The madness begins again. Some MuseBloggers will disappear for a month and others may show up more often to bewail or celebrate their progress.
*National Novel Writing Month.
Patience, Please
This site is under reconstruction and will look strange for a while. We regret the inconvenience.
AAAAH NO PLOT NO PLOT NO PLOT *multiple expletives deleted* AAAAAHH
1- Ha! Hahahahahahaha! -laughs at POSOC-
-has no plot either-
And I just spent the last hour and a half/two hours watching Doctor Who instead of writing. – ♥ the Doctor-
OK, so I now have almost 900 words. There’s a 19th-century ball that two eleven-year-olds destroy in about five minutes, and then there’s an antisocial journalist named Magda with a malfunctioning car who meets a creepy French guy in a morning coat. How about you?
Also: HERE! COME! THE DRUMS!
That’s an awsome doctor who episode (Here comes the drums)
A girl gets sent to her uncle’s house with the intention of worming her way into his favor/finding out where all his money is, and she finds all sorts of dark creepy things that somehow manage to make themselves into a plot.
For example:
•A boy trapped in a painting
•Cassandra’s cousin (the guy’s other cousin)…something weird about her…but it’s vague right now
I want to fit in wooden hands and clockwork…lots of clockwork.
No words yet.
Okay, I threw my secret society idea out of the window and am writing about the kokonspiracy. I guess it’s sort of cheating, but that’s the only thing I could think of right now. I just did the prologue- 760 words down, just a thousand to go *headesk* And I’m going to miss out on writing tomorrow since I’ll be in the hospital (don’t ask). Just wonderful. Nah, I’m fine… NO PLOT! *screams*
Okay, never mind, I had an idea. 1809 words- YAY, I did it!
I sorta have a plotish. And 400 words.
Maybe I’ll write a novel…
I’ve had a plot for ages, and I have 932 words, after about forty five minutes of writing. It’s not going too badly, but I probably won’t have too much other time for writing today, so I’ll have to depend on my battery, unless I can… Never mind, I’m trying not to ramble.
500.
1500
OK, I need drastic plot help.
My main character is an antisocial cubicle drone. She’s just met some weird guy who spouted some philosophical gibberish and a warning. Also, some unspecified organization is watching the building she works in, and someone’s called up some kind of magic storm that’s caused a blackout. I’m planning this to be some kind of urban fantasy…
Also, my villains so far are two evil, creepy and murderous eleven-year-olds. They may or may not be immortal.
Suggestions?
What exactly was the warning?
“Ah, but a thousand beauties can be seen in the smallest drop of water,” Morning Coat expounded. “Does it not then seem unusual that millions of them can be so grotesque? A single person is a wonder, a mob is a snarling animal. Evil lies in the multitude.”
She grimaced. “I really should go.”
“But omens have no inherent morality. Storms can be considered symbolic of intense emotion, but whether-”
“Goodbye.” Magda didn’t quite push him out of the way and continued walking.
“Names have power!” Morning Coat yelled after her. “They separate us from multiplicity!”
No, wait, I guess the warning was in an earlier draft which I scrapped.
Ooh, I like it.
XD Good luck with your confusion.
The weird guy is a former employee of the 11-year-olds. They were dissatisfied with his work and made him forget everything about their evil plans, so he’s a little crazy and tries to warn people about their nefarious scheme, which we don’t know much about until chapter five, I’d say. Or maybe in the prologue, we learn a little about their plot, and in chapter five we learn the details. Crazy guy may be our hero with help from the drone, or perhaps vice versa. I just came up with that on the spur of the moment, so it may or may not help.
I have a secret society idea forming for myself. Hmm…
Hm. Some of that might work. I especially like the idea of the crazy guy (Morning Coat) being a former employee. I’m also thinking of linking the villains up to a magpie rhyme (I’ve been trying to write a magpie-themed villain for a while now).
Oh, and I just hit 1300 words.
I just hit 14,86 words! I didn’t even get up at midnight!
207 words. I’m such a slow writer.
500 words! I guess I’m not that slow.
1673 words. Quota for the day is met, and it’s not even noon. I’ll try to get to 2000 soon.
-sticks out tongue at POSOC and Enceladus- -and TMFA because he’s probably got like 3000 words and counting- -loses sportsmanship points-
I’m good, though. Got to wash my hair and make lunch and do laundry and then I’ll write another 500 words or so.
1) Had to go to church.
2)I’m “inflating” my word count because I’m writing a script. I’m on page four, and I’m saying 500 words for comparison.
Guh. Magda is annoying me. She’s nothing more than an uptight cubicle drone. I think I’ll kill her messily and have Michael and Crazy Guy become the main characters.
Now, I really do have a plot! Yay!
crpcrapcrapcrapcrap
Can’t write today at all.
Have to do book report
On book I read 1/4th of
And I lost the requirement sheet
*******************************************
^ those were non-MB appropriate words
Oh god I don’t know what to do right now
Ooooh. **feels sorry for you**
I just started. I finally found an idea I really like, but since I just recently started writing, I could count the words in my head in like, 30 seconds. I need to hurry!
2000.
1700 or so. Having plot troubles.
Immortality might be a major plot point. That would be fun.
I only have 600 or so… I’m sucked into the V marathon.
1, 780 words so far. Are we allowed to post what we have here? I fear I might make a clog. xD
Excerpts only please. And let’s keep those under 500 words or thereabouts. Remember the purpose of NaNo is to WRITE, not to read or critique. If you’re trying to get help or inspiration with something, a brief summary will be more manageable for everyone. When November is over, we’ll post whole novels.
3000.
2,600 words. I think I’m retiring for the day. I don’t write well after dinner.
2204.
I have 33 stinking words! *dies in an over dramatic way* I’m totally and completely going to fail at this. 33!!!! I can’t believe my utter stupidity. Must write now.
EERRGGHHH!!
Ah, don’t worry about it. I have a thousand or so, but I’ll probably delete it and start over by tomorrow.
469.
Almost three thousand!
1006!
Oh my it started today!
My friend and I have decided to write the dragon story at our own leisurely pace, and not write a NaNo at all. *is unmotivated*
Hang in there everyone!!! You are true Cool People who are writing Pulchritudnes (?) Novels and YOU ARE GOING TO FINISH THEM! And they will be so amazingly MuseBloggy! And .. GO NANOWRIMO-ERS!
*throws pies*
I’m still not entirely sure what mine is going to be about. Right now, it’s about a girl with 6 voices in her head, like imaginary friends…but more so. She gets adopted by an elderly gypsy, who has unique psychic powers and a nomadic mansion. I’m not quite sure after that.
Mmkay…stuff for my novel:
•Servants are mice
•Boy in the painting
•Garden scene in the mirror
•Rabbit in the garden
I still need to figure out how to incorporate clockwork, wooden hands, and the attic. Hm.
650
Cracked 2000.
I need random character traits for a peppermint-loving, slightly loony mathematical savant, STAT!
36- What does STAT stand for, anyway?
I’m not sure if it’s even an acronym, I just typed it in all caps. I think it means “with great urgency,” similar to ASAP.
“Stat” is short for “statim”; Latin for “immediately.”
It’s a medical term, isn’t it? Used in emergency rooms and such?
I think…
Yup. That is to say, they certainly used it a lot on ER if I remember right….I think so, anyway.
I’ve heard it over the P.A. in actual hospitals, so it’s not just a TV thing. Unless, of course, they’re imitating TV in order not to confuse people…
3500!
Oh my gosh! Plot! OK:
Once upon a time, there was a sorcerer who lived in a great house surrounded by wonders. He was in love with a beautiful girl. The girl refused to marry him, so he shut her in a garden in a mirror, where he could look at her as often as he liked, and he imprisoned her true love in a painting. He made another girl, a daughter for himself, out of clockwork and magic. But he was still sad because the girl would never love him, and because the clockwork heart of his daughter could not know love either. And so he stopped the mechanism of his clockwork daughter’s heart, and put her in an empty chamber, and covered the painting, and made himself forget it all. And time passed and he married and had children who grew and went away and his wife died and his niece came to live with him. And his other niece came to stay, and she saw the mirror (which he could never bear to hide) and found everything and uncovered it all and had to put everything to rights.
36- You need more traits? That character has as many quirks as my most developed characters!
1800 words. Happiness.
I’m starting to feel better about Michael, then.
At the moment, my plot is a complete fantasy cliche… I think I can work with it, though.
*springs out of lurker mode*
3,443 words so far. Quota for today, but then I have to get my wisdom teeth out tomorrow… maybe I can write in the car…
I’m liking the way Mort’s shaping up. Ditto the king. They’re fun. And I still haven’t decided which side is going to win the war…
Hey, TNÖ, haven’t seen you around for a while. NaNo is funn.
This makes me miss Nano.
My words of advice: word wars. They are probably the only reason I won three years in a row.
qué? what are word wars?
You and a writing buddy set a specific amount of time (10 minutes was always my magic number) and then try to write as many words as you can inside that time. Whoever writes the most, wins!
4000!
1,536 words. Love my prologue-ish thing. Not so keen on the rest of the story, but I guess it’ll get better.
Agh, my story is dying. I guess I’ll have to stop taking it so seriously- that worked with the Henges. Also, I’ll introduce some fun little minor characters.
Okay essay is done
And longer than needed
Now to type up the 300 words I got today –_–
Waaaay to stay ahead of the game, Jade!
Oh god I am so screwed
Also parents don’t know I’m up/going to be doing nano. Idk what to do if mom comes down to see what’s taking so long
Yell “Surprise”?
x_x
I think “IT’S A TRAP!” would work better, at which point you dissolve into the wallpaper
but really…*sympathy pies*
the only thing I wrote today was an essay for ap lit…I want to start my nano so bad ugh
Someone gets arrested to make a point, turns out it’s their third felony. Due to a three-strikes law, they cannot vote and are being constantly tracked in return for getting out of a twenty-year prison sentence. He works for a new mayor candidate who just moved in to town, who gets elected and involved in some sort of scandal.
UNG. I RAN OUT OF ENTHUSIASM ON THE SECOND DAY. NO NO NO NO NO.
Seriously. I cannot make myself write much. No more long days of walking through the wilderness. I’m going to zoom through these next days, bad as it may be for my word count. On to the excitement!
4500.
5000
Oh yah!!! I managed to reach the minimum quota yesterday! So, with NCIS blaring I shall find my motivation to write more! I don’t know whether or not I have a plot… Oh well!
Um…how many words do you need total?
50,000 by the end of the month.
Oh…my….gosh….. *headdesk* Geez.
Yes… Quite intimidating. I’m struggling to meet the minimum.
50,000
Just hit 1155 words! Wheee!
More than 3,500! I beat my two day goal! (In order to get 50,000 words, you have to do around 1,700 a day.)
Wow…you….guys….are….wow. That’s great, and yet a little on the crazy side. If I ever have extra time one November, I’ll know what to do!
Just hit 1446 words!!!!
Complete happifyingnes!
Still……….. that’s not nearly enough for having bee typing since SUNDAY! Argh.
Oh god. Tech week is coming up and I am going to be HORRIBLY BEHIND…I’m already kind of behind and i have to work tonight and I’ve had rehearsal since three. Oh but no school Thursday or Friday!
6000.
I’m having a bit of existential doubt here.
When I think about my story in general terms (characters, plot, world) it doesn’t sound half bad. However, when I sit down to write it, I feel like it is the most blah and unremarkable thing in the world. It’s not even enjoyably terrible, just mediocre. It’s probably not a book I would read.
My current main character is something of a daredevil (assuming that isn’t a contradiction in terms). Some small supernatural talent, but usually he has to get by on wit and sheer bravado.
He is also a mathematician who carefully plans things and gets bent out of shape when they go wrong. He is meticulous and cautious.
My problem is that I’ve characterized him as both at various points in the story. With a cliche setting and half-baked plot, my characters need to be the driving force- Procyon and company, Maura, etc. were what got me through the Henge epic.
Perhaps I could go with a Perdita/Agnes method- the chaotic daredevil is something he tries to keep under control with various orderly habits and mental blocks, as it got him and people he loved badly hurt at certain points in the past.
Anyway, thanks for reading, guys. Suggestions are appreciated, but just writing out my concerns helps me to think.
Don’t sweat it, just write. Remember that first drafts are supposed to be terrible. My all-time favorite advice for NaNo is when you’re tempted to make corrections or rewrite because your novel completely changed course — just pretend that you already made the edits — and keep on going. Getting through a complete story, no matter how loosely the term may fit, is the most important goal for the month. You might not even know what your novel really is until week four, but you’ll have that much more experience for the time you need to be more serious about it.
YES! TODAY’S GOAL MET! HOORAY!
I was really worried for a while, but I managed to make it through. No getting ahead today though, or not much of it. I still haven’t eaten supper. >.<
But I did make today's count, (3346 words!) and I got to a point which I should be able to write much more easily from tomorrow. Off to update my word count and back up my computer now. TTFN!
