NaNoWriMo 2013: Who's in?

[Callan S.]

Hrm. I've always wanted to attempt and I was much less busy in previous years. Might have to wait till next year...

Go on, Mike! BTW, pro tips A: no need to actually write sequentially and B: Action scenes eat up word count so quickly!

[Warg Arry]

I did it for the first time last year. And totally surprised myself by getting 50k+ with time to spare. It was a great writing experience.

And I have a story rattling around in my skull. But my November is looking bat shiz crazy. So I'm here to wish you all well and to be your cheer squad. YAY! You can do it!

[Minaku]

Everyone seems to be really short on time, but I think we should go for it anyway. 30k is doable.

[Frank Fitzpatrick]

Whilst the internet remains in existence 50k in a single month will always be an impossible target for me.

[Zoë Sumra]

I want to, but I've never been able to even come close before. I need lots of encouragement and I struggle with depression and bouts of high fatigue and low energy even when I'm not too busy either at work or trying to get some rest. Also I have high levels of insecurity and low self worth and am prone to despair and delay.

*hugs* Can you use the writing to bolster your self-worth? It's a short term solution but it might lead to a stronger foundation.

Everyone seems to be really short on time, but I think we should go for it anyway. 30k is doable.

This. Screw "winning NaNo": if you are in full time work, full time study, full time parenting of small children or a mix of the above (which covers almost all of us), writing 30K in a month is a major achievement. For me it would equate to two sheets of A4 paper, double sided, each day.

[Wise Fool]

*hugs* Can you use the writing to bolster your self-worth? It's a short term solution but it might lead to a stronger foundation.

Thanks. :) Yeah, that's always sort of in my mind. I've always been told I'm highly creative, and I did start writing stories at age 8 and composing music at age 15 and so by now that part of me is a big factor in my sense of self worth. But it's a double edged sword. I haven't created anything of consequence, namely anything finished that I could then present to the world, for a while now, and as a result I feel like I'm not living up to my potential. So it's really hard to get started at all now. It's like, why bother? then I start to analyze and edit and after a while, give up and resign myself to a life of mindless toil being the most I can aspire to.

[Minaku]

Thanks. :) Yeah, that's always sort of in my mind. I've always been told I'm highly creative, and I did start writing stories at age 8 and composing music at age 15 and so by now that part of me is a big factor in my sense of self worth. But it's a double edged sword. I haven't created anything of consequence, namely anything finished that I could then present to the world, for a while now, and as a result I feel like I'm not living up to my potential. So it's really hard to get started at all now. It's like, why bother? then I start to analyze and edit and after a while, give up and resign myself to a life of mindless toil being the most I can aspire to.

This resonates so much with me. I hear you and offer you lots of sympathetic hugs. Such is the life of the creative; we're punishingly hard on ourselves, never give ourselves credit, and always wonder why anyone likes what we do. Even if you never show it to anyone (and my first NaNo will NEEEEEEVEERRRRR see the light of day), trying NaNo is still something you can be proud of. Your story may suck. You may be ashamed of it. But by Jove you started something.

Last year I tried to write a song every day of the month during NaNo since I wasn't able to write. I got one piddly little 32-bar diddy out of it. It isn't even good enough to be an etude for my beginning students. But I keep thinking if I had just persevered and done it, maybe half of one of the songs written would have been something good enough to work on. There's a lot of stuff that won't make the cut in the creative process, and all of that is normal. What is abnormal is striking gold your first time and continuing to strike gold every single time. For every work you see published or played, there was probably another 9 that got tossed in the trash. This is a reality that, in your brain, you know is true, but your heart wishes wasn't.

So really what I am trying to say is that you should go for it anyway, whether you win or lose. Try not to let perfectionism and self-doubt cripple you. Even if it is the shittiest shit ever shittily written, it's still something. Never throw anything away, because somewhere in the pile of dreck may be a seed of an idea that can be nurtured. Go for it! We're all here with you.

[Wise Fool]

When I was a kid, I used to play with Legos. (Admittedly probably into my teens too.) I built things and places, at different scales, in different worlds, and elaborated in my head stories about them. But then, inevitably, if I wanted to create more, the only practical option was to dismantle what I'd already created. And this became the best part - the destruction. It even made the initial creating more enjoyable - because I knew it would not last, and could only be appreciated in the moment, and made that much more precious for it. I like to think that made me some kind of Tibetan Buddhist monk, creating and destroying elaborate mandalas to honor the impermanence of reality or some shit. But of course really it was more that I could play god, with the power to create and to destroy.

That's probably why I do tend to delete things I've written even when, data-storage-wise there's no reason to and I might end up losing something I could've used later.

But it gets too much of a habit when I simultaneously create and destroy. I will literally write a sentence, or a paragraph, or more - and then delete it almost immediately.

I almost did that just now! Out of habit...? Or perhaps lack of confidence too. Like this post has no place in this thread, serves no use except to illustrate my whining. Also there's the opportunity-cost issue -- I feel like the effort and time gone into this alone (4, 5 minutes?) could have been spent writing that novel or whatever and was wasted. It's insidious, but as an alcoholic I'm well familiar with the phenomenon of constantly waging a war against my own brain so, might as well just go with it. I'll give NaNoWriMo a try.

[Minaku]

When I was a kid, I used to play with Legos. (Admittedly probably into my teens too.) I built things and places, at different scales, in different worlds, and elaborated in my head stories about them. But then, inevitably, if I wanted to create more, the only practical option was to dismantle what I'd already created. And this became the best part - the destruction. It even made the initial creating more enjoyable - because I knew it would not last, and could only be appreciated in the moment, and made that much more precious for it. I like to think that made me some kind of Tibetan Buddhist monk, creating and destroying elaborate mandalas to honor the impermanence of reality or some shit. But of course really it was more that I could play god, with the power to create and to destroy.

