Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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So, last night, Koldoon and I were talking about participating in NaNoWriMo, which is National Novel Writing Month. Koldoon's done it three times; this will be my first try. The idea is to write a 50,000 word novel (which is short by modern standards, but is about the length of the Great Gatsby or Brave New World) in the month of November. That breaks out to about 1,667 pages per day, every day, for 30 days.
The goal is not to get something published nor is it to write the next great work of literature. It's to do something you've always meant to do but never gotten around to doing. Like running a marathon, NaNoWriMo is more about participating than "winning" (however you define that term) the race.
I know that I'm not the only person on these boards who has dreamed of writing a novel, so I wanted to post and extend an invitation to the other closet would-be-writers to join Koldoon and I in NaNoWriMo.
Think it over - you've got only a few hours until November 1.
Apologies if this is a double post. The Paizo message board gods seem to have eaten the original.
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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I received this email from NaNoWriMo this morning, and I think it does a much better job of summarizing what's going on than I did above:
Well, we're on the cusp of another beautiful noveling November. The turn-out so far has been phenomenal. Between our main program and Young Writers Program, we'll have over 90,000 authors on board by the end of the week, making this officially the largest NaNoWriMo since the event was first adapted from an Andorran mule-wrestling ceremony back in 1999.For those of you who are new to NaNo, I want to quickly run through the noveling schedule for the month ahead.
Step 1: Keep reading this email; learn the secret of NaNoWriMo.
Step 2: Wait for 12:01 AM local time on November 1.
Step 3: Write a novel.No problem.
Okay, back to Step 1. The secret of NaNoWriMo. Which is this: There is a door in your brain. The door has been there your whole life. You may not have noticed it before because it blends in with everything else in your brain. Weird art. Mismatched furniture. Squis hy gray bits clinging to everything.
So what does this door have to do with your novel?
Your job this month is not so much writing a book (which is intimidating) as it is finding that door (which is easy).
It's easy because you'll have guides in November who will take you right to it.
These guides are also known as your characters. They're kind of an abstract notion now, but you'll meet them in all their glory in Week One of NaNoWriMo. They'll be a strange lot. Insecure warlocks. Stamp-collecting squirrels. Teenage detectives.
Whoever shows up, go with them. And go quickly. You may have a general sense of where you're going together; you may not. It doesn’t matter. Just write your allotment of 1667 words (or more) on November 1. Don't edit any of it. Editing is for December. Then come back and write another 1667 words the next day. And the next. And the next.
By Week Two, you'll be at the door. A few words later, you'll be through it. You'll know you're there because the writing will feel different. Less like work, and more like watching a gloriously imperfect movie with cringe-worthy dialogue, heaps of confusing tangents, and moments of brilliance so delightful that you'll want to scream.
Once you've stepped through that door into the vast reaches of your imagination, you'll be able to return there as often as you like. It's an enchanted, intoxicating place, and there are other great things besides novels in there.
But we'll talk about that later.
For now, here's our game plan for the coming week.
1) Make sure you've affiliated with a region and then made it your Home Region. This is a two-step process. You do it by signing in and then going to the My Regions page of My NaNoWriMo. The far-left tab gives you a list of regions to choose from. Choose one by clicking "affiliate," then go to the far-right tab called Home Region and make sure your region is ticked.
2) Make sure you have your Edit Profile settings geared to allow emails from us (if you got this, you're good), and that your email program knows to accept messages from noreply@nanowrimo.org. Pep talks from esteemed authors will begin landing in your inbox this week, and will continue to arrive every four days or so. To turn off emails from us, just head to Edit Profile and change your settings to "No mail."
3) On November 1: Begin writing. At this point, you'll be able to begin updating your word count on the Author Info tab of the Edit Profile page. You can do this on the honor system by just typing in the number, or you can paste the whole book in and let our robots count it for you. If you paste your book, please scramble it first, using instructions in our FAQ. You can also post an excerpt of your book in the same area of the Edit Profile page.
4) For the first week of the event, the site will be on fire. This year we moved to a completely new back-end system, and it has made me beat my head against the wall almost every single day. Pages disappear. Parts fall off. Error screens everywhere. It handles high traffic the way a country lane would handle a freeway. We have so many plans on rebuilding the site it for next year it's not even funny. But for now, we have to work with what we've got. Russ is making all the improvements he can to make it suck less.
If the site isn't functional, just postpone updating your word count until the dust settles. NaNoWriMo does not live on a website. It lives in your heart, in your powerful typing fingers, and in your dramatically escalating word count.
We'll keep working on the site. You keep working on your novel.
Together we will rock November.
Happy noveling, everyone! We're so glad to have you writing with us.
Have you decided what you're writing about yet Sebastian?
- Ashavan
PS - I still haven't a clue... isn't it great!
That breaks out to about 1,667 pages per day, every day, for 30 days.....holy s!@#! I certainly hope you meant words and not pages. ;)
Fear the person who completes "Ironman NaNoWriMo" with those standards. Robert Jordan has nothing on that.