599. So so so bad.
Well, at least I know I’m not the only one struggling. By the way… If I start to quit, I would like someone to splash water in my face. Ya’ know, in the MuseBlog way… I think I’m doing okay so far. 2,700. I have to get to 3,500 today though… rawr..
6500
At this point, I’m almost considering starting over. Winging it was a very, very bad idea.
However, I know from other peoples’ experiences that starting over mid-novel is often even worse.
Furthermore, the longer I wait to decide, the further behind it’ll put me.
See my reply at 58.1. Same principle applies. Spend a few chapters writing about what you think you need to do, if that’s what it takes.
Countless novels (of the standard sort, not just NaNo) never get written because people quit on them in the early going. Not just novels, either. In any creative endeavor — even in the successful ones — there are times when the whole thing stinks like a pile of rubbish. That’s when most people quit. I’ve lived long enough now — and failed often enough — to know that it pays to keep ploughing through. The most important breakthroughs almost always follow patches of major frustration and desperation.
Maybe this particular novel won’t work. Doesn’t matter. You only learn from experience how to be a better judge of what is truly failing miserably and ought to be strangled in the cradle and that which is just going through an awkward phase. Just tell yourself to stick with this plot as an experiment to see what happens. Maybe you’ll surprise yourself. Maybe you won’t. But I guarantee that if you finish it, you will be a step closer to becoming a novelist.
I appreciate the encouraging words. If I could find a redeeming quality in it I would run with that, but at this point all the directions I could take the story seem to end in mires of boredom for both reader and author. The last few sentences have all been exercises in tedium. The characters, plot and setting are unspeakably dull in my mind. The only part that was fun to write was the prologue.
I’m not saying you’re wrong- I just have no idea how to go about following your advice.
If you become set on starting over, put that whole first bit in quotes and have the main character you decide on next reading it in a book. Then you don’t lose any words.
Brilliant!
That’s a good idea. Normally it would seem like a cop-out, but… this is NaNo.
Wait, strike that, I have to do this…
*digs deep pit*
THIS! IS! NANOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
Have I ever mentioned I love you?
Twice now.
That’s all?
Well, I consider the various declarations of war to have canceled out a few.
Hmm. Well, you could start by writing what you hate about your novel thus far. You could write about what utterly tedious characters these are and what horrible things you’d like to see happen to them for making your life miserable.
You could introduce a character who foils all the plans of your existing characters. Or try writing a monologue or a dialogue between a couple of characters — not constrained by plot, just let them talk about themselves and see what comes to the surface.
I found it especially helpful to skip around and write scenes that interested me. Think of something that will happen later on and write those chapters. Don’t worry if it doesn’t match up with what you’ve already written. (Remember rule one: pretend you already made any necessary edits.)
This all goes to word count, of course — it IS part of the first draft, of the novel-making process, it’s just that instead of thinking in your head, you’re thinking in print where it will do the most good.
See, if they were that bad, I would be more than glad to destroy them and everything they hold dear in a spray of creatively described gore, and devote the next 47,000 words to the adventures of their arch-nemesis. But they’re not even interestingly bad characters- they’re so mediocre I can’t muster enough vitriol to write a halfway decent venting chapter.
Starting over goes against the grain of NaNo in every way, but… if I feel this bad on the second day, what’s the Second-Week-Slog going to be like? I doubt I’ll be able to finish if I stick to this story.
I think you should do as Jadestone suggested and italicize the whole thing and pretend it’s all been a book the main character was reading/writing and he can complain about it for a while, and then he can have an adventure.
If you really can’t bear it, go with Jadestone’s and Alice’s advice. The third day is only just beginning (or almost beginning in your case); you’ll be fine.
Thanks for your help, everyone. I appreciate it.
At least this has been a bit of a learning experience… I can’t sustain a “write-on-the-fly” thing for much longer than a thousand words if I don’t want it to spin out of control. Still, I think it did me good to try.
I still wouldn’t write off the whole process from one attempt. It does seem to be true that writers (and other artists) decisively tend to be either planners or improvisers, but I believe it’s always good practice to change it up periodically and work in a way that feels utterly awkward. At the very least you’ll pick up some new skills, strategies, and ideas and — most importantly — you’ll be less likely to panic on those days when the more comfortable method isn’t working the way it should. And believe me, those days (or weeks or months or years) happen to everyone.
62- Just remember, Neil Gaiman calls his editor in the middle of every book he’s writing telling her he’s going to give it up and start over because everything he’s written is rubbish.
And eh never remembers doing this because a few hours later he’s writing again, and forgets till the next novel.
Or something like that.
One thing that helps me is going back and rereading old pep talks.
OR NOT DISTRACTING MYSELF ON THE INTERNET BAD JADE BAD
1147
64- Go, go, go!!!
3,132
Not too bad.
3,505
*cabbage patch*
1777. That’s all I can type tonight (grrrr parents) but hopefully I can write some more in bed. I work best at night, I think.
Rebecca–I’m not in a particularly tight spot at the moment, but your posts are incredibly helpful nonetheless. Thank you!
Just got back from work. Going back to writing. The other niece is going to be exactly what Cassie is pretending to be–sweet, modest, kind, innocent, and TOTALLY GULLIBLE. Charlie (one of the mice) is spunky and friendly, Hettie (the other) is timid and unhappy.
Thanks, Alice. I appreciate that.
6,664. Quota for today. And Write or Die is a truly, truly amazing app.
Downside, my jaw hurts and I have to go to school tomorrow…
Write or Die is singing Banana Phone at me right now, therefore saving my NaNo. Thank you for pointing it out to me.
Umm…….
What’s the Kamikaze mode?
It eats your words if you wait too long. It’s what I do, mostly.
Also, in the desktop version, you can disable your delete key.
Ooh, that’s nice.
Actually, now I have unjustified feelings of hate towards that app, partly derived from the fact that I lost a lot of my work on it twice.
4760 words. Next pep talk: Wednesday. Gaah. I don’t want to wait that long.
Ugghh. My goal for the end of today 5100. At least it’s an early release. I can probably exceed that.
When I reach 10,000 I’ll probably buy myself something.
70- Go to the archives. They’re under ‘fun stuff’, I think.
WHY must I always go to the internet? I was going to motivate myself with not going on Museblog until I finished today’s word count. But it has yet to work. Fortunately, I appear to be motivated by just getting the word count enough that I’ve done it every day so far. (For two days…)
But really, don’t listen to my raging about how much more I have to do. I’m making incredible progress on my favorite story, even now. I have three thousand words. Previously, I got eight thousand words in a year of writing. I’m celebrating the one-year anniversary of the story I’m working on today. (An odd coincidence; but I know it is, because a year ago today was the first day I found out about NaNo too. I don’t know why I remembered the date.)
The ideas are older than one year old. But I started writing them down a year ago. Wait, why am I spending this much time on something that doesn’t matter, when I could be working on my story? Right, off to work on that, after leaving one last parting tidbit.
You’ll never guess where I got inspiration for my story.
Give up?
My grammar book. Yes, that’s right. It gave me what was once the first sentence of the book, but it was moved to the middle after I started rewriting it two days ago. Some other ideas came from other places. No, I won’t tell you those, I don’t think. Actually it was just one big one. But it’s incredibly nerdy. So, off to work!
250
I better hurry…
That’s how much I wrote since I posted down there, post 74.
I now have 1,219
I need help creating non-one-dimensional characters, which is what way too many people do (including J.K. Rowling).
That usually takes more than a month. Offhand, though, I’d say that a quick way to create more-than-one-dimensional characters is to tell a more-than-two-dimensional story. Don’t center your plot on a struggle between good and evil. If the world your story is set in is more than black and white, then your characters will face more complicated choices and will necessarily be more complicated people.
Oh good.
I just realized- I have no name for my main character!
Just pick something random; or mash up two names, or…
_I am using the name Magdalen Horowitz for now… I have no idea how I thought of that._
Have you seen ‘All About Steve’?
No… why?
I was thinking of Anthony Horowitz, the author of the Alex Rider series, actually.
Now I feel guilty about starting over and worried that this plot won’t work out, either… but I have some good characters for this one, and that’s what’s kept me going on past projects, so I’m hopeful.
7000.
I am ridiculous. Only 3000. HELP.
I only have 2331. My dad made me re-write the whole thing because he thought it was bad. Ergh.
Don’t get rid of the stuff you rewrite, though! Keep it so it can add to your word count. Nothing wrong with a few alternate versions of a scene or two.
That’s how the professionals do it too.
(Also, do not let your dad read your novel if he is going to be discouraging! Nano is not about great writing. It’s about lots of writing!)
only ~1550
I have part at home, part at school, and part in a yellow notebook.
sftdp why say you are writing a NaNo? A National Novel? I need to get back to writing.
7500.
Crikey, TMFA! At that rate, you’ll finish in two weeks.
Aiming for 15 days.
Good luck! Go go go!
1,777.
8000
Nothing typed for today yet, only a page written. Going to need an all-nighter. I am going to try to argue parents into letting me, this is the best night for it with only a half-day of school tomorrow…
You are a much faster writer than me, apparently, TMFA.
3459
Hey, Robert- would you mind if I borrowed your idea and used the name “Tesseract” for a futuristic internet-equivalent?
Robert can’t reply on the blog just at the moment, but he sent word that your plan is fine with him. Go to it! And good luck!
Well, that’s actually a thingy in another book, “A Wrinkle in Time” (read it if you haven’t). Although I don’t see why you couldn’t use it…
2000. I have a great idea, it’s just hard to get just right on paper.
Wow, you guys are all pretty fast writers, if TMFA’s word count updates are any signification.
8500.
Ack, I miscalculated. About 1500–1700 thereabouts.
9000!
My novel committed mutiny. I mean, I feel like it’s writing itself, which isn’t a bad thing, but I don’t know what the heck’s going on with the plot. Actually, I’m not even sure there is one. I have 5450 words, but my novel makes no sense, even to me. So I keep forging ahead, and amphibious, glowing fishmonkeys just made an appearance.
You aren’t alone. So far, there’s two bullying roommates whose true motives keep changing, a newspaper-article-selling business, two secret organizations sparring over the fate of my main character, and a “Mrs. Smith Haters Club” which is actually a pretense to teach all the sixth graders magic. Oh yeah, and one of the organizations is somehow causing my main character to slowly forget all she knows about magic.
I feel better about my decision now. This story has so much more life behind it. My goal for tonight is at least 4300 words.
10,000!
2320! At least I know exactly what the plot is, beginning to end. I just have to make it 50,000 words.
TMFA and Pseudonym:
I’m stuck below the thousands. I need to start writing faster if I’m going to get to the normal word count goal, not just my ywp school one.
You can do it!
Met… minimum… *hufff* *puff*
5,000
Hmm… this looks fun! I should try it, as a personal goal for the month.
“Fun?”
I’m really behind still. ANd I’m not sure I should even be doing Nano. I’m not going to list off everything I have going on right now (I keep taking on more and more and I can’t quit anything…) but it’s a ton and if the stress is already getting to me… but I can’t stop. I’ve started now. I can’t write anything for ****, but I can’t stop either. I don’t know. I’m confused. I should be writing. Or I shouldn’t. There are a thousand things I should be doing and I’m not sure if I can handle this being one of them, but I need it.
10,0021. Quota for today. *dances*
I might actually make it this year…
What word processor do you guys use? I absolutely cannot use word, I have to write in notepad. This is problematic since notepad has no word count function or spellcheck and I am a terrible speller. I just spelled terrible incorrectly! haha
I have a question though. This is a story I have been trying to work out for a year or so, and I have a bunch of notes and the like on it. I’ve tried writing it before but have essentially scrapped all my attempts since they were really horribly awful.
Is it “allowed” to continue with this story, or am I violating some mystical rule of Nano? I’m going to continue either way, but I just want to know. I’m starting fresh…
I have 160 words lol but I am so excited…my new outline is awesome so far too!
I use Word. Mainly because it’s the only other writing program I’ve ever used, and that one was Works, and nearly killed me at one point.
Axa, there’s a nifty, souped-up Notepad replacement called Note Tab. The “light” version is freeware (find it at notetab.com). It has lots of handy features, including “text statistics” (total words, total characters, totals of individual words) and HTML utilities of various sorts. You can also keep multiple files open at once and flip through them the way you would browser tabs. One file can be designated as a “paste board” and will collect anything you copy or cut, which is very useful for MB comments or for quoting, since it strips out most of the formatting (there’s also a menu item for stripping out all HTML). I use it all the time. Saves me from Word in all but extreme cases.
If you have a Gmail account, Google Documents is another possibility. It also has word count.
Google Documents is win. The only hitch is that you have to transfer it to a word processor before going somewhere you can’t connect to the Intarwebz (like your grandparents’ house… Thanksgiving? You expect me to give up a precious chance at another thousand words for something trivial like spending time with family? YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND MY ART!)
103- I use TextEdit. Yes, I’m a Mac person. Actually, my dad is and he rubbed it off on me. TextEdit doesn’t have a word counter either, but I have a separate one that works pretty well.