That's probably why I do tend to delete things I've written even when, data-storage-wise there's no reason to and I might end up losing something I could've used later.

But it gets too much of a habit when I simultaneously create and destroy. I will literally write a sentence, or a paragraph, or more - and then delete it almost immediately.

I almost did that just now! Out of habit...? Or perhaps lack of confidence too. Like this post has no place in this thread, serves no use except to illustrate my whining. Also there's the opportunity-cost issue -- I feel like the effort and time gone into this alone (4, 5 minutes?) could have been spent writing that novel or whatever and was wasted. It's insidious, but as an alcoholic I'm well familiar with the phenomenon of constantly waging a war against my own brain so, might as well just go with it. I'll give NaNoWriMo a try.

ONE OF US! ONE OF US!

I used to write papers and then in a fit of pique at 3:30 am, delete the entire thing and start over again. Yeah, this was not a good strategy when it came time to write papers that were significantly longer. Instead I learned to organize, outline, and plan accordingly beforehand, and if I hated everything, open a new document instead of deleting everything I had currently.

Fight the urge to delete stuff. Wordcount is king. It does not have to be good or usable. All NaNo is about is spewing. NaNoEdMo is December. :P

[Jaxom 1974]

I'm so trying to make myself get into a routine before November hits...not easy...

[superdeluxe]

Doing it this year. Several reasons why I'm trying:

A). Time no longer an issue, got 2 hour commute on trains and a hour lunch at work.

B). Wife on board and doing it as well, so she will want to write as much as me (she won't make plans for us etc)

[Ebenstone]

I'm in....ONLY because it lines up perfect with the new project. My handle is Ebenstone. Feel free to follow.

[Wise Fool]

For a long time I've been thinking of different themes and settings and characters and plots for my humble first novel which would be, of course, fantasy fiction and would actually, of course, be not a standalone novel but the first of a trilogy, because reasons. But despite that I've written a confused couple thousand words, and have grand ideas for more, it doesn't really flow naturally.

So I'm thinking for NaNo I'm going to write something in a different genre where I can more aptly "write what you know." As it happens I know very little about warriors and battles and adventures and esoteric philosophy and romance and the rise and fall of civilizations. (And so everything I write tends to borrow, pretty much inevitably, merely from all the fantasy novels I've read - and it invariably seems unoriginal to the point of the big question I'm asking with every scene and every bit is "how can I make this NOT seem like [random work of Martin/Bakker/Rothfuss/Parker/Abercrombe/Tolkien/etc]"

Which is not the kind of question that should be driving narratives. I guess.

[Minaku]

More people, yay! My handle is the same as the on the Board.

Wise Fool, as long as you get wordcount in, write whatever you want. No one said what you write even has to make sense.

I went with a dystopia for my last NaNo. I think I will be heading more for YA with this one.

[Frank Fitzpatrick]

For a long time I've been thinking of different themes and settings and characters and plots for my humble first novel which would be, of course, fantasy fiction and would actually, of course, be not a standalone novel but the first of a trilogy, because reasons. But despite that I've written a confused couple thousand words, and have grand ideas for more, it doesn't really flow naturally.

So I'm thinking for NaNo I'm going to write something in a different genre where I can more aptly "write what you know." As it happens I know very little about warriors and battles and adventures and esoteric philosophy and romance and the rise and fall of civilizations. (And so everything I write tends to borrow, pretty much inevitably, merely from all the fantasy novels I've read - and it invariably seems unoriginal to the point of the big question I'm asking with every scene and every bit is "how can I make this NOT seem like [random work of Martin/Bakker/Rothfuss/Parker/Abercrombe/Tolkien/etc]"

Which is not the kind of question that should be driving narratives. I guess.

My first attempt was a fantasy novel too and it was God awful. I switched to Thrillers and it suits me much better. Might be the same for you, worth a try. :)

[Minaku]

Logged in, created my novel title, wrote a short description. I have no name for a main character or even an idea of what her personality is. I have not hashed out the world at all. THIS IS GOING TO BE A SUCCESS, GUYS.

[Howdyphillip]

I opened up an account that I have yet to look at. I have no idea what I am going to attempt to write about, but I will force myself to sit down for two or three hours and see what happens tomorrow.

I have a quick question since I am new to this. If I write a story for this, does it solely belong to me? Would I be able to market it as unpublished down the road? I don't think I am at a point in my life where I am publishable, but just in case, what are the rules behind that?

Oh... and my username is Howdyphillip.... surprise.. surprise

[hadaad]

I'm in. I've tried most years but only won once. I get seriously tripped up by the end of the second week every single time.

[Datepalm]

Woot, I got through day 1 with about 1800. (well, I cheated a tiny bit - the first two paragraphs are from a week ago when the idea first came together. I'll consider myself victorious if I make to 50,156 words.)

[Zoë Sumra]

I opened up an account that I have yet to look at. I have no idea what I am going to attempt to write about, but I will force myself to sit down for two or three hours and see what happens tomorrow.

I have a quick question since I am new to this. If I write a story for this, does it solely belong to me? Would I be able to market it as unpublished down the road? I don't think I am at a point in my life where I am publishable, but just in case, what are the rules behind that?

No ownership problems at all - it's your stuff, you're just taking part in a really big writing group for a month. If you upload words for verification into the site, it doesn't keep them.

I have a very vague outline but not too much of one, and an idea of the first scene. This is going to be fun.... (couldn't start till this evening if I wanted to, pesky work and all that)