NaNoWriMo 2009

[Fish and Chips]

Would you care to say more about that specifically when you have the opportunity? I have read more than a few authors say similar things and always wondered if it is a difference in writing style, or just a manner of speaking.

Echoing Ich, I tend to favor the characters writing the story. Originally my novel started as X chapters through X characters perspective, changing each chapter. However, some characters are clearly distinguishing themselves as more main than the others, entirely by virtue of their personalities and the roles they've written for themselves (though I'll admit that I've necessarily limited some of them).

Part of it probably comes down to priorities. Generally, I consider myself a character author; I write the characters, and they tell the story. From what I gather, UC, you seem to border more on a plot author; you have a set story in mind, and that itself provides you with the cast you require. It's more likely that you'd tweak the characters to fit your narrative structure, while Ich and I alter our stories to fit their respective populations.

[uc pseudonym]

Thank you both. Actually, what you've said would suggest to me that this might be more of an issue of language than I thought. While I would be very unlikely to say something like the characters telling the story, what ich described in his most recent post sounds like something that I could say about most of the things I've written.

Of course, I'm definitely a plot-focused author. But it's pretty common for me to reach a point where I realize the way I had things planned just doesn't fit with the characters I'd written to that point, and when that happens and I think the current version is better, I change the plot as much as necessary. Since my plots tend to involve a lot of different actors, usually these changes just require some tweaking as opposed to reshaping the story, but it's not uncommon for motivations and character arcs to change significantly.

[Peanut]

I've made it over 9000 words now...yeah...that jokes been done so much now that I don't feel like making it...but hey I'm catching back up...

[shade of dae]

I'm currently at about 5,000 words now. I'm feeling pretty bad about being so far behind, but I was gone until the 3rd of November, and am trying to write a paper for English that's worth half my final grade. Sorry, but getting good grades is more important to me than NaNoWriMo. However, one thing that I've found to be extremely helpful at catching up on my word count is Write or Die. I've been able to write 603 words in 16 minutes, which probably isn't that great of a speed, but it's nice to sit down and just write, since I have a habit of writing a couple hundred words, then thinking about it for an hour.

[ich1990]

So, thanks to Write or Die, I discovered a way to boost my writing speed. Significantly. Needless to say, I am quite happy. I found that I had a bad habit of stopping every few sentences and reading the paragraph of above the new material, along with the new sentences, to make sure that it flowed properly and all. This was a fairly time consuming process, but I did it unconsciously.

Now enter Write or Die. Thanks to this online app (set on Kamikaze mode, which starts deleting your story if you don't keep writing), I didn't have time to go back and check how my sentences were flowing. I just forged ahead until the time was up, then went back over my entire work all at once, correcting as necessary. By editing for pace and cadence (and joke delivery) after, instead of during the writing process, I was able to save a huge amount of time.

Observe:


Add ten minutes for editing, and I you will find that I wrote that section at nearly twice the speed I normally do. Now I just need to break myself of that habit so that I can use my word processor instead of Write or Die, which very obnoxiously lacks the ability to indent lines.

[mechana2015]

ding... 16,000

[Peanut]

I managed to get a little bit closer to getting fully caught up...good job me...

[Fish and Chips]

30,800 words.

It's reassuring to know that should I ever wake up in a cold, dank room with a heavily Spanish-accented hitman pressing a revolver coolly against my temple telling me I'm un muerto unless I can write a novella in ten days, I won't disappoint him.

"Sí señor," I'll say.

[SnoringFrog]

I always intend to do this, and then suddenly when it's November I go "oh crap that's this month?!" and never start. November's just not a good month for this sort of thing for me...haha. I really want to do it though...eventually.

[uc pseudonym]

I'm pleased with my progress, but the other side of that coin is that I now know that my outline is too short, even for a quick novel. At the moment the plan is to take today off and tomorrow see if there's anything significant missing from the story.

[mechana2015]

Added the word count widget to my sig.

[the_wolfs_howl]

I'm at 20,988 words *pats self on back* That makes me a full day ahead of schedule. I've decided to write double my average on Sundays, which will slowly get me a few days ahead and hopefully allow me a few days to patch things up before the month is over.

I won't say it's easy-peasy, but it's not half as hard as I'd expected.

[Nami]

did you know that if you write 5,000 words or more a day you can get 50,000 words in ten days? That's what I did last year. Probably will again this year. Good work everyone!

[KagayakiWashi]

Last time I counted I was at 12,118 words. I've been busy all this week, so I'm hopeful that I'll get much more done this week (but I don't know....New Super Mario Bros. Wii.....ugh!)
I've been able to carry small incidents into much larger things and taking those into places I didn't originally intend to, which is good, because I didn;t think I could make this story long enough. I'm happy with the work so far and it's surprised me with what I've done.

[ich1990]

Halftime report:

1) It is getting easier. Not only has my writing speed increased substantially, my writing standards have dropped precipitously. These combined forces mean that it only takes me about 1.5 to 2 hours to write my minimum each day, as opposed to the 2.5 to 3 I was doing at the start of the month.

2) I ran out of plot about 5k words ago. This is okay, though, because it is a lot more fun to write with few restrictions, and occasionally my ramblings even result in something tangentially related to my story. I do feel bad about writing this way, though, so as of late I have been trying to steer my way back to the main plotline.

3) My story isn't staying in the satire/comedy genre very well. I just am not witty or funny enough to remain humorous for sustained periods of time, so I start to write something else. I then catch myself and return to trying to be funny. When this doesn't work, I just write out a scene and put "insert joke here" at the appropriate locations. That does work.

4) I have gotten much farther than I ever anticipated would be possible this month. Hooray! Now I feel fulfilled and my life has meaning and everything.

Now just 24,257 to go.