I’m more than a thousand words behind. Yesterday did not work. Today’s not looking like it’ll go better, actually, given the fact I already am getting distracted. I’m going to spend the next few minutes making notes on the world it’s set in, (It’s a LotR type world.) and hopefully that’ll get me re-motivated to that.
Speaking of which, I found the map I wanted to use for the world. It was originally drawn for another story, but that story never got off the ground, and I can use it quite well. It’ll work well with the new character I’m adding for no particular reason. Mostly to work in a fantastical urban area. But I really shouldn’t add him until I’ve figured out what he’d be doing. After I add him, I mean. Hm…
I use Pages, because I’m also a Mac person.
ARGH!!
I use Open Office, Word, and ‘notebook’.
103- Word is the only one I’ve ever used…
I’m behind schedule, and tired of my parents shouting at me to get off the computer and do something else. The only excuse I have is ‘homework’ (our language arts teacher is doing NaNoWriMo
). But then, they still get angry. I’m a horrible excuse-person.
I’ve got four thousand seven hundred something. i’m getting distracted, have homework, and am tired of typing.
ARGH.
I’m considering giving up. I know, commitments, but my story is getting no.where and I’ve only got 2584 word out of the 6667 I should have by the end of today, and if I don’t sit down and start studing for science right now I’ll be in serious trouble… *sigh*
11000
Now I am finding that writing without the TV on creates a higher word count… Aren’t I perceptive?
Wow… I wonder if writing without internet open would create a higher one? Probably not. (Yeah, right.)
I totally just wrote 1100 words in less than an hour… WOOT!
I need archaic-sounding words that could be male names. Somewhat. Maybe. Anyway, I’m looking for them. ‘Cause see, I was planning on naming a future character Keener, and thinking about naming another character Forge, until that started sounding like George… So I’m not. I now either need to figure out another good name-sounding uncommon word, or I need to figure out another name. Urgh.
My foolish attempt at NaNo is not going well.
fred and george = gred and forge so I’m with you on that one
lol
maybe start by thinking what general sound you want the name to have, or the first letter, etc. There are plenty of websites for names too, even for very old type names no one has anymore.
My story is completely dead. But I will continue *sigh* even though I consider it hopelessly boring.
3889 words.
Thanks for the suggestions, everyone!
I’ve been really excited to get back to writing, but my homework load may not allow it…oh well I’m just glad I finally have a plot for these characters!
I’m disappearing, yeah. Definitely. Aside from this; my first slip. I’m being particularly naughty tonight. One thousand two hundred words to go, and I’m on Museblog.
Anyway. Would anybody like to read what I have so far? [Sorry, that site allows email contact. –Admin.]
Comments? Favourite parts? Help on where the heck I’m going next?
That’s all for now, though I do have to get that thousand plus out right now.
Leaving. Be back to check for replies, maybe.
-A
The email is for uploading to the drop- it has nothing to do with me or my contact information. I can’t be contacted by any information on that page.
-A
Oh- total as of now is 5406, but that’s changing in approximately a minute, as soon as I take a bathroom break and get some music started. It’ll be up to par [6667] or more by tonight.
-A
5757, as of this first check back.
-A
4310!!!!!
Ugh, I’m so far behind… but I like the story now, which is a plus.
Wrote a bunch today in school. A scene that I haven’t got to yet, though. I think I might just write fun scenes until I have 50,000 words worth, and then connect them later, when I can slog through without worrying about lost time.
Current word count: unknown.
I’ve thought up a new word-count-booster technique. I’m listening to music while I type anyway, so now I try to type at least a hundred words per song. It feels very self-fulffiling.
The problem is, some songs are too short, and I only get about 60 words in.
QUOTA FINISHED (earlier than usual…)(<- that's sad
) !
12000
3224. Gah! I’m so behind!
-goes back to typing frantically-
I need another 3,000 words to catch up to where I need to be. Better than the 3,500-4,000 I needed earlier. Still bad.
12500! A quarter done, a quarter won!
I’ve got 7186 words, and I am going to sleep. Satisfied.
GAPA, can I repost the link?
-A
If we’re sure that it isn’t a way of establishing off-the-blog contact, then we’ll allow it.Sorry, g. We’ve inspected the site, and it looks just like several other sites to which we don’t post links. Our rule for NaNoWriMo: short excerpts only.
You’ve allowed it in the past… *sighs* /grumpy/ Hrrmph.
Well, I’m sure y’all can deal without reading my horrible writing anyway.
-A
I’m not sure what “it” in your first sentence refers to, but we would not wittingly approve a link to a site that allows collaboration and file sharing. If you’re referring to length, see my earlier request (comment 22.1) to limit excerpts to around 500 words. We’ll post novels at the end, but for now writing should be the focus. Don’t let your momentum get bogged down by switching to critical mode. There’s plenty of time for that after November.
It being the site, drop.io.
Oh, but you have, previously. Drop.io has been an acceptable link to post at certain points in the past. Which points, I’m not sure, but certain ones; I’ve seen it done multiple times.
-A
If we did, it was an error on our part, but I just did an internal search, which showed no links of the kind. That doesn’t rule out retrozappage, of course.
I shall regale thee with an EXCERPT.
Abeni closed her eyes and slid into the Tesseract. The familiar image fizzled into view (she’d set it to an old Renaissance painting when she’d first gotten the implant), and the sounds of the world outside became muted and indistinct. There was some interference here; usually the brain and senses compensated, but after being in the Flow for a while, you could tell the difference. It was a sort of fuzziness in the peripheral vision, a distortion where you weren’t looking.
She’d lose the signal soon. Human civilization worth the name didn’t stretch beyond the orbit of the Moon. All she’d have access to would be the files saved on the implant.
It was sort of disorienting, but it paled in comparison to what she was about to do. There had been probes sent out, of course, in the twenty-odd years since the Blue ships left, but no in-depth missions beyond the asteroid belt. The Chaser settlements on Mars, the Belt structure, the odd little moons that the Blues had swung out of orbit for research or storage or some inscrutable purpose: they’d all been poked and prodded thoroughly by humanity’s faithful robot proxies, but for every one of the fascinating details they’d revealed, there were a dozen mysteries lurking below the surface.
The solar system was a changed place.
Made it to 7K. All I have to do is make it through the week, please, oh deity…
13,400 precisely. *sleeps*
I have five thousand and I have to get to eight thousand three hundred today… THIS IS NOT WORKING!
My only hope is a completely free weekend, which won’t quite happen because I have to preform at some music thing… I was hoping to be able to sleep in saturdays and sundays.
AND I’m behind on my schoolwork, because I keep getting on my computer to do NaNo, and going on MB. I might see if I can ban myself from it for a while. Ugh.
By the way, SFTDP, but I found a name. Not an archaic word, but a latin name.
And this scene I inserted because I was bored has unfolded into a completely different plot line. It’s amazing how that happens. I imagine it happens chiefly when I have only a tentative plot line. Now to decide whether or not I put in the planned plot catalyst, which is rather useless now, or go with the current direction I’m being pulled. I’ve fulfilled the character’s original plan, which was to insert a male character to my story, as it sadly lacked any. Now… Well, I think I’ll leave him out until later. He may wish to come in then, but now…
My computer just shut down without me saving, and I would have lost over 800 words had not my amazing mother alerted me to the little popup Microsoft Word puts when it shuts down without you saving. Did I want to open “NaNo09 Original” or “NaNo09 Recovered”? My full 7016 count was on the Recovered. I love you, Mom.
That’s amazing. I had an experience like that, except it was a picture I was doing, probably my best ever. Anyway, I love computers, especially when they do amazing things like that.
13000!
15500!
Congratulations TMFA!
I’m still at stinking 4310, and have had thoughts of quitting *headesk* Although that’s something that will never happen because Pseudonym will probably yell at me…
*trails off and bans self from MB until enself writes at least 300 more words*
I’m at 5,900 something, and thinking of quiting too. I didn’t meet my quota yesterday, so it threw me off.
9,194…
ARGH! I might not be able to write much today because of my evil Social Studies teacher who forced me to procrastinate writing the first paragraph of my research paper until the night before it was due! With a test on that same day! (Alright, the last part is my fault :roll:)
All right, first of all, NOBODY IS ALLOWED TO QUIT. I’m behind. You’re behind. We’re all behind together. The weekend’s coming up. You can stay up late without being yelled at then. You can write most of the day. I just finished yesterday’s quota. I probably won’t win. I’m almost certain not to win. But I still entertain hopes and dreams. Besides, if I don’t start really believing I won’t win until next week, I’ll have written more than I’ve ever written before on one story. I’m supposed to hit that tomorrow, and who knows, maybe I will. I’m not too enthusiastic, but I might. I can hope. But the point is, even if you don’t get fifty thousand words, even if you finish the month with thirty thousand, you’ll still have written a good start to a novel.
I sound so much like one of those pep talks. Go read those. They’re written be novelists, or people that have done this before. Or just be encouraged by me, if you’re disciplined enough not to go read them.
I’m not giving up. However, I do need some ideas.
First off, can anyone think of some weird/fun/interesting things that a “Sufficiently Advanced” alien species could do to our solar system? (I’ve already thought of a Dyson Sphere)
Move some smaller bodies around to give Mercury and Venus the moons they never had?
That’s a good idea, but the expedition that most of the story centers around is heading for the Asteroid Belt, so I won’t be able to explore that in the novel much.
The Blues (sufficiently advanced aliens- their real name is unpronounceable by human mandibles) are mostly interested in the Solar System for energy and natural resources. They left us alone, but aside from Earth, Moon and Sun, everything is fair game.
Convince all the planets that they want to orbit/spin the other way? Or is that implausible?
Hm. I can’t really think of a motive for them to do that.
Collect all the asteroids in the asteroid belt into a tiny planet?
Actually, they’re using them as raw material for a (presently half-finished) Dyson Sphere.
How about using one or more planets or moons as laboratories or incubators for engineered life?
0 words today. I don’t think I can do this… I was traveling all day, but even now instead of writing I just wandered the internet… : /
Have forced myself past the daily quota. Gaah. Should be writing instead of on MuseBlog. This was all wonderful until I hit 8K. Now I’m really bored… and this is translating into a six-hundred-word scene in which my protagonist is incredibly bored. I’ve gone through my novel using the “find” tool and changed all of the parts where I say “better” to either “more good” or “ought to” just to boost my word count.
Will get off internet right… now.
Now.
Now.
I HAVE THREE THOUSAND WORDS TO WRITE TODAY AND PEOPLE COMING OVER IN LIKE, AN HOUR AND A HALF AND NO TIME THIS WEEKEND!!!!
Okay. I’m also not an incredibly motivated writer. I’m pushing myself through this wondering how on earth I’m going to make it an entire fifty thousand words. I’m sure I’m going to wrap up my uninteresting plot, and have another ten thousand words to write.
And yet I’m having fun writing. Writing is fun for me, and being encouraged to write is great. I’d never motivate myself otherwise. Is anyone else having fun even when they’re behind?
Anyway, I think I’ll revive my former plot idea for added words, and weave it in to my current one. Neither of them had much of a clear idea of where they were going anyway. Hm… BRILLIANT! Okay.
Well, I don’t know. Exactly how cliché are dreams that tell you something? I know they’ve been used as clever plot devices thousands of times… I was wondering if I could put in a single meaningful dream, sent by somebody manipulating the dreamer, and get away with it… Do you think I could?
17000
144- Just do it. If it turns out to be too cliche, you can change it later.
No words yesterday. But I did realize that I can still win, even though I’m like 6000 words behind or whatever. I just have to write more than my daily quota every day–I don’t have to catch up all at once. This may seem obvious, but it wasn’t to me.
That’s good advice. I don’t think I’ve read about it in this form before, although… Hm… Well… I don’t know. I think I can pull it off, but I’m not sure. Hope so. But it’s unlikely this’ll ever actually get published, so…
Anyway, I’m also considering taking out my airport card and updating my word count/MBing from my mom’s computer. Which would be more then bearable now, because she has a new one that isn’t a lump of slow-moving stuff.
If you think you’re behind… i haven’t typed A SINGLE WORD in three days.
I’m really enjoying writing this. As far as I can see, it’s not so horrible, and as long as my biased-eye keeps telling me that I’m not horrible, I can keep writing! It’s practically writing itself right now…
18000
I’m afraid the best ending I’ve thought up for my novel involves killing my best character. It’s a depressing prospect.
Keep going everyone!! Your novels sound greatabulous! I can’t wait to read them!! you DO post them on the site, correct?
Some do, some don’t. I don’t personally, because of the following:
1) Awful. Terrible. THe worst
2) Might try to get extra credit for it. if it’s online he might think I’m plagiarizing.
3) Again, It’s terrible.
Well, if the GAPAs allow it (as I hear they do), then I suppose I will post it… Not that anybody will read it.
Well, everyone, our car is in the shop… but on the bright side, I no longer have anywhere to go that might distract me from NaNo.
