paragraphs. Then I repeat the whole thing over again. It really irritates me how horriblely of a slow writer I am, but, hey, what can I do?

But anyway, as far as ideas go, I've had a few that have been floating around in my head for a while. I'll have to pick one. Decisions, decisions...

[Zoe]

I'm really hoping I can do this! I honestly have no idea if I'll have time. The beginning of the school year is always the busiest time for me. I'll only have about an hour or two each day to be writing, so I'm hoping the weekends and extra time in the morning will help me along.

I haven't got a concrete idea in my head yet, but I've been thinking of it for a while. I'm hoping that within the next few weeks I can hanker down and think over a general idea.

[Samantha]

The issue for my, I think, is that I'll get an idea, and it will literally transform itself into a story in five minutes. For the Sim story which I'm currently writing, the idea came to me about an hour before I sat down to write the first chapter, and it just grew from there (the same is true for my two older stories, too). I don't do well with planning. I lose interest too fast. I did have a story all planned out back in July, but looking at it now, I'm like, "Eh, how about no."

I'm glad we're all unsure, though, and it's not just me. I know people at my school who are all planned out and ready...

I found this a while back that could be helpful (I don't like to plan, so it's not really for me), but you guys may find some of the exercises useful.

Does anyone else get as hung up about first-person versus third-person narration as I do? I can never decide which I want to write in, and I'm constantly flip-flopping. (Same with character names--it takes me forever to come up with them--but that's another story.)

[Zoe]

^ I have the same problem. I've actually tried planning a story right down to the end, and when I was going to start writing it, I realized how boring it was to basically regurgitate my notes into a story. Sometimes I'm able to plan for shorter projects, though.

Also, I find that writing in third person is a bit more of a challenge for me. The Lovely Bones, which I finished a while back, is like both first and third person in its right. The main character is in heaven telling the story of all the people down on earth. I've never read a book like that. But I usually like to stick with first person unless the story line calls for otherwise. (And the name thing is pretty easy for me. I usually end up asking my sister for names of her classmates until I find one that suits the character. But that's just me.)

[legrande]

I hate writing sometimes...
I always feel that I ought to plan, but when I start writing I stop wanting to plan ahead. I only ever plan for short stories, and even then I pretty much make it up as I go along. Usually I have ideas though, but at the moment I haven't a clue for my novel, and getting them down on paper seems awkward too.

First/third person isn't something I worry about. Mainly, my problem is that I always want to write angsty male main characters when I really don't know how. Which is a bit weird *shrugs*.

I hate, hate, hate having to name my characters. I usually think of a meaning that would suit my character and then go onto a baby names website and look through names with that meaning. It's sometimes successful but often just extra frustrating when none of them suit. I'm always complaining to my friend about it when I'm trying to think of names, and she always tries to help. Which I hate because her names are usually ones that I just can't stand, but I can't ask her to stop trying because she likes to feel she's being helpful. When she just doesn't get it. [/melodrama]

Also, thanks for the link Samantha, that list does look like it might be helpful.

[Samantha]

Oct 6, 2012 12:07:20 GMT legrande said:

I always want to write angsty male main characters

Yesss. The last three stories that I've written have had male leads. Every time that I write a female lead, I end up hating her, I don't know why. But I actually am considering a female lead this time around for NaNo. It's a distinct possibility right now. I feel like they always come off really whiny and mean (even when I didn't write their character that way in the first place).

Character names just "fit" for me. Like, I'll list a whole bunch of names until one sounds right (I use the baby name lists, too). IDK. It's a pain in the butt. I don't usually do meaningful names, unless it's significant to the plotline somehow.

You're welcome! I did find a few helpful tidbits in there myself.

Oct 6, 2012 1:18:25 GMT Zoe said:

Also, I find that writing in third person is a bit more of a challenge for me.

It's definitely harder for me, I agree. I prefer first, but I can do third. It all depends on what I'm going for with the story, because I think that both ways of narration have their own certain stylistic benefits. I sometimes really like the detachedness of third person (although I've read some works where the writer has somehow managed the same effect in first person, which makes me extremely envious). When I write in first, it's almost always a lot of introspection (which is good for the length of a piece, I suppose).

[legrande]

Good luck everyone who's taking part!

[Samantha]

Day two! (Well, it's after twelve AM here, and probably in many other parts of the world, so it's actually day three, but y'know). How's it going for you guys? (Also, who ultimately decided to give it a go?)

So far I'm on schedule. It hasn't proven to be too bad yet, as I'm not finding 1,667 words a day to be too terrible--now so long as I don't run out of ideas for what to write about, of course. My novel is about a government official sent out to Oklahoma during the 1930s with the task of compiling a report for congress on the effects of the Dust Bowl. (There's actually a real reason why my character and I share a first name, and that is that my novel is based on a short assignment that I had to do for school two years ago in which I had to pretend to be said government official. So yeah.)

I'm sorry if that's not very coherent ^ Long day, little amounts of sleep this week.

Anyway, here's a short excerpt from what I have so far:

SPOILER: Click to show

He tilted the newspaper in her direction. After a moment, he said, "Blythe's egregious stomach ruins it, of course—you must agree with me here. In fact, I saw him take a second helping of ham last night, as if he had truly been that starved. And let me not even begin on the amount of wine drunk before the night's end by the unfortunate man."

She chuckled, a quick release of air through her nose. "You're horrible, Sam, I hope you know that of yourself."

"I severely dislike the man. He grates me."

"You do know that they are expecting an engagement now, don't you?"

"Darling, Senator Blythe is already married. My condolences be with his wife, of course."

"Sam—"

"Their expectations are of little importance to me," he replied stiffly. He had gone back to reading the newspaper now, and his head was bent down over the page. "And seeing how you are a woman who's so far above the ravings and gossips of jealous men—well, are you not?—they should neither upset you, Francesca."