It is indeed WORDS, not pages.
I think I'd collapse from a single day if I tried to hit 1667 pages per day.
- Ashavan
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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That breaks out to about 1,667 pages per day, every day, for 30 days.....holy s!@#! I certainly hope you meant words and not pages. ;)
Fear the person who completes "Ironman NaNoWriMo" with those standards. Robert Jordan has nothing on that.
It is indeed WORDS, not pages.
I think I'd collapse from a single day if I tried to hit 1667 pages per day.
- Ashavan
Well, yeah, I guess if you go and write more than 1 word per page, you're right. But I hate trees, so I write exclusively on paper and in crayon and only one word per page. Just like the pilgrims.
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
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I am participating. I was happy, I got 1,975 words in today.
I am hoping this is a good sign for the upcoming month.
Edit: I just did some more work so I am up to 3,438. This is my first year so please forgive my excitement.
Damn! I haven't even gotten home from work yet to even CONSIDER getting started, much less actually getting a step ahead of the curve!
I'm in as well! If only school didn't take so much time...
Anywho, since people here are writing, why not share the user name, so we can sample other ideas?
Just a thought.
You might want to pace yourself a bit. On the other hand, it doesn't hurt to build up a buffer.
I'm at 5343 myself.
- Ashavan
allenbard is my username.
Hope those hands are recovering, sebastian. I'm at 13,708...
- Ashavan
*Cheering on Paizo friends!!*
Way to go guys! Wish I'd saw this a couple days ago. Hope your hands are okay. Its holding the crayon that did it isn't it.
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*Cheering on Paizo friends!!*
Way to go guys! Wish I'd saw this a couple days ago. Hope your hands are okay. Its holding the crayon that did it isn't it.
You can still participate - my NanoWriMo is based in Magimar :) I have an outline done... no words yet... I'm planning on doing the 8,000 words in a weekend way of keeping up
*Cheering on Paizo friends!!*
Way to go guys! Wish I'd saw this a couple days ago. Hope your hands are okay. Its holding the crayon that did it isn't it.
I started five days late my first year... it's not too late!
- Ashavan
Hope those hands are recovering, sebastian. I'm at 13,708...
- Ashavan
I'm up to 5,400 (I think). That should be up to 7k after tonight.
What are you going to do after you hit 50k next week? Keep going or start another 50k words?
I doubt I'll hit 50,000 next week, even if I continue at my current pace.
It's nice to be ahead of the game though.
- Ashavan
16, 784.... see Sebastian, I'm slowing down!
- Ashavan
Hope you're still going, Seb... I'm now at 35,079
- Ashavan
*bump*
I'm writing again this year....
any Paizo peeps (forum dwellers or otherwise) joining me?
- Ashavan
Now at 4516
Hope anyone else participating is doing well!
- Ashavan
This is my first year of nano as well. So far I'm at 1790 words, but I'm getting ready to work on it some more this afternoon.
3638 words. Not as easy today as yesterday. But still on track.
I have had all kinds of trouble posting my word count on the site. They are getting so much traffic in these first couple of days that it's almost impossible to get through. I had a little less trouble when I tried it in the middle of the afternoon. I only had to wait for what seemed an eternity, unlike the night before when I got booted off five times before giving up.
*sigh* I wanted to participate in this, but alas I lost track of time, and my immediate future doesn't look conducive to writing a novel...
I guess there's always next year. :P
it's often difficult to get your word count posted during the first few days. Possible, but difficult.
Hope everyone is doing well. Currently at 15,675 words.
- Ashavan
I am now about 4,000 words behind schedule. Sigh. By the time I got done with all the mommy stuff in the last couple of days I was falling asleep over my keyboard. Trying to resist the temptation to give up.
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I am now about 4,000 words behind schedule. Sigh. By the time I got done with all the mommy stuff in the last couple of days I was falling asleep over my keyboard. Trying to resist the temptation to give up.
Don't give up yet! It's still week 1! You might get a burst of inspiration and be able to make those 4,000 words.
Here's hoping. I am now at 5,009 words. Maybe I can make up a little ground today. Or at least not fall any further behind.
6,095 words. So I didn't lose any more ground today.
I'm still here! At a measly 7,865 words. But I haven't quit yet. Although I am hideously jealous that you are on track to actually make it to 50,000 words. Great job!
I just found this thread, and this is such a cool idea. Oddly enough, I've been trying to get out a long story and I told myself I'd dedicate November and December to it.
I know its a bit late, but I'll jump on board for the goal of 1,600+ words a day. It is about what I've been shooting for anyway.
How is everyone's stories coming along?
In my case: total fail. I am at a measly 8200 words. And I've not been working on it very often. Life kinda got in the way.
But I'm thinking of asking my writer's group to hold me accountable to a slightly lower per week word count for the next couple of months to at least try to actually get the thing all the way to finished. I was writing a measly 500 words per week. So I think upping that to 2500 should at least get me there eventually.