Also, the school Creative Writing Club resoundingly approved of my novel, which encouraged me very much.
Also also, my protagonist is talking with an alien for the first time, which will allow me to flesh out both the alien culture and the main character.
What’s good background music for conversations with an extraterrestrial? I’ve been using Murray Gold’s Dr. Who soundtrack so far, but that tends to be better for action scenes.
Only 2,464! I think I should stop visting this thread, because it make me realize how pathetically and non-deadline-making-ly far I’m behind, especially compared to TMFA who has, let’s see, almost NINE times more words than me???? And I’m going to be super-busy all next week. I have dress rehearsals Mon-Thurs, and the next two nights are the show itself. Maybe I can make this productive by involving Emilia and Madison in some kind of theatrical production… but I don’t think that will fit into the plot very easily, and I don’t want to waste time with overly nonessential scenes. Perhaps the first agents of the two international magic organizations will appear on opening night… hmm, not bad!
Sorry, that may have turned into a rant.
And I don’t think it made any sense to any of you because I never summarized my story’s “plot” on MB.
Wait… huh? My above comment “And I don’t think it made any sense to any of you because I never summarized my story’s “plot†on MB” was a reply to a comment I made just before that, but now I don’t see it.
And… here’s an excerpt.
“Where are you headed, little girl?†I heard someone say. I jerked around and saw a man leaning across to me. “I’m eleven,†I said irritably. “What do you want?â€
The man chuckled. “Ah, yes, they did warn me,†he muttered pleasantly, obviously to himself. “Who warned you about what?†I wondered, suspicious. “Ah, nothing,†the man replied with a wave of his hand. He wasn’t really old, but older than my dad. Middle aged, I decided. “But, miss, are you headed to a new school?†How did he know that? Maybe Micksile was spying on me to see what I was like. But they hadn’t even been informed as to what train I was going on, as far as I knew. “That’s none of your business,†I snapped, turning my back on him and looking out the window. “Well, I’ll be a-going,†the man informed me, and at the next stop of the train he got off and walked out of sight. “Okay, that was weird,†I said quietly. I really hoped Micksile was too non-creepy to have sent the man. I didn’t want to go to some kind of espionage-involved institution for the next year.
Make sure to press “enter” every time a new person speaks.
Whoa. SFTQP!
I have a question for everybody… I guess it only really works if you know the characters well, though.
So far, two. Harry Blain is the main character- his problem is he keeps waking up. Except, in different places. The first three scenes consist of him walking through a forest in autumn, of him waking up with a head wound in someone else’s home (I should mention; waking up in someone else’s home as that someone else; meaning he takes the people’s places when he dreamshifts, which is what I’m calling the weird happenstances), and of him floating in outer space. Essentially, he can’t tell the difference between dreams and reality, because for him… There isn’t really one.
So, the plot basically centres around the fact that suddenly he wakes up as himself, on a normal day of class, taking a very normal math test. I should emphasise – as himself. When he wakes up, he has no knowledge of what’s happened previously in the person’s life – and that’s true in this case as well (there’s one scene where he has to find out his bus number and then his address so he can go ‘home’) but apparently he’s now woken up as someone named ‘Harry Blain’.
It seems like his real life to him, which raises his hopes that finally he’ll stop being constantly transported to different places (*looks accusingly at Ron Weasley for a moment for those who would get that joke*).
Kate is the other character so far. She and Harry have been best friends since childhood in the old Harry’s life – but now, as Harry no longer has any memories of her, he sees her in completely a different way. The idea is that the old Harry was blinded by his previous image of her… But the new Harry is making his own opinions as he goes, and sees Kate in rather a more… romantic light.
So, my question is this. Someone told me yesterday that my characters really had no flaws – they were too perfect. And while I think this is a property of any fictional story to a certain degree – especially one of an amateur writer – it would be beneficial, I think, to add flaws.
Also, right now, I’m writing only what the last words make me think of next. It’s worked for introducing the story, and the first ten thousand words – but I’m worried my plot is going nowhere.
I’ve had a few ideas that would seem to help in knitting together the beginning and middle, however. For example – Kate’s an insomniac. Which supposed to be ironic, or coincidental, or whatever the hell you want to call it, because Harry’s problems are with sleep, as well.
Also, I’d thought of maybe having Kate’s grandmother, who’s been mentioned, be some sort of spiritual person who has a major problem with whatever had been plaguing Harry before he woke up for good. So, when they get close, perhaps Harry finally meets her grandmother, and she doesn’t want Kate seeing Harry any more… But that isn’t exactly what I’d call the focus of a good plot.
I guess I need help with finishing this. I’m thinking in the future for once – I’m going to need a good way to wrap this up in fifteen or twenty days. Not to mention the plot I’m going to need in between… Essentially right now, though I can keep spinning my wheels and developing the characters for a bit.
Fun fact: When I get bored or distracted, I pause my thought process, take the last sentence I wrote, make it horrifyingly graphic, then write hardcore erotica with my characters. After I’m satisfied that I’ve got myself either completely off track or completely focussed – I can’t exactly decide which it is – I erase the entire section I wrote, then continue on with the normal storyline. It’s an interesting exercise, I think – just, pretty inappropriate. I would not recommend it for that reason (but that reason only… :P).
So, that’s essentially my NaNoWriMo month.
Oh, and by the way – as of yesterday, I have 8872 words – so I’m ahead on today’s goal. I might just use up my extra and only write about a thousand tonight, because I’m going to my school’s production of Pirates of Penzance tonight with M.
-A
Wait, so you don’t have a conflict?
Essentially. I mean, there are a few nuances here and there that make for the story being interesting – I just need a big problem that can be worked out by the end of this month.
-A
Ohhhhhhh cakecakecake. And ice cream.
I have rehearsal every day and the show opens soon and first tech is tomorrow and Q2Q is Sunday and THAT IDIOT WILL who said he was going to do the lights went off on a band trip without finishing them and won’t be back until who-knows-when and I’m really behind and really stressed and I have to practice my violin for half an hour and tomorrow I’ll be gone from like noon to eight and maybe longer because of the lights and the fact that I’m doing them all by myself because Zack is too busy and Will is GONE and no one else knows anything and I don’t have TIME so how am I ever going to catch up???
-sobs hysterically-
It’ll be fine. *cheering up pies and choklit*
157- I’m with you. I’m busy all weekend, and that probably wouldn’t be a disaster except that I lost like, two thousand words yesterday, due purely to my stupidity. And I have to spend the entire morning at a performance which I can’t sneak out or type during, and I’m spending the evening dancing, so basically I have a very few hours in the middle of the day, and I’m not even sure about those, since they might have grandparents in them, who fortunately have been told all about this project, and will probably understand if I vanish. AND I’m going through the discouraging process of re-writing thousands of words just after being about to hit the point where I wrote beyond the story I already had before NaNo. If that makes sense.
But on the upside, I have a villain for my story now. And a better plot. And my previous villain has been cut out completely. Which isn’t a bad thing, because he employed the cliché technique of being two of my main character’s father. Besides, I had only a vague idea of what was going to happen with him as the villain, and was sure he was going to be replaced later, perhaps even in that book. Anyway, off to write.
Errata, don’t worry about rewriting if it’s going to make you feel discouraged. Simply pick up where you left off and keep going. You can always fill it in later. On the other hand, if you think it might actually help you, that’s another story. Just don’t feel obligated.
No, I want to write it. I have problems with skipping part of the story, or something. Besides, I’m already worried about making it to fifty thousand without skipping an entire part of the book. Thanks for the advice, but I think I’ll just keep going. I didn’t lose as much as I thought, or something, anyway, so I’ve nearly made it up. It is frustrating to have lost all that work, but I don’t think pushing rewriting it to a later date would help.
If only I could repeat myself that much and write that many words consistently when I’m writing. *sigh*
Thanks again for the advice though. I really liked some of the advice you posted earlier, and I can easily see myself not seeing that I didn’t actually have to rewrite the part that had gotten deleted. Plus, it still thrills me when a GAPA gives me personal attention.
Figured out that the problem I hit at 8K with boredom was that I was attempting to write a novel and watch Monty Python’s “Life of Brian” at the same time. And then the latest episode of “Glee”. And then the currently-being-recorded episode of “The Office”. Note to self: don’t. Just don’t. It’s very depressing when you’re trying to first-draft a novel while exposing yourself to twelfth-draft scripts being acted out by mildly good actors. It wakes up the little Editor in my brain.
One of these days I’m going to put a name on my little Editor and give en a physical description, then tell en to go to sleep or go to Majorca on vacation or something.
Hm. What about Jeremy? For some reason I’m completely bewildered by, my Editor seems like a Jeremy to me. With one of those cartoony voices used by people inhaling too much helium when they talk very fast. But whiny, you know?
And he looks like a squirrel…
Why is my inner Editor a squirrel?
I’m going insane. Oh, well. Back to word 10,116.
Brilliant! The squirrel makes perfect sense to me. It’s amazing how helpful it can be to visualize attributes of oneself in concrete form. Each of us is a whole cast of characters, after all, and some of them don’t always cooperate. Maybe there’s a thread idea in there somewhere….
Mine is Steve. He’s always poking me and nagging me and, as I said awhile back when typing out his personality, enjoys ensuring that I re-type every third word. Very annoying. Besides, he won’t be quelled. I might get more done if I turned of spell check…
it’s going slowly. 2050 words, and I’ve only just started chapter 2. Will I ever get past describing everything and get on with the plot? I drive myself crazy sometimes.
19000
Okay; I’ve pulled myself together; added a plot twist and restarted writing. Now I’ve got 3654 words. Daily goal: 11667.
Wow, I’m doing incredibly well as usual.I will pull myself together and keep writing.
I will pull myself together and keep writing.
I will pull myself together and keep writing.
5,059 words. I’m behind. TMFA, how are you doing that?
I use every idea i get. It’s awful, but It’s moving along.
I’m such a complete idiot! I just DELETED my ENTIRE NaNo and didn’t save it anywhere else!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
*storms off to rants and complaints thread*
Didn’t you email most of it to me? And did you try the “undo” button?
Come on, NaNoers, YOU CAN DO IT! I HAS FAITH IN YOU! YOUR NOVELS SOUND GREAT!!
Aye! Everybody’s novels DO sound great. Except mine! *weeps hysterically*
165- Thanks
163- 4,450 words and the day is basically over here. Meh. I have almost no time to write on most weekdays, which complicates things…
I will stop whining and keep writing.
I will stop whining and keep writing.
I will stop whining and keep writing.
20,000!
Congratulations TMFA! And Keiffer, I’m sure your novel is fantaburiffic!!!
Anyone see a picture of Archie, Betty, and Veronica as my avatar? Because I don’t.
You know what? I am writing something completely unrelated to NaNo, and your totals are really inspiring!
21,000!
22000
KEEP GOING TMFA!! You are an inspiration to us all!
Everyone else, Keep writing, Keep writing! You’ll get there!!
Still not to 5,000. This weekend (all 4 days of it) is a disaster for writing. At a hockey tournament. Even in downtime I can’t seem to write, or want to.
WHat is going oooooon with meee
23,000
Barely over 3000, about. Why does everything have to happen in November? I don’t think I’m going to make it.
rofl I still only have 228 words…maybe I will hold an alternative nano for myself in december or something, college apps/ everything else are making this impossible.
I’m still trying though!
24000
10 000 something words… hey, nice thread, never been on it before.
I have reached a dead end. The character has saved the biodome from almost certain destruction but is trapped in it with no viable way to get out without introducing a new character (and I have WAY too many) or having an existing character miraculously emerge from dormancy.
25,000!
Half way through!
TMFA, I see you post about every couple hours with your word count…it’s only November 8th and you’re halfway through. Excuse me, are you eating or sleeping at all??? Or do you just type really fast? Please don’t die!
Koko52 that sounds really interesting. Why don’t you have the character do something involving a pie? Or would that destroy the biodome? Just a suggestion.
KEEP GOING EVERYONE, AND HAVE FUN DOING IT!!!
Still a day behind… But I think if I stay on task I will either make it up gradually, or on the last day.
Having trouble with pacing. Two of my characters who I wanted to fall in love just fell in love, and that was my big event for the first 25,000 words, and I’m only on word 14,455. I don’t want to get into the main events, climax, and action until the second half of the novel. So now what am I supposed to do? Inject 10,545 words of filler? Start the action a couple thousand words earlier? Invent a completely new event to occur in those extra 10,545 words? Or just plump up the existing parts of the story with lots more words but lots less things to say in them, like a less dense story?
Also it’s getting hard to shut up Jeremy my inner squirrel Editor, the existence of whom is starting to weird me out.
Oh, TMFA…Why must you write so FAST? Granted, you’re writing a script, so there’s probably less writing for the word count–but STILL!
I’m so behind it’s not even funny. It’s OK though. I think, to boost my word count, I’m going to have a character who talks about random things like transcendentalism and progressivism (i.e., anything I have to write about for school) and just cut en out when I edit.