[mechana2015]

so the widget in my sig won't update <.<;;

I have 22,633 as of this moment.

[Fish and Chips]

40,000 words.

The good news is there's some solid material here. About 50% of what I've written this month could be salvaged in another a novel, a somewhat smaller portion of which could actually be lifted with minimal revisions. So that's nice.

The bad news is, well, that other 50% is...hardly my best work. In some cases it reads more like a skeleton outline for what I wanted to say, and elsewhere lacks an economy of words altogether. Similarly, dialogue shifts back and forth from being fluid and occasionally brilliant to more stiff cardboard, placeholder lines.

The plot hasn't run dry yet, but I have a tendency to ramble or flesh it out unnecessarily with background details that are interesting but then fall out of the story completely, my personal favorite being a bizarre cult that dominates the opening paragraphs of chapter 6, and is subsequently never mentioned again by anyone for any reason. And chapter 8 is in the first person for some hastily justified reason.

On the plus side, I now know how I want to write some characters, and how I don't want to write some. This really is an experimental learning process for me, and I'm a bit baffled at times by stuff I thought would work well that doesn't.

I also need to brush up on my action scenes (both of them). I'm pretty sure most readers would rather not have a play-by-play, or at least I wouldn't.

[uc pseudonym]

That's right, we have reached the half-way point. I'm glad to see so many people are pleased with their progress and I'll be curious about CAA's total word count at the end of the month.

To be honest, I haven't done much of anything for some time (related to this, anyway). The plot needs to be longer and I'm not sure where content needs to be added, though perhaps this is only because I don't have enough distance from the writing yet. I'll get some more words when I research period dress and food, but probably not even 1000, and I need more than that. It's difficult to press forward otherwise when one isn't entirely convinced one isn't a hack.

I also need to brush up on my action scenes (both of them). I'm pretty sure most readers would rather not have a play-by-play, or at least I wouldn't.

I would be interested in reading that, if any of it's in presentable shape.

[Fish and Chips]

I would be interested in reading that, if any of it's in presentable shape.

The problem is I'm pretty sure action scenes aren't supposed to read like stage directions. It doesn't help that my strength is in short, concise action scenes, not having an extended one throughout the duration of an entire chapter.

I could probably post up a rough summary of what happens, but the actual text itself requires a lot more shoe polish before even I'm comfortable with reading it, much less sharing it around.

[Peanut]

Well, I just passed the halfway point tonight. If I keep up the pace I'm going at now, I should be able to get caught up sometime during the break...or on Friday...

[the_wolfs_howl]

I've got 34,009 words That puts me two days ahead of schedule, woohoo!

Weeks 2 and 3 have been rather tough so far. The middle of a story is always the hardest part for me, because usually I know where to start and what direction I want to go, but I'm never sure until I'm actually there what needs to happen in the middle. I've come up with some new ideas I'd never thought of before, and am filling in the pages quite well, but I'm not going to let anyone read this version, because it doesn't fit cohesively together at all. I'm going to let myself begin the lengthy, convoluted climax at 40,000 words, so all I have to do is make 6,000 words of finishing up events that will lead to it. That sounds so easy now! Still, I'm always a bit reluctant when I sit down to write. I don't really know why. I guess I'm just getting tired of having to write so much every day. I have to keep convincing myself that I just have to write 500 words right now, which isn't very much, and then when I've finished that I just need to write 500 more words, etc.

[uc pseudonym]

I have found a number of places for additions that feel honestly needed. A plot hole with a planned explanation that I forgot to ever mention, for example, or a set of characters that really should have a one on one conversation and didn't. I don't think these additions will take me to my goal, but because they're all improvements I'm not complaining.

The problem is I'm pretty sure action scenes aren't supposed to read like stage directions. It doesn't help that my strength is in short, concise action scenes, not having an extended one throughout the duration of an entire chapter.

I could probably post up a rough summary of what happens, but the actual text itself requires a lot more shoe polish before even I'm comfortable with reading it, much less sharing it around.

That's fair. It's just that I have a particular interest in fight scenes in novels and I was curious to see what you would consider a dry play-by-play. Even your comment about stage directions answers that to a certain degree, and I wouldn't want to ask you to show something that isn't ready.

[Peanut]

I've officially done better then I did last year...so even if I don't get to 50,000 I can still say that I beat the record I set last year a week before I set it. Hooray for me.

[ich1990]

It is the home stretch, people.

I broke 40k today but am apprehensive about the upcoming holiday. I haven't managed to fight my way ahead of the minimum, so I won't be able to take Thanksgiving off. That probably means more late nights and more lack of sleep, which is getting pretty old to be honest.

Looking on the bright side, I have introduced two new characters which are a whole lot of fun to write. They are even fairly well incorporated into the plot and have extended it signifacntly, which is good. In fact, they might have added too much to the plot; I have little idea how I am going to be able to wrap up the novel in just 10k more words. I guess I could always go over 50k, but I doubt I will have the motivation to do so. One month of writing has is quite enough for a while.

Good luck, all.

[mechana2015]

I'm at 35K ATM. I'll probably make it but friday and saturday might be mad write-a-thons to do so. Good news is I was able to find my plot thread again and start pushing the story towards a conclusion.

[Tsukuyomi]

Great job guys (and gals) ^__^ Almost there, go go go go go go.. GO \(^__^)/

[Ante Bellum]

I'm at about 27000. I need to push it!

[mechana2015]

I'm at about 27000. I need to push it!

Oh man...
Yeah, put the pedal to the metal.

[ich1990]

Not to brag or anything.

I have quite a few other comments about my whole "first novel" experience, but I think I will save them for later. I wish you all speedy fingers and low standards. It worked for me, it can work for you.

[Ante Bellum]

Now I'm at about 44500-45000. Not bad but I still need to finish.