One month left, and I've signed up for the first time ever. A few random concepts floating around in my head, but no real plot. Which I believe is normal. Quite nervous, and not at all sure if I can do the whole "just keep writing" thing. (And I don't drink coffee.)

In any event, all discussion for National Novel Writing Month 2009 goes here. Unless this should go in Yack Fest.

I tried this last year and failed miserably. I think the key is to pace yourself more than anything.

I'm going to try again this year. Once I start planning a bit of my story, I'll post it.

I know that thing, I hated it. It's about quantity, but I'm one for quality, so I silently dropped out.

I think I'll try.

I have something that might work as a novel... what the hell.

In case you're ignorant like me, it's in November. Official site. What's the advantage of signing up?

@Trope Kira: Write like mad, edit later.

edited 29th Sep '09 8:10:25 PM by Tzetze

Hell no, I'm a very story-heavy bastard and refuse to just put words on paper and fix it in post.

Er... all writers go back and revise their work. You can't possibly expect to write perfectly on your first try.

The point of NaNoWriMo is just to write. People tend to complain about "Writer's Block" (points at board title), but being "forced" even if by this silly challenge is often enough to get working. Editing and revision come later, after the initial burst of energy.

edited 29th Sep '09 8:17:09 PM by Tzetze

If you sign up you can (a) put your word count on there, and (b) talk in their forums. That's basically it. Oh, and get notified about stuff in your area, e.g. writing meets and the like.

I'm doing it this year. I have a truckload of plot and character ideas bouncing around in my head.

@Trope Kira: I think the point is that many of us (and I'll count myself in this number) get so perfectionist and self-doubting and feeling that every sentence we write has to be perfect that we strangle our stories at birth, every time.

Part of the point of Na No is to learn how perfect is the enemy of good, that you don't learn to write a novel by killing yourself over the perfect first chapter again and again, and that you'll amaze yourself at what you manage to produce if you can turn off the urge to edit instead of write for a while. That the place to be an editor is after you have a first draft, and if you block yourself from ever finishing a first draft you'll never get there.

(edit) and the thing is, setting goals is very good at getting writing out of us. Especially public goals like this. Without that, the force driving you forward can be less powerful than the forces of self-doubt and self-hate holding us back.

I've been pointing people towards TV Tropes for their planning stages; it's a great place to think about plots and devices and characters at that point. Just so long as you can then stop reading it when you should be writing ;)

edited 29th Sep '09 8:21:32 PM by Morven

It's not that I'm a perfectionist, I just believe more in the what the words say than how many there are. I submitted a poem to a contest months ago, and in July I was told that not only was I in the contest, but that I was also going to be put in a published collection. This was a poem I did for Expository Writing and was one of the only few I really put effort into.

Well, obviously. The word count thing is just to get you to keep working.

Maybe you're just naturally more of a short-form writer. Which is fine.

However, if you're a novelist or want to be, you have to learn how to produce quantity, too. The 50, 000 words of Na No is only novella length; modern novels are more in the 100-200 thousand word range if I remember correctly. Doorstoppers and ologies of course are even longer.

I could probably write. I don't like to. So I don't.

Heh, then you're guaranteed to have more free time in November than I. ;)

I'm a bit curious to how this works (I'm joining this for the first time)

This is what I understand so fat: — You write a novel-length story of 50, 000 words, starting anytime time before November 31, then you upload onto the site afterward to have it auto-checked for the word count. If you did make the word count, then you're winner.

- Could a WIP fanfiction be suitable for submitting to the site? - Could you start writing before November 1 and have it count? - Is outside help allowed?

" When and how do I start writing? Do I have to write my novel on your site?

You begin writing at 12:00:01 AM local time on November 1. You write your novel off-line, on whatever word processor you like. If you write 50, 000 words or more, you upload the manuscript to our site between November 25 and November 30 for word-count verification to win."

and

" Do I have to start my novel from scratch on November 1? Can I use an outline?

Yes.

This sounds like a dumb, arbitrary rule, we know. But bringing a half-finished manuscript into Na No Wri Mo all but guarantees a miserable month. You'll care about the characters and story too much to write with the gleeful, anything-goes approach that makes Na No Wri Mo such a creative rush. Give yourself the gift of a clean slate, and you'll tap into realms of imagination and intuition that are out-of-reach when working on pre-existing manuscripts.

Outlines and plot notes are very much encouraged, and can be started months ahead of the actual novel-writing adventure. Previously written prose, though, is punishable by death."

So WIP's don't count and you can't start before November 1st and have it count.

"Can I share writing duties with a partner?

No. But we would like to take this opportunity to plug our Script Frenzy event. Script Frenzy participants write a 100-page stage play or screenplay in April, and for Script Frenzy you are welcome to work with a partner. "

So, no, you can't have help if you want it to count.

Here's the FAQ

Oh dear..

Na No Wri Mo: Definitely not impossible. I did basic math and about two thousand words a day is doable. I can write more than two thousand words in two hours—and that's when I'm writing it by hand. It's just that trying to type two thousand words every day burnt me out after about two weeks. Both years I tried. It's a test of endurance, and pretty worthwhile at that.

My muse is starting to pick up right now, so maybe I should try again.

edited 29th Sep '09 9:39:05 PM by Leradny

Are some subject matters or genres better than others for being able to keep writing even if you have no idea what you're doing or where you're going?

101 Reasons To Stop Writing

It is certainly doable. I finished (just barely) two years ago, but I quit last year because I didn't have enough time to work on it in the second half of the month.

A quick overview of that blog suggests that it is a Thing That Should Not Exist.

Right now I'm mostly in danger of having TOO MANY ideas. I don't see that as a problem. And having ideas that will add up to much more than 50k words — again, not a problem. I'm already catching myself thinking about a multi-book structure.

I currently have five viewpoint characters, a good chunk of backstory, and many of the points of the plot for at least the first book.

I'll be using October to firm these up and get a structure, outline and much more backstory and detail done.

The genre is kind of magical steampunk post-apocalyptic fantasy, but I'm not trying too hard to fit in any genre constrictions — it'll be what it'll be. It's a bit more advanced than steampunk, maybe — getting up to a c. World War One level of technology, and beyond it in some ways. Steam trains, airships, electric trolleys in the streets, the guns of the Revolution shelling the Palace into rubble. Ancient horrors and ancient wonders.

I've only one idea formed up so far, a prequel backstory for my fanfic set Next Sunday A.D. where my main character has just graduated high school and runs a piracy + cheating trade in university ala [[Tony Montana]]. To spice things up, there's a sidekick close friend who struggles dealing with his hypersexuality, trying oogling any women he finds (and failing miserably).

The Next Sunday A.D. aspect is very very handy, for cases in the plot where you need a quick asspull out of a writer's block situation with some Applied futuristic Philiboteum (it might be pushing the Suspension of Disbelief though if Ninja Pirate Zombie Robots were to be coming around for the conflict ).

One potential problem though, would be depicting university life accurately (when I haven't graduated yet myself) though.

edited 30th Sep '09 9:26:40 AM by QQQQQ

Working title: Gift. I'll be doing an outline for that.

Hmmm, why not. And I guess the rules make using my long standing work invalid (I'll finish the fourth chapter soon Zavi! I just need to replot the story. Yes. Again).

So maybe I'll go with this superhero semi-tragedy idea. Standard knocking the Badass and Mary Sue off their pedestals. Yep, anti-celebrity culture slush! Though my main concern is the rollercoaster friendship between the narrator and main character. So at least I have four Characters As Device to work with.

I wonder how I'll stretch it to 50k?