What I want, more than the word count, is to finish a story. I’ve written 40,000+ words on a story before (probably half again as much when you think about all the editing and deleting and random veering off in directions I did), but I’ve never finished one.
Only 5k words; no further plot or ideas and no time to write. I wanted to try to catch up today but since I have a biology exam tomorrow I have to study. And I haven’t done any English homework since the term started, and I need to write 8k words for that- in total, this semester, but her assignements are so boring that I can’t seem to write anything. And I’m having NaNo plot trouble; one of my main characters in stuck 5 years in a future and I don’t know how to get her back, since if she goes back she’ll die. Long story. *headdesk*
How I’m doing it:
1) I just put everything I think could work down on paper. I have an idea of whats going to happen, but it’s up to the characters to take me their.
2) I think my inner Editor’s on vacation this month. I don’t edit at all.
In other words, you’re doing it right.
There*, but yeah. Lucky. I’m having to force myself to not go back and edit, and I still do sometimes.
-A
As I said, I’m not editing.
OK, I’ve written myself into a bit of a corner. The Expedition has landed on what used to be Titan (maybe), now in orbit between Earth and Mars and stuck halfway through a terraforming process. They’ve found some kind of moss, but nothing else.
I’m thinking of using Robert’s idea, of this being sort of an “incubator planet” for engineered life… what kind of life would be useful to a species embroiled in an interstellar war, though?
Spies. Or disease vectors.
Shapeshifters.
27000!
Thanks, guys. That helps me a lot.
Just broke 5000. More vital discoveries impending. There’s no way I’m going to make it to 50,000 with this story as it’s planned, though. There’s no way I’d want to. I need a twist.
This is the story as it is planned: Cassie comes to her uncle’s house, discovers strange things, old story, finds a way to free the people from the mirror/painting and wake the clockwork girl, whereupon everyone lives happily ever after. But I want it to go deeper than that. That’s like a short story. I want it to seem like everything is going well–but then–it doesn’t. But I don’t know what should happen.
Random idea; ‘[story as planned]… whereupon an ancient curse is unleashed on the world/main characters.”
I don’t know if that help at all. It was just an idea. Or maybe the clockwork girl wakes up with a murderous streak they have to solve? I’m just spewing random ideas here, based on the backstory of the plot you posted somewhere else.
Ooh. I like it. The sorcerer, remembering everything and seeing how his revenge was thwarted and everyone is happy except himself, unleashes a curse…and the clockwork girl, who’s a very cold sort of person and his daughter to boot, joins him. Maybe something was wrong with her and they had Mr Warely fix her (before he’d quite realized everything, but was still rather angry deep down), and he added a murderous streak. And people can DIE.
-is newly excited-
Glad to be of service.
Anybody out there have a good pun about a multinational food court?
It’s from all over but don’t get it all over?
“United Rations”?
Thank you.
GAPA Coontz, I love your humor.
You… You sir, are brilliant. You have the Teddy Seal of Approval. Along with the Martin Reed Seal of Approval. And the Gradster One Seal of Approval. Lots of them. Brilliant, I say; brilliant.
-A
28000!
Now to figure out how to connect the united rations to the rest of the plot.
29000!
And the plot is connected!
Eight thousand, five hundred words. I’ve learned the power of ctrl+s. I have slight OCD about pressing that. It’s interesting.
Anyway, I’ve got my entire plot planned out, with a backup plot to fall back on when I finish the first one, that adds onto the first one nicely. I hope.
I’m almost to the point I was when I lost the words a couple days ago. I’m also almost caught up with the original story, word-count wise. I’m slightly ahead of it story-wise, but I completely cut out a couple scenes, and revised the entire story. I think this new version is actually better, despite being typed at lightning speeds. (I wish.)
Anyway, off to type a major battle of wills. And… Can anybody think of a whole bunch of natural-type disasters they could encounter? Pretty much any terrain, or anything you can find in medieval-type cities/towns/villages. They aren’t going through all that now, but they could be if it benefited the the plot.
What does ctrl+s do?
Saves.
It does indeed save, without the messy step of closing the document. It’s amazing.
You can save without closing the document, and without using ctrl+s… It just takes longer.
30000.
31000
*gapes* How much free time do you have?
32000.
Sorry about any congestion on this thread I’m causing.
That’s all right. This thread is to help those who are trying to get through NaNo, and if it helps you to report your word count, go for it.
I’ve decided I’m doing NaNoWriMo definitely next year, but I’m kind of moving this year’s to December. I just wrote a breakup scene and it’s stab in the heart sad.
Good lords. I just reached ten thousand. 10025. Boy, does it feel amazing.
(I can’t believe I’m really doing this.)
-A
34,000!
10,000 words today!
7k words! Now I’m just about “only” 8k words behind… I’ve got a headache.
I will stop whining and keep writing.
I will stop whining and keep writing.
I will stop whining and keep writing.
I want to hit 10k today so that I can catch up…
SFTDP:
8k! Victory! I need to take a break and do homework now but I’ll try to write more after dinner…
35000!
36000!
37000!
9,500. Urgh. I’m supposed to be at 15,000 today. I’m trying to get the daily goal and slightly more, so I can catch up gradually. I hit a few bad days in week 1, so I dropped behind, but I can, I think, actually do 1667 words a day.
And I haven’t encountered second-week loss of enthusiasm yet. I’m hoping I won’t for a while.
By the way, TMFA, I haven’t figured out whether your posts are incredibly inspiring or incredibly discouraging, or neither. It’s interesting.
38000!
TMFA I don’t know what to do with you! You are like…like…an amazing…writing…non-eating-or-sleeping….WRITING…QUICKLY…PERSON. Hey, you should be the Muse of Writing Fast!
——————————————————————————————
Everyone, the plots will turn out fine. It is surprisingly easy to write yourself out of a corner. Just throw in a monster and a politician. Unless, of course, you have an intensely complicated plot. Then it’s different. BUT…these novels are coming along great!!!
10,000 words! WOO HOO!!
I feel special now. I’m going to go eat candy as a reward.
I have yet to start typing today… I must be off to isolation. *goes*
I need to start writing 2000+ words a day, or I’ll never catch up. I’ve got 7735 right now.
Currently banned form computer, and Nano. May not see you all for a while. My parents don’t understand that this really means something to me. Not sure how this is going to turn out. I maybe forced to abandon my story.
Nooo! I love your writing.
40,000!
10,000 to go!
I’m sorry If I’m making anyone feel upset.
You’re making me feel awed.
213- I find it more as an inspiration.
I’ve hit a bit of a dead end. I’m in a post-apocalyptic world, and my main character has turned into a vampire. He also recently obtained a baby. She’s a girl, and i don’t know exactly what to do next. in the long run, I’m planning for him to possibly meet his brother again. I need an obvious conflict that can keep him busy for awhile. Maybe he encounters a group of vampires that knows how to kill him? His ultimate goal is to kill himself, but I think that once he discovers how to kill vampires, he will become a kind of vigilante.
So, an unsuccessfully suicidal vampire… I take it he’s already tried the classic vamp weaknesses (eating garlic, taking a bath in blessed water, getting a cross/other religious symbol tattoo, throwing self on a sharpened fence post, etc)? Tell me more about your world.
Robert and TMFA’s ideas have given me inspiration. My original villains may also play a part, but I think I have a better conflict now.
He was brought up with very vague knowledge of normal mythic vampire weaknesses, so no, he hasn’t tried anything. He knows that they don’t die easily, though. He has talked to some vampires about it, and a wiser one said that from what he knew about the process, it would be impossible to kill himself. But that aspect of the story is not the problem. I will come up with something strange for that, maybe even one of those common weaknesses, but what I really need is a quick conflict that can keep me writing easily for a day or two… I thought of maybe having him discover a society of vampires who release humans into the wild, and let vampires catch them as a game. It would be ironic because he is always saying that “this is not a game!” And even the wise vampire told him that. So yeah… By the way, to finish up last night’s word count, I added another group of vampires who stole the baby, and he is currently chasing after them. I’m thinking that I might reveal the society, because he is following them and they might go to the vampire hideout…?
43000. Not to shabby.
So are you going for the longest, or the quickest to finish?
-A
Also- was that your best day? And how many words total did you write November ninth?
-A
My best day was 10,000 on the 8th. I wrote 9000 yesterday.
I’m not really going for anything, I’m just writing.
10k. Very shabby. *headdesk*
12k. Planning on writing at least six hundred more, even more than that if I have time. But writing six hundred more will get me to slightly above two thousand, which isn’t a bad speed, considering how far I am behind. One bad day makes all the difference… Particularly when it’s followed by a few more.
45,000!
5k more to go…
46,000!
4k more…
47,000!
3k more…
48,000!
a bit less then 2k left!
221-Incredible!
12k. At least I’m not that far behind, considering that I school is still looming over me…
12,000!
38k more…
*sigh*
OH YEAH! I don’t have to go to religion, and I don’t have school tomorrow, so today is NaNoWRiMo to the extreme!
11k-something. *screams* Type faster! TMFA:
Great job TMFA! *tips hat*
I’ve got about 5000-ish words. But writing a story about glowing amphibious fish-monkeys with pocket watch organs is tough…
Must write.
Did you start over AGAIN?! Keiffer! Sorry, but really, you can’t keep starting over…you’ll never finish!
TMFA,
x 1000! The month isn’t even half over!!!
Pseudo & Keiffer my friends, you need to set that WriteEvil app thingie to the most ANNOYING SETTING POSSIBLE. Or, just turn on Kiss 108 and tell yourself you can’t turn it off until you hit 10K. Or something along those lines.
WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! YOU SHALL MAKE IT!!! Remember, just WRITING this novel is an accomplishment in itself. Don’t worry about the quality!!! It’ll turn out fine!!
50,500!
I hit it around 2:20 I think. But Now I have the internet acess!
OK, I’m nearing 10,000 characters, which I think comes out to about 2,000 words, and I started late last night, so… *20 days left, so must go 4/3 times as fast* *4/3 times 1666 words per day*… not too bad so far!
52,000!
Holy cow! Aren’t you going to take a break for editing and fine-tuning?
That was a cakey concept anyways. I use nano as an excuse to write down as many ideas I have and try to flesh them out some.
Are they… Connected at all?
I’d really love to get a transcript of this, if you’re willing. Maybe you could email it to the GAPA, and they could email me?
-A
Yes, the ideas were all fitted together. It just that the story’s awful. I mean awful. It goes to slow in some place and to fast in others.
It’s not getting out of this computer.
Awful? Listen, TMFA, if you’ve written 52,000 words in 10 days, anything more substantial than “apple banana apple banana” ad infinitum is going to be impressive.
By the way, your idea of shapeshifters gave my plot new life. I’m naming an alien commander after you.
Around an even 2k today. Not terrible. I think I’m taking a break now, before getting back to work.
53,000!
Started writing yesterday. 4500 words. Not on Nanowrimo.com yet.
For the record, the site is actually nanowrimo.org.
It doesn’t matter, they own both domains.
Alright… I have nearly reached my personal quota (which is actually yesterday’s because I fell one day behind, but I plan on catching up tomorrow) , but I am suffering from: writer’s block, plot-less-ness, and lack of motivation. if I get a plot going, then I believe the others will go away. I have a kinda’ sorta’ plot, but something about it doesn’t seem like a plot. Please look at my post above for information. Continuing from there, he is now in the cave in which the humans are herded and released, and he discovered that fire causes him pain. he plans on getting to the building that organizes this, but I don’t feel like that is realistic. I can either make it so he gets into the weird head-quarters place, or it can be a big hoax. If it’s a hoax, then I need something else for a plot!!!
Welcome to Week two.
XD
I suppose you’re right. I just have to get through this…
4238! That’s just typing, I have much more in writing! Yay!
I am not allowed to novel until my college applications are completed. This takes way more time than I have left in November. I’m already so behind in my story I’m not sure it’s even worth it to try to sneak writing (I’m not home till 5:30 most days (going to be later soon), and tues/weds/thurs not home till 10) because I’m not allowed to stay up late on the computer. I’m not really even supposed to be on here probably.
I’m really upset I’m not allowed to keep going/can’t keep going, because this really means a lot to me–my main essay for colleges is about Nano. BUt I’m doing so much stuff already I don’t know how to make this work…
Well, if anyone is willing, and it certainly isn’t quite as much fun or nearly as exciting, we could always have a MuNoWriMo in December or January. Museblog Novel Writing Month, that is. Is that silly?
Because I’m in the same boat as Jadestone, and a few other of you as well, I can’t possibly fit in that much writing on top of all my classes and college apps. I’m also a bit lazy of course but I honestly don’t have the time this year, as opposed to all the other years when I didn’t even have a plot.
So…yes? No? Will it just be me? Cause like I said, I’m doing something like this either way…
I could manage it, I guess.
!!! you don’t have to do another one in addition to what you’re already doing! unless you want to, in which case I take my hat off to you
I think it would be fun. I really would hate not writing like this for a year, especially since I always really look forward to it. We could have our own after college stuff has to be sent in to keep us from worrying until we get results back, heh.
I’d do it again. Probably not with as large a goal. My parents aren’t thrilled about my doing this, but they’re willing to let me… Once. I doubt they’d let me again so soon afterwards.
MuNoWriMo set for january, Sounds good?
Check. Just after all the holidays settle down, and hopefully before post-holiday blues set in. Or something. Anyway, I wonder if we can get the GAPAs to make a thread for it? Hopefully, if we get enough people. Maybe the people who gave up NaNo would be willing to try again.
How about February?
I still have college stuff up to halfway through january : /
And I just want to be sure I am rid of all of that for this
If the goal is smaller, sure.
I’d be willing to offer support for the munowrimo if you were to do it. I’m going to be big fun scary adventuring (nanowrimo related set goals and make them in a year challenge), but if every thing works I could write with you.
Current bfs plan:
10 picture books
8 easy readers
6 basic chapter books
4 short stories
2 Scripts
1 novel
9 apps
7 piolets
5 business concepts + implement as much as possible
3 non-fiction books
I’ve had to physically disable my Internet connection, but it worked: I have 17,418 words. I also began a list of possible scenes to insert in my novel before I rach my main climax, and discovered that I really need every single one of them, which means that my novel will probably have to be quite a bit longer than intended…
And I discovered a second inner editor who I’m naming Leila, who’s very old and very fat and wears way too much sparkly blue eyeshadow and lies around on the chaise lounges of my brain smoking cigars and telling me that all of my ideas are terrible in a strong New York accent. She calls me “darling” all the time, and is totally condescending and extremely superior. I really, really dislike Leila. The annoying thing is that if I just tell her to shut up, she sniffs and goes that I can’t make a rational decision because of my age, and she just knows better. It drives me crazy. At least I can tell Jeremy my squirrel editor who nitpicks every word I write that if he isn’t quiet I’ll borrow that cookbook my friend bought, which has six recipes involving squirrel meat. I can’t do anything with Leila.
238- Might actually be better than the current situation. Hopefully would be better, ’cause it couldn’t get a lot worse. I have FIVE THOUSAND WORDS. In TEN DAYS. I don’t even know how many I should have right now, but more than 5000, that’s for sure.
Here, I add another ridiculously overdone meme to your NaNo experience:
What does the scouter say about POSOC’s word count?
Well… you know…
(Isn’t it scanner? Though I was never into that; just watched the video.) I’ll oblige.
It’s over NINE THOOOUSAAAAAAAND.
Ahem.
-A
I’m confused.
The original: http : // ww w. youtube. com/watch? v=SiMHTK15Pik&NR=1
The edited, which I would only start around 1:15 or 1:20: http : // ww w. youtube. com/watch? v=TBtpyeLxVkI
It’s a meme. You don’t really question memes.
And with that, I retreat for the night.
-A
My story is dead, partly because I have HPBs taking over, but… expect the unexpected I guess. I have six thousand-ish words.
Congratulatory Pies!
TMFA
13k. I wanted to catch up today and I’m struggling to get my 1,667… *headdesk* One of these day’s I’ll end up upsetting the vase of flowers.
243-Resistance! Resistance!
My story, on the other hand, is stuck between times. Basically, the main character Julia(1) accidentally blew up a time machine the first time around, killing a few characters and causing her friends to lose the battle (their base blew up. Don’t ask). Now, a few weeks before the incident, she gets abducted by her future self who wants to change the past so that the friends don’t die. Past Julia’s absence is causing things to change, but since all the charcters who could be interesting in the future (including her future self) are dead or working for the HPBs or now hate Julia, I don’t know if I should let her go into the past, or if I should bring both of her into the past, or… ???
What if you introduced another time period, and figured out how to get them all there?
Hmmm… The problem is that before, no-one knows about the HPB threat and there’s a deadline for the time correction. I think that I’ll just add some characters into the future and send one Julia back to the past… I’m contemplating sending the wrong one back, to add to the confusion. Or they both go…
244- Exactly! All the HPBs were eaten by Lime-Green Bowler hats with legs and the dictator Charlie Indigo just obtained a pocket watch.
54000!
I have only about 7000. My book is about the injustice of society and the fact that all government is inherently evil.
55000
TMFA, are you just going to keep writing until the month is over?
Well, yeah. I mean, when you’ve lost the pound you want to loose, you don’t stop exercising, do you?
13095. Getting back to where I’m supposed to be, maybe.
-A
I’ve barely done anything today… I think I finally hit the second week. Grr. Turning off my internet now…
I believe I have just sent three people flying into Jupiter’s orbit! How, er… homicidal of me! Also, they are being sold as slaves to glowing amphibious fish-monkeys. My NaNo is completely unrelated to my NaNo. (Sorry if that doesn’t make sense, it is what it is.)
I’m about a day behind, but I can’t write much more. I’ve been cheating like mad, though (shh). ‘Find and replace’ is my new best friend.
My original plot had no antagonist, so it was quickly dropped. However, I don’t know where my new plot is going.
How are you cheating?
And why is Find and Replace your best friend?
Happy Veteran’s Day! I wrote 4K today and am now at 22,796.
However, 1,890 of that is a scene completely based around the Green Day song “Viva La Gloria!” in which my characters basically repeat the lyrics of the song, with lots of other dialogue, philosophy, and description. I think that this might be turning into the novel version of an opera. Which weirds me out nearly as much as my Inner Editors.
In any case, I’m two days ahead of schedule, which is never something I’d ever feel justified in complaining about. So good luck all!
14k. Way behind, and still catching up from yesterday’s ‘goal’. A.K.A, what I had to do yesterday in order to stay somewhat on target. Ungh.
I only hit 10,000 yesterday. I’ve really got to get in gear and use Write Or Die more.
11k.
My eyeballs hurt.
56,000. meh.
Goodness gracious. I am slightly overwhelmed by all this success! Come on everyone…you can do it! EVEN Keiffer the Starter-Over!!! Congratulations everyone!
I think I might quit…I haven’t written in two days because I hit a notreallydeadend and it’s hard to work out of it, I just can’t force myself to write.
I just totally wrote 1000 words in 45 minutes (maybe more?)… *dances* *looks back at screen* *writes*
57,000
60,000!
You’ve already beat the goal. Please stop and stop making me want to die.
You quit, didn’t you?
Okay so MuNoWriMo sounds like it can be in February, then? That sounds good to me. I have finals/midterms in mid-January so that’s probably a good idea. Is that cool with everyone else?
For the word count, I think people can set their own goals but you will have to post them in the beginning so you can be held accountable (and so there’s the same atmosphere of hopelessness…:lol: )
I myself am going to try to go for 50,000 words at that point but I think it can be much looser and people can do what they want etc
What is Write or Die? What is MuNaNoWriIMo?
Write or Die is an online/downloadable app that helps motivate you to write faster.
MuNoWriMo is Museblog Novel Writing Month, a new idea created for the people who want to do NaNo, but are busy this month. It’s planned for February.
Maybe I’ll use that time to finish what I start in November and will edit in December and January.
Probably a good time to finish up my story if I can’t this month.
Did my post from earlier get rejected by the spam filter?
-A
Or, rather, did it get accepted by the spam filter and thus rejected by the site?
-A
I have come to an amazing pass. Having decided that I was going to fail no matter what and that I didn’t really like NaNoWriMo anyway and I wanted to write a story about a post-apocalyptic world with a traveling theater troupe and a man named Compass and a woman named Trout and goodness knows what else, I didn’t even bother to open the document for days. (This decision was aided by the fact that I was at the school from 7:30 AM to 9:30 PM.) And know I find myself opening the document, not to catch up on word count, but because I actually want to write the story. A NaNo story that lives beyond NaNo! Yay!
247- Sounds cheery!
Haven’t done anything today. I probably should start writing, like, now. Must check out write or die.
259- Calloo callay! What a frabjous day! Somone who is having the same problems I am!
Reached 20k. “Only” 5k behind even thought I didn’t write Thursday- Saturday. *headdesk* Someone tell me I’m not crazy…
Better than I am. I’m ‘only’ 7k behind. I need to get some serious writing in, but I keep losing ground, not gaining it…
I just read Neil Gaiman and Phillp Pullman’s pep talks, and now I feel like I can do it, but it’s going to be freaking hard. (Sorry for the unproper-grammar-sentence-lengthening)
I haven’t been writing more than 100 words a day the past while. I think I’m losing motivation. This is sad.
Losing motivation?!
I guess I’ll just have to bother you in school
Whoa, the last time I commented was only Wednesday? Seems longer.
I have advanced to 30K and am beginning to actually enjoy writing the story. Not enjoy the fact that I am writing a story, or enjoy the fact that I get to worldbuild (I’m not worldbuilding, as my world is pretty much like our own) and do character charts (I’m not doing that either) and plot out my plot step by step (oh god, no, that would take forever and kill the fluidity of it). I am actually enjoying the opportunity to sit down in a comfortable place with some tea and tortilla chips and hang out with my characters for a while. I want to continue doing this. And I get to. This makes me happy.
Also, my family has not gotten to the “Cat’s Eye, we never see you any more, you don’t need to spend all your time on this novel, do your homework, get out in the fresh air, stop writing for just a day” point yet, which is nice as well. But it’s probably only a matter of time.
This novel will probably have to be extended past 50K, as the bit where my main characters participate in some riots should take up about a third of it, they have seven days left until the riots begin, and I plan to describe each of those days normally so that my reader is completely unprepared when…
Eh, if I ever clean this novel up enough that I send it to the GAPAs I don’t want to ruin the surprise. But what’s going to happen in seven novel days is going to change the course of all of my characters’ lives, set two of them up to die heroically, and change the world forever for better or worse. (I wrote the last three paragraphs of the novel yesterday, so if my book was a day I’ve got midnight to about 2:30 PM and then a big blank until roughly thirty seconds before midnight.) It’ll be great!
I’m losing motivation too. I’m not going to finish, I know. I have learned about myself, and got quite a bit done on my wonderful story, and even if I quit now, I will be thrilled with my experience.
Next time, though, I’m writing in a non-medieval time setting. Just so I can use all those delightful dares. Anyway, that does not concern this place, time, and generally is distracting me. Bye.
No! Don’t give up so early! Miracles happen! You can’t give up now; it’s a challenge and you know you can win!
I’m not giving up. I think I explained below. I won’t win, unless wonderful things happen over thanksgiving break. But I’ll try to win, and I’m not stopping. If dedication can win it, I already have. I’m sticking to it. I started this, and I won’t flunk out like I did for Screnzy.
That was a disaster waiting to happen. I was working on it with my sister, and I’d pretty much only write when she was around. Besides, we had set our goal very low.
Anyway, back to work now.
w00t! 37k!
It’s so sad that my parents won’t let me on for more than two hours a day.
Or else I would have more.
I’m liking my story more and more, and I want to WRITE! I rather enjoy my plot(even though my plot makes just about everyone end up dead) and my characters. Yay.
The second person has died. Joy. 11 more to go.
Don’t worry, in my story several people die, and it’s not a particularly happy ending either. Welcome back!
I don’t have any deaths yet… And I only have one person who really could die without messing up my plan… This book won’t stand alone, see. It’s probably going to be a series. If I can think of enough plot to cover the entire series. I’m ridiculously close to running out of my current plot, and I haven’t even hit 25k. Fortunately, I have a backup plan that hopefully will take me through 50k. If I ever get to the point I have to worry about it.
No, I’m not giving up. I’m writing as much as I possibly can on a story I really love, and if I don’t make 50k, that’s a shame, life goes on.
Thank you! At least I know I’m not the only one going around and killing most of my characters.
42k! Yay!
I hit 20k!
Don’t tell me I’m late. Don’t tell me I needed to be at 26k. I know.
I’m off to take a break and eat.
65000!
Why do I feel behind?
Behind?!
68000!
I dare you to get to ninety-nine thousand by the end of the month.
(And once you’re there, you might as well write a thousand more. I mean, why not, at that point?)
-A
Dare taken.
25k!
Personal goal for today 26k, more if I can. I’m not sure if I’ll catch up at this rate though, even if next week is thanksgiving break… *worries*
I badly want to finish.
I’m pretty much finished with my original plot. Fortunately, I found a smooth way to lead to the next plot-ish-thing. Actually, I’m not completely sure about the plot any more. And I’m concerned about clichés. Urgh. Must. Keep. Writing.
Keep going! You can do it!
18000! Need. To. Write. More.
Alright…. After 1300 words today I get an ice cream sandwich, and then another three hundred for a cookie. Crap. My friend wants me to go to youth group…. I have so much to do… I won’t be on for the rest of the day. *shrugs*
Okay… Well, the novel’s not going so well, but I am starting to be thinking about getting near to getting close to getting back on track.
19837 words. And it was around 18300 this morning. I feel a little good about myself.
A friend and I are engaged in an epic word battle. While that’s fun and all… I need someone who writes at my pace. If anyone who writes around 250 words in a five-minute sprint wants to find me on the site and challenge me, that would be wonderful… If possible, with no information. So a challenge that, once completed, will end in you challenging me.
I am so tired. This is not funny. That last paragr- I mean, none of this is making sense.
Blah blah blah blah blah. Ooh, five more words!
-A
73,000!
75,000!
I have discovered, (with some help from a more math-enthusiastic Dad) that if I type two thousand words a day, I will finish by the end of the month. I’ve been doing that anyway, so I’m happy. (I prefer typing two thousand to 1667, even if I weren’t behind. It’s so much more even, and doesn’t leap around.)
Anyway, off to work.
My novel’s coming well. The semi-major plot twist has happened, and the second major one has been set up. I need twenty four thousand words of traveling, and I’m good.
I have discovered, (with some help from a more math-enthusiastic Dad) that if I type two thousand words a day, I will finish by the end of the month. I’ve been doing that anyway, so I’m happy. (I prefer typing two thousand to 1667, even if I weren’t behind. It’s so much more even, and doesn’t leap around.)
Anyway, off to work.
My novel’s coming well. The semi-major plot twist has happened, and the second major one has been set up. I need twenty four thousand words of traveling, and I’m good.
Rereading that, it makes little to no sense. I’m going somewhere else now… Hope my novel makes more sense then that….
My NaNo is even more dead than… Mr. Joe will be when I get my hands on him. *goes to find Mr. Joe*
Energy, fire and love behind novel premise is dead. However, have reached 38K & progress report says I will finish by the 28th. Have realized that my plot will take much, much longer than that, like somewhere around 85K. May finish in December. Family is, for some reason, allowing me to drag my laptop down to SoCal for Thanksgiving Break for homework purposes. Do not plan to use laptop for homework purposes. Draw your own conclusions.
25k. Okay, I’m officially 10k words behind. Someone tell me I’m not insane. But my characters are getting quite independent. I just wanted my character to meet some people and now there’s a big revolution going on. Oh well.
Revolution? XD
26k. No-one else is posting so I might as well go ahead.
27k. I want to make 30k by the end of today…
Good luck!
31k. Need to type at least 1,400 words today, since a) I need to type two thousand words a day to catch up, and b) I’ve built up a six-hundred word buffer over the past few days. It’s Saturday, I keep getting distracted, and I have all sorts of other worries.
Anyway, I just checked, and discovered I’d already typed five hundred words. At least nine hundred more to go, but I would really rather get all two thousand today. Internet is not helping. Neither is my brother’s birthday party… Going back to writing now. Hopefully.
I am so far behind it’s pretty much useless to hope to make it to 50k. I think I’ll slow down and write better now…
30,5k. Just made it. I’ve written almost 9k today- my record so far. Another major writing day and I’ll have caught up. The only “problem” is that my characters tend to do crazy things- one started a rebellion, the other flipped out and betrayed everyone in the past and the third shot the one who betrayed everyone. Don’t ask.
292- Isn’t it bad luck to say that? Just sit down and write. Miracles happen.
If I just wrote 9k (more or less) coherent words in a single day then this has to be true!
I’m finally finished with 50k! Now I’m at 51k and I feel so accomplished(because this is my first personal goal that actually worked out to some extent!)
w00t! *dances around*
Now I’m going to hang around, write more if I feel like it, and act happy. I promised myself that I would jump around and scream when i finish, but it seems a bit too late for that…
I think my story will take a lot longer than 50k. I’m not near the climax. i still need to kill… what… 11 more people? I guess they’ll end up throwing sharp things at each other(or themselves) again. Sigh.
293- 9k in a day?!
Good job! (the most I’ve ever got was less than 4k in a day…)
My main problem is that I have no time at all to write on Tuesdays and Thursdays and only very little on the other school days, so I have to write as much as I can to catch up. Congrats on getting to 51k !
Thank you.
*goes back to type more*
32k. Met my goal yesterday.
)
My main characters are developing talents I knew nothing about… Well, just one of them really. It’s amazing.
And I’m out of practice using contractions, because in a desperate act of ‘I need more words’ one time, I decided she didn’t use them. I haven’t gone back through and fixed all the ones that came before I decided yet though… *ahem* Back to writing. I tend to ramble too much.
And I’m rather worried about whether my plot is going to get me to 50k. After all, I’m rather close to the Ultimate Goal, and I still need 18k more. (Is that all?
-*CTN*- — CONGRATS ON THE %!K! (51k!) ((Had the caps lock key on))
Any way, I quit on my novel, but I just found a way to revive it! (Well, actually, MB told me how… I’m not CRAZY!)
Write People Write! Write People Write! Write People Write! Write People Write! Write People Write! Write People Write! Write People Write! Write People Write! Write People Write! Write People Write! Write People Write! Write People Write! Write People Write! Write People Write! Write People Write! Write People Write! Write People Write! Write People Write! Write People Write! Write People Write! Write People Write! Write People Write! Write People Write! Write People Write! Write People Write! Write People Write! Write People Write!
79,000!
I need to quit poking around on the internet and write . I should actually try to finish the story at least up to the climax…
(If you’re reading this and you’re supposed to be NaNoing, GO WRITE INSTEAD OF POKING AROUND)
82,000!
No comment.
*whew* That was close. I had no enthusiasm for the story all day, had not much time to write, (Yeah, right. I had plenty, and spent it all procrastinating.) and generally got very little done. I’ve been frantically working, trying to get to my goal, and I had absolutely no enthusiasm. As mentioned.
Anyway, after quite a bit of staring at the screen glaring, I finally jumped past some boring scenes, and got to something interesting. Which gave me enough enthusiasm to write some more.
I used up all of my ‘ahead’-ness today, though. Which means I wrote about 1300 words. Blegh. Fortunately, I can write later than usual! For the rest of the month, at least! Long story, by the way. I’m trying not to ramble. And failing. Ugh. Anyway, off to update my word count.
300- Same here for yesterday. I had to study for history and I went to the party…
Now I’m at 32,5k. Want to make 35k today. Need. To. Write. Now. *headdesk*
Okay, forget that. I have reached a point where I never, ever want to see hide or hair of my story, or any one of the keywords, or a textedit window ever, ever again. I think it´s time for a break.
You can do it! I have faith in you! Take that break, then come back and write something! Skip ahead if you have to! Write about a book one of your characters reads! You’ve come too far to give up now!
33k. Hands hurt. Characters are in the middle of a battle, so reading doesn’t work, unless… Thanks, Errata, you’re a genius!
You’re welcome.
And thanks.
My main character has just developed an affinity for practical jokes. She’s had a kinda wicked sense of humor for a while, but it just took a new turn. It’s getting me more words and getting me interested in writing, so I’m not complaining.
My near-crisis last night was repeated today… All sorts of fun.
35k. I did it!!! I’ve developed a battle plan:
Tomorrow:
1k
The next day:
at least 3k.
Thursday:
1k (long school day)
Friday:
2k
Saturday:
5k
Sunday:
3k
Monday:
Catching up on whatever I didn’t make.
Yay!
I’m still working on 2k. I’m just above 35k. I need another thousand. Grr.
You can do it!
*cheers on enthusiastically*
I should quit lurking around and do some of my own work.
*headpalm*
84,000!
44,452 words and my plot is finally in action and will probably take less words than I thought! Which is a good thing because my parents have been “subtly” hinting that they want me to be done with my novel and have a real life again. I am enjoying the looks on people’s faces when I tell them I have 44K and they go “Um, cool… how many pages is that?” and I go “75” and watch their mouths drop open, then add “single-spaced.”
Unfortunately, two of my friends really want to read the novel when it’s done because I told them the antagonists are the people who play horrible music and think that being ridiculously preppy is so cool in our dance class, or parallel-universe versions of them. The problem with this is that my novel is so utterly weird that I am probably the only person who would like it. (And I do like it, a lot, which makes me completely unwilling to change the plot.) I may write a completely new cleaned-up version for my friends and family to read and keep the real one for myself.
303- I’m debating whether to let my friends see or not. I’ll probably solve this by letting my family see it, but not my friends. As yet, the only people who have read even a part of it are myself, my sister, my closest friend, and my cousins.
Anyway, I’m debating wether I can make a string of fights and the climax go on for fourteen thousand words. I’m not sure if I can… But I can’t keep up enthusiasm for walking much longer either.
guys i’m really frightened. i only have 18k words
giving up is not an option here, and failing would be depressing. i’ve won three years in a row, i don’t want to lose now!
basically…i’m going to shut myself in over thanksgiving and write. hopefully that will work? i don’t think i’ve ever been this far behind
i also have to work from 4-10 monday and have classes before that, which gives me only 2 hours of last-minute desperate effort
A woman in my first NaNo group caught up that much or more in three days, so it’s not impossible.
Ebeth? But I thought you had officially left…
305.02? we have .02 posts now?-I had, but there’s no better place for NaNoDespair than the museblog. especially now that they took the nano chat room off the website
consider it a guest appearance
305.01- :O wow. i am impressed.
i figured that i have to do about 5k a day from now until the end of the month (slightly less because i’m hoping to get another thousand words at least in tonight) which is totally possible, especially considering i have a slightly longer break this year (i get off after my last class tomorrow, which is at 2:30 and then i don’t come back until monday)
wow i definitely just went back to writing and forgot to actually post this. so i guess that’s a good sign?
next time i procrastinate though, i’m going to do it by reading all your summaries. bwahaha.
Hi, Ebeth! You can do it! I know you can! Just keep writing!
I just “officially” won!
Congrats!
So did I! XD
49,232. I’m sort of scared. I don’t want my story to end.
Almost 37k, and majorly distracted. Leaving now.
50,002.
*Claps*
Good Job Cat’s Eye!
3 early wins!
Congrats! Good job!
*claps enthusiastically*
Okay, I’m at 38,2k. I just need 0,8k more to make my daily goal, according to “muhahaha” the plan:
Today:
get to 39k
Thursday:
40k
Friday:
42k
Saturday:
47k (I go on writing binges on Sat.)
Sunday:
50k
Monday:
Catching up on whatever I didn’t make (that’s not pessimism, it’s realism).
I need to be at 40k today. Not making much progress… Grr. We’re packing up for a long drive in the car now though, so I hope I’ll be able to do quite a bit then.
*sigh* I’m really hoping to win this year, but if I don’t get more enthusiasm soon, I might not. I’ve been doing okay, though.
*gives enthusiasm*
YOU CAN DO IT!
I mean, I started the month with a goal of 20,000 words. All you need is enthusiasm. Think: you’re going to make yourself happy! You’re so close to finishing!
*throws more enthusiasm then runs off to type*
312- Yes you can! Throw that stupid word count daily goal out the window and write when you can. My plan has really helped me so far; because that way, I know how much I need to write and I don’t feel that I have to much to do. Take thursdays; I’ve got school 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. , with only a 50 min break to eat and study in between. When I get home, I’m kaputt. That´s when I have to drag myself off the carpet and do homework and study for the test on Friday, at which point I’m already a vegetable. That´s when I’m supposed to sit down to write 1667 words- that´s 1 1/2 hours at a good speed, almost three otherwise. No way. So I write 1k and 5k on the weekend. You can make it!
92,000.
Meh.
I am SO behind…
95,000.
Much meh.
316- Where’s the ‘meh’ in that?
41.5k. Not too bad. Another five hundred tonight. I’ve allowed myself to get to the climax. I’m debating, when I finish much before 50k, (I’ll try not to, but I will.) whether I’m going to go back and start rewriting the same story as a Sci-Fi, (Which would be rather fun, actually…) or start on the next book, or maybe go back and write some history for the world. Any input?
I have more enthusiasm, but I’m still mostly out of momentum. Having a hard time keeping focused.
Speaking, I need to go write. Bye.
I probably won’t make it. I’ll try, though. I have about 39,000.
318- You can do it! I know you can! What else is Thanksgiving break for?
*enthusiasm pies*
Got all the words I needed today. And the potential for quite a few more. I am happy. My new character is fun to write. Even if he is evil. I’m rather glad he has to stick around for the entire proposed series.
Off to update my word count now.
Why are all my posts extremely random and disconnected? Especially on this thread…
I just rocketed all of my characters (only 3 people) into Jupiter’s orbit, and they all died. Debating whether or not I should make the story really confusing (aka: coming from, like, the sun’s point of view or something) or quitting.
Ok, I know I barely exist on MB nowadays, but I wanted to come back one more time (I almost said “one last time…” but no, I don’t think you’ll ever truly get rid of me
) to say that I got my novel validated last night. This was the first time I’d participated in NaNo, and I was being encouraged by various people, but I really don’t think I ever would have agreed to do it had the idea not been sitting in my brain for 3 years, when I first heard about it from MB. So, combining that with Thanksgivinginess (It’s still Thanksgiving as long as there are leftovers! And anyway, yesterday I had over 8000 words to write and wasn’t doing much else), I wanted to thank MuseBlog for that and everything else.
*throws a few duckweed pies and self-consciously slips back out of the musiverse*
Congratulations! And thanks for stopping by. It’s great to hear from you.
COMING IN FOR THE FINAL STRETCH, EVERYONE, I’M VERY PROUD OF YOU!
Wow great job everyone! Congrats to those of you who have made it, and you can do it! to those of you who aren’t there yet. Write write write!
Alright, if I don’t complete my NaNo by the deadline, I’ll definitely finish next month. Whether or not I do it in a month, I will be a novelist!
My plot is ending six thousand words too early.
I can probably stretch resolution another thousand words, if I work at it.
Actually, I went back and thought, and it turns out I have quite a bit more wrapping up to do than I thought. Probably not six thousand words’ worth, but we’ll see.
Maybe you could write an epilogue.
I might. I have several plans for how to continue on, though only one of them really continues the story.
97,000.
Okay, behind even on my plan. On to the writing sprint; knowing myself, I need 5k words today to make this work. Of course, 9k like last saturday would be a pwnsome early win, but I mustn’t get to hopeful… Avanti, avanti!
About 40,300… I’ll never make it
Don’t give up,
FluffyFishy! [Fluffy? What’s wrong with me?! :lol:]Harry Potter on the brain?
YES YOU WILL! There’s still three days left!
*throws enthusiasm*
Don’t give up! You’re already 40,300 words into the story! That’s a lot (more than most of the people at our school). YOU CAN DO IT!
Ahem. I’m a bit over-enthusiastic myself…
Ah well.
*pies*
*runs off*
328- Yes you can!
Did my 5k. Am now at 45k (OMG, I still can’t believe I’ve written so much!) and now only need 5k to win.
What kept me writing was a song from katy perry. I still can’t believe it.
And I finally got “gives you hell” out of my head- ahh, NO! BAD RADIO! This is hopeless… Why does the radio have to play that song now!
Hi!
I’m still alive!
I’m close to 31,000 words. I have to get to 40,000 today to have the slightest chance.
For the record, all of the characters are on board an enormous spaceship and chasing each other around. The object is still a little vague, but they’re mostly trying to gain control of the ship (except for the bad guys, who are doing their best to… well, I’m not going to post a full plot summary here.
Incidentally… assume a spacecraft accelerating at a little less than 1 G, starting at a point somewhere between the orbits of Earth and Mars. How long will it take to reach Earth? Yes, I know this is vague, I’m just looking for ballpark figures.
Anyway, my “purist” status is long gone. Still no venting chapters, but I have added long passages only vaguely related to the story. I’m in mid-(long, detailed cast of characters)-list right now. Toodles!
46k. Will be posting a countdown from now on; something to look forwards too. I just noticed that I’m starting the 42 “chapter”*. I better make this one good…
*kinda to short to be a chapter. I just call it that when I switch from different point of view.
47k!
48k!
49k! *hyperventilates*
Go, go, go! You can do it!
*pies with encouragement*
Hmmm… what’s today’s date? I hope NaNoWriMo doesn’t end tomorrow. I still haven’t caught up from a week of quitting.
1k more! Go! Go! Go! You can do it bookgirl_me!!!!!
Wow, Bookgirl, you’re amazingly close.
I’m going to be the last MBer to finish, aren’t I.
I might finish today. If I can keep away from MB. And type four thousand, five hundred in one day. Which would be a record for me, I think.
Stranger things have happened, though, and I’ll definitely try. Might take out my airport card, as extra incentive… Maybe.
In any case, I’m at 46.8k. Typed about 1.2k already today. I got behind yesterday… Need to be at 48k.
332- Actually, it does. Sorry about that. Work hard! You can do it!
YAY!!!!! I FINISHED!!!!! 75,079 WORDS IN ALL!!!!!!
(Sorry about the caps. *happyhappyhappyhappyhappyhappyhappy*)
SFTDP- I hereby give encouragement pies to everyone who has not finished their NaNos, and may you enjoy eating them.
98k. 1k more, then another 1k.
/gradster(1)/, I’m almost done with your dare.
99k!
1k left…
500 left…
250 left…
100,000!
102,000
And Part 1 of Epic is done.
From the big bang to the supposed birth of jesus
Yay! Good job!
*congratulates*
And you finished the dare
I always try to finish what I start.
Double congratulatory pies to you!
Next year are you going to try a triple NaNo? *dare*
68K and only one scene left to write in my novel! Thank you, epic Thanksgiving Break, even if my parents did seem to assume that once I had hit 50K my novel wasn’t worth continuing, and every time our extended family went out and did something my grandmother persistently peppered me with “You should put this in your book! You should put this in your book! You should put this in your book!”
Good luck, everybody!
SFTDP, but I’m done. First novel I’ve ever finished. Total word count: 69,977. Total pages when in Times New Roman single-spaced: 118. total pages when in Courier New double-spaced, as most typical manuscripts are when sent to publishers: 322. Total cups of caffeine consumed: 1, if you don’t count Coke. Total times my cat attacked me because she wanted me to play with her and not the laptop: 3 or 4. Total days taken: 29. Total amount of gross happiness: unfathomable.
How are everyone else’s stats?
My word count is now above 39,000 due to a shameless tactic which I shall choose to call “scrambled egg lists.” Don’t ask. Please.
Tomorrow is a school day. I shall tell B, the only other person I know who is doing NaNo, of my misadventures, and laugh at her low word count/be envious (not jealous, Robert) of her high word count. Then I shall come home and do homework of incredibly low quality before sitting down to write 10,000 or so words of utter drivel. Wish me luck!
All in a day’s work.
I couldn’t have put it better. I’m now at 40,000.
Type on, mon capitaine! Pure stream-of-consciousness sounds like a good policy at this point.
Essentially, since my plot is more full of holes than a Swiss cheese, I’ve been doing stream-of-consciousness brainstorming to actually fill out this half-baked setting populated with half-baked characters. Anyway, I’m going to bed soon, so that I’m not a NaNoWriZo tomorrow.
I really want to edit this … But I have several other things I am working on, and I only have so much paper and ink.
POSOC:win.
I have 48k now. And I think the remainder of my plot is going to last about two thousand words. Which would be amazing.
I’m really excited. I’ve never ever finished a story before. Well, one story that was originally a short story, until I kept working on it. But I’m amazingly close to finishing this one, actually being at the point where I could type ‘the end’, if I wanted. I’ve typed nearly six times my previous longest story, created a text file bigger than anything else I have on my computer, and nearly finished the story I love. I’ve also learned quite a bit about myself. Deadlines motivate me. Wordcounts motivate me. Now, if I can continue to do this, I can get massive amounts of story written.
I’m thrilled. Even if something terrible happens, and I don’t finish, and I’m left with forty eight thousand words when I wanted fifty, this entire thing will be worth it. Totally worth it.
Yes you can finish!
It was the first time I finished a story as well. The end was… weird. I’m thinking of writing a sequel sometime, since I still have some ideas that didn’t make it in. There are now two parallel possible times, with more-or-less the same people in them, only a five-year gap. I can’t believe I did this. Now I just have to write a “Why you can’t read my NaNo” essay. I’ve just realized that I love writing. It’s much more socially accepted to talking to yourself and much more productive. *heads off to BiP*
49k… Just one more thousand…
Actually, this is something like a record. It’s a thousand in an hour and fifteen minutes. Actually slightly less. More like fifty five minutes. Wow. I didn’t know I was capable of typing that fast. No, that’s not true. I’m capable of typing at twice that speed. I didn’t know I was capable of writing at that speed.
About three hundred more words to write.
My conclusion is going to end up coming out over fifty thousand. I’m okay with that.
I’m hoping I can be done before the rest of my family comes downstairs. They’re still asleep. I think.
Ooh, just about now is when I always start to regret that I dropped out… Could I have finished? We will never know…
Not that I have many regrets this year. I was perfectly and legitimately Way Too Busy, and I write slowly.
Anyway, congratulations to those who’ve finished (you astound me) and good luck to those who haven’t yet!
I finished!!!!!!
Yay!!!
*extreme happiness*
*congratulatory pies*
Good job!!!!!!!!!
:!::!::!::!::!::!::!:
Congrats to everyone who’s finished!
To those of you on your way, gogogo! You can do it!
OK, I’m finally done with all my homework. I’m going in.
*salutes*
CONGRATULATIONS to all NaNoWriMo winners! And to all participants, in general. It’s a huge accomplishment.
I really hope I can do it next year! All of this excitement is making me remember how much fun it is.
4 more hours in this part of the country.
I might try to get 1k more or so.
I’ll be back.
103k.
You write insanely quickly.
I didn’t win… Oh well, I’ll finish in December.
Yay. I won. (I would be celebrating more, but I’m wicked tired. So, Hooray!!!!!!!!!)
Congratsulations!
I’m approaching 43,000, and I badly need ideas for filler. Help? Please?
You’ve probably already thought about this, but — dream sequence?
Nobody is really capable of sleeping right now. But that might actually help.
Write about hallucinations due to sleep deprivation? They actually happen… (Don’t ask how I know that.)
Have characters sing entire songs which you can just copy-paste from the internet. If that’s too cheatingish for you, characters ranting at each other for a long time can also be good for word count.
What about taking everything you’ve written here and sticking it in a chapter called SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION, or, The Author really really desperately needs more words and so is going to copy and paste everything he may have written during the month (everything that he can find, anyway) into the end of the novel and call it “SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION, or, The Author really really desperately needs more words and so is going to copy and paste everything he may have written during the month (everything that he can find, anyway) into the end of the novel and call it ‘SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION, or, The Author really really desperately needs more words and so is going to copy and paste everything he may have written during the month (everything that he can find, anyway) into the end of the novel and call it “SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION, or, The Author really really desperately needs more words and so is going to copy and paste everything he may have written during the month (everything that he can find, anyway) into the end of the novel and call it SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION, or, The Author really really desperately needs more words and so is going to copy and paste everything he may have written during the month (everything that he can find, anyway) into the end of the novel and call it…”‘”
Repeat ad nauseum.
Congratulations to everyone who made 50,000 words!
Congratulations also to everyone who didn’t. I admire you all for trying; I’ve never even attempted.
I just realized that Quentin Tarantino’s famous masterpiece, Pulp Fiction, seems a lot like it was written during NaNoWriMo (or possibly Script Frenzy):
Characters going into long-winded, verbose conversations that have little to do with the plot? Check.
Chronology skipping around, as if the author were in a hurry to get to the interesting parts? Check.
Random stuff happening that completely changes the direction of the plot and makes it more exciting (Marvin getting shot, Jules’s sudden religious epiphany, etc)? Check.
Lots of characters that interlock with each other’s lives improbably? Check.
Loose ends left at the end of the story? Check (what is in that suitcase?).
Gack. Won with 20 minutes to spare. School tomorrow is going to be hell. Cake, was that the first thing I thought about? Man, I’m a little too singleminded. How about this:
I WON!!!!!!!
263- Congrats!
I lost at 43,674. But I’m going to keep writing because I like my story. Congratulations to all who won!
Do we get a thread for editing? Or is no one going to edit theirs but me?
I am. BiP works, though.
btw i won in case anyone was wondering. i wrote 15000 words on the last day. it was a little insane.
Congratulations, Ebeth!
Congrats!
For those who were wondering, I won, after pulling three at-least-eight-thousand-word-days in a row, with two hours to spare. I’m immensely proud of myself on the last day – I sat down and wrote a full seven thousand words plus in about four hours, and I’d never during the whole month nor ever during my entire life had the discipline to do that.
(Come to think of it, NaNoWriMo has been good for my habits period – I’m actually considering doing homework outside of school now. I should go do some after this comment.)
Two graphs. The first from the NaNolyser:
I don’t think it really accurately represents how much I did in the last three days. Also perhaps because occasionally I wasn’t able to update my count before midnight, so it skipped to the next day.
The second from the site itself:
Actually gives you a better impression of how I wrote, even though it’s smaller and less detailed. How I wrote: Got excited at the beginning and stuck with the word count, but slowly got bored and petered out, writing and updating only occasionally. The glamour wore off. I made a fairly heroic attempt at day ten to catch up, but after that I really just stopped until Thanksgiving break, where I halfheartedly wrote a bit. As Thanksgiving break wore on, I realised two things: How deep the **** I was in was and that I had promised myself I would finish this.
With that promise in mind, and repeating as a mantra that I do not break promises I make to myself, in the last three days – give or take five thousand words or so beforehand – I wrote a grand total of over thirty thousand words.
It was a huge accomplishment for me, and one that’s changed my life considerably.
I’m doing it again.
-A
Okay, I’m editing the monster, and I feel like hitting myself over the head with a heavy object. I have tons of themes, but I didn’t describe a thing! I don’t even know what my main character looks like anymore. *headdesk*
By the time I turn this into something that people other than me can read and understand, I’ll probably have a double NaNo. *needs to add extra chapters* And I was trying to bolster it to squeeze out extra words!
I just wanted to mention that I now have a chapter 9 3/4 XD. You don’t want